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."Better not," I said."I think he only likes me.And Alice.But then, she feeds him." And so did I, Iremembered suddenly.I'd let them drink my blood the night we killed Nostro& and again last night."He's dangerous," Tina nagged."Yeah, yeah, thanks for the update.Listen, they're Fiends because Nostro let them rise but not feed,right?""Yes.""Well.Ihave let them feed.I mean, Alice feeds them buckets of blood from the butcher, but it's not liveGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlblood.They're the only vampires that can subsist on what would you call it? Dead blood? Unfreshblood? But maybe that's what keeps them like animals.I fed George last night, and here he's walkingaround and well, being creepy, but look! He's not crawling.He'swalking.He stood in the shower lastnight, too," I remembered."I see where you're going with this.""Good, because I don't have a clue& I was just thinking out loud."I looked at his chest again."See, he's not bleeding, not like you or I would.Maybe he has to Idunno build up? Maybe I can cure him! ""And maybe you should think this over some more before& oh, Majesty," she scolded as I chomped onmy own wrist again."As you would say, this is so totally the opposite of thinking this over.""Where's your spirit of adventure?""It wore off during World War Two," she replied dryly.Meanwhile, George was obligingly sucking onmy wrist, still humming."That almost sounds& familiar.""It's the Beastie Boys! 'Brass Monkey'!""Is that good?""Dunno, but it's a song.He's standing, and he knows rap songs." It was working! I would cure him, I'dcure them all.And Laura wouldn't take over the world.And Sinclair would forgive me and want to sleepwith me again.And Jessica would stop being mad and scared and go shopping with me.Everything wasworking out great!"Isn't tomorrow your stepmother's baby shower?" Tina asked, and I instantly sank back into a funk.Chapter 23"& And then I graduated valedictorian at my school and got to give the speech to all the kids, and then Igot a job volunteering at Goodwill, in addition to my jobs at Target and Super America, while I waited tostart at the U in the fall."I stifled a yawn and shifted the phone to my other ear.If you'd ever told me the devil's daughter wouldbe nice, but dull & "Yeah, then what happened?""Well, that's about it.I mean, I'm still in school.Nothing much has happened to me yet."Give it time, sweetie."What about you, what have you been doing? You're what? Twenty-five?"Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlI laughed."Actually, I turned thirty in April.And I've had kind of a checkered career.Model, secretary,waitress& ""And right now you own a nightclub?""Right now, yeah." I'd just looked over the books the other night, in fact.We were definitely in thered I was shocked at the price of booze, not to mention utilities but so far I had been able to borrowfrom Peter to pay Paul.Without Jessica's help, I couldn't much longer.But it was hard enough to ask herfor a loan when shewasn't pissed and terrified."I guess we'll see how that goes.""So, tell me about my birth mother and father."That was thelast thing I wanted to do.I downed my hot milk in a hurry and tried not to drop the phone.She'd called me about a minute after I'd woken up that afternoon.Three thirty in the afternoon, yippee! Anew record.Maybe someday I'd manage to wake at lunchtime."Uh, well& gee, so much to tell.Whereto start.Ah& ""Do you think I could meet them sometime? I wouldn't want to push my way into their lives.Iunderstand they gave me up because it was what they thought was best for me.I wouldn't want tointrude or make them uncomfortable in any way.""Don't forget, Dad didn't even know you existed until after you were adopted." Why had I said that? DidI want her to like Dad? Maybe I was so dreading telling her about the devil, I wanted her to havesomething nice to hold on to."That's true, Betsy.And I know my mother was alone& poor thing, she must have been so worriedwhen she found out.No one to turn to& maybe her minister was able to counsel her."Her minister, her bookie, whatever."Yeah, the& poor thing." Suddenly, a wonderful (or terrible) ideacame to me."Listen! Do you want to meet them both? This afternoon?" The shower started in& Ichecked my watch.Twenty minutes.Well, we'd be fashionably late.Laura's happy squeal was answer enough."She's pregnant again?" Laura asked, staring at the Ant's too-big-for-two-people house."At her age?""She's not that old, remember." I checked my lipstick in the mirror.Next to Laura's breathtaking, freshbeauty, I don't know why I bothered.She looked wonderful; her hair was in two golden braids today, the ends brushing the tops of herbreasts, her bangs perfectly level with her eyebrows.She was wearing a clean white blouse (she musthave a closet full of them) and a navy A-line skirt.No panty hose, and sensible black flats.IsaacMichener, good.The Target collection, bad.She looked like an extra onTouched by an Angel.And Ifelt like a before onNip/Tuck."I'm so excited!""Oh, she will be, too," I lied."Let's go."Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]