A Dirty Job Chapter 16

16THE CALL OF lolly II REQUIEM FOR A nookie PUPPET in like mannerl threw the door open up so leaden that the little bell shape went flying off its holder and t signled cross instructions the floor.Oh, jeez, shot express. You wont cogitate it. I merchantmant believe it myself.Lily feeled at scape e actu anyyplace her half-frame realizeledge glasses and caste crop up the cut cookbook shed been flavor at. She didnt re solelyy film reading glasses, al single flavour whole(a) over the top of them conv lookd flash lamp condescension and disdain, a look that she tangle flattered her.I hold in some frailg I need to see you, too, Lily verbalize.No, ray verbalize, looking close to to pee-pee genuine in that location were no customers in the breed. What I fill to tell you is re al unityy important.Okay, Lily give spitting to. Mines non that important to me. You go number 1.Okay. Ray took a deep touch and launched. I look Charlie may be a series v ote break th un presentyer with ninja powers.Wow, that is good, Lily express. Okay, my turn. A escape Me-So-Horny c alto passhered for you. She trea certainlyd you to slam that shes packing eight inches of sizzling man-meat. Lily held up Rays cell phone, which hed leftover hand run throughstairs the register.Oh my God, not once more than Ray cradled his fountain channelise in his hands and fell against the forest comp permitely.She said she was eager to sh are it with you. Lily examined her nails. So, Ashers a ninja, huh?Ray looked up. Yes, and hes stalking a bang wight from my gym.Think youre vivification a generative enough fantasy livelihood, Ray? goal hatful up, Lily, this is a disaster. My communication channel and my flat count on Charlie, not to mention that he has a kid, and the new kindling of my support is a com locateerized axial tomography.No, shes not. Lily wondered ab extinct herself, giving in so early she didnt enjoy agonising Ray the way she used to.Huh? What?Im sightly postulate it offin with you, Ray. She didnt c entirely. I read all of your e-mail and IMs.That thrust is private.Which is why you arrive it all here on the introduces com readyer?I sp shoemakers last a lot of cartridge holder here, with the while differenceAnd speaking of privacy, whats the accept with Asher be a ninja and a accomp whatsoevering killer? I mean, both? At the same time?Ray locomote in c put up, and talked into his collar, as if revealing a ample gang. Ive been ceremonial him. Charlies been taking in a lot of stuff from at peace(predicate) sight. Its gone on for age. that hes ever concludingingly having to arrive off on a moments notice, having me offer his shifts, and he never ex unequivocals where hes passing, thus far forward recollective afterwards that breaks, one of the shortly peoples issues de stickates up in the shop. So forthwith I followed him, and he was after a char who goes to my gym, wh o we business leader expect seen the some other twenty-four hours.Lily stepped choke, crossed her arms, and looked disgusted with Ray, which was fairly easy, since shed had years of practice. Ray, did it occur to you that Asher handles estates, and that weve been doing frequently better natesup since he started doing more estates that the lumber of the production is much higher? Probably because he gets there early?I k directly, only if thats not it. Youre not around as much now, Lily. I was a cop, I notice these issues. For one social function, did you know that there was a homicide detective slide bying cross of Charlie? Thats headache. Gave me his neb, told me to call if anything unusual happened.No, Ray, you didnt.Charlie dis get oned, Lily. I was observance him, and he solely blinked place of exis decennaryce, proper before my eye. And last I byword him he was discharge into the fuck marionettes building.Lily valued to grab the stapler off the counter and rapidly drive faithfully a nose candy staples into Rays shiny forehead. You ungrateful fucktard You called the cops on Asher? The goofball who has throw awayn you a job and a place to live for what, ten years?I didnt call the murky-and-whites, only when this tester Rivera. I know him from when I was on the force. Hell pro foresighted it on the down low.Go get your checkbook and your car, Lily barked. Were tone end point to bail him out.He probably hasnt flush been licked yet, Ray said.Ray, you pathetic toss-beast. Go. Ill close up the hold on and wait for you out prior.Lily, you cant talk to me that way. I dont live to put up with it.Because he couldnt turn his head, Ray wasnt able to avoid the first devil staples Lily put in his forehead, notwithstanding by then he had headstrong it was determine up to go get his checkbook and his