Business Makes Strange Bedfellows

by E. E. Ottoman

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Book Details

  Dedication

  Business Makes Strange Bedfellows

  About the Author

  Business Makes Strange Bedfellows

  E.E. Ottoman

  Dr. Gert Bower's day goes bad fast when she accidentally releases an abominable monster of the abyss on the streets of New York City. Desperate to stop it, she turns to the only person who can help her track the monster down. Vi De Luca is a private detective and creature of the night, a vampire more than willing to help Gert—for a price.

  In exchange for catching the monster, Gert must spend one night with Vi, and let Vi have her way with Gert's blood and body. Though she does not remotely trust Vi, for the good of the city Gert agrees. Yet tracking the monster turns out to be more than either of them had bargained for. When Gert embarks on an experiment to try and reanimate a human corpse things just keep getting worse.

  Book Details

  Business Makes Strange Bedfellows

  By E.E. Ottoman

  Published by Less Than Three Press LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

  Edited by Amanda Jean

  Cover designed by Aisha Akeju

  This book is a work of fiction and all names, characters, places, and incidents are fictional or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

  Second Edition October 2014

  First Edition Published by Storm Moon Press 2013

  Copyright © 2014 by E.E. Ottoman

  Printed in the United States of America

  Digital ISBN 9781620044445

  To women of character who are not afraid to be both the hero and the villain of the piece.

  Business Makes Strange Bedfellows

  Gert let herself into the laboratory in the weak dawn light, as she did every morning. No one was there this early, which was how she liked it. She hung up her hat, overcoat, and walking stick at the coat rack. Pulling off her jacket, she threw it across her desk before undoing her cufflinks and turning up the sleeves of her shirt to the elbows.

  The Society's laboratory had been built as a warehouse, close to the waterfront. Now it was just one long, big room. The floor was tiled, there was a row of desks closest to the door, and then examination tables beyond. She scrubbed her arms and hands in the sink to the right of the main area and then pulled on a white smock. The fresh bodies were already out on metal examination tables in the center of the room, which told her that they were delivered earlier that morning.

  The two new bodies were not in particularly good shape, but that was hardly new. The choice cadavers went to Columbia University. The Society, meanwhile, had to make do with the unclaimed bodies of petty criminals.

  This morning, one of the bodies in particular looked in bad shape, bloated and a little purple. Gert guessed he'd been in the water for some time. The Society's experiments worked best on fresh bodies, so she marked the cadaver as not suitable for an attempt at electrical reanimation. It could, however, still be used for parts. She took the tag she'd been jotting notes on, tied it around the body's left toe, and went to get the saws.

  She'd set one of the saws to the corpse's leg when it moved, trembling just a little bit. Frowning, she set the saw aside and leaned closer, watching carefully. The trembling came again, from the trunk of the body. She prodded the stomach area, frown deepening. This time there was distinct movement, and she stifled a sigh. Probably a rat caught in the body when it was in the harbor, or wherever it had been. Maybe, if she were very lucky, it would be just a gas pocket. Gert went to get a knife.

  As she sliced into the body, the movement increased, becoming more frantic. She was resigned to most likely having to chase and kill the rat. She had managed to make a hole halfway down the abdomen when something black shot out, along with a spray of putrid-smelling liquid. Stumbling back, she dropped the knife and prepared to go for the rat.

  Only it wasn't a rat. Instead, something black and glistening oozed out of the body on the table, a slimy greenish tinge where the light hit it. As Gert watched, it continued to emerge; long appendages trailed down to the floor and were followed by a larger, slick black blob and something that looked like a long and spindly, clawed hand. The smell that filled the laboratory was even worse than that of the body: putrefying flesh mixed with decaying plant matter and something sharp and almost metallic underneath.

  She backed up until she ran into her desk. The thing fell to the floor with a wet slap, lifted itself on the black appendages like some sort of huge, meaty spider, and then began to turn. She caught a glimpse of numerous red eyes and a huge maw of jagged teeth before self-preservation kicked in and she threw herself behind the desk.

  The thing shrieked, a high-pitched, inhuman noise that seemed to go on and on. She could hear wet slapping as it scuttled across the tiled floor of the laboratory. The creature let out another gurgling scream, and she peered around her desk and wished she hadn't. The creature had pulled itself onto the table with the body and was in the process of eating it, starting with the head. Fluids and brain matter dripped from the table and pooled on the floor while more smeared across the creature's tentacle appendages and misshapen body.

  Its gaping mouth seemed to have hundreds of teeth in it, now decorated with bits of flesh, blood, and brains. She very slowly retreated further back behind her desk and then turned to look at the door to the laboratory. The space between her desk and the door was not very far. Maybe she could make a run for it before the monster caught her. Maybe it wouldn't even try.

  Standing, she launched herself at the door behind her. The creature screamed. Something slimy and slick wrapped around her arm with bruising force. Gert stumbled as she was pulled backwards and slammed hard into the coat rack. It fell with a crash, and she landed on top of it with a pained shout.

