The Dead (The Thaumaturge Series Book 1) by Cal Matthews

dishes.
    “I'll help you clean up,” I said, taking them out of her reach and carrying them into the kitchen. From behind me I heard a low exchange between them, and when I glanced back, I saw Lloyd playfully smack her butt.
    Ugh. I wanted the fuck out of here.

Chapter Nine
     
     
    By the time I got home, plastic-wrapped cheesecake in hand, my eyelids drooped and I was more than ready to put the day behind me. I turned on the lights in the empty trailer and looked around, but Johnny stood alone in the empty living room, swishing his tail as he looked at me. Leo must have gone out. Maybe he was doing some hunting of his own. He wasn't above chasing down deer for a snack.
    I wanted to face plant into my bed, but I was determined to go hunting tomorrow, and I had yet to get my gear together. With a sigh, I stashed the cheesecake on the kitchen table and headed back out to the shed to gather my stuff.
    Remembering my mom's words, I fished my phone out of my pocket to call Cody Brock, my mom's cousin's kid, who was kind of my friend. He was a few years younger, but we had always gotten along well and occasionally met up to drink beer and shoot pool. Since his divorce, he had been calling me a lot more.
    “Hey,” he said loudly. A scratchy juke box blared in the background.
    “You want to go with me tomorrow?” I asked.
    “Yeah, man, I’m in. Pick me up, 'kay?”
    “I’ll be there early, Cody.”
    There was a pause and then Cody’s voice, a little muffled. “I’ll be ready. Bring me something to eat, okay?”
    “Sure. See you then.”
    “Yep.”
    We hung up. Cody was big on drinking, not talking, which was why I liked him and probably why his marriage had been so brief.
    Later, I sat on my couch, hunting equipment scattered around me and Netflix playing on my laptop. With the heater blasting out warm air and Johnny's head on my leg, I began to relax, the roller coaster of emotions I'd felt all day finally leveling out into pleasant numbness.
    I took inventory of my stuff - last year I'd just stowed it all in the shed without really being careful, and now my cold weather pants and coat were crumpled, crusted with blood, and smelled faintly of cat piss. Not much I could do about that.
    I carefully checked over my gun, finding it to be in good working order. My grandfather's guns were all still out at my mom's house. This one was a .270 that I'd picked up at a pawn shop.
    I heard fumbling at the door, and lifted my head, the rifle still across my lap.
    “Hey,” Leo said, his eyebrows shooting up at the sight of the gun. His mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Did I miss curfew?”
    “Hey,” I said back, belatedly, ducking my head because the sight of him made my guts twist and ache. Unbidden, a memory came back of him growling into my neck. I shifted on the couch, growing uncomfortably warm. I didn’t know if he was still annoyed with me.
    Leo walked past me into the kitchen, shrugging off his coat and tossing it over the back of a chair. I heard his boots thump against the linoleum.
    “It smells weird in here,” he announced. Then, “Oh.” I could hear the plastic wrap rustle as he examined the cheesecake. “How was dinner at your mom's?”
    “Same as always.”
    “How's Load?” he asked, using the immature nickname we had always used to refer to Lloyd.
    “He's . . .” I waved my hand dismissively.
    “I fucking hate that guy,” Leo finished for me, wandering back into the living room and sitting gingerly beside me, mindful of the gun.
    “It's not loaded,” I said.
    He shrugged. “So you're going hunting tomorrow then? What time?”
    “Early. I want to leave around four.”
    “God, I love Montana winters,” he said, stretching one arm out on the back of the couch. “I've been up since five tonight. And the sun won't come up until after seven tomorrow. Why so many vampires stay down south is beyond me.”
    I gave him a playful nudge. “Yeah, you really can't beat the climate in Heckerson,