Then there was a girl there, one of the lovelies who'd been with Miss Blaylock. She had dark bangs and the kind of shape you wanted to put your hands around. She came dancing up to him and started undressing him, dancing with him and pulling off his clothes. He thought, You know what I'm doing? - I am letting this happen, because this is the most fun I have ever had or known about. You know what I'm doing? - I am letting this happen, because this is the most fun I have ever had or known about. He helped this exquisite girl with the light brown brush get every st.i.tch of his clothes off and toss them down on the floor. He helped this exquisite girl with the light brown brush get every st.i.tch of his clothes off and toss them down on the floor.

n.o.body gave a s.h.i.t, n.o.body stopped, he was dancing in a wonderful ocean of vibrating p.r.i.c.ks and sailing b.o.o.bs, and all the faces of all the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of the dance were smiling on him.

He yelled out, "I'm blown away! I am just plain blown away!" blown away!" Then he remembered that he'd been carrying. The gun - had it been in his pocket or where did it go? Well, it wasn't his lookout anymore, and anyway, who gave a d.a.m.n? He was not hunting vampires now. Then he remembered that he'd been carrying. The gun - had it been in his pocket or where did it go? Well, it wasn't his lookout anymore, and anyway, who gave a d.a.m.n? He was not hunting vampires now.

This was not like any kind of d.a.m.n club he'd ever heard of before. This was some kind of magic shamanic demon hole, this was.

Cool!

The room changed again, and this time he screamed b.l.o.o.d.y murder because he could not help it, he could not even think about stopping it; he screamed and he stumbled forward because the floor had disappeared and he was standing a thousand feet above above Manhattan, and down there the traffic was racing as fast as the music, and little puff clouds were shooting past beneath his feet. The illusion was so perfect - man, it was so perfect! - you did not believe that you were standing on anything. That music, that wonderful, driving, animal-perfect, jungle machine music just totally blew out his nerve endings, so he was not a body with weight and age but an eternal light-being flying over the city. Manhattan, and down there the traffic was racing as fast as the music, and little puff clouds were shooting past beneath his feet. The illusion was so perfect - man, it was so perfect! - you did not believe that you were standing on anything. That music, that wonderful, driving, animal-perfect, jungle machine music just totally blew out his nerve endings, so he was not a body with weight and age but an eternal light-being flying over the city.

Somebody knelt in front of him and started blowing him, and for the first time in his life, he just enjoyed it without worrying about who was there. He didn't care if it was a girl or a guy or a d.a.m.n gorilla; he just loved; he loved with all his blood and his hammering, crashing heart, and the little light in the middle that was him.

Then he did look down and he saw the naked woman from the limo on Houston Street. She was giving him a hard-sucking b.l.o.w. .j.o.b in the middle of the G.o.dd.a.m.n dance floor, and it was the best d.a.m.n b.l.o.w. .j.o.b he'd ever had.

The pleasure was so intense that he could not stand, his knees started to give way. Somebody held him up, somebody strong as s.h.i.t, so he just let himself go limp. The hands were long and thin and cold against his skin, but the arms were as steady as steel rods. No way was he gonna get dropped. The pleasure swept up and down him, crashing like great waves from the top of his head to the singing tips of his toes.

He closed his eyes, and in his mind he saw not the woman blowing him, but Miriam Blaylock. How could she be that beautiful? How was it possible? With this club, she was some kind of magician, some kind of demon, but G.o.d love her, she was so beautiful.

Then he noticed that he wasn't being blown anymore. h.e.l.l, that was tough, that was intense to leave him with his gob half down the chute. "s.h.i.t!" he yelled aloud.

The music s.n.a.t.c.hed him up like a wave. His b.a.l.l.s were aching from him being hard too long with nothing happening but the music; music; the music just did not stop, did it? He was dancing again, they were all dancing again. When he looked over at the stage, he saw six women and six men dancing in front of the consoles, and behind them the dj had his hood off. Paul noticed that his eyes were yellow. the music just did not stop, did it? He was dancing again, they were all dancing again. When he looked over at the stage, he saw six women and six men dancing in front of the consoles, and behind them the dj had his hood off. Paul noticed that his eyes were yellow.

Miriam Blaylock was dancing, too; he saw her. She saw him and her eyes sparkled; then she saw he was naked and she c.o.c.ked her head and gave him a mock-angry look and wagged her finger at him. Oh, she was just the cutest little girl he had ever seen. G.o.d love her for letting him into this wonderful place where he was dancing with the beautiful. She must actually like him. She must be impressed. Actually. He'd tell her he was the d.a.m.n CIA director, if he had to. He never wanted to leave this place as long as he lived.

Then it was total dark, total silence. He stumbled, almost fell again, but n.o.body else moved. Everybody else just stayed still. He couldn't hear a d.a.m.n thing, not after that music.

The lights came on, and all of a sudden the magical beings were just people. They were boys and girls in their teens, mostly. Some older ones. There were famous faces here and there, not people whose names he knew, but the kind of faces you recognized from TV or the movies but you didn't know exactly who. He'd never been in the same room with famous people before.

