Book 1 - Page 38 (2/2)

”Mercedes... Mercy.” He looked away from me, staring down the slope of the mountain as if the meadows below held some secret he was looking for. ”I'm as unsettled as a new pup. You eat my control.”

”This is all my fault?” I asked incredulously. It was outside of enough that he was scaring the bejeebers out of me-I certainly wasn't about to accept the blame for it.

Unexpectedly, he laughed. And as easily as that the smoldering anger, the bright violence, and the dominant power that had been making the air around us feel heavier than it could possibly be floated away. It was just the two of us and the warm scent of Samuel, who smelled of home and the woods.

”Stay out here and enjoy the diesel fumes, Mercy,” he said as a delivery van in need of a new engine chugged past us in a cloud of black smoke. ”Give me a few minutes to clear the air with Adam before you come back in.” He turned and took two steps back to the van. ”I'll wave to you.”

”No violence?” I said.

He put his hand over his heart and bowed. ”I swear.”

It took long enough that I got worried, but finally he opened the door and called me over. He hadn't rolled down the window because I had the keys and the windows were electric. For some reason I still hadn't tracked down, the windows only worked one at a time even with the car running.

I scooted in the driver's seat and gave Adam a cautious look-but his eyes were closed.

Chapter 8

As soon as ”roaming” quit appearing on my phone, I called Zee.

”Who's this?” he answered.

”Mercy,” I told him.

”Didn't tell me the part was for the vampire's bus,” he said shortly.

I rubbed my face. ”I couldn't afford to pay them the percentage you were,” I explained, not for the first time.

In the Columbia Basin, which included Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco as well as the smaller surrounding towns like Burbank and West Richland, every business the vampires considered under their jurisdiction (meaning anyone touched by the supernatural who was too powerless to stand against them) paid them protection money. And yes, just like the mob, the vampires only protect you from themselves.