Business Makes Strange Bedfellows

by E. E. Ottoman

  Marion knocked on the door again, and Gert strode to the door and opened it. "I would love breakfast to be brought to me in my study this morning, Marion," she said. "And then a bath to be drawn after that. I do not want to be disturbed. I will be working late today."

  "Very good." Marion bobbed and curtsied and headed back down the hall towards the kitchen while Gert went back to her desk.

  Could she? Did she dare? She stayed down at her notes and charts, but if she didn't, what good had been her life's research?

  The door opened and Marion came in carrying a breakfast tray. She moved some of the more incriminating pages out of the way and stacked them under more mundane research on the desk.

  "I'll run the bath." Marion put the tray on the desk and turned back towards the door. She reached for the silver coffee pot.

  Once she had eaten, bathed, and changed into a fresh suit, she headed out to begin acquiring supplies. Since she'd become a patron and member of the Society, they had been able to afford cadavers for experimentation. They had, however, never been able to qualify through proper channels for the same quality of cadavers as Colombia. Instead they had to settle for corpses too old or damaged for Colombia University or any of New York's teaching hospitals.

  This time she did not bother with proper channels. There were less reputable ways to acquire a body. It turned out there were plenty of people in New York willing to sell the body of their dearly departed straight off the deathbed, if the price was right.

  The tiny old mortician she found on the Lower East Side of the island operated out of funeral parlor down a narrow, twisting alley did not ask why she wanted the bodies, and she did not ask him where he'd gotten them.

  She could not have them brought the Society's labs. She also did not want to risk having them delivered to her apartment since she resided in a more upper class neighborhood and people would surely notice and talk.

  There was a small slaughterhouse her parents had invested in at one point that was no longer functioning. She hadn't sold it yet because she'd always thought the facility would make a fine lab. She had the bodies sent to the address and then went there to clean up the space and begin the preparation that needed to happen before she would be able to use it.

  The space was as she had remembered it, not large but with tiled floors, hooks still hanging from the brick walls and ceiling, and long drains running the length of the room. There was even a spigot set low on one wall to facilitate cleaning the floor. Shedding her jacket, tie, and waistcoat, she rolled her sleeves up to the elbows and went to procure herself a broom, bucket of hot water and scrub brush.

  By the time the sun began to wane the space was clean enough for her to begin work. She would go back to her apartment to dine and pick up her notes before coming back in time to inspect the bodies once they were delivered, she thought rolling back down her sleeves and reaching for her coat. The night would give her plenty of time to work.

  She thought of Vi and the night before, the way Vi had touched and held her and stifled a sigh of regret. Vi had been clear she only wanted the one night and nothing else. She would have to learn to live with that.

  Work was the answer; she needed to concentrate on her work.

  *~*~*

  The bodies were indeed in excellent condition, she tagged them all, took their measurements, and recorded them along with a quick sketch of each before putting aside her notes and reaching for the saw.

  She'd brought a small generator, her knives, other medical equipment, and all of her already reanimated specimens from the Society's lab along with her notes from her apartment to set the lab up properly.

  The skeleton was the hardest. She had to saw bones apart, file them down, and fit them back together with metal supports to make it the proper size for her purposes. The body would need to be smaller, not adult-sized since she didn't think she'd be able to reanimate that much flesh, but children's bodies were hard to come by even on the black market.

  Soon into the project, the air was choked with bone dust making it hard to breathe or see. On top of which, she had to stop halfway through to acquire properly sized supports and bolts.

  Finally, on the third day, she staggered out of the laboratory in search of coffee, having not slept but nearly completed the skeleton.

  She was stumbling down the street toward a café that might still be open when someone grabbed her arm. She spun, raising her cane and then blinked up at Vi.

  "Gertrude? Are you all right? You look awful." Vi was frowning, expression concerned, Gert tried to gather her sleep-deprived wits.