A guy came onto the stage. The dj. There was a faint sound like rustling leaves, and Paul applauded, too. Had the music f.u.c.ked up his hearing or what? He'd listened to plenty of loud rock in his life, but this had been something more. This had been music that blew you so far out of yourself that he now felt as though some sort of internal reset b.u.t.ton had been pushed. He felt blank, a deprogrammed soul.

In the light he could see people were getting dressed, and they were still doing drugs, right out in the middle of everything. Some of them were even still making love. Guys were still hard, thinking nothing of it. Some of these kids were not even teens. They were, like, teenyboppers. There were friggin' children in this place, drinking and doing drugs, naked with naked adults. It was total, amazing, awful sin.

"h.e.l.l," he said to two of them standing nearby, "this place almost got Bangkok beat!"

Waiters came through two big doors and started laying out food and wine. They brought it in on huge gold trays, in golden bowls and crystal bowls, and the utensils and the plates were all gold, too.

"Christ," he said to another couple, "those pots must be worth a million bucks!"

He hadn't noticed that he was the only one making any noise until a guy held his finger over his lips.

"Be quiet?"

The kid nodded.

h.e.l.l, he didn't want to be quiet. He wanted to talk dirty to some frail. He wanted to get finished getting blown. But, h.e.l.l, he was okay with it; this was what they wanted to do. He was the d.a.m.n newbie, looked like.

Sarah watched Leo pull Miriam away from the dj's stage and heard her say, "Miri, that man! man! He's utterly dreadful!" He's utterly dreadful!"

Very quietly, Miriam said, "He's also utterly alone."

Leo seemed not to comprehend. "Well, just get him out of here, please. He's p.i.s.sing everybody off."

Sarah marched over to her and said,"We don't talk to Miriam like that."

"What? About him? She was an idiot to bring him in. He even had a gun!"

Quickly, Sarah took Leonore out of the room. The hard lights of the kitchen were a better setting for this discussion. "Listen, Leo. Do not ever ever make demands of her. What's been done to you doesn't give you the right. In fact, it does the opposite. Before, you were her friend. Now, you're her possession." make demands of her. What's been done to you doesn't give you the right. In fact, it does the opposite. Before, you were her friend. Now, you're her possession."

"You know something, Sarah? You're a complete a.s.shole." Leo flounced off through the doors.

Sarah was amazed at how angry she felt, watching those doors swing behind that arrogant little a.s.s. It was a calm, dispa.s.sionate sort of anger, a deep anger. The idea that she would have to live years and years with Leo interfering between her and Miri was just plain awful.

Before Leo, she had not been loyal enough. She had been unable to shake the scruples she'd brought from her old life. Miri had stolen her from herself. But because she was not a volunteer but a captive, something else was also true. Miri was responsible for her. Miri, also, belonged to her. She had rights in this relationship. She had her place, and did not intend to be disloged.

She went down to the office and stood at the one-way mirror, where she could see the dance floor. Everybody was eating, gobbling away at the braces of honey-dipped sparrows and other exotic foods that Vincent had prepared at Miriam's instruction. Miriam had little interest in human food, but it wasn't as if she didn't know about it. Her recipes spanned three thousand years. Honey-dipped sparrows had been the hot dogs of Elizabethan England.

Sarah watched the man. He was, in a way, beautiful - huge, muscular, his eyes extremely intelligent. She'd gone out on the floor and sucked him for a little while. She imagined that his ample organ would feel really nice inside her.

"You're drooling," Miri said as she came in. "And get your clothes on, you're the only one still naked except for that big slab of ham you're drooling over. Want to eat him?"

"What's the deal with him?"

Miriam sat down behind her desk. She tossed a small suitcase on it, clapped her hands. "Chop chop."

"The count, already? It's only two, Miri."

"Rudi's bag got too full. You'll have two counts tonight."

"I thought it was gonna be good."

"You want to know what the deal is with him?"

"Yeah." Sarah was sorting, preparing the pile for the count. It was over a hundred grand, though; she could already tell that. Money came to Miriam like metal shavings to a magnet. Ancient Keeper magic, Sarah thought. "So, what is it?"

"I don't know if I should tell you."

"Please trust me, Miri. It's agony for me when you don't."

"It's agony for me when you forget your place, child."

Sarah sorted bills into neat stacks of fifties, hundreds, a few twenties.

"I've been thinking about that. I want to ask your forgiveness. I want you to know that you've got my absolute loyalty."

"Now that there's a replacement threatening, yes. I wish you'd come to me before I blooded her."

"Why did you? We've got to endure her now forever and ever! And she's - oh, Miri, she's tacky and she's quite stupid."

Miriam shrugged. "You want to do pipe later, child?"

"I thought you were mad at me."

"I'm not mad now. In fact, I'm going to do celebration pipe. The two-hundred-year-old opium."

"What possible occasion could there be now?"

"I'm going to take that man downstairs with you and me and Leo, and we are going to spend a very long time with him. We're to feed Leo with him. Her first pabulum. Do you think she can handle it, Doctor?"

