CLUB NUMBER FIVE (Immortal Blood) (24 page)

“No,
D
addy,” Kate begged. “I'm still me. Just a little prettier, though
.
”
She
tried to laugh.

“No
.
” Mr
.
Walker didn't back down a bit. “My Kate would never drink blood or kill innocent people like my brother Lucas. My Kate wouldn't go to an empty house with her vampire friend and try to kill humans. My Kate would stay home and study. Grow old and die, like any normal human being.”

Okay. He'd lost it. The minute he mentioned his vampire brother, Lucas, I knew we had to get out of
t
here. I grabbed Kate's sleeve, but she shook my hand away.

“Dad, please, I haven't killed anyone,”
sh
e said quietly and was careful not to look at me.

Mr
. Walker looked as if he were
in pain.

“Kate,” I whispered, but she ignored me.

Sh
e took another step towards her dad. I stared at her, paralyzed. Couldn't she see that we were in danger? That the gun in her dad's hand was not any regular rifle, but a rifle with a flamethrower?

Kate was now only six feet away from him. He shook his head and I could see the tears in his eyes.
“I'm sorry, Katie. I'm so, so sorry,” he whispered, and before I could react he pressed the trigger.

As always, my
biggest thanks goes to my family;
Kimmo, Iida and Anna.
I would be totally lost without you.

T
hank you to Loni Kim,
who did the
first proofreading
and to Amanda Burfoot for doing the final proofing and editing. Amanda, you’re a star!
To Mark Blanchard who
always has time for me and my desperate cries for help
,
when words seems to
get tangled on the paper.

To Eveliina Tommola from Viima Graphics f
or designing the fabulous cover and bearing my endless lists of changing proposals. T
o Milla Säteri from the advertising company Magia for making my homepage and
helping me to update
it. To Mirva Vainio-Ketola, for
doing my promotional material
and h
elping me with my computer problems. Mirva, don’t
ever leave me
! And to Paul Brück for taking my promotional photos.

T
his book is dedicated to some of my special friends but I want to thank all of my
friends for always being there for me. I know I’m not always the easiest friend and yet
you choose to stick with me.
So if you ever get turned into a vampire I would totally offer my wrist for you.

To my writer friends who beta read the manuscript, gave me a lot to think
about and finally pointed me in
the right direction. Without you this book would have been put into young adult genre instead of adult/crossover and I’d probably
have
been
burned in the bonfire by peeved
off parents.

To Marjaana and Erkki Loiske,
my mom, Carita Nurminen, sisters Tytti Rosenberg and Tiia Blomberg and to my br
other Lauri Nurminen
for always being there.

And finally, thanks to everyone I forgot to mention but should have...

www.jenniferloiske.com

Jennifer Loiske was born in 1972. She lives in
Finland in
Naantali, which is a small
sunny town at the southwest coast. She is a workaholic
Teen/Young Adult author, a lover of dark fantasy, teen movies, chips and candies and warm sunny days and a sucker for charity work.

Jennifer’s books are available on Amazon worldwide and to any retailers who purchase from Ingram. A big part of her royalties goes to the charity; mainly to help families with epileptic children but also to the epilepsy units in the hospitals.

More about Jennifer Loiske:

www.jenniferloiske.com

www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferLoiske

Twitter:
@JenniferLoiske