by Kater Cheek
“All right, if you say so.” She went up the stairs again and set them outside. “How are those boughs coming along?”
“Not so good. I’m not even half done. If I can’t get them all done in time, it will make me look bad.” And I still had all the Christmas arrangements to do, which had to be done before the end of November, at the very latest.
“These are rather nice.” She picked one up and set it down again quickly enough to give lie to the idea that she was interested in my work. “What are you doing tonight?”
“I was going to come here and work on these some more, maybe watch television.”
Elaina rocked back and forth on her heels. “I invited Ulrich over.”
“And you want me to find someplace else to be?” I wound up the cord on the hot glue gun and started stacking my materials in the corner.
She nodded. “How long were you going to be at the dojo for?”
“Two, three hours. Depends upon the schedule.” Rob had a chemistry lab from four to seven, so it was a safe time to work out. Funny, I used to plan my schedule around when he’d be there, now I planned it around his absence. “What time is Ulrich supposed to be over?”
“Eight thirty.”
“And how late is he going to stay?”
“We’re going to watch a movie together, so, maybe until eleven.”
That would work out fine; if I really was going to meet Holzhausen I wouldn’t be home until after then. “I’ll try not to be home before eleven. But you’re gonna owe me.” Which meant that I’d have to go to Ishmael’s, where whoever it was had been waiting for me. Well, so what? I couldn’t stay away from James forever.
***
It was already dark by the time I got to Ishmael’s. Jolene, James, and the new employee, Barnabus, were working hard to keep up with the crowd.
“Need some help?”
James glanced at me over the heads of the line of thirsty people. “Yeah, go get another bag of Sumatran from the break room.”
I brought the bag back, and dumped it in the grinder, then refilled the bins of sugar packets, then got another package of paper cups. James and the others were still making drinks as fast as they could, so I went to bus, clearing the cups and wiping off spills from the few empty tables.
“In tales of old always the grogoch clean for the humans, not the reverse.” Suddenly Ulrich appeared in front of me, sitting in what I thought was an empty chair.
“Jesus!”
“No, not he.” Ulrich smiled. “But why do you toil here? James said he banished you anon.”
“I quit, I just came to take a break from work.”
“Oh?” Ulrich handed me his dirty napkin. “This is not work?”
“It’s different work, so it’s a break.” I set the stack of trash on the table and sat down. “When are you gonna show me how to make myself invisible like that?”
“This is no easy magic you ask to learn,” he said. “We would need meet thrice weekly for a year and a day.”
“I’m okay with that.”
“I am loathe to spend such effort for no gain.”
“So, we’ll bargain.”
“What have you to bargain with?”
“I hear you have a date with my new roommate tonight.”
“Aye.”
I leaned forward. “If you give me lessons in that invisibility thing, I promise not to come back home until late tonight.”
“Not enough.”
“And any other night that you want to be alone with her.”
Ulrich hesitated.
“And I’ll put in a good word for you, talk you up if your name gets mentioned.”
“Tis true I find her fair—”
“And I’ll owe you a favor.”
Ulrich spat discreetly into a cup. “I will teach you.”
“When?”
“After Christ’s Mass. Till then I have no time. May you have more patience than your brother.” His eyes flicked up towards the clock. “Let us commence your payment. Tonight I shall seek to win Elaina’s heart.”
“Good luck. As for me, I’m gonna help James out a little more, then make him give me a chai.” I picked up the trash again, and dumped it, then claimed a stool behind the bar. It had finally slowed down enough for Barnabus to clock out, but not enough that James and Jolene didn’t need my help.
James sidled up next to me, as I was putting lids on drinks. “What are you doing here, Kit?”
“Needed to take a break from working on boughs.” I set the cups down on the pick-up counter and reached back to make another drink. “Thought I’d come over and give you a hand.”
“How come you aren’t out with Fenwick? Don’t you guys usually go drinking on Friday nights?”
“He must have had other plans.” Cammie must have asked him out. Did he say yes? Not my business. It wasn’t like I had his ring on my finger.
“Did you talk to him yet?”
“I haven’t seen him for a while.” For over a week, actually. It wasn’t like I was avoiding him, really, it’s just that I’d been going to the dojo at odd times. “And I kind of have plans for tonight.”
“With someone else?” Another guy, he meant.
“Sort of. Hey, you’re out of cinnamon.” I shook the empty canister upside down with no results. “Is there more in the back room?”
“No, we’re totally out. Do you have a date tonight?”
“Nosy, nosy. Jesus, you’re worse than a woman. No, actually, I got a letter from someone who says he knows something about my bindi. He asked me to meet him tonight. I wanted to borrow your computer again and look it up.”
“It’s upstairs. What’s the address?”
“Hang on.” I washed my hands and wiped them on a towel before pulling the letter out of my jacket pocket. “I’m still not sure if I want to go or not, I mean, ten p.m. is an odd time to meet a stranger, but he was more polite than anyone else, and he said he had information.”
And he was one of the five people who had been on the museum committee.
Jolene caught sight of the letter lying on the bar, and made a funny sound, somewhere between a gasp and a snort.
