Part 11 (1/2)

”Now, don't get all cranky on me. Back home we always say, 'Don't get mad. Just scratch your b.u.t.t and get glad.' ” She giggled at me again. ”Think about it, Daphy. If I changed or went ahead and freed myself, you'd still be human. If anyone returned they'd see me, and you wouldn't be ready to fight beside me. Even if I could handle them, you could have been hurt. Besides, I didn't want to start the party without you, for a few minutes anyway.”

”I guess,” I said, realizing I should be feeling grateful for Benny's help and thinking that I really wanted to locate some tissues. ”How long was I out?” I stage-whispered to her.

”I don't know. You were unconscious when they brought me in here. I've only been tied up for five minutes or so, and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who hit me could still be in the apartment.”

”Well, let's get out of here,” I said.

”Now you're talking,” she said.

My captors had pulled the pin from the weight stack, leaving a pull-down weight of over three hundred pounds. Whoever tied me up must have figured no woman-even one on steroids-had the muscle for that kind of weight. But whether in human or bat form, any vampire did.

So I pulled down on the bar and snapped the duct tape with ease. ”a.s.sholes,” I said as I ripped the tape off my wrists. ”This frigging hurts. I lost my circulation too. And where the h.e.l.l is my purse?” I said grumpily.

”It's over there on the floor, Daphy. They must have tossed it in the room,” Benny said.

”Well, that's a plus,” I said as I started rummaging through it and found a Wash'n Dri packet. I cleaned up, then I slipped off my clothes. I can't tell you how many of my favorite outfits I've had to abandon over the years. Once I was naked I began to transform. My human self fell away as the vampire inside me emerged; my eyeteeth lengthened, my fingernails became clawlike, my wings burst free from my back with a sharp crack mingled with a deep thrumming, like the string of a bow when an arrow is loosed. Every time I hear that great unfolding, my heart leaps. It banishes the hurt and sadness of the day, sending grief fleeing like a gray thief into the night. As I changed, the colors around me throbbed and intensified, whirling like a kaleidoscope. The room's overhead light became a small sun, hurting my eyes. Too bright, too bright. I craved the darkness. I felt strong and alive, empowered and free.

”d.a.m.n it all to h.e.l.l, Daphy. I just broke a nail,” Benny said as she peeled the duct tape off. She stripped down too. A breeze hit me as her wings unfolded with a whoosh. As they stretched out, quivering, I could see they were dark, but her lithe body was golden fur, all glistening and light. She was a natural blonde after all.

We both stood there a moment, adjusting to the change.

”You know what?” Benny said. ”Louis is supposed to call me. I'm taking my cell.”

”Good idea,” I said. ”Me too. Can you take our clothes? We might have to change back.” Benny's handbag had been bandolier style across her torso even when they tied her up. I was beginning to realize that the woman thought of everything.

Benny rolled her eyes at me. ”My purse isn't that big. I can only carry the essentials. But, hey, it's New York. I don't think anyone would even notice if we walked naked down Broadway.”

”Benny, you you they'd notice,” I said. I fooled around with the strap on my large Louis Vuitton Noe bag until I figured out how to make a sling that fit snugly over my shoulder. As I started stuffing my clothes into the purse, I asked, ”How did you end up here? Who grabbed you?” they'd notice,” I said. I fooled around with the strap on my large Louis Vuitton Noe bag until I figured out how to make a sling that fit snugly over my shoulder. As I started stuffing my clothes into the purse, I asked, ”How did you end up here? Who grabbed you?”

Benny was bouncing up and down on her toes and flapping her wings a bit. I guessed she hadn't transformed in a while. She was examining the undersides of her wings while she talked to me. ”As soon as I left the apartment, my cell phone rang. It was Louis, and he was in a cab following the deliverymen. He said he'd call me back when they got to their destination, and that I might as well hang around to make sure you got out okay. Then a limo pulled up. Bonaventure and a pale young woman-she looked kind of peaked, you know-left with a ton of suitcases. I thought it was strange that you hadn't come out first. I didn't know what happened to you.”

I motioned her over to the window. It was stuck, and I struggled to get it open. She went on with her story as I worked.

”As soon as they pulled away I went back and convinced the doorman to let me go back upstairs. Tanya opened the door, but I didn't get more than a few feet into the apartment when somebody whacked me on the head. Whoever it was just don't know nothing about big hair and hair spray. I didn't really pa.s.s out, but I pretended real quick. Some muscular yahoo brought me in here, tied me up, and left. He took the diamonds, by the way. What do you want to bet that Mr. J is going to be throwing a hissy fit about that. It's just my luck. As my mama always said, 'If it was raining soup, I'd have a fork.' Anyways, you were already here. Even though you were out cold, I was really glad to see you. Then I tried to get you to wake up.” She paused and said, ”You know, Daphy, I think we'd better skedaddle.”

