Living Dead in Dallas

tangled mass all the way to her hips. She didn’t seem cold. The rest of us (except the vampires) were definitely feeling the nip in the air. We’d come dressed for an orgy, not an outdoors party.
    “Hello, messenger,” the maenad said to me. “I forgot to introduce myself last time, my canine friend reminds me. I am Callisto.”
    “Miss Callisto,” I said, since I had no idea what tocall her. I would have nodded, but Andy had hold of my neck. It was sure beginning to hurt.
    “Who is this stalwart brave gripping you?” Callisto moved a little closer.
    I had no idea what Andy looked like, but everyone on the deck was enthralled and terrified, Eric and Bill excepted. They were easing back, away from the humans. This wasn’t good.
    “This is Andy Bellefleur,” I croaked. “He has a problem.”
    I could tell from the way my skin crawled that the maenad had eased forward a little.
    “You have never seen anything like me, have you?” she said to Andy.
    “No,” Andy admitted. He sounded dazed.
    “Am I beautiful?”
    “Yes,” he said, without hesitation.
    “Do I deserve tribute?”
    “Yes,” he said.
    “I love drunkenness, and you are very drunk,” Callisto said happily. “I love pleasures of the flesh, and these people are full of lust. This is my kind of place.”
    “Oh, good,” Andy said uncertainly. “But one of these people is a murderer, and I need to know which.”
    “Not just one,” I muttered. Reminded I was on the end of his arm, Andy shook me again. I was getting really tired of this.
    The maenad had gotten close enough now to touch me. She gently stroked my face, and I smelled earth and wine on her fingers.
    “You are not drunk,” she observed.
    “No, ma’am.”
    “And you have not had the pleasures of the flesh this evening.”
    “Oh, just give me time,” I said.
    She laughed. It was a high, whooping laugh. It went on and on.
    Andy’s grip loosened, as he grew more and more disconcerted by the maenad’s nearness. I don’t know what the people on the deck thought they saw. But Andy knew he was seeing a creature of the night. He let go of me, quite suddenly.
    “Come on up here, new girl,” called Mike Spencer. “Let’s have a look at you.”
    I was on a heap on the ground by Dean, who was licking my face enthusiastically. From that point of view, I could see the maenad’s arm snake around Andy’s waist. Andy transferred his gun to his left hand so he could return the compliment.
    “Now, what did you want to know?” she asked Andy. Her voice was calm and reasonable. She idly waved the long wand with the tuft on the end. It was called a thyrsis; I’d looked maenad up in the encyclopedia. Now I could die educated.
    “One of those people killed a man named Lafayette, and I want to know which one,” Andy said with the belligerence of the drunk.
    “Of course you do, my darling,” the maenad crooned. “Shall I find out for you?”
    “Please,” he begged.
    “All right.” She scanned the people, and crooked her finger at Eggs. Tara held on to his arm to try to keep him with her, but he lurched down the steps and over to the maenad, grinning foolishly all the while.
    “Are you a girl?” Eggs asked.
    “Not by any stretch of the imagination,” Callisto said. “You have had a lot of wine.” She touched him with the thyrsis.
    “Oh, yeah,” he agreed. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked into Callisto’s eyes, and he shivered and shook. Her eyes were glowing. I looked at Bill, and sawhe had his own eyes focused on the ground. Eric was looking at the hood of his car. Ignored by everyone, I began to crawl toward Bill.
    This was a fine kettle of fish.
    The dog paced beside me, nosing me anxiously. I felt he wanted me to move faster. I reached Bill’s legs and gripped them. I felt his hand on my hair. I was scared to make the large movement of rising to my feet.
    Callisto wrapped her thin arms around Eggs and began to whisper to him. He nodded and whispered back. She kissed him, and he went rigid. When she left him to glide over to the deck, he stood absolutely still, staring into the woods.
    She stopped by Eric, who was closer to the deck than we were. She looked him up and down, and smiled that terrifying smile again. Eric looked at her chest fixedly, careful not to meet her eyes. “Lovely,” she said, “just lovely. But not for me, you beautiful piece of dead meat.”
    Then she was up amongst the people on the deck. She took a deep breath, inhaling the