Free Wombstone (The Vampireland Series) by Jessica Roscoe Page A

heard rain. The whole room shook in the wind. Blinking wearily, I reached for one of the folded beige towels on the sink and wrapped it around my dripping hair. I wrapped the other towel around my torso, took one last look in the filthy, foggy mirror, straightened my shoulders, and ventured out of the bathroom.He had taken the bloodstained sheets off the bed while I was showering. They were balled up in the corner of a room that was tiny. A double bed on one side, a small sofa and an ancient–looking TV set bolted to the wall on the other. In between, a door that led to the outside world.“I got you some clothes to wear.” He gestured to the neatly folded pile on the end of the unmade bed. I took them back into the bathroom and quickly slipped them on – a black fitted camisole, dark denim jeans and a pair of bright red Havaianas that were two sizes too big for my feet. No bra or underwear, but the camisole was thick and supportive enough to leave something to the imagination. I refolded the damp towels and closed the bathroom door behind me.“Someone is on the way to get us.”I nodded.“Are you – thirsty?”I walked gingerly to the sink, filled a tumbler with water, and gulped it down. Then refilled it.“No,” I said.“Hungry?”“Nope.”I sat on the edge of the bed, then got up and looked out of the window. We were on the ground floor of what looked like a horseshoe–shaped arrangement of motel rooms. The plastic sign out front read La Guena Mexica . Where the hell are we? “Mexico.”I dropped the glass, startled. It bounced on the thin carpet but didn’t smash, water sloshing onto my feet and the ground.“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”“How did you –”He started towards me, but stopped in the middle of the room. I can't say I had the most receptive expression on my face.“We're linked,” he explained softly, pointing to his head, then mine.“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I scowled at him.“Think of something,” he offered.I threw out some random thoughts. Cheese. The Eiffel tower. My cat, Polly.“I prefer mozzarella. I've been there twice. I’m more of a dog person.”I sat back, stunned.“I don't want you to do that anymore,” I said. “If you want to help me, don't ever do that again.”“Okay” he said. “I'll try. But it's kind of like a two–way radio. Sometimes I can't help but pick up the signal.”“Well, maybe you should try harder,” I said forcefully.
    I heard a faint thumpthumpthump and looked around to see where it was coming from. Sure enough, my eyes landed on the large mason jar from Caleb’s room, the jar that contained the human heart. The still beating human heart. It was sitting neatly on the sink, as if it belonged in the room with us. I felt bile rush up in my throat and fought to swallow it back.
    Ryan saw my face and grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed, draping it over the jar.
    “I can still hear it,” I said quietly. He didn’t answer me.
    “You want to go grab something to eat? Our lift is still a few hours away.”I looked around helplessly.“What is it?” Thanks for not reading my mind . “What are we going to eat?”“Food?”“It’s just –”“I can give you more blood if you think you need it. Try listening to your body. Do you feel like a burger? Or do you feel like something else?”Ugh. I could guess what the something else was. The same something that had been fed to me as I fought off death. My stomach rumbled loudly. “Burger,” I decided.He opened the door with one hand, and passed me a pair of dark sunglasses and a baseball cap with the other. “Here. Put these on. It's pretty bright out there.”And I stepped willingly into the day, a newborn vampire with an ache in my belly and trepidation in my heart.

FOURTEEN

    The diner was only a few hundred meters away from the motel room, so the rain didn’t affect us too much. I ordered onion rings, a large bacon cheeseburger with the lot, and curly fries. My