Read Online Bloodlust by Helen Harper - Free Book Online Page B

bad either.” A glint entered his eyes. “This morning, I had a burger. For breakfast! You wouldn’t believe the taste! The gherkins were sharp but tasty. The patty was full of meaty goodness. The tomatoes were red and juicy…” A dreamy look came over his face. “Red and juicy…”
    Okay, that was quite enough of that. Feeling faintly nauseated, I leaned into his face. “Why me, Aubrey? Why do you have to bother me?”
    “I thought we were friends! I helped you. At Haughmond Hill. We kicked butt together.”
    “Actually, no, we didn’t. Nobody kicked butt.”
    “I’m under oath to do whatever you say! I can’t refuse, remember? I can’t even leave your side.”
    “Except you’ve been away from my side for the last three days so clearly that particular side-effect has worn off,” I pointed out.
    He bounced around. “I got you pizza!”
    “You are indispensable,” I said sarcastically.
    Aubrey’s head drooped.
    I watched him for a moment then, like a mug, I gave in. “Fine,” I said. “But you have to take off that ridiculous outfit.”
    “I’ll be recognised! They’ll come and take me away!”
    I was really going to regret this. Especially considering the offer I’d had from his old mate back in Alcazon. I imagined myself walking up to the nearest wall and slamming my head into it several times. I sighed deeply.
    “Aubrey, if you don’t want to go with them, then I won’t let them take you. All right?”
    He peeked up at me, a grin blossoming across his face. “Really?”
    “Really.” I cursed myself for being an idiot. I was going to have to make damn sure that nobody else discovered that the vamps would give us info about Endor’s location in return for Aubrey or I’d be laughed out of the council. Sooner or later, his undead ex-friends would find out where he was - and what he was - and there would be shit to pay. It just didn’t seem right though, cold-heartedly handing him over to them, no matter what he’d done to me and mine in the past. Yes, I was a total fuckwit.
    “Come on then.”
    He jumped up in the air, penguin belly flopping up and down as he did so. “Yay!”
    “Where did you get that costume from?”
    “Do you really want to know?”
    I considered. Actually… “No.”
    He bent over and picked the bird head up, and shoved it back on again. Then he hooked his wing around my shoulder and we began walking, very slowly, heading out onto the main street. A man in a penguin suit and a woman who looked as if she’d gone for five rounds with Mike Tyson. What could be less inconspicuous?
    *
    The tiny bell hanging above the door of Clava Books signaled our entry. Or rather it signaled my entry, anyway. Aubrey, still clad in full penguin gear as he was, managed to get stuck within the door frame. I had to grab both of his wings in order to squeeze him through and, when I finally did manage to yank him hard enough, he propelled through with such force that he knocked me off my feet and landed sprawled on top of me.
    “Feck,” cackled Slim from somewhere above, “and I thought that penguins were flightless.”
    My answering remark was lost within the soft downy fur of the costume. It was probably just as well.
    “Goodness me!” I heard Mrs. Alcoon exclaim. “Is that you, Mackenzie dear?”
    I lifted my knees up, managing to push the rather voluminous shape of Aubrey off, and clambered to my feet.
    “Hi there,” I said, somewhat anticlimactically.
    “That’s not your young man trying to go incognito, is it?”
    I was pretty sure Aubrey wasn’t the ‘young man’ Mrs. Alcoon meant when she said that. Not that the idea of Corrigan in a penguin suit didn’t hold a certain kind of odd appeal, however.
    “It’s Aubrey,” I answered shortly.
    “Aubrey! How wonderful! Where have you been? Are you going to a fancy dress party?”
    There was some kind of muffled response from within the confines of Aubrey’s penguin head. I shook my head at the ridiculousness of the