American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout Read Free Book Online Page B

world. “Well, I was going to steal a map—”
    “Ha! I knew it!” She pointed at him, like an actor in a courtroom drama who was really enjoying her role. “You were going to rob the place. What are you, some kind of criminal? I should have known you couldn’t afford that car.”
    “That car was a gift,” he sputtered, then, realizing that he was defending himself to a woman he planned on making a meal of, stopped himself. “Look, what does it matter? I was there, and I saved your life.”
    “And you’re probably going to steal my silverware when my back is turned.” She shook her head, glaring off at seemingly nothing, as though accusing the air of ruining her evening. “This is just great.”
    “Yeah, I’m having a hell of a time, myself.”
    Her eyes narrowed as she glared back to him.“You’re out of here tonight. We’ll go down to June’s Place and foist you off on someone else.”
    “Foist?” He chuckled. “That’s a pretty big word for a farm girl.”
    Ignoring the barb, she dropped a plate in front of him. As she sauntered out of the kitchen, she snapped, “Eat up.”
    “Oh, believe me, I will,” he said under his breath, and reluctantly lifted his fork.
     
    They set out right after sunset. Jessa’s understanding of sunlight was that when the sun went down, there was no sunlight. It was a simplistic belief, but he couldn’t really expect much else from someone who was basically a Hee Haw personality. The residual light prickled his skin, but didn’t burn him. It did bring back the unpleasant memories of being nearly roasted alive in the trunk of his car, which he didn’t appreciate.
    Before he killed her, he’d have to ask her where he could find a map to get back to the highway, so he wouldn’t get stuck in a similar situation once he got out of here. Who knew how many void towns there were in Ohio?
    “You need to behave yourself,” Jessa scolded. He hadn’t even done anything yet. “Tom Stoke is the sheriff here. He doesn’t take lip from anybody, not even guys with fancy cars. And he has a way of dealing with people who don’t fall in line.”
    “Tar and feathers?” Graf guessed, but Jessa didn’t smile. She pressed her lips together into an unattractive line and kept walking, head down.
    Maybe this Tom person thought he was a tough guy, but most tough guys crumbled like dust when a vampire started sticking their teeth in them. Not dust…more like rag dolls.
    “People in town don’t like different,” she warned ominously. “Bad things can happen.”
    He would worry about bad things later. Right now, he needed to figure out a way to get out of town. He would think about bad things and this place when he was driving far, far away from it.
    Tom Stoke’s house wasn’t a house so much as it was a single-wide trailer parked on a depressing lot surrounded by tall grass. Just after the grass a rotting wooden bridge spanned the gap over a ditch that ran through his driveway, giving the place the appearance of having a moat. It was like the worst castle in the history of all castles.
    “Sheriff?” Jessa called, picking her way across the collapsing bridge. “It’s Jessa Gallagher. I’m coming to your door.”
    Graf noticed the hand-painted, misspelled T RESPASERS W ILL B E S HOT ON S ITE sign as he crossed the bridge behind her. The front door of the trailer swung open, and a dumpy man—who looked to be about sixty in Graf’s estimation—came out to standon the cinder-block steps. He held a rifle at his side. Totally normal way to answer a door.
    “Who’s that with you? Derek?”
    “No. This is what I came here to talk to you about,” Jessa shouted back, indicating Graf with a jerk of her thumb. “Sorry to come out so late, but I can explain.”
    They crossed the yard, mostly hard dirt with a few pathetic yellow clumps of grass, and Graf ducked into the shade beside the trailer. In the twilight, nearly everything was shade, but this was a cool patch that had been