Read Dirty Blood for Free Online Page A

Wes asked, immediately. He
looked more curious than suspicious, though.
    I hadn’t doubted Wes would have heard me and my reply
was dismissive. “Oh, nothing, I dropped my compact in the sink,” I
said, smoothly. “Eye shadow everywhere. It’s going to take forever
to clean that up.”
    He raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. “Let’s
go.”
    I thought about scribbling a note for my mom, but
then decided against it. I had my cell if she tried to call, and I
planned on being back before her, anyway. Her rules said that if
you were too sick to go to school, you were too sick to hang out
with friends. And even though I didn’t feel like Wes was exactly a
friend, I didn’t think she’d see it my way. Nor was I ready to
explain it to her. I closed the door behind me and locked it.
Turning the key in the bolt made me think of something. “Hey, how’d
you get in if the door was locked before….?” I trailed off as I
turned.
    Wes was standing at the edge of the yard, next to
what I could only assume was his car. I guess I hadn’t thought
about how we’d travel. Maybe, after learning what I had about
mythical creatures, I assumed we’d run, or fly, or something
equally magical. Instead, he stood holding the passenger door of
the nicest and most expensive car I’d ever seen. The memories I’d
regained of last night hadn’t included this and I could only assume
I’d been too out of it to notice it then.
    It was silver and sleek, and screamed speed. Beyond
that, I had no idea what it was but I gawked anyway. “What is
that?”
    “A car,” he said, obviously amused.
    I walked toward it, still staring at the sleek lines.
We just didn’t have cars like this in Frederick Falls. “I know
that. What kind of car?”
    “Aston Martin, Volante.”
    I had heard of the first but not the second. At his
gesture I slid into the passenger seat and he shut the door. I
inhaled the scent of ‘new car’ and reached for my seat belt as he
came around and slid into the driver’s seat.
    “How old are you?” I asked.
    “Old enough to drive,” he replied, turning the key in
the ignition. The car’s engine purred to life; even the sound of it
was sleek, like a cat’s purr.
    “Is this your dad’s car?”
    He looked offended. “No, it’s mine.”
    “Did you go to school around here?”
    “Homeschooled.”
    For some reason, that was all it took to raise my
suspicions about myths and legends and gory B movies. “How old are
you?” I asked, my head cocked to one side.
    “Nineteen.”
    “And how long have you been nineteen?”
    He looked at me like I had a screw loose. “Since I
haven’t been eighteen?”
    “So, you’ve been on this planet for nineteen
years?”
    “That’s usually what an age implies.” He had his head
angled in such a way that I couldn’t quite see his expression, but
it sounded like he was trying not to laugh. A minute later he
added, “What’s with the twenty questions?”
    I felt slightly stupid for assuming… I didn’t really
want to admit what I’d just been thinking, so I said, “I’ve just
never seen such a nice car, especially driven by someone my
age.”
    “Trust fund,” he said, keeping his eyes on the
road.
    The ride was smooth and quiet and made me feel like
the tires were floating over the ground. Maybe there was magic
involved after all. Or maybe this car was amazing. He turned the
heat on and then pressed another small button near my seat. “This
is your seat warmer. You can turn it off if it gets too hot.”
    I nodded. Seat warmer? Wow, my mom’s Taurus had two
vents on my side of the car, and I thought that was
luxury.
    He navigated through my neighborhood and then turned
us onto Route 1, away from town. Light traffic turned into almost
no traffic as we got further out. Wes increased our speed and the
other cars dropped away. As leafless trees and winter-deadened
scenery rushed by faster and faster, I glanced at the speedometer
and gasped.
    “Slow down!”
    He looked