Chapter 13 #2
“So, um…” Cody started back down the hall behind her.
“Could you tell us more about how you met Marlowe? When you realized what happens at her bar?” He noticed a strand of garlic bulbs strung from side to side above the door, and a long silver bar leaning against the frame. Beverly Sue was prepared.
“Yeah,” Demmy said. “That would be really interesting to hear.”
“Oh, like I said, I grew up knowing who she was and what she used to do. But she’s known my family all our lives.
” She stopped to look back. “Like, my whole family.” She waved a hand above her head, apparently indicating every member.
“We give her space to do her thing, don’t cause trouble, and be careful when we go out at night.
” She brandished the garlic launcher as an example.
“She pays whichever lineage lives here a monthly installment. That’s how great-grandpa paid off the loan on the land.
And that’s how my dad upgraded the kitchen. ”
She started for the car again, the tote bag bumping her hip with each step.
“So, Marlowe takes care of your family?” Demmy said.
Beverly Sue reached a bright yellow Mini Cooper and pulled open the driver’s door.
She tossed her tote bag into the footwell of the passenger seat then whistled.
Hortense plodded around a corner of the house and up to the car.
The dog scrambled into the driver’s seat, and Beverly Sue shoved him across the console to the passenger side.
Nodding to the rear door, she said, “Mind your head and shins.”
Cody crammed himself behind the driver’s seat, his knees practically under his chin.
He shot a glare at Hortense in the front passenger seat, and the dog stared impassively back.
A canvas-sided carrier sat between the seats in the back, bristling with an assortment of weapons effective against vampires.
“You have a lot of useful stuff back here,” Demmy said.
“My great-great grandpa always says to be prepared.” She nodded to him in the mirror as the car bounced over a rut in the long driveway and Cody banged his head against the roof. “I’m prepared.”
“Says? You talked with your great-great grandpa?” Cody said.
“Oh, sure. He’s a vamp, too.”
She turned onto the asphalt road, headlights swiping the cornfield on the other side. Cody shivered and looked away. He never wanted to set foot in another cornfield.
“He was turned?” Demmy asked.
“Well, yeah. That’s how I’m able to talk with him. He hangs out at the bar and he sleeps—” She cut herself off and winced at them in the mirror. “Sorry. He doesn’t like for people to know where he sleeps. That’s when they’re most vulnerable.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Demmy said.
“Did you just hear yourself?” Cody shook his head. “None of this makes sense.”
“No, I mean…” Demmy turned to the window. “You’re right. It’s a lot to think about.”
“Yeah, most people react that way when they find out.” Beverly Sue shrugged. “I’ve just always known him that way.”
“Marlowe turned him?” Cody couldn’t help asking.
“Yep. But she did it to save his life. He was really sick. Cancer, he figures. But he had eight children and a wife who already did everything, and he didn’t want to leave them to an even harder life.
When he asked her to turn him, she did. She had to teach him restraint and all that before his family could see him again, but it worked.
And with no incidents. At least none that anybody wrote down.
Thinking of Marlowe and Hortense, my great-great grandpa, not my dog, kind of reminds me of Yoda and Luke, you know? ”
Cody leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the back of the seat. “No.”
Beverly Sue turned into the next drive and followed it to the parking lot of The Rusty Screw.
Zenona’s car and Andy’s Spirit were the only vehicles, except for a Harley parked by the door.
A cold well of grief opened inside Cody at the sight of Andy’s car.
Had he been the cause of Andy’s death? He pressed fingers into the corners of his eyes as Beverly Sue pulled up outside the door and tooted the horn.
“You honk for a vampire?” Demmy said, and Cody had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He was afraid if he started, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“I don’t go in after there’s been an incident.”
“How often do incidents occur?” Demmy asked.
Beverly Sue shrugged as she peered out Hortense’s window. “Not often.”
Marlowe stepped outside. She no longer held the silver bat or wore the gloves, but she was curling and uncurling her fingers as she approached the passenger window Beverly Sue had lowered.
“What?” Marlowe sounded tired, but she stroked Hortense’s head, and the dog leaned into her touch.
“Found some friends of yours—”
“Not friends,” Cody said, shaking his head.
“—in my cornfield. Chased a few of yours off.”
“They’re not mine. That’s Bastian and his group.” Marlowe leaned into the window and looked back at them. “You boys okay?”
“Sure, great,” Cody grumbled.
“Thank you, Beverly Sue,” Demmy said, getting out of the car.
“You’re welcome!” she replied.
“How’s Zenona?” Demmy asked as he and Marlowe headed for the bar.
Cody grimaced as he unfolded himself from the backseat. He paused at Beverly Sue’s window and said, “Thanks for the save.”
“Anytime, Sport. You guys take care.” She slapped her steering wheel and screwed up her face. “Oh, dammit. I wanted to have you two sign something back at the house.”
“A blank check?” Cody said
Beverly Sue grinned and poked him in the chest. “I like you.”
“I like you, too, Beverly Sue. We’ll sign something next time, okay?”
“That would be great.”
“Thanks again.” He ducked his head a bit. “Bye, Hortense.”
The dog stared back.
Beverly Sue shrugged. “It takes him time to warm up to people.”
She pulled out of the lot, and he stood watching her go. When her taillights had disappeared behind the tall grasses, he glanced at the Spirit once more before hurrying toward the door and stepping back inside The Rusty Screw.