Free Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson Page A

she shut her mouth with a snap.
    Nick and I looked at each other, then at Jessica. I felt sorry for her. She really did try to
    keep Nick out of the vampire stuff, telling him only what she absolutely thought he needed
    to know.
    And of course, she didn't get into the gory details of Nick's terror and hatred of me, just
    made the occasional reference to it. She was a good dancer. And it was too bad she had to
    dance at all. I mean, more than the normal amount any best friend does when balancing a
    lifelong friendship with a new love affair.
    "Why don't we get in the car," I suggested, "and Jess goes back in the house, and the three of us pretend the last forty-five seconds never happened."
    "Deal."
    "Deal."
    Nick started up his SedanMobile as I waved to Jess, who was back on the porch and
    anxiously waving back.
    "Betsy! Let's go!"
    "Your car," I told him, gingerly climbing into the front seat, "smells like ass."

Chapter 23
    "Man, that was bad. We coulda handled that one better. A lot better."
    "What are you talking about, 'we'? I'm not the one who completely screwed that one up.
    Hey, Jess gets full disclosure from me, pal."
    "Oh fucking bullshit," he snapped, almost running down a squirrel. He turned onto Grand
    Avenue, where he'd have better luck with hapless pedestrians. "You told me yourself after
    that – after that business around your wedding that you kept her out of the vampire stuff."

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    "After I cured her terminal illness, you mean? Is that what you're referring to?" My voice was so sugary it would have given a diabetic an instant attack. I normally wouldn't bring it
    up, especially since I had no idea how I'd done it, but hey, Nick was bigger than me, and
    smarter. And armed. And he hated me. "Sure, Sinclair and I keep her out of it – keep her
    out in the sense of actually, physically keeping her out of it. But I still tell her everything."
    "Nnmph," he grunted. Then, "Put on your seat belt."
    "Please. Would you really give a gold-plated crap if I was launched screaming through
    your windshield?"
    "State law."
    Oh. Right. I, the Minnesota law-abiding vampire queen, obediently buckled up.
    "She's got enough to worry about," he finally (lamely) said.
    "You big liar! You're using me to ramp your solve rate, and I might get hideously mangled
    or killed. That's what you don't want her to 'worry' about."
    "Ramp my solve rate?" He slid over two streets and merged onto I-94. "Betsy, stop
    watching NYPD Blue reruns."
    "I don't! On purpose."
    He groaned. "Please don't explain that."
    "But Marc has a big crush on Sipowicz, and he's always hoping to see the man's butt
    again, and I can't help it if every time I go into the TV room or his room or one of the
    parlors, he's playing the DVDs."
    "Well, if you're so damn sure I'm up to no good, how come you're here?"
    "You know why."
    "Enlighten me."
    "Stop it."
    "C'mon, I'm serious."
    I stared at him. He stared back with his blank cop's face. Truth? Lie? Somewhere in
    between? I bet he could take a polygraph and never, what was the cop phrase? Never
    bounce a needle.
    "I'm here to prove to you that I'm no danger to you, that we could be friends if you didn't
    shrivel with horror at the thought, that vampires can be good guys, too." I said it all in a
    rush, and it came out sounding like my drunken Marilyn Monroe impersonation.
    "Yeah, you're going to have to slow that one down and run it by me again."
    "I'm. Here. To. Prove. That. I'm. No. Danger. And. We. Can. Be. Friends. If. You. Didn't.
    Shrivel."
    "That's okay, I think I can piece together the rest. Trouble is, blondie, why should I ever
    believe anything you tell me, ever again?"
    "Oh, jeez!" I threw my hands up in the air. "How long are you going to hold that one thing against us? I've told you and told you, I was a new vampire and didn't know the rules!"
    "Yeah, so you fucking mind-raped me."
    I noticed that, like me, he