Honkytonk Hell: A Dark and Twisted Urban Fantasy (The Broken Bard Chronicles Book 1) eden Hudson (best book club books txt) 📖

Tucson, Fort Worth, and New Orleans, and pictures of fallen angels she’d met along the way. Every so often, she had a rant about the worthlessness of human men.

After a while, I gave up on Tempie’s blog and went to the message boards for people whose family members had been enthralled. No new studies or helpful articles, just the usual suicide-watch posts about dealing with cast-off familiars.

One guy had written, U gotta think creatively. NEthing can b a weapon n there hands.

Twelve hundred and forty-one commenters backed that up with detailed examples. Some of them made me sick, but I couldn’t stop reading. What if I didn’t read this one about drain-cleaning liquid and it turned out Tempie was already a familiar and then, when I finally got her home, she tried that?

I checked my eyes in the front window of the bakery. I didn’t look too much like I was about to cry, but I did wonder how long I’d been there. Sometime while I was reading, evening had crept up on me.

“Closing time.”

I gasped and jumped like some kind of cartoon. I hadn’t heard Tiffani come up beside me and she didn’t show up in the window. She was staring at the screen of my computer. I snapped it shut.

“You don’t have to go home,” she said. “But get the hell out.”

“Okay. Sorry, I lost track of time.” I slid my computer into my backpack and zipped the compartment.

“How long have you been in town?” Tiffani asked.

My heart started pounding.

“Why, have you seen me before? I mean, a girl who looks like me?” I pulled the graduation photo of Tempie out of my back pocket and shoved it at the vamp. “Did she come in here? She really loves strawberries, so she probably ordered one of those strawberry tarts or something with that strawberry butter. How long ago did you see her?”

Tiffani’s black, perfectly shaped eyebrows almost touched. “I just asked how long you’d been in town.”

“Just since this—”

Her nostrils flared. Here she was sniffing me and I was telling her I hadn’t been in town long and wouldn’t be missed.

All of a sudden, the bakery’s tall tables and slick, black-seated booths looked very, very empty. I bet she had furnished the place with all that vinyl so blood would wipe right off. And I bet nobody would hear me scream through those brick walls.

“There’s someone waiting for me,” I said.

Tiffani shook her head.

“You don’t lie to a vamp, hon. We can hear your heart beating.” She tapped her nose. “And I got the super-smell. You haven’t been in regular contact with anyone for a very long time. Do your folks even know where you are?”

I swallowed hard. Clutched my backpack and stared at the door. Running wouldn’t work. Even a slow vamp was faster than a human.

What was it Coach C had always said in P.E./Self-Defense? The way to protect yourself from undead NPs was to remember the three Bs.

Except I couldn’t think of any Bs.

“B-back off,” I stuttered. There’s a B for you. “Or I’ll, uh, stake you.”

Tiffani rolled her brassy eyes.

“Get out,” she said.

I started to. Then it occurred to me that no matter where I went, they were going to require cash. I looked over my shoulder.

Tiffani was standing with her hand on the lock, watching me go.

“Forget something?” she asked.

I shook my head.

She started to close the door.

“I just wondered, um, if you wanted to buy any blood,” I said.

Tiffani laughed in a joke’s-on-you kind of way. “Every vamp in Halo has a regular food source, kid. You’ve heard about the NP-human protection rules Kathan set up to keep the tourists safe?”

I shook my head.

“All human residents of Halo provide goods or services to their NP protectors,” she said. “With vamps that’s usually blood.”

“But what if you wanted a snack for some time when your person was sick or something?” I asked. “Or maybe just for a changeup?”

Tiffani looked at me the way she had when I ordered a plain bread knot and tap water.

“Do you have a kit?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“I do, upstairs,” she said, holding the door open. “Work your hand while I get it. I don’t have the patience right now to go through ten veins before I find one that’ll fill a bag.”

Tough

Harper’s voice woke me up.

“Come on, Jax!” She was downstairs, probably standing between him and the television. It must’ve been getting late if she was trying to talk him into going to the bar. “You never want to go out when Logan lets me have the night off.”

I sat up and leaned into the fan. It was just blowing hot air around, but it dried up the sweat. Earlier, I’d had a few beers and tried to sleep through the hottest part of the day. Must’ve worked—it was getting dark outside and inside the temp had dropped to around a thousand degrees. I tied up the sheet over my window to let some of the stale air out of my room.

Jax’s voice blended into the sound of the fan, but I could guess what he was telling Harper.

“I’ll ask Tough,” she pouted. “He’ll go with me.”

Jax’s voice got a little louder, saying something about how I probably would go with her and thank God for me. They both knew that even though Morning Fang wasn’t my band anymore, I couldn’t stay away from music. It was like I was addicted or something.

I ran my hand through my hair and pulled on my jeans. Jax could kind of be a dick when he wanted to finish a game and Harper wouldn’t leave him alone, which usually meant I had about ten seconds before—

My bedroom door opened and Harper