Read Online Night Road by A. M. Jenkins - Free Book Online

to feed. She would stay there until the moment he packed his belongings and got out of New York.
    So he left the basket on top of the dryer and headed up the stairs.
    Mary Kate trooped after him.
    “I enjoyed it, Mary Kate,” he told her as they stood in the hallway, and then added, “Good night.” He had to find Sandor so that the two of them could take Gordon on his first hunt.
    But Mary Kate picked up Cole’s hand, lacing her fingers into his as she leaned against him.
    “I need to go now,” he told her.
    “Do you have to?”
    “Yes. I have business to attend to.”
    “What kind of business?”
    “Private business. For Johnny.”
    She nuzzled his chest. “Can’t you put it off another night?”
    “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
    “Come and get me when you’re done then. Promise?”
    “I will if there’s time,” Cole said; it wasn’t quite a lie. He opened the door to Johnny’s apartment with his free hand and held it for her.
    Finally, reluctantly, she let go. She gave him a long look, then walked in.
    He made sure she was out of sight before he setabout looking for Sandor. Sometimes it was hard to be firm with omnis. Their lives were already both fragile and short, and treating them rudely had always seemed to Cole to be unnecessarily cruel.
    But he’d have to buck up, starting now. Gordon wasn’t an omni, but he was close enough that Cole would have to watch his step. Cole could not afford to let his feelings make him tentative about his responsibility. Not this time.
    This evening would be a test—not for Gordon, but for Cole himself.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    “SHALL we take the subway?” Sandor asked. The three of them stood on the sidewalk in front of the Building. Gordon was silent, with an odd look on his face—something, Cole judged, between fear, embarrassment about last night, and stubborn dignity. He was dressed much the same as he had been before: jeans, T-shirt. He’d nodded to Cole but had not said a word to him.
    “Do you know how to get there on the subway?” Cole asked Sandor.
    “More or less.”
    More or less ? Cole had a sudden flash of all those colored lines on the subway map. “Let’s walk,” he said.
    “It’s at least twenty blocks.”
    “Let’s start walking, and if we see a cab, we’ll takethat.” It would be just as well, he thought; he could use the time to dive in and start instructing Gordon. He would not be able to speak freely in a taxi, and there was a lot Gordon needed to know.
    So he began right away, as they started down the street. “It’s always good to feed early in the evening,” Cole told Gordon. “That way, if there’s some sort of trouble, you still have plenty of time.”
    Gordon walked along, slouching, hands crammed in his pockets. He did not ask what kind of trouble.
    Cole explained anyway. “For example, if you had trouble with an omni, bungled your approach—anything that might cause suspicion or distrust. You must never do anything that makes people look at you askance.”
    Sandor kept turning to see if any cabs were coming. Gordon was acting as if this was his first time on the streets of Manhattan. The Missouri boy in him was obviously taking everything in: buildings squeezed against the sidewalks, stoops jutting in invitation, asphalt like a river at the bottom of a small canyon of brick and stone. His eyes went avidly to every pedestrian they passed, while the objects of his attention, natives all, kept their focus unwaveringly ahead. But hedid not ask any questions.
    “This will be the interactive type of feeding,” Cole told him. “It involves striking up an acquaintance, flirting, conversation. It’s necessary to know how to physically overpower someone too, but you’re not ready for that yet. That’s a hazardous, last-resort kind of thing. You must be strong for it too. You don’t look like you’ve been working out.”
    “Yes, here is good news, Gordon,” Sandor put in. “You can add muscle quickly now. If you’ve ever