She knew it was a little weird.  People don't normally sit in trees in the middle of the night.  They don't drink blood from a wine bottle while sitting in a tree either, but if you're going to be a little strange, you might as well be a lot strange. "Son of a bitch," she muttered and threw the bottle down.  There was a silence as it dropped and the faint sound of the breaking glass.  "Shit, now I'm a litter bug."  Time passes.  "Oh, I'll get it later."

It was the dark of the moon but the few stars on the cloudy night were more than enough light for her to see by.  She wondered if she should continue working for Dr. Rolf.  Since she'd met Vicki, the library seemed just a wee bit boring.  The data searches were fun, but now, she was more afraid of actually finding something than she was of not finding it.  She grimaced and took a half pint of brandy from her cape pouch.  Carefully putting the cap in her pocket she took a long pull of the burning liquid.  "Ah," she exhaled.  "Now this is normal," she thought.  "Sitting in a tree at one am and getting blitzed on brandy is just so normal.  Glad I've make it back to the real world."  She took another long pull on the bottle and felt the glow spread through her."

She felt flush and comfortable from the blood, even if it had been cold.  Codrin had spiced it with something exotic, and even though it wasn't from a warm exciting host, it was still quite tasty.  She scratched her right fang with her index finger.  "How can a fang itch?" she wondered.

She knew for sure that John was making it with Kathy.  He wasn't even that careful on the phone tonight.  She suspected he'd left his office door ajar on purpose.  It seemed like a nasty way to get rid of her but it sure was going to work.  "I just can't work there if he'd going to treat me like that.  Ok, maybe he doesn't care, but he could at least be civil!"

She wondered if Vicki was home.  A little girl talk would be nice.  Besides, Vicki really seemed like a nice person.  She really didn't have to split the money and she seemed to have a decent attitude about life, considering her circumstances.  Making up her mind, she dropped out of the tree, cape flaring, and landed lightly on her feet allowing her knees to flex to absorb the impact.  "Bet I'd have had fallen arches if I'd tried that a year ago.  HA!  If I'd tried the a year ago, my knees would be coming out of my ears!"  She picked up the broken glass from the bottle she'd dropped.  "Oh, I'm a good little girl scout," she thought.  Dropping the broken glass into the paper bag from the brandy she tucked both of them into her cape pouch.

"Your sweet ass is mine, bitch!"

"Huh?"  She spun and saw a hulking man approaching her.

Standing menacingly over her he said, "You silly bitches come into MY park, during MY hours and then you expect to just walk out?"  He shook his head sadly.  "HA! In your dreams."  He reached for he and walked into the most powerful upper cut to the genitals he'd ever encountered.  As he bent forward attempting to grab the abused area, a knee to his face ended his awareness and he collapsed heavily.

Eliza grinned sardonically.  "Your park, huh?"  She rolled him over and searched him.  She removed a small hand gun from him, found a wallet with a healthy wad of money in it.  "Looks like you've been having a good night till now, sweetheart."  She tossed the wallet down next to him after sliding the money into her pouch.  "Now what?  If I let you live you're going to hurt someone innocent."  She sighed.  "Guess I have to take the garbage out."  She bent and tore his throat out with her fangs.  She straightened and spat.  "Ugh!  I can't even drink that stuff!  Bleed to death and be damned, sucker!"

She leapt back into the tree and leaping from tree to tree she put over a hundred yards between her and the bleeding body.  "Let the cops figure this one out," she snickered.

Lost in thought, she raised her hand and knocked on Vicki's apartment door.  When there was not immediate answer, she knocked again.  She heard a masculine voice and then Vicki called, "Go away!  I'm busy."

"Oh. I'm sorry Vicki," Eliza responded.  "I'll come back later."

"No, no, no, come on in now!" she heard Vicki running towards the door.  The door opened and a naked Vicki pulled her into the room.  "You just wait.  I won't be long, honest!"  Vicki ran back to the bed, where a man was waiting looking slightly concerned and confused.

"Another one?  I get two for one?"

"Oh no," Vicki replied.  "It's three times as much for the two of us."

"No way, I don't have that kinda money on me," he said.

"Ok, how about another 50 and she watches?" Vicki offered.

"That's not bad.  Does she get naked?"

Eliza grinned and shook her head.  Getting into the spirit of things she countered, "75 and I get naked."

The man in the bed hesitated.  Eliza wasn't sure if it was because of what Vicki was doing to him or if he was considering it.  Her eyes widened as she saw what Vicki was doing.  She focused.  Removing her cape and unbuttoning her blouse, she bared her breasts.  Now he was paying attention to her.

"Oh, Oh, OK," he finally managed.  His eyes were riveted on her as she slowly stripped.  She had never really stripped for a man before, and never a strange man, and never, never, a strange man who was . . . was . . . getting pleasured by another woman at the same time!  She realized that the blood, brandy and violence had her "wired" already, and now, she was actually getting turned on.  She stepped out of her panties and struck a provocative pose.  She ran her hands down her body and watched the strange man watch her.

