Page 87 of Soul Sucker

“I’m coming with you.”

“Allright.” She glared at him. She seemed even crankier since they’d mated than before. He didn’t mind, knowing he was the cause and that it meant he was getting to her. “But don’t touch me and don’t get in the way, okay?”

* * *

It wasbusy out on the streets and grew even more congested as Ella headed deep into tourist central, at the other end of Market, where the famed trolley buses turned around. The place was noisy with street vendors, bums, and the occasional crazy person. San Francisco always had a nice line of crazy, and it all came out when the sun hit the sidewalks. Ella sidestepped three guys and their bedding huddled in a doorway and ignored a smiling clown jiggling a cup in her face. The smell of onions made her pause and Vadim ran right into her.

“Do you want a hotdog?” Ella asked.

His revolted expression was almost enough to brighten her day. “From a street vendor?”

“Sure. I haven’t been sick once.” She handed over a five-dollar bill with instructions to put everything on her dog. “Well, not really sick.”

Vadim watched in fascinated horror as she chomped on the bun and kept walking. There was one thing you could say about comfort food. It never let you down.

“Where exactly are we going?”

She pointed up the street that ran almost parallel to Market. “There’s a diner above one of the big drugstores up here. It’s been in the same family for several generations.”

“And they think they have a poltergeist?”

“Apparently. I said I’d go and check it out.”

“What do you think it is?”

“I won’t know until I get there.”

“But it’s lunchtime. Won’t they be too busy to talk?”

“I’m not going to talk right away. I’m going to eat.”

She veered off to her left. “Here it is. Right up these stairs.”

Once they got above ground level, the space opened up considerably giving the diners a great view of the teeming hordes below the windows. It was decked out in traditional style with Formica topped tables, chrome fittings and red plastic leatherette booths. The place was three-quarters full and the smell of fried food and maple syrup hung thick in the air. She breathed it in appreciatively. A harried looking waiter approached them.

“Two please.”

He nodded, picked up two huge plastic covered menus and led them to a small table close to the half-exposed kitchen. There was a lot of yelling going on, but it didn’t sound too bad. She’d heard far worse on previous visits, and even seen some hapless waiter chased out of the kitchen by a hail of pots.

“Are you really going to eat here?” Vadim looked around the busy space.

“I’m hungry.”

“What about that hotdog you just had?”

“That was just an appetizer.”

He looked down at his menu, one eyebrow raised in a way Ella wished she could emulate. “What would you recommend?”

“I’m a big fan of the cheeseburger and sweet potato fries followed by the banana split.”

A reluctant smile curved his lush lower lip. “I remember banana splits.”

“We could share one if you like.”

“That’s very tempting.” He studied the menu again. “There’s definitely some Otherworld magic swirling around in here.”

“You feel it too?”

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