“You know the address, Jolene?”
Jolene nodded. “That’s the Guild House.”
“You sure?” James asked.
“Of course I’m sure,” she said. “I’m in the Guild.”
Jolene? Jolene was in the Guild? Wasn’t the Guild supposed to be comprised of politicians, businessmen, crime lords?
“You’re in the Guild.” I made it dryly disbelieving.
She nodded, smiling wide enough to show her fangs.
“So, you know this guy?”
Jolene pulled the card out of the envelope. When she had read it, she handed it back, face even paler.
“You have to go. You don’t want to make the Guild Leader angry. He’s very powerful.” Jolene sniffed at my clothes. “And take a shower.”
I sniffed under my arms. She had a point.
“Help yourself.” James handed me the key to his apartment. “I think you left some clothes here.”
“I did?”
“That yellow dress.”
“I hate that dress.” It fit perfectly, so I couldn't throw it away without feeling guilty, but I was hoping if I left it there long enough he’d give it to charity. “But I think I will take a shower.”
And then I needed to corner Jolene, and find out everything possible about Mr. G. Holzhausen.
An hour later I was clean, dressed in the tacky yellow dress, and trying to figure out what to do about my bindi. Wear the real one, or wear a fake? Wearing the real one would let me see if there was anything unnatural. Wearing a fake would give me an out if this Holzhausen guy tried to steal it from me.
My bangs were long enough that they had to be parted to one side, but quick work with some scissors cut them just above my eyebrows. With some of James’ hair gel and a comb, the bangs hid the real bindi, with the fake one visible just at the top of my
nose. Perfect.
James had come in to the apartment while I was changing in the bathroom, and was now sitting on the couch reading a magazine. He appraised me, scowling only at my ancient penny loafers. “Looks good.”
I snorted and sat down on the couch, trying to get the rest of my hair to dry. “No, it looks like I got the dress on sale off the discount rack, and the shoes just after I graduated high school, which I did.”
“It’s better than what you were wearing before. You don’t want this guy to think you don’t take him seriously.” He scowled again, and this time it was the protective big brother scowl. “I’m still not sure you should go.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“What do you know about the Guild?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Just rumors. You know, Seabingen’s yakuza. The hidden power behind the city. The secret society that makes people disappear when they double cross them. I can’t believe Jolene is a member though; she hardly seems smart enough to tie her shoes. You think she was making stuff up?”
James shook his head. “She showed you her fangs.”
“Yeah, and that was weird. What was that all about?”
“You ever hear the Guild called the Vampire Guild?”
“Yeah, so?”
James didn’t say anything.
“You’re not serious?”
He nodded.
“The Vampire Guild? You’re telling me that the Guild is really a society of vampires? All of them?”
“Why do you think they have so much power?”
“Because they have money. Because they know people in power, because they … Jesus, it totally makes sense. Does everyone know this?”
“No. Jolene told me only after I figured out she was a vampire. You see how well they can fit in with normal people.”
“Yeah.” Except when I had the bindi on, they looked human. Well, humans with fangs, but it was hard to notice the fangs unless you knew they were there.
I racked my brain for everything I’d heard about the Guild. It wasn’t much. “They say you can’t cross a Guild member, because the Guild protects their own.”
James nodded, but his thoughts must not have been where mine were, because he didn’t look worried. “What do you think the Guild Leader wants with your bindi?”
“Same thing everyone else wants, probably. He probably wants to buy it.” I reached down to touch my panty hose. Damn, was that a run?
“You’re not going to sell it to him, are you?”
“No, but he was polite enough to get a ‘no’ in person.”
“It might be dangerous to go alone. You should take someone, Jolene maybe.”
“No way. I wouldn’t go with her to the ladies’ room.”
“What about Fenwick? What’s he doing tonight anyway?
“Out with another girl.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” James touched my arm. “I really thought he liked you, seeing the way he treats you when he’s here.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly a hot commodity.” But I wasn’t that ugly, was I? I was fit. Some guys liked that.
Oh yeah? Then how come none of them flirted with me at the dojo?
“But maybe Fenwick will be home from his date by nine-thirty. I’ll stop by and see if he wouldn’t mind coming with me.”
What was Cammie going to invite him to do? See a show, and then out for sushi afterward. And then? And then would he invite her to his apartment? Make love to her? Except in her case it wouldn’t be a sympathy lay. She was the kind of girl a guy wouldn’t mind introducing his parents to.
“What’s that look for?”
“What?”
“You look like you’re upset about something.”
“No, I’m fine.” I picked up my jacket and handed him his key. “I should go.”
“It's jealousy, isn't it? You’re attracted to him.”
I sighed. I had never seen him as boyfriend material before, but now I couldn’t think of anything else. If only he hadn’t slept with me. ‘Just friends’ had been perfect until there was another option. “See you later, James.”
Maybe it was just force of habit that made me drive the van east and north towards Fenwick’s apartment instead of south towards the Guild House. It was asking for trouble to just go up to his door and knock without calling first.
