Page 38 of Kick the Candle (Knight Games 2)
Like I'd miss the drama.
What drama?
Watching you interact with Logan should be interesting.
No doubt you plan to analyze my interactions and report back to me on my repressed feelings.
U bet.
Oy. Not repressing! I made a choice.
Hmm.
We can talk about this then.
Looking forward to it.
At the end of my shift, I drove home on autopilot. I had to get some sleep tonight. Besides worrying about the house, the dead finfolk in the alley, Rick, and Logan, tomorrow was Thanksgiving, just a month until Christmas. I didn't even have a tree to put up, let alone any shopping done.
The driveway was dark as I pulled in, the new moon doing nothing to help break the bleak night. Distracted as I was with my problems, I almost plowed into the silhouette of a man standing in front of my garage door. Luckily, the reflective glint of my headlights off his inhuman eyes came in time for me to slam on the brakes.
Vampire. Nightshade was in the attic, but I grabbed the shovel I kept in the back of the Jeep in case of snow emergencies. Faster than humanly possible, I was out of the car and had the vamp thrust against the garage door with the edge pressed into his jugular. That's when I saw who it was, my ex-boyfriend turned vampire.
"Gary."
"Uh, hi Grateful."
I pressed a little harder on the shovel.
"What are you doing here?"
He held up a large dufflebag. "I have your money. With interest."
I searched his face for any sign of threat or insincerity but his fangs were retracted and his eyes, although slightly nocturnal looking, were without guile. I lowered the shovel and grabbed the bag. Damn! It was heavy. I unzipped the top and my heart started to pound. It was filled with bricks of twenty-dollar bills. The satchel thumped to the pavement and I investigated further, flipping the bills through my icy cold fingers. Each brick had ten bills, $200, stacked twenty high and fifteen wide. $60,000. I licked my lips. This would get me out of debt and provide a small down payment; I might be able to qualify for a loan to buy my house.
"Are these real?" I asked Gary.
"Of course they're real! Do you think Julius would pull one over on you? Contrary to your apparent assumption, he enjoys having his head attached to his body."
"You only stole $40,000. That's some pretty crazy interest."
Gary squatted down next to me in the driveway. "So young, so naive."
All of my negative feelings toward him channeled into a look that could cut glass. He actually waddled back a step. "If you've got something to say, just say it."
"You're Hecate, acting goddess of the dead in this district. Julius is sucking up to you on behalf of the coven. We'd all like to stay on this side of the gate."
"Yeah." I wasn't buying for a minute that Julius was scared of me. I suspected he was behind the increase in supernaturals in the area and the money was his attempt to grease the scales of justice in his favor. I fully intended to keep the money, but refused to promise anything in return. But then, Gary hadn't asked for anything.
"Thanks for paying me back," I said. "I better go inside. My fingers are getting numb." I stood, lifted the heavy bag to my shoulder, and side stepped to the front door so that I could keep one eye on him.
"There's something else, Grateful. We need to talk."
Here it was. He was going to tell me what this bribe was for. I needed to hear it, to know what I was getting myself into by taking the money, but first, I needed to get warm. And there was no way in hell I was inviting him inside.
"Can you wait out here for fifteen minutes? I just got off work. I need to get out of these scrubs and take a bio break."
He glanced at the door, seeming to resign himself to not being invited in and nodded. It wasn't a big deal for him. Undead bodies didn't get cold. As for me, I was inside before I could take my next breath.
