Sweet Last Drop. Melody Johnson

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СКАЧАТЬ its contents. “You’re certainly prepared,” I said, hefting a familiar item in my palm. It looked like a pen, but when I clicked the top mechanism, a wooden stake sprang from its tip.

      “Always.”

      “This one’s new,” I commented, picking up a men’s Invicta skeleton wristwatch. It seemed like a simple watch, but nothing in Walker’s arsenal of weapons was ever what it seemed.

      He grinned. “One of my newest, actually. The hands detach from the watch on a pressurized spring and fire from the twelve like little spears.” He pointed to the tip of one of the watch hands. “The arrowhead design of the watch hands anchor the shot in place, or at least, I’m hoping it will. Once shot, the spear should be impossible to remove without creating more damage.”

      “Let me guess… silver?”

      “It’s effective. Why deviate from what works?”

      “Very true.” I placed the watch back into its holder in the console. “I think I’ll just stick with my silver nitrate,” I said, reaching into my jacket to pull out the spray I always carried with me, but my fingers slipped through a hole in my right pocket. “Shit.”

      Walker raised his eyebrows.

      “I had spray with me this morning.” I abandoned my pocket and tightened my hand around the pen-stake. “Maybe I should hang on to this after all.”

      “You do that. And take more silver nitrate as well. More never hurt.”

      “Thanks.” I snatched a can of the silver spray from the console and shut its lid. I preferred the silver nitrate over the stake because if a vampire turned the spray against me, it wouldn’t harm me. I couldn’t say the same about a wooden stake. One stab through the heart would kill me as effectively as it would kill them.

      I actually had more than Walker’s weapons as protection against vampires, including new silver earrings I’d bought to match the silver necklace Dominic had given me, but I couldn’t tell Walker about the necklace. A vial of Dominic’s blood hung from the chain in a hollow, glass pendant. I’d shied away from wearing it when Dominic had first bestowed the gift—in general, I made a habit of avoiding jewelry containing bodily fluids—but his blood could heal injuries when applied topically. Anything that could do that was more precious than silver nitrate and stakes combined. Inevitably, no matter the caliber of weapons we carried, I’d need to heal in some capacity after interacting with vampires.

      I swallowed nervously as the Chevy rolled to a halt a few feet shy of the shadows. “Just because she’ll burn, doesn’t mean she won’t cross into the sunlight anyway. Dominic once deliberately melted his hand on silver just to prove a point. They don’t think of pain and injuries like we do because they heal so quickly.”

      “I know,” Walker said. He opened his truck door. “But she won’t.”

      “I don’t want to bet my life on it.”

      “It’s not a bet. It’s guaranteed. Bex is very careful not to remind me of her true nature. She doesn’t threaten me with her fangs or claws like Dominic. She never allows herself to burn or growl in front of me. I’ve seen her drink blood from a wine glass, for God’s sake, as if that’s more civilized than drinking it from the vein. After all her time and efforts to seduce me, I doubt she’ll stop now.”

      I snorted. “I’m doubting,” I said, but despite my reservations, I gripped the door’s handle and stepped out of the truck to face Walker’s Master.

      Bex was fully disguised in human-illusion, as I referred to it. Dominic had a similar look right after he fed, like the blood swelled his muscles, shined his hair, and smoothed his skin to healthy perfection, so he looked deceptively human without any of our human flaws. Bex was no exception. Her body, though feminine, was lean and sculpted. She wore dark skinny jeans, brown cowboy boots, and a fitted tee as if she were just another hometown heartbreaker. Her bronze locks swayed in gentle waves past her shoulders, and her glowing complexion looked smooth and tempting. Despite the act, as valiant an effort as it was, Bex couldn’t hide the telltale luminescence of her reflective, yellow-green irises that bled to white toward the pupil.

      Bex may have looked flawless now, but I knew from experience with other vampires what she’d look like when she didn’t drink blood. I’d been stabbed by their gargoyle-like claws and bitten by their razor-sharp fangs. Although Dominic enjoyed flaunting the sculpted perfection of his well-fed body, he also enjoyed taunting me with the monstrous version of himself. To see how long I’d last before flinching. To test how close he could draw near before I stepped back. I called his bluff most days, but one day I suspected, like the wild animal he imitated, his instinct would be to strike.

      Bex smiled, carefully close-lipped. “Ian. It’s lovely runnin’ into y’all,” she said, her voice a dainty drawl, more belle and less redneck than the rest of Erin’s locals. I wondered if her dialect was an act to lower our guard or if she was truelly southern.

      Walker crossed his arms. “Can’t say the feeling’s mutual.”

      I stepped around the Chevy and grimaced as pain stabbed through my hip. I’d sat on a bus for most of the day, but I knew by the click and grind of bone on bone that the little time I’d spent on my feet had been too much. Five years had passed since the stakeout I’d taken a bullet for Officer Harroway. The injury had been worth the story I’d scooped, and of course, it’d been worth saving Harroway, but I’d live with chronic arthritis for the rest of my life.

      I gritted my teeth against the pain and tried not to limp the ten feet it took to reach Walker. We stood in the shining warmth of sunlight, and like a divider between us, Bex remained confined to the overpass’s shadow.

      Bex cocked her head. “Won’t you introduce me to your friend?”

      “She’s of no concern to—”

      “DiRocco,” I said, and Walker groaned.

      Bex’s eyes flicked to study my face and something, not quite recognition, but something akin to familiarity, sharpened her gaze.

      “Cassidy DiRocco, night blood to Dominic Lysander, Master of New York City,” I specified. I nodded in greeting instead of offering my hand. She wouldn’t extend hers into the sunlight and I sure as hell wouldn’t extend mine into the shadows. “Great to finally meet you.”

      Bex didn’t say anything for a moment. I braced myself for her attack, considering the threat she posed to Dominic, but she just stared at me, stock-still. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was shocked. After living a few hundred human lifetimes, I’d imagine that shock was rare. I’d been an iron-clad cynic at only thirty years old; then I’d met Dominic and discovered the existence of vampires. Now, shock was normal.

      “Likewise,” she said, suddenly animated again. She smiled wider, still close-lipped but lovely nonetheless. Her amiability didn’t seem forced, but I’d bet that without that strip of sunlight between us, I’d already be dead, or maimed and writhing at the least. “Your reputation precedes you.”

      I smiled, but my expression certainly felt forced. “All good things, I hope.”

      Walker leaned in threateningly. “Let it go, Bex.”

      “You were Walker’s partner while he was in the city, is that right?” Bex asked, her glowing, unearthly eyes trained on me.

      “Unofficially, СКАЧАТЬ