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

There was still time to stop this. I could put a stake through Tough’s heart and burn his body before he came back. But he looked so much like Shannon lying there, and he’d been so sure he could get Colt away from Mikal.

I flicked my filter into the tub and grabbed some toilet paper to wipe my eyes. One of the great things about being a vampire is not having to worry about smeared makeup. The vamp venom gives your skin a more even tone and undeath means no new wrinkles or blemishes. Of course, if you want a haircut, you had better get one you’re ready to stick with. After that initial post-death skin tightening, your hair and your fingernails never grow again.

I stood up and found a pair of needle nose pliers in the sink drawer. Tilted Tough’s head back and held his mouth open with my thumb while I pried the canines out of his upper jaw. It hurts like hell to feel your fangs force your canines out. I always figured if I ever made anyone I’d save them the trouble, but pulling teeth was harder than it looked. Tough’s left canine was already loose—maybe from that beating he took—but the right one really had some roots. It cracked and broke off when I tried to get a better grip.

“Damn it.”

Well, it was probably better than nothing.

I washed my hands and the pliers, then reached for the door knob. It’s eerie being in a room with a corpse. Makes you feel as if you need to talk out loud. Explain yourself.

“Going to go get some blood,” I said. “You’re going to be starving when you wake up.”

Tough

I can’t think about that yet. Maybe I won’t ever be able to. But I know why vamps hate holy things now. Crosses, Bibles, holy water don’t burn them—us—they don’t burn us. It hurts in their soul, remembering they gave that up.

Oh, God. I gave that up.

Tiffani

“Stop, Tough,” I yelled. “Let it go. You have to let Him go.”

Even though my mouth was next to Tough’s ear, he didn’t hear me. I tightened my arms around his throat and stomach and braced my feet against the base of the toilet. He bit me and twisted until he smacked his head against the tub.

“Listen to me, you little bastard!” I wrenched his head back and smashed it into the tub again. A fractured skull would slow him down. “It’s gone. It’s never coming back. You have to let it go. You’ll just make it that much harder on yourself if you don’t.”

Good thing I had kept the old cast-iron claw foot instead of updating the whole bathroom. I doubt porcelain or tile could stand up to something as hard as a twenty-something-year-old boy’s head.

One last solid hit. I let Tough drop and put one knee up on the edge of the tub. Good thing, too, that he hadn’t had any blood yet, the crow magic was only half-done. Until then, he was still in that middle ground between dead and undead, and I could still knock him unconscious. My jeans and shirt were ruined, though. I should have gotten undressed again when I heard Tough waking up. Should’ve remembered how violent making a male vamp is.

My connection with Mitzi opened.

You made Tough? She was pouting. I wanted to make him!

Sounds like something he’d trust you to do after you let Jason steal his voice, I said.

Jason can actually make something out of that voice without getting dragged back to Halo, she said. If anything, we did Tough a favor. Now the world can hear him sing.

Yeah, you’re saints.

My foot slipped a little in the mess.

Kind of knee-deep right now, huh? Mitzi sounded more amused than sympathetic.

More like ankle-deep, I said.

Shit’s shit, no matter how deep.

Tell me about it, I said. What was the name of that last guy you made?

There in Halo? Finn.

Finn. Not much going on upstairs, but easy on the eyes.

That’s why I liked him, Mitzi said. She checked out the scene through my eyes. I always thought Tough was all right. You know, minus the shit. But that’ll wash off.

I shrugged. Jailbait’s your thing.

We used to call them innocents, Mitzi said. A few more years and he might’ve filled out into something more your style. Then he could’ve taken St. Lover-boy’s place mooning over you.

I bit back what I wanted to say. Vamps mature as they get older. They gain strength, speed, and cunning, get a better handle on their reflexes, hone their abilities. Mitzi was at least twice my age. I didn’t want to start something I couldn’t finish.

Tough’s body started struggling to breathe again as he regained consciousness.

Got to go, I told Mitzi. Time for round two.

Have fun.

The connection closed. I kneeled on Tough’s throat and got a slimy handful of hair.

“All right, kid, listen up.” He gritted his teeth, but his arms were still trying to get ahold of something. I yanked his hair. “You think that crack in your head hurts healing up? It’s about to hurt a lot worse if you don’t stop fighting me. Got it?”

He almost threw me off, so I hit him in the nose. The bone crunched under the heel of my hand and the rotting blood-like venom that’s inside of vampires seeped out of his right nostril.

“Get control of yourself, Tough, or I swear I’ll end you. Give me some kind of sign that you heard me.”

There was an unfolding sensation in my brain. A new connection.

Tough

What was I supposed to do, sing her a song? Say something clever?

Smartass. Tiffani’s voice was like a radio turning