Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) by Joyce Robles Page A

neither confirming nor
denying his accusation, she didn’t have time to stay around for more. "Doug is going to stay with them
the night, I’m taking his car, can you stay with him?"
    "Yea," he said resignedly.
    "Thank you," she figured with what little time she could spare she would make her inquiries, "is
there any word on Manson yet?"
    "No, he’s still in surgery," Jennifer cringed with the knowledge that her friend and mentor had
been more damaged then she had perceived. "I checked on Clive he’s still stable, so that’s something I
suppose."
    Jennifer nodded unsure what she should say in a situation where everything felt like she was the
cause. "I am sorry Malcolm," without saying more she headed back out the way she’d come, she
would either acquire the information she needed or she would die tonight.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    She was halfway back to her cousin’s car when she heard the clicking of heals against
pavement and Marcia called after her. "Wait! I’m supposed go to," before Jennifer could put in her
protest the woman handed her the jacket she’d left in the van, Jennifer had forgotten it, and the odds
were she was going to need it to get in a concealed gun with her. "You’re going to need me," Jennifer
was not convinced that she would, but the woman was going to have to learn to be a negotiator at some
point. She wished like hell that she could make the woman’s introduction to the job a little less hostile
but there never seemed to be a mellow case of vampirism when you needed one.
    "This is going to be very dangerous Marcia, you should know right now that the last negotiator I
brought in with me didn’t come back out breathing." She watched Marcia pale, but she didn’t try to
back out of coming. "Alright," Jennifer sighed, she was probably going to need the help anyway. Lord
knows she was running on empty and negotiating would probably wind up at gun point if she were
alone. Jenny started making her way back to her cousins car and without protest or inquiry about their
last negotiators demise Marcia fell into step beside her.
    "So where are we going?" Marcia asked trying to keep pace with Jennifer, a difficult feat
considering the heels she was in.
    "Trust me, you don’t want to know," she didn’t look at Marcia. She didn’t dare look, she
would hate to see that excited, young potential vampire worship look on her face. She would think that
after the woman had seen the end result of what vampires were capable of there would be a little less
excitement and a little more angst in her companions tone.
    "Can I at least know what Malcolm was talking about, what’s your big history at this place?"
Again with the excitement, Jennifer could tell already that Marcia was the type of person who would
find listening to the occurrence as entertainment and not the warning it should have been.
    "I almost died there," she didn’t give details, she didn’t know Marcia well enough for one, and
then there was the fact that she didn’t want to encourage the woman’s excitement.
    "Is that what you were talking about with the negotiator?"
    "Everybody with me that day died, everybody but me," a fact that still haunted her.
    Marcia must have noticed Jennifer’s expression grow very dim and realize that she obviously
didn’t want to talk about any of this right now. She never talked about it, but watching that expression
come over a face that was the same age as her own was at least some deterrent. It hadn’t occurred to
her that tagging along might cost Jennifer another little piece of her innocence, might just steel away
some of the light she had left if once again Jennifer was forced to walk away alone. The two women
had only met a few months ago, and Marcia had yet to witness for herself the horrors that Jennifer had
been witness to since she was a child. That was what allowed Marcia to be the bright smiling creature
that bounced with excitement