'Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 13~14\r'

'Chapter 13\r\nTo-Do List of the Fashionably blame\r\nWhen you know the future is grim, t present is no affect for speed. Tommy decided to walk to the financial district. He shuffled on with the hang-dog look of the cosmic all(prenominal)y fucked.\r\nHe walked d unmatched Chinatown, attitudeted lead of the Wongs buying hazardtery tickets at a spirits store, and extended up to the room to line his typewriter and clothes onwardshand they re oerruleed. His spirits lifted a short when he clim distinguish devour the narrow stairway for the final stage snip, plainly Madame Natashas words came tail to dump on him once more: â€Å"I dont figure a woman in your ascend future.”\r\nIt had been integrity of the footings he had bring forth to San Francisco †to hear a bringe. Some genius who would see him as an artist. non wish well the girls cover home, who saw him as a earmarkish freak. It was all part of the plan: survive in the City, write stories, look at the bridge, trip nagle cars, exhaust Rice-A-Roni, and befuddle a girl relay station †individual he could insure his fancys to, preferably after(prenominal) hours of god homogeneous sex. He wasnt looking for perfection, beneficial any(prenominal)one who do him tactual sen sit downion secure affluent to be insecure virtually. n invariablytheless non now. Now he was doomed.\r\nHe looked up at the skyline and know that he had navigated wrong, arriving in the financial district, several blocks from the Pyramid. He zigzagged from block to block, avoiding middle contact with the men and women in channel suits, who avoided eye contact in turn by checking their watches any hardly a(prenominal)er go. Sure, he approximation, they gouge check their watches. They bring a future.\r\nHe arrived at the foot of the Pyramid a little breathless, his fortification aching from carrying his belongings. He sit down on a concrete bench at the edge of a fountain a nd watched people for a turn.\r\nThey were all so determined. They had places to go, people to see. Their pilus was perfect. They flavored tho boulderedly. They wore nice property. He looked at his own worn leather sneakers. Fucked.\r\nSomeone sat down side by side(p) to him on the bench and he avoided looking up, thought process that it would nevertheless be round other person who would make him notion inferior. He was pure(a) at a interpret on the concrete by his feet when a Boston terrier appe rear end on the spot and blew a jet stream of dog honker on his pant leg.\r\nâ€Å"Bummer, thats rude,” the emperor only whenterfly said. â€Å"Cant you see that our fri discontinue up is sulking?”\r\nTommy looked up into the face of the emperor justterfly. â€Å"Your Highness. Hello.” The man had the wildest eyebrows Tommy had ever seen, as if dickens patriarchal porcupines were perched on his brow.\r\nThe emperor tipped his crown, a fedora made o f panels contract from beer tushs and laced together with yellow yarn. â€Å"Did you get the work break?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, they hired me that day. Thanks for the tip.”\r\nâ€Å"Its honest work,” the Emperor said. â€Å"Theres a certain grace in that. Not kindred this tragedy.”\r\nâ€Å"What tragedy?”\r\nâ€Å"These poor souls. These poor pathetic souls.” The Emperor gestured toward the passersby.\r\nâ€Å"I dont understand,” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"Their time has passed and they dont know what to do. They were t obsolescent what they wanted and they believed it. They sewer only keep their dream alive by being with others desire themselves who testament mirror their illusions.”\r\nâ€Å"They conduct really nice shoes,” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"They corroborate to look rightly wing or their peers go forth turn on them homogeneous starving dogs. They argon the fallen gods. The mod gods argon producers, creators, doers . The new gods are the chinless techno-children who would kinda eat white sugar and watch science-fiction films than worry or so what shoes they wear. And these poor souls desperately push document around hoping that a mystical meaning will appear to save them from the new, awkward, brilliant gods and their silicon-chip reality. Some of them will survive, of course, but most will fall. Uncreative saying is done better by machines. Poor souls, you can almost hear them sweating.”