Vampire a Go-Go

TWENTY-SIX

A my slipped into a pair of Allen’s gym shorts, then pulled them tight with the drawstring. She knotted the too-large, red T-shirt (which read CCCP in yellow letters) at the waist and somehow made the outfit work. Meanwhile, Allen turned his back to the girls and put on boxers, jeans, a dark green T-shirt, and socks and running shoes.

“I’m sorry,” Amy said to Penny. “I know you came to visit your friend, but we have to leave now. This is extremely urgent.”

“Yes, I saw how urgently you both occupied the bottom bunk without any clothing,” Penny said. “Perhaps urge is the key element in the word ‘urgent’ in this case.”

“Damn it, Penny, you don’t understand,” Allen said, spraying deodorant under his shirt. “A lot has happened since I’ve arrived.”

Penny’s eyes shifted to Amy, then back to Allen. “Yes, I see you work fast.”

“This is serious. I don’t think Father Paul is the person you think he is.”

Allen tried to explain the late-night firefight, the special-forces priests bursting in, the flight to the secret witches’ lair beneath Zizkov, the story of the philosopher’s stone. He tried to imagine how the story sounded.

It sounded like bullshit.

“I’ve known Father Paul a long time,” Penny said. “There has to be a rational explanation.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear the part about the machine guns,” Allen said. “He tried to kidnap me.”

“Actually, it sounds like your girlfriend and her pals kidnapped you and Father Paul was trying to rescue you,” Penny said.

Allen opened his mouth, paused, closed it again, and turned to Amy. “She has a point.”

“The Society is only trying to help,” Amy insisted. “We’re the good guys here.”

Penny scoffed. “That’s debatable.”

Allen shook his head. “I don’t know what to think.”

“Whatever you think, we can’t stay here,” Amy said. “Now let’s move. Please.”

“I have a place,” Penny said.

Amy and Allen looked at each other.

“Well, they won’t think you’re with me, will they? We can go to my place and figure things out,” Penny offered. “I’m sure you’re wrong about Father Paul.”

Amy chewed her thumbnail. “I don’t know. You might not want to get involved with this.”

“Listen to me, new girl.” Penny jabbed a finger toward Amy. “I’ve know Allen a little longer than you have. I’ve invested a good bit of time in him, and I’m not ready to see him machine gunned or kidnapped. Let’s get one thing straight right here and now. I’m on board for the party now, you get it? So if it’s so damn important we get out of here before the sky falls, then let’s shut up and get moving. Anyone got a problem with that?”

Allen blinked at her. “When did you get so assertive?”

Penny smiled, lips tight. “Get used to it.”

They caught a tram a block from the university.

“You have metro passes, right?”

Amy and Allen both shook their heads.

Penny sighed. “They’ll give you a ticket if they catch you riding the tram or subway without a pass. We’ll have to risk it for now.”

“Penny, this is dangerous,” Allen said. “I don’t think we should get you involved.”

“Oh, just… shut up.”

The tram took them over the Charles River and back past Letna Park. They entered a much less touristy part of the city, and Allen recognized the working-class suburb as Holešovice from The Rogue’s Guide.

“The next stop is ours,” Penny said.

The tram squealed to a stop, and they piled out with a dozen others, mostly Czechs scattering back to their homes. Penny led Allen and Amy down a side street. The neighborhood became residential. They stopped in front of a narrow, two-story house constructed of dull gray stone.

“Three of us went in on an apartment,” Penny said. “We thought it would be more interesting and more comfortable than staying in the dorms. Come on, we’re upstairs. An old couple live on the bottom.”

They trudged up the stairs along the side of the house, and Penny unlocked the door and let them in.

Amy went ahead of them, peeking into every room. “Are we alone?”

Allen and Penny followed her. “I think,” Penny said. “Blanche and Ian don’t arrive until next week. I came over early to see you.”

“Who’s Ian?” Allen asked.

“Nobody that has anything to do with you,” Penny said.

The apartment consisted of three bedrooms, a sitting area in the middle, and a kitchen with a small table.

“I call the furniture Commie Surplus,” Penny said. “It all looks like drab leftovers from the fifties.”

Allen dropped himself into a padded chair of faded orange. Some kind of fake leather. Amy helped herself to the narrow couch.

“There’s nothing in the refrigerator, I’m afraid,” Penny said. “I’d planned to hit the market later.”

“Can I use your phone?” Amy asked. “I think I’d better get in contact with my people.”

“There’s no phone.”

Amy nibbled her bottom lip, concern crossing her face. “They’re going to be wondering about us.” She looked at Allen. “About you. I’ve got to let them know we’re okay and get instructions for what to do next.”

“There’s a pay phone near the tram stop,” Penny offered.

“Wait a minute,” Allen said. “I’m not interested in your calling your Society pals just so they can stuff me in a trunk again.”

“We should get in touch with Father Paul,” Penny insisted. “I’m telling you there’s some kind of mistake. You’re wrong about him.”

“No!” Sudden heat in Amy’s voice. “I need to get in touch with the Society. There are things happening, and we need to know. Come with me to the pay phone.”

“To hell with that,” Allen said.

“Then I’ll go make the call myself,” Amy said.

“If you do, I’ll run out of here as fast as I can. As soon as you’re out of sight, I’m gone,” Allen warned. “Unless you promise not to tell them where we are.”

She opened her mouth to object.

Allen cut her off. “Just tell them we’re fine. Find out what’s going on if you want to, but just give us some time to rest. Please.”

Amy went a little pink in the face, clearly frustrated.

Too bad, Allen thought. I’m tired of getting shoved around.

“Okay,” Amy said. “But you’ve got to promise to wait here until I get back. I could spell you, compel you to stay, but I don’t want to do that.”