  "I'm fine." She licked her lips and tasted blood—they must have cracked from lack of water or rest—her body felt heavy, her eye stung and itched. She hadn't changed in several days and was still in her thoroughly bedraggled trousers and shirtsleeves. There was no doubt at this point quite large circles under her eyes as well. "I've just been working."

  "You look like you need food and then several hours sleep." Vi ushered her down the street hand still firmly on her arm, although she did not try to resist.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked instead.

  "I was out on business." Vi tugged her into a dark little restaurant, just one long narrow room with small tables set up. "I saw you from across the street. What are you doing here?"

  "I told you." Gert passed her hand over her face as Vi pressed her down into a chair. "I was working."

  "Stay here," Vi said, hands on her shoulders. "I'm going to get you something to eat."

  At the table, Gert stared down at the ceramic tabletop, trying to make her eyes work correctly. A cup of what smelled like very dark black coffee was slid in front of her, along with a large bowl of soup containing sausage and rice in a fragrant broth, and a large piece of crusty bread.

  One sip of soup was all it took for her stomach to remember how hungry she was, and she tucked into the food with a vengeance. The coffee was good too, just a strong has it had smelled. She drank it fast enough to burn the roof of her mouth.

  "Thank you," she said when she finally came up for air.

  Vi, sitting on the other side of the table smoking a cigarette, shrugged. "I know the owner. What are you working on that requires so much attention you forget to eat?"

  She laughed at that, reaching for the rest of her coffee. "I get caught up in my work all the time when there is no abominable hell creatures running around New York."

  "Still doing reanimation experiments?" Vi was frowning, but Gert nodded, trying to keep her expression neutral.

  "Always."

  For a long moment Vi stared at her, still frowning, and then stubbed out her cigarette. "I know our agreement was only for a single night," she said. "And you seem to be very busy, but I was wondering if you would dine with me?"

  "Like we're doing right now?" Gert asked, waving to the table between them, her empty dishes, and Vi's ashtray.

  Vi's smile was more a bearing of teeth, including the flash of fangs that made Gert instantly think of their night together and Vi's lips on her wrist. "Not really."

  "All right." She wanted to reach across the table and take Vi's hand, but she wasn't sure Vi would want that. "Something different, then."

  "You should get back to your apartment and get some sleep." Vi stood, pulling a few dollars out of a billfold. "I have an errand I need to run."

  Standing as well, she stretched. "Then I will see you again, at a later date?"

  Vi smiled this time, amused. "Yes."

  "Well, until then." She smiled back before heading for the door and Vi followed her out.

  She went to hail a cab, but before she could, Vi pulled her into the alley that ran along next to the restaurant and kissed her soundly."I've been wanting to do that since the last time we met," she said, voice low when they pulled apart, and Gert kissed Vi back hard and insistent. Her hands slipped underneath Vi's jacket and grip her waist.

  Vi's hands went straight to cup Gert's ass, making her groan and push herself closer. "I want
you."

  "Not in the alley," Vi said, but she didn't let Gert go and didn't stop Gert when her own hands wandered to Vi's backside. Instead she slid one leg between her's, bringing her thigh up high for Gert to grind against. With a gasp, she pressed herself down onto Vi, rocking her hips back and forth while her hands came up to cup Vi's breasts. She pulled at Vi's tie until it came undone and pushed the first two buttons through their holes so she could slip her hand into Vi's shirt.

  Vi sighed and hummed appreciatively. She bent to nibble along Gert's neck and kiss behind her ear. "I want to bite you."

  The memory of the pain, the look in Vi's eyes, how hard she'd come the last time, made her grind herself harder against Vi's muscular leg, She was wet and pulsing. The friction against her cunt felt so good; the pain of Vi's teeth against her neck would be good too. The idea that someone passing by might seem them sent another thrill through her, made her wetter and her heart race. "Yes. Please."