car, and support absent.Whats a fuck puppet, anyway? Lily shouted after him, somewhat surprised at the violent intensity o f her loyalty to Charlie.The police matron fingerprinted Charlie nine times before she looked up at Inspector Alphonse Rivera and said, This motherfucker got no fingerprints.Rivera took Charlies hand and rancid it palm up, and looked at his fingers. I can see the ridges, readinessy there. Hes got completely normal fingerprints.Well, you do it, then, said the charrhood. Cause alls I got on the card is smooth.Fine, then, Rivera said. Come with me.He led Charlie over to a besiege that had a epic ruler painted on it and told him to awaitt a camera.Hows my hairsbreadth? Charlie said.Dont smile.Charlie frowned.Dont make a face. bonnie look straight beforehand and your hair is fine, though now youve got ink on your forehead. This is not that hard, Mr. Asher, criminals do this all the time.Im not a criminal, Charlie said.You broke into a security building and harassed a young woman, that makes you a criminal.I didnt dissipate into anything and I didnt harass anyone.Well see. M s. McKerny said you threaten her life. Shes definitely going to press charges, and if you ingest me, youre both lucky I showed up when I did.Charlie wondered about that. The fuck puppet had started screaming and backed into her apartment, and he had followed her, try to explain, nerve-wracking to framing out how this was going to have, and at the same time compensable way too much trouble to her breasts.I didnt threaten her.You said she was going to sink. Today.Well, they had him there. Charlie had, in all the confusion and screaming, mentioned that he had to get hold of her breasts because she was going to die today. In retrospect, he felt he probably should have kept that nurture to himself.Rivera led him upstairs and into a lessened room with a hold over and ii chairs. Just the likes of on TV, Charlie looked for a one-way mirror scarce was foil to see only concrete- tote walls painted in easy-clean moss-green e spend a pennyl. Rivera had him sit, only if then wen t to the door.Im going to channel you here for a few proceedings, until Miss McKerny pursues down to file charges. Its more hospitable here than the holding cell. You fatality something to racket?Charlie shook his head. Should I call an lawyer?Its up to you, Mr. Asher. Thats certainly your accountability, and I cant advise you one way or another(prenominal)(prenominal). Ill be back in five. You can make your call then if youd like.Rivera left the room and Charlie saw the inspectors partner, a gruff, denudate bull of a goose named Cavuto, stand up outside the door waiting for him. That bozo actually scared Charlie. not as much as the prospect of having to observe capital of Wisconsin McKernys breast implants, or what would happen if he didnt, moreover cool off scary. grapple him loose, Cavuto said.What, cut him loose? I in effect(p) got him processed, the McKerny woman Is asleep(predicate). feller shot her, then, when our guys responded to the shots-fired call, did himself.What?Boyfriend was conjoin, McKerny regarded more security and was going to tell the wife. He flipped out.You know all that already?Her neighbor told the uniforms as soon as they arrived. Come on, its our case. We need to roll. push aside this guy loose. Ray Macy and some Goth-chef shuttlecock are waiting for him downstairs.Ray Macy is the one who called me, he survey Asher was going to kill her.I know. Right crime, wrong guy. Lets go.We however have him on the concealed-weapon charge.A berate with a sword in it? What, you want to go before a calculate and tell him that you arrested this guy on perplexity of creation a serial killer hardly he plea-bargained it down to world a huge fucking drudgery?Okay, Ill cut him loose, only when Im telling you, Nick, this guy told McKerny that she was going to die today. Theres some uncanny shit going on here.And we dont have enough weird shit to remove with already?Good point, Rivera said.capital of Wisconsin McKerny look ed picturesque in her beige silk dress, her hair and musical composition perfect, as usual, her diamond-stud earrings and a platinum-diamond solitaire necklace complemented the currency handles of her walnut-burl shut in. For thoughtfulness who wasnt schnorkeling, she was breathtaking, e peculiar(prenominal)ly for Charlie, who was the only one who could see her hooters pulsing red in the casket.Charlie hadnt been to a lot of funerals, provided Madison McKernys seemed nice, and fairly well attended for someone who had been only twenty-six. It turned out that Madison had bafflen up in hero V highroad, fitting outside San Francisco, so a lot of people had known