I shut the van door, and started to climb the steps to his apartment. What if he were with her? What if she was naked in his bed? Knocking on his door would mean a nasty surprise for all of us. My hand paused, about to knock.
It would be better to just turn and go without ever letting him know I’d been here. Casual, not clingy. A friend, not an unflushable girl-he-slept-with.
And if he knew how much I cared for him, what would he think? That he was my second choice after Rob? Maybe he would be right. What if this was just a rebound crush?
But it didn’t feel like a crush. It felt like a really deep friendship with some brand-new sexual attraction as icing. And there was a perfectly good explanation for me coming here. I was inviting him along for moral support, not dropping by unexpectedly to see if he really was sleeping with that chick. If she answered, I could just, could just—
Just nothing. I still hadn’t knocked. If Cammie was here, it would be really, really bad. Just turn and go without ever letting him know I’d been here.
The door opened, and Fenwick appeared, still dressed in his work polo and khakis. His hair was brushed and pulled back into its usual ponytail, not mussed by someone’s fingers. No lipstick stains marred his face, no trace of perfume tainted his clothes. My relief bubbled up into a smile.
“Hey, Kit. I thought I heard someone. You’re dressed nice. What’s the occasion?”
“I, um, I have to, that is, I have to see someone tonight, and I was going to ask you to come along.”
“See someone?”
I nodded and handed him the note. “It’s about my bindi. It might be dangerous.”
Fenwick scanned the note, but didn’t say anything about the address. “Who is this guy?”
“One of the members of the museum committee. According to Jolene, he’s also the Guild Leader. This is supposed to be the Guild House address.”
He handed it back. “Let me get this straight. You want to walk into the Guild House, meet the Guild Leader, and explain why you won’t sell him the bindi either?”
“Yeah, pretty much, except you left out the part where I pump him for information.”
“Sounds insanely dangerous.”
“Yeah. Well, if you don’t want to go, then—”
“I’m not saying I won’t go,” Fenwick was already grabbing his jacket and keys. “I’m just saying it sounds dangerous.”
“Well, cool.”
“Tell me something,” Fenwick asked as we started to drive down the street. “Your bindi lets you spot vampires too, right?”
I nodded.
“That guy in the bar, Ted Palmer, he was a vampire, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at him. “How did you know?”
“Smell.”
“Oh. Makes sense.”
“Is it true that the Guild is a society of vampires?”
I raised my eyebrows. He knew that too? Fenwick was full of surprises tonight. “That’s what James says. Jolene claims to be a member, and she’s a vampire, which you probably know from smelling her. Guess we’ll find out tonight.”
There was nothing to say after that, and the silence grew thick and heavy with the conversation we needed to have. Except maybe he didn’t care. Maybe it meant nothing to him. That’s the way guys did things, right?
“I haven’t seen you much recently.”
“I’ve been going to the dojo at different times. I’ve been trying to avoid Rob.”
“You’ve been avoiding me too.”
Yes. “No, of course not. I’ve just been busy with work, that’s all.”
“I’d like to see the boughs before you give them to Silvara. Can I come over
sometime?”
“They won’t be done for a while.” I pointed to the floor in the back. “Could you reach back there and find the map I printed? I’m not sure where this place is, but I think we’re close.”
We weren’t, but it took him five minutes to find the map, and another few minutes to figure out that the dome light was broken, and by that time we were at the river and I had already spotted River Front Drive.
In the movies, the vampires are always lurking in dark caves or castles high up on a gloomy cliff. The Vampire Guild of Seabingen met instead in one of the houseboats docked along the frontage road on the river. It didn’t look much like a boat, more like a house, and a nice one at that.
Fenwick and I double-checked the address as we approached the small bridge leading from the bank to the porch and heavy wooden door. A shadowy figure sat in a chair on the landward side. Another vampire.
The night wasn’t that dark, nights in the city rarely are. There was light from the moon and from the houselights in Bromley across the river, and from the streetlight fifty feet away, and from the neighboring houseboats’ windows (though not from this one).
The sky had that faintly glowing pink color it gets when it’s overcast at night. And yet, it was difficult to see the vampire clearly. He was a dark smudge against the back of the chair. It was as if the darkness gathered around him, helping him hide even with ample light.
“Yes?” His welcome was not overly warm. He stuffed a thick finger in the spine of a paperback book, which he had apparently been reading in the dim light.
“I am, uh, someone asked me to meet him here.” I handed him the note.
The vampire read it and handed it back. “And him?” He nodded at Fenwick.
“He’s with me.” I blinked. During our conversation the vampire had melded from black on black to gray on gray.
He nodded, as if it didn’t matter that much. “You packing?”
“No.”
He frisked us anyway, and confiscated my utility knife. “Show your letter to the guard at the door.” The vampire wrapped his trench coat tighter around himself like a cape.
Fenwick and I walked across the plank bridge, our footsteps echoing against the still water of the river. I turned back to look at the guard again. He looked human. Whatever the bindi showed me, it was only temporary, like the colored flashes of a retinal burn to warn you not to look at the sun.
