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I held up the black bustier. There was also a pair of leather pants and red spiked heels.
“Sorry, Mamma. But my clean-mouthed days are definitely over. Because…fuck that.” I was not going to dress up like vampire arm-candy.
I bent down and picked up a small velvet box, the kind used for rings. Inside was a red pill. I held it up to the sunlight. The thing had red, swirling, bloodlike syrup inside that shimmered in the light.
Whatever it was, I’d be insane to put it in my body. Totally and utterly dumb.
Yet, if I didn’t do it, if I didn’t follow his instructions, he’d made it clear that there would be “blood on my hands.”
My thoughts drifted to my uncle. All it would take was one snap of his neck, and life as he knew it would be over.
I threw back my head and sighed toward the big blue sky. Instead of getting an upper hand, my life had been completely railroaded by Stark. He knew I wasn’t likely to disobey him again. Not if it meant another person dying or losing my uncle.
I shoved the pill back in the ring box and placed it in my purse. Then I took my new outfit inside. “Seven o’clock. I become Leather-rella.”
But joke’s on you, Stark.I was a good girl, and these clothes wouldn’t change that any more than they’d open up Little Masie for a night of vampire seduction.
I closed my front door, not bothering to lock it. What was the point when monsters could come and go as they pleased?
To my surprise, when I got to my uncle’s house, he was awake and back to normal with his usual intense energy, all ready to kick the day’s butt and take names. Except for one small difference. He’d eaten raw steak for breakfast.
I saw the remnants on his plate in the sink. Not one sign of searing or heat. Just raw, uncooked beef stuck to a bloody bone.
Maybe this was a side effect of cheatin’ the Reaper.
“So, you good?” I asked, watching him shovel hay into the coop, where Barney kept staring like he wanted to peck out Jimmie’s eyes.
Weird.
“Sure. Why you askin’?”
I shrugged. “You know. After last night.”
“What about it? A vampire attacked me. Another vampire, Montgomery Stark, saved my ass.”
My mouth fell open. “You know about vampires?”
He stabbed his pitchfork into the soft ground to park it. “I had my suspicions.”
“For how long?”
He raised his eyes, focusing off in the distance. “I started noticing things a few years ago, and then one night, I was working late on the grain dryer. I was all alone, and the thing fell right on top of my leg. I couldn’t move. Then, out of nowhere, this woman appeared from the shadows, and I thought for sure it was a demon.” He shrugged. “Next thing I know, I’m on my couch. Not a scratch. Except for this.” He showed me his neck, just below the collar. There were two small scars.
“She bit you?”
“As far as I can tell.”
“How come you never said anything?” I asked.
“Would you?” he asked.
“Probably not.” I sighed. “I thought the same thing after Ronnie killed Deedee and attacked me. Montgomery Stark showed up and stopped him.”
“I figured something like that happened.” Jimmie scratched his head. “I just didn’t want to ask and upset you.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“About?” he asked.
