Chapter 29
Friends

Christa stretched and gently rolled out of bed.  She grinned, remembering last night's meeting.  She didn't know how long she was going to be here.  She was really missing Sandy, her best friend, sometimes lover, and were-companion.  She sighed.  Eliza seemed nice and they at least shared the common bond of needing to hunt.  Since her transformation, she'd become a lot more open to the possibilities of reality containing a lot more than she'd ever expected.  Once you have been opened to the concept, you begin to notice things, things you've never noticed before.  She idly wondered if you even could have noticed until being opened to the idea.

She opened her apartment door hoping the paper was there.  Sometimes the evening delivery wasn't too reliable.  Peeking out, the first thing she noticed was the door across the hallway was open a crack.  She grinned.  The young man across the hall was totally fascinated by her and she knew he'd tried to peep her a couple of times.  He was too young to get upset about, and after the initial scare, she was sort of enjoying teasing him.  He'd been on the fire escape, peeking into her bathroom window, while she was taking a shower.  As she'd stepped out of the shower, she saw movement outside of the steamy window.

She concentrated on acting normally until she figured if she was in danger or not.  When she realized what was going on, she felt a wash of relief and then an evil sense of exhibitionism.  As she dried from her shower, she put on a show that would have done honor to a stripper.  What was really tickling her, was the fact that the window as steaming up and visibility was rapidly diminishing.  She imagined how he must be craning to see what she was doing.  "Oh, I am so bad," she thought as she left the bathroom and turned off the light.

She grinned and opened the door wide enough for him to see that all she was wearing was very revealing panties, she snatched the paper as if she didn't want anyone to see her and then closed the door and giggled.  "Bet I know what he's going to do now," she thought.

She opened the paper as she sat down for her morning coffee.  The headlines screamed, “BODIES FOUND MUTILATED”.

"Huh?" she sputtered.  Had Eliza left a mess?  She was absolutely certain she'd left no traces that anyone could ever find.  Eliza was young, but she wasn't stupid.  She read and realized she and Eliza had not fed on the bodies.  She felt the hair rise on her arms.  "Oh no!  It's those damn dogs and they are leaving messes.  That is not good.  There seems to be a rogue."  She chewed her lower lip.  "This could make it rough for all of us.  I've got to talk to Eliza and warn her.  I wonder if it followed me or if it's only a rouge?"

Eliza smiled and waved at Jesse and he did sort of look relieved although he still had a very serious expression on his face.  The distance between them, the need for him to focus on playing, along with the mental noise of the evening crowd made a mental link very difficult.  She chirped a cherry greeting to him and got the feeling of concern back but she couldn't get any details or images, just feelings.  She shrugged and waved and found an out of the way booth to enjoy her evening in.  Jesse would have a break in about an hour.  They could chat then.

The outside door opened and Billy stepped in and pointed back toward her.  "Now, why is he pointing at me," she wondered.  Then she saw Christa and she stood up and waved so Christa would see her.  Christa, cat quick, saw her instantly, grinned, waved and headed back toward her.  She stopped one of the B-girls and pointed back toward Eliza.  The girl nodded and Christa continued on back and slid into the booth facing her.

"Did you see the paper?"  Christa whispered.  "That wasn't me.  It wasn't you, was it?"

"Of course not, but what the hell was it."

"Did you read the whole article?  I don't think it was the ones we did."  Christa stopped talking as her drink was delivered to the table.  She paid and impatiently waited until she felt it was safe to talk. Taking a sip of her rum, she made a face.  She held it up and looked at it distastefully.  "Well, at least it’s alcoholic."  She looked around and leaned forward.  "I think we've got something else going on."  She gave a brief description of her encounters with werewolves or dogs.  At least they were canine and they did not like cats, were or otherwise.

"Damn!" Eliza hissed.  "I sure hope you're kidding me."  She lowered her voice even further, "I'm getting sort of overwhelmed here.  First, I find out I'm a vampire.  Then I discovered there were hunters that wanted to kill me, then there is you.  You're a freaking were-cat."  Eliza realized how that sounded and reached over and grabbed her forearm, "No offense intended," she grinned.  "And now you're telling me there are were-wolves that are hunting you and running around killing people."  Eliza put her face into her hands.  "Shit," she whispered.

