Legally Undead by Margo Bond Collins Read Free Book Online

lottery?”
    Nick sounded defeated. “I guess so.”
    “Toeing the company line, Nick? That doesn’t really seem your style. I don’t believe that attack was any accident, and I don’t believe that you think it was, either.” My own voice rose to a higher pitch. “Greg was waiting for me. For me, Nick. And you know it.”
    There was a little silence at the other end of the line, then Nick sighed.
    “Whatever I might believe, Elle, I can’t force Alec to tell me anything he doesn’t want me to know. And I can’t force him to meet with you.”
    “So what you’re saying is that I’m on my own?”
    “Not exactly. Look, I’ll help you any way I can. But I can’t help you meet with Alec. And I can’t tell you anything or… or help you do anything that might…” he paused again, “run counter to my boss’s orders.”
    “I see,” I said slowly. “So if I were to find out anything on my own…”
    “I wouldn’t know anything about it. And I wouldn’t want you to tell me about it.”
    “But if I happened to discover something entirely by myself, without any help from anyone at the law firm, and I needed to, say, take out a vampire or two just to keep myself safe, what then?”
    “Hey. Killing monsters is what I do. If you find out anything on your own, you just give me a call and we’ll go take care of it.” Now I heard a grin in his voice.
    “Okay, okay. I got it. I’m on my own until I figure this out. I’ll call you if I need you, Nick.” I was still angry, but I really couldn’t blame Nick too much—especially since I might need his help later. I couldn’t afford to alienate him now.
    “And Elle—keep watching your back.”
    I hung up the phone. Seconds later, it rang. It was Nick, calling me back.
    “It’s not enough,” he said. He sounded almost angry.
    “What’s not enough?”
    “Just telling you to watch your back. You’re right. If he’s hunting you down, you need help. I still can’t tell you anything without Pearson’s permission, but I can at least help you figure out how to defend yourself against these things.”
    I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I don’t think I had realized how terrified I was until that moment.
    “Thanks, Nick.”
    “No problem. And hey, maybe we can test your chopstick theory.” He gave me an address in Manhattan and we set a date for a training session the following Tuesday.
    After we hung up, I stood staring at the floor of my apartment. I couldn’t rely on Nick for information. Don’t get me wrong—I was glad for the impending self-defense lessons. But I had to figure out what Alec Pearson knew. I didn’t want to do it alone, though.
    I considered all the people I knew. It’s not like I didn’t have friends—I knew lots of people in the history graduate program, people I sometimes met for lunch or an afternoon drink.
    I considered them one by one. Jenna, with her flowing skirts and vegetarianism and neo-hippy-flower-child cheerfulness. Justin, a tall thin gay man with a penchant for suspenders. Lita, who chain-smoked, waving her cigarette around as she intently pronounced the dangers of “allowing the patriarchy to control our actions.” Carla, small and blonde and round, anxious to make sure everyone around her was happy.
    Not one of them was the sort of person to whom I could say “Hey, remember Greg? My fiancé? Well, he’s an evil vampire now. I need help killing him.”
    Any one of them would start trying to convince me to seek professional help. And they couldn’t even begin to imagine how much therapy I was going to need when this was all over.
    Nope. None of them could help. And I didn’t want to destroy their lives. I was fairly certain that they were safe so long as Vampire-Greg didn’t connect them to me. It should be easy enough. Greg had never been one to hang out with my friends. I doubted he even remembered their names, much less what they looked like. So I could probably keep them all safe by keeping my