  Nuzzling back down her neck, Vi grazed the skin with her teeth, making her shiver before she bit down. She gasped and clutched at Vi's shoulders, fingers pressing tight enough to dig into the muscles underneath Vi's shirt and jacket. The pain was intense, a sharp, sucking sensation she felt all the way down to her toes as if Vi was trying to draw the blood from her entire body. She muffled a cry of pain against Vi's shoulder, even as her hips continued to push and grind against Vi's hip. She was so close, so wet and hot. Vi sucked harder, sending pain landing down her spine, and she whimpered, thrusting against Vi.

  A cab went by on the main road, its wheels clattering loudly against the stone, and she turned her head just enough to make out its dark shape. If anyone had looked out of the cab window, they probably would have been found it out, and the very idea made her groan and speed up her thrusts, biting her lip until she tasted blood.

  She came shaking in Vi's arms. Vi waited a second or two before pulling her fangs back from her neck. She lapped up the trickle of blood from the holes and readjusted the collar of Gert's shirt to hide the marks. There was a wet mark on her trousers, and the holes in her neck ached and throbbed. Her whole body, but most especially her breasts and her cunt, felt over-sensitized and tender.

  "Now." Vi kissed her, quick but light. "You should get back to your apartment and try to get some sleep."

  "I should." She thought her cheeks were probably flushed and her hair was a mess, but there was nothing to be done about that. She headed for the main road, but at the entrance to the alley she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "Have a good evening."

  Vi only smiled, lazy and satisfied, where she leaned against a brick wall, her arms crossed over her chest. She'd redone the buttons of her shirt and knotted her silk tie. With a last look, Gert turned away and stepped out to the street to hail a cab.

  *~*~*

  The musculature was the next hard part, and the veins. It took days of painstaking work, and all the while she worried that the bodies would spoil. She was keeping them packed in long metal chests filled with bricks of ice, but still. The work was so precise, so delicate and therefore time-consuming, she feared she would need to buy new bodies before the project was done.

  Reanimating the organs would be child's play. She'd already done it many times before, after all. The brain would be the most difficult part—she wasn't sure at all she'd be able to do it. There was a great difference between stimulating a brain and having it function normally. She was also not sure what reanimating a once-dead brain would do. Would it retain memories from its past life, or be completely new? There would be no way to tell until she'd installed it into the body.

  She stopped and stretched her arms over her head before walking to the spigot to wash off her hands. God, she was tired. When she was working she barely noticed, but as soon as she stopped, the fatigue set in. She wasn't sleeping again, barely going back to her apartments for some food and a change of clothing. It was just that there was no time; if she waited, if she stopped, it would all spoil and be for naught.

  Marion had packed her sandwiches last time she'd been home, and she pulled one out and leaned against one wall, chewing slowly. The windowless room was frigid, but she had gotten used to that, along with the smell of blood and viscera. Her gaze drifted to the worktable again. She would need to use strips of flesh, only a few inches at a time, and sew them together; she didn't think she could reanimate any more than that at any one time. It would not be a perfect solution, but it was the best she could come up with.

  She finished off her sandwich and dusted the crumbs from her hands. It had been a few days since her last encounter with Vi in the alley, and so far Vi had not tried to contact her, although she had checked each time she returned to her apartment. It was slightly disappointing, although the memory of that evening with Vi in the restaurant and then what they'd done afterwards still made her stomach flip and her blood heat with desire. More than that, Vi said she wanted something beyond their one night's arrangement, and judging by what they'd done, she was not interested in mere friendship either.

  Were they lovers? She reached for one of her knives. Or was it too soon to be thinking like that? She hoped not. She'd never had a long-term lover before, but there was something different about Vi, the easiness with which she handled the strange and unexplained that filled Gert's world and usually put people off. And there was something else about Vi; the fact that she had dimples when she smiled, the gracefulness of her movements, the way she always smelled like spice, smoke, and warmth even though she was always cool to the touch. Gert found herself smiling a little foolishly as she turned back to her work.

