Tempted by Blood. Laurie London

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СКАЧАТЬ started to lift the glass to take a sip, when she set it back down again. “Listen, I’m not your mom. I’m your cousin. That basically means we’re like sisters, only it’s waaaay cooler. You can tell me anything. What am I going to do, ground you? Well … I guess technically I could, but I’m not going to. Come on, talk to me.”

      Krystal sighed heavily and dropped her fork with a clank. “It’s my phone. The one you just got me. I—I …” When she looked up from her plate, tears glistened in her eyes. “I lost it. I’m sorry, Ari, I didn’t mean it. It’s like I had it one minute, then the next minute I didn’t.”

      A knot quickly formed in her belly. How could they both lose their phones on the same day? She reached over and gave Krystal what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. “When did you notice it was gone?” she asked cautiously.

      “This morning. After you left for work. I looked every where. My backpack. My room. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to lose it. I know it was expensive and everything. I’ll pay you back. I promise.”

      Arianna’s heart melted at the girl’s distress over disappointing her. “It’s okay, Krystal, things like this happen. I know it wasn’t your fault.”

      “Yeah, but I should’ve been more careful. I’m not used to having a phone to keep track of.”

      “If it makes you feel any better, I just lost mine, as well. Can you believe it? Both on the same night.” Arianna tried to make it sound as if she thought it was a funny coincidence, but what were the chances of it happening to both of them simultaneously?

      Krystal’s eyes widened. “Really?”

      “Yeah, I’ve been trying to remember exactly where I was the last time I saw it.”

      “Me, too!” Looking relieved, the girl turned her attention to her sandwich.

      Arianna watched her cousin take a bite and waited for her reaction; it was nice having someone to cook for, she decided. “How’s the food?”

      “It’s good. What’s in this one? Cheese, tomato and … what’s the green stuff? Spinach?”

      “No, basil. It’s like the ingredients from a pizza, but without the meat.” Arianna wiped her fingers on her napkin and took a sip from her wineglass. Although it was a cheap, peppery merlot from the grocery store, it was actually pretty decent. “Hey, do you remember that street fight we saw last night?”

      Krystal frowned, thinking. “Um … yeah, kinda.”

      “And the guy who broke up the fight and helped us home?”

      “Oh, yeah, I remember him.”

      “Do you remember his name?”

      “No, sorry. He had big muscles and a huge tattoo on his arm.”

      “He did? I don’t remember that.” She couldn’t exactly call the police and ask to speak to the officer with the tattoo. “Wasn’t he wearing a leather coat?”

      “Not when you were kissing him. The tattoo was right here.” Krystal giggled and pointed to her biceps. “It was a colorful snake with fangs and …”

      Fangs? Arianna couldn’t remember the point she was going to make.

      As Krystal continued to talk about the fight and the guy with the tattoo, the kitchen felt as if it were spinning. Arianna pinched her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead. She must have a serious case of vertigo or something. Then, to make matters worse, her stomach began to twist and roll.

      Oh, God, she wasn’t going to vomit, was she? She grabbed the edge of the table, put a hand over her mouth. What was the deal? She hardly ever got sick. In fact, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been nauseous.

      Krystal had said something about … fangs?

      Calm down. I’m not getting sick. I feel perfectly fine. Just take a few deep breaths in and out and I’ll be back to normal.

      Then, just as quickly as it came on, the nausea began to subside. But with it came a strange image in her memory. She saw a tall, muscular man—several men, actually—all with fangs. There was a scuffle. No, a fight. A really brutal one involving a body shriveling to dust and a really strange knife. It had a curved blade that flashed in the moonlight like a thousand tiny crystals. She would’ve liked to have seen it up close. The scene was like recalling a part from a movie you saw a long time ago and yet … that wasn’t quite right, either. The men’s faces were shadowed, their features indistinguishable, but they definitely had fangs.

      Krystal was saying something she didn’t quite catch. Her voice was distorted, like it was coming from inside a tin can.

      “What?”

      “Are you okay? Do you want me to get you a glass of water? Or some crackers?”

      Arianna opened her eyes, the sick feeling gone. Clearly, she’d dreamed about some really weird crap after what they’d witnessed last night. She’d always thought it was fascinating how the mind worked like that, trying to resolve problems at the subconscious level. She wondered what it meant that she’d been dreaming about vampires. Maybe all the research she’d done on topics for Paranormalish was catching up with her.

      The guy last night was an undercover cop and had broken up a fight between two rival gang members. He was nice enough to drive them home … after she kissed him. Oh, good God. Her face heated again at the memory. She’d actually freaking kissed him. She quickly shoved the embarrassing image from her thoughts.

      Krystal was staring at her, wide-eyed, a mixture of disappointment and resignation on her face. “Water and crackers always helps my mom when she’s had too much to drink. That and some Tylenol.”

      Arianna smiled at her cousin. It had to be tough growing up with an alcoholic parent, where the child took on the role of being the responsible one. “Thanks, but that’s not it. I’ve only had a few sips of wine. Promise.” She got up from the table and dumped the wine from her glass down the drain. For good measure, she dumped out the rest of the bottle, too. “There. Just to be on the safe side. That was … weird.”

      After they did the dishes and Krystal went to her room to do homework, Arianna turned on one of those reality cooking shows, grabbed her laptop, pulled out the scrap of paper from Carter and settled onto the couch. In a few clicks, she was into her cloud account.

      As people were yelling at each other on TV, several rows of small picture thumbnails filled her screen. That’s strange. She didn’t remember taking so many photos last night at Blake’s house.

      She clicked on the first image. She’d seen it before. It was Blake sitting in front of his grandmother’s afghan.

      She clicked the last image. It was a dark, grainy picture of a sidewalk or road.

      Okay. Delete.

      She moused over the next one and clicked. Same thing, only this one showed the edge of a car’s bumper. A Jeep.

      Like pocket-dialing, she must not have realized she was taking pictures. Delete.

      These must be from the gang fight. Maybe there were some good ones earlier. She СКАЧАТЬ