Kayla-juice for breakfast?”
“I… gave Leelee a little of my blood.”
“You just gave it to her?”
Kayla stared off at a distant point as if the wood paneling were a wide open sky. “She got bit about a year back. On the hand. We were in the grocery store salvaging some canned goods and the store was closed up pretty good so we didn’t think any had gotten in there. But one came up out of a busted freezer case like it was his coffin and, well. He got her.
“Later that night she was sleeping and we were all saying our final words and I had this vision of myself pricking my finger with the belt punch in my Swiss Army Knife, and putting my bloody finger in her mouth so she could nurse on it the way a baby sucks at a nipple and… next thing I knew, I was really doing it. Everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind and I thought maybe I really had. Daddy pulled me away and wouldn’t even talk to me. But by the next morning, Leelee’s fever had broke. The bite mark on her hand didn’t heal, but it never became infected. And she never changed.”
“Huh,” Coburn said. “That’s pretty fucking weird.”
“Shut up! You’re a vampire.”
“I know. And that’s how I know it’s weird, because I’m a vampire. Saying that this is weird.” He shrugged. “Well. More things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, blah blah blah.”
“Okay. I guess. Whatever.” She didn’t look happy. In fact, she looked downright uncomfortable.
“Ain’t this some fascinating shit? I mean, here you are, a girl who should by all rights be in the ground, talking to a dude who should similarly be six feet under somewhere. And yet we keep on living. So to speak.” Each, he thought, with our own special blood disease. Good times.
“I should go.”
“Uh-huh. Before you go, I got a job for you. Your first official task as Liaison For The Wolf, To The Sheep .”
“What’s that?”
“Tell your Pop, I’m not sleeping here during the day. Tell him I don’t trust him well enough. You guys can drop me off before sun-up somewhere I can catch my Z’s, and then before night falls, just park the RV and I’ll catch up.”
“We can get pretty far during the day.”
He winked. “So can I, pretty little cancer princess.” As she stood to leave, he grabbed her arm. She winced—even that caused her some pain. “One more thing. Tomorrow night, when I catch up? I’ll want to feed.” The bitch in the pink robe took a lot out of him. “So, you better find me some food, otherwise I might take it out of the fat man again. Or maybe your Dad’s bratty ho-bag. Oh! And I’m going to leave Creampuff with you. He better be well-fed. If ever I see him starting to look extra-scrawny, I’ll break your Daddy’s neck.”
Kayla could not hide her horror.
“Toodles,” he said, waggling his fingers at her.
This might actually work out , he thought.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Pretty Little Girlies
A thunderous drum of horse’s hooves, the world trembling under their trampling gallop, cups rattling in the cabinets, tickets burning hot in his pocket, plates clattering together louder and louder until—
Whack .
Kayla slapped him awake.
“Wake up, dummy,” she said.
Coburn blinked, tried to catch her hand before she slapped him again, but somehow his coordination wasn’t working—her open palm connected again and left him reeling. In his nose: the smell of sour booze. Like Southern Comfort. Mixed with bad bile.
Two hazy frames of vision merged together until they formed a single picture, and there he saw Kayla standing over him—he was, after all, laying across a kitchen table—and she had her hair pulled behind her in a pony tail and sported a dress as blue as a robin’s egg, as blue as—
— corpse-flesh —
He shook his head and stood up off the table.
“We’re late,” she said.
“Let me guess, for a very important date.” It occurred to him then that it was his mouth that tasted like sweet liquor and bile. Jesus Christ
“I… gave Leelee a little of my blood.”
“You just gave it to her?”
Kayla stared off at a distant point as if the wood paneling were a wide open sky. “She got bit about a year back. On the hand. We were in the grocery store salvaging some canned goods and the store was closed up pretty good so we didn’t think any had gotten in there. But one came up out of a busted freezer case like it was his coffin and, well. He got her.
“Later that night she was sleeping and we were all saying our final words and I had this vision of myself pricking my finger with the belt punch in my Swiss Army Knife, and putting my bloody finger in her mouth so she could nurse on it the way a baby sucks at a nipple and… next thing I knew, I was really doing it. Everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind and I thought maybe I really had. Daddy pulled me away and wouldn’t even talk to me. But by the next morning, Leelee’s fever had broke. The bite mark on her hand didn’t heal, but it never became infected. And she never changed.”
“Huh,” Coburn said. “That’s pretty fucking weird.”
“Shut up! You’re a vampire.”
“I know. And that’s how I know it’s weird, because I’m a vampire. Saying that this is weird.” He shrugged. “Well. More things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, blah blah blah.”
“Okay. I guess. Whatever.” She didn’t look happy. In fact, she looked downright uncomfortable.
“Ain’t this some fascinating shit? I mean, here you are, a girl who should by all rights be in the ground, talking to a dude who should similarly be six feet under somewhere. And yet we keep on living. So to speak.” Each, he thought, with our own special blood disease. Good times.
“I should go.”
“Uh-huh. Before you go, I got a job for you. Your first official task as Liaison For The Wolf, To The Sheep .”
“What’s that?”
“Tell your Pop, I’m not sleeping here during the day. Tell him I don’t trust him well enough. You guys can drop me off before sun-up somewhere I can catch my Z’s, and then before night falls, just park the RV and I’ll catch up.”
“We can get pretty far during the day.”
He winked. “So can I, pretty little cancer princess.” As she stood to leave, he grabbed her arm. She winced—even that caused her some pain. “One more thing. Tomorrow night, when I catch up? I’ll want to feed.” The bitch in the pink robe took a lot out of him. “So, you better find me some food, otherwise I might take it out of the fat man again. Or maybe your Dad’s bratty ho-bag. Oh! And I’m going to leave Creampuff with you. He better be well-fed. If ever I see him starting to look extra-scrawny, I’ll break your Daddy’s neck.”
Kayla could not hide her horror.
“Toodles,” he said, waggling his fingers at her.
This might actually work out , he thought.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Pretty Little Girlies
A thunderous drum of horse’s hooves, the world trembling under their trampling gallop, cups rattling in the cabinets, tickets burning hot in his pocket, plates clattering together louder and louder until—
Whack .
Kayla slapped him awake.
“Wake up, dummy,” she said.
Coburn blinked, tried to catch her hand before she slapped him again, but somehow his coordination wasn’t working—her open palm connected again and left him reeling. In his nose: the smell of sour booze. Like Southern Comfort. Mixed with bad bile.
Two hazy frames of vision merged together until they formed a single picture, and there he saw Kayla standing over him—he was, after all, laying across a kitchen table—and she had her hair pulled behind her in a pony tail and sported a dress as blue as a robin’s egg, as blue as—
— corpse-flesh —
He shook his head and stood up off the table.
“We’re late,” she said.
“Let me guess, for a very important date.” It occurred to him then that it was his mouth that tasted like sweet liquor and bile. Jesus Christ
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