Pucker Up (A Damsels of Distress Novel) (6 page)

picture; older than her seventeen years,

but still young. Of course, it could've

been drawn years before he was cursed.

“He was twenty-five. Young,

right? Especially when you consider all

the discoveries he made. He was a

genius
. Did you know—”

The bell over the door rang

again, and she slid out of the booth to get

back to work. “Sorry, duty calls.”

Anything to get out of hearing mind-

numbing facts about potions and potion

masters.

The excitement that sparked in

his eyes, as he babbled on about Prince

Sebastian, died out when she got up. He

tried to smile it off, but it was a weak

attempt.

Guilt gripped her heart as she

watched her cousin fumble to open a

thick book in order to save face. “Hey,

I'd love to learn more about the guy I'm

going to make out with. Can you lend me

one to read?”

His eyes lit up again as he

handed her the book with the charcoal

picture. “This one has the most

information about his life outside his

lab. Nothing about Leviena, though. I'll

bring you one of her diaries, if you want

to read about that.”

She nodded and took the book.

She plastered a smile on her face to

greet the new customers. It dropped

when Garren and his entourage walked

in.

“Serving wench, your services

are

required.

Post-haste.”

Keith,

Garren's best friend, played Othello in

last year's school play and ever since

then he thought he was a professional

Shakespearian actor. He snapped his

fingers at her and led Morgan and

Bonnie to a booth.

“I've gotta talk to Thing for a

minute. Be right back,” Garren said to

Keith. Thane stiffened at the nickname

Garren and his friends used for him.

“So, is she going to do it?”

Garren asked, tilting his head in her

direction.

Making herself stand a little

taller, she narrowed her eyes at the

annoying boy. “
She
has a name, and

she
's standing right here.” She just

agreed to this crazy scheme and
already

he was on her last nerve.

Garren turned to face her and

cocked his head to the side. After a

moment of silence passed between them,

he caved. “Well?”

She nodded once.

A look of excitement flashed in

his eyes. “We'll need to go to Irene's

tomorrow to buy some supplies for the

trip, but my car's busted again, so we

can't—” He stopped talking and stared at

her. “What happened to your neck?”

“I fell. You were saying?”

“It's a good thing I'm helping on

this quest, or you'd both end up falling

into some deep, dark hole, killing

yourselves.” He ran his hands over his

face and sighed. “I'm going to have my

hands full keeping you two alive, I just

know it.”

“Get—to—your—point,”

she

said through gritted teeth. Between her

and Garren, only one of them was going

to make it back alive.

“We can't use my car, so we'll

have to use yours,” he said to Thane,

who had risen from his seat to stand next

to her.

“Mine's no good. My mom's

borrowing it for a few weeks,” he said.

Both boys regarded her, as if she

was going to volunteer the use of her

imaginary car.

“Sorry, but we won't all fit on

my skateboard.”

“What about Mr. McGregor's

car? I know he'll be out of town

tomorrow to sell a bunch of crap with

my dad. We'll just borrow it and be back

before they are. No problem,” Garren

said with a shrug.

It felt like a lead weight dropped

in the pit of her stomach. Mr. McGregor

would kill her if she took his car without

permission, not that he'd grant it to her if

she asked. But, they needed a car.

“That won't be a problem, will

it?” Thane asked.

Hell yes!
“No. No problem. We

just need to make sure we get back

before Mr. McGregor does.”
Or you can

bury me next to your prince.

“Hey, trust me. You won't get

into any trouble with me around,”

Garren said.

She was probably going to regret

hearing those words.

Thane sat down in his seat and

pulled out a book from the pile. Garren

was already seated with his friends

without so much as a ‘see you later’.

She dragged herself over to

Garren's table to take their order.

“We'll have four burgers, fries,

and sodas,” Garren said.

“Wait,” Bonnie said. “I'll have a

salad instead, ranch dressing on the side,

no tomatoes, cucumbers— cubed not

sliced— and a lemon water instead of a

soda.” She was surprised she didn't

specify the exact number of croutons she

wanted and where they should be

placed.

“Just catsup on my burger,”

Keith said.

“I want everything but lettuce on

mine.” Morgan smiled before turning

back to Bonnie.

“That will be all, wench. You

may expedite yourself now,” Keith said

with a wave of his hand.

“I

think

you

might

mean

'extricate',” she said. “You know, you

should consider sticking to single

syllable

words

before

you

hurt

yourself.”

As she turned away to scribble

down the orders, she didn't miss the

glare Garren threw at her. It wasn't
her

fault his friends were idiots.

“Hey, Garren. Did you hear

there's a vampire in town?” Keith asked.

She paused to eavesdrop while

covertly doodling on the notepad.

“Really? How do you know?”

“My mom checked him into our

hotel. Says he isn't planning on staying

long.”

“Do you think I can meet him?”

