"But you're not a vampire!"
I jerked Bella along as fast I could without tearing her arm outta socket.
"Yeah," I panted. "Not anymore."
"But how?" she pestered.
I glanced around again. No sign of a big, bad wolf or any more little piggies.
"Not the time or place for this." I huffed.
She locked her feet.
"No!" Bella demanded. "Tell me!"
"Fine." I stared her down. "As long as you don't feed, and you've got some deadman's blood, some other weird crap, and blood of the fang who turned you, you can drink it and get better. Can we go now?"
"Get better? Wait, blood? Vampires don't have—"
"Yeah, actually, they do. Venom is scented hand-sanitizer, okay? Smells like roses, stings like a son of a gun on an open wound."
"Oh." Her nose twittered around. "It's not good being a vampire, is it?"
I was at a loss for words. Well, for a few seconds anyway.
"No Bella. It's not good. It's like having a migraine in Grand Central Station while crapping Alka-Seltzer. And hot girls make your mouth water for all the wrong reasons."
Her lips quivered. I guess I'm not exactly Mr. Sensitivity, but I had to act fast or else she'd freeze on the blue-screen-of-death.
"Son of a bitch! Here it comes."
It worked. She squealed and tore tread. Now she was dragging me. It wasn't five minutes later that we bowled out onto a road. And sweet Jesus above, there was a bunged-up red pickup truck not ten feet away, just waiting to be hot-wired.
"My truck." Bella pointed.
Even better.
She hopped in the driver's seat. I shook my head. She got the message, tossed the keys, and took shotgun. I cranked the old beauty to life and eased on out. Had to be gentle driving her though. I didn't need the skewed glance from Bella to know that. Passenger-side door was rattly, among other things.
"Which way to town?"
"Left."
I reached down for the radio to get an idea of where I was at from the stations. But the thing was gone. Ripped clean out.
"What happened to the—"
"He took it away."
I slammed the wheel. "What a freaking douche-bag!"
Bella twiddled her fingers. "I know."
Dang. She was detoxing from vamp-camp fast. Good. We roughed the clunky'iddy'clunk of the engine for about ten minutes. It was getting on toward dusk and I was glad we wouldn't be out driving much longer. Dark forests, sick stomachs, panicky teens, vampires, and skinwalkers—it ain't exactly ingredients for Martha Stewart country-style living. Of course, it depends on whether you're asking before or after prison.
"Alright." Bella leaned forward. "Forks Avenue starts right around the corner and—"
I slammed the breaks. My arm shot out and saved Bella from the dash.
"Are you trying to kill me now?" she shrieked.
"Nah, you got that pretty much covered."
I wheeled the truck around.
Dear Lord what kinda trouble has this girl found? Forks? Ha. Whole damn mock-up vamp town I bet. Population: Minus One. You.
This was big. This was huge. I needed to get to a pay phone and call in backup. Rufus probably. I heard he'd been tracking a wendigo in California. No way I was going down to funky town alone.
Bella's head whipped around. "Where are we going? It's getting dark...Dad's gonna be worried sick! Take me home!"
Come on Dean, pull a bunny from the magic ass hat.
"And lead monsters to your family? Not a chance. Just thought about it and figured we're being tracked. Best head a few towns over and stock up for the night. Get some reinforcements, you know?"
She opened her mouth but I cut her off. "Don't worry. I'm FBI. I'll smooth out the wrinkles on your parents' brows later."
"Oh." Bella relaxed. "Oh. You're good."
We headed north through wispy fog on U.S. 101 for a long time, then east. The road was lonely. Just a trailing black Subaru motorcycle manned by some full-helmeted skinny guy, dressed all in black with a black visor. Fool must've had a death-wish. Signs saying Port Angeles, so-and-so many miles didn't escape my notice. It seemed, after all, we really were in Washington. Maybe Forks actually was behind us? They'd started Twilight tours and other regrettable tweenage lately. I wondered, what if real vamps got to 'em? Took over the business? Steady food supply, good front operation...this'd be a tough case. And what if the fangs were behind what had happened at Bobby's? Death saw some serious shit back there. It scared him. Scared him to, well, death.
