Driving Mr. Dead (Half Moon Hollow 1.5)

“No way.” I laughed. “He’s from Half-Moon Hollow!”

Collin drew his brows up. “Yes, and you seem very excited about it.”

“We could ask him for a ride,” I said, pulling Collin behind a partition outside the station so we could watch the man discreetly.

“Are you serious?” he scoffed. “You’re nervous driving past a prison, but you’re willing to solicit a ride from a stranger?”

“Don’t say ‘solicit.’ It makes it sound dirty. And something good has to happen tonight, right? What are the odds of someone from the Hollow parking right outside the bus depot when we happen to get off the bus? It’s like a sign. And I don’t even believe in signs.”

“You can’t be serious!” he exclaimed. “What happened to being annoyed by cockeyed optimism?”

“This is more like reckless desperation,” I said. “We’re out of options, unless you’re open to the idea of grand theft auto. We’ve come too far to give up now, Collin. If I backed away, could you get an idea of whether it would work out?”

He nodded, and I made myself busy with the barely functioning soda machine near the door. When I came back, sipping a tepid Coke, Collin was frowning.

“Not him,” he insisted.

“Why not him?”

“He’s a vampire.”

“So are you.”

“But I’m a trustworthy vampire. He’s decidedly … untrustworthy,” he said, glaring in the direction of the El Camino. “Back-alley deals and seedy connections.”

“But no violent tendencies or dead hookers in his trunk?”

“No,” he conceded. “But it’s an El Camino. He doesn’t have a trunk.”

“I’ll be fine, I’m sure. You’ll be right there with me, right?”

“I will, but not where he can see,” Collin grumbled. “If you’re alone, he’ll be more likely to help you. I don’t know if that makes me trust him more or less.”

“So what are you going to do?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” he said. “Just play up your ability to find trouble in an empty room. It will remind him of someone and make him more sympathetic to your plight. I’ll be right behind you. Signal me if you get the least bit uncomfortable.”

“Thank you,” I said as he pecked me on the lips.

“I think this is a terrible idea,” he told me.

“I appreciate your candor. Now, shut the hell up and get out of sight.”

As I approached, the blond vampire shut his cell phone with a curse. I slumped my shoulders and did my best to look beaten and defeated. It wasn’t difficult. I wrung my hands as I approached the car, letting my nervous energy carry me forward, and pitched my voice in a distressed octave.

“Hi. You wouldn’t be from Half-Moon Hollow, would you?”

The vampire’s eyebrow arched. “Are you Frankie’s girl?”

“No. Should I be?”

He huffed out a frustrated growl. “Look, honey, I don’t mean to be rude. But I’m waiting for a guy. Probably would be better if you weren’t here when he shows up.”

“That would be difficult, since I don’t have any way to go … elsewhere. I’m pretty much stuck here without a way home. I was hoping you might be heading back there tonight?”

His mouth was pinched and annoyed, but the sea-water green eyes were soft and just a little concerned. Collin was right; this guy was a marshmallow inside. I launched into my diatribe, letting just a little bit of tear-stained hysteria creep into my voice. “Look, I’m from the Hollow, too. And I hate to ask this of you, but I need a ride home. I got stranded with this guy, and he’s just—gone. He disappeared. Now I’m flat broke, and my car’s in little bitty pieces at the bottom of a ravine, which is OK, because that means I don’t have to explain the boobs on the hood. And there was a washed-out bridge and a scissor-happy hotel clerk and rednecks with silver chains. And I just really need someone to help me. Could you see it in your heart to help out a damsel in distress?”

The green eyes widened, and there was just the hint of a smirk at the corners of his mouth. “Look, sweetheart, about five years ago, I would have eaten you up, but I’m happily married now. I don’t bite and bang anymore—”