Bonnie asked, way too much excitement

in her voice.

Ivy rolled her eyes.
Idiot
.

“I don't know. Why?” Keith said.

“I heard vampire bites are totally

orgasmic and I've been dying to find out.

Since they rarely come here, this might

be the only chance I get.”

Ivy was surprised that she hadn’t

seen any vampires in Salmagundi when

she first arrived, especially with the

Eradicators cutting their numbers down

more and more every year.

“Are you insane?” Garren asked.

“Have you ever been bitten by
anything

before? It doesn't feel good.”

“Besides,”

Morgan

added,

“You’re the wrong type of human.

Vampires can't drink from witches, only

Banes. Something about our magic

making them sick.”

“I know, but couldn’t hurt to

offer, right?” Bonnie said.

Unable to stomach anymore of

their asinine conversation, Ivy continued

on her way to the kitchen.
She'd be

doing evolution a favor if she got

herself eaten by a vampire.

She leaned into the kitchen

window and read her order to the chef.

“I need a hockey puck, painted red. Burn

one and pin a rose on it. Walk a cow

through the garden and one cow feed

with the ranch in the alley.” The best

part about working there was the diner

lingo.

Leaning back against the wall,

she closed her eyes. Her feet and back

were aching, and her eyelids felt twenty

pounds heavier. Despite being desperate

for money, she was about to ask Chef

Bob for the rest of the night off when

Keith waved her over.

She walked up as he pounded the

bottom of the catsup bottle. “It's stuck,”

he said.

You don’t say.

Before she could take the bottle

from him, he gave it one last hard whack

and shot the contents all over her

uniform. She looked like she'd been

stabbed in the gut.

She was mortified when not only

their

table,

but

the

surrounding

customers started laughing. Clenching

her jaw to keep herself from either

crying or beating the crap out of him, she

retreated to the kitchen to clean up.

She grabbed a towel and

furiously swiped at the red blob. “Stupid

people, stupid diner, stupid… life.” She

tossed the rag on the counter. Her

anxiety rose higher as she stared at the

stain on her clothes. Closing her eyes,

she started counting to calm herself

down.
One, Two, three—

“Hey, what do you do for an

encore?”

She spun around and came face

to face with Garren. “What do you

want?” She didn't even try to hide the

irritation in her voice.

“We need more catsup.”

Four, five, six...

“Lighten up, it was a joke,” he

said with a little laugh.

“You know what? Why don't you

stay here with your friends next

weekend? Thane and I are perfectly

capable of taking care of ourselves and

finding,” she lowered her voice to a

whisper, “you know who.”

“Nice try, but you’re not getting

rid of me that easily.” He leaned against

the counter right next to her. “You know,

Ivy, we need to work together or we

could get into some big trouble. Truce?”

He held out his hand.

She grabbed his hand and flipped

it over, exposing his palm.
Nope, no spit

or anything else equally disgusting.

Could this be real?

“I’m serious. No more pranks.”

He was right. They couldn’t be

distracted with their ongoing rivalry or

Eradicators would take them out easily.

Reluctantly, she shook his hand.

He smiled and patted her on the

shoulder. “Great. Of course, as soon as

this is all over,” he said as he backed

out of the kitchen, “you’re going down.”

*****

Finally, her shift was over and

she was free. At this time of night, the

trip back to the boarding house was

always quiet. Breathing in the cool night

air and coasting on her skateboard under

the stars was the perfect way to let all

her tension go. And tonight, she had a lot

of it.

About half-way home, the fine

hairs on the back of her neck stood on

end. A feeling of being watched prickled

her skin. She slowed down as she

searched all around her, but found no

one.

Maybe it's that vampire
. She

shook

her

head.
Now I'm being

paranoid.
Her right wrist burned under

the leather strap more intensely than it

had in over a year. Out of instinct, she

reached back to grab the dagger she

usually kept on her at all times. It wasn’t

there, of course; no place to keep it on

her uniform. Not that it would do much

damage to a vampire— that required a

wooden stake to the heart. At least she

knew she wasn’t in any danger of being

turned into a bloodsucker. Not just

because the magic that made vampires

who they were couldn’t live with her

own magic, but because, like bees, only

queens could create more vampires. And

there were no more queens. And after

her total beat down by Mr. McGregor

the other night, her confidence was still

waning.

Gliding on her skateboard, she

strained to detect any signs of danger,

but the only sound was the click-

clacking of her wheels over the

sidewalk lines. In fact, the lack of noise

was unsettling. Being surrounded by

forests usually meant being serenaded by

various nocturnal creatures. She pushed

faster.

As the lights of the boarding

house came into view, she relaxed her

shoulders a bit knowing she was almost

home.

The burning increased. There

was

definitely

something

there;

something unnatural and getting closer.

Her heart was beating a tattoo in her

ears. She skated home as fast as she