Free Bloody Acquisitions (Fred Book 3) by Drew Hayes Page B

inches away. “You said us. Does that mean you’d come, too?”
    “You know how my job works; it doesn’t matter much where I call home. And I’m already packed up anyway. Plus, I love Boarback. I wouldn’t mind coming home to it at the end of my missions, especially if my boyfriend was already here waiting for me.” Krystal leaned in closer, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “I was going to ease you into this, Freddy, not come on right away with the hard sell. We’ve got a day and a half left here, so just think it over. Take the town in; imagine what it would be like to live here. That’s all I’m asking.”
    “I’ll keep an open mind.” I kissed her, partly out of affection, partly because I genuinely had no idea what else to say. Krystal made good points, and if she thought there was reason to worry, then I had no doubt there was. Still, Winslow was my home, and while I’ve never been ashamed to admit that I am a coward by nature, the idea of being forced out of my town left a hard pit in my stomach.
    But that feeling was nothing compared to the wave of nerves that washed over me when I imagined an entire clan of vampires, all of them Quinn in my head, discussing exactly how to deal with a vampire already operating on their turf.
     
     

4.
     
    By the time we’d composed ourselves and made it downstairs, the others were already waiting, so we cut a quick pace to the diner. Though I asked, and everyone agreed it had once had a more formal name, the moniker had been lost somewhere in the sands of time. For as long as anyone could remember, it was just “the diner,” and when we arrived, I found those simple words written at the top of the laminated menus. With the yellow-painted walls and over-stuffed red booths, it could have easily fit in off any highway exit in America, save for the staff and clientele.
    Since arriving at the sheriff’s office, I’d somewhat forgotten the spectacle of driving down Sunshine Lane and seeing all the different parahumans out and about. But the realization of just how far out of normal bounds we were came rushing back the moment our waitress slithered over to us. That was not creative language, by the way. Our waitress, Yenny (as she introduced herself), was a fairly normal-looking woman with brown hair and eyes a pale shade of orange. She wore a yellow shirt with white trim that matched the restaurant’s walls, and nothing else. I don’t mean to imply anything lude, it’s simply that Yenny’s bottom half was that of a bright orange snake’s tail.
    Mercifully, I wasn’t the only one who was a bit surprised, as Neil wouldn’t quit staring and Albert dropped his menu to the floor as soon as he saw her. Yenny took it surprisingly well, glossing over their shock with warm greetings, and then getting down to the business of what we’d be eating.
    Ordering was a quick affair. Leeroy declared that the chicken fried steak was the best thing to be had, and he was seconded by Krystal, Nax, and Sable. With no point of reference for anything else, and a keen eye that noticed some of the menu items were clearly designed for parahumans rather than mundane palettes (unless raw sparrow eggs and powdered coal were delicacies I’d somehow missed), it made sense to trust the group consensus.
    In spite of the heavy burden weighing on my mind, dinner was an enjoyable affair. Periodically, new parahumans would get up from their seats or walk in, which gave us peeks at the creatures we’d never laid eyes on before. Leeroy entertained the whole table with stories of the town’s history and the various incidents he’d been called on to help with over the years. I’d never considered the possibility that a troll could hibernate, grow, and end up stuck under a bridge, but as Leeroy recounted having to borrow farm equipment to get the fellow unstuck, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Even Arch chuckled a few times, when he wasn’t outside taking his