Christa looked at Eliza and could see that she was quite upset.  Her case had been different.  Eliza was just dumped into the middle of all this with no warning.  Christa looked at Eliza's unhappy countenance and felt sorry for her.  She'd never really felt that alone.  She'd always been able to lean on Sandy.  They had supported each other in the strangest ways.  She looked at Eliza and felt her heart go out to her.  She slid out of her seat and sat next to Eliza.  Putting her arm around her, she hugged her.  "Come on, girl.  At least it's not dull."

Eliza sighed and leaned against her.  "Yea," she agreed, "no argument there."

Christa gently pushed her shoulder.  "What do you say we get out of here?  It looks like rain out, and I don't know about you but I love the rain."  Eliza stared at her and Christa held up her hand.  "Don't even ask.  I know cats aren't supposed to like the rain, but I love it, ok?"

Eliza had to grin at her defensive stance.  Since she loveD the rain too, it had never occurred to her to give it a second thought.  "Ok," she nodded.  "Let's do it."  On the way out, she waved at Jesse and tried to convey to him mentally that she was alright.  He was deep into the music and she wasn't sure he even noticed her.  He was part of the show and the show must go on.  That was a rule she understood.

The outside air was hot and humid.  Eliza quickly wished she'd not dressed in leather.  She loosened some of the laces on her vest to let some air circulate.  Christa giggled.  "Showing a little tit there, aren't you?"

Eliza grinned and shot back, "Are you saying my tits are little?"

Christa colored a little.  "Well, that's not exactly what I meant.  But.  Well," she stopped and looked Eliza up and down.  "You know, there sure isn't a whole lot of you!  But I do have to admit, your proportions are as close to perfect as I've ever seen."

Eliza smiled at the compliment and replied with lots of fang displayed, "Why thank you.  I guess I can let you live now."

Christa gave a chuffing chuckle and turned, showing a hand full of long sharp claws as well as fangs.  "Why thank you.  I'm so relieved now," and they both broke up laughing.

Eliza put her arm around the larger Christa.  "Thanks,  I really needed that.  I can't remember the last time I laughed like that."

Christa hugged her back.  "I like you.  You can laugh at yourself and you're fun to be around.  Even if you do have a face full of fangs!" she said with a very toothy grin.

They walked towards the park in the humid air, chatting an laughing like any to normal people except if anyone could have heard their conversation, they have wanted to lock both of them up in a rubber room.  Christa had mentioned how her change altered her physical dimensions so much, she'd learned to carry a change of clothing in her purse or try to get naked before the change occurred.  That made life a lot easier.  One time she had changed and then gone romping around having a good old time.  When she'd changed back, her clothes were in tatters and she was miles from home.  She'd no shoes, a very ripped blouse and almost see through panties.  The man who'd picked her up was very polite and proper but he sure did look.

Eliza told her of a time when the sun caught her and she'd taken refuge in a huge drain pipe, the kind that run under roads.  Sleep had overtaken her and when she awoke she was totally naked.  Everything was gone.  Even her panties and she was surrounded by a group of homeless men that used the storm pipe as shelter at night.  She never did understand why they never molested her, but she'd gotten to her feet, and with as much dignity as possible, walked from the drain pipe into the night air.  They had parted to let her pass, and no one had even touched her.  Once she reached the night air, she'd traveled at vampire speed back to her apartment.  Only one person saw her going down her steps and that was a stranger who seemed to be enjoying the show.  "Since then, I've been more careful," she mentioned.

They wandered into the park, unconcerned about any danger normal girls would have.  Little did the three men following them realize what they were.  "I've got a question for you, Eliza."

"Shoot," was the response.

"I've told you some stories and you've told me some.  What I want to know is why are we always ending up naked?  Normal people aren't always getting naked, are they?"

Eliza giggled.  "And we're normal?"

"Oh, you know what I mean," Christa said in an exasperated tone.

"Yea, yea, I do and I'm sorry," Eliza giggled.  "Actually, I think it depends on the people.  Vicki, a good friend, is getting  naked and getting it on as often as she can find customers.  Sometimes I help her."  Eliza grinned.  "Doubling is fun.  One time this guy just wanted to watch us.  I'd never done that before.  When Vicki told me how much he was going to pay, I didn't hesitate!"

Christa seemed to be impressed.  "I like going to bed with a woman but I've never done it for money and not with someone just watching," she said in awe.

Giggling, Eliza informed her he actually did more than just watch.  He just did it with himself.  That got both of them giggling as they walked deeper into the darkness of the park.  "You know that we're not alone," Christa whispered.

Eliza giggled.  "Yea, and they are not nice."

"Oh, you can tell that?" Christa asked.

