Matters of the Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

Hill Country. But the sprawl of the cities kept inching its way in our direction as more and more people discovered the great location. Besides the Wild Moon, two other resort ranches had opened for business over the last couple of years. The Wild Moon might not hire locally, but the others did.
    Rio Seco was still pretty much the back of beyond, but “beyond” was becoming a much smaller place, which was the main reason my family packed up and left. Too hard to keep ourselves hidden.
    "Hell, even my own relatives won't work for me any more. The only reason Noe's still around is because the other places don't hire minors. The minute he turns eighteen, he's out of here."
    "Don't worry,” I said, trying to cheer her up. “I'm sure that after the excitement of working for a new place wears off, some of them will come back."
    "I hope you're right,” she said. “I'd hate to think I was stuck with those two idiots forever. Not that I think they'll be here longer than a few months. I just hope they don't clean me out before they go."
    I laughed. “Maybe they'll leave you alone anyway. After all, you don't sell candy bars or T-shirts."
    The last time either of the Albright brothers had spent more than a couple of months in any one place had been their recent jail stint, and even that had been cut short when they'd been released under a new statewide leniency program. Of course, their crime had been pretty minor. They'd tried to hold up the band concession booth at a nearby high school football game. Truly brilliant, considering that county deputies always attended the games.
    Bea grinned back at me. “You may be right, girlfriend. But I'm not holding my breath that they'll stay long enough for me to find more help."
    She shrugged and pulled the pencil out of her hair, sending it tumbling to her waist, black, thick and shiny. Miss Clairol was not making any money off Beatriz Ruiz. Of course, I wasn't contributing to their profits, either, but that was different. By my family's reckoning, at thirty-seven, I was barely out of adolescence.
    "All done. Your turn."
    "My turn what?"
    "I've known you too damn long, Keira Kelly,” Bea said. “I can see something's up other than you seeing Carlton again and the two idiot brothers working for me. You look tired. Are you okay?” She frowned at me, worry lines creasing her forehead.
    I let out a sigh, a little relieved. Bea noticed something off kilter. Now I could talk about it. This wasn't as good as sharing with family, but it would work ... for the short run.
    "Yeah, I guess you could call it ‘okay',” I said. “Notice anything different about me? Something not quite usual ... something that's changed? ” I emphasized the last word.
    She narrowed her eyes and stared at me silently. Her eyes flicked up and down as she searched my face. As realization dawned, she leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper.
    "Change? No shit, already? I thought you said none of that happened until you were in your fifties."
    "Lucky me, I guess. I suppose I get the early-bird prize ... so to speak. You heard about the animal mutilations out at the Wild Moon?"
    She nodded. “We all heard. Pretty damn sick. Oh, hell, was that what Carlton was talking to you about?"
    "Well, yeah, except that's not really the problem, Bea. I already knew."
    I drank down the last of my coffee. “I had the great good fortune to dream the whole thing before it actually happened ... or maybe even during."
    Bea didn't even blink. “A vision?"
    "Maybe, I don't know what to call it. These last few weeks have been hell. I've had death dreams, blood dreams. I even dreamed that Marty was dead. But this dream ... the whole thing was way too real, just like I was there watching the deer get hunted and die."
    I pushed the empty mug away from me. “Bea, I not only saw it. I was a part of it. I even tasted the blood ... and I wanted to.” I didn't want to tell her the last part ... about the deer body turning into Marty.