Jim Butcher: Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy

And a whole bunch of security guys, standing in a huddle, one gesticulating while the others listened. The quarterback glanced up, cut himself off, and at his gesture, the rest broke away. They approached sternly, but a little sideways, and I realized that they didn’t know where we had come from.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the one in front of me said, “but you can’t be here.”

Another man picked the strange guy up, stared at him with furrowed brow for a moment, and said, “Excuse me, may I see some identification, please?”

We caught a taxi in the horseshoe in front of Babylon. Security escorted us out but were nice enough not to toss us so we bounced. Branka sat in the front seat beside the driver, and Stewart let me rest my head on his shoulder while the palm trees lining the driveway scrolled past on both sides like a green-screen effect. We stopped at the light at the bottom of the driveway while a flock of tourists stampeded across, and Stewart said, “You forgot about him.”

“Stewart? Forgot about who?”

He shook his head. “Never mind. I think I’d rather you didn’t remember.” He bent down and kissed the top of my head.

I wondered if I was drunk. I didn’t like the way I felt. The taxicab was spinning.

Stewart, at least, was warm and solid, even if he was raving. “I wish you were making sense.”

“I know,” he said. “I was just wondering, what do you think happens to the stuff we forget? You and me. The bits of Las Vegas even we don’t remember.”

“I’ve been forgetting things lately,” I said.

“That’s over with.”

“Does it not exist anymore, if I’ve forgotten it? Or is it still there, just nobody notices?”

He shrugged. “I bet it’s still there.”

Some guy lurched up the sidewalk outside, looking roughed up. His suit had been expensive; his tie was silk. They were both ripped now. I wondered if he’d gotten mugged, or bounced by casino security.

Nobody but me seemed to notice him.

I turned away. Not my job. Not my job to notice him or rescue him. You cannot save everyone; you’ll go mad trying. And anyway, it’s not what cities do.

I said, “Why is it that we get so invested in our history, anyway? Why do we fight to preserve those old photographs and ancient keepsakes, just so our children can throw them away when they clear the house? We could just let go, blow wide. Be clean.”

“Jackie—”

I turned my face into Stewart’s shoulder and said, “I killed myself.”

He nodded. “I know.”

I closed my eyes. “It was nice not to remember it for a little while.”

He rearranged us to put an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into the embrace. “Memory is all we are,” Stewart said softly, and reached up to stroke my hair.

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for more than thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI magazine and Sci Fiction and has edited more than fifty anthologies, including the Best Horror of the Year, Little Deaths, Haunted Legends (with Nick Mamatas), Twists of the Tale, Inferno, The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft Unbound, Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, The Beastly Bride and Other Tales of the Animal People, Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales, and Teeth: Vampire Tales (the last three with Terri Windling). She has won the Locus Award, the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the World Fantasy Award for her editing. She was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Special Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre.”

She lives in New York. More information can be found at www.­datlow.­com or at her blog: ellen-­datlow.­livejournal.­com.

Blood Is Not Enough

Alien Sex

A Whisper of Blood

Little Deaths

Off Limits

Twists of the Tale: An Anthology of Cat Horror

Lethal Kisses

Vanishing Acts

The Dark

Inferno

The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe

Lovecraft Unbound

Tails of Wonder and Imagination

Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror

Digital Domains: A Decade of Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Best Horror of the Year, Volumes One –Three

WITH TERRI WINDLING

Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers

A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales

The Green Man: Tales of the Mythic Forest

Swan Sister: Fairy Tales Retold

The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm

Salon Fantastique

The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales

The Beastly Bride and Other Tales of the Animal People

Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales

Teeth: Vampire Tales

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: First through Sixteenth Annual Collections

THE ADULT FAIRY TALE SERIES

Snow White, Blood Red

Black Thorn, White Rose

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears

Black Swan, White Raven

Silver Birch, Blood Moon

Black Heart, Ivory Bones

WITH KELLY LINK AND GAVIN J. GRANT

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth through Twenty-first Annual Collections

WITH NICK MAMATAS

Haunted Legends