  The monster let out a series of chittering clicks and advanced on her. Rolling off the coat rack, she scrambled away on hands and knees. One knee slid into something hard that rolled away on the tile, and glancing down, she saw her walking stick. Fingers closing around the stick, she swung it in an arc towards the creature as it reared up over her. The stick collided with the creature, making a soft, wet thud. It gave a long rattling hiss, as she hit it again and again. It let out a higher sound and fell back a pace as she kept hitting, striking out widely, not leaving herself room to think.

  Continuing to back away, the creature's noises became more desperate sounding. A tentacle shot out, striking Gert along the left side of her body like a whip. She stumbled back as pain exploded down her left side, jarring all the way up to the top of her skull and down to her foot. Another tentacle lashed out at her again, and she swung wildly, smacking it with the cane with all her strength. The creature screamed and reared back. It scuttled backwards and slammed bodily into the laboratory door. There was a loud crack and bang as the door gave way under its weight.

  Then the creature was gone.

  Gert stood there, her breathing ragged, staring at the doorway. Her ears strained for any sound: a rattle of stones on the cobbled street outside, a slap of wet tentacles against stone or tile, anything. Her fingers began to cramp. She realized she'd been grasping her cane as tightly as she could. When she let it go, it clattered to the floor, the sound echoing around the laboratory. Outside, she could hear carriages and horses going by on the road. Inside, there was a soft drip-plop as what was left of the body's brains pooled off onto the floor. She turned to look at the mangled mess on the table. Panic welled up inside her. Th
ere were people out there, children—the creature could…

  She made for the doorway, sprinting out into the street. Outside, wagons, carriages, and people on horseback filled the streets. On the sidewalks, people bustled back and forth heading towards the docks just behind the warehouses, or away. No one seemed panicked or afraid, no one was screaming or running, and the creature was nowhere to be seen.

  For a long moment, she stood there watching the people around her. A group of boys in ragged clothing and bare feet chased each other, shrieking and whooping down the street. A man stormed out of his store and began yelling and cursing at them.

  Numbness stole over her, and she backed up until her back hit the wall. All around her, New York City went on as it always had.

  The creature was gone, somewhere in the city, and she had no idea where.

  *~*~*

  The carriage jolted over cobbles, and Gert braced one hand against the seat. She toyed with her cane and glanced out the window at the dark city streets. A street lamp partly illuminated the cab as they passed, showing her a glimpse of her own face looking drawn and worried, framed by close-cropped but still untidy curls. She shifted, looking down at the letter that lay open on top of a small pile of newspapers beside her. The letter containing an address and the address was tonight's destination. She hoped she would not live to regret the decision to come here.

  The carriage jolted again and then stopped, and Gert peered out. It was not one of the better neighborhoods. Tall brick and wooden buildings leaned against each other, wash hanging between the windows across the alleyways in long rows.

  She hesitated, wondering if this was indeed the right address. She checked it again before shaking her head, gathering up the papers, and climbing out of the carriage. After paying the cabby, she turned back to one of the decrepit buildings.

  The front door was bolted and then nailed shut, so she circled around the building until she found a wooden backdoor that gave with a loud creak when she pushed against it. The doorway led down a short hall with a wooden staircase leading up. Checking the letter one more time she headed up the stairs, noting how each step groaned under her weight. On the fourth floor, she stopped and surveyed the row of scarred wooden doors, some with peeling paint, some without. One flickering oil lamp that gave off barely enough light for her to see lit the hall. She headed down anyway until she got to what she hoped was her destination. She raised her cane and rapped on the door.

  The figure who threw the door open was in direct contrast to the dinginess of the hall. In the dimness, she squinted up at a person much taller than she, dressed in an expensive dove grey suit with a fashionably high white cravat.

  "Gertrude Bower?" the figure asked, voice rich with a pleasant rasp to it.

  "Yes, indeed. I am sorry to intrude. Vi De Luca?" Gert made it a question, and the figure nodded and stepped back.

  "Please, come in."

  The inside of the apartment was brightly lit and impeccably decorated. Gert looked around a sitting room with a small table for dining, a settee, several chairs, a writing desk, and fireplace where a fire was laid. There were several doors leading off the sitting room that she could see. All the furniture and decoration was expensive but tasteful, mostly in pale woods and creams and blues. There was only one window in the room, though, drapes pulled back now, but she could see that the window had heavy metal shutters that bolted from the inside. A deep feeling of unease rose up inside her.

  She turned back to her host, Vi De Luca, evidently. In the bright light of lamps and fireplace within the apartment, she could more clearly see that De Luca was dressed as smartly as it had appeared from the hall. Tall, she noticed again, with short-cropped blonde hair, and features that would be considered more handsome than beautiful. Her right hand was long fingered and elegant while her left was a twisted mass of scars bent in on itself with two of the fingers missing altogether. As Vi turned, Gert caught sight of a long scar that marred the left side of her face, twisting up the corner of her lips.

  "How may I help you, Dr. Bower?" Vi asked, a small smile playing across those same thin pink lips. Gert called her mind back to the business at hand.

