Paranormal Bromance Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t see it.”
    “Mercedes Cook. Carter’s done six interviews with Cook in the last two years. Mercedes Cook is a vampire.”
    “All that does is establish Carter as a reporter who’s interested in vampires, and we already knew that.”
    “You don’t remember, do you?” Aaron said, clearly disappointed. “When Arturo bit it and Rick took over? It was when Mercedes Cook was in town. Cook was behind that. She started the war between Arturo and Rick because she thought Arturo would win and wanted to get rid of Rick. Weren’t you guys paying any attention?”
    I thought I had been, and frankly I was surprised that Aaron had apparently been paying more attention. After all, this wasn’t eBay.
    “This is why we don’t hang out with the Family, so we don’t have to pay attention,” Jack said.
    “Well, there was something big going on, bigger than just whether or not Arturo or Rick was in charge. And now this Carter woman who has a connection to Cook is interested in Rick?” He shook his head.
    So she was targeting Rick by going after the three junior vampires in the Family? How did that work?
    “Maybe it’s time to call Rick with this?” I said.
    Jack pursed his lips. He had a plan. He was going to go superhero. “Let me meet with her again. See if I can get any solid information out of her.”
    We gave him unconvinced looks. “You sure that’s a good idea?” I asked.
    “It’ll be great.” He seemed excited about it, the poor bastard. The vampire hero. He grabbed his coat, shoved his phone in his pocket.
    “Call if you need help,” I said after him, right before the door closed.
    Aaron and I looked at each other. His expression was sour.
    “It’s time to call Rick,” I said, and Aaron nodded.
     

     
    I called, and he answered right away, which I hadn’t expected. Like he’d have more important things to do than to talk to one of his lowly minions who wasn’t even really a minion. Thumping music and a rush of voices and laughter filled the background, which meant he was probably at Psalm 23. I supposed I could have gone to talk to him in person. I was getting hungry again. Aaron and I would probably just order another pizza.
    “Hi, Rick?” I answered his greeting. “This is Sam. I’m sorry to bother you…”
    “No bother, Sam. How are you? How are the others doing?” Rick didn’t sound like an ancient vampire. He sounded like that benevolent boss at your first job, wry and sympathetic but not about to suffer fools. I’d heard stories of less fair Masters. Demanding, condescending, abusive. My life as a vampire maybe wasn’t perfect, but it could have been a whole lot worse. Having someone like Rick I could call when I needed help? It made a difference.
    “We’re fine, we’re all okay. But something kind of weird has come up.”
    I told him about Carter, how she approached Jack, the kind of information she was grilling us on, and her connection to Mercedes Cook.
    “I don’t know much about Cook, but Aaron seems to think she’s bad news and you’d want to know,” I finished.
    “Yes,” he said thoughtfully. “Definitely. Thanks for calling. Do let me know if you learn anything else.”
    “Yeah, I will.”
    “Any other problems?” he asked. Like some kind of camp counselor, like he knew there was something I wasn’t mentioning. I liked Rick, but I was more than a little in awe of him.
    “Actually…” I didn’t even know how to start this. “There’s this girl…” I winced, because that sounded ridiculous. “I’ve met someone,” which didn’t sound much better, but I had to start somewhere. “I really like her, and if I were still mortal I’d know exactly what to do. But now, being what I am, it all seems pointless. I’m not going to be able to give her what she wants. We can’t… there’s no way we can be normal. It’s all just… wrong. But I like her.” Now I just sounded like I was whining.
    “Does she know what you are?” Very calm, not at all