Blood Harvest: Two Vampire Novels by D.J. Goodman

both. “Wait, could you watch Brendan
for a couple hours?”
    “Of course, but can’t you tell me what…”
    “I will, but not yet. Please. I’ll go get
Brendan and bring him over to your place. And then I’ll need you to
come over before Tony gets home. I’ll tell you everything then, but
you have to tell Tony that I was the one watching him. Tony can’t
know yet.”
    Wait, what? Just what the hell are you
playing at, you fucking idiot? she thought to herself. She
couldn’t really be considering not telling Tony. There was no way
she would be able to keep Zoey in the house without him knowing.
But it was telling that she hadn’t even thought about how he would
react to all this until now. She would want to believe that he
would be happy for her. Given how Zoey’s ghost had haunted her she
knew that he would be supportive and helpful. But only up to a
point. And she was sure that point would be reached the instant
Zoey showed those wicked sharp teeth, or even when she said they
couldn’t call the police. He would look at the danger to his family
and not have any of it, because that was the kind of person he was.
He’d never broken the law in any way more major than a parking
ticket, he’d never done drugs—not even marijuana—and he had never
had any reason to distrust authority. He may have been supportive
of Peg in getting past the kind of life she’d once led, but he
would never have been able to live that life himself. He was, to
use a word that was outdated long before she was born but seemed
the only appropriate term now, too square.
    No, she knew exactly what Tony would do when
he found out. He would honor Peg’s wishes for a while. Then he
would start to get nervous. The call to the police wouldn’t be far
behind.
    “Tony can’t know yet,” she said again
quietly, this time emphasizing the word yet. She would tell him
eventually. She would. Really.
    “Okay Peg. Just… whatever this is going on,
promise me you won’t do anything you regret later.”
    Given the situation she knew she couldn’t
promise that at all, but she knew what V meant. She was referring
more to that liquor store just a half mile away from here. “Yeah, I
think I can promise that.”
    “Think? Peg, if you…”
    “I promise, okay?” She put the car into drive
and continued on to the sitter’s. “I’ll be over soon. Tony is
supposed to get done at six, so come over a little after five and
I’ll show you what’s going on, okay?”
    V seemed satisfied with that, and they both
hung up. Peg couldn’t help but be a little grateful that she was
running so late though. Now that she’d started thinking about that
liquor store she was having trouble stopping.

Chapter Six
     
    As much as she knew
she needed to get home immediately after dropping Brendan off at
V’s, she still made one more stop at the grocery store. In all the
chaos she still hadn’t had lunch, and she was willing to bet very
good money that Zoey would be even worse. She grabbed two
sandwiches in the deli then, even though she still believed her
thoughts on the matter were going pretty far into crazy territory,
she stopped in the meat department as well. There she stared at the
raw hamburger for several minutes before buying some. She had
hamburger in the freezer at home, but she wanted to try something
and for that she needed some that wasn’t frozen.
    The smell still lingered in the house as she
walked in the door, but she thought now she might be able to cover
up the worst of it now with copious amounts of air freshener. She
put her groceries on the table.
    “Zoey?” she called. “Zoey, I brought food.
Zoey?”
    She listened, but she didn’t hear anything.
She went into the living room and found it empty, then went
upstairs, calling for her all the while and experiencing a growing
pain in her stomach at the thought that Zoey might be gone again.
She couldn’t have that. Life might not have been fair, but that
would simply be life kicking her