Christmas in Transylvania Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
    â€œGo!” he ordered.
    Even as she began to move, she heard Leroy make a gurgling noise, and Karl moved his fingers from the front to the back of his neck, which he pinched, hard. And Leroy fell forward onto the thin carpet with a thud.
    Most alarming of all, Karl appeared to have fangs coming out of his mouth. Noticing her watching him, he swiped a hand over his lips, and they were gone. She must have been mistaken. “Go!” he repeated.
    Then it appeared as if he had wispy blue wings fluttering out of his back, like an angel. Her one eye was swollen shut, and her vision in the other eye must be impaired because when she blinked, the wings were gone, too.
    Fangs and wings? A vampire angel? she thought with hysterical irrelevance. All this battering from Leroy must have shaken something loose in my brain.
    Opening the door, she ran outside. The snow was coming down so heavily, she could hardly see. Making her way to the old pickup truck, she opened the passenger door, shoved her suitcase into the backseat, and climbed in the front, closing the door behind her. It was still fairly warm inside.
    Sobbing, she pulled a tissue from her jacket pocket. Dabbing at the bruised eye, which burned from the salty tears, she wondered how her life had gotten so messed up. She was almost thirty years old and had no future to speak of. Despite having grown up in one foster home after another, she’d managed to graduate from high school with honors, and she’d had a good job at Penn State as a secretary, was even taking some college courses toward a degree.
    But that was before she’d met Leroy five years ago. Everything in her life could be measured that way, it seemed. Before Leroy. After Leroy. BL. AL.
    The driver’s door opened abruptly, and Karl jumped in. “Brrr!” he said. “I think the temp dropped ten degrees since I got here.”
    What could she say to that? There were more important things, for sure. “Is Leroy dead?” she asked.
    There was surprise in his pale blue eyes as he turned his head to stare at her. “Do you want him to be?”
    â€œOf course not.” But she did want him gone. Out of her life. And, yes, she had to admit, there had been times she’d wished him dead. Too many times.
    â€œNo, sweetheart, he’s not dead, although he probably deserves to be. I just pinched a nerve in his neck, causing him to black out. He’ll be on his feet in no time.”
    â€œGood,” she said. But what she thought was, Leroy will surely kill me now. And Karl, as well. There was no turning back the clock, though. What was done was done. “We better get out of here then, before he wakes up.”
    He turned on the ignition, and blessed heat blew out, filling the cab of the truck like a warm cocoon, especially with the windows covered with snow. Backing up, he turned around and drove down the lane toward the highway, the windshield wipers swishing back and forth. It was beginning to look like a real blizzard.
    â€œEverything is going to be all right,” he told her.
    She couldn’t imagine how it could be. She didn’t even know the man, but she had to admit, she did feel safe for the moment. “Thank you,” she said softly.
    â€œMy pleasure,” he said with a grin.
    He really was a nice-­looking guy. A lot younger than her, of course. Probably in his early twenties. Although he had a military haircut; so, maybe he’d served in the armed forces and was older than he looked. “How old are you?” she asked.
    He grinned some more. “Older than you could imagine. How about you?”
    â€œTwenty-­nine. Almost thirty.”
    â€œNo shit! I mean, no kidding! You look about sixteen.”
    She shrugged. “I always did, even before I lost some weight.”
    He arched his brows as if to say she’d lost more than “some weight.”
    â€œAre you in the Army or