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Chapter Thirty-One

Deja-Vous outfittedwreck that was left of the 1001 Arabian Knights Hotel and Casino Or so the n said The name madeArthur’s Round Table, but people were a lot less politically correct in the mid-twentieth century The place sat on the bitter south end of the Strip below all the new high-flying hotels, where even the Johnny-coles

It was true va sand beat a tattoo on the deserted hotel’s shabby fifties-Moderne sign out front, still advertising Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorht Steve and Edie who?

This property was clearly condemned The ere boarded over and the entrance was marked: DANGER ACCESS FORBIDDEN Not torazor-wire-topped cyclone fence surrounding everything

I parked Dolly across the Strip at our old ho lived briefly at the Araby Motel, I’d soon found a low-profile parking space for Dolly behind a Duht No reason she needed to associate with that broken-down duhts, not the Araby Motel Maybe that was how thebrother

I felt conspicuous as I crossed the wide street, but nothingdown here The sun had taken a dive behind the Western mountains One of those faint twinkles in the foothills was Los Lobos In an earthy flashback, Ric was sensuously edging my skirt waistband down past my belly button in some instant rewind in the sky and fro lass-strewn sand that surrounded the Arabian Knights The outfit from Deja-Vous was as authentic as it was ridiculous The clerk, a piue, and noted that this getup was hot stuff aarter belt, and white cotton, waist-high, full-coverage panties-ick! I’d read that Elvis had gotten off on those but he was soooo over My get-up was fifties kitsch, not to

But a reporter on the trail will suffer anything for a prime interview and Vil player froht

A mini-tape recorder was stashed under one the ridiculous steel garters those things left welts on ain I had tucked a tiny notepad and pencil up ht, short white sleeve The whole outfit was undersized, with the blouse buttons straining to display ht costuht film of the period

The lobby was empty, dusty, and moth-eaten

A shred of desert wind shuffled all the litter around Ga cards with their nuh the endless rooms

I found a bank of elevators Even back in the forties, Las Vegas hotels aiht This one was only ten stories, but it had been a Tower of Babel in its tiining rat claws

What I saas even worse: a trio of sha black coats of always-cold junkies They slunk along the outer walls like n of weakness

Their eye whites and fangs glittered in slivers of light fronawed coed nearer

I retreated to the elevator bank and paced along the closed doors, pushing dead buttons and wishing for a nail file Let uise would earn me a pass from the chief resident vamp, Vilma had assured ry va closer, for, filthy nails at my arm Undead Ted looked like the prince of varants

Above one set of elevator doors the floor number ten lit up

I can’t explain how spooky that was One floor on one elevator I’d been told so had noticed that I was here and that I wasn’t going away

The light descended slowly on the dusty gilt monitor I pressed , whichva? Didn’t I wish! Above ht Five Three Two One

A ting like ahitThe doors did what elevator doors are supposed to Open

My heart beat me half senseless This hat I wanted, but it was totally spooky

I backed inside and pressed the top button Ten The penthouse That’s where the story was The vaet bold just as the elevator doors snapped shut One pinned a narrow finger in the closing crack, leaving a shriek behind as the car shot upward A convexlands, all the time, in the distorted reflection

The car zoo, twenty-first century speed

When the elevator door opened at the top, a wearyfor nation

"He’s waiting for you You’ll have to pass through security Letlike any cowed modern airport traveler

Wow Inside was a stethoscope A packet of hypodermic needles A bottle of alcohol and lots of cotton balls Latex gloves And an instant ca to h a plain brown door Thehere in the worst way The rooiant shower stall, all white tiles and fluorescent lights No s, no obvious doors I was totally trapped

The lights went nova A deep male robotic voice instructed me to turn with my arms extended I quavered about the presence of my blouse-sleeve notebook, but didn’t set off any alarms

A section of tiled wall opened and I was in another cha spray reen and eucalyptus and I had a sense of being scanned, as if by X-rays

The next room was steam-filled and almost wilted my starched uniforlaring inspection rooether to activate the tape recorder

"Nurse Wretched," a voice declared froiven hts came up

I was not alone Really not alone A half dozen clones of ht white uniforms- flocked around a hospital bed accessorized with trees of IVs and other high-intensity medical paraphernalia

The object of their attention lay sprawled on the sheets beforevath of an abused pony’s hooves and hair long and unkeh to ut, sank

I’d fought nified by rinned to show their sharp canine teeth The breath sounds? Mine I was the only breathing being in this place and I was being monitored as if I were the sick person

"You’re here to h-h-help rabbed the stethoscope, finally understanding what a forgotten nest of undead this place was,the silver circle on that hollow, filthy chest

"You "

"No I can read your state of health through this instru eyes focused onshut, deterh this I actually believed it and he so needed to hear it

The balloon-bosoirls He was used to flunkies, but was essentially a never-satisfied man

I played doctor, rather than nurse, because only an authority figure could get anything out of this lecherous geezer "I believe that unresolved issues fro your recovery now Why did the vampires lose the war?"

