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  The vampire surveyed the street in a neighborhood where few white people were comfortable walking. The rain had stopped. Puddles steamed here and there on the streets and sidewalks.
He stopped in front of a store window. Water droplets on the glass caught the streetlights, like stars against an inky sky. He examined the unremarkable person reflected in the black mirror: the dark hair, military cut and goatee; prominent eyebrows with a tiny pointed arch at the center of each; intelligent eyes close together; broad shoulders under a leather coat; not particularly tall; crisp, dark attire belied a construction worker.
A figure appeared behind him. Long brown hair flowed over the man's ears and framed the face and Italian nose at its center; deep, gorgeous eyes with faint smile lines; a sleek well-cared-for body.
# # #
"You're the one I called?" Jacob said.
The man flashed an engaging smile. "You're Jacob?"
Jacob nodded. "I've never done this before," he finally said, "with a stranger I mean."
The man extended his hand. "I'm Valentine, and we're no longer strangers. Why did you answer the ad?"
"Adventure, companionship without commitment, and you said there'd be no danger, no risk of--"
"--transmitting a disease."
Jacob stuck his hands in the front pockets of his jeans as they walked together. "My previous partner got himself infected and expected me to understand."
"You seem like the forgiving sort, Jacob."
He looked down at the sidewalk. "I am, I mean, I would have been if he'd told me. I learned the truth from a mutual friend. The next day I had myself tested--negative and going to stay that way. He expected me to share his guilt. Asshole."
"I said no risk; I never said no danger."
"What?"
Valentine gave him an assuring sideways glance. "Life is never without danger."
Jacob took a deep breath and let it out. "Where are we going?"
"Not far."
"It just...this neighborhood..."
"No one will harm us. You're safer than in your own apartment."
They passed an art movie theater. Valentine pointed at the marquee. "Did you ever see Sordid Lives?"
Jacob shook his head.
"It's not a 'gay' movie like some have said. It contains gay issues in a dysfunctional, white-trash family. Impressive cast: Olivia Newton-John, Beau Bridges, Delta Burke. Not for everyone, but hysterically funny."
Three blocks later, they passed an alley. Valentine suddenly halted and spun around. "Stay here."
 Three men white men were approaching quickly from behind. "No one threatens, me," the burly leader said. Valentine grabbed the man's neck, squeezed hard, then threw him to the sidewalk. The man's surprise gurgled in his crushed throat.
Jacob gasped.
The other two brandished knives. Valentine assaulted them with a barrage of kicks. Screams of pain followed the crunch and crack of leg and rib bones. They collapsed onto the sidewalk.
The first, on his knees, pulled a gun. Before he could aim, Valentine leaped into the air. His boot heels slammed into the man's skull. Valentine landed gracefully on his feet; the man fell over backwards, blood and brain matter already leaking out of his forehead.
Valentine reached inside the man's leather jacket and withdrew a plastic baggie and a large roll of money.
"I-I better leave," Jacob said.
Valentine put his hand on Jacob's chest, on top of his thundering heart. "Adventure without danger, as I promised." He pointed at the three men. "The last time we met, I said I didn't want his drugs in my neighborhood, and he told me to stay out of his way. Follow me."
In the alley he pulled several bills from the roll and stuffed them into the baggie. With a lighter he lit the bills and tossed the bag into a rusted trashcan. "Drugs and drug money." He put the roll into his pocket. "I will distribute this to those in need. Now, back to our business."
"I'd rather go. I'll pay you for your time."
Valentine put his arm around Jacob's shoulder and smiled. "There is no charge, but I have not yet fulfilled your needs. Exquisite pleasures will make you forget this unpleasantness."
A block later they stopped in front of an old brick-front gym. "You live here?"
"With others like me."
The vampire led Jacob inside, past what used to be the front desk, and into the white-painted gym. "First, we remove our clothes."
"I don't understand."
"In here we bare our souls and our flesh."
Valentine led him to back of the gym where a naked man gagged and strapped to a fitness machine. His arms were tied to the pull-down bar. Standing next to him, with a lit cigarette, was a likewise naked man with a physical trainer's build.
"This man came into our neighborhood," Valentine said, "to extort money from the merchants. Mikhail is about to advise him against this practice in the future."
Mikhail's cigarette approached and touched the man's arm. His pleading eyes widened; tears streamed from them as the cigarette burned into his arm. The man moaned into the gag. "Leave him alive," Valentine said. Mikhail nodded and leaned over the man, baring fangs which he sank into the man's neck.
"You're tense," Valentine told Jacob. "A soothing shower will relax you." # # #
Jacob hiccupped. He was the only remaining passenger on the subway, where he'd been since leaving Valentine's place hours ago. He hiccupped again. He'd witnessed killing and torture, experienced a level of sexual pleasure beyond what he ever imagined possible. The memory made him giddy. From somewhere inside him, his hiccups became a girlish giggle. In the drunken stupor of the night's passion, he'd consented to Valentine's request. With that thought, sadness overcame him.
Amid his muted sobs, the brightening horizon proclaimed a new day arriving and the last dawn he would witness as a mortal human. |
Rick Taubold
