Rance (Ohio Vampires #3)

Chapter 1

Walton didn’t know what to do about the people in the town.

They’d not sell him shit, and that wasn’t right.

He had money to burn, and they were just being stubborn.

Especially that Smith guy. He’d gotten him in trouble with the police, and now they were following him around everywhere he wanted to be.

It was like he was some sort of bigwig and they were catering to his every need.

There were a lot of Smiths in the little town, and he didn’t much care for any of them.

It was as if they were taking over the town, and that’s what he wanted to do.

“Mr. Hudson?” He turned to see a cop behind him and smiled.

He knew that it was about as fake as anything he’d ever done before, but the idiot didn’t seem to get it.

“You’ve been asked to leave town. I don’t want to have to run you in for trespassing again.

I will, too, if you continue to hound people about their land. ”

“I’ve not bothered anybody since that Smith person.

And his calling you guys on me wasn’t right either.

” He just crossed his arms over his chest and stared at him.

Usually, he could wait a person out, but he was nervous about getting run out of town when there were things going to be happening soon.

“You tell those people that I’m an all right guy and I can do some business around here without any trouble. ”

“I’m not going to do that. And until you start out of town, I’m going to follow you around making sure you don’t bother the good citizens of this town.

” He asked who was complaining about him now.

“That’s none of your business. You’ve bothered enough people around town that they all want you gone as well. ”

“I’m a tax-paying person, and I’ve—” The officer told him that he wasn’t a taxpayer in this town. “So? I’m paying my taxes where I live, and that should be enough for you. I’m paying for the police department in my town, and that in turn means I’m paying for your taxes as well.”

“I don’t believe it works like that.” It probably didn’t, but he didn’t care right now.

He hated to lose an argument, and it seemed to him that he was losing more each and every day.

“You go on and get out of my town, or I will run you in. Then where will you be? In jail with the rest of the criminals.”

“I’m not a criminal.” Again, he didn’t say anything, and Walton felt the need to fill in the silence. It wasn’t like him to do that, and he didn’t understand— “You’re not human. You’re making me do things that I’d normally wouldn’t.”

“You’re not human either.” He asked what that had to do with anything. “I’ve notified the local pack alpha, and he’s going to be talking to you soon. You’re supposed to check in with him when you’re visiting his territory. You should have done that when you first arrived.”

“I’m not staying here in town.” He said that Conri was the king of their kind and was the alpha of the local pack that included Columbus and beyond.

“I don’t have time to check in with every Tom, Dick, and Harry when I’m trying to do business around here.

I have plans for the land that I’m buying, and you’re not going to stop me from getting a lot of the land around here before these podunks sell it to someone else. ”

“No one is selling their land. You’ve been told that several times.

” He told the cop that they’d just not got the right buyer to come along and make them a deal that they can’t refuse.

“Yet they have. Every one of them has turned you down. It seems to me, too, that word has gotten around about you, and they’re filing for their deeds to be able to prove to you that they own their land.

I think you’ve been barking up the wrong trees around here and you’ve pissed a great many people off. ”

“They’ll change their mind when I show them that I have real money to buy up their land.” He asked how much he had. “None of your business. I have it, and I’m going to be spending it around here to own this little town, see that I don’t.”

“You go on thinking that, Mr. Hudson, and we’ll see what happens.

There are a lot of benefactors to this town that aren’t going to take it so kindly of you pestering their friends and family.

I’d get out of town while the getting is good.

” He asked if he had just threatened him.

“No. I’d not do that. It’s just a friendly warning.

There are some pretty powerful vampires around here, too.

You’d best take my word for it and get out of town while you can. ”

“I’m not afraid of some vampires that have nothing to do on their time other than drain the living dry.

Have you been bothering them, too? I’m betting that they have the dead all around their property, and that shouldn’t set well with your police station.

” He said they’d never had any trouble with them before.

“So you’re saying that I’m going to be bringing them out in the sunlight?

Good. One less bloodsucker the better. I hate them all. ”

“Yet you keep bothering them.” When he didn’t say any more, he tried to think when he had encountered a vamp. None came to mind, so he just thought that the man was lying to him. “You go on thinking that I’m lying to you and see where that gets you.”

“What the hell! Why are you reading my mind?” The cop only smiled at him, and that pissed him off.

“Get out of my way. I’m here to do business, and the sooner I can get it done, the better off this little town will be.

I have money to burn, and I’m not afraid to bribe some people in making sure you lose your job. ”

“Just what I’ve been waiting for.” Just as he was turned around and put into cuffs, he realized that he’d threatened the damned cop.

“You’re under arrest for threatening an officer of the law.

I’m going to be taking you in and having you searched.

You’ll be in jail until such time as the circuit judge, the Honorable James Markus, can make it to town.

This will be great for the people in town, too. ”

He was taken into custody and searched. They took not just his knife but the little pea shooter of a gun from him as well.

Since he didn’t have a permit for it, the thing was going to cost him more money when—or if he got it back.

They were all laughing at him about the amount of money that he had in his wallet.

Four dollars and some change didn’t make him look good, but they didn’t understand the dynamics of buying and selling.

He’d show them. Just as soon as he got out of this one-stoplight town.

It took them an hour to process him and another hour before he convinced them that he needed his cell phone to make a call.

He didn’t know who he’d call. It wasn’t as if he had an attorney on retainer.

Nor did he have any family that would speak to him.

Using his one call, he ordered a pizza and had it delivered to the police station.

He was entitled to his one call, and by God, he was going to use it.

Walton didn’t have any money. The little bit of cash he had was all that he had in the form of cash.

He had credit cards, two of them, and they’d be maxed out as soon as he had to pay the bill at the hotel he was staying in.

The one thing that he had in his favor was that he had good credit.

And that was what he was counting on to buy up the land and resell it to the highest bidder.

He kind of figured that he couldn’t bully people into just handing over their land, but he worked with what he had.

As soon as he was out of here, he was going to own that Smith person because this was all his fault.

“Damned bastard.” He wanted that land because it was what he thought of as prime.

Six hundred acres of beautiful land just waiting to be developed into small businesses that would make it or not.

He didn’t care. So long as he had the money after selling it to them.

“Fucking shit head messed up the way things go for me.”

His pizza was delivered to his cell in a reasonable amount of time.

It was still hot and gooey, just the way he wanted it to be.

When they brought him his dinner, he ate it too.

It was only a sandwich, but it was good, and he didn’t want it to go to waste.

Walton was going to have to watch his intake from now on.

He noticed that he’d been losing a bit of weight.

It could be because he was dying but didn’t know enough about leukemia to know how long he’d had to live.

He should have listened to the doctor when he told him he was dying.

Buying up the land and having done something with his life was going to make it so he was leaving shit behind when he died.

He was going to name the land he bought Hudson Acres so that it couldn’t be changed later.

That way, he’d be able to look down on what he’d done and be proud.

Or he hoped he’d be able to look down on things.

It was better than being in hell and wondering how he’d gotten there.

He didn’t know if he could do that or not, but figured with the right attorney, he could do whatever he wanted.

Lying on his bed, he thought of his doctor’s office visit and wondered about what he’d said to him.

He’d heard the word leukemia and didn’t hear another word after that.

He supposed he could go back in and question him, but he knew what was going to happen.

His momma and daddy both had died from the same thing.

He’d thought since his dad and him were part wolf, they’d not have to worry about dying of anything.

Turned out they weren’t wolf enough to stop anything from taking them.

Hell, he couldn’t even shift into anything either.