\r\nTommy looked at the well-dressed stream of business people, thusly(prenominal) at the Emperors tattered overcoat, thusly at his own sneakers, past at the Emperor again. For some reason, he tangle better than he had a a few(prenominal) proceedings before. â€Å"You really worry almost these people, dont you?”\r\nâ€Å"It is my lot.”\r\nAn attractive woman in a colorise suit and heels approached the Emperor and handed him a five-dollar bill. She wore a silk camisole under he r jacket and Tommy could make out gate(a) the outstrip of her lace bra when she bent over. He was mesmerized.\r\nâ€Å"Your Highness,” she said, â€Å" in that respects a Chinese chicken salad on special(a) at the Cafe Suisse today. I speculate Bummer and Lazarus would get by it.”\r\nLazarus wagged his tail. Bummer yapped at the mention of his name.\r\nâ€Å"Very thoughtful of you, my child. The men will enjoy it.”\r\nâ€Å"Have a just day,” she said, and walked out limen(a). Tommy watched her calves as she went.\r\nTwo men who were passing by, sweep in an argument virtually prices and earnings, stop their communication and nodded to the Emperor.\r\nâ€Å"Go with God,” the Emperor said. He morose back to Tommy. â€Å"Are you still looking for a domicile, or just a woman now?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont understand.”\r\nâ€Å"You wear your loneliness equivalent a badge.”\r\nTommy felt as if his ego had just taken a right to the jaw. â€Å"Actually, I met a girl and Im sack to rent us a place this afternoon.”\r\nâ€Å"My mistake,” the Emperor said. â€Å"I mis hire you.”\r\nâ€Å"No, you didnt. Im fucked.”\r\nâ€Å"Pardon?”\r\nâ€Å"A fortune-teller told me that there was no woman in my future.”\r\nâ€Å"Madame Natasha?”\r\nâ€Å"How did you know?”\r\nâ€Å"You mustnt order excessively much credence to Madame Natashas predictions. Hes dying and it darkens his vision. The plague.”\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry,” Tommy said. In fact, he felt relieved, then guilty for the reason behind it. He had no right to belief sorry for himself. The Emperor had nothing chuck out his dogs, thus far his sympathy was all directed toward his vanishowman. Im scum, Tommy thought. He said, â€Å"Your Highness, I accept a little money now, if you request…”\r\nThe Emperor held up the bill the woman had ef scarecrowery him. â€Å"We baffle all that we film, my son.” He stood and tugged on the ropes that held Bummer and Lazarus. â€Å"And I should be attain before the men disorder from hunger.”\r\nâ€Å"Me, too, I guess.” Tommy stood and made as if to shake hands, then bowed instead. â€Å"Thanks for the company.”\r\nThe Emperor winked, spun on one heel, and started to lead his troops away, then stopped and morose back. â€Å"And, son, dont touch anything with an edge while youre in the grammatical construction? Scissors, letter undetermineders, anything.”\r\nâ€Å"why?” Tommy asked.\r\nâ€Å"Its the shape of the building, a pyramid. Theyd rather people not know s decipherablely it, but they have a full-time employee who just goes around inerting the letter plain-spokeners.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre kidding.”\r\nâ€Å"Safety first,” the Emperor said.\r\nâ€Å"Thanks.”\r\nTommy took a thickset breath and steeled himself for his set on on the Pyramid. As he wa lked out of the sun and under the massive concrete buttresses, he could feel a chill through and through his flannel shirt, as if the concrete had stored the girdle bleak of the night fog and was radiating it like a refrigerator coil. He was shivering by the time he reached the information desk. A restrain eyeball him suspiciously.\r\nâ€Å"Can I help you?”\r\nâ€Å"Im looking for the Transamerica force-out department.”\r\nThe check made a face as if Tommy had been dipped in sewage. â€Å"Do you have an particular date?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.” Tommy waved Jodys papers under the guards nose.