Dead Until Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

my brother Jason far beyond what Jason deserved, in my opinion.
    I was glad Rene and Hoyt weren't there the night the vam-pire returned. He sat at the same table.
    Now that the vampire was actually in front of me, I felt a little shy. I found I'd forgotten the almost imperceptible glow of his skin. I'd exaggerated his height and the clear-cut lines of his mouth.
    "What can I get you?" I asked.
    He looked up at me. I had forgotten, too, the depth of his eyes. He didn't smile or blink; he was so immobile. For the second time, I relaxed into his silence. When I let down my guard, I could feel my face relax. It was as good as getting a massage (I am guessing).
    "What are you?" he asked me. It was the second time he'd wanted to know.
    "I'm a waitress," I said, again deliberately misunderstand-ing him. I could feel my smile snap back into place again. My little bit of peace vanished.
    "Red wine," he ordered, and if he was disappointed I couldn't tell by his voice.
    "Sure," I said. "The synthetic blood should come in on the truck tomorrow. Listen, could I talk to you after work? I have a favor to ask you."
    "Of course. I'm in your debt." And he sure didn't sound happy about it.
    "Not a favor for me!" I was getting miffed myself. "For my grandmother. If you'll be up—well, I guess you will be— when I get off work at one-thirty, would you very much mindmeeting me at the employee door at the back of the bar?" I nodded toward it, and my ponytail bounced around my shoulders. His eyes followed the movement of my hair.
    "I'd be delighted."
    I didn't know if he was displaying the courtesy Gran in-sisted was the standard in bygone times, or if he was plain old mocking me.
    I resisted the temptation to stick out my tongue at him or blow a raspberry. I spun on my heel and marched back to the bar. When I brought him his wine, he tipped me 20 per-cent. Soon after that, I looked over at his table only to realize he'd vanished. I wondered if he'd keep his word. Arlene and Dawn left before I was ready to go, for one reason and another; mostly because all the napkin holders in my area proved to be half-empty. As I retrieved my purse from the locked cabinet in Sam's office, where I stow it while I work, I called good-bye to my boss. I could hear him clank-ing around in the men's room, probably trying to fix the leaky toilet. I stepped into the ladies' room for a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    second to check my hair and makeup.
    When I stepped outside I noticed that Sam had already switched off the customer parking lot lights. Only the secu-rity light on the electricity pole in front of his trailer illu-minated the employee parking lot. To the amusement of Arlene and Dawn, Sam had put in a yard and planted box-wood in front of his trailer, and they were constantly teasing him about the neat line of his hedge. I thought it was pretty.
    As usual, Sam's truck was parked in front of his trailer, so my car was the only one left in the lot. I stretched, looking from side to side. No Bill. I was sur-prised at how disappointed I was. I had really expected him to be courteous, even if his heart (did he have one?) wasn't in it. Maybe, I thought with a smile, he'd jump out of a tree, or appear with a poof! in front of me draped in a red-lined black cape. But nothing happened. So I trudged over to my car. I'd hoped for a surprise, but not the one I got.
    Mack Rattray jumped out from behind my car and in one stride got close enough to clip me in the jaw. He didn't holdback one little bit, and I went down onto the gravel like a sack of cement. I let out a yell when I went down, but the ground knocked all the air out of me and some skin off of me, and I was silent and breathless and helpless. Then I saw Denise, saw her swing back her heavy boot, had just enough warning to roll into a ball before the Rattrays began kicking me. The pain was immediate, intense, and unrelenting. I threw my arms over my face