The Maestro's Apprentice Read Online Free PDF

mascara was slightly smudged. She had two marks on her neck that looked like picked-at mosquito bites. She scratched them absently.
    Autumn shrugged. “I’m a light sleeper. You should rest more after…”
    “My apartment isn’t far from here,” Tina said. “Besides, I’m used to this kind of thing. Not being…bitten, obviously, but partying late and then making a hasty getaway.
    It’s the price of fun in this town. You guys here long?”
    Autumn shook her head. “I don’t know. Adam’s from here and hasn’t been back for a while.” She looked over her shoulder as Maria whimpered in her sleep, then turned back to Tina. She had an idea, and it made her heart beat fast. “Do you know of a place I can get takeout?”

    30
    Tina shook her head. “Not nearby. But I do know someone who might have a little something left over. I’ll show you if you want.”
    Autumn dressed hurriedly, left a note and grabbed her little pack. Striking out on her own in New Orleans. She loved it. Outside, she took a deep breath of the crisp fall air, ignoring the street smells of too much partying and too little garbage pickup, unaware of the slick stranger keeping pace with them.
    “You see the city waking up in layers,” Tina said. “The only people out now are like these guys,” she said, pointing out an overweight middle-aged couple in polo shirts and shorts, with two pre-teens in tow. They stopped to gaze into a shop window. “They’ll take home T-shirts that say, ‘I survived NOLA’ and cheesy little things to put on their mantle, to prove they were here. The nightlife crowd is still sleeping it off. It’s like two different cities, but I guess they all are.”
    “Have you been anywhere else?”
    Tina nodded, then shrugged. “Yeah. No. I don’t know. I’m from Lafayette. I was here for school. But I’ve been here six years now, and it feels like home. City just sucks you in.”
    “How old are you?” Autumn asked.
    “Twenty-four. You?”
    “Twenty-five. Maria’s thirty, though.”
    “Wow. She doesn’t look it.”
    “It’s a side effect of being a feeder. You hardly age. And people live a long time. Not as long as a vampire, but…You should come with us. Adam needs another feeder and you’re fun.”

    31
    Tina shook her head. “No can do. I’m dug in here, you know? My friends are here.
    I’m part of something. But you…I can see you’re in breakaway mode.”
    The comment startled Autumn. She wondered if Maria could tell, or if she would read it as an effect of “their” plan. “How can you tell?”
    Tina shrugged. “Just a hunch. I’ll tell you what, though. You have to be careful.
    People are not always what they seem. That sounds cheesy, but it’s true. You have to learn to hear what they’re really saying, not what they want you to hear. That’s my advice to you if you’re going to be sneaking away from your friends in New Orleans. Here we are.”
    They turned a corner and Tina knocked on a metal service door. “Hey, Luis, open up in there! I need a favor!”
    The door opened and a dark-skinned Creole guy wearing an apron appeared. He looked to be in his late twenties. He smiled when he saw Tina, but his dark eyes flicked curiously over Autumn, making her self-conscious. She wondered what he would be like if they met in a random back alley. Then she had to shake her head to release the thought.
    “Hey, Tina. Where you been? You don’t like my cooking no more?” His French accent sent a shiver up Autumn’s spine and for a moment she remembered to be afraid of Claudio finding them.
    “Sure I do, Luis,” Tina said. “It’s your breath that scares me.”
    He slapped a hand over his heart. “I’m hurt. I really am. So what kind of favor do you need?” He stared unabashedly at Autumn now.
    “I have some friends in town and they are in need of takeout. They’re good people, Luis.”

    32
    He threw his hand up. “Good people, good people. I’m good people, and nobody rains