Free Burkheart Witch Saga Book 3 by Christine Sutton

around my mother."
    "But she won't hurt me. I can help."
    "Grace, the answer is no, and it is final."
    The younger Burkheart witch crossed her arms over her stomach and gave the best pouty look that she could muster, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. When Kayla made up her mind, she was unmovable.
    Kayla kissed her petulant daughter on the forehead and headed out the door with Doc, Gus, and Mooney.
    They all piled into Doc's car, Kayla in the passenger seat.
    "Where are we going?" Doc turned to ask.
    "Smokey's on Fourteenth Street. If I know my mother, she has been there buying rounds for everyone."
    Doc started the car and headed to the seedy side of downtown Olympia.
    "What do we do when we get there?"
    "I've got a plan. We need to stop and talk with someone there, but we have to wait until sundown."
    "Are you trying to say we are going to talk to a vamp?" Gus asked with disbelief.
    "He's the only one that can help us now. Besides, he owes me a favor. He just doesn't know it yet."
    As the group pulled into the parking lot behind Smokey's, they saw a man step out of the shadows. He was tall and gaunt and looked as though he had not eaten in weeks. He lit a cigarette, raising his rail thin arms to shield the flame from the light breeze. He looked around shiftily, as though expecting someone to attack him at any moment.
    The scrawny man almost jumped out of his skin when the tall redheaded man stepped out of the car and spoke to him.
    "Hey there, Logan."
    "Jesus Christ, dude," he said as he held a palm to his chest and sucked in air. "You scared the piss out of me. Do I know you?"
    "Maybe not in this body, but you definitely know my mother, Carolyn."
    "Whoa, hey man… whoever you are, I don't want any trouble. I don't run with that crowd anymore." He took a step back and put his hands up.
    "What crowd is that?"
    "Those psycho vamps and wolves that followed after your ma like slobbering idiots. I saw the light and I just stick to myself now. I even helped that goody two shoes Kayla chick out with some stuff she needed. I'm reformed."
    Kayla raised her hand up and took hold of Logan's throat. She liked having the extra physical strength of Harry's body. As she squeezed, Logan's fangs involuntarily slipped out from his gums and he rushed to try to retract them.
    "Hey, that hurts," he wheezed.
    Kayla raised her other hand and looked back as a small ball of fire formed in her palm.
    "I get it, I get it, you're big and tough. Put out the fire and I'll tell you whatever you want. Just stop with the manhandling."
    Kayla let the squirming vampire go and extinguished the fireball in her hand. He rubbed his neck and smoothed his shirt.
    "So, talk. What did you help Kayla with?"
    "About six months or so ago, I helped her find a ring she needed. I had to dig up a body to get it for her. Lemme tell you, that was not cool at all. Even though that chick has been dead a long time, she still didn't smell so hot. After that attack thing at her house, I thought I owed her something, ya know?"
    "Did you see her? Kayla, I mean."
    "No, she called me… telepathically or some crazy crap. I tried to ignore her for days, but I swear I almost went batshit crazy what with her babbling in my damn head twenty-four hours a day. A vampire has to sleep, ya know." Logan gave her a look that told her he fancied himself a victim in all of this.
    "So, you dug up a grave and took a ring from a corpse?"
    "I would have done almost anything to get that bitch to shut up."
    "I need you to show me where you dug it up. Take us there."
    "It's about an hour from here. Are you sure you wanna go there? It is deep in the woods. I mean dee-eep in the woods."
    "I think we can handle it. Get in the car."
    "I don't just get into cars with anyone. You gotta tell me who the hell you are, at least." He tried to look defiant, but instead came off looking sheepish and weak.
    "You will get in the car and you will take us to the exact spot where you dug up that ring.