Christopher Moore - Bite Me

The third book in the Love Story series, 2010

BEING THE JOURNAL OF ABIGAIL VON NORMAL, Emergency Backup Mistress of the Greater Bay Area Night

The City of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge, shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public. Which isnt, like, as bad as it sounds, because the general public kind of sucks ass.

Still, I think that this battle of dark powers; the maintenance of my steamy, forbidden romance; the torturous break-in of a new pair of red vinyl, thigh-high Skankenstein platform boots; as well as the daily application of complex eye makeup and whatnot, totally justify my flunking Biology 102. (Introduction to Mutilation of Preserved Marmot Cadavers, with Mr. Snavely, who totally has his way with the marmots when no one is around, I have it on good authority.) But try to tell that to the mother unit, who deserves this despair and disappointment for cursing me with her tainted and small-boobed DNA.

Allow me to catch you up, sil vous plat. Pay attention, bitches, there will be a test.

Three lifetimes ago, or maybe it was like last semester, because like the song says, time is like a river of slippery excretions when youre in love-anyway-during winter break, Jared and I were in Walgreens looking for hypoallergenic eye makeup when we encountered the beautiful, redheaded Countess Jody and her consort of blood, my Dark Lord, the vampyre Flood, who was totally disguised in jeans and flannel as a loser.

And I was all, Nosferatu. Whispered to Jared like a night wind through dead trees.

And Jared was all, No way, you sad, deluded little slut.

And I was all, Shut your fetid penis port, you spunk-breathed poseur. Which he took as a compliment, so thats how I meant it, because while Jared is deeply gay, hes never really gayed anyone up, except maybe his pet rat, Lucifer. Strictly speaking, I think Jared would be considered a rodentsexual, if not for the difficult geometry of the relationship. (See, size does matter!)

Note to self: I should totally set Jared up with Mr. Snavely and they can talk about squirrel-shagging and whatnot and maybe I wont have to repeat Bio 102.

Anyway, Jared is a fitting support player in the tragedy that is my life, as he dresses dismal chic and excels at brooding, self-loathing, and allergies to beauty products. Ive tried to talk him into going pro.

Kayso, the vampyre Flood had me meet him at a club, where I offered up myself to his dark desires, which he totally rejected because of his eternal love of the Countess. So he bought me a cappuccino instead and appointed me to be their official minion. It is the duty of the minion to rent apartments, do laundry, and bring the masters a sack with a tasty kid in it, although I never did that last part because the masters dont like kids.

Kayso, the vampyre Flood gave me money and I rented a trs cool loft in the SOMA (which is widely accepted to be the best hood for vampyres because theres mostly new buildings and no one would suspect ancient creatures of purest evil to hang out there). But it turns out, it was like half a block from the trs cool loft in the SOMA that they already lived in. Kayso, when I take the key to them, hoping they will bestow the dark gift of immortality upon me, this limo full of wasted college-age guys and a painted blue ho with ginormous fake boobs pulls up. And theyre all, Where is Flood? We need to talk to Flood. And let us in, and other demanding shit. And Im all, No way, step off Smurfett. Theres no one named Flood here.

I know! I was all, Oh-my-fucking-zombie-jebus-on-a-pogo-stick! She was blue!

And Im not racist, so shut up. She clearly had self-esteem issues that she compensated for with giant fake boobs, slutty blue body-paint, and doing a carload full of stoners for money. Im not judging her by the color of her skin. Everyone copes. When I got braces I went through a Hello Kitty phase that lasted well into my fifteens, and Jared maintains that I am still perky at heart, which is not true. I am simply complex. But more about the blue hooker later, because right then the Asian guy looks at his watch and says, Too late, its sunset. And they drove off. Which is when I opened the door into the stairwell to the loft and was confronted by Chet, the huge shaved vampyre cat. (Except, at the time, I didnt know his name, and he was wearing a red sweater, so I didnt know he was shaved, and he wasnt a vampyre yet. But huge.)

So Im all, Hey, kitty, go away. And he did, leaving only William, the huge shaved cat homeless guy, lying on the steps. I thought he was dead, because of the smell, but it turns out he was only passed out from alcohol and partially drained of blood and stuff. But Im pretty sure hes dead now because, later, Foo and I found his stank-ass clothes on the steps of the loft, full of the gray dust that people turn to when a vampyre drains them.

So upstairs Im all, Theres a dead guy and a huge kitty in a sweater on your steps. And the Countess and Flood are all, Whatever.

And Im all, And there was a limo full of stoners here who were totally hunting you.

And they were all, Whoa. And they seemed more freaked out than youd think, for ancient creatures of dark forbidden romance and whatnot. And it turns out they werent-I mean, arent. I mean, sure, their love is eternal, and they are creatures of unspeakable evil and stuff, but they are not ancient at all. It turns out that the vampyre Flood is only like nineteen, and hes only known the Countess for like two months. And shes only like twenty-six, which, while a little crusty, is not that ancient. And despite her advanced age, the Countess is beautiful, with long, totally natch red hair and milky skin, green eyes like emerald fire, and a smoking body that could turn a girl totally lesbo if she wasnt already a slave to the mad, man-ninja sex-fu of the delicious Foo Dog. (Foo keeps insisting that he cant be a ninja because hes Chinese and ninjas are Japanese, but hes just being stubborn and goes all Angry, Angry Asian on me whenever I bring it up.)

Kayso, in the masters loft I see these two bronze statues, one of this crusty businessman-looking guy, and the other looks like the Countess, except its totally naked, or in a leotard, and bronze. And Im all, Exhibitionist, much, Countess? Did it come with a pole?

And shes all, Help Tommy move furniture, Wednesday. Like that makes any sense at all. (Turns out that Wednesday is a Gothish character from some crusty movie.)

Kayso, later, by virtue of my extensive research and sneaking around and whatnot, I find out that the statues arent statues at all. That the Countess used to be inside the statue of her, and that inside the crusty businessman statue is the real ancient creature of unspeakable evil, the nosferatu that turned the Countess. And the vampyre Flood, who wasnt a vampyre at all at the time, had bronzed the two of them when they were sleeping the deep sleep of the daytime dead, which is like the deepest sleep you can get. (You should know right now, that theres no yawning, gentle drift into sleepytime for vampyres. When the sun breaks the horizon, they drop rag-doll dead on the spot, and you can pose them, paint them, put their hands on their junk and post the pics on the Web, and they wont know a thing until sundown when they come on like a light and theyre wondering why their naughty bits are green and their inbox is full of propositions from elfin_love.com.)