"Sorta.  I get a feeling of their intentions.  I've been taking this martial arts class.  I've learned things there that I don't think any vampire can do.  Sensei is really good!"

"Hmmmm.  So you're saying that it might not be a vampire thing at all?"

"I'm not sure," Eliza responded.  "I've never really thought to ask."  Eliza stopped short and Christa took the cue and stopped too.  The three men who had been following them, had worked their way around in front of them and stepped out on the path blocking their way.

Standing three abreast, they blocked the path.  "And where would you two sweet little things be going this dark, dark night?" he leered.

Eliza started to say something, but Christa dug her in the ribs with her elbow.  "Why," she said sweetly, "we were going to the clearing right up there, get naked and make it with each other." Christa could feel Eliza shaking with suppressed laughter.  "Don't blow this," she tried to convey mentally.  "This could be fun."

"You guys know, we were just talking about how we always seem to be getting naked."  She nudged Eliza. "Weren't we?"

"Umph.  Why, yes," Eliza said sweetly, "that's exactly what we were saying.  And I was saying how much better it is when someone was watching."

There was a moment of silence.  The three men looked at each other and they quietly stepped aside to allow Christa and Eliza to pass.

Eliza didn't hesitate.  She grabbed Christa's hand and almost pulled her up the path.  The three men closed behind them and followed.  "What the hell are we going to do?" Christa whimpered.

Eliza giggled.  "Get naked?"

Christa made a strangled sound but followed Eliza.  They had gone only a short distance when they did come to a clearing.  Eliza stopped and Christa almost piled into her.  "This is it!"  Eliza piped up.  There was some pushing and shoving among three men for position.  Eliza started unlacing her vest and kneeled.  "Ewwww, she said.  "The ground is all wet!  She looked up pleadingly.  "Do either of you have something I could lie on?  This wet ground is too yucky."

The men looked at each other and one of them removed his shirt and spread it for Eliza.  She smiled sweetly, spread the shirt and sat, cross legged on it, and began removing her vest.  "Why thank you!  But are you going to make poor Christa sit naked on this yucky ground?"

Again the three exchanged glances and two more shirts fluttered down.  Christa spread the shirts out and kneeled.  She looked at Eliza wide eyed.  Eliza grinned at her and began to unbutton her blouse.  With slightly shaking hands, she reached and began to unlace Eliza's vest.  Since Eliza had already loosened the laces, the vest fell open very easily.  Eliza shrugged it off, revealing the fact she was wearing nothing under it except skin.  In the silence, the sharp inhalation of the men could be heard.  There was nervous laughter and someone said, "Go to it girls."

Eliza looked at Christa, slid her blouse off of her shoulders, which elicited a cat call from one of the men.  "Come on, bitch, get it on!" one of the men shouted.  Eliza winked at Christa and raised her arms.  In a kneeling position, she seemed to float into the air.  A breeze blew, as if from nowhere, blowing her long hair into  disarray, framing her glowing eyes and protruding fangs in a wild display of Vampire savagery!

Christa's body rippled and shifted.  She drew her ears back and lifted her lips, revealing razor sharp, gleaming incisors.  A rumbling growl issued from her body that seemed to cause the very ground to shake.  They faced each other, fangs and claws, hisses and snarls, echoing through the park.  Suddenly, Eliza settled to the ground and doubled over laughing.  Christa looked around and realized that they were totally along.  The three men had totally and completely vanished.

She giggled and poked the almost incapacitated Eliza with a firm finger.  "Do you think they'll tell anyone?" she snickered.

"If they do, they'd better be prepared to be a guest of the state for a long, long time," Eliza gasped.  "I wish you could have seen their faces.  I swear to you, one of them peed on himself."

Christa sniffed with feline sensitivity and shook her head.  "I think that's not all he did," she chortled

Eliza sniffed too.  "Oh," she said wrinkling her nose, I do believe you're right!  You know, they seemed to leave these shirts for us.  What do you think we should do with them?"

Christa smiled and put her hand on Eliza's cheek.  "Honestly, I feel a little more comfortable now that we're alone."  A gentle rain began, cooling the humid night.  Their skin glistened as their hair became plastered to their heads.  They smiled at each other and gently kissed.  The body warmth pleasant in the chill rain.

As morning came, Toby contentedly curled between two warm bodies.  He purred and pushed against Eliza forcing his back tight against the warm body next to her.  This was nice.  The new cat smelled nice and she felt good.  Toby kneaded contentedly. And joined Eliza and Christa in sleep.