Vamp-Hire Read Online Free

Nick
didn’t know where Lucky lived or if it would be cool to stay there
and he definitely didn’t want to mess up their arrangement. He
didn’t mind sleeping in the basement at all and despite Randy not
really talking all that much, he was a nice enough kid. In a world
filled with intolerance he found the two of them… tolerable.
    She shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, it
could be a day or two. He might want to stay a week. Maybe even a
month.” She put her hand over his and her palm was incredibly warm.
Nick was reminded of the brief contact with Nancy and wanted to
yank his hand away. Instead, he tightened his loose fist. “I’m
sorry. Seriously. Maybe I can give you some money.”
    “No. Every spare dime you have should be
spent on Randy. We’ll figure something out.”
    She made a face at that last sentence for
some reason and pulled her hand away.
    “Okay, that’s great.” She slid back from the
table and stood. “Well, if it’s not too much trouble to ask, I need
you to go tonight. Pop-Pop is going to be here in the morning and
he’s always early.”
    “No, yeah. That works.” The thought of
getting booted out of his house this fast kind of bummed him out.
“Yeah, I’ll pack a bag or something and go over to Lucky’s
place.”
    She nodded. “Great. Well, I’m really tired
and it’s late. I really appreciate this.”
    Phoebe left, though she hadn’t taken with her
the sudden coldness in the room. What was that that had made her
turn off so abruptly? She went from an acquaintance asking for a
favor to a businesswoman conducting a transaction.
    The mystery of Phoebe was an ever-deepening
hole. Nick headed back into the basement, pondering what he knew
about her. He certainly didn’t mind family visiting and it wasn’t
too huge an inconvenience for him to be elsewhere for a day or two,
though this seemed like it was something more than that. Why
couldn’t she tell her family she had a roommate? Even in
post-Conflict days, why didn’t she want to stay with family?
    With sudden clarity he realized he had taken
something basic for granted: that ‘humans’ were trustworthy.
Someone like him who had trace amounts of common viral DNA with one
of the greatest mass murderers in history was supposed to be
scrutinized. Not a pretty twenty year old who was trying to make a
way for herself and her young child.
    Until this point, Nick couldn’t have cared
less about her personal life, but if she were going to live in the
same house as him, he felt he had a right to know at least enough
about her to be certain he wasn’t going to wind up in the Pens
again.
    What would he do if he found out she was
lying? What if there was no grandfather? No Pop-Pop? Unless it was
something incriminating, he didn’t have any leverage to do anything
except take it. And what if she were up to something illegal? What,
would he really have her arrested and separated from her son? Nick
decided he was going to take this thing one step at a time. Maybe
it was something small, something that was embarrassing. If that
wound up being the case, he would keep it to himself.
    Right now he had to focus on finding a place
to lay his head for the night. He didn’t have Lucky’s phone number
or know where he stayed, so that meant motelling it. All the ones
in walking distance were probably on the dirty side, which was just
what he needed. Someplace that wasn’t too concerned about reporting
strangers coming in after curfew. He might have to pay a little
extra to get a no-questions-asked room for the night.
    Nick jammed his things into a duffle bag and
walked upstairs for the last time tonight and maybe the next month.
He didn’t really see that happening, though. He had a registered
residence and needed to be there on the off-chance an inspector
stopped by unannounced. He was violating his release by leaving at
this hour and compounding it by sleeping somewhere other than his
home for someone he didn’t entirely believe.
    Why