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“No, no!” I exclaimed, raising my hands. “I really just need a ride.”
He stared at me for a long while, considering. “Just a ride,” he repeated sternly. “No funny business.”
“You can search me for silver if you want to.”
“I’ll do that,” he promised. Behind us, I heard the crackle of tires rolling over gravel. Another car was pulling into the parking lot. The vampire opened the door for me. “Why don’t you get into the car and wait here? Stay down. If you hear anything, you need to get out and run.”
I froze, and he nudged me none too gently toward the car. “What?”
“There’s a small matter of business I need to conduct,” he said. “And my contact was supposed to be here hours ago. Now that he’s here, it could get ugly.”
“Wait, wait, what sort of business are you into?” I demanded.
“Beggars can’t be choosers, sweetheart. Get in the car,” he said, shoving me.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Dick Cheney,” he said with a wink. “Pleased to meet you, Jinx.”
“What, like the vice president?” I asked as Dick slammed the door behind me. I peered over my shoulder and saw him flank the approaching car.
In the shadows, by the soda machine, I could see Collin. His face was pinched and worried as he observed this new development. His eyes locked with mine, and he mouthed, “Stay down.”
I slumped down in the seat at the sound of Dick’s raised voice. He was cursing vehemently, and I heard something about “counterfeit Snuggies” and “connections in South America.” There were grunts and groans as blows were exchanged, and the car lurched forward when someone was thrown against the bumper. I shrieked and covered my head with my arms.
The door opened, and Dick tossed a heavy duffel bag into my lap. He started the engine and gunned it, smashing into the car parked behind us. I shrieked, clicking my seatbelt into place as Dick wheeled the car around and slung my weight against the door. I saw a flash of orange and blue in the side mirror just before Dick sped out of the parking lot. There was a light thump, and I saw Collin’s hand waving at me in the mirror.
While Dick ranted into his cell phone at a guy named Ralphie, I kept my head down and my eye on the clock. Dick’s Dukes of Hazzard–style driving meant we were making pretty good time down the interstate toward the Hollow. But whoever Dick had argued with wasn’t following us, so he slowed down outside the city limits. Dick hung up with a final, “No, it’s coming out of your share!” and shot an apologetic look my way.
“Sorry, hon. Believe it or not, that turned out better than I expected.”
“So your business … does this happen a lot in your line of work?”
“Ever since my wife asked me to try to keep on the ‘lighter’ side of the line, yes,” he said. “No one seems to take me seriously anymore. That deal back there? That was for counterfeit University of Kentucky–themed Snuggies.”
“I can see how that would make it hard to maintain street cred,” I told him.
He frowned, reaching into a little warming compartment between the seats and taking out a Faux Type O. “So tell me more about the car with boobs that ended up in the ravine,” he said. “I like a good story.”
I spilled my tale of woe. Dick found it highly amusing. Somewhere between my car getting ravined and my engagement ring’s mystique getting debunked, Dick was laughing so hard that Faux Type O was coming out of his nose. The sight was downright disturbing.
“You know, you remind me a little of my friend Jane,” he said, wiping at his nose. “She’s another vampire in the Hollow. She had to be turned into a vampire, because the local drunk thought she was a deer and shot her. It was either go undead or go into the white light.”
“Wait, does Jane run a bookstore called Specialty Books?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“Yeah.” He chuckled. “How did you know?”
“I drove her to Nashville this week.”
“Hey, you’re Miranda, aren’t you?” he exclaimed. “You’re Iris Scanlon’s new driver!”
“You know Iris?” I squeaked.
“Sure, she’s a friend of my Andrea’s. I work at the shop sometimes, too, but I was, er, out that night. Jane was telling me about you. Did you really drop that marble dragon’s egg on her foot?”
“Oh, no!” I yelped, the blood draining from my face. He knew my boss, and I’d just confessed to the full complement of my professional nitwittery. I clapped my hands over my mouth. “I can’t believe—of all the vampires to run into—damn it!”
“Calm down, Jinx, I’m not going to call and tell on you. I figure you and Iris need to work this out on your own.”