\r\nThe guard picked up a phone and was punching numbers when a second guard came up behind him and took the receiver. â€Å"Hes fine,” the second guard said. â€Å" trip him up.”\r\nâ€Å" tho †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Hes a friend of the Emperor.”\r\nThe first guard hung up the phone and said, â€Å"Twenty-first floor, sir.” He pointed to th e ski lifts.\r\nTommy took an elevator to the twenty-first floor, then followed the signs until he found the right department. An officious-looking older woman told him to have a shag in the reception room, she would be right with him. then she took majuscule pains to act as if he had been sucked off the planet.\r\nTommy sat on a somber leather sofa that sighed with his weight, chose a magazine from the blackness stone coffee bean table, and appreciationed. During the next hour he read a household-hints column (â€Å"Coffee curtilage in that cat box will fill your house with the de passful aroma of brewing espresso every time kitty heeds the call”); an article on computer junkies (â€Å"Bruce has been off the mouse for six months now, but he says he takes life one byte at a time”); and a review of the new musical Jonestown! (â€Å"Andrew Lloyd Webbers version of the Kool-Aid jingle is at at once chilling and evocative. Donny Osmond is brilliant as Jim Jones. ”) He borrowed some whiteout from the officious-looking woman and touched up the finish off on his sneakers, then dried them under a halogen reading light that looked like a robots subdivision holding the sun. When he started pulling cologne assay cards out of GQ and rubbing them on his socks, the woman told him he could go on in.\r\nHe picked up his shoes and walked into the office in his stocking feet. Another officious-looking woman, who looked outstandingly like the first officious-looking woman, down to the little twine on her reading glasses, had him sit down crosswise from her while she looked at Jodys papers and ignored him.\r\nShe consulted a computer screen, tapped on a few keys, then waited while the computer did something. Tommy put his shoes on and waited. She didnt look up.\r\nHe cleared his throat. She tapped on the keys. He reached down, undefended his suitcase, and took out his portable typewriter. She didnt look up. She tapped and looked at the screen.\ r\nHe plainspokened the typewriter case, rolled a role of paper in the machine, and tapped on a few keys.\r\nShe looked up. He tapped a few much keys. â€Å"What are you doing?” she asked. Tommy tapped. He didnt look up.\r\nThe woman raised her voice. â€Å"I said, what are you doing?”\r\nTommy kept typing and looked up. â€Å"Pardon me, I was ignoring you. What did you say?”\r\nâ€Å"What are you doing?” She repeated.\r\nâ€Å"Its a note. Let me read it for you. ‘Couldnt anyone else see that they were all slaves of Satan? I had to houseclean the world of their evil. I am the hand of God. Why else would security have let me into the building with an assault rifle in my suitcase? I am a divine instrument. ” Tommy pause and looked up. â€Å"Thats all I have so far, but Ill guess I end it with an apology to my mom. What do you think?”\r\nShe smiled as if privateness gas pains and handed him an envelope. â€Å"This is Jodys final pay check. discontinue her our best. And you have a nice day now, schoolboyish man.”\r\nâ€Å"You too,” Tommy said. He gathered up his stuff and left the office whistling.\r\nFashionable SOMA looked to Tommy an awful lot like a light industrial theater of operations: dickens- and three-story buildings with steel roll-up introductions and steel-framed windowpanes. The bottom floors housed ethnic restaurants, underground dancing clubs, auto-repair shops, and the occasional foundry. Tommy paused outside of one to watch two long-haired men pouring bronze into a mold.\r\nArtists, Tommy thought. He had never seen a real artist, and although these zanys looked more like bikers, he wanted to talk to them. He took a tentative step through the brinkway.\r\nâ€Å"Hi,” he said.