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“So, what have you kids been up to today?”
Vidocq sits up, looking excited in that way only drunk people can.
“Liliane carried on my work after my apparent death all those years ago. She became a noted alchemist in Europe.”
“Perhaps not noted, but noticed,” she says. “It’s why I work, and enjoy working, in laboratories now. It feels like home.”
“I’ve been showing her my tools and research materials. It’s lovely to have a fellow worker of the way to share things with.”
I lean back and cross my legs.
“Like they say, sharing is caring.”
They’re drunk enough to find that funny too.
“Excuse me for a moment,” says Liliane, and she heads for the bathroom.
When she’s gone I look at Vidocq. He grins like a lovestruck twelve-year-old.
I say, “What’s going on here, man? Did you invite me over to show me some work or to be your alibi?”
He frowns. Starts to pour me more wine. I put my hand over the glass and he sets down the bottle.
“James, believe me. Nothing untoward has happened.”
“Yet.”
He turns the glass around in his hands.
“I was hoping that you’d better comprehend the thrill I feel being with Liliane. We have a common bond experienced by no one else. Eternal life. Yes, I’ve spent time with ancient vampires and alchemists who have extended their lives, but those are not the same things as immortality,” he says. Then, “Think of it this way. Imagine if you met another person, man or woman, with whom you shared the experience of Hell. Wouldn’t you be drawn to that person? The moments of trauma. The moments of beauty. I know you understand what I’m talking about.”
He’s right, of course. All those years I spent alive Downtown. And then there’s the nephilim thing. There’s no one in the universe like me, but I never really thought of it that way before. I’ve always known I was a freak, so it never occurred to me what it might be like to meet s
omeone who’d been through the same shit, someone I could talk to about it. My old girlfriend, Alice, was dead when I came back to L.A., so I never got a chance to talk to her about anything. Even Candy, with as much as she’s been though, still has a community. There are thousands of Jades in the world. Plenty of monsters too, but only one of me.
But there’s only one Allegra too and Vidocq better remember that or I’ll remind him. Hard.
“I get your point. I’d like to have a war buddy too. But just reel it in a little. Okay?”
“Perhaps you’re right,” he says. “I’ve been overcome since meeting her. You know how much I love Allegra, but until I met Liliane again, I never knew how truly lonely I was.”
“Then see a shrink. Until then, cool it with the prom-night stuff.”
“You have a point.”
Liliane comes back into the room.
“What have you gentlemen been discussing while I was gone?”
I reach into my pocket and take out the vial of black milk.
“This.”
“You found more,” says Vidocq, a little more focused than before.
“What is it?” says Liliane.
“We’re not sure yet,” Vidocq says. “It’s a substance James calls black milk. Believe it or not, it was a gift from a—”
