Night Prayers by P. D. Cacek Read Free Book Online Page B

pockets.
    "Oh, yeah… musta been plannin' a real hell of a party with this shit. You want any?"
Big Mike
glanced over his shoulder and held out a wad of cash that —
once upon a time
— would have made Allison reconsider denying him a date.
    "Naw," he said, stuffing it into his own back pocket, "guess you don't need it anymore."
    He laughed, then hacked up a glob of phlegm and shot it into the hole where the man's head should have been.
    "His head…" Allison said.
    "No problem," Big Mike said. "I'll find it and once it's boiled down I can get maybe fifty… sixty bucks off those Devil Worshipers over on Franklin."
    "And the — rest of him?"
    Big Mike looked back at her and smacked his lips. Shit, he was a fucking ghoul! What the hell was this town coming to?
    "So," he said, standing up, "you want some?"
    She back-handed him to the ground. Big Mike landed flat out on the corpse's middle… their two bodies making a crude cross. Doubling over, Allison turned around and vomited nearly half her intake across the litter-strewn lot.
    "Damn. Someone not agree with you?" She could hear him coming after her, the busted out knees of his jeans scraping against the hard ground. "Gotta be more careful, little girl. Too many God damned diseases goin' around. C'mon… it's okay. I get tested by the Red Cross all the time 'cause I give blood."
    Again his laughter was cut short by a coughing fit.
    "Give
blood
… get it?"
    No… she didn't.
    "Really, it's okay." He began fumbling with the cuff button on his sleeve and finally managed to tear it off. "Go on… have a hit for the road."
    Allison felt the ground glide beneath her feet — the bloodless puncture marks on his wrists drawing her like a moth to the flame.
    "Yeah…
knew
you were one o'em even before you did the guy. I can smell'em, y'know."
    Dropping heavily to her knees, Allison took the hand gently between her palms as if it were a fragile flower. The points of her fangs were digging into her bottom lip
— demanding action.
    "Who. Did. Thith?" Allison asked as slowly as her need would allow. "Wath. Hish. Name. Seth?"
    Big Mike's chuckle set his entire body trembling with the effort.
    "I don't ask names, baby-doll. I just do what I'm told… and it ain't bad. All I gotta do is clean things up once 'n awhile and shred some juice't' keep things interesting and I got it made.
    "How long you think a bum like me'd survive these streets without protection from the night. But you're the night… and I'm the day! And it all works out!"
    He belched and her eyes started watering.
    "So, go on, moonlight lady," Big Mike said, flexing his wrist. "I know you want to. Go on."
    They both shuddered when she ran her tongue over the wounds — moaned in unison when her fangs pierced the thin scabs.
    "Oh… God, yes! Just… umm… just don't take too much… oh…kay?"
    Allison went on Auto-Pilot with the first mouthful. Somewhere in the back of her mind, almost buried by the memories flooding down her throat, she heard the occasional
ding
of a gas pump being emptied.
    Real high octane stuff.
    ding ding

----
CHAPTER 6

     
    "Breathing any easier now?" Gypsy asked as the tip of the toothpick danced in the corner of his mouth.
    The swaying movement reminded Mica of the way Luci had moved on stage.
    Closing his eyes, Mica nodded and exhaled as loudly as he could. Just to
prove
he still could.
    "Yeah, my little lady really got to you tonight, didn't she, pal? Shit, that was a stupid question
— half the '
verts
in there are shaking out their Fruit-of-the-Looms right now. 'Course she got to you. Got to me, too, and I only caught the tail-end."
    When Mica finally opened his eyes, Gypsy shook his shaggy head and flipped the sliver of wood to the sidewalk.
    "Christ, Preacher-boy, you gotta be more careful," he said slapping Mica
lightly
across the shoulders. "The Lord can only forgive just so much."
    "Yeah." It still felt like somebody'd dropped a hot iron down the front of his pants. "Thanks,