No Man's Land Read Online Free PDF Page B

pots too. Double the beating, although beating was preferable to some punishments. The two days she’d spent locked in the cupboard without food or water had been far worse.
    The cook screamed, her English failing in anger as she ran around the long wooden table, this time brandishing a knife.
    I’m sorry, I’m sorry! The little girl darted under the table, thankful for once that she was tiny and quick.
    Not quick enough. A fat hand grabbed her ankle like a steel manacle, throwing Elizabeth face–first onto the stone floor. The grip around her ankle tightened painfully as the cook dragged her from under the table. A sob of terror caught in the girl’s throat as she frantically tried to pull free.
    You’ll be sorry soon enough, dirty little bastard .
    Bang, bang, bang .
    Kelly’s mind rose with the sound, jarring her from the unpleasant dream. She wasn’t a human anymore; she was a vampire, and far away from that dingy kitchen. What was that noise? Was someone throwing dining trays around her manager’s suite? Why did her bed feel like the mattress was stuffed with acorns? Why was she so sore? She felt starved, as if she hadn’t eaten in days. And why did her down comforter itch and scratch like cheap polyester?
    “Hellooooo,” a cheerful female voice called. “Are you ok in there, sweetie?”
    Memory flooded Kelly, and she opened her eyes to stare at the faded, teal–striped wallpaper and lacy curtained window a scant foot from her bed. She was sore with tight muscles, like she’d run a marathon in the night, but thankfully the only pain was from the throbbing in her mouth.
    Bang, bang, bang . “Hellooooo.”
    Daylight. Judging from how sluggish she felt, it had to be early morning. It sucked to be up during the day. She’d always tried to pawn off early casino duties on a subordinate vampire.
    The banging echoed again through the trailer, and Kelly grumbled. This person wasn’t going to leave until she answered the door. Maybe whoever it was had a bloodmobile parked out front. Probably not, but a girl could have her fantasies.
    Kelly squirmed to the end of the bed and stood, wrapping the itchy blue comforter around her naked body and shuffled to the door. A female face peered through the window, disappearing only to reappear at the door as she opened it.
    “I’m so glad y'all are finally awake,” the human woman said with obscene cheerfulness. “I saw you moved in last week, but you never seemed to be home when I came 'round. I peeked through the window this morning and saw you sleeping and just had to come by and welcome you to the neighborhood.”
    The woman appeared to be in her late forties. She was stout, but not obese, her figure at a horrible disadvantage in black leggings and a t–shirt that barely cleared her midriff. Her blond hair showed a hint of dark roots, and her make–up was carefully applied.
    Kelly stared at her with fascination. She’d had very little interaction with humans for nearly a century. Sure, she saw them all the time in the casino and spoke with them somewhat before biting them, but she’d not actually had a conversation with one in longer than she could remember. Others handled most of the day–to–day dealings with the humans. She’d been too busy, and there hadn’t really seemed to be a point to engaging them in any kind of social interaction. One didn’t talk to one’s food.
    The woman pushed by her into the trailer, and Kelly realized she was carrying a container of some sort. She smelled the warmth of the woman, heard the thud of her pulse. Had she said it had been a week since she’d arrived? A week with only a two pound steak to keep her going after all the blood she’d lost and all the damage she’d needed to heal. No wonder she felt so weak and bruised. Her body was probably refusing to heal further until she ate. If she’d had her fangs, she would have jumped right on this woman and bled her dry. Normally a pint would do it, but Kelly felt like she