Undead and Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson

sounded like an
    honest question.

    "Well, I am," I admitted. "But not Garrett."

    "You can explain about Fiends?" Sure.

    "There are no taboos against discussing such things with outsiders?"

    "I dunno." Wyndham couldn't hide his surprise, so I borrowed a phrase from his pal Derik.
    "I think it's that culture clash thing again. If it'll keep you from pulling Garrett's legs off, I'll answer any question you like."

    "That's a good thing, chief," Derik said. "Stop looking like you're expecting the other shoe to drop—on your head."

    "For a ruthless despot of the undead, you're awfully charming," Michael said, and no one
    in the room was surprised when Jeannie's fist slipped. But he got his breath back in no
    time at all.

    Lara asked—and received—permission to use the bathroom. Jeannie got up to accompany
    her. And I used the kid's absence to explain about Fiends, about Nostro and his sick-ass
    psycho games, about Garrett's slow recovery, about all the progress he made and how
    much he and Antonia loved—

    "So by your own admission, this creature was sub-human only six months ago?"

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    "I don't know if sub—"

    "Subsisting on buckets of blood, running around on all fours, and howling at the moon?"

    "Physician, howl thyself," I pointed out.

    "And he couldn't even talk?" Michael persisted.

    "I don't know about couldn't. Didn't talk would be more accurate. But see, after he drank
    my blood and the dev—and my sister's, he got better. And you guys—you just don't
    know. I mean, the way he feels about Antonia. She's his everything. He'd ki—uh, he'd die
    for her."

    "And she for him, I s'pose?"

    "Well, it's hard to imagine Antonia getting all mushy and stuff, but yeah, I imagine she'd—
    " Too late, I saw the trap Michael had set for me. I shot to my feet and started to pace.
    "You guys, Garrett did not kill Antonia and then take off for parts unknown. There's no
    way. No way."

    "Mmmm," Wyndham said.

    "Hmmm," Derik added, also apparently unconvinced.

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    "You don't see me with my knickers in a knot, asking you if your Pack member killed my
    guy and then took off. Did I show up, fists flying, jumping to conclusions? No." I smirked
    to see the Wyndhams looking uncomfortable. Except for Brendon, who

    glared at me.

    "We've been over this," Michael said, mildly enough.

    "Yeah, but now that your kid's gone, you can apologize for being totally out-of-control,
    foaming, slavering assholes who hit first and asked questions later."

    He drummed his fingers on the table for a few seconds, and then, after a long, difficult
    moment (difficult for him, not for me) he said, "I apologize."

    "Okay. It's totally conceivable that Antonia saw the future and got the hell out of here and
    that Garrett tried to stop her and so she—she—I dunno, gave him a bath in holy water and
    then left town on the first Amtrak headed east. That could totally happen, but I'm not
    getting all suspicious and paranoid, right? So there's no reason for you guys to stay beady-
    eyed."

    "Are there any other unusual goings-on?" Michael asked, leaning forward. "Anything
    mysterious? Something that might lead us to answers?"

    "Everything's fine," I lied. I cocked my head;

    I could hear Babyjon asking for a bottle. Loudly. "And you'll have to excuse me a minute;
    my brother needs me."

    I moved past them, and Wyndham's hand shot out and closed over my forearm. I saw the

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) whole thing and had plenty of time to avoid him. But I didn't. His hand was really warm. I
    could actually feel his heartbeat through his fingers.

    And he smelled—have I mentioned how frigging delicious these guys smelled? No wonder
    Garrett found Antonia irresistible. It sure wasn't her