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his car without
    permission, not that he'd grant it to her if
    she asked. But, they needed a car.
    “That won't be a problem, will
    it?” Thane asked.
    Hell yes! “No. No problem. We
    just need to make sure we get back
    before Mr. McGregor does.” Or you can
    bury me next to your prince.
    “Hey, trust me. You won't get
    into any trouble with me around,”
    Garren said.
    She was probably going to regret
    hearing those words.
    Thane sat down in his seat and
    pulled out a book from the pile. Garren
    was already seated with his friends
    without so much as a ‘see you later’.
    She dragged herself over to
    Garren's table to take their order.
    “We'll have four burgers, fries,
    and sodas,” Garren said.
    “Wait,” Bonnie said. “I'll have a
    salad instead, ranch dressing on the side,
    no tomatoes, cucumbers— cubed not
    sliced— and a lemon water instead of a
    soda.” She was surprised she didn't
    specify the exact number of croutons she
    wanted and where they should be
    placed.
    “Just catsup on my burger,”
    Keith said.
    “I want everything but lettuce on
    mine.” Morgan smiled before turning
    back to Bonnie.
    “That will be all, wench. You
    may expedite yourself now,” Keith said
    with a wave of his hand.
    “I
    think
    you
    might
    mean
    'extricate',” she said. “You know, you
    should consider sticking to single
    syllable
    words
    before
    you
    hurt
    yourself.”
    As she turned away to scribble
    down the orders, she didn't miss the
    glare Garren threw at her. It wasn't her
    fault his friends were idiots.
    “Hey, Garren. Did you hear
    there's a vampire in town?” Keith asked.
    She paused to eavesdrop while
    covertly doodling on the notepad.
    “Really? How do you know?”
    “My mom checked him into our
    hotel. Says he isn't planning on staying
    long.”
    “Do you think I can meet him?”
    Bonnie asked, way too much excitement
    in her voice.
    Ivy rolled her eyes. Idiot .
    “I don't know. Why?” Keith said.
    “I heard vampire bites are totally
    orgasmic and I've been dying to find out.
    Since they rarely come here, this might
    be the only chance I get.”
    Ivy was surprised that she hadn’t
    seen any vampires in Salmagundi when
    she first arrived, especially with the
    Eradicators cutting their numbers down
    more and more every year.
    “Are you insane?” Garren asked.
    “Have you ever been bitten by anything
    before? It doesn't feel good.”
    “Besides,”
    Morgan
    added,
    “You’re the wrong type of human.
    Vampires can't drink from witches, only
    Banes. Something about our magic
    making them sick.”
    “I know, but couldn’t hurt to
    offer, right?” Bonnie said.
    Unable to stomach anymore of
    their asinine conversation, Ivy continued
    on her way to the kitchen. She'd be
    doing evolution a favor if she got
    herself eaten by a vampire.
    She leaned into the kitchen
    window and read her order to the chef.
    “I need a hockey puck, painted red. Burn
    one and pin a rose on it. Walk a cow
    through the garden and one cow feed
    with the ranch in the alley.” The best
    part about working there was the diner
    lingo.
    Leaning back against the wall,
    she closed her eyes. Her feet and back
    were aching, and her eyelids felt twenty
    pounds heavier. Despite being desperate
    for money, she was about to ask Chef
    Bob for the rest of the night off when
    Keith waved her over.
    She walked up as he pounded the
    bottom of the catsup bottle. “It's stuck,”
    he said.
    You don’t say.
    Before she could take the bottle
    from him, he gave it one last hard whack
    and shot the contents all over her
    uniform. She looked like she'd been
    stabbed in the gut.
    She was mortified when not only
    their
    table,
    but
    the
    surrounding
    customers started laughing. Clenching
    her jaw to keep herself from either
    crying or beating the crap out of him, she
    retreated to the kitchen to clean up.
    She grabbed a towel and
    furiously swiped at the red blob. “Stupid
    people, stupid diner, stupid… life.” She
    tossed the rag on the