Truthfully, it was gross. Cold and bitter. Not at all what I had expected blood to taste like in my new state of existence. Something instinctual told me that this was not a permanent solution—that it would be like eating stale potato chips day in and day out. It might take the edge off for a short while, but it wouldn’t be enough to survive on.
As these thoughts unraveled themselves, I was vaguely aware that Laura was still in the kitchen. Watching me with her hand clamped over her mouth. She made a retching noise in the back of her throat as if she were trying very hard not to barf all over the place. When I’d polished off the first container and set it back down on the counter, she regained her poise. For a second anyway. And then she screamed.
“What. The. Fuck?” She inched backward until she bumped into one of the dining room chairs, and after shoving it aside, she continued her retreat until her back hit the far wall of the room. “That was the nastiest thing I’ve ever witnessed! Please tell me that wasn’t really blood—that this is just some weird prank you’re pulling on me.”
Mandy appeared in the threshold of the kitchen, brandishing her fork like a weapon. Duncan joined her a split second later, yipping as if he’d caught an intruder red-handed. Mandy’s annoyed glare, along with the pointy end of the fork, darted from me to Laura to the Chihuahua to the drippy container on the counter. When she realized what was going on, she groaned.
Laura hadn’t moved from the wall, and her hysterics had only just begun. “Who the hell are you?” she snapped at Mandy.
“Erm…” Mandy shot me an apologetic frown. “Zee new maid?” she said in a cheesy French accent.
I rolled my eyes and flopped down on a barstool. “Yeah, my foreign exchange maid, who doesn’t know how to clean houses.”
“Hey!” Mandy barked, not in protest at my accusation but rather at Duncan’s sudden interest in her toes. “Keep your ball-washer to yourself!” So much for the accent.
I propped an elbow on the counter behind me and ran my own tongue over the blood sticking to my teeth. “I’m a vampire. She’s a werewolf,” I said in the same catatonic voice that I’d used the night before.
Mandy pointed the fork at me again. “She make funny joke, oui?”
“Oh, stuff it.” I waved her off and reached for the second container of blood. “I haven’t seen my sister in years. I’m not going to waste any more of this time feeding her lies.”
“My secret isn’t yours to tell!” Mandy stomped her sandaled foot. “Damn it. You’re going to get us all killed.”
“Ow!” I glanced back at Laura and caught her rubbing her arm. “It was worth a shot,” she said, inspecting the pinch welt. “I guess you’ve really lost it, huh? And you’ve convinced some teenage nightmare to help you fuel this wacko fantasy?” She shook her head in disbelief.
I sniffed the second container of blood, less eager to down it now that my hunger had been dampened. “Mandy, could you go ahead and shift real quick so we can get through this stage of the process?”
Mandy grunted and bared her teeth at me. “Oh, yeah, because it’s just like snapping my fingers. All tickles and giggles. Not like my insides are ripping themselves apart or anything.”
“I’ll give you a hundred bucks,” I said, deciding that was a bad move the second the words left my mouth. Mandy glowered at me, her chest heaving violently beneath the lace blouse.
“Is that all my suffering is worth?” she hissed. “You think money fixes everything?”
“A thousand then?” I gave her a pleading look. “Otherwise, we’ll be here all night trying to convince her.” I nodded my head at Laura, who was glaring in our general direction.
“Maybe I don’t want her convinced,” Mandy said through clenched teeth. “Maybe I like my head right where it is, attached to my body.”
“Two thousand. That’s my best offer.”
“Gah! Fine. But I want cash.” Mandy yanked the blouse over her head and threw it at me. I caught it then draped it over my jacket on the barstool, careful not to get blood on anything. She chucked the heels at me next, before stripping off the jeggings.
“What are you doing? Stop!” Laura held her hands up to block Mandy from her line of sight. The girl stood stark naked between the dining table and the breakfast bar. I was suddenly glad that I’d replaced the vertical blinds over the sliding glass door that Maggie had chewed off. Mom had left them like that after Maggie died, unable to bring herself to fix anything the dog had maimed.