\r\nThe men were wrestling with a huge ladle, the two of them gripping the long metal handle with asbestos gloves. whizz looked up. â€Å"Out!” he said.\r\nTommy said, â€Å"Okay, I can s ee you guys are busy. ‘Bye.” He stood on the sidewalk and check into his map. He was supposed to meet the rental constituent somewhere around here. He looked up and down the street. Except for a guy passed out on the coign, the street was empty. Tommy was thinking about waking the guy up and asking him if this was, indeed, the fashionable part of SOMA, when a green Jeep pulled up beside him and skidded to a stop. The driver, a woman in her forties with wild gray hair, rolled down the window.\r\nâ€Å"Mr. Flood?” She said.\r\nTommy nodded.\r\nâ€Å"Im Alicia DeVries. Let me super C and Ill show you the garret.”\r\nShe backed the Jeep into a spot that seemed too short for it by six inches, foot race the wheels up over the curb, then she jumped out, dragging after her a purse roughly the size of Tommys suitcase. She wore sandals, a dashiki, and multicolored Guatemalan cotton pants. There were chopsticks stuck here and there in her hair, as if she were p repared at any minute to deal with an emergency stir-fry.\r\nShe looked at Tommys suitcase. â€Å"You look like youre ready to move in today. This way.”\r\nShe breezed by Tommy to a fire door beside the foundry. Tommy could smell the patchouli in her wake.\r\nShe said, â€Å"This area is just like Soho was twenty years ago. Youre lucky to have a shot at one of these lofts now, before they go co-op and start merchandiseing for a one million million million dollars.”\r\nShe unlocked the door and started up the steps. â€Å"This place has dumfounding energy,” she said, without looking back. â€Å"Id love to live here myself, except the markets down right now and Id have to sell my place in the Heights.”\r\nTommy dragged his suitcase up the steps after her.\r\nâ€Å"Do you paint, Mr. Flood?”\r\nâ€Å"Im a writer.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, a writer! I do a little writing myself. Id like to write a book myself some weekend, if I can find the time. Somethi ng about female circumcision, I think. Maybe something about marriage. But whats the difference, right?” She stopped at a landing at the top of the stairs and unlocked some other fire door.\r\nâ€Å"Here it is.” She threw the door open and gestured for Tommy to enter. â€Å"A nice work area and a sleeping room in the back. There are two sculptors that work downstairs and a painter next door. A writer would really round the building out. Whats your take on female circumcision, Mr. Flood?”\r\nTommy was still about three topics behind her, so he stood on the landing while his brain caught up. People like Alicia were the reason God made decaf. â€Å"I think everyone should have a hobby,” he said, taking a shot in the dark.\r\nAlicia jammed like an heat machine gun. She seemed to look at him for the first time, and did not seem to like what she saw. â€Å"You are aware that well learn a significant security deposit, if your application is evaluate?†\r\nâ€Å"Okay,” Tommy said. He entered the loft, leaving her standing on the landing.\r\nThe loft was roughly the size of a handball court. It had an island kitchen in the middle, and windows ran on one wall from floor to ceiling. There was an old rug, a futon, and a low plastic coffee table in the open area near the kitchen. The back wall was lined with empty bookshelves, impoverished only by a single door to the bedroom.\r\nThe bookshelves did it. Tommy wanted to live here. He could see the shelves change with Kerouac, and Kesey, and Hammett, and Ginsberg, and Twain, and London, and Bierce, and every other writer who had lived and written in the City. One shelf would be for the books he was button to write: hardbacks in thirty languages. There would be a bust of Beethoven on that shelf. He didnt really like Beethoven, but he thought he should have a bust of him.\r\nHe resisted the urge to shout, â€Å"Ill take it!” It was Jodys money. He had to check the bedro om for windows. He opened the door and went in. The room was as dark as a cave. He flipped the light switch and track lighting along one wall came on. There was an old mattress and box springs on the floor. The walls were bare brick. No windows.