The Mammoth Book Of Vampire Stories By Women - cast of thousands

He waited until I stopped shaking him and looked down at me. I took a step back. A dull television programme he'd already seen. 'Let her go, okay?'

'Now, Joe,' she said, admonishing.

I bolted for the elevator but the doors didn't open. She had the power over them, over everything, junkies, me, even toll-booths. I just stood there until I felt Joe's hands on my shoulders.

'China.'

I jumped away from him and backed up against the elevator doors. There was a buzzing in my ears. Hyperventilating. In a moment, I was going to pass out and they could do whatever they liked. Standing between Farmer comatose on the couch and the kid, who was sitting like a junked-up lump, the woman looked bored.

'China,' my brother repeated, but he didn't reach for me again.

I forced myself to breathe more slowly. The buzzing in my ears receded and I was almost steady again. 'Oh, Jesus, Joe, where did you find these — these whatever they are? They're not people.'

'I didn't really find them,' he said. 'One day I looked around and they were just there. Where they've always been.'

'I never saw them before.'

'You never had to. People like me and Farmer and what's-his-name over there, the kid, we're the ones they come for. Not for you.'

'Then why did I find them?'

'I don't like to think about that. It's' he fumbled for a moment. 'I don't know. Contagious, I guess. Maybe some day they'll come for everyone.'

'Well, that is in the plan,' the woman said. 'There are only so many Joes and Farmers in the world. Then you have to branch out. Fortunately, it's not hard to find new ways to reach new receptors.' She ran a finger along the collar of her dress. 'The damnedest things come into fashion and you know how that is. Something can just sweep the country.'

'Let her go now,' Joe said.

'But it's close to time for you, dear one.'

'Take her back to Streep's. Stacey and George'll be there, maybe Priscilla. You can bring them here, leave her there.'

'But, Joe' she said insistently, 'she's seen us.'

'So you can get her later.'

I began to shake.

' Joe .' The stewardess smile went away. 'There are rules . And they're not just arbitrary instructions designed to keep the unwashed multitude moving smoothly through intersections during rush hour.' She came around the coffee table to him and put her hand on his arm. I saw her thumb sink deeply into the material of his bathrobe. 'You chose this, Joe. You asked for it, and when we gave it to you, you agreed. And this is part of the deal.'

He pried her hand off his arm and shoved it away. 'No, it's not. My sister isn't a junkie. It wouldn't go right, not now. You know it wouldn't. You'd just end up with a troublesome body to dispose of and the trail would lead directly to me. Here. Because everyone probably knows she's been looking for me. She's probably asked half the city if they've seen me. Isn't that right, China?'

I nodded, unable to speak.

'You know we've got the cops.'

'Not all of them. Not even enough of them.'

The woman considered it. Then she shook her head at him as though he were a favoured, spoiled pet. 'I wouldn't do this for anyone else, I hope you know that.'

'I know it,' said Joe.

'I mean, in spite of everything you said. I might have decided just to work around the difficulties. It's just that I like you so much. You fit in so well. You're just so — appropriate .' She glanced back at the kid on the couch. 'Well, I hope this can wait until I take care of our other matter.'

'Whatever you like,' Joe said.

She turned her smile on me again but there was a fair amount of sneer in it. 'I'll be with you shortly.'

I turned away as she went back to the couch so I wouldn't have to see her do the kid. Joe just stood there the whole time, making no move towards me or away from me. I was still shaking a little; I could see my frizzy bangs trembling in front of my eyes. The absurd things you noticed, I thought, and concentrated on them, out of focus against the background of the fabulous antique bar, trying to make them hold still. If they stopped trembling, then I would have stopped shaking. The kid on the couch made a small noise, pleasure or pain or both, and I looked up at Joe, wanting to scream at him to make her stop it but there was nothing there to hear that kind of scream. The kid was on his own; I was the one who really hadn't known that. We were all on our own, now.

The dead eyes stared at me, the gaze as flat as an animal's. I tried to will one last spark of life to appear, even just that greedy, gotta-score look he used to get, but it wouldn't come. Whatever he'd had left had been used up when he'd got her to let me go. Maybe it hadn't even been there then; maybe he'd been genuinely concerned about the problem of getting rid of my corpse. Junkies need love but they need a fix more.

Eventually, I heard the kid slump over on the couch.

'Well, come on,' the woman said, going over to the bar to pick up her coat. The elevator doors slid open.

'Wait,' Joe said.