American Vampire. Jennifer Armintrout

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СКАЧАТЬ “Five years, no one has been able to …”

      “To leave Penance, or get in. No visits to or from. No one with car trouble on the side of the road.” She closed her eyes. “No ambulances.”

      “So, I’m the first person to come to Penance for the past five years?” There was a fallow field to one side of the road, a swamp to the other. “What is this?”

      “A town.” She looked at him like he was crazy. “A small one, but a town. And everything within the city limits has been trapped for the past five years. No one gets in, no one gets out.”

      That explained the lack of cars on the road, the closed-down gas station. “So, what’s this ‘It’ that you’re so worried about? The ‘It’ that tried to bring a building down on us. What’s with that?”

      “I don’t know.” She got a faraway look, as if she didn’t want to talk about it. “I’ve seen It before. A lot of people have. It kills. Not every night, not on a schedule. Some people have had It come right up to them and not do anything at all. Other people get slaughtered.”

      “Okay.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “But what is it?”

      She looked dead-on at him like he was stupid. “It’s a monster.”

      Two

      Realistically, Graf couldn’t doubt the existence of monsters. It just wouldn’t make sense. Obviously, vampires existed. And werewolves. He’d met one of those. Zombies, he’d never heard of those existing, but he wouldn’t have been surprised. Witches? Wouldn’t want to tangle with one. But unclassifiable bogeyman-type creatures that could bring down a gas station roof right over his head? It wasn’t that they couldn’t exist, they probably did, but such information was hard to believe when it was coming from a human.

      “A monster?”

      The woman nodded, still eyeing him like he might be a little bit “special.” “Yes. You don’t really think a tornado did that? And left the power lines up? And us able to run? And your car sitting right there, not getting a scratch on it?”

      “I thought they were notorious for that kind of thing,” he muttered, but he didn’t admit that everything he knew about tornadoes came from the movie Twister. “So, what kind of a monster are we talking about?”

      “I’ve never exactly asked It to classify itself while it was chasing me.” She blew out a breath and raised her hand to push her hair back. She still shook, giving Graf the visual interpretation of the old “like a leaf on a tree” expression. She didn’t stink of fear anymore, so she must have just been burning off adrenaline. “It’s just a monster. That’s the only way to describe it. Some people thought It was some mutant kind of giant possum when it first started attacking people, but …”

      He frowned. “When did it start attacking people?”

      “About five years ago,” she replied in a “Gee, what do you think?” tone. “Right after we all got stuck here.”

      For a few minutes, Graf didn’t say anything, just kept his eyes on the painfully straight road and let everything she said tumble around in his mind. For five years, an entire town had been held captive by some kind of monster, and no one on the outside had noticed? There was clearly more at work here than just plain old monstering. That was the kind of thing only a spell could accomplish, not that he’d tell her that. He never liked to reveal the existence of the supernatural to a human, even if they had already experienced it in some form. There was always a ton of explaining to be done, and the same tiresome questions. Questions a lot like the ones he’d had for her.

      “My place is right up there.” The girl indicated, pointing to where a mercury light cast the side of a white farmhouse in a sickly green glow.

      Graf pulled into the driveway, lined on both sides with milk cans rusting under their coats of white paint. “Nice decor.” He sneered.

      “Yeah, well, I’ve been really worried about my curb appeal during the last five years that I’ve been unable to leave town and lived in constant fear of a monster, so go fuck yourself,” she snapped, pushing the passenger door open.

      She was feisty. Now, he didn’t know if he wanted to fuck her or eat her. Or, he could do both, but only if she let him into her house.

      “Wait,” he called after her, turning off the engine.

      He got out of the car, and she stopped, hands on her slim hips as she turned to face him. “I hope you don’t think you’re coming into my house.”

      “Look, I know that we got off on the wrong foot—”

      “The wrong foot?” She laughed, tilted her head back, and gave the trees above her an imploring look, like they could save her from his stupidity. “I’m going to have to disagree with your assessment of the situation. You see, getting nearly killed by It and then being left for dead by the person you think is trying to save you, that’s not getting off on the wrong foot. That’s called getting screwed, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to do that to me again.”

      “I’m not trying to … screw you.” He forced away an immature giggle. That would not help his cause in the slightest. “If I’m trapped here, I’m going to need a place to stay. Can’t you at least give me directions to a motel?”

      “Yeah. I can.” She smiled sweetly. “It’s about twenty miles away, just over the state line in West Virginia.”

      He cursed and turned away, then turned back. “Is there anyone in town who would put me up?”

      “As charming as you are, I’m sure you’ll find someone delighted to have you as a guest in their home. But not here. There is no room in this inn.” She walked up the lawn, toward the wide front porch.

      “Just, wait.” He wasn’t asking this time. The sun would be up soon. The sky was already turning that weird grayish-blue color that it did toward dawn. She was going to let him inside, or she was going to die trying to keep him out. “I need a place to stay, and you owe me.”

      She stopped with a noise of disbelief. “I owe you? For what? Stranding me on the side of the road?”

      “For saving you from your monster. And for the ride home.” He could have left it at that, but he didn’t, striding up the lawn to loom over her. “You stranded yourself. You ran out there. You were going to be walking home, anyway, so I was good enough to give you a temporary reprieve, not really stranding you at all.”

      Her jaw dropped, but thankfully no words came out of her pretty little mouth.

      “I won’t be here for long. Just give me a place to stay until I figure out a way to get out of here.” It still sounded like he was asking permission. What he needed to do was rip out her throat and go right on inside.

      “We’ve been trapped here for five years, and you think you’re going to waltz right on in and out in a few days?” She shook her head. “Oh, yes, please do come into my house and continue to insult me.”

      “Look, I know I’ve been a huge asshole. But listen, I have this … medical condition.” He fished in the pocket of his pants. It was time to play the card that most people saw right through, the one that practically screamed, “I’m СКАЧАТЬ