Even I sensed the instant suspension of all sensory devices: the security, the girls’ phony solicitousness

"Not lost," he huffed, clutching his bony chest

I iain My medium Silver Even when it was chro with the satisfaction of feeling sos and backed off Those shrunken gurinned up at me, the teeth brown and sharp, like rusty razors

"I canso war stories

I lounged alone on the hospital bed with ly caressed the tape recorder lu it for soed the roouy to fall asleep Then they’d storroup bite I wasn’t as worried about thery vamps on the street level Besides, I bet it was hard to catch the old guy asleep As long as I kept hilory days of yesteryear, I was okay

"So you’re the sole survivor," I encouraged hiernails (thank God I could ditch theray, snarled locks Snow’s hair was sable-soft but right now his metal fa (two guesses what parts were dangling) Playboy Bunny charive away so about him before I left

"Sole survivor" He relished the words the way Nightwine savored mobile olive slices "The sole survivor to stay on, despite all the mob action, even if I had to play dead to do it See,the fact that I likeBoys froht me in to clean up the Alakhaza to take over as interests The only option was to let soot it "You made an alliance with the vaular, like I did Iht and fes that people believed couldn’t be done Nice undergar, by the way I invented that fashion-forward look"

I stared at hi at my conical brassiere

"What?" he deues Better class of h Hefner was just a wannabe hes, or as left of hi, yellowed fingernail, down le away in delight rather than disgust

"You’re quite the aerodynaenius, in the air and in the sack," I cooed "So who did the deed? Who bit you over to the Dark Side?"

"I’d only let a wo of mine She was a beauty Dark-haired like you Built Lips red as roses I was going to lanced at the hovering nurses, ere clearly slavering over in neck, wrists, and femoral arteries All brunet Criht out of a Hah Rocky Transylvanian Horror Show Mountain High I’d fit right in if I didn’t figure out an escape ploy

I’d read up on Howard Hughes during as, but ca shortly after And he had indeed been asked by the mob to clean up the situation at the hotel His playboy days were fading then, and he probably was tending toward the obsessive-co up in a string of hotels he owned, possessed of a germ mania but in a skeletal, filthy, unkeernails like claws

His reported death and burial in the seventies and the location and state of his huge assets and will remained lucrative tabloid paper mysteries for years He could darn well be exactly what he seemed to be: a madman who had ling

Meanwhile, I needed to know ernail coil in his iron-gray chest hair Singular, as in one hair "Tell me who bit you into eternity? I need a rolesquinted at me "Looked a lot like you A Black Dahlia Dark devilish hair, heavenly blue eyes, wanton red lips Vida was her name"

Vida Spanish for "life" She couldn’t possibly be-? No But she could still be alive, so to speak

He went on re "She worked for the olves, but her heart had turned va with her body I suggested they turn her all the way just for me, so I could pick who’d suck me into immortality"

The selfish bastard!

"Where is she now?" Poor undead woed "She had issues Left for California with soe County, when I could have made her a star here So Now I a questions and become my bride I need another one"

"I don’t date olderall white even my undies

A scrawny but powerful arlected-knife-drawer teeth

Around ot the first bite, they would get seconds Pickings were lean around here Sharp nails dug intos for their master

I was immobile, helpless, out of options

Then I felt that faarter belt past th push-up, push-out bra to my neck

Va collar suddenly circling um line as he screa and flailing in all directions The shocked nurses froze, and then zeroed in on the blood pooling at their olden opportunity for the blood-based set, and there is no loyalty a bloodsuckers

I rolled off the bed, scrambled to my feet, and dashed back the way I had coainst the white tile walls In the hall I skipped the elevators and ran clattering down the fire stairs

Down the last turn I ran into a free-range varabbed the iron railing and kicked hard at his chest, sending hi down like a die cube on a table

I clattered after hi to butt-kicking boots Maybe nurses needed that edge

He fell into his two buddies, who kicked hiain, and est joint in the hu into ribs, collarbones, noses Ordinarily vaive and break noredat my carotid arteries, one on each side They hadn’t seencollar in the dark Between the mythic power of silver and the stubborn nature of Snow’s faashed theirrivers I kicked theli reflexively at each other

I kept running

The night was dark and the traffic was nil, but Dolly aiting in the Araby Motel lot across the street, her headlights on and her engine racing like a Stephen King car

I er seat Dude? Dog Quicksilver sat there panting, his tongue alray chest hairs

I never wanted to think about a gray chest hair again

But the poor dog had run his pads off to find Dolly, andout the passenger door to down so

Wait! Another as grinning vacantly at myThank God I’d left the top up

Not a wino A half-were I opened the heavy door hard into its torso and cauess I had one Quicksilver leapt the broad Caddy hood in one bound and landed clan on the flattened half-were, tearing out its throat with one shake of his hty head and jaws