Mandy gritted her teeth, and her eyes turned yellow, wrenching a gasp from Laura. The crackling, popping sound filled the air, and then Mandy hunched over. Fur rippled down her back as her spine lengthened. Duncan yipped and scampered across the hardwood floor to Laura, who had slid down the dining room wall and sat with her legs pulled up to her chest. Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head as if she couldn’t bring herself to accept what she saw.
I dipped a finger into the container of blood and nodded, silently confirming what she was seeing. I didn’t want to believe it either, but denial wasn’t going to do any of us any good. I needed to accept this and move on. There were missing girls in the city. There was a crime ring responsible for Will’s death. There were a million other things I had to figure out how to manage as the newly undead, and I hoped nixing the need to fool my sister would simplify that list.
Three heads are better than one.
Our mother had said that whenever she had called a family meeting. Mandy wasn’t exactly family, but if she hadn’t stuck around and made it perfectly clear what was happening to me, I probably would have eaten Vin’s face off and gnawed on my sister for dessert. A roof, a messy closet, a few thousand dollars, finding her missing friends—these were all things I was happy to give.
Mandy finished her shift and gave me a bored look before turning in a slow circle, as if to say “Ta-da!” Her fur was mostly black but it faded to a softer brown along her muzzle, over one eye, down her legs, and at the tip of her tail. She was beautiful.
When Mandy turned toward Laura, Duncan lost it. The tiny pooch growled and then let out a series of yaps that rivaled most smoke alarms. Laura looked as if she’d gone comatose.
“Your dog is a girl,” she said in a dazed voice. “I-I mean your girl is a dog.”
“Wolf, technically,” I replied. “But with that coloring, I think she could probably pass for some sort of German Shepherd mix.”
Mandy grumbled a whiny bark in protest, and then she began to shift again. Her fur curled in on itself and disappeared beneath gray flesh that slowly softened to a pale pink. The transition to human seemed to take less time and effort, but she was covered in sweat when she finished, crouched on the floor, her fingers splayed across the hardwood for balance. She reached a hand up to finger her tangled hair and scowled at me.
“I just curled that.”
“The makeup is gone, too,” I informed her. Clearly, the cow blood hadn’t been enough to replenish my tact—though some might have argued that I hadn’t had much of that to begin with.
Mandy snapped her fingers at me and pointed at the clothes laid over the barstool. I tossed them to her and gave her some privacy by turning my attention to Laura. My sister was shamelessly gaping, but I couldn’t blame her. As Mandy dressed herself, Laura’s gaze migrated back to me.
“I knew it,” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
I cocked my head to one side. “You knew what? That I was a vampire?”
“That you’d go and get yourself killed like Mom did.” Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears. “I told you becoming a cop was stupid and reckless.”
“Hey!” I snapped and stood up from the barstool. “Who the hell are you to judge me for career choices?”
“Being an actress is safe and profitable and respectable,” she said, ticking off her reasons on one hand while Duncan cowered under the bend of her knees. “It doesn’t involve getting shot at. It doesn’t involve dying.” She covered her face with both hands and heaved a wailing sob through her fi
ngers. “Oh my God. How could you let this happen?”
“I didn’t let anything happen.” My throat tightened as I thought of Will and how helpless I had been to save him. How helpless I had been to save myself. “There are dozens of girls who have been abducted around the city and forced into prostitution. I was trying to save them.”
“We’re going to save them,” Mandy added, comfortable joining the conversation now that she was clothed again.
Laura pinched the bridge of her nose and sniffled. “And I thought I had problems. I guess this explains why you slept all day, and why your pet werewolf wouldn’t let me into your room.”
“It’s Mandy,” Mandy injected, adjusting the lace blouse over her hips. “And sorry about that.” Duncan sniffed at her foot, and she made a face. “But sorry or not, you’d better keep that thing away from me.”
“Come here, Duncan.” Laura made a kissy noise at the dog and scooped him into her lap before standing up. She kept a hand on the wall behind her, and her knees wobbled precariously as she pulled out a chair at the dining room table. She sat down and nervously stroked Duncan’s coat. “What are you going to do?” she asked, looking up at me with pitying eyes.