  "I have unfortunately…" She held the papers close to her chest with one hand and toyed with her cane with the other, unsure of how to continue. "I have, it seems, become embroiled in some trouble, of the kind I cannot take to the police or to most private investigators. You were recommended to me by a friend whose opinion on such things I trust, and thus I have come to you."

  Vi cocked her head to one side. "A friend?"

  "Dr. Hornridge," Gert said, and Vi nodded.

  "Ah, the ghost doctor. You keep interesting company, Dr. Bower."

  "With my line of research, it is hardly surprising." She finally set aside her cane and removed her hat and overcoat, hanging both on the rack by the door, although Vi had in no way offered to take them.

  "So what is the nature of this trouble you have found yourself in?" Vi moved to the fire and settled herself in one chair, and after a moment's hesitation, Gert sat on the settee opposite. "And why come to me?" Vi was studying her again, and she fought the urge to squirm under such intense regard.

  "As you may know, I'm a member of The Society for the Study of the New Science of Reanimation Through Galvanism. About a week ago, I was working in the Society's laboratory, preparing a cadaver for experimentation. When I cut into the body, however, something came out." Gert swallowed hard. "Something like nothing I have ever seen before. It was large and black, with tentacle-like appendages, a bulbous body, many eyes, and a huge mouth. It devoured the body it had come out of and then came after me. I managed to beat the creature off, but it escaped into the city." She reached for the newspapers she had brought. "The very next day, the first body was found." She handed Vi the newspapers. "I presume you've heard of the Dock Dismemberer?"

  "Yes, I've read the articles in the papers." Vi took the newspapers from Gert and glanced through them, each dating from the last few days, each containing an account—in particularly purple prose—of a new body found.

  "I believe these killings are being perpetrated by the monster." She clasped her hands together in her lap. "Which makes me partly responsible. I know all too well that the police will not listen to such a story, neither would most in the private sector, but Dr. Hornridge assures me you have experience in matters that cannot be easily explained."

  Vi set aside the newspapers and fixed her with an expression she could not quite read. "Dr. Hornridge is correct," Vi said after a long moment. "I can help you in this matter, but for a price."

  "Name your price." She felt slightly relieved. This, at least, she had expected. "I have considerable means with which to pay."

  "Money?" Vi tipped her head to one side. "Oh, yes, for who has not heard of the Bower shipping empire, or for that matter, the court cases surrounding your gaining of that empire after your father's death?"

  Vi leaned forward, and Gert did not like the almost predatory look in her eyes. Her hands tightened into fists in her lap. Vi made it sound easy, made her sound like some sort of shrewd mastermind, not simply desperate and out of options.

  "And you won." Vi sat back again. "The scandal of the decade, I think I read. No, Dr. Bower, I don't want your money."

  Gert frowned at that. "Then what?"

  Vi was suddenly no longer sitting in the armchair across the fire, but on the settee with Gert, leaning in far too close. "You spoke with Dr. Hornridge." Vi's voice had deepened slightly, and her breath was hot against the side of Gert's face "I am sure he warned you about me, about what I am and how I live."

  Gert's hands were now clenched so tightly in her lap that her fingers ached. "Yes." She turned to face Vi and found herself only inches away from pale blue eyes. "He told me you are a Nightwalker—a vampire."

  "Indeed, I am." A small smile still played across Vi's lips, and she studied Gert's face. She did not flinch, or lower her own eyes, and Vi's smile broadened. "And as for payment,
well—I have, shall we say, peculiar tastes even for one of my kind, and it has been a long time since anyone gave themselves to me willingly." Vi's voice was a deep purr, and she leaned forward, her lips so close to Gert's neck she fancied she could feel the soft brush of them on her skin. Vi inhaled deeply and then sat back, crossing one leg over the other, her voice taking on a more businesslike tone. "And let us be clear here, so there is no misunderstanding later on. What I am asking you for is one night; I will not kill you or drain you even close to death, but I want to sample your no doubt lovely blood, as well as your equally lovely body."

  Gert stared at her while her mind tried to wrap itself around what Vi had just proposed. "You want me to—what?"

  Vi stood and walked to fireplace, opening a small case on the mantle and taking out a cigarette. "I want you to agree to spend one night with me. During which I will taste, but not damage, your body. In return, I will hunt down and dispose of the beast that has been killing people these last few days."

  She lit the cigarette and took a long drag, blowing smoke out towards the ceiling.

  It was insane. She would be insane to agree to such a proposal, to trust Vi at all. This was no human, but a creature who freely admitted to preying upon others to live. To put herself willingly in such a creature's hands was suicide.

  Unbidden, the endless stream of newspaper article and headlines describing the mutilated, half-eaten bodies that had been found filled her mind. The people—men and women—who already strove to make a living despite hardship and poverty had died because she had failed to stop the creature when she'd had the chance. If she did not do this, how many more would die? No, she could not, in good conscience, let it terrorize New York, putting every citizen at risk. If Vi could find and kill this monster, then Gert could sacrifice herself for one night. For the good of New York.

  "Deal."

  Vi looked vaguely surprised. "Are you sure?"