Scary Dead Things - 02 Read Online Free PDF Page A

looks and overall frat boy mentality. Samuel's group, on the other hand, looked more like they had been recruited based on how many faces they had smashed in during their mortal life. If further negotiations went badly, it would be in our best interest to get the fuck out of Dodge as quickly as possible.
     
    However, that possibility was still a major if . If I played my part well enough, there might be no need for that. Yeah, I know...another if .
     
    As the last of the survivors took their seats, I reached into my pocket and pulled out what Sally had dug from Samuel's ashes. I tossed his fangs out onto the table as one might toss a pair of dice in a craps game. They tumbled end over end before stopping near the far edge. I glanced around and noticed all eyes were locked on them. The expressions around the table were all nearly identical, regardless of coven allegiance...abject disbelief. I expected this from the HBC vamps - but jeez, it would have been nice if even a few of my own ranks had a little faith in me. *sigh* Assholes, each and every one of them.
     
    Oh well, this speech wasn't going to make itself. Thus, I got things started again once the silence in the room became almost oppressive. “Who is Samuel's second?” I asked in a neutral tone.
     
    There was no immediate answer; instead, the various HBC survivors looked back and forth at each other, confusion evident on their faces. This was good. Sally had told me she had suspected as such. A vampire as old, relatively speaking, as Samuel tended to run a coven with an iron fist. A succession plan or even basic hierarchy was probably the furthest thing from his mind on a day-to-day basis. If that were the case, there would be confusion enough to distract these vampires as they sorted things out amongst themselves. It was sort of like the cartoons I used to watch as a kid. If GI Joe shot down Cobra Commander , they'd still have Destro and the Baroness to worry about. On the other hand, if He-Man ever took out Skeletor , the forces of evil would be pretty well fucked, as the rest of them were a bunch of numbnuts. We were pinning our hopes that Samuel was the Skeletor of the Queens' vamps.
     
    My hopes were realized a moment later when a member of Samuel's contingent spoke up. “I am Samuel's second!” he said, only to be immediately shot down by another.
     
    “The fuck you are!” the other vampire angrily spat. Almost as if on cue, the rest of Samuel's group started arguing amongst themselves. The survivors of my own coven looked to me as if seeking some direction. It was about fucking time. If they had bothered to do that at the beginning of things, we'd have a lot less dead vampires than we did.
     
    Oh well, the time to chew them out wasn't now. I motioned with my hand in a stay calm gesture, or what I hoped they interpreted as such. Fortunately, they did. Being on the losing side of a real life game of Mortal Kombat tends to have a sobering effect, even on a bunch of vicious nocturnal predators.
     
    I continued to let the HBC members argue amongst themselves for a few more moments. I knew that they wouldn't even come close to any conclusions in that time, but it made things appear more convincing. Finally, I raised my voice above them all. “ENOUGH!” I shouted. It wasn't a compulsion, but it got their attention. Being the dude who just tossed your boss's remains in front of you tends to make one rate a few notches higher on the people to pay attention to scale.
     
    Once the table had again quieted down, I resumed. “Your internal politics are not my concern. Figure it out on your own time. What I care to know is whether any of you wish to continue Samuel's quarrel with my people?” Yeah, that was total bullshit. Everyone here knew that the HBC's grudge was against me and me alone; however, as the coven leader, my fight was the entire group's fight. Even I had to admit this job had a few perks.
     
    When nobody answered, I locked eyes with the