I sighed and rubbed the blood drying between my thumb and forefinger. “I haven’t figured all of that out yet.”
“How are you supposed to go back to work?” Laura scratched the side of her head thoughtfully. “How are you supposed to live?”
“I don’t know,” I said, the words coming out harsher than I intended. “I don’t know anything yet. I’m working on it.” My eyes lingered on the remaining container of blood, and I grabbed it as I reclaimed my barstool.
Mandy put her hands on her hips and sighed. She looked less polished without the curls and makeup, like a mangy teenager who had just rolled out of bed. I was reminded of my brilliant idea as she crossed the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, helping herself to a grape Gatorade after sticking her tongue out at the last orange one.
“You were a foster kid, right?” I asked.
Mandy’s brows dropped into a humorless line, and she shot me a warning glare. “What of it?” she said, digging a bag of deli turkey out of the cheese drawer.
“If anyone asks, that’s what we’ll tell them. You’re my foster kid.”
She grunted. “I’m eighteen. I don’t need another foster mom.”
“Well, no one’s going to buy that you’re ‘zee new maid.’” I picked up the container of blood and took a careful drink, avoiding spilling it down my chin this time. The pain in my stomach was now a dull ache. This was what I usually felt like after eating too many tacos. Bloated and hungry at the same time. It wasn’t a sensation I wanted to get used to, but what other choice did I have?
Laura made a sickly noise in the back of her throat. “I don’t think I can watch you do that,” she said, pinching her eyes closed as her shoulders trembled.
“Then don’t,” I snapped. “It’s the only thing I’ve been able to keep down for the past two days, so I’m not going to apologize for drinking it.”
“Maybe you should try the kibble.” Mandy smirked at Laura as she stuffed a handful of turkey into her mouth and then washed it down with the Gatorade.
“That kibble is the caviar of dog cuisine. It’s what Arnold feeds his dogs.” Laura sat up taller and lifted her nose in the air. Leave it to her to get offended about her fancy ass dog food. “Where did you get that?” she asked, nodding at the bloody container in my hand. I’d sucked down almost the whole thing without realizing it.
“A meat shop,” I answered, leaving off the minor detail of its location. “It’s cow blood.”
“Is it…good?” Her nose crinkled, but she managed not to stick her tongue out like Mandy had.
“Not especially, but it’s helping.”
“Helping?” Her eyebrows shot up, and she clutched Duncan tighter to her bare stomach. “Are you having horrible cravings?” She gasped. “Is that why you told me to stay back? Was I almost a victim of your bloodlust?” Her voice rose an octave, reminding me of one of her hysterical monologues from Henry’s Courtroom.
“I get hungry, just like I did before I died. And I get cranky when I’m hungry.” I didn’t really want to go into detail about how afraid I’d been for her, too. She was getting wound up enough all on her own. “My vision goes red when I’m hungry, or angry, or afraid. And I uncontrollably fall asleep when the sun rises. That’s about the extent of my vampiric knowledge so far.”
“What about whoever bit you?” Laura asked. “Aren’t they supposed to tell you all the things or something?”
Mandy choked mid-Gatorade gulp and rasped a throaty and unrecognizable sound at me that I quickly discerned as a plea to zip my lips.
“It was an accident, and they didn’t stick around,” I said, sugarcoating another sketchy answer.
Laura’s lips pursed, and her shoulders squared. “We Skye women seem to have a knack for finding those kinds of winners, don’t we?”
The thought had crossed my mind a time or two. Our father had bailed before we were born. My high school crush had humiliated me. And now, Laura’s producer/boyfriend had dumped her for a newer model.
“I’ll figure it out on my own. I’m good at that,” I said. Laura flinched and gave me a wounded pout.
“I couldn’t stay. I’m sorry, Jenna.” She swallowed and rubbed a hand down her arm. “It was too painful.”
“You think I wasn’t hurting, too?” I said.