"Damn I'm hot!" she thought to herself.  "Maybe I should have joined them."  She rubbed the inside of her thighs, watching the man on the bed.  As her hands reached where he'd been hoping they'd reach, Vicki did something and he threw back his head and groaned.  His gripping the sheets with both hands and his body twitching left no doubt that his time remaining with Vicki would be very short.  She was right.  Vicki got him dressed and got him moving faster that Eliza would have ever thought possible.

She came back smiling, holding money in her had. "Oh, I'm sorry!  Do you want to finish?" she asked.  Eliza felt herself turning red.  She realized that her hands were still in sort of intimate places and she tried to look innocent.  Vicki laughed.  "Eliza, as pale as you are, when you blush, you look like a red traffic signal!"  Grinning, she handed Eliza $75.  Not bad for diddling yourself, huh?"

Eliza grinned back, “not bad at all.”
 

“Boy Vicki, this is the quickest $75 I’ve ever made.  If you don’t mind, I’m going to shower and if possible, I hope we can talk.”  Eliza realized what she’d done, and said, “Nothing like taking over your shower.  I’m sorry.”

“Not a problem, you shower, then I will.  While you are cleaning up, I’ll pick the clothes I want to wear tonight.   Want to go back to the Blood Bristo tonight?” She asked.

“Sounds good to me, as long as it doesn’t take away from anything you have to do.”

“Man, Eliza, you sure sound serious tonight.  Is everything ok, cuz if its not, we can do this another time,” Vicki said.

“No, no, everything is fine, I just wanted to talk something over and get another gals perspective on this,” she replied.

In five minutes Eliza was done and Vicki stepped into the shower to take her place.  Eliza took the time to get dressed again.  Vicki was finished just as quickly and stepped out to dress herself in the clothing she had laid out before.

“Want to talk here or as we walk?” Vicki wanted to know.

“Either one is fine Vicki, ah well maybe it isn’t important anyway,” Eliza hedged.

Vicki looked at her and said, “Look Liz, if its that important that you get all serious on me then its important enough to talk about, so shoot.”  Vicki sat down and looked expectantly at Eliza, waiting for her to start.

“Umm.....well, I’m seriously thinking about quitting my job as the research assistant.  I know John is stringing me along and he’s playing around with Kathy, the newspaper guys, assistant.  I just get this feeling like he’s going to dump me.  I’d rather dump him first.  I don’t know if this will affect my job with the library or if I’ll even have a job when he gets done with me.”

Looking seriously at Eliza, Vicki said, “I didn’t know things were that bad at the job.  You hadn’t said anything, and I thought things were good.  If you’re sure that you want to leave, you won’t have a problem getting work.  You are so smart, that I know things will fall into place for you.”

“But Vicki, I’m just so damn bored.  You have no idea.  The data we’re collecting is interesting, but it seems I’m doing more and more myself.  He’s never there anymore.  When he is, its work and more work. We never talk things over, its always “do this, do that” now.  Maybe its jealousy, sort of.  We had something going, I thought.”

Vicki watched the emotions playing over Eliza’s face and thought to herself that there was more that a little jealousy.

“Wow, I never noticed before, how your eyes flash when you’re angry Liz.  They get a red, yellow, orange glow to them.  Remind me not to piss you off anytime soon,” Vicki retorted.

Laughing, Eliza asked her what she’d meant when she said she wouldn’t have trouble finding work.

“Well not to insult you or anything, but you are a natural working girl.  You seem to enjoy all the things about this “job.”  To some its work and to others its pleasure.  You just have to watch some of the weirdo guys, like the one the night we met.”

“That reminds me Vicki, did you see in the newspaper about the body they found just the other side of the strip club?  Someone did a job on her.  She’d been stabbed and beaten and then mutilated.”

Vicki replied that she hadn’t had time to read the paper yet today, but that she would look for the article.

“She wasn’t the only one, seems there was one last week too.  Also, a male prostitute.  All the bodies were mutilated.  Seems there’s a serial killer out there,” Vicki said, looking a little nervous.

“Lets go get some Plum Brandy and talk more about my becoming a working girl.  I just may enjoy that kind of job,” Eliza grinned.

Both grabbing their coat and cloak, they hurried out the door and headed down the street.

Since the bar was so close to Vicki’s apartment, they didn’t hesitate to walk, talking excitedly as they did so.

Heads close together, laughing at the girl talk, they didn’t notice the man that was staring at them from the shadows of the alley.  He was standing back in the shadows of the two buildings watching, glaring and staring after the two friends.

If they had seen him, they may have been more careful.

Rubbing at the still faintly visible bruise on the side of his head, The hulking brute muttered under his breath, “I know where you live, bitch, you and you little friend are on my list. I’ll have some fun with the two of you before I do you in like I did those others .”