Blood Harvest: Two Vampire Novels Read Online Free PDF Page B

grabbed her
to see a very large, very nasty looking bruise forming. If Zoey had
indeed done something to the lock with her bare hands then what she
had done to Peg’s arm was nothing. If the cops came in here and
Zoey suddenly felt threatened there was no telling what she could
do.
    Although it bothered her, Peg had to admit
that, at least for now, it was a better idea to do exactly as Zoey
had asked and leave the authorities out of this. That might change
later, but a lot of things might change later. Peg might wake up
later and realize all of this had just been some nightmare she’d
had while napping on the couch and she was late to pick up
Brendan.
    That reminded her. Gingerly stepping over her
own puke, Peg went into the kitchen and checked the clock. Almost
two. Somehow in all this she’d lost nearly an hour. That meant she
had less than an hour before she had to leave to pick up Brendan.
Tony wouldn’t be home for a couple hours after that. She had that
much time to take everything that had happened and somehow arrange
it all into something she could work with.
    The first thing she did, while it was on her
mind, was phone Brendan’s sitter and ask if she could keep him for
an extra hour. She made up some story about having to go back into
work for some kind of minor resort emergency. It was a good thing
the sitter didn’t ask for any details because Peg wasn’t sure she
would be able to keep a story straight later if she had to. Instead
the sitter just said it would be fine, and Peg hung up. Okay, so
she had an extra hour. Now was time to figure out what to do with
it.
    The puke was simple enough to clean up. It
left a bit of a smell on the floor, but honestly with the rest of
the stench coming from Zoey it was barely noticeable. That, then,
would need to be her next task. If she didn’t want anyone asking
any strange questions, then this whole house would need to smell
like a rose by the time anyone else set foot in it.
    And this is also the point where you have
to stop hiding behind being domestic , she thought, and start
dealing with the fact that your sister is here .
    She didn’t want to deal with it yet. The
shock was still far too fresh. She had no choice, though. It was
time to go back downstairs and face this. One step at a time. She
didn’t have to know what exactly was happening and where this was
all going. Just one task and then another, just like they were
always saying in AA.
    She almost went back down the stairs before
she remembered a trick she’d seen in a movie once and went to the
cupboard in the bathroom. Peg scavenged around until she finally
found an old, seldom used tub of Vick Vaporub near the back, then
dabbed her finger in it and smeared some under her nose. Supposedly
that would block out the worst of the smell. When she went back
into the basement she found that it worked to a small degree, but
not nearly enough to keep out the smell entirely. A little was
better than nothing, at least. Hopefully this would keep her from
needing to heave again.
    Zoey hadn’t moved from where Peg had left
her. For a second she thought Zoey was dead since she didn’t appear
to be breathing. That idea sent a shiver through her. Peg’s
feelings on this matter might be too complicated to deal with just
yet, but one thing she did know was that she wasn’t prepared to
lose Zoey so soon after finally getting her back. But as Peg came
closer Zoey turned her head to look at her. Their eyes met. Zoey’s
eyes were dark blue, which was vaguely surprising to Peg. She
couldn’t honestly be certain whether her eyes had always been that
color or not. Peg’s own were brown, as were her mother’s and
father’s. With everything Peg had ever thought about her sister in
the last eleven years, she realized she’d never even bothered to
remember such a simple detail.
    A horrible thought occurred to Peg. How could
she really be sure this was Zoey at all? It sure looked like Zoey,
but the idea that Zoey had