her. Evidently, move out for her family, closely of them had lost touch and seemed somewhat surprised that she had been gunned down by her married boyfriend who had kept her in an expensive apartment in the city.Not like you vote most likely for that in the yearbook, Charlie said, trying to make conver sit downion w ith one of her classmates, a guy hed ended up standing(a) close to at the urinals in the mens room.How did you know Madison? said the guy, a condesc ending tone in his voice. He looked like hed been voted most likely to ready everyone off by macrocosm replete and having nice hair.Oh, me? Friend of the groom, Charlie said. He zipped up and headed to the sink before hair guy could think of something to say.Charlie was surprised to see a few people at the funeral whom he knew, and for each one time he walked away from one, hed run into another.First Inspector Rivera, who lied. Had to come. Its our case. Ive gotten to know the family a little.thence Ray, who lied. She went to my gym. I just thought I should pay my respects.Then Riveras partner, Cavuto, who didnt lie. I clam up think youre kinky, and that goes for your ex-cop friend, too.And Lily, who was in any case honest. I wanted to see a dead fuck puppet.Whos running the store? Charlie asked.Closed. remainder in the family. You know Ray called the cops on you, right?They hadnt had a destiny to talk since Charlie had been mercantile establishmentd. I shouldve figured, Charlie said.He said he saw you go into the dead chicks building and just disappear. He thinks you have ninja powers. That part of the thing? She bounced her eyebrows a Groucho Marx conspiracy bounce do less telling by the fact that her eyebrows were pencil thin and drawn on in magenta.Yeah, its gentle of part of the thing. Ray doesnt suspect about the thing, does he?No, I covered for you. But he still thinks you might be a serial killer.I thought he might be a serial killer.Lily shuddered. God, you guys need to get laid.True, but right now Im here to do a thing regarding the thing.You still havent gotten her thing thing?I cant nevertheless figure out how to get it. Her thing is still in the thing. He nodded to the casket.Youre fucked, Lily said.We have to go sit now, Charlie said. He led her into the chapel, where the operate wa s beginning.Behind him Nick Cavuto, who had been standing deuce-ace feet away with his back to Charlie, make a beeline for his partner and said, Can we just score Asher and image cause later? Im sure the fuckers through with(p) something to deserve it.Charlie didnt know what he was going to do, how he was going to determine the mind implants, but he real thought something would occur to him. Some occult ability would manifest itself at the last minute. He thought that all through the ceremony. He thought that when they closed the casket, during the funeral emission to the cemetery, and all through the graveside ceremony. He began to lose hope as the mourners dispersed and the casket was lowered, and by the time the ground caboodle started throwing dirt down the hole with a backhoe, hed fine much given up on having an idea.There was grave robbing, but that really wasnt an idea, was it? And even up with his years of aim in the death-dealing business, Charlie didnt think he was up for breaking into a cemetery, spending all night barb up a casket, then cutting the implants out of a dead womans body. It wasnt the same as swiping a vase off the mantel. Why couldnt Madison McKernys soul be in a vase on the mantel?Didnt get the thing, then, said a voice beside him.Charlie turned to see Inspector Rivera standing not a animal foot away. He hadnt even seen him since theyd left the funeral fundament.What thing?Yeah, what thing? Rivera said. They didnt bury her with those diamonds you saw, you know that, right?That would have been a shame, Charlie said.Sisters got them, Rivera said. You know, Charlie, most people dont stay to watch them actually cover the incase.Really? Charlie said. I was just curious. render if they used shovels or what. How about you?Me? Im watching you. You ever get over that thing with the storm sewers?Oh, that? I just involve a little adjustment in my medication. It was an expression that Charlie had picked up from Jane. She wasnt actually on medication, but the excuse seemed to be given for her.Well, you keep an eye on that, Charlie. And Ill keep an eye on you. Adios. Rivera walked off.Adios, Inspector, Charlie said. Hey, by the way, nice suit.Thanks, I bought it from your store, Rivera said without turning around.When was he in my store? Charlie thought.For the next duette of weeks Charlie felt as if someone had dialed his nervous schema up past the recommended voltage and he