Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
I can’t believe it. They’re trying to rebrand themselves as just recycled people. “They are not gently used jeans, Maybell! They’re monsters. And they want to kill us all!”
“Now that’s just silly, darlin’.” Daddy appeared behind me. Like Uncle Jimmie, he was a tall man with warm brown eyes and a husky build. His brown hair was unkempt as usual, but his beard had been neatly trimmed.
His gaze affectionately locked on Mamma.
Wait. Or was that hunger? She’d confessed that he’d been using her for food.
I looked at him again. Yep, he’s staring at her like she’s a cheeseburger.
Bleh! I took a step back, realizing that if Daddy was here, then the sun had gone down. It wouldn’t be long before Stark caught up with me.
Daddy reached for Mamma’s face and swept his knuckles along her jaw. “Good evening, my little bunny.”
“My wolf.” She giggled.
“Stop touching her.” I smacked his hand away. “I won’t let you kill her and turn us all into a chow line.”
Daddy laughed. “Why would we want to kill the people we love, not to mention our only source of sustenance?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find a way to fatten us up on moonshine and keep us all penned up like piggies,” I spat. “And for the record, this piggy don’t want no Easter dress. You’ll have to look the ugly truth right in the dirty asshole.”
My father arched a brow. “Masie, you know how your mamma feels about cussing. Also, I have no idea what you just said.”
I didn’t have time for this. I had to stop Stark from turning the world into a Snack Shack for vampires.
Uncle Jimmie came out of the kitchen, holding his cell. “Masie, Stark is on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”
“Hang that up!” I squawked.
“Why would I do that? Stark’s my friend,” Jimmie replied robotically. “Just do us all a favor and hear the man out.”
Oh no. Oh no! Stark had gotten to Uncle Jimmie, too.
“Y’all are about as useful as a fork at a soup shop.” I shook my head.
“Stark says you drank too much moonshine, that you’re not thinking straight.” My uncle wiggled the phone. “Just speak with him, and he’ll explain.”
“Yes, darlin’,” said Daddy in a deep, commanding voice. “Just listen to the man.”
I can’t believe this. Daddy’s trying to put ideas in my head. He thinks I’m still on moonshine. It instantly became clear that I was on my own. There would be no family by my side, helping me figure out how to stop these evil creatures. They’d all been pod-peopled.
I snatched the cell from my uncle’s hand and pressed it to my ear. “Stark, you disgustin’, dirty SOB. You are not getting away with this.”
“Masie,” said that deep, menacing voice, “if you wish your family to survive, you will listen and do as I—”
“Don’t you dare threaten them,” I growled. “You hear me? You so much as lay a fang on—”
“You have only one card to play, woman,” he said, “and that card is taking your place by my side, doing exactly as you are told, and—”
“Over my dead fuckin’ body.” I ended the call.
Mamma gasped. “Masie. Language.”
I pointed a finger at her. “My cussing is the only thing going for us right now.” It meant I was spitting mad and ready to fight.
But fight how? The world was doomed if I didn’t figure out a plan, and the only thing I could come up with was getting the word out.
I turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Uncle Jimmie asked.
To convince the world to start killing vampires. What other option was there?
I left without another word, praying they wouldn’t stop me.
They didn’t.
But during the short walk to my apartment, I felt dozens of eyes on me from the rooftops along Main St., from the darkness of the trees, and from every alley between houses. Stark’s army was everywhere.
If I had any chance at all of stopping the vampires, I’d have to act fast.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I stayed up until the early hours of the morning, typing for my life and for the lives of every free person on earth.
Meanwhile, my heart teetered on the edge. Rage was the only barrier between me and a dark hole of self-doubt. It was one thing to tell the world to kill vampires, but it was another to actually do it.
No, I wasn’t talking about that double-crossing, toe-licking snake Stark. I was talking about Daddy. Would I really be able to look him in the eyes and plunge a stake into his heart? I’d already lost him once. So had Mamma and Maybell. To lose him all over again would break us, even if he was a vicious people-snacker who’d like nothing more than to turn me into a jar of pizza sauce.
Maybe instead of killing them, I could come up with a sort of evil-vampire-rehab camp and make them all nice again.