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“Masie! Oh my God!” Maybell yelled and ran to me from across the dimly lit parking lot just outside the office building.
Her long black hair, just like mine, was a matted mess, and her dark brown eyes were framed by bloodshot whites. She’d been crying.
We hugged tightly, as if holding on for dear life. Then panic set in. What had they done to her? After my experience, I assumed the worst.
I let her go. “Are you okay?” I brushed back her hair, inspecting her neck for bite marks.
She pushed my hands away. “I’m fine. You okay?”
No. I wasn’t. But that was a problem for another day, so I did what Masie Kicklighter had always done; I buried my pain and smiled. “I’ll be perfect after we get the hell outta here.”
Lord Bleyer II came up in a hurry, looking at his watch. That was when I noticed the rest of the vampires had already zipped away. It was just the three of us.
“Mrs. Stark, I am afraid there isn’t time for one of us to run you home, but you may take my service car.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Where exactly are we?”
“Devil’s Swamp, Mississippi.”
“And I am not surprised.” I couldn’t pick the place out on a map, but the name fit. “I’ll need a credit card or gas money.”
“Of course.” He handed me a wad of Benjamins from his white jacket pocket. There had to be a few thousand dollars there.
“That should do it.” It was way more than we needed, but I wasn’t about to give some back. Not after this night. I was going to need some serious comfort food.
“I really must go now,” he said. “Please let me know how I can be of assistance after you’ve had time to rest.”
“Tell me how to get you to keep runnin’ things.” I wanted nothing to do with these bloodsucking clowns.
“Sorry, ma’am?”
“I’ll be an advisor or whatnot—anything to help keep vampires in the shadows—but there’s a lot of work to be done before y’all come out of hiding. You’re not ready. We need a plan that pushes education. You know, the dos and don’ts of going public and not scaring the ever-livin’ daylights outta humans. Otherwise, we’re doomed to fail.” That was a lie. I didn’t think they should ever come out.
The lord looked relieved. “Of course, my queen. I will draw up a proclamation to begin work immediately.”
“No, no. Take your time. Except, I would like to order all vampires to vacate Leiper’s Fork immediately, except for my father. I need absolute peace, and my family isn’t to be bothered.”
“Yes.” His voice sounded perky. “I will be in touch.” He zipped away in a blur.
Maybell stared for a long moment. “Insane.”
“I know.” I squeezed her arm. “Vampires are real. It takes a minute to choke down.”
“No. I meant his hair—all the way down to his ankles. How does he keep it from getting all tangled up when he runs around like the Flash?”
I frowned and shook my head. That was Maybell. She never took anything seriously.
“You ready to go home?” It wasn’t going to be a short drive if we were all the way down in Mississippi.
“Hell yeah. Hey, you think they got any Waffle Houses ’round here? I could go for some grits.”
Maybell and I took turns driving. I wanted to make it home before sunset. Five hundred miles. I refused to stop along the way except to buy gas, food, and less revealing clothes from a drugstore—an Ole Miss tee and matching red sweatpants.
Now that I knew vampires were literally everywhere, I didn’t feel safe being out on the highway at night in unknown places. Leiper’s Fork was the only sure bet.
The one silver lining was that Maybell and I had plenty of time to talk. She told me how Lazlo had pretty much ignored her the entire time. So much so that they’d forgotten to feed her. She’d drunk water from her sink in an equally disgusting bathroom, which she complained about for over two hours. I don’t think she had a clue that her life had been in peril the entire time or what I went through to keep her alive.
Halfway through the drive, I finally broke the news that our daddy was still “alive,” and that shut her right up.