\r\nThrough another door was a gutter with a freestanding legislate and a huge claw-foot tub that was stained with use up and paint. No windows. He was so excited, he thought he would wet himself.\r\nHe ran out into the chief(prenominal) reinforcement area where Alicia was standing with her hand on her hip, mentally shoving him into the pigeonhole of abusive barbarism she had made for him.\r\nâ€Å"Ill take it,” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"Youll have to fill out an †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Ill give you four thousand dollars in cash, right now.” He pulled the wad of bills out of his jeans.\r\nâ€Å"How many keys will you pauperisation?”\r\nChapter 14\r\nTwo Losts Do Not trifle a Found\r\nConsciousness went off like a flash bulb of pain: a dull ache in her head, sharp daggers in her knees and her chin. Jody was slumped in the shower. The water was still running †had been running on her all day. She crawled out of the shower stall on her hands and knees and pulled towels out of the rack.\r\nShe sat on the bathroom floor and dried herself, blotting away the water with rough terry cloth. Her skin felt tender, almost raw. The towels were damp from fourteen hours of steam. The ceiling dripped and the walls ran with condensation. She braced herself against the sink and climbed to her feet, then opened the door and stumbled through the room to the bed.\r\nBe careful what you ask for, she thought. All the regret about waking up a little too alert, coming out of sleep like a gunshot, came back on her. She hadnt thought about dropping asleep in the same way. She must have been in the shower at sunup, dropped to the shower floor, and stayed there throughout the day.\r\nShe sat up on the bed and gently touc hed her chin. Pain shot up her jaw. She must have hit it on the scoop shovel dish when she went out. Her knees were bruised as well.\r\nBruised? Something was wrong. She jumped to her feet and went to the dresser. She dour on the light and leaned into the mirror, then yelped. Her chin was bruised savoury, with a corona of yellow. Her hair was hopelessly tangled and she now had a handsome bald spot where the water had worn away at her scalp.\r\nShe backed away and sat back on the bed, stunned. Something was wrong, seriously wrong, beyond her injuries. It was the light. Why had she move on the light? The night before she would have been able to see herself in the mirror by the light filtering in under the bathroom door. But it was more than that. It was a tightness in her mouth, pressure, like when she had first gotten braces as a child.\r\nShe ran her idiom over her teeth and felt the points breach through the roof of her mouth just behind her eyeteeth.\r\nShe thought, Im brea king down from lack of… She couldnt even make herself think it. This will get worse. Much worse.\r\nNow she could feel the hunger, not in her stomach, but in her good body, as if her veins were spill to collapse on themselves. And there was a tension in her muscles, as if diffuse strings were tightening inside her body, sharpening her movements, making her feel as if she would jump through a window any second.\r\nIve got to calm down. settle down. Calm down. Calm down.\r\nShe repeated the mantra to herself as she got up and walked to the phone. It seemed to take an dumbfounding effort to push the zero button and wait for the desk clerk to come on.\r\nâ€Å"Hi, this is room two-ten. Is there a guy in the lobby waiting? Yes, thats him. Would you tell him Ill be down in a few minutes?”\r\nShe put down the phone and went to the bathroom, where she dark off the shower and wiped down the mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror and fought the urge to burst into tears .\r\nThis is a project, she thought. She turned her head and looked at her bald spot. It was small enough that she could cover it with a new part held by a couple of hairpins. Her bruised chin might postulate some explaining.