Page 122 of Throwing Shade
My belief that all vamps were monsters to be stopped cemented into place.
I knelt down beside Max and gripped his hand, holding it so tightly I was convinced his pulse raced up through my skin, even as his lifeless eyes and glistening flesh from the tear in his neck told a different story. It was a tale nested in the copper tang of old pennies and set to the tune of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” playing out a nearby open window and the erratic beating of my heart, while I hovered on a shaky precipice with no idea how to find my way back to solid ground.
Eventually, I pulled myself together enough to call Tatiana.
“The artiste is not receiving. Leave a message and when I am so inclined, I’ll return it.” There was a beep.
Fuck. I hung up. My finger hovered over Laurent’s number.
It was one thing to hire him to help me find Jude, but he’d played his part. I had no problem asking for help, but especially after our fight, this was sickeningly like a damsel in distress sending up a flare.
I looked from Max to my phone, made a face and dialed Laurent.
“What?” he said.
“It’s Miri, and —”
“Why are you bothering me?” He dripped French arrogance. “I’m certain I have no desire to speak to you. If you think otherwise, leave a message and try your luck.” Beep.
“Are you kidding me right now?” I jammed my phone in my pocket.
Fine. I closed Max’s eyes, then grabbed him under his armpits and dragged him back into the house. Things got a bit dicey on the stairs, but it’s not like the bumps to the back of his head worsened the situation, and he wasn’t bleeding anymore so I only tracked dirt across his floor.
The plastic creaked and groaned when I hauled Max onto the sofa. I put a pillow under his head, readjusting his limbs until I settled on his legs stretched straight out and his arms folded across his chest.
“You didn’t deserve this and I’m so sorry. Please don’t come back as a dybbuk and haunt me. Okay. Well, I’ll make sure someone comes for you soon.” There was no way I was sitting in a strange house with a corpse, but it was wrong to leave him this way.
After a moment’s consideration, I grabbed the can of odor eliminator and sprayed Max from head to toe. There. I think he would have been pleased with that final touch. I bobbed an awkward bow at his body, then headed out into the night.
