Free Undead and Unappreciated by MaryJanice Davidson Page B

soon enough. Out with the old, in with the new. And all that.
    “What’s happened?” she cried.
    I sent a fist looping toward her face for an answer, but she was too quick, and next thing I knew I was wrist-deep in the wall.
    “Dammit!” I pulled my hand out and shook the plaster dust off. When I had someone call the headboard repairer, I’d also have them get a wallpaper hanger in here and have someone build a new door.
    But first, back to the business at hand. I looked around for the cross. I could jam that sucker right through her forehead and bye-bye Tina; she’d die screaming and that was fine, as long as she died.
    Ah! There it was, on the floor beside the small table we dumped our house keys on. I bent for it—and Tina grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back so hard I went sailing into the opposite wall.
    “Hey!” Now I really wanted to kill her. “You keep your hands to yourself, you fucking cow.”
    “I’m sorry, Majesty.” She was standing perfectly still, well to the left of the cross. She watched me carefully and with interest, like a cat watches a mouse hole. “But I’m not going to let you kill me. I want to help you. What’s wrong?”
    “Help me by standing still,” I replied, and launched myself at her. And got a kick to the chest for my trouble, and broke a chair as I hit the ground.
    Damn! “You’ve kept in shape the last hundred years or so.”
    “It’s one of the advantages of being immortal,” she said calmly. It was actually sort of impressive how quickly she’d gone from flabbergasted surprise to cool assessment. Like I needed another reason to kill her. “Plenty of time to learn how to fight. What’s happened?”
    “Nothing much. Got some light reading done earlier tonight. The good news is, I know all about my sister. The bad news is, you’re gonna have to go, Tina. Sorry.”
    “She’s gone crazy, Tina, watch out.” I looked. Jessica was standing in one of the doorways, gray-faced and bloody. She had a palm pressed to her forehead, stanching the yummy flow of blood. How had I let her sneak up on us? Son of a bitch! This house had too many people in it, and all but one or two were gonna have to go.
    Jessica swayed a little and clutched the doorframe to steady herself. “I mean really crazy. I think—I think she read the Book for too long.”
    “I gathered. Oh, Majesty.” Tina shook her head. “What are we going to do with you?”
    This was annoying, to put it mildly. “You, shut the fuck up. And get lost; this is vampire business. And you, stand still.” I crossed the room too quickly for Tina to see—except she did see and easily avoided me. That was okay; it brought me much closer to the cross. I bent to get it. I’d ax Tina, and then I’d tool up on Jessica so bad, she’d be more worried about her iron lung than ratting me out ever again.
    I heard the whoosh a split second before I felt the impact. The sun must have come up early, because my skull was filled with light.
    Then the sun fell down. And so did I.

Chapter 13
    I groaned and opened my eyes. The hangover was incredible. Had I read a book or downed a liter of vodka?
    The light made me blink, and I tried to process the eighty zillion thoughts rocketing through my head. There was one tiny bit of good to come out of the whole mess: I knew a lot more about the devil’s daughter. But there were other issues I had to—
    Wait a minute.
    The light ?
    I looked. I was in a small room on the west side of the house; there was no furniture, but it had a good solid oak door. In fact, it was going to be the wine cellar until Sinclair pointed out that we couldn’t keep wine in a room with so much light, the big know-it-all. So the bottles had been moved to the basement, and this room had stood empty and…
    The light.
    It was the sun.
    I climbed to my feet—I was still in my robe—and walked over to the window.
    The sun.
    I stared. Then I stared some more. The big golden ball was just about level with the tree