Allen rolled his eyes. “Yes, fine. I promise. Please don’t spell me.”

“Okay. I’ll be back.”

She left. They listened to her footfalls fade down the outside stairs. The silence stretched a full minute.

“She’s very attractive, Allen,” Penny said. “I suppose I can understand why you’d be interested.”

“Oh, just… we’re not… I barely even know her and… what do you care, anyway?”

“Me?” Penny’s hand went to her chest, her eyebrows arching in innocent surprise. “Oh, I don’t care. None of my business. How you conduct yourself is of no concern to me.” She made a low, disapproving noise in her throat, almost like a growl.

Allen sighed, then sank into the chair. “Don’t be that way.”

“What way?”

“That way.”

“Okay, okay,” Penny said. “It’s just that we’re close friends, and well, I don’t know. I guess I feel a little proprietary about you or something, and it was just kind of sudden seeing you guys together in bed and, anyway, I don’t even know what I’m saying so I’ll just shut up.”

Penny had always been there for him; she’d talked him back to sanity when he’d gone through the gut-wrenching breakup with Brenda. She’d been solid as a rock, a steadfast friend and classmate. Why was she so suddenly bent out of shape about a minor misunderstanding?

It was almost as if she was… jealous? She’d said she felt a little proprietary about him, but she’d meant like a sister. Right?

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He couldn’t think about this right now.

“My head is swimming,” Allen said. “If I don’t sleep soon, I’ll drop dead.”

Penny said, “Take my bed. The sheets are fresh. I should have offered sooner. Frankly, you look terrible.”

He smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

“I’ll hit the market. You’ll want something to eat sooner or later.”

Allen pushed himself out of the chair and headed for Penny’s bed.

“Allen?”

He paused in the doorway to her bedroom and looked back at her. “Yes?”

She smiled, warm, all earlier irritation gone from her face. “Never mind. I’ll be back soon.”

Allen crawled into Penny’s bed and was asleep in less than ten seconds.

Father Paul and Finnegan stood in Allen’s dorm room.

Finnegan poked through the random clothing spread out on the top bunk. “The boy’s not much of a housekeeper, is he?”

“They left in a hurry.” Father Paul’s sharp eyes took in the small room quickly. “Just like in those chambers below Zizkov.” He nudged a damp towel on the floor with his boot. “They showered and changed.”

The big priest raised an eyebrow. “They?”

Father Paul pointed at the floor. “Two towels.” Then he pointed at the pink wad in the corner. “Women’s clothes. I saw her wearing them when we stormed the Society safe house. I think we fouled up, Finnegan. When we went in guns blazing to save Cabbot, it made us look like the bad guys, didn’t it?”

“We’ll set him straight, sir.”

“We’ve been doing this all wrong,” Father Paul said. “Instead of chasing after him, we need to get ahead, wait for him someplace down the line.”

“Where?”

Father Paul stuck a cigarette into his mouth without lighting it. “What’s the word on Evergreen’s apartment?”

“About a block from here. We’ve got somebody watching,” Finnegan said. “But intelligence still thinks it’s a decoy. The professor has probably rented a place under a different name, maybe out in one of the suburbs.”

Father Paul lit the cigarette, puffed. “Let’s find out where.”

Allen opened his eyes and looked at his watch. He’d slept three hours. He swung his feet over the side of the bed, felt fuzzy-headed. He shuffled into the tiny bathroom, splashed water in his face. The dim light over the sink buzzed. The face that looked back at him in the mirror had dark circles under the eyes.

Back in the sitting room, he spotted Amy on the couch, shoes off, breathing lightly. He tiptoed past her into the kitchen. Penny had left a note on the small table:

Allen,

There’s food in the refrigerator. I’m going to let you and your Friend sleep. I can tell you’ve both had a tough time. I’ll be back soon. Please wait for me.

Penny

Allen built himself a salami sandwich on dark bread with some soft kind of orange cheese. A bottle of water. He sat at the small kitchen table, chewing and considering his situation.

Had Amy kept her promise to keep her Society friends at bay? He finished the sandwich, put the plate in the sink. And where had Penny gone? The sudden notion she’d gone to fetch Father Paul sent a shiver of anxiety up Allen’s spine. Penny refused to believe the priest could possibly be one of the bad guys. She might be bringing him back here at this very minute in some misguided attempt to help Allen. Amy claimed to be one of the good guys too. Everyone said they wanted to help him.

So why did Allen feel like a rabbit with hounds on his heels?

He leaned against the doorframe between the kitchen and the sitting room, looked again at Amy curled on the couch. It could be a lot worse. He could be stuck with Clover. If he’d been on the run with the punk rock girl, he’d probably have been hog-tied with tape over his mouth, stashed in some closet.

Allen had to admit his time with Amy had not been entirely unpleasant. Perhaps that was why he’d felt slightly defensive with Penny earlier. He’d not been doing anything wrong with Amy when Penny had walked in on them-not that Allen would have refused any offers.

And yet… Penny. He was starting to see her in a way that hadn’t occurred to him before. Or had it? Hadn’t he always wondered about her? Just a little.

Okay, this was ridiculous. The completely gorgeous girl on the couch in front of him had been part of a plot to kidnap him. His close friend Penny was a devout Catholic who was likely on her way to a priest who seemed to favor automatic weapons over rosary beads.

Allen turned away from the sleeping girl and walked softly across the kitchen. He’d promised to wait until she returned. Well, she’d returned. Yeah, he was splitting hairs, but the fact was Allen had to figure things out, and Penny and Amy would only continue to cloud his thinking. He opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it quietly.

Allen needed answers. He walked quietly down the steps and headed toward the tram stop. The man who seemed to be at the core of this shit-storm would have those answers, Allen hoped.

Allen hopped the next tram headed toward Letna and Professor Evergreen’s apartment.