Moonshine: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

Lovelace. So," she said, still looking at the ceiling, "what happened?"
    "Turn Boys. They got this little kid, and I swear he looked so much like Harry. And I . . ." I wasn't sure how to even describe the rest of it.
    Aileen turned to face me. "The pols staked him?"
    "Well, no, um . . . actually, I carried him to the school and then one of my students . . . well, I mean, he went to one class but he certainly doesn't need it. Anyway he's absolutely not human and he seemed to be able to handle the boy and he said he would take care of him for me if I did him a favor."
    Aileen took nearly a minute to digest this incoherent torrent of information, and it was even more difficult than usual to read her expression.
    "Are those bite marks on your neck?" she asked, finally.
    My hand flew to the wounds, and I wished I'd had the presence of mind to hide them. Aileen greatly disapproved of some of my "risks," as she called them, and I hated to give her more ammunition. "It was just the boy," I said defensively. "He was blood-mad."
    Aileen pursed her lips. "I can imagine. And what are you, charity-mad?"
    "That's unfair."
    "Is it? Back in Dublin, I saw a new-turned child sucker kill thirty factory workers and two pols before they managed to stake him. Bloody hell, Zephyr, you of all people ought to know how dangerous they are. You deal with them every day!"
    Damn, but she was right. I knew it had been crazy when I took him to the school, but every other option had seemed-- still seemed--untenable. It just didn't seem fair to me that the tragedy of children being turned had to be compounded by their being prematurely staked.
    "And though I'm sure this will hardly matter to a crusader such as yourself, you and this student of yours broke the law. You know, one of those ones they actually care about enforcing."
    "Amir . . . I don't know how, but I know he'll deal with it. No one will find out. Not unless you're planning to--"
    "Zephyr."
    "Sorry."
    She was silent for so long I wondered if she had fallen asleep. But she sat up abruptly and extinguished the lamp.
    "So," she said, still backward on her bed, "do I want to know what this favor is?"
    Finding a vampire mob boss so Amir could kill him? "Probably not."
    She sighed. "Oh, Zephyr. Why can't you just go dancing like the rest of us?"

    I thought about Amir and Rinaldo during my entire shift at the soup kitchen the next morning, ladling bowls of thick oat porridge and carefully rationing the brown sugar. I had never really considered myself a vindictive person, but after learning what Rinaldo had done to Giuseppe, and the dozens of other horrors I had heard over the years, I discovered that I was almost eager to deliver him to a just reward. The police sure as hell would never deal with him--they all probably took his bribes. And Defender groups like Troy's were far too happy staking twopenny vampires and Other nests for bigoted citizens' pay to bother with real evil. I understood the dangers, of course. I wouldn't agree to this blindly, but it seemed that if I had a chance, I should try. Amir was right--who would suspect me? And no one here knew of my immunity.
    But first I needed to do some research. As soon as I could politely get away, I decided to take advantage of the forty minutes I had before the picket began. I pedaled like mad to Canal Street and then walked my bicycle over the dust and piles of rubble to the main construction site. The workers were just starting their lunch hour, but I could tell immediately that none of the men lounging on the winches or the ground on this bright afternoon were vampires. No, suckers would still be deep in the tunnel, separated by the sun from these normal, mortal men. The younger the vampire, the less susceptible they are to the burning effects of sunlight. Still, it isn't pleasant for any of them, and the unnatural contrasts between the pallor of their skin and the red of their feedings is all too apparent in the day. The workers fell silent as I