Bummer went toward the smell until he stood at the end of the dock. He saw a small white cloud bubbling out over the gunwale of a yacht moored a hundred yards away. Bummer barked to let the cloud know to stay away.
"Settle down, little one," said the Emperor. Lazarus shook some water out of his ears and joined Bummer at the end of the dock. The cloud was halfway between the yacht and the dock, pulsating and bubbling as it moved across the water toward them. Lazarus lowered his head and growled. Bummer added a high whine to the harmony.
"What is it, men?" the Emperor asked. He put his cigar out on the sole of his shoe and secured the remains in his breast pocket before limping, stiff from sitting, to the end of the dock.
The cloud was almost to the dock. Lazarus bared his teeth and snarled at it. Bummer backed away from the edge of the dock, not sure whether to bolt or stand his ground.
The Emperor looked out over the water and saw the cloud. It was not wispy at the edges, but sharply defined, more like a solid mass of gel than water vapor. "It's just a bit of fog, men, don't…"
He spotted a face forming in the cloud that changed as he watched to the shape of a giant hand, then bubbled into the head of a dog.
"Although weather is not my specialty, I would venture to guess that that is no ordinary fog bank."
The cloud undulated into the shape of a huge viper that reared up, twenty feet over the water, as if preparing to strike. Bummer and Lazarus let go with a fusillade of barking.
"Gents, let us away to the showers. I've left my sword by the sink." The Emperor turned and ran down the dock, Bummer and Lazarus close at his heels. When he reached the clubhouse he turned to see the cloud creeping over the lip of the dock. He stood, watching transfixed, as the cloud began to condense into the solid form of a tall, dark man.
The Animals began drifting into the store around midnight, and to Tommy's delight they all seemed at least as hung over as he was. Drew, tall, gaunt, and deadly earnest, had them sit on the register counters and wait for his medical diagnosis. He walked from man to man, looking at their tongues and the whites of their eyes. Then he walked toward the office and seemed to lose himself in concentration. After a moment he went into the office and came back with the truck manifest.
Drew noted the number of cases, then nodded to himself and removed a bottle of pills from his shirt pocket and handed it to Tommy. "Take one and pass it down. Who drank the tequila?"
Simon, who had pulled his black Stetson over his eyes, raised his hand with a slight moan.
"You take two, Simon. They're Valium number fives."
"Housewife heroin," said Simon.
Drew announced, "Everyone drink a quart of Gatorade, a slug of Pepto, three aspirin, some B vitamins, and two Vivarin."
Barry, the balding scuba diver, said, "I don't trust that over-the-counter stuff."
"I'm not finished," Drew said. From his shirt pocket he pulled an aluminum cigar tube, unscrewed the cap, and tipped it into his hand. A long, yellow paper cone slid out. He held it out to Tommy. It smelled like a cross between a skunk and a eucalyptus cough drop. Tommy raised an eyebrow to Drew. "What is it?"
"Don't worry about it. It's recommended by the Jamaican Medical Association. Anybody got a light?"
Simon pitched his Zippo to Drew, who handed it to Tommy.
Tommy hesitated before lighting the joint and looked at Drew. "This is just pot, right? This isn't some weird designer kill-the-family-with-a-chain-saw-and-choke-to-death-on-your-own-vomit drug, right?"
"Not if used as directed," Drew said.
"Oh. Okay." Tommy sparked the Zippo, lit the joint, and took a deep hit. Holding in the smoke — his eyes watering, his face scrunched in gargoyle determination, his limbs contorted as if he had contracted a case of the instant creeping geeks — he offered the joint to Lash, the black business major.
There was a thump on the front door, followed by an urgent pounding that rattled the windows. Tommy dropped the joint and coughed, expelling a blast of smoke and spittle in Lash's face. The Animals shouted and turned, not so much startled by the noise, but tortured by the assault on their collective hangover.
Outside the double automatic doors the Emperor pounded on the frame with his wooden sword. The dogs jumped around his feet barking and leaping as if they had treed a raccoon on the roof of the store.
Tommy, still gasping for breath, dug into his pocket for the store keys and made his way to the door. "It's okay. I know him."
"Everybody knows him," Simon said. "Crazy old fuck."
Tommy turned the key and pulled the doors open. The Emperor fell into the store. Bummer and Lazarus leaped over their master and disappeared down an aisle.
The Emperor thrashed around on the floor and Tommy had to step back to keep from having his shins whacked by the wooden sword.
"Calm down," Tommy said. "You're okay."
The Emperor climbed to his feet and grabbed Tommy by the shoulders. "We have to marshal our forces. The monster is at hand. Quickly now!"
Tommy looked back at the Animals and grinned. "He's okay, really." Then, to the Emperor, "Just slow down, okay. Can I get you something to eat?"
"There's no time for that. We must take the battle to him."
Simon called, "Maybe Drew has something to mellow him out." Drew had recovered the joint and was in the process of relighting it.
Tommy closed and locked the door, then took the Emperor by the arm and led him toward the office. "See, Your Majesty, you're inside now. You're safe. Now let's go sit down and see if we can sort this out."
"Locked doors won't stop him. He can take the form of mist and pass through the smallest crack." The Emperor addressed the Animals. "Arm yourself, while there is still time."
"Who?" Asked Lash. "Who's he talking about?"
Tommy cleared his throat. "The Emperor thinks that there's a vampire stalking the City."
"You're shittin' me," Barry said.
"I've just seen him," the Emperor said, "at the marina. He changed from a cloud of vapor to human form as I watched. He's not far behind me, either."
Tommy patted the old man's arm. "Don't be silly, Your Highness. Even if there were vampires, they can't turn into vapor."
"But I saw it."
"Look!" Tommy said. "You saw something else. I know for a fact that vampires can't change into vapor."
"You know that for a fact?" Simon drawled.
Tommy looked at Simon, expecting to see the usual grin, but Simon was waiting for an answer.
Tommy shook his head. "I'm trying to get things under control here, Simon. You want to give me a break?"
"How do you know?" Simon insisted.
"It was in a book I was reading. You remember, Simon, you read that one too."
Simon looked as if he had just been threatened, which he had. "Yeah, right," he said, pushing his Stetson back down over his eyes and leaning back on the register. "Well, you ought to just call the loony-bin boys for your friend there."
"I'll take care of him," Tommy said. "You guys get started on the truck." He opened the office door and nudged the Emperor toward it.
"What about the men?" asked the Emperor.
"They're safe. Come on in and tell me about it."
"But the monster?"
"If he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already." Tommy shut the office door behind them.
Big hair, Jody thought. Big hair is the way to go with this outfit. After all these years of trying to tame my hair, all I had to do was dress like an upscale hooker and I would have been fine.
She was walking up Geary Street, her fake Gucci bag of free cosmetics still in hand. There was a new club down here somewhere and she needed to dance, or at least show off a little.
A panhandler wearing a cardboard sign that read, "I am Unemployed and Illiterate (a friend wrote this for me)," stopped her and tried to sell her a free weekly newspaper.