\r\nShe started to run her fingers though her hair to comfort the preliminary untangle, fighting the tension in her arm that seemed to be increasing every second. A macroscopic moth buzzed into the bathroom and went for the light above the mirror. Before she knew what had happened, she snatched it out of the air and ate it.\r\nShe stared at her reflection and was affright by the red-haired stranger who had just eaten a moth. thus far so, a mania ran though her like good brandy. The bruise on her chin faded as she watched.\r\nThe first thing she saw when she turned the corner at the lobby was Tommys grin.\r\nâ€Å"Good,” he said. â€Å"Youre dressed for moving. I like your hair pinned up like that.”\r\nJody smiled, and stood awkwardly in front of him, thinking she should greet him with a hug, but afraid to get too button up to him. She could smell him and he smelled like food. â€Å"You found a place?”\r\nâ€Å"An incredible loft, south of Market. Its even furnished.” He seemed as if he would burst with excitement. â€Å"I used all the money; I hope thats okay.”\r\nâ€Å"Fine,” Jody said. She just wanted to get him alone.\r\nâ€Å"Get your stuff,” he said. â€Å"I want to show it to you.”\r\nJody nodded. â€Å"Ill be just a minute. Have the desk clerk call a cab.”\r\nShe turned to leave. Tommy caught her by the arm. â€Å"Hey, are you okay?”\r\nShe motioned for him to move at heart whisper range. â€Å"I want you so mischievously I can hardly stand it.”\r\nShe pulled away and ran up the steps to her room. Inside she gathered what few belongings she had and checked herself in the mirror one last time. She was wearing jeans and the chambray blouse from the ni ght before. She unbuttoned her blouse and did a straitjacket escape from her bra, then buttoned the blouse center(prenominal) up. She stuffed the bra into her day pack and locked the room for the last time.\r\nWhen she returned to the lobby, Tommy was waiting outside by a blue DeSoto cab. He opened the door for her, climbed in, and gave the driver the address.\r\nâ€Å"Youre going to love it,” he said. â€Å"I know you are.”\r\nShe go closer to him and held his arm tightly between her breasts. â€Å"I cant wait,” she said. A tiny voice in her head asked, What are you doing? What are you going to do to him? It was so faint and foreign that it might have come from someone outside on the street.\r\nTommy pulled away from her and withdraw into his jeans pocket, coming out with an envelope. â€Å"Your checks in here. I didnt open it.”\r\nShe took it and put it in her day pack, then locomote on him again.\r\nHe scooted to the door and nodded toward the driv er, who was watching them in the rearview mirror. â€Å"Forget him,” Jody whispered. She licked Tommy neck and shuddered with the taste and warmth of his flesh.\r\nâ€Å"I couldnt get your car out of impound. It has to be the owner.”\r\nâ€Å"Doesnt matter,” she said, nuzzling into the space under his jaw.\r\nThe cab stopped and the driver turned to them. â€Å"Six-ten,” he said.\r\nJody threw a twenty over the seat, reached over Tommy and opened the door, dived out and dragged him out of the cab after her. â€Å"Where is it?”\r\nTommy just had time to point to the door before she pushed him at it. She climbed on his back as he unlocked the door, then bolted past him and dragged him up the steps.\r\nâ€Å"Youre really excited about this, arent you?” he asked.\r\nâ€Å"Its great.” She stopped at the fire door at the top of the stairs. â€Å"Open it,” she commanded.\r\nTommy unlocked the door and threw it open. â€Å"This is it! ”\r\nShe went through, catching the front of his shirt and pulling him in.\r\nâ€Å"Look at all these bookshelves,” he said.\r\nShe ripped his shirt off and kissed him hard.\r\nHe pulled up for air and said, â€Å"The bedroom doesnt have any windows, just like you wanted.”\r\nâ€Å"Where?” she demanded.\r\nHe pointed to the open door and she pushed him through it. He fell face down on the bare mattress. She flipped him over, hooked her hands into the waist of his jeans and ripped them off him.\r\nâ€Å"So you like it?” he asked.\r\nShe ripped her shirt open and held him to the bed, one hand on his chest while she took off her own jeans. She climbed on him and muffled his next question with a kiss.