Living Dead in Dallas

“There’s a first aid kit in the office, why don’t I just run and get that?” she asked.
    Because I don’t want you to. “You know, I need to get a fresh blouse, too,” I said. I wrinkled my nose to show my low opinion of going around in a spotted blouse all evening.
    Another woman had come in the very doors I was hoping to go out of, and she stood listening to the conversation, her dark eyes darting back and forth from me to the determined Francie.
    “Hey, girl!” she said in a lightly accented voice, and the little Hispanic woman, the shapeshifter, gave me a hug. I come from a hugging culture, and it was automatic to hug her right back. She gave me a meaningful pinch while we were clenched.
    “How are you?” I asked brightly. “It’s been too long.”
    “Oh, you know, same old same old,” she said. She beamed up at me, but there was caution in her eyes. Her hair was a very dark brown, rather than black, and it was coarse and abundant. Her skin was the color of a milky caramel, and she had dark freckles. Generous lips were painted an outstanding fuchsia. She had big white teeth, flashing at me in her wide smile. I glanced down at her feet. Flat red shoes.
    “Hey, come outside with me while I have a cigarette,” she said.
    Francie Polk was looking more satisfied.
    “Luna, can’t you see your friend needs to go to the doctor?” she said righteously.
    “You do have a few bumps and bruises,” Luna said, examining me. “Have you fallen down again, girl?”
    “You know Mama always tells me, ‘Marigold, you’re as clumsy as an elephant.’ ”
    “That mama of yours,” Luna said, shaking her head in disgust. “Like that would make you less clumsy!”
    “What can you do?” I said, shrugging. “If you’ll excuse us, Francie?”
    “Well, sure,” she said. “I’ll see you later, I guess.”
    “Sure will,” said Luna. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
    And with Luna, I strolled out of the Fellowship of the Sun meeting hall. I concentrated ferociously on keeping my gait even, so Francie wouldn’t see me limp and become even more suspicious.
    “Thank God,” I said, when we were outside.
    “You knew me for what I was,” she said rapidly. “How did you know?”
    “I have a friend who’s a shapeshifter.”
    “Who is he?”
    “He’s not local. And I won’t tell you without his consent.”
    She stared at me, all pretence of friendship dropped in that instant.
    “Okay, I respect that,” she said. “Why are you here?”
    “What’s it to you?”
    “I just saved your ass.”
    She had a point, a good point. “Okay. I am a telepath, and I was hired by your vampire area leader to find out what had become of a missing vampire.”
    “That’s better. But it ain’t my area leader. I’m a supe, but I ain’t no freaking vampire. What vamp did you deal with?”
    “I don’t need to tell you that.”
    She raised her eyebrows.
    “I don’t.”
    She opened her mouth as if to yell.
    “Yell away. There’re some things I just won’t tell. What’s a supe?”
    “A supernatural being. Now, you listen to me,” Lunasaid. We were walking through the parking lot now, and cars were beginning to pull in regularly from the road. She did a lot of smiling and waving, and I tried to at least look happy. But the limp was no longer concealable, and my face was swelling like a bitch, as Arlene would say.
    Gosh, I was homesick all of a sudden. But I thrust that feeling away to pay attention to Luna, who clearly had things to tell me.
    “You tell the vampires we have this place under surveillance—”
    “ ‘We’ being who?”
    “ ‘We’ being the shapeshifters of the greater Dallas area.”
    “You guys are organized? Hey, that’s great! I’ll have to tell . . . my friend.”
    She rolled her eyes, clearly not impressed with my intellect. “Listen here, missy, you tell the vampires that as soon as the Fellowship figures out about us, they will be on us, too. And we aren’t going to mainstream. We’re underground for good. Stupid freakin’ vampires. So we’re keeping an eye on the Fellowship.”
    “If you’re keeping such a good eye, how come you didn’t call the vampires and tell them about Farrell being in the basement? And about Godfrey?”
    “Hey, Godfrey wants to kill himself, no skin off our teeth. He came to the Fellowship; they didn’t go to him. They about peed their pants, they were so glad to have him, after they got over the shock of sitting in the same room