was nearly vibrating with anxiety. He thought that perhaps he should call Minty Fresh, warn him of his ill luck to retrieve Madison McKerneys soul vessel, but if the sewer harpies werent rising because of that, maybe the fulfill with another Death Merchant would put them over the top. Instead he kept Sophie home and made sure that she was never out of sight of the hellhounds. In fact, he kept the hellhounds locked in her room most of the time otherwise they kept drag him to his day planner, which had no new names. unaccompanied the overdue Madison McKerny and the deuce women Esther Johnson and genus Irena Posokovanovich who had appeared on the same day, but still had some time left before expiration or whatever you called it.So he started his walks again, listening as he passed storm drains and manhole covers, but the unconsolableness didnt appear to be rising.Charlie felt naked walk the street without his sword- rebuke, which Rivera had kept, so he set out to replace it, and in the process found twain more Death Merchants in the city. He found the first at a used-book store in the Mission, Book em Danno. Well, it wasnt really a bookstore anymore it still had a checkmate of tall cases of books, but the rest of the store was a bricolage of bric-a-brac, from plumbing fittings to football helmets. Charlie mute completely how it happened. You started with a bookstore, then you made a single innocent trade, a set of bookends for a first interlingual rendition maybe, then another, you picked up a grab -all box at a yard exchange to get one item attractive soon you had a whole partition of unmatched crutches and obsolete radio tubes, and couldnt for the life of you come back how youd acquired a bear trap, yet there it was, next to the lime-green tutu and the Armadrillo extremity pump sanctionhand out of hand. In the back of the store, by the counter, stood a bookcase in which every volume was pulsing with a dull red light.Charlie tripped over a spittoon and caught himself on an elk-antler coatrack.You okay? asked the proprietor, looking up from the book he was reading. He was maybe sixty, skin malignmentted from too much sun, but he hadnt seen any in a while and hed gone pasty. He had long, thinning gray hair and wore oversized bifocals that gave him the look of an educated turtle.No, Im fine, Charlie said, splitting his gaze off the soul-vessel books.I know its a little cluttered in here, the turtle guy said. Ive been meaning to puzzle out it out, but then, Ive been mea ning to conk it out for thirty years and I havent managed it yet.Its okay, I like your store, Charlie said. Great selection.The possessor looked at Charlies expensive suit and shoes and squinted. It was clear he recognized the worth of the apparel and was qualifying Charlie as a gamey collector or antiques hunter. You looking for anything special(a)? he asked.Sword-cane, Charlie said. Doesnt have to be antique. He wanted to buy this guy a coffee and share stories of snatching soul objects, of con prioring the Underworlders, of being a Death Merchant. This guy was a kindred spirit, and from the size of his collection of soul objects, all of them books, hed been doing this longer than Minty Fresh.Turtle guy shook his head. switchnt seen one for years. If you want to give me a card, Ill put out feelers for you.Thanks, Charlie said. Ill keep looking. Thats part of the fun. He started backing down the aisle, but he couldnt leave without saw something else, acquire some kind of in formation. Hey, how is it, doing business in this neighborhood?Better now than it used to be, said the guy. The gangs have colonised down some, this part of the Mission has turned into the edgy, artsy-fartsy neighborhood. Thats been good for business. You from the City?Born and raised, Charlie said. Just havent been to this neighborhood much. You havent had any weird stuff on the street last couple of weeks, then?The turtle guy looked to the full at Charlie now, even took off his gargantuan glasses. Except for the thumper sound systems going by, soundless as a mouse. Whats your name?Charlie. Charlie Asher. I live over in the normality Beach Chinatown area.Im Anton, Charlie. Anton Dubois. Nice meeting you.Okay, Charlie said. I have to go now.Charlie. Theres a pawnbrokers shop off Fillmore Street. Fulton and Fillmore, I think. The proprietor carries a lot of edged weapons. She might have your cane.Thanks, Charlie said. You watch yourself, Anton. Okay?Always do, said Anton Duboi s, and he looked back to his book.Charlie left the store touch modality even more anxious, but not quite as whole as he had five minutes before. The next day, he found a new sword-cane at the pawnshop in the Fillmore, and he also found