Literature

Billy must have been working on Dad. Billy misses Mom almost as much as Dad and I do, and I think he knew that Dad barely being able to let…

I keep having these conversations with Dad.I’m at my computer. He says, “What are you doing?” I mutter something, because the screen has a lot of squiggles on it so…

Of course I couldn’t sleep. I would have liked to pretend – even to try to pretend – that it was because I wasn’t used to sleeping during the day,…

Pat expelled a long noisy breath. “Well held, you guys,” he said. He glanced at Con. I could guess he was torn between wanting to celebrate a partial victory against…

He dealt in rare and valuable objects.She was hoping she’d got him, or soon would. What kind of rare and valuable objects? Con shrugged again, gently. Anything he could buy…

A hiss? I’d heard Con hiss – vampires did hiss. The giggler had hissed. It was a horrible noise even from a…an everyday, an every-night vampire. It was much worse…

There was now quite a lot of blood, and…bits and pieces. I had blood on me too. Con seized my hand again, and said sharply, Come. I didn’t dare look…

I nodded, probably too vigorously, because his smile faded. “Something wrong?”Nothing that wasn’t wrong the last time you asked me that question, I thought, only it’s got wronger faster than…

“Yes,” I said. “Mel, d’you suppose anyone is exactly who they say they are?””Charlie, maybe,” he answered, after a little pause, of surprise or consideration. “Can’t think of anyone else….

So I glanced through my cosmail to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important. The usual globenet come-ons: a ride on the space bus for only a hundred squillion blinks…

Pat took a deep breath. “Ma’am, Milenkovic’s field notes clearly record – “Jesse was arguing with the guys at the backup combox. I wanted to hear what was going on…

I was making it, I thought. I suppressed a shudder. “No.””One killed and three missing in No Town,” he said. “The one killed is confirmed sucker.” “You can’t be sure…

Assailable. An interesting choice of adjective. I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. I couldn’t see into the shadows on his face. They remained shadows. They…

And Paulie had taken the early shift this morning. (He’d offered.) Okay.My little excursion through nowheresville must have taken no time at all. One of the standard features of nowheresville,…

“My – unlikely friend. He should have come back, and he hasn’t. And I don’t know how to find him.””And the binding between you?” I shook my head. “It isn’t…

I nodded. “I know they’re the good guys and everything, but…””I know. Once I found out they were watching me I changed the way I do some stuff. They are…

We drove. Old county buildings quickly became Old Town, which turned almost as quickly into downtown and then rather more slowly into nothing-in-particular town, blocks of slightly shabby houses giving…

Aimil stared at me, visibly puzzled. “What happened – ? Since the – the other night all of Old Town knows you were in some kind of trouble with suckers,…

I hated it that I now “saw” more easily in the dark than I did in the light. In the dark it all made sense. I hated this.I was so…

Oh gee. Don’t pull your punches like that. I can take the truth, really I can. I said something like, “Unnngh.””I believe it will work.” “I’m delighted to hear it.”…