Read Online Legally Undead by Margo Bond Collins - Free Book Online

explain everything to him after all.
    All of this was followed by a moment of sheer gut-wrenching humiliation. I’d been working hard to remind myself that this wasn’t a date, but I suddenly realized that it was emphatically not a date; it was an attempt on Malcolm’s part to figure out what had happened—something he’d already told me he was inclined to try to do.
    I was on an anti-date.
    I felt myself blush a deep red, part embarrassment, part anger.
    If my life were a movie, at this point Malcolm would announce that carrying around a bunch of pointy wooden sticks clearly indicated a fear of vampires. But it wasn’t a movie, and he didn’t make any announcement at all. Instead, he just stared at me inquisitively.
    “If you’ve had this since the night I was attacked, why didn’t you bring it up when I saw you at the train station?” I asked, narrowing my eyes as I stared at him. “Or turn it in to the police yourself?”
    “I don’t know for sure what it is,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m just guessing. I’m hoping you can tell me what’s up.”
    I looked at him for a long time, then finally went with an edited version of the truth: I told him that my ex-fiancé had worked for a law firm. That he’d gotten mixed up with some unpleasant people. That we’d broken up over it (well, we had, sort of) and that now I thought he was possibly stalking me, or maybe those unpleasant people were stalking me for him.
    “I don’t know who that guy was,” I said, lying through my teeth. “I just assume he was somehow connected to whatever’s going on with Greg.”
    “So why carry chopsticks”—he grinned a little as he said the word—“instead of, say, a knife? Or a gun?”
    “Do you know how hard it is for a normally law-abiding person to get a gun in this city? I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
    “Okay. Why not a knife?”
    “They scare me.” I knew that didn’t make much sense, but it was all I could come up with.
    “So why not call the police and report him?”
    “Greg’s a lawyer, Malcolm. He knows his way around the legal system. He’s mixed up with some very scary guys. I don’t want to make myself even more of a target.”
    “So he’s mixed up with the mob?”
    “Something like that.”
    Malcolm still looked suspicious, but he couldn’t really think of anything to say to that, so he just stared at me. I had to fight myself to keep from babbling into the silence.
    Finally he spoke again. “So other than carrying around a chopstick, what are you going to do?”
    This was my chance. Maybe my only one. I knew that I had to have Malcolm’s help or I might die. But I still didn’t quite know how to broach the subject.
    After a long silence, I said, “I guess I’m going to try to find out what exactly he’s gotten himself into. Once I know why those guys are willing to attack me, I’m going to try to figure out what I can do to make them leave me alone.”
    “You’re going to blackmail the mob.” He wasn’t asking a question, but I answered him anyway.
    “I guess so.” I’m going to blackmail a vampire mob , I amended silently.
    “And you think that reporting them to the police will make you more of a target than blackmail?” Malcolm sounded incredulous.
    “I think that reporting them to the police might be less effective.”
    Malcolm didn’t say anything for a long time. He sat in his chair tracing the checkerboard pattern on the tablecloth. Finally he looked up.
    “How can I help?”
    I stared at him for a long time, unable to believe that he’d volunteered. “Why?” I finally asked. “You barely know me. I tell you that I’m about to start blackmailing the mob, and you want to help?”
    His look became more calculating. He opened his mouth and started to say something, then shook his head and closed his mouth again. Finally, he just smiled and said, “Let’s just say I have a savior complex. Along with my need to figure everything out.”
    I had met