Free In the Blood by Nancy A. Collins Page A

squealed.
    "Will-yummm, help meee."
    Palmer brought his heel down on the marui's skull, grinding it into a sticky paste.

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) The marui shuddered once and began to dissolve, the ectoplasm evaporating like dry ice.

    "I trust you slept well."
    Palmer put down his mug of chicory coffee and turned to stare at the vampire standing in the kitchen door. She was dressed in a green silk kimono embroidered with tiny butterflies the color of smoke. Her hair was hidden by a clean white towel piled atop her head turban-style. She was still wearing mirrored sunglasses. It had never occurred to Palmer that the undead took showers.
    "Never slept better." It was the truth. For the first time in weeks, Palmer's sleep was free of the recurring nightmares. When he awoke late that afternoon, he felt genuinely refreshed and rejuvenated.
    "I trust you kept yourself entertained while I was... indisposed." Sonja opened the refrigerator and removed one of the bottles of dark red liquid. Palmer had stumbled across them earlier and guessed their significance. "I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of houseguests." She cracked the seal and brought the bottle to her lips, then caught sight of Palmer's face. "Oh, I'm sorry-I've forgotten my manners." She put the blood aside, apologetically.
    "There's nothing you have to apologize for. After all, it's your house. I'm just a guest. I have no right to judge."
    Sonja tilted her head to one side, regarding him with her one-way gaze. "You're quite adaptable... for a human."
    Palmer coughed into his fist. "There's something I need to say. Look, it's pretty obvious that I'm at something of a disadvantage right now. Discovering everything I've ever known is wrong is unnerving enough, but to also find out everything I've ever been paranoid about is true..." He spread his hands in an expressive shrug. "I need help. Big time."
    So?
    "Well, I'd like to make a business proposition. Call it a modest proposal. I need help with this ham radio set in my skull, right? You need help with Pangloss, right? How about we team up-just for a little while?
    You could teach me how to use what I got, and I could... do whatever it is you need me to do."
    "Mr. Palmer, do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?" "No. I'll admit that up front. But I know that if I don't get help, I'm going to go nuts. I can't handle walking around with other people's thoughts and fears and craziness going through my head." He could feel his hands tremble as he spoke, but he refused to look at them. "Look, I can't lie to you. You scare me, lady. But it's like my Uncle Willy used to say-better the devil you know."
    When she laughed he saw her fangs. Even though he knew it was going to be okay, it still frightened him.

    Compared to the day before, the French Quarter was practically deserted. Bourbon Street was open for business, as usual, but the barkers were, for once, uninterested in luring the handful of tourists wandering the neon and garbage-strewn strip into

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) their dens of iniquity.
    Local merchants swept the remaining debris of plastic cups and busted liquor bottles outside their shops into the gutter with powerful pistol-grip hoses. The overall mood was a mixture of exhaustion and relief, as if the city was recovering from a malaria attack.
    Palmer trailed after his new employer, trying to ignore the stares that followed them down the narrow streets. Sonja Blue moved swiftly and purposefully through the clustered shadows, her hands jammed into the pockets of her leather jacket. She seemed preoccupied, but Palmer had no doubt that she was very much aware of the looks aimed at her.
    The fear and loathing that radiated from the hustlers, pushers and other Quarter habitues was strong enough to make Palmer's skin crawl. It felt as if someone had liberated