Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy
every surface, adding their heavy
scents to the olfactory potpourri.
    I heard the far-off sounds of a
Dixieland band, playing elsewhere in the hotel. The musicians
managed to sound both jubilant and suppressed at once. I imagined
were I to enter the room where they played, I would still be able
to hear conversation easily. Not bopping a little to the
lighthearted beat was impossible.
    All around me people of various eras
glided past. Women in Victorian dress and high-plumed hats laughed
with short-skirted flappers. Men in top hats and tails shook hands
with Confederate officers in dress uniform. That sight bemused me;
the King George Hotel had been built after the Civil
War.
    Dan watched me as I got my first look
at the legendary hotel. “Beautiful, isn’t it? This is the best part
of our little netherworld.”
    “No wonder they never tried to rebuild
it,” I whispered in awe. “It’s a palace. And look at the people
from all different times. Wow, I want that dress.” I checked out a
flapper clad in a gold dress. The fringe on it danced with her
every move.
    Dan chuckled. “Don’t look now, but
you’re wearing it. It looks good on you.”
    I looked down and squealed with
delight. I wore the dress all right. It molded nicely to my body.
The intricately stitched fabric was soft as butter against my skin.
“Awesome! But I hate the shoes and it’s a terrible faux pas to wear
the same thing as another woman. Maybe in blue with some
beading?”
    The dress suddenly shaded a deep indigo
with matching beads in a swirl pattern across my chest. Matching
stiletto heels replaced the clunky 1920’s shoes, showing my thighs
and calves to advantage in the short skirt.
    I was pleased to see Dan drink in my
image like a man dying of thirst. “Very nice,” he said in a husky
voice. “You should have been a designer. I especially like the
shoes.”

    I twirled for him, sending the fringe
swishing through the air. “I’m a clothes horse. You should see my
closet at home.”
    A masculine voice called. “Mr. Saling,
we still have a few rooms left for the night if you and your
companion are interested?”
    I stopped my little girl show-off to
look at the clerk standing behind the tall mahogany desk at the far
end of the room. His dark hair was greased back from a middle part,
his long mustache waxed to points. He smiled at me and nodded his
head.
    Dan crooked an eyebrow at me as he
ushered me towards the clerk with a hand in the small of my back.
“What do you think, Brandilynn? We still have an hour or so before
the vampires rise.”
    “I want to see everything.” I bubbled
with delight to know being dead wasn’t all misery.
    Dan smiled and held out his hand to the
clerk. “Your nicest left available then, Charles.”
    Charles handed him a gold key. “Room
436. Champagne, perhaps a small meal?”
    “We eat here?” I hadn’t felt hungry at
all and was surprised to think food might be a need.
    “You can indulge in the illusion,
though alcohol won’t get you drunk and hunger is never an issue.”
Dan exchanged a grin with Charles, no doubt amused at my happy
surprise. “Give us the works, would you Charles?”
    “Splendid, Mr. Saling. I’ll have
everything sent right up.”
    Dan led me to the grand staircase where
a tuxedoed man and a woman in a long sequined gown descended. They
nodded at us.
    Dan said, “Except for the lobby, most
of the ground floor is for official para business. Once in awhile,
a big party is thrown in the ballroom.”
    We mounted the stairs and climbed to
the second floor landing. I paused to look down at the grand lobby
below before continuing up the next, smaller flight of stairs. The
chandelier glowed like a dream on the lush scene. I couldn’t help
the smile that threatened to break my face in two. Cinderella’s
first glimpse of the Prince’s castle as she ventured into the ball
couldn’t have been more breathtaking. I suddenly had the notion my
parents, with their expensive homes and

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