“She’s adorable. Who’s her friend?”
The girls notice us looking at them.
“That’s Rinko. She hates me.”
“She loathes you. It’s obvious to anyone. Shall we make them jealous?”
She takes my face in her hands and kisses me hard. It takes me back a few months when she led me out behind the bar and taught me how a pro slaughters zombies—by ripping out their spines. Then I killed them all in one night and left her without a job. Except for being a movie star. It’s nice to have something to fall back on.
The kiss goes on. She might just be going through the motions, but it’s a hell of a kiss.
She whispers into my ear so quietly I can barely hear her.
“Now I will disappear. I have a car waiting to take me to a much more expensive bar full of expensive people with whom I’ll talk about movies we’ll never make together.”
She glances at Candy and Rinko’s table.
“Besides, there’s nothing that interests a woman more than a mysterious stranger taking advantage of her lover and then vanishing. But not forever I hope. Please don’t be a stranger, Pán d’ábel.”
She winks, blows me a kiss from the door, and walks out. It’s an Oscar performance. Ten more seconds the room would have given her a standing ovation.
When I turn back to the bar, Candy is standing next to me.
“I take back what I said earlier. I know who I want you to punch.”
“Down, girl. Like you said about Rinko, Brigitte is an old friend.”
“What’s her story? She someone you rescued from a rabid lawn gnome?”
“I told you about her. She almost ended up a zombie because of me.”
Candy’s eyes go wide and she opens her mouth in exaggerated surprise.
“Oh my God. That was your porn star? I thought I recognized her. I take it back. Don’t punch her. Get me one for Christmas.”
“Forget it. The two of you together would be more dangerous than the Kissi.”
Carlos comes over.
“You ready for another drink, little lady?”
“A shot of Jack, please.”
“What about your friend?”
“Just water for her.”
I look at Rinko. She waves to the Ludere from the clinic sitting at a table of other blue-skinned blondes.
“Is Rinko still into drinking people?”
“That’s part of how we got together. Stopping her, I mean. I got her the same potion I take so she doesn’t have to. She’s trying to be good but it’s not easy.”
“I think she’d like to drink me.”
“She’d like to cut off your head and shit down your neck.”
“I see why you like her.”