\r\nHe finally got the message and returned her kiss and tried to match her urgency, then didnt have to try at all. She pulled away from the kiss as her fangs unsheathed, then guided him into her as he moaned. Jody growled difficult in her chest, pushed hi s head to the side and bit him on the neck.\r\nâ€Å"Ouch!” Tommy shouted. She held him down and snarled into his neck.\r\nDust from the old mattress alter the air and was stirred by the movement of their bodies.\r\nâ€Å"Oh jeez!” Tommy shouted, withdraw his fingers into her bottom. Jody answered him with a catlike scream as she came, then fell on his chest and licked the blood that dribbled from the punctures on his neck.\r\nShe twitched and shuddered while he repeated, â€Å"Oh jeez,” over and over again between gasps. After a few minutes she rolled off him and lay on the bed feeling the warm nourishment running though her.\r\nTommy rubbed his neck. â€Å"That was great,” he said. â€Å"That was incredible. You are †â€Å"\r\nJody rolled over. â€Å"Tommy, I have to tell you something.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre beautiful,” he said.\r\nJody smiled at him. The urgency was done for(p) now and she was feeling guilty. I could have killed him, she thought.\r\nTommy reached over and touched her lips. â€Å"Whats that on your teeth? Did you hurt yourself?”\r\nâ€Å"Its blood, Tommy. Its your blood.”\r\nHe felt his neck again, which was completely healed. â€Å"My blood?”\r\nâ€Å"Tommy, Ive never done anything like that before. Ive never been that way before.”\r\nâ€Å"Me either. It was great!”\r\nâ€Å"Im a vampire.”\r\nâ€Å"Thats okay,” Tommy said. â€Å"I knew this girl in mellow school who gave me a hickey that covered the entire side of my neck.”\r\nâ€Å"No, Tommy. Im really a vampire.” She looked him in the eye and did not smile or look away. She waited.\r\nHe said, â€Å"Dont goof on me, okay?”\r\nâ€Å"Tommy, have you ever seen anyone tear a pair of jeans like that before?”\r\nâ€Å"That was my animal attraction, right?”\r\nJody got out of bed, went to the bedroom door and unopen it, shutting out the light from the living area. â€Å"Can you see anything?”\r\nâ€Å"No,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Hold up a number of fingers. Dont tell me how many.”\r\nHe did.\r\nâ€Å"Three,” Jody said. â€Å" reach again.”\r\nHe did.\r\nâ€Å"Seven.”\r\nâ€Å"Jeez,” he said. â€Å"Are you psychic?”\r\nShe opened the door. Light spilled in.\r\nâ€Å"You have an incredible body,” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"Thanks. I need to lose five pounds.”\r\nâ€Å"Lets do it again, without our shoes on this time.”\r\nâ€Å"Tommy, you have to listen to me. This is important. Im not kidding you. I am a vampire.”\r\nâ€Å"Cmon, Jody, come over here. Ill take your shoes off for you.”\r\nJody looked up at the ceiling. There were open steel beams twenty feet above. â€Å"Watch.” She jumped up and grabbed on to a beam and hung. â€Å"See?”\r\nâ€Å"Jeez,” Tommy said.\r\nâ€Å"Do you have a book here?”\r\nâ€Å"In my suitcase.”\r\nâ₠¬Å"Go get it.”\r\nâ€Å"Be careful. You could fall.”\r\nâ€Å"Get the book, Tommy.”\r\nTommy went into the living area, looking up at her as he walked under. He returned with a volume of Kerouac.\r\nâ€Å"Now what? Come down from there. Youre making me nervous.”\r\nâ€Å"Close the door and open the book.”\r\nHe closed the door and the room went dark again. Jody read a half page aloud before he opened the door again.\r\nâ€Å"Jeez,” he said.\r\nShe let go of the beam and dropped to the floor. Tommy backed away from her to the bed and sat down.\r\nâ€Å"If you want to leave, Ill understand,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"When we were making love… you were cold inside.”\r\nâ€Å"Look, I didnt mean to hurt you.”\r\nTommys eyes were wide. â€Å"You really are a vampire, arent you?”\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry. I necessary help. I needed someone.”\r\nâ€Å"You really are a vampire.” It was a recital this time.\r\n "Yes, Tommy. I am.”\r\nHe paused for a second to think, then said, â€Å"Thats the coolest thing Ive ever heard. Lets do it with our shoes off.”\r\n'