Neil San Francisco — 1983 Jiangshi

Neil is at Jo-Jo’s crafting lemon squares, which he has added to the menu. He has the door propped open with an orange crate so that Huck can fly in, or out as he pleases.

Wang is mopping the countertops, glowering at Huck like an angry bulldog. Over wrathful slit eyes, a single eyebrow forms a solid bridge above his nose. He has hungry, gaunt cheeks, sleek black hair and low-set small ears with hairy lobes. Neil tries not to feel dislike. He licks the frosting, which is mostly whipped cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. He hopes to ingest empathy. He wants to feel friendship. But, all he tastes is the too-cloying richness of sugar and cream. It makes him slightly ill.

Maybe, he thinks, if I add more lemon, a pinch of zest to make the sweetness palatable... But he fears the icing may be beyond redemption.

Jo-Jo stumbles down the stairs into the kitchen waving a newspaper. “There is a jiangshi loose in city,” he cries, “already three dead in the Castro!”