  *~*~*

  When she walked into her apartment that evening expecting to gulp down a hot meal, bathe, and leave again, she found Vi in her sitting room.

  "Vi!" Gert pulled off her coat while Vi stood.

  "I'm sorry for not sending word ahead," Vi said."I know you've been busy."

  "No, I'm glad you're here." Gert smiled up at her. "Did you come for that dinner?"

  "If you like." Vi was smiling too, hands shoved in her pockets, and she took a few steps forward until they were very close.

  "I would like it." She reached out, resting her hand lightly on the lapel of Vi's jacket. Vi's expression clouded a little, becoming almost tentative.

  "Are you still working on the same project that's been keeping you so busy?"

  "I am." She walked to the sideboard and poured herself a drink. "Although trying to get more sleep." She smiled over her should at Vi even though it was a lie. Vi didn't seem convinced but seemed to let the subject drop.

  "I know when we first began our acquaintance and partnership, I was very set on the idea that we should not become involved," she said instead, sitting back down onto the settee as Gert turned back towards her holding a glass of port. "I still think there are things about me and my nature that could potentially pose a threat to you. However—" She sighed, looking pensive again for a moment before shaking it off. She looked up, expression earnest and more open than Gert had ever seen before. "I have come to regret what I said. I care for you a great deal. I would like very much to take you as my lover."

  Her heart skipped a beat, and she clutched at the glass she held in her hands. "Vi, I—"

  "If you do not wish to," Vi put in hurriedly, "I will more than understand."

  "No." Gert took a step forward. "No, I would very much like to."

  Vi's eyes widened and then a smile bloomed across her lips. "Good," she said with a small laugh, and held out her hand to Gert, who gladly took it and allowed Vi to guide her to sit, curled against her side on the settee.

  "So do you have a case now?" She took a sip of her port while Vi pulled out a cigarette.

  "Just running some errands for a friend."

  "Do you have a lot of cases like mine?" She had always wondered what kind of cases Vi took asides from her own.

  Vi laughed. "No, I've never had a case like yours. Most of my cases do deal with the unusual, though, the supernatural an
d the strange. Cases to find people who go missing under mysterious and sinister circumstances, hauntings, and cursed objects."

  "And do you get a lot of these sorts of cases?" Once again, she found herself fascinated by this more genuine side of the occult world.

  "Enough to get by." Vi lit her cigarette.

  Someone cleared their throat by the doorway. Marion stood there eyeing Vi's cigarette disapprovingly. "Should I set another place for dinner?"

  "No need. I will be dining later tonight," Vi said with a smirk, and Gert nodded.

  "Just one place setting will be fine, Marion."

  Marion gave one more reproachful look at Vi, probably afraid she was going to leave ash on the settee before turning away.

  "So," she said as the door closed behind Marion. "You will be dining later?"

  "If you will allow me." Vi picked up her hand and kissed the palm.

  "It would be my pleasure," She said, and meant it. She enjoyed the pain and intimacy of having Vi feed.

  Vi pulled her close for a kiss, arms looped tight around Gert's waist. The kiss was slow, unhurried but thorough. For a moment after they parted, she hesitated, torn. She needed to get back to work; she could not afford to waste a whole night. And yet being here with Vi, relaxed and comfortable in Vi's arms, wasn't making her want to leave. Maybe her work could wait for a few hours at least.

  "Stay the night," Gert said, and Vi smiled.

  *~*~*

  It was almost time. The body was almost prepared and then all that would be left to do would be to reanimate the brain.

  Her hands shook as she fitted the brain into the skull and went about sewing up the scalp. It would be too much trauma, too much of a risk to reanimate the brain outside of the body and pace it inside the head already alive. She'd place the brain in the body and use a metal peg as a catalyst for the electricity needed to reanimate this final piece.

  She found when she put it in though that she was more nervous than she could ever remember being. Tracking the creature, being trapped in the alley without a weapon while it tried to kill her, had been less terrifying than this.