Read Dirty Blood for Free Online Page B

over at me with a wicked grin.
“Scared?”
    “No, but you’re going to get a ticket if you keep it
up.”
    He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
    “How do you know?”
    He didn’t answer, but I saw the speedometer creep
down by a few degrees. I relaxed my death grip on the armrest by a
few inches.
    “Where are we going?” I asked a few minutes later.
We’d turned off the highway a couple miles back and had taken a
series of turns onto various back roads. Sad to say, I didn’t even
know where we were, anymore.
    “I told you - to see a friend.”
    The back road we were following now had sections of
open fields interspersed with even larger sections of woods in
between. I’d long since realized this “friend” didn’t live nearby,
but I was starting to wonder exactly how far out we were going.
Rather than ask again – since I was pretty sure he’d said all he
would about our destination – I decided to use the time to learn
all I could about the new me. “You mentioned something about
needing to know what side I’d be on. What does that mean?”
    “It means there’s a chance I could wind up at the
wrong end of your stake. And I’d prefer to know that ahead of time,
if you don’t mind.”
    My eyes widened. “You think I’d kill you?”
    His lips curved up in a wry smile. “You could try.
Then again, with no training it’s unlikely you’d make it that far.
Something you should think about.”
    “Training? Why?”
    “Liliana wasn’t looking for you. She found you by
accident. It’s just a matter of time until it happens again.”
    “So you think I should train to fight …them?” I
couldn’t bring myself to put Wes into the same category as Liliana.
“Who would train me?”
    “Your parents-” he began.
    I shook my head. “My mom is not an option. I don’t
even want to think about what she would say if I tried telling her
a story like this.”
    “Your dad, then.”
    “My dad died when I was a baby. House fire.”
    Wes didn’t answer right away. He seemed to be
struggling with his next words and I tensed, waiting for him to ask
me more about it but he didn’t. “I might know someone else.”
    “Uh-huh and how exactly does one train to kill a
Werewolf?”
    “Simulated fights, a lot like the one you had last
night. Running. Exercise. Staying in shape. Conditioning.” He
shrugged. “Think of it as UFC training or something.”
    “Great. It sounds…”
    “Useful?”
    “Time consuming. I wouldn’t be able to explain
something like that to people. Besides-” My phone beeped with a new
text. I flipped it open. It was Angela, checking up on me. I typed
a response that I was sleepy and knocked out on cold medicine,
hoping it would keep her from calling, or worse showing up at my
house. The last thing I needed was for her to realize something was
up. I clicked send and snapped the phone shut again.
    Through the windshield I could see we were coming up
on a section of woods again and I tried to push back the unease
that was growing within me. The area was remote and unfamiliar to
me. I didn’t want to think about how I’d get home if I had to leave
in a hurry. I shifted in my chair, trying to relieve the pressure
that was turning painful from the plunger handles against my
back.
    Without warning, Wes’ foot stomped down on the brake,
throwing me forward against my seat belt. My head jerked up to see
what had made him stop so suddenly. A massive black wolf stood in
the middle of the road several yards away; even from this distance,
I could see that its head would easily reach my shoulders, maybe
higher. It stared back at us with yellow, unblinking eyes, and it
made no attempt to move out of our way as the car finally skidded
to a halt.
    “What the heck?” I shrieked, clutching at the dash
board against the momentum of the brakes.
    Wes didn’t answer. The wolf was staring straight at
Wes. It didn’t even seem to notice me. Their eyes remained locked
for a long moment and then,