“I just needed a distraction. I needed to not think about her for a while.” Her bottom lip trembled. “And you were practically playing dress up. I think maybe you still are.” She glanced around the kitchen and out at the living room that Mathis had pointed out was exactly the same.
My heart clenched in my chest. I wanted to deny her claim, but part of me knew she was right. At least partially. Maybe I’d started this new life while my screws were loose, but I knew what I was doing now. And I was proud of it. Even if it had gotten Will and me killed, what we’d been trying to do was important. It still was.
“What Mom did made a real difference in people’s lives,” I said, forcing the words past my heartache. “I can understand you wanting a distraction from the pain, but the only way I knew how to fix mine was to pick up where she left off and continue her good work. It made me feel like, if I could do that, then maybe she wasn’t really gone.”
Laura sniffled and wiped a rogue tear from her cheek. “And it made me feel like I’d already lost the only other person I had in the world.” Duncan squirmed in her lap and then lifted his tiny snout and howled a mournful note.
I held my hands out, palms up, and gave her a lopsided smile. “That’s obviously not something you have to worry about anymore. I’m pretty much indestructible now, so…” I shrugged a shoulder like it was no big deal. I’d meant for it to make her laugh, so when she burst into tears, I was at a loss.
“Nice going,” Mandy whispered harshly from the open refrigerator door.
I slid off my barstool and shooed Duncan out of Laura’s lap so I could kneel down and wrap my arms around my sister. “Hey, hey. Don’t do that. It’s going to be okay. Why are you even crying? I’m fine. I’m better than fine.”
She tucked her runny nose into my hair while I stroked her back. “You’re dead. Oh my God. You’re really dead,” she sobbed.
“But I’m still pretty, right?” I asked, trying again. She only cried harder. “Man, I am really out of practice at this comedy stuff. Maybe I should stick to knock-knock jokes.”
Laura bawled in my arms for what felt like forever. Until my knees began to ache against the hardwood floor, and my toes fell asleep. When she finally pulled away from me and sat upright, her eyes were nearly swollen shut.
“Okay.” She sniffled and fingered what was left of her mascara. “I can do this. Let’s talk. We need a plan.”
“A plan?” I groaned as I rocked back on my haunches and stood. “I just drank cow blood, and I have to be in
bed in”—I checked the clock on the microwave— “four hours. Give or take.”
“How can you sleep at a time like this?” Laura balked.
“Easy. I don’t have any control over it.” I scratched my chest where the tank top tag was digging into my skin.
Mandy nodded in agreement from the breakfast bar where she sat with a massive sandwich overflowing out of her hand. “Summer hours are a bitch for vamps,” she said around a mouthful of food. “They barely get nine hours of sundown this time of year.”
Laura blinked at me. “What about your appointment with Dr. Townsend Monday? What about Alicia and Serena’s visit tomorrow? What about Will’s funeral?” she added in an even more horrified voice. “You can’t just lock yourself away every day and expect people not to ask questions, Jenna.”
Mandy’s nod of agreement was grimmer this time. “And if someone asks the wrong person those questions, you’re going to have hella more problems to worry about than any shrink can help you with.”
I looked from Mandy to Laura and threw up my hands. “What do you want me to say? I don’t have a fucking clue where to even begin. Am I supposed to pack up and take off without saying a word to anyone? Just to stay off some super-secret vampire society’s radar? What about the missing girls?” I turned back to Mandy. “How do you expect me to help you find them if the only time I can even function is the few hours in the middle of the night?”
“Hey.” She held her free hand up in surrender. “I’m just pointing out facts here. Besides, the Scarlett Inn only operates at night. The brothel is run by vampires, remember?”
“A vampire brothel?” Laura’s mouth dropped open. “These girls you’re looking for are trapped in a vampire brothel? Aren’t regular brothels bad enough?”
“What is this?” Mandy held up Agent Knight’s business card. My jacket was draped over the barstool she sat on, and she had taken the liberty of searching its pockets while she stuffed her face.
“Nosy much?” I reached for the card, but she pulled her hand back.
“I told you not to involve the humans.”
Blood Vice Page 8