Business Makes Strange Bedfellows by E. E. Ottoman Read Free Book Online Page B

squeaking and skittering grew louder, the water slapping up the side of the brick tunnel. Vi's hand slipped into hers, locking their fingers together. "This way."
    Stumbling a little in the water, Gert tried to keep up with the pace Vi set. The sewage tunnel twisted and turned; she couldn't keep track of where they were going. Putting out one hand, she sucked in a sharp breath as her palm scraped against rough brick.
    They turned another corner and Vi stopped. "It should be here."
    "What?" She raised her lighter again as something brushed against her leg, and then the other one, and then again. Looking down, she realized the water around her feet was full of rats. It took all of her will not to cry out or drop the lighter.
    The rats began to squeak loudly, and even with just her lighter, Gert could tell by the bloating that the body had been in the water a few days at least. Trying as best she could to ignore the rats, she squatted beside Vi. The body was partly eaten, hunks gouged out of the face and brain, just like the body in her lab. The hands had been eaten too, but she couldn't tell if that had been by the creature or the rats.
    "He's been dead a few days at least," she told Vi. "Are they sure this is the most recent kill?"
    "No, this is the most recent." Vi cocked her head as if listening. "They say the creature isn't here anymore—in the sewers, I mean."
    "Well, why couldn't they have said that in the first place?" She straightened up. "Come on, if there is nothing more to find here, I wanted to get back to my apartment so I can have a bath."
    "I'm sorry for wasting your time tonight," Vi said as they climbed back up the spikes towards the street above. "I thought we would find it."
    Gert shrugged. "We tried."
    "I'll continue to search until I locate it." Vi levered herself back out of the manhole.
    "Yes, do that." She watched Vi roll the cover back over the hole. She reached out and caught her sleeve when Vi turned back towards the main street. "And another thing." She let her hand rest flat against Vi's chest. Both of their trousers were saturated in God only knew what foulness and they stank to high heaven, but Vi's body was muscular and hard under her hand, and not warm in the slightest. "When next we meet not stinking of sewage, I expect you to make good on our deal."
    Both of Vi's eyebrows rose. "But we have yet to kill the creature."
    "Yes." She rose up kiss the corner of Vi's mouth ever so lightly. "But I want you anyway."
    Vi's eyes widened and then she smiled, slow and full of heat, before turning towards the main street to hail them a cab.
    *~*~*
    Gert leaned against the wall of one of the houses near docks. Every so often, she would slip her left hand into her coat and finger her revolver. In her right, she held the smoldering butt of a cigar she'd let herself indulge in to help quiet her nerves. Tucked in the pocket of her overcoat was the note from Vi she'd received the day before, arranging the meeting. The sound of horse hooves and wheels on cobbles made her look up. A carriage came to a stop a few paces away from where she stood. The door opened, and Vi leaned out.
    Vi's gaze swept down and then she beckoned. "Come over here and get in."
    Gert flicked the rest of her cigar aside and strode to the carriage. After a moment's hesitation, she climbed in. Vi grabbed her then, fingers curling around the back of Gert's neck, her other arm wrapping around Gert's back to pull her close. Vi's lips touched Gert's before she could think. A light, cool brush, and Vi was pulling away.
    "What was that?" Gert touched her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue before looking at Vi in a way she hoped was both seductive and teasing.
    "A taste." Vi's gaze had gone heavy-lidded again.
    As Vi turned to open the door, Gert lunged forward, wrapping both fists in the fabric of Vi's jacket, jerking her around by it. She kissed her, not a brief press but a wet, hard slide. She pressed the tip of her tongue against Vi's lips