I shuddered.
"Are you cold too?" Bella's teeth were chattering. I hadn't noticed.
"Uh yeah, come to think of it. Heater work on this thing?"
She reached out and cranked a knob. "I wasn't sure if you wanted it. So I left it alone. The locals don't mind the chill much."
"That's very thoughtful of you to catch pneumonia for me on a monster hunt."
She giggled. "Yes. It was silly. I'm sorry."
"You not from around here?"
"No." She shifted. "I mean, I was born here in 87. But I grew up in Phoenix."
"Arizona?"
"I'm not aware of any other except maybe a ho-dunk town in Texas."
She was keeping to the Twilight schtick. But her spunk was endearing. I had a good feeling the gal would make it through this nightmare alright. I smiled at Bella. She smiled back.
Szhwam!
The black motorcycle screeched past at breakneck speed.
"Damn it!" I swerved and hammered the horn. "Fine! Freaking kill yourself! What the hell do I care!"
"What does he think he's doing?" Bella made a fist. "Flying a jet?"
Wow. She continues to surprise...
Soon the lights of Port Angeles came into view and U.S. 101 turned into West Lauridsen Boulevard. The town was modest. About the same size as the ones where I usually clock in most of my dungeon-crawling. I guided Bella's pickup into an empty space at the All View Motel and opened the rattly truck door for her, which fell off. I assumed I'd tugged a little too hard for the old beauty to handle.
"Great," I mumbled and tossed the door in the truck-bed.
"Wait," Bella tensed. "Aren't you afraid someone's just gonna climb in and steal—"
The truck slouched to the side with a crunch. I smirked.
Bella sighed. "... Yeah, I guess you're right."
I held her shoulder all the way to the main office of the teal-colored cabins. I almost gagged when we passed the black Subaru motorcycle. The urge to key it was overwhelming.
Inside, the joint looked clean. Immaculate. Not what I'd expected, at all. Family owned and operated, explained a placard. I glanced at the clock. 10:30 PM. Ahead of us, a fat, pleasant-faced clerk-woman was busy talking to the skinny motorcycle guy—I woulda clocked the asshat, but Bella was there, so, set a good example for the kiddo and all.
Motor-cycle guy chucked over a wad of cash.
"That's a lot of money." The clerk's fingers strummed a worn, Harlequin romance novel. "How long are you staying?"
"I'm not sure," came a smooth, mezzo-soprano voice. "Just keep whatever you feel comfortable with once I check out."
Motorcycle-guy was a chick? As if to answer my thought, she unlatched her helmet and cradled it like a football. Her hair was long, pale blonde, and straight as corn silk. And she turned to face me.
Now, I don't wanna sound all sappy and sentimental about love at first sight bullshit, but holy crap! I forgot how to breathe. Her eyes were sapphire and beautiful, sparkly, and big. And the skin on her heart-shaped face was flawless. Absolutely flawless. She smiled at me and waved, then pushed through the door. She looked about 20. Fourteen years my junior.
I always did like my gals a little bit younger...
"She's pretty," Bella whispered.
My hands were sweating. "No shit."
The woman at the counter coughed. "Can I help you?"
"Uh yeah." I slipped my right boot off and fished out a wad of cash from beneath the sole. "Two beds. One night please."
The lady scrunched her nose.
"We travel light," Bella grinned.
The clerk rolled her eyes. "I'll bet."
Had to hand it to crazy Bella girl. She'd caught on to the gig quick.
The room we got was cozy and welcoming. White walls, green carpet. Even a little kitchenette. I bounced on a bed corner. No broken springs. I was gonna sleep like a baby tonight. Bella scanned over the boob-tube menu. I pulled my backup address book from the sole of my other boot to see what sort of contacts I could scrounge.
Time to find out what the hell's going on.