Page 35 of Stripped

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Want to tell me what we're doing here?” Zane asked. He peered through the windshield of his truck at the dilapidated trailer in a row of dilapidated trailers. Most of them looked uninhabitable, but I had a feeling someone had made a home in them.

“Not really,” I said. “Can you just have my back?”

He didn't hesitate. “Of course. I've always got your back.”

Damn that felt good. I'd had boyfriends and friends, not a ton, but enough, but no one I'd felt as confident about as I did Zane, no one I trusted as much. I shouldn't trust him, I barely knew him, but I did. I just knew he was good people, trustworthy, as well as I knew my own middle name was O'Neal. “I don't know if she'll be home, but if she sees you with me, she'll—”

“I get it. I'll wait outside, watch for trouble. You yell if you need anything.”

I climbed out of the truck and waded through tall grass to the trailer. I'd been there once before, when Emily had just gotten back from her first stint in rehab and we thought she'd stay clean. There was no rehab for vampire junkies, but Emily had hoped human rehab for drugs would work. At first it had. Then the anniversary of her boyfriend's death came around and she didn't know how to handle the pain without finding some way to numb it. She'd gone back to the vamps. I knew what I was about to do would be as useful as banging my head against a brick wall, but I couldn't walk away and forget her. I needed to know I'd done everything I could.

I knocked at the door and, when no one answered, I let myself in. The inside of the trailer was clean, but cluttered, with dirty clothes on the floor and empty take-out containers covering the coffee table. “Emily?” I called.

I stepped farther into the trailer and heard the water turn off. I shoved a coat and hat to the side and sat on the couch to wait. When Emily emerged from the back half of the trailer, she looked good, her hair combed, her clothes neat. She jumped when she saw me, startled, then she slapped a hand to her chest and laughed. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her laugh. “Abby, you scared me out of my skin.”

“I knocked, but you were in the shower, so I figured I'd wait here.”

She nodded and crossed the small room to stand in front of me. She looked better than she'd looked in a long time. Her eyes were clear and her skin was a healthy cream, instead of gray. “It's good to see you. I'm sorry about your club.”

Small town grape vine, there was nothing like it. “That's why I'm here. There's a new club in town and I wanted to—”

“I know,” she said. “Leopold's place. I'm working there.”

My heart dropped to my toes. “They're vampires, Emily. They can compel you to do whatever they want, they can take away your will—”

She laughed, a harsh, raspy sound. “What will, Abby? We both know I've been a ghost since Bernard died.” Her voice tripped over his name, even after all these years. “I've had nothing, but the never-ending craving for oblivion.” She sat down next to me on the couch and showed me her neck, there were two perfect perforations there, the bite from a vampire. “I know you won't understand, but when I left your place the other night, I met a guy, a vampire, he offered to promote me to something better than a blood groupie. He bit me and I…” She looked toward the ceiling, a smile tickling her lips. “My mind cleared and I felt happy, really happy for the first time in… I can't remember when. He offered me a job dancing and I want to do it, not because he wants me to do it, but because I miss dancing. I actually want to dance again.” She shook her head, her expression one of wonder. “I've been bitten by a lot of vampires but none who make me feel the way he does.”

Now that I knew about the vampire venom, her addiction and newfound happiness made a bit more sense, but I didn't trust it would last. “He can compel you, Emily. He can make you do anything he tells you to do. Anything.”

She looked at me and I saw the shadows in her eyes, the coldness. “Do you have any idea the things I've done for the vamps before this? I'll do whatever he wants willingly in exchange for getting myself back, in exchange for being able to live without pain.” She shook her head. “I know you don't get it, but trust me, Abby. Trust me and be happy for me. This guy is different, he really cares about me.”

Outside, a car horn honked. “I've got to go.” She threw her arms around me in a quick hug and raced out the door. I followed, having absolutely no clue what to think. I was so glad to see Emily happy, but I was terrified of what might happen to her.

I got outside in time to see a black sedan peel away from the trailer park. Zane stepped out of the shade of the trailer. “Your girl just left with a vamp.”

“I know. She says it's what she wants. She says it makes her happy.”

“You think she's been compelled?”

“I think it doesn't matter. She was a vamp addict one heavy feeding away from death, if she's found peace with this vampire I can't argue it might be more dangerous than what she's been doing. I'm not even sure she won't be okay. Leopold is a douche, but maybe… Maybe this other vamp will take her under his wing and keep her safe.” I knew I was grasping at straws, trying to be okay with a situation I couldn't control. Zane's skeptical expression let me know what he thought of the situation. “Even if it's the worst thing in the world for her, I can't stop her unless I kidnap her and lock her in one of your cages.”

He pulled me into a sideways hug and gave me a squeeze. “Where to next?”

“Maybe shopping for new clothes?”

“We should drive to Mesa Bluff to shop for clothes. We've seen too many people, and Leopold is going to get wind of you being back in town and I'd—”

“Okay. Maybe we could have dinner there, too?”

***

“How about this?” Zane asked. He held up a loudly striped blouse with every color of the rainbow and fur on the collar.

I walked over and stroked the furry collar like I adored it. “So soft. You really get my style.”

His eyes widened for just a moment before he caught on. “I thought it would help you fit in with the other furry folks in the village.”

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