V Plates is a short story first published in the anthology Blood Lite III: Aftertaste and reprinted in Led Astray. It is narrated by Nicholas Sorrentino.
Plot[]
Reese tells Nick to help Noah, now eighteen, loose his "V plates" - Australian slang for virginity. Noah has been getting teased by his friends at school and even broke up with the girl he likes to try hooking up with another girl for putting out. Reese has a plan: He got the name of a supernatural-friendly brothel from some mutts he knows from his time in Alaska. He wants Nick to take Noah there.
Reese ends up dragged into the trip, and they intend to visit Hope and Karl while they are in Philadelphia. They arrive at the brothel, but it is closed for the girls' night off. The assistant house mother lets them in anyway and one of the girls volunteers to take Noah upstairs.
While Reese and Nick wait uncomfortably in the living room, Reese is propositioned by another hooker. He insists Nick come with him for "moral support," but when they reach the room Reese attacks the woman. She is a zombie, and he'd smelled the decomposition downstairs.
They go to rescue Noah, who thinks he killed his companion. They reassure him with how deeply she is already decomposing. Nick sends the boys out the window before investigating a noise in the closet, where he finds a seemingly captured necromancer who turns out to be another zombie. Nick takes him out and gets outside.
They identify Darlene as the real necromancer and Nick kills her. The remaining zombies, who are actually demi-demons possessing the dead girls, are prepared to do their new master's bidding. Instead, Nick tells them they are free to go, leaving all the corpses behind for cleanup.
Characters[]
- Nick Sorrentino
- Reese Williams
- Noah Albright, eighteen years old
- Darlene - house mother and the necromancer who summoned the Vetala.
- Angelica - assistant house mother
- Sophie - Noah's companion for the night
Mentioned[]
- Lexi - a human girl Noah likes
- Leigh - a human girl known for putting out
- Hope Adams - lives in Philadelphia
- Karl Marsten - Pack member, lives in Philadelphia
- Ramon Santos - a mutt who recommended the brothel
- Liam Malloy - a mutt who recommended the brothel
- Clayton Danvers - Pack member
- Elena Michaels - Pack member
- Kate Danvers and Logan Danvers - Clay and Elena's twins
Continuity[]
- Noah and Reese joined the Pack, and Noah's history was shared, in Frostbitten
- Reese is running from tragedy in Australia after Chivalrous
- Clay and Elena's kids were born in Broken.
- Nick met a zombie hooker, displaced from the Victorian era, in Broken
Trivia[]
- Nick lost his virginity the summer before high school