ReVamped Read Online Free PDF

When I balked, he said, “Relax. I’m taking you somewhere we can hear ourselves think. Unless you’ve got other ideas.” He waggled his pierced brow at me, and I smirked before I could catch myself.
    “Parcheesi,” I answered.
    “Strip Parcheesi?”
    I sneered.
    “A purist. I respect that,” Ulric said. “Poker’s better for that anyway.”
    I could kind of hear him now, without him being close enough to kiss. I wondered what Bobby was doing and hoped it didn’t involve the blond bombshell, Hailee. If she was the mean-girl equivalent of the old me, she wouldn’t be caught dead at a party sans indoor plumbing and mirrors for makeup reapplication. Mochas at the mall would be more her scene, and Bobby probably wouldn’t be within a hundred miles of the mall. Unless they were having an electronics sale.
    I leaned against a tree to keep Ulric and me from separating any further from the pack and did my best to focus on my questioning. For some reason, that focus was a little tricksy … er, tricky. “So, word went out? Party among the pines?”
    “More or less. We can’t fall into a pattern or the cops’ll know when to bust us, but on a Wednesday night at Red Rock—who’s looking?”
    “But you guys come here often?”
    “What’re you, a narc?” he asked, not looking truly suspicious yet, but clearly keeping the option open.
    “Nope.” I shook my head, and it seemed extra wobbly, like I’d become a bobble-head doll. The world took an extra beat or two to settle back into place. “I’m a girl. Pretty sure you’ve noticed.”
    Ulric’s eyes lit up at that, and he went from leaning against his own tree to taking a step closer to mine.
    “Uh oh,” I giggled.
    He stopped, giving me a hard look. “You okay?”
    Another giggle escaped before I clapped my hands to my mouth. Did goths giggle? Oh, crap.
    “You’re high!” Ulric said, amusement chasing the intensity from his face.
    I thought for a second. Fought for thought, like I was a poet and didn’t even know it. The world wouldn’t hold still. Maybe all this breathing was making my head spin. Vamps weren’t equipped for it. And the Mary Jane in the air … Mary Jane, just like my shoes! I giggled again. Contact high … as the sky.
    “Yup!” I answered happily. “You?”
    He shook his head.
    “Don’t you breathe?” It was out of my mouth before my brain kicked in, and I covered my mouth with both hands like the words hadn’t already escaped.
    Ulric looked at me funny again. “You’re not a straight-edger, are you? Crap, I never figured you for one.”
    “A what?” I asked, baffled.
    And suddenly a scream pierced the night.

4

    I bucked myself off the tree and immediately caught my heel on a root, nearly going face first into the dirt. Damn shoes. I kicked them off, thinking the forest could totally reclaim them for all I cared, and sprinted toward the sound, leaving Ulric behind to “What the hell?” me.
    He caught up quickly and grabbed my shoulder, but I yanked it away again, still running but remembering not to go full bore. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive … probably a dead giveaway that I was different. Get it, DEAD giveaway? I asked myself. I told the toasted comic in my brain to shut it.
    “Are you crazy?” Ulric asked, gulping for breath as he fought not to fall behind. “Do you know how much broken glass there is around here? Not to mention snakes.”
    I stumbled at the thought of tiny fangs piercing my foot. Even a poisonous snake wouldn’t kill me, but it might slow me down and blow me up like a balloon before my natural vamp healing could kick in. I could battle baddies in that state if I had to, but it wouldn’t be an elegant ass-kicking. And I was all about style.
    I didn’t realize how fast I was going until I nearly collided with someone as we hit the core gathering, and barely had time to adjust. I stayed upright by ping-ponging off other people like a pinball …
    Only to be