I fell back into the driver’s seat, while Quicksilver snarled and ran doo of threeshadows All half-weres

I knew he’d taken out the half-werelot, but I hadn’t seen the carnage up close, in living color A rich river of blood was oozing toward Dolly’s left front tire

Quick was plenty busy doing things I didn’t want to see, although I couldn’t help hearing thenition and eased Dolly back out of the blood flow The dog was part wolfhound What part of that didn’t I get? He was born to hunt and kill wolves To protect flocks And to him, I was flock I was lucky to have him Half-weres were predator scum, not even "unhuman," as Ric put it I just didn’t like to see where those teeth had been

I had a chance to think while Quicksilver finished doing his business Expecting a quick exit tonight, I’d left Dolly unlocked with the keys in the glove conition Quicksilver and his clever paws and teeth? Dolly herself? Snow’s pretty da dog collar was now a chare Cadillacs

So, I wondered, was this little mobile accessory of mine the Mark of the Devil, or a protective talis ? Hair, after all, is a literal "lock" and is associated with my namesake

Who kneho cared? Maybe Sno and I cared, but right now all I wanted was to get the hell out of here

Quicksilver hopped into the passenger seat and I leaned far over to pull the wide door shut I revved that Caddy engine and we blasted out onto the Strip, heading for the bright lights of Las Vegas Central due north

Chapter Thirty-Two

Ric called ot back the next day "Man, what a ht at Los Lobos You ready to rock ’n’ roll?"

Hearing the soul-deep weariness in his voice, I decided thatmy petty personal problems waswasn’t the best medicine for a burned-out traveler, but I was too selfish

"Salsa," I corrected, "but it’s not the full moon quite yet"

"We’ll make it so"

"Yes, sir, Captain Picard"

"Where are the hot-mama low-rider jeans?" Ric asked when he picked me up outside Hector’s estate I respected his decision not to confront Quicksilver on his own turf yet

I fluffed my turquoise silk skirt in the car "I felt festive"

My fluffing gesture had le like spurs

"Nice bracelet Navaho work, isn’t it?"

"Uone Native A skirt "Yeah, I guess"

"You didn’t knohen you bought it?"

"I found lots of old silver jewelry at estate sales in Kansas"

I told myself that I hadn’t-actually lied to Ric; I just hadn’t hit him in the face with Snow’s nasty little per the truth with hied the subject pronto

"The turquoise doesn’t quite nized the vintage plastic heels fro shoes, chica? Or mine?"

That was another subject I didn’t want to delve into, what could happen between us tonight Haskell’s ugly innuendos had tainted the growing ease of my relationship with Ric

"So what happened where you were?" I asked "Or can’t I know?"

" Juarez"

I eyed his taut-jawed profile against the passing headlights, wondering if Captain Malloy had ever had this view

"Oh The thousands of factory girlon for decades Itbeen haunted recently by ht brown hair

His lips tightened, if that was possible "I’ve been on it since I joined the FBI, fresh out of Quantico a few years ago That’s when they started calling me the Cadaver Kid Sometimes I find the fresh dead You would swear life had just kissed their cheeks goodbye There’s soood to settle their faet police evidence, but many of them don’t make it from the coroner’s facility to a funeral home"

"Why not?"

"Hijacked," he said tersely "Their bodies have hardly deteriorated If they’re raised as zo corpses are in high demand as CinSim material"

"Ghastly! Can’t anyone stop it?"

"Nobody’s stopped Juarez," he said "It often suits the powerful to use tragedies to enrich theain "Soile as precious parched to reveal theely ue victiirls It was like being clawed at by "

Groupies? I alerous?"

"Da lords and traffickers in hus Police chiefs don’t last twenty-four hours before being gunned down, and US border forces and drug and iht, tortured, and killed within a day of entering the city"

"Ric!"

"That’s why they want ent and there’s alwayscorpses This tient they’d done a torture voodoo act on The body had to be brought up in pieces At least the CinSilad I didn’t knohere you were and what you were doing It’s a wonder you don’t have post-trau e

"I need to be there A lot of bodies have needed finding over the years Sos of slers, thieves, and rapists Nobody really cares about the deaths of these young wolos who run the border factories like the cheap labor and provide buses that are about as secure as a sieve The workers often have to stay overti hours send theive much respect to women out after dark They’re picked off by the border predators so fast that a girl can be seen leaving the factory one night and sleep in a shallow grave by the next "

"All human predators?"

"No" He was silent for a while "Vaional boogeyoat-killer It’s been described as everything from a small half-alien, half-dinosaur tailless va down its back to a pantherlike creature with a long snaky tongue to a hopping animal that leaves a trail of sulfuric stench So experi The UFO nuts call such creatures Anoical Entities, aka ABEs"

I had a shuddersome memory of the trio of dead cows near Wichita That half-dinosaur tail ree reptilian track I’d found there

"Have you ever seen such a thing out on the desert?" I asked