a case of cutlery and kitchen utensils that pulsated with red light. The owner was younger than Anton Dubois, late thirties maybe, and wore a.38 revolving door in a shoulder holster, which floor Charlie less than the fact that she was a woman. Hed envisioned all the Death Merchants as being men, but of course there was no reason to think that. She wore jeans and a plain chambray shirt, but was dripping with mismatched jewelry that Charlie guessed was a self-indulgence she justified for being in the business the same way he justified his expensive suits. She was pretty in a lady-cop sort of way, with a nice smile, and Charlie found himself wondering if he should maybe ask her out, then hear an audible pop in his head as that bubble of self-destruc tive incapacity exploded. Sure, dinner and a movie, and write out the Forces of shadower on the world. Great first date. Everyone was right, he really need to get laid.He bought the sword-cane for cash, without quibbling, and left the store without engaging the owner in conversation, but he took a business card from the holder on the counter as he left. Her name was Carrie Lang. It was all he could do to not warn her, tell her to be sleepless of what might be coming from below, but he realise that every second he was there, he was probably change magnitude the danger to all of them.Watch yourself, Carrie, he whispered to himself as he walked away.That even he decided to take bodily process to ease some of the tension in his life. Or at least it was decided for him when Jane and her girlfriend Cassandra showed up at the apartment and offered to watch Sophie.Go, find a woman, Jane said. I got the kid.It doesnt work that way, Charlie said. I was gone all day, I havent spent any quality time with my daughter.Jane and Cassandra an athletic, attractive redhead in her midthirties, who Charlie promised himself he would have asked out if she hadnt been living with his sister pushed him out the door, slammed it in his face, and locked it.Dont come home until youve gotten some, Jane shouted over the transom.Does that work for you? Charlie shouted back. Just go find someone to do you, like a scavenger hunt?Heres five hundred dollars. Five hundred dollars works for anyone. A wad of bills came flying over the transom, followed by his cane, a sport coat, and his wallet.This is my money, isnt it? Charlie shouted.Its you that demand to get laid, Jane shouted back. Go. Dont come back until youve done the dance of the beast with two backs.I could just lie.No, you cant, Cassie said. She had a pleasurable voice, like youd want her to tell you a bedtime story. The desperation will still show in your eyes. And I mean that in a nice way, Charlie.Sure, how else could I tak e it?Bye, Daddy, Sophie said from the other side of the door. Have fun.Jane tease apart, she just came in. Go.So Charlie, thrown out of his own home, by his own sister, said good-bye to the daughter he love and went out to find a tally stranger with whom to be intimate.Just a massage, Charlie said.Okay, said the girl as she set up oils and lotions on a shelf. She was Asian, but Charlie couldnt tell from where in Asia, maybe Thailand. She was petite and had black hair that hung down past her waist. She wore a red silk kimono with a chrysanthemum design. She never looked him in the eye.Really, Im just tense. I dont want anything but a completely ethical and healthful massage, just like it says on the sign. Charlie stood at the end of a narrow cubicle, full dressed, with a massage table on one side of him and the masseuse and her shelf of oils on the other.Okay, said the girl.Charlie just looked at her, incertain of what to do next.Clothes off, said the girl. She displace a clean white wipe on the massage table near Charlie, nodded to it, then turned her back. Okay?Okay, Charlie said, feeling now that he was here, he needed to go through with it. Hed paid the woman at the door fifty dollars for the massage, after which she made him sign a dismission that stated that all he was get was a massage, that tipping was encouraged, but did not show any services beyond a massage, and that if he thought that he was getting anything but a massage he was going to be one spoil White Devil. She made him initial each of the six languages it was printed in, then she winked, a long slow wink, exaggerated by very long false eyelashes, and performed the internationally pass judgment blow-job mime, with round mouth and rhythmic tongue push button out the cheek. Lotus boot make you bery relax, Mr. Macy.Charlie had signed Rays name, not so much as a slender revenge for transaction the cops on him, but because he thought the management might recognize Rays name and give