Chameleon Read Online Free PDF Page B

and when they spot you with your crazy skin, they’ll attack.”
    Wiz’s birds flew away. Their bellies full of human carcass. I wondered where they would go and what would happen to them. Wiz told me once that they were birds he pulled from another realm. That the amber stones and his spell served as a gateway to let them in, and after five minutes or so they went back to wherever they came from. Part of me, thought it made sense, but the other part of me, the one who hated to see him suffer, didn’t understand how he possessed the ability to call them.
    “ If you aren’t going to leave, then let me help. I can move him somewhere for you. I’m fast.” She kicked off her smudged-tipped shoes and stretched her legs. “You couldn’t even hold him up when he was doing his dark magic.”
    “It’s not dark.”
    “It ain’t light. Nothing good comes from rocks turning into flesh-eating birds.” She glanced over her shoulders. “You both smell pretty bad too. Your blood smells poisonous, his like death.”
    “Thanks , you must have a bachelor’s degree in complimenting.” I stood up and walked over to the back of the limo. The trunk’s hood was folded back. The wheelbarrow we kept inside it was now shards of wood and cracked metal. I need a shopping cart or something to move him. I searched the area and saw none.
    “I just wanted you to know you both smell bad , so you won’t think I’ll bite you,” she assured me.
    “You’re not the first vamp I’ve met. I know I’m not tasty to you.” I shifted my weight to one foot. “What do you want if you carry him for me?”
    “Money.”
    “I don’t have any. What about blood? I could get you some.”
    “I would need a liter’s worth to carry him wherever you wanted him to go.” She scratched her neck. A prominent Adam’s apple protruded from it, more sizeable than the average female’s. Stubble existed on her chin. Her hands seemed big, but that didn’t mean much. Many of my female mimics possessed huge hands. Her breasts were nonexistent, but I didn’t have much of a rack either.
    Who was I to judge?
    “Are you a guy?” I stepped closer to get a better look.
    “You’re rude.”
    “That’s not an answer.”
    “I’m not a guy.”
    “Were you born a boy?”
    “Why?”
    “I like to know who I’m dealing with before I work with them.” I shrugged.
    Her teeth caught her bottom lip. Her fangs dug into the skin a little, but didn’t pierce it. “Yes. I was born a boy.”
    “Okay.”
    For some reason the answer made me trust her. Maybe because I understood wanting to be something I was not. I tested the vamp by flicking my scales back and forth. The movement sounded like a shaken maraca. She didn’t flinch in disgust like most people. Instead, she met my slitted eyes with a questioning look.
    “Deal.” I headed over to Wiz. “ Like I said before, I don’t have much money but I do have access to blood. I can give you a hundred dollars worth, if you carry him for me. But if he wakes up before we get there, I need you to run away—”
    “What?”
    “If he wakes up, you should run as fast as you can.”
    “Then when would I get my blood.”
    “We can meet behind Cinnamon’s Meat Shack. I’m always there around twelve. I’ll give you blood there.” I held up my hands. “I’m doing this for your safety. Wiz is afraid of vamps.”
    Once he told me that, a man he lived with used to lock him in a dark closet with an old vamp that rented the space during the day. Although vamps barely moved when the sun was up, the older ones could move a little. This one had been really old. He’d managed to grab Wiz a few times, and although he never drunk Wiz’s blood due to it being disgusting to him, apparently he’d done other things, stuff that Wiz never wanted to talk about.
    “ If he sees you, he’ll try to kill you first without even asking who you are,” I said.
    She looked down at Goatee’s hollow chest and cringed. “Okay , but I’ve