She was instantly excited, instantly appalled. A "very long time" would mean h.e.l.l for the poor man. "Miri, I hate for them to suffer."

"What if I told you that he's the one who a.s.saulted me?"

She stopped counting. In fact, lost the count. "You mean - "

Miri smiled slow. "I snared him, Sarah, in my very fine net. Antic.i.p.ated his moves correctly. He is, at present, our prisoner."

"He's the one from Paris?"

"Yes."

Sarah looked at him again. "If we kill him, is that it? You're out of danger?"

"They'll be set back, because that man out there is a very powerful weapon. That man is the reason they win."

"Who, Miri?"

"There are people killing the Keepers, Sarah. Making carnage of us all over the world."

"People?"

"And that man is their leader."

Sarah found a chair. "And we're going to feed him to Leo?"

"She needs to eat, dear, just like us. She has a right to her food, too."

Paul wanted his clothes. Everybody else was already dressed. This was becoming not fun. "Excuse me," he said again, "I think that's my - " But it wasn't his. Nothing was his. "Look, hey, I'm missing a wallet, here." He really didn't need to lose that, that, for Chrissakes. There was six hundred bucks in there. The rest was safe enough inside the springs of the bed at the Terminal Hotel, except for the three c's he'd spent on the also-gone magnum. for Chrissakes. There was six hundred bucks in there. The rest was safe enough inside the springs of the bed at the Terminal Hotel, except for the three c's he'd spent on the also-gone magnum.

"Hey, ladies!" he called out to no one in particular. "I got no clothes, here! Is there somebody in charge?"

They were purposely ignoring him, all of them. That was obvious. It was some kind of joke, apparently. He was now the only person naked. The lights were so bright they might as well be on a beach. G.o.dd.a.m.nit, this was like one of those dreams - you're naked in a department store or something.

He spotted some guy giving him the eye and flopped his d.i.c.k at him. "Like to look at it, doncha?"

"It's pretty."

Oh, Jesus, and he'd been having so d.a.m.n much fun. Normally, he had very little fun. Getting blown and then sick drunk in wh.o.r.ehouses was not fun; it was a job, servicing your urges.

The management was undoubtedly back there watching the New York sophisticates having their vicious fun at his expense. Lemme put one of you t.u.r.ds in a vampire lair sometime, Lemme put one of you t.u.r.ds in a vampire lair sometime, he thought, he thought, see if you find that fun. see if you find that fun.

He glared around him. Female laughter bubbled up from somewhere in the crowd, was instantly extinguished.

He went over to the food table. Little dead eyes stared at him. But there was also caviar, and his guess was that this was the most expensive thing on the menu. So he cupped his hands and got a great big glob of it, causing all the cognoscenti to gasp. Then he threw the caviar at the d.a.m.n one-way mirror.

"Gimme my d.a.m.n clothes," he said quietly. "Or I'm gonna tear this place apart." He spoke with the kind of gentle intensity that suggested that immediate compliance was essential.

Leo, who had had enough of this jerk for this evening and the rest of what might be a very long life if things went her way, said,"I'll get your clothes."

"Wise girl."

The delay was because Miriam had decided that she didn't want him to get back into his rags. She wanted him properly dressed, so she had sent Luis up to the house to get some of John's clothes. He had just reappeared with a black silk Donna Karan suit and a bloodred shirt, also of silk. Miriam would not allow John's things to be put into storage, not even yet. Maybe Sarah would come up with some new process someday, that would work for him. His body was still fairly intact, after all. So his things waited for him.

"It's crazy to have this guy here," Leo said.

Sarah, who was counting again and could not interrupt herself, did no more than glare. Now that she shared a secret with Miri that the b.i.t.c.h wasn't party to, she felt better, less threatened.

Miriam put Paul's wallet in the breast pocket of the superb jacket. The magnum, which was on her desk under some piles of money, stayed there.

"You're to bring him to my room," Miriam told Leo.

Leo knew that people who went in there did not come out. "Am I invited?"

"You are indeed," Sarah said.

A chair hit the one-way mirror, bouncing off with a distant thud. He was getting physical about his nudity.

Miriam shook her head. "My, my."

"He's out there naked in a fully dressed crowd," Sarah said. "I'd be p.i.s.sed off, too."

Miriam chuckled. "Show him the club, Leo. Let him play with you a little. But don't you dare f.u.c.k him dry. Is that a promise?"

Leo came around behind the desk and kissed Miriam's cheek. Sarah couldn't watch it. She stared down at the magnum. She picked it up and pointed it at Leo. "Remember this," she said. "He's dangerous."

Another chair thudded into the window.

"Arrange to be at the door to my room with him in half an hour," Miriam said as Leo hurried out. Then she turned to Sarah, "Don't point guns at her."

"She's rude to you."

"She's as she is. Accept her."

"You want her instead of me!"

Miriam went close to Sarah, cradled her face in her hands. "Control yourself," she said, pressing harder, compressing the jaw and cheeks until the eyes almost popped out of the head. "Will you?"

Sarah nodded. She could not speak.