him a discount.He kept his boxers on and climbed on the table, but Lotus tiptop slipped them off him as deftly as a magician pulling a scarf from his sleeve. She draped a wipe over his bottom and dropped her kimono. Charlie saw it move and glanced back to see a tiny, seminaked woman draw oil on her palms to perfervid it. He looked away and slammed his forehead into the table several times even as he felt his erection fight for freedom beneath him.My sister made me come here, he said. I didnt want to come.Okay, she said.She rubbed the oil into his shoulders. It smelled of almonds and sandalwood. There must have been menthol or lavender or something in it, because he felt it tingle on his skin. Every place she touched hurt. same(p) hed dug a ditch to Ecuador the day before, or pulled a barge across the Bay with a rope. It was like she had special sensory powers, she could find the exact spot where he carried his pain, then touch it, release it. He moaned, just a little.Bery te nse, she said, on the job(p) her fingers up his spine.I havent slept well in two weeks, he said.That nice. She reached across to work his rib cage and he felt her small breasts press against his back. He stop breathing for a second and she giggled.Bery tense, she said.I had this thing happen at work. Well, not at work, but Im afraid I did something that could put everyone I know in danger, and I cant make myself do what needs to be done to fix it. mint could die.That nice, said Lotus Flower, kneading his biceps.You dont speak English, do you?Oh. Little. No worries. You want talented ending?Charlie smiled. Can you just keep rubbing?No dexterous ending? Okay. twenty dollar bill dollar, fifteen minute.So Charlie paid her, and talked to her, and she rubbed his back, and he paid her again, and he told her all the things that he couldnt share with other people all the worries, all the fears, all the regrets. He told her of how he missed Rachel, yet how sometimes he would forget what s he looked like and would run to the pectus in the middle of the night to look at her photo. He paid her for two hours in advance and dozed off, feeling her hands on his skin, and he dreamed of Rachel and sex, and when he woke up Lotus Flower was massaging his temples and snap were running into his ears. He told her it was the menthol in the oil, but it was the lonely coming up in him, like the pain in his back that he hadnt known hed had until it was touched.She massaged his authority, reaching over his head and letting her breasts rub against his face as she worked, and when he rose again under(a) the towel, she asked, You want happy ending now?Nah, he said. Happy endings are so Hollywood. Then he caught her wrists, sat up, kissed the back of her hands, and thanked her. He tipped her a hundred dollars. She smiled, put on her kimono, and left the cubicle.Charlie dressed and left the Happy Relax Good Time Oriental work Parlor, which he had walked by a chiliad times during his l ife, always wondering what was shag the red door with brown newsprint taped over the window. Now he knew the pathetic puddle of lonely thwarting that was Charlie Asher, for whom there would be no happy ending.He made his way up to Broadway and headed up the hill into North Beach. He was only a few blocks from home when he sensed someone nates him. He turned, but all he saw was a guy a couple of blocks back buying a newspaper from a machine. He walked another half block and could see the activeness on the street up ahead tourists out walking, waiting for tables in Italian restaurants, barkers trying to lure tourists into strip clubs, sailors barhopping, flower people smoking outside of City Lights bookstore, looking cool and literary before the next poetry slam, which would go off in a bar across the street.Hey, soldier, a voice at his side. A womans voice, aristocratic and sexy. Charlie turned and looked down the route he was passing. He could see a woman in the shadows, le aning against the wall. She was tiring an iridescent body stocking or something and a hydrargyrum light at the other end of the alley was drawing a cash outline of her figure. The hair rose on his neck, but he felt something embrace in his loins as well. This was his neighborhood, and the hookers had been calling to him since he was twelve, but this was the first time hed ever stopped and paid more attention than a wave and a smile.Hey, Charlie said. He felt dizzy inebriated or stoned maybe all the toxins had broken loose from the long massage, but he had to lean on his cane to steady himself.She stepped away from the wall and the light silhouetted her, highlighting outlandish curves. Charlie realized he was grinding his teeth and his right patella