Read Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) for Free Online Page A

this hell hole.
    The driver looked like
he had seen better days. The only problem was that those better days
were in the 1950s. He was old, smelled like he was wearing ‘Stale
Cigarette, Body Odor and Scotch No. 5’ cologne. The interior of
the bus was stifling hot and the occupants matched the driver’s
fragrance like it was a competition.
    I found a seat
somewhere in the middle of the bus; far enough away from the driver
that I could breathe without gagging. I sat down and tried to rest my
eyes. Later, how much later I was not sure, I was jolted awake when
the bus came to a sudden halt. The doors opened and a gush of cold
air rushed in. There were four passengers waiting at the tiny
roadside bus stop; an old lady and three hooded figures. The old lady
hobbled down the aisle with her cataract eyes narrowed on the window
seat next to me. I swept my legs into the aisle to allow her entrance
when she stopped short. She stood right next to me while the three
hooded figures lowered their hoods and boarded the bus.
    The first to board the
bus was the boy with the white hair. I sank low into my seat and
covered my face with my hand just as the other two boys followed him
toward me. The second two looked like they were twins, both having
jet black hair and brown eyes. All three of them were dressed in
black jeans and matching hoodies. They walked slowly down the aisle
and appeared to be looking right through me, as if I wasn't there.
They passed, one by one, slowly making eye contact with the old lady.
The old lady, not one to be bullied by young people, simply lifted
her chin and stared until they each took a seat.
    “ Do
you know those young men”, the old lady asked as she was taking
her seat next to me.
    “ No
Ma’am. I don’t know anyone on this bus.”
    “ Well,
you be careful, then. Nothing good comes out of carelessness”,
she finished and promptly went to sleep.
    If she only knew just
how careless I had been hours before. I sighed deeply and tried to
figure out how to lose those three boys during the trip. Pulling out
a small map of the western states, I figured a place like Las Vegas
was as good as any to meet my bio-mom. We were currently in Las
Cruces, New Mexico and traveling West. I wasn’t able to get a
bus that went straight to Vegas. The bus I was on would go through
Arizona and Los Angeles before heading north to Las Vegas. With all
of the stops, this was going to be about a 24 hour trip, and I hoped
it was long enough to formulate a plan.
    I closed my eyes and
slept until the bus came to a stop. It was around 9:00 AM in Tuscon
and we'd been on the cramped bus for almost 7 hours. Not hungry but
desperately in need of a good stretch, I waited until the bus was
only occupied by sleeping passengers before I stepped off into the
cool sunlight. One thing I could say about Arizona was that the air
was crisp and clean. I took several deep breaths to clear my head
before returning to the bus. On the way, I saw the three boys.
Something, though I didn’t know what, told me to avoid them at
all costs. They were standing right next to the entrance, so I wasn’t
sure how I was going to do that.
    “ Nice
day, isn’t it?” the old lady asked from behind me.
    It took everything I
had not to scream out. That old hag was going to be the death of me
if one of us didn’t get off of this bus. I turned slowly to see
her chomping on a carrot and eyeing me with amusement. I took a
moment to get a good look at her. She was about 5 feet tall with a
slight hunchback. Her hair was not entirely gray, more like salt and
pepper in color, and it lay on her back in a long braid. She must
have weighed about 100 pounds but she looked like she was wearing
every stitch of clothing that she owned. The longer I looked at her,
the more familiar she felt, like an old comfortable sweatshirt. Her
eyes held mine and my shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. Although I
didn’t know why, this old lady was okay.
    “ It
would be nicer if we would