Sid dragged his gaze away from Scott’s and smirked at me. I shot him a glare but at the same time, had the sudden urge to kiss his grizzled cheek. The old man had probably saved both our lives just moments before. I’d never felt so grateful for anyone in my entire life.
“I’ll have to get me one of those, I suppose,” Scott said, smiling as he pointed at Sid’s staff.
Sid chuckled and dragged his gaze from Scott over to me. “Well, I’m goin’ back to the store. I was just about to lock up when all of this excitement began,” he drawled.
I joined him as he walked to the door, speaking quietly. “How can I thank you enough, Sid? That’s the second time in as many weeks that you’ve saved my life.”
Sid turned to look at me, lifting a bushy gray brow. “You’re safe here and since you included the surrounding areas in your claim, most likely in Frederick as well. What’s gonna happen when you need to leave Prosper Woods, though? You gonna give up those moldy old books?”
I shook my head. “I can’t. My maker left them in my care.”
“What’s in them?” Sid asked.
“You don’t know?” I asked, a little surprised. “I would have thought you would know whatever powers they possess.”
“Whatever powers?” Sid asked. “You mean you don’t know either?”
I shook my head again. “Robert never told me. Only that they held the key to life, and I was never to let them go.”
Sid pursed his lips, glancing over my shoulder and then back at me. He lowered his voice. “I believe they are tutorials to every possible power a vampire can possess. There are hidden powers that vampires aren’t even aware of.”
“He said they were ‘books of life,’ but I didn’t ask what that meant,” I replied, feeling stupid. I should have read them before now.
“Take them home and tuck them away someplace safe where no one will find them,” Sid said. “I’ll come by tonight and put a hex on them so they will remain unseen and unfound even if searched for.”
I clapped my hand on Sid’s shoulder, instantly feeling the surge of power vibrating from the place I touched him. A sliver of bright purple light poked out from between my fingers and his shoulder. I let go, looking over my shoulder to see if Scott had noticed the light. He had his back to us, and I felt instant relief. I didn’t want to keep compelling memories out of him. His brain would turn into a bowl of mushed peas if I did it too much. I’d met human pets of vampires who seemed normal on the outside but when they opened their mouths, nothing but gobbledygook spilled out.
I glanced back at Sid and smiled. “Thank you again, my friend.”
“Yep,” the old man said, leaving the store.
I watched the door close, and then looked down to see my smashed phone. Cursing, I picked up the pieces and looked at the clock. It was time to go online and order a new phone, then call my lover from the store’s landline to make plans to see him this evening. I smiled at the very thought of it.
Chapter Three
Prosper Woods Chronicle. Letters to the editor:
“The high school football team is having a contest to see who can grow their beards the thickest. It’s bad enough that we have to put up with a daily teen wolf convention, but do they have to grow out their nails too?” Signed, “Principal Harry Bush.”
I parked my truck at the entrance of the Hawk Hills mine, and Sally and I climbed out. Reaching into the bed of the truck, I extracted the heavy backpack, hoisting it over my shoulder. I glanced around and spotted Dave’s Jeep parked about twenty feet away. The entrance to the mine surprised me. I hadn’t been sure what to expect but the gaping maw measuring twenty feet wide and about the same in height, hadn’t been what I’d pictured.
The entrance to the mine had been closed up with a combination of chain link fencing and weathered old boards, some of which had been pushed aside, leaving a hole large enough for a man to enter. Large red and white warning signs as well as a singular yellow and black radiation warning symbol had been nailed to the remaining boards. It was clear as a bell to me that the owners of the played-out mine had thought their measures adequate to keep out trespassers.
They sure as hell had never met a determined teenager.
“You ready, Sheriff?” Sally asked, walking toward me around the front of my truck. She was smiling and relaxed and it was still hard for me to believe the conversation we’d just had and the things she’d admitted. I squinted my eyes, trying to picture her as a little round hedgehog and was surprised to find the endeavor paid off. Now that I knew what I knew, I realized she looked a lot like the sweet little creature. In human form she had a plump body and a pointy nose, and now that I thought about it, the tips of her curly auburn hair were a little spiky. I held in a smile. Sally handed me a radio, and my head shot up when there was a whistle.
Dave was walking out of the mine followed by two teen boys. They were both flushed, looking excited as they walked, practically bouncing beside my deputy. I spared a moment to look at the boys and tried to put myself in their place. They’d not only snuck into an old mine where they had
