Davy Harwood Read online

  “I don’t like him. That’s all you need to know.”

  “Right, because the last time you slammed this wall between us things were just peachy then too.”

  I glowered. “There was a reason I wasn’t feeling so friendly towards you. You were dating the guy that I was daydreaming about. I’d be stupid to have trusted you back then.”

  She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I only dated him because that bitch told me you were into Chris. I thought you were the backstabbing whore.” That bitch would never be named. She’d driven a wedge between two best friends and she’d paid for her crimes, but we were still bitter.

  I stood slowly. “We both know that I wasn’t into Chris.”

  “I know… now.”

  “Yes… you do.”

  Kates snorted in disgust. “I really hate her for what she did.”

  Warily, I looked at the blinking voice messages. “Food? Or drink?”

  Kates snorted again. “Do you have to ask?”

  Kates and I always had fun on our night outs. Sometimes that was the only time we had fun. A flood of memories rushed through me and I turned to snatch my fake license. For that night I’d be Silvia Dellawoy, a ripe twenty-two year old from Hillsfield, Illinois. I just hoped that I wouldn’t meet a bouncer from Hillsfield, Illinois. “Let’s go, Tammy.”

  Kates laughed huskily as she reached for the door. “Oh honey. You might not like that vampire, but I know a place where the werewolves hang out. You’ll love them.”

  Did Kates know me or what? I loved werewolves. They worked so hard at suppressing their own urges I didn’t have to block them. They blocked themselves.

  “But you’re changing clothes,” Kate announced and scoured my closet to pull out a pair of blue jean tights with a sparkly low cut v-neck top. I eyed the clothes, but knew it was a lost battle. Kates always had her way and it had been a long time since I’d let my hair down, not literally though.

  When we left the dorm, I made sure we took the back stairway. It was easier and no one needed to stare from the front television lounge, no one that we wanted. Kates reached for the exit door, but paused when the bottom door opened. I heard a familiar tap of heels on the stairs and cringed. That’s when Emily rounded the stairs and blinked in surprise at the sight of us. She carried a steaming bowl of oatmeal in her hands. I saw her stiffen.

  We were dressed for a nightclub, a top notch nightclub, and Emily was dressed for oatmeal. She wore a pair of flannel pajama pants with a baggy sweatshirt and rabbit slippers. The white ears drooped over and touched the floor.

  “We’re… uh…”

  “We’re going out.” Kates smiled and looped her elbow through mine.

  I felt like we were the popular beautiful girls as we stared down one of the unpopular, dowdy girls. I hated it.

  Removing my elbow, I smiled nervously. “You want to come with us?” I didn’t want to be one of those girls. I liked oatmeal too. Kates gasped. Emily was floored. I insisted, “You must. Kates will even do your hair!”

  Kates snorted abruptly.

  “Okay…” Emily didn’t sound too sure.

  As all three of us slowly traipsed back to the room, I only hoped that Emily wouldn’t realize we were going to a werewolf bar. If she did… holy crap.

  When we got out of the car, much later, outside the local werewolf bar, I glanced at Emily as she smoothed her pressed shirt down and nervously checked the rest of her clothes. She looked uncomfortable. Kates had wound Emily’s hair into a braid that wove around her head. With the make-up job Kates provided, Emily looked a little hip hop, but she held strong with the clothes. We wanted her to wear a pair of tattered tight blue jeans and a loose-fitting pink and silver tank top, but Emily was adamant. She wore khaki pants with a buttoned-down pressed pink shirt. She looked like a librarian with costume make-up.

  She would stick out like blood to sharks. Luckily, we weren’t going to a vampire bar. They would’ve been all over her. Werewolves stuck to their own kind and they looked human. It was only when their fur started to grow that a human would freak out. I hoped our night would not end with a freaking Emily.

  “Okay. Let’s go!” Kates yanked me forward. Emily followed at a sedate pace, but when I looked over my shoulder I saw she was biting her lip. She was warily eyeing the bar’s sign and I felt her nervousness. It pounded me like hail.

  Once inside, Kates dragged us to get drinks, but Emily hung back. Three shots were ordered and when Kates tried to give one to Emily, it was declined. Then I saw the evil delight turn my way. She pushed the shot at me and I downed two right away. I wasn’t even going to fight Kates. I needed to save my energy for Emily. Someone would have to make sure she didn’t end up dead. Not Kates, she laughed in delight and turned to order another four shots.

  We were in for a rough night.

  Then I looked over Emily’s shoulder and gulped when I saw a muscular guy with blonde dreadlocks lick his lips as he eyed Emily’s backside. Blood to sharks. He nudged his buddy and both of them turned to lap her up. Then their eyes slid to mine and I sucked in my breath horrified. We weren’t at a werewolf bar. Bud’s was a vampire bar.

  I grabbed Kates.

  “Hey! Watch the beer!” I saw the brimming pitcher and felt the cool liquid splash on my arm, but I was infuriated. I could give a damn about beer and I don’t normally think blasphemous thoughts like that.

  Beer was holy.

  “I have to talk to you. Alone.”

  Kates saw my fury. I realized that she’d known the whole time.

  “What’s going on?” Emily spoke up.

  “Nothing. I just… I have to go to the bathroom.”

  “Oh. I have to go too,” Emily gushed out, relieved.

  “No!” I barked. I saw that Emily was taken aback so I gentled my tone, “I meant… alone.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “We’ll be back,” I hurried out and yanked Kates behind me.

  “But… alone…?”

  Storming off and dragging Kates with me, I roughly pushed our way through the crowd. I felt each of them when my arms or shoulders made contact, but I just gritted my teeth against the pain. Vampires felt too much hatred for me. I should’ve been able to automatically block them, but I was angry. Plus, I hadn’t been prepared.

  An entire bar of vampires was not my night of fun.

  When I pushed into the bathroom, I saw two vamp girls at the mirror. “Get out! Now.”

  They turned, annoyed, and stopped short. One of them gasped, but the other looked like she was going to argue before the other dragged her outside. I knew that I should’ve cared about what I’d just seen since vamps don’t follow orders unless there was a reason, but I didn’t.

  Flipping the lock, I rounded on Kates. “How could you?!”

  She rolled her eyes and approached the mirror. As she primped her hair, she shrugged. “You have to get over this hang-up with vamps, Davy.”

  “Hey,” I pointed a finger at her. “You should have just as much of a hang-up with them. I mean—”

  Kates rounded and stared at me. I saw the warning, but I didn’t heed it. “Your mother used to kill vampires. We all know what they did to her.”

  “You don’t talk about that. Ever!” Kates seethed.

  “They branded you—”

  “Shut up!”

  “I know your mom was a slayer, but they slaughtered her, Kates. How can you be okay coming here?”

  Kates slapped me. I fell against the wall and tasted blood on the inside of my cheek, but I rounded back and exclaimed, “You had no right bringing me here. You really had no right bringing Emily.”