Guilty Pleasures

The cemetery had been there a lot longer than the nursing home. Some of the stones went back to the early 1800s. I always thought the developer must have been a closet sadist to put the windows staring out over the rolling tombstoned hills. Old age is enough of a reminder of what comes next. No visual aids are needed.

Zumbehl is lined with other things—video store, kids clothing boutique, a place that sold stained glass, gas stations, and a huge apartment complex proclaiming, “Sun Valley Lake.” There actually was a lake large enough to sail on if you were very careful.

A few more blocks and we were in suburbia. Houses with tiny yards stuffed with huge trees lined the road. There was a hill that sloped downward. The speed limit was thirty. It was impossible to keep the car to thirty going down the hill without using brakes. Would there be a policeman at the bottom of the hill?

If he stopped us with Phillip in his little fishnet shirt, all nicely scarred, would he be suspicious? Where are you going miss? I’m sorry, officer, we have this illegal party to go to, and we’re ru

“It’s the big house on the left. Just pull into the driveway,” Phillip said.

The house was dark red brick, two, maybe three stories, lots of windows, at least two porches. Victorian American does still exist. The yard was large with a private forest of tall, ancient trees. The grass was too high, giving the place a deserted look. The drive was gravel and wound through the trees to a modern garage that had been designed to match the house and almost succeeded.

There were only two other cars here. I couldn’t see into the garage; maybe there were more inside.

“Don’t leave the main room with anyone but me. If you do, I can’t help you,” he said.

“Help me how?” I asked.

“This is our cover story. You are the reason I have missed so many meetings. I left hints that not only are we lovers, but I’ve been…” He spread his hands wide as if searching for a word. “…cultivating you, until I felt you were ready for a party.”

“Cultivating me?” I turned off the car, and the silence settled between us. He was staring at me. Even behind the glasses I felt the weight of his gaze. The skin between my shoulders crawled.

“You are a reluctant survivor of a real attack, not a freak, or a junkie, but I’ve talked you into a party. That’s the story.”

“Have you ever done this for real?” I asked.

“You mean given them someone?”

“Yes,” I said.

He gave a rough snort. “You don’t think much of me, do you?”

What was I supposed to say, no? “If we’re lovers, that means we have to play lovers all evening.”

He smiled. This smile was different, anticipatory.

“You bastard.”

He shrugged and rotated his neck as if his shoulders were tight. “I’m not going to throw you down on the floor and ravish you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be doing that tonight.” I was glad he didn’t know I had weapons. Maybe I could surprise him tonight.

He frowned at me. “Follow my lead. If anything I do makes you uncomfortable, we’ll discuss it.” He smiled, dazzling, teeth white and even against his tan.

“No discussion. You’ll just stop.”

He shrugged. “You might blow our cover and get us killed.”

The car was filling with heat. A bead of sweat dripped down his face. I opened my door and got out. The heat was like a second skin. Cicadas droned, a high, buzzing song far up in the trees. Cicadas and heat, ah, summer.

Phillip walked around the car, his boots crunching on the gravel. “You might want to leave the cross in the car,” he said.

I had expected it, but I didn’t have to like it. I put the crucifix into the glove compartment, crawling over the seat to do so. When I closed the door, my hand went to my neck. I wore the chain so much it only felt odd when I wasn’t wearing it.

Phillip held out his hand, and after a moment I took it. The palm of his hand was cupped heat, slightly moist in the center.

The back door was shaded by a white lattice arch. A clematis vine grew thick on one side. Flowers as big as my hand spread purple to the tree-filtered sun. A woman was standing in the shadow of the door, hidden from neighbors and passing cars. She wore sheer black stockings held up by garter belts. A bra and matching panties, both royal purple, left most of her body pale and naked. She was wearing five-inch spikes that forced her legs to look long and slender.

“I’m overdressed,” I whispered to Phillip.

“Maybe not for long,” he breathed into my hair.

“Don’t bet your life on it.” I stared up at him as I said it and watched his face crumble into confusion. It didn’t last long. The smile came, a soft curl of lips. The serpent must have smiled at Eve like that. I have this nice, shiny apple for you. Want some candy, little girl?

Whatever Phillip thought he was selling, I wasn’t buying. He hugged me around the waist, one hand playing along the scars on my arm, fingers digging into the scar tissue just a little. His breath went out in a quick sigh. Jesus, what had I gotten myself into?

The woman was smiling at me, but her large brown eyes were fixed on Phillip’s hand where it played with my scar. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. I saw her chest rise and fall.

“Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”

“What did you say?” Phillip asked.

I shook my head. He probably didn’t know the poem anyway. I couldn’t remember how it ended. I couldn’t remember if the fly got away. My stomach was tight. When Phillip’s hand brushed my naked back, I jumped.

The woman laughed, high and maybe a little drunk. I whispered the fly’s words as I went up the steps, “Oh, no, no, to ask me is in vain for whoever goes up your winding stairs can ne’er come down again.”

Ne’er come down again. It had a bad ring to it.

Chapter 25

The woman pressed against the wall, so we could pass, and shut the door behind us. I kept waiting for her to lock it so we couldn’t get away, but she didn’t. I shoved Phillip’s hand off my scars, and he wrapped himself around my waist and led me down a long narrow hall. The house was cool, air conditioning purring against the heat. A square archway opened into a room.

It was a living room with all that implies—a couch, love seat, two chairs, plants hanging in front of a bay window, afternoon shadows snaking across the carpeting. Homey. A man stood in the center of the room, a drink in his hand. He looked like he had just come from Leather ‘R’ Us. Leather bands crisscrossed his chest and arms, like Hollywood’s idea of an oversexed gladiator.

I owed Phillip an apology. He’d dressed downright conservatively. The happy homemaker came up behind us in her royal purple lingerie and laid a hand on Phillip’s arm. Her fingernails were painted dark purple, almost black. The nails scratched along his arm, leaving faint reddish tracks behind.

Phillip shivered beside me, his arm tightening around my waist. Was this his idea of fun? I hoped not.

A tall, black woman rose from the couch. Her rather plentiful breasts threatened to squeeze out of a black wire bra. A crimson skirt with more holes than cloth hung from the bra and moved as she walked, giving glimpses of dark flesh. I was betting she was naked under the skirt.

There were pinkish scars on one wrist and her neck. A baby junkie, new, almost fresh. She stalked around us, like we were for sale and she wanted to get a good look. Her hand brushed my back, and I stood away from Phillip, facing the woman.

“That scar on your back; what is it? It isn’t vampire bites.” Her voice was low for a woman, an alto tenor maybe.