cab, in the cab stand at the east-side Greyhound depot, waiting for the call that'll give me the late-shift clean sweep. I'd drawn a four o'clock end-time, as opposed to knocking off at two - bar-time. But I've got experience. I'd been in the right cab stand for the guy who goes from the near south-side to theHillFarmsOfficeBuilding , which set me up for the woman from the deep southwest-side to the state office building off the Square. Then, I slide a few blocks east to post up at the Skinny Dog for Cletus. He'll get in the cab and say work and nothing more. The meter'll run nine bucks, he'll hand me a ten, and I can call it night.
"'It's deadly quiet, as if a neutron bomb exploded.
"'Out of the corner of my eye, a yellow blur flashes past. I ignore it. It's late, and my imagination is getting the better of me. The creature has left me alone. It no longer invades my dreams.
"'There's a rap at the window. I feel a jolt from the base of my spine to the top of my head. I turn and see a face. It's familiar, a fellow driver. It's that guy, fucking Euro-faggot named Al Ludinsky or Raminsky or something Eurofagopean like that. Has this real stupid accent.'"
Nicole laughed loudly. "Just like Maggie said. You sure you're not gay?"
I frowned. "Please continue."
"'What's he doing here? It's three-fucking-thirty in the goddamned morning. He's not driving. Why isn't he home asleep?
"'I roll down the window. His face glows bright yellow in the halogen lights outside the bus depot. He asks if I have any money for a cash advance. Sure, no problem, I say. We do that all the time.
"'I reach for a charge slip to record the advance. I face him again. He's smiling, showing lots of teeth. I see a pair of sharp fangs. I see two black eyes staring at me. Then, nothing but black. There's a sharp sting against my neck, a pair of sharp stings piecing my flesh. I hear a soft sucking sound. I feel my strength draining from me. I feel my life draining -
"'Just a dream? No way. No fuckin' way.
"'I've been haunted by faces staring through clear panes of glass: An alien face, bright yellow, round like a bowling ball, with round lumps of coal for eyes, no nose and no mouth; and a human face that's not human, whose skin is too white, whose teeth are too sharp, whose image cannot be seen in a mirror.
"'Mirror! Glass!
"'Windows! Illusion!
"'The faces aren't important. One is a true form. One is a clever disguise that so carelessly reveals its true nature.
"'Glass, that's what's important - the window between the implied and the inferred. It can be shattered!
"'They all said I was crazy, but I'll show them. Just have to get the evidence. I've got a special camera, with special film and special infra-red gadgets, gizmos, thingamabobs and thingeegiggees.
"'I was the hunter, then became the hunted. Now, the hunted will become the hunter once again.'"
Nicole shut the diary and slid it across the table. "There's one more entry. It's real short. He must've written it after the membership meeting. He's raving at that point, about how we're all fools not to heed his warning, but he would show us all."
"This is all my fault."
"Damn right - "
There was a loud thud just outside my apartment door which literally jolted Nicole out of her chair.
Then, there was an insistent rapping at the door.
Chapter 10
The Responsibility of Dishonor
Gliding, almost as if dematerializing then rematerializing, Nicole suddenly gripped the doorknob.
A shout belched from my throat. I leaped across the room, knocked Nicole to the floor, just as the door flew open.
A white-hot dagger seared through my chest cavity. The room swirled before my eyes momentarily before coming into focus. Frank stood above me, a burlap sack slung over one shoulder, corneas a spider web lattice-work of crimson, pupils dilated, breath hot and fetid, heart pounding like the hammer blows struck by a yeoman blacksmith. He dropped the sack and reached downward toward the stake protruding from my chest, which pierced flesh, but had been stopped mercifully by sturdy breast bone.
I scurried out of the range of his grasp. Nicole jumped to her feet and gave Frank a shove. Staggered only slightly, he steadied and threw a punch, connecting loudly with her jaw, more a slap then a crack. Nicole landed hard on the floor.