I gave her an exasperated look. ”Why do you think I'm trying to open the window?”

”Well, you should have asked me to give you a hand.” She helped me give it a mighty push, and it slid upward.

”After you,” I said. She scrambled onto the sill and looked down. It was a long way to the street. ”Where to?” she asked as she jumped.

I stuck my head out the window and yelled to her, ”I think we should get to Doug Schneibel's loft as fast as we can. I'm pretty sure that's where Bonaventure was heading. I have a really bad feeling about what's happening there.”

She hovered outside the building while I hopped up on the sill. The cold night air rushed by me, fluttering the draperies. The yellow half moon was large and low. I leaped outward with a surge of joy, and I sailed off into the dark sky above the city. Benny was just a second behind me.

In silent flight we swooped around the dark towers of Manhattan that pierced the heavens like the pointed spires of cathedrals. We sailed above the avenues, skimming rooftops and brus.h.i.+ng by buildings. In one window the blue spurt of a match lit the face of a red-haired woman smoking alone in the dark. She looked out the window with sadness in her eyes, sucked on the cigarette, and stared at my pa.s.sing shape with no emotion at all. In another window a small boy sat on the sill, his eyes growing wide as my wingtips nearly touched the pane before him. Would they remember me in the deep recesses of their dreams years hence as the sum of all their fears, or as an angel of the night? A church bell struck the hour with long, mournful notes, ten times over. The east wind blew.

And then my cell phone rang.

”d.a.m.n!” I said as I fumbled to get it out of my purse. I couldn't open the d.a.m.ned bag too wide or I'd have the contents raining down into the street below. Grabbing the cell phone with my talonlike nails was no picnic either. ”h.e.l.lo?” I said.

”Hey, Daphne, it's Darius. You okay?”

”I'm fine. You?” I tried to sound normal as I barely missed a flagpole poking out from the upper floors of a department store.

”Was that Saks?” Benny yelled.

”Did you say something, Daphne? I think we've got bad reception. Where are you?” Darius asked.

”Ah, I'm headed downtown,” I bellowed into the phone.

”I can't hear you very well,” Darius said. ”Are you in a cab? Is the window open? There's a lot of noise.”

”Uh-huh. The cabbie has the windows open. Sorry.” What the h.e.l.l could I say, I'm flying twenty stories above Fifth Avenue I'm flying twenty stories above Fifth Avenue? ”Where are you?”

”Taking care of business, you know,” he said, and it was just the kind of answer that ticked me off.

”I mean, did you get into the apartment? I left the door open. Did everything go okay?” I asked.

”Yeah. Thanks. What you did was perfect. Hey, Daphy, I...” He said something softly, and I couldn't make out his words over the rus.h.i.+ng wind.

”What? I can't hear you,” I yelled.

”It's not important,” he said more loudly. ”I just wanted to hear your voice. Know you were okay.”

”I'm okay,” I said.

”I gotta go. I just wanted, you know, to tell you I'm thinking about you.”

”I'm thinking about you too.” Well, I was right now, so that wasn't a lie.

”Be careful. Remember we have a date,” he said with a laugh.

”I won't forget. You be careful too,” I added as I dodged an empty window washer's scaffold somebody had left hanging on the side of a building.

”'Bye, pretty girl,” he said, and I thought I heard the sound of a kiss as I clicked off, but it was hard to tell with the wind. Benny was giving me one of those looks, grinning like a Ches.h.i.+re cat.

”What?” I called over to her.

”Was that Darius? I think he likes you,” she yelled back at me. ”He really really likes you.” likes you.”

”Shut up.” I said, and as I thought of Darius, I tasted his lips, remembered the touch of his hands on my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and felt the ancient thirst for blood consume me. I wanted to drink from him deeply, fully, until he filled me with his life. I pushed that thought away, but my heart was dancing and I was almost laughing as we flew.

At the end of Ca.n.a.l Street, the Holland Tunnel opened like a gaping maw into the bowels of the earth, leading a stream of cars westward to the barren wasteland and stinking meadows of New Jersey. Near the tunnel, Schneibel's warehouse sat like a heavy box, square and squat. We landed on the window ledge where his hand had once reached out to drop me the key. The huge, wire-meshed window wasn't locked. I opened it. And from the first I could smell the blood.