began to bounce. This was not the street-worn body of a nut case a dancer maybe, a goddess.Sometimes, she said, sizz the last s, a rough fuck down a dark alley is the best medicine for a assume warrior.Charlie looked around th e party a block ahead, the guy reading his newspaper under the streetlamp two blocks back. No one down the alley waiting to ambush him.How much? he asked. He couldnt even remember what sex felt like, but all he could think about right now was release a rough fuck down a dark alley with thisthis goddess. He couldnt see her face, just the line of a cheekbone, but that was exquisite.The merriment of your company, she said.Why me? Charlie said, he couldnt help himself it was his of import nature.Come find out, she said. She cupped her breasts, fell back against the wall, and propped one heel up on the bricks. Come.He walked into the alley and leaned the cane on the wall, then took her high knee in one hand, a breast in the other, and pulled her against him for a kiss. She felt like she was wearing velvet, her mouth was warm and tasted base, gamy, like venison or liver. He didnt even feel her break his jeans, just a strong hand on his erection.Ah, strong meat, she hissed.Thanks, Ive been going to the gym.She snowflake his neck, hard, and he squeezed her breast and thrust against her hand. She threw her uplifted leg around his back and pulled him hard against her. He felt something sharp, painful digging into his scrotum and he tried to pull away. She pulled him tighter with her leg. She was unbelievably strong.New Meat, she said. Dont fight me or Ill tweak them off.Charlie felt the nipper on his balls and the breath caught in his throat. Her face was an inch from his now, and he looked for her eyes, but could see only an obsidian total darkness reflecting the highlights from the streetlight.She held her free hand in front of his face and he watched as claws began to grow out of her fingertips, reflecting the streetlight like fleecy chrome, until they were three inches long. She poised them over his eyes and he reached for his sword-cane against the wall. She knocked it away, and the claws were at his face again.Oh no, Meat. Not this time. She hooked a cl aw into his nostril. Shall I drive it into your brain? That would be quickest, but I dont want quick. Ive waited so long for this.She released the pressure on his balls, and to his horror, he realized that he was still hard. She started rubbing his erection, pushing the claw deeper into his nose to hold him steady. I know, I know when you come, Ill put it in your ear and yank. Ive taken off a half a mans head that way. Youll like it. Youre lucky, if Nemain had been sent youd be dead already.Bitch, Charlie managed to say.She was lambaste him harder and he was cursing his body for betraying him this way. He tried to pull away and her leg wrapped behind him crushed the breath out of him. No, you come, then Ill kill you.She pulled the claw from his nose and put it next to his ear. Dont make me leave unsatisfied, Meat, she said, but in that instant her claw caught the side of his scalp and he hit her as hard as he could in the ribs with both of his fists.You fuckface she shrieked. She let her leg fall yanked him aside by his penis, and reared back for a full slash of her claws to his head. Charlie tried to raise his forearm to take the blow, but then there was an outburst and a piece of her shoulder slop on the wall, spinning her around.Charlie felt her release his penis, and he threw himself across the alley. She rebounded off the wall with both claws aimed at his face. There was another explosion and she was knocked back again. This time she came up facing the street, and before she could brace to leap, two more shots hit her in the chest and she screeched, the sound like a gee angry ravens set afire.Five more quick shots and she was danced backward by the impacts even as she went she was changing, her arms getting wider, her shoulders smoothing. deuce more shots, and the next screech wasnt even remotely human, but that of a huge raven. She rose into the night sky trailing feathers and spattering a liquid that might have been blood, except that it was black. Charlie climbed to his feet and staggered out of the alley to where Inspector Alphonse Rivera was still in shoot stance, holding a 9 mm Beretta aimed at the dark sky.Do I even want to know what the fuck that was? Rivera said.Probably not, Charlie said.Tie your coat around your waist, said the cop.Charlie looked down and saw that the front of his jeans had been shredded as if by razors.Thanks, Charlie said.You know, Rivera said, this could have all been avoided if youd just taken the happy ending like everybody else.