He'd tell her that he didn't want to make the buy out on the street, and get her in some back alley. It never occurred to him that she might suspect his intentions, that she'd already seen he was so desperate he'd have scored under the nose of the chief of police himself.

"Yeah? He expressed casual interest. "Is it good shit?"

"I can honestly say that you've never experienced anything like it, and never will again."

"Cool. But I don't want to buy here. We need somewhere more private."

"Of course. Where there's no one but you, and me, and the moon alone sees. Follow me."

Slick would have preferred to choose the location, but from the way she was moving it was clear that it was either follow, or be left. She seemed to just flow down the sidewalk, weaving her way through the knots of people without a second's hesitation or a single collision. Slick was clumsier, and earned a few curses.

She turned a corner. In his haste to catch up, he blundered into a makeshift stand, made of a board propped across a couple of boxes. The pirated video tapes that the street vendor had been selling scattered. The seller would have thrashed Slick, but he was too busy trying to wrestle a copy of The XXXmen away from a delighted leather queen.

When Slick made the corner, she was already halfway down the block. He sprinted, feeling the burn in his lungs and thighs even after so short an effort, and caught up to her. "Whoa, slow down. What's your hurry? Your old man got you on a time table?" Pretty clever way of finding out if she was taken, he thought smugly.

"The only time a man was ever essential to my existence was the night my mama got pregnant." Uppity bitch. He was going to enjoy taking her down. Maybe he'd mark up her face a little, to remind her of her place in the scheme of things.

They turned another corner, and another. Slick wasn't observant at the best of times, and he had no idea of where they were now. He'd started to feel nauseous, the first stage of withdrawal. He needed a fix soon.

She ducked into an alley that was really no more than a space between two massive buildings. And Slick hesitated. He couldn't have chosen a better place himself. It was narrow, dim, isolated, and one way. The other end was a blank brick wall. But now that he faced it, he was reluctant to enter. It looked disturbingly primeval, like some ancient cave.

He could see the woman, her green dress was almost flourescent. She was tapping one patent leather shod foot impatiently. He called "There's rats in there."

"I can tell. Come on, Greasy. You may have the rest of your life to waste, but I'm in a hurry." He entered the alley, deciding to remove a few of her teeth as well. "Step to the rear, please. I'm going to make sure we aren't disturbed."

Slick walked to the back, and heard a grating, squealing sound. He watched in astonishment as Acacia finished moving a commercial trash dumpster across the mouth of the alley, blocking off the exit. That thing was almost as tall as she was, and solid metal. Was it on rollers, or something?

Several alley cats boiled up out of the dumpster, where they had been scavenging. They disappeared like smoke, except for one exceptionally tattered old tomcat. He teetered on the rim, puffed up like a feather duster, hissing defiance.

Acacia made an odd chirruping noise, and the cat's ears flicked forward with interest. He seemed to deflate, his tail curving into that button hook shape they make when the cat is curious. Acacia made the noise again, and extended her hand. Slick was looking forward to seeing the damn cat take a chunk out of her. Instead, he sniffed her fingers, then arched his head up under her palm to be stroked. He started to purr, with a sound like a badly tuned engine. Acacia leaned down and whispered to him. The beast looked over her shoulder, straight at Slick, and it opened it's mouth, showing sharp yellowed fangs. Then he turned, leaped, and was gone.

“Whoa, close one. I thought Sylvester was gonna rip you up.”

"His name's Morgan, and he had a right to be angry when I invaded his territory. But he gave me permission to do business here."

"Well, hot damn, Mr. Kitty approves. Can we get to it now?"

"I think we should."

"Great." He pulled out his knife, opened it, and said, "I want whatever you have in the bag, bitch."