Free Undead for a Day by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Nancy Holder Chris Marie Green Page A

sheltered, with cameras acting as a lookout until sunup. But next Samhain, would she and her loved ones have to go through all this again?
    Would she always be hiding?
    Dawn was still thinking it over when Natalia knocked on her open door, then wandered inside.
    Her plaid skirt was wrinkled, as if she’d been clenching at it, and her already-wild curls were escaping the band in her hair, one by one.
    “May I talk to you?” she asked.
    Dawn could pretty much guess what this was about, but she nodded, anyway, motioning for Natalia to take a seat on the bed.
    She didn’t. Obviously, she was too anxious to relax.
    “I have a favor to ask of you,” she said.
    “You want me to persuade Kik to stay out of the thick of this if we confront the Meratoliages.”
    Natalia smiled wanly. “Maybe you’re the one who’s psychic.”
    Dawn leaned back against the wall, her gaze trained on a painting that depicted a serene wash of water running down the canvas. It was supposed to calm her soul stain, but it’d never quite done the trick. “If I was psychic, I’d know whether to run or stay.”
    “It’s not an easy decision. But I hope the one I’m asking you to make is...”
    “Easier?” Dawn crossed her arm over her chest, absently resting her hand on her shoulder—the one that’d been bitten earlier in the night. Maybe she just needed to feel a little pain to remind her of the exponential amount that could be in store for anyone who came with her if she confronted the Meratoliages.
    Natalia seemed to think that Dawn was being stubborn, and her tone tightened. “I cannot compete with this, Dawn. It’s almost as if Kiko has a first love, and she’s not me.”
    Dawn’s hand fell from her shoulder. “What’re you saying?”
    “I’m not accusing you of anything. Please understand that. But long before I came into Kiko’s life, he was infatuated with hunting. And you’re a part of that for him. I know you need help tonight, but if you could encourage him to stay in the background as much as he can...”
    “You don’t want him to endanger himself. I get it.”
    Natalia only nodded.
    So this was it. The true end of the line for Kiko.
    “I won’t involve him,” Dawn said, feeling as if something had already been taken from her.
    She didn’t have a soul stain right now, but she had a heart that was getting rawer by the second.
    After Natalia thanked her and left, Dawn rested her head against the wall, glancing out the window, feeling the tick-tock of the seconds running by toward the sunrise.
    Well, there it was. Another part of her past gone. The thing was, she wasn’t sure what life would be like without the guy who’d become one of her best friends.
    Her fellow slayer, not by her side anymore.
    She knew she wasn’t alone when Costin sidled up to her, caressing her hair with his invisible force.
    She didn’t want to think about the sadness or even feel it when she probably had just this one night to escape from all that.
    But the imprint of sadness was there, anyway.
    “If you’re here, who’s with Lilly?” she asked.
    “Jonah has a revolver pointed at her for insurance. He is feeling much better and cannot seem to stay in bed.”
    “Stubborn donkey.”
    Costin nuzzled her neck, and she felt her defenses lower.
    “You’ve decided?” he asked.
    Stay here for good and play it safe? Or take the ultimate initiative?
    “I keep going back and forth on this,” she said.
    “You need a calmer mind, yes?”
    “I need a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get them.”
    He chuckled, an airy pressure against her neck that sent a spiral of yearning through her.
    “Perhaps I can help in at least one area....” he said.
    When Costin eased into her, she sucked in a sharp breath, turning around and grasping for the wall.
    This was the first time in a long time she’d felt him without the soul stain interfering, and it was as if she was experiencing a new rush of electric shock, of knee-melting, aching