I got in the car, and Larry pulled away before I got my seat belt fastened. "What's the rush?"
"I want to get as far away from this place as I can."
I looked at him. He still looked pale.
"You all right?"
"No, I'm not all right." He looked at me, blue eyes bright with anger. "How can you be so casual after what just happened?"
"You were calm after last night. You got bitten last night."
"But that was different," he said. "That woman sucked on the bite. She..." His hands clenched the steering wheel so tightly his hands shook.
"You were hurt worse last night; what makes this tougher?"
"Last night was violent, but it wasn't... perverted. The vampires last night wanted something. The name of the Master. The ones tonight didn't want anything, they were just being..."
"Cruel," I offered.
"Yes, cruel."
"They're vampires, Larry. They aren't human. They don't have the same rules."
"She would have killed me tonight on a whim."
"Yes, she would have," I said.
"How can you bear to be around them?"
I shrugged. "It's my job."
"And my job, too."
"It doesn't have to be, Larry. Just refuse to work on vampire cases. Most of the rest of the animators do."
He shook his head. "No, I won't give up."
"Why not?" I asked.
He didn't say anything for a minute. He pulled onto 270 headed south. "How could you talk about a date this afternoon after what just happened?"
"You have to have a life, Larry. If you let this business eat you alive, you'll never make it." I studied his face. "And you never answered my question."
"What question?"
"Why won't you give up the idea of being a vampire executioner?"
Larry hesitated, concentrating on driving. He suddenly seemed very interested in passing cars. We drove under a railroad bridge, warehouses on either side. Many of the windows were broken or missing. Rust dripped down the bridge overpass.
"Nice section of town," he said.
"You're avoiding the question. Why?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"I asked about your family; you said they were all alive. What about friends? You lose a friend to the vamps?"
He glanced at me. "Why ask that?"