Nancy Haddock [Oldest City 02] Last Vampire Standing (v5.0) (lit)

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times. Family homes were passed down through generations and still were, for
that matter.
I set my chin on my fist and thought about my own family. I d been raised with
furniture just as chunky as some of the pieces in the book, though not as
elaborately carved and costly. The tables and chairs, chests and bedsteads in
my family home were sturdy, serviceable. They had to be to stand up to the
beating that first my brothers, then my nieces and nephews gave them. Had my
family missed the things they couldn t take when they d finally fled St.
Augustine?
I looked at the full-page photo of an oak trestle table darkened to black
brown with age. The surface looked pitted, scarred, beloved. I hesitated, then
touched the photo with one fingertip and was jerked back in time.
The children huddled under the table, shooed there by the women. They didn t
cry, but their eyes were huge and frightened as they peeked at me between
their mothers skirts. I d cared for these babies, coddled and laughed with
them, but no more. I was a vampire now, and if they knew not what that meant,
they d been told stories enough to fear me.
I raised my gaze, and my heart bled to see the face of my mother contorted in
horror. Her pallor was severe, so much so that I feared she would collapse.
Instead, she gripped a cleaver in her arthritic, trembling hand. Two
sisters-in-law, they who had chided me for not choosing a husband, wielded
long knives and regarded me with loathing. My youngest sister-in-law, the one
I best loved, clasped the newest baby to her breast. I ached to touch that
fuzzy head, to croon a lullaby.
To be a family again.
Please, don t be afraid, I said over and over. I m here to warn you.
They didn t heed me. They couldn t. Their terrified screams begging me to
spare them and the children drowned my anguished voice, and I wept as I
slipped out the garden door. They thought me a monster, with no soul, no love,
no loyalty in my heart. They were wrong.
Later, I asked Triton to get them out of town so that King Normand could no
longer threaten them, but I relinquished my family that day. I was alone with
no one to love and no one to live for. I would survive or find a way to
forever die.
The memory faded, and I wondered for the first time if I had relatives
somewhere. Descendants of my nieces and nephews who would be happy to learn
about their ancestors and perhaps to know me. If so, they hadn t shown up yet,
which was telling in itself.
I shook off the past and closed the textbook, then about screeched out of my
skin when a hand landed on my shoulder. I spun in the old-fashioned swivel
desk chair to face Saber.
Easy, babe, it s me.
Geez, make some noise next time, I said, my heartbeat still in overdrive, my
eyelashes wet with the remnants of tears.
I did make noise, honey, he said gently. Are you okay? Is your vampire
hearing on the fritz?
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My hearing is fine. I was hyperfocused. I surreptitiously wiped my cheeks
dry. Then I noticed that, except for his shoes, he was dressed. I glanced at
my dolphin desk clock. Where are you going at three in the morning?
Daytona.
But you were just there, like, eighteen hours ago. What happened?
He rubbed his hand over his whiskered cheek. The cops found a guy in an alley
a block from Ike s club.
Dead? I asked, rising to hug him.
He shook his head and held me. The guy is alive for now, but he s in shock
and sporting some vicious fang marks. Not clean or neat.
You need to go talk to the victim?
More than that. The guy is claiming he was robbed, but he can t give a
coherent description of who lifted his wallet and ring or of who bit him.
We re serving another search warrant on Ike. The Daytona cops are waking a
judge now, and we re planning to hit them right about the time they close at
four.
I stepped out of his arms. If you re raiding Hot Blooded while Ike and his
nest are awake, I m coming with you.
Cesca, I ll have a squad of city cops there.
I shook my head and headed for the bedroom. Not good enough. Somebody there
bit a man, and I might be able to tell who it was. Plus, I can do my
energy-draining trick if the natives get obnoxious.
No way. I can t have a civilian at a possible crime scene. Besides, weren t
you going surfing with Neil this morning?
I paused at the bedroom door. Actually, I d forgotten about the date with
Neil, and this was far more important.
Surfing can wait, and you can deputize me or something so I won t be a
civilian.
He frowned but didn t have a comeback, so I pressed my case.
I ll follow you in my car and leave as soon as I know everyone will be safe.
I m going to tail you anyway, so you might as well give in.
By the time he had his sneakers laced up, I was dressed in blue jeans and a
tank top, and ready to kick fang.
SIX
We sped south on A1A, Saber with his light and siren bubble stabbing the
night, me streaking behind in my SSR. I d never been to Daytona but had heard
the drive took an hour or more at normal speed and in normal traffic. I d bet
both fangs we d be there in thirty-five minutes.
Enough time for my bravado to wane, but not my resolve.
Not that I wanted to confront the Daytona Beach vamps. Been there, survived
that. Ike s rich voice oozes over a body like a controlled oil spill, but he s
a quiet flavor of scary next to Laurel. Vampzilla is bossy, bitchy, and wears
human bones in her cornrowed hair. The other two vamps I d met in March were
Ike s muscle. Tower and Zena are very tall, very built, and very loyal to Ike.
Ike had left me alone since our meeting five months ago. Would he take my
turning up on his turf with Saber and the Daytona cops as a declaration of
war?
If so, I d just have to talk him down out of the boughs. A vamp had chomped on
a human, and that simply wasn t kosher.
Of course, there was the off chance way off that the biting had been
consensual. In March, I d also met four blood bunnies that hung out with Ike,
and I d later asked Saber about their bite marks. He d explained that biting
could be consented to during sex. Not an encouraged practice, but the VPA
overlooked love bites just as it ignored small nests. Sometimes, bureaucracy
bites.
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Consensual or not, a vampire should never leave a bitee to wander around under
a partial thrall. The effect was like turning a drunk loose. Without the
upchucking.
Saber killed his light and siren and turned into a parking lot behind a
two-story cinder-block building painted Caribbean blue. Not the color choice I
pictured for a place called Hot Blooded, but I imagined City Hall controlled
the colors of buildings. St. Augustine s city government did the same.
The parking lot teemed with official vehicles and uniformed men and women from [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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