Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“Masie,” said a familiar voice.
I looked up from my phone to find Charlie. He wore a blue plaid shirt and jeans on his now very lean body. His dark hair looked shaggier than I remembered it, and his face had aged five years since I’d seen him twelve months ago.
“Charlie, you look…”
“Tired?”
Maybe a little, but it was better than all that perfect hotness found on a vampire. “You look like a breath of fresh air. Take a seat.”
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Everything okay?” he asked.
“My okay is so un-okay that it’s renamed itself Krystal and decided to take up pole dancin’.”
“Vivid.”
“Yep.” But it did describe my current state of mind: I would rather be doing anything than this. I missed my quiet, no-vampire-drama life.
Charlie sat across from me at the table.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked. “We have the best rattlesnake fingers in the world.”
His nose crinkled, and he flashed his palm. “Nothing for me, thanks. I need to get back to the airport.”
“Okay.”
He leaned in. “I’ll cut straight to the point, Masie. My team and I have been,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “running simulations. Hundreds of them.”
“You mean how to stop,” I also whispered, “a vampire takeover?”
“Yes. And every scenario leads to a total collapse of humanity, except one. Unfortunately, it’s the most dangerous.”
Of course it is. Well, on the bright side, at least there was one. “I assume it involves me.”
“I did some research, and I think we can use your distillery to…make hooch.” He winked, and I blinked, unsure of where he was going.
“But we make straight whiskey.” The best in Tennessee. It was known for its smooth, smokey aftertaste and nutty Kicklighter undertones. We also made hot versions that could make a firefighter cry.
“Yes,” he said. “I know. And now I need you to blend a batch of your most expensive, award-winning whiskey with your new inhouse poteen,” he said slowly and deliberately.
“You mean you want me to produce moonshine? The vampire kind?”
“Shhhh…” He looked over his shoulder. “Don’t use that word. Someone could hear.”
“Oh, sorry.” I whispered, “You want me to make white lightning like that crimson-chugging man-whore of my ex?”
Charlie gave me an odd look. “Uh, yes?” He went on to explain that in five days, Washington would be flooded with lobbyists and hundreds of powerful people from the western hemisphere, pushing senators to pass the bill. He needed a truckload of moonshine-spiked whiskey to serve at the parties. “We will have people—the bartenders, caterers, and hotel staff—inside every major event.”
My mind hopscotched around. “I have no idea how to make poteen,” I said. “And even if I did, what good would it do?”
“I heard you’ve taken it. A lot of it.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I have my spies. And if you’ve had some, you understand how powerful it is. It makes humans open to vampiric suggestion.”
“It also makes a person crazier than a kite in a hurricane.” For me, it had been like taking a stupid pill. I’d been willing to go along with things I normally wouldn’t. However, it had been Stark’s voodoo eyes that held the real control. “You will enjoy yourself…”
“Well, that’s the plan,” Charlie said. “We only have to administer it to a majority of the Senate. Shortly after, they’ll receive a directive from one of our vampires, and then we win.”
I assumed he’d meant that the senators would vote down the bill. “Which vampires?”
“I can’t tell you that, Masie. Too risky. But they’re on our side.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked.
“I just am,” he said curtly.
All right. He didn’t want to spill the beans, but I wasn’t going to jump all in without more details. “Let’s say your plan works. Are you aware that vampires will go to war if the bill fails?”
He nodded. “That’s what we’re hearing, but the possibility is decreasing every day.”
“How? And don’t say you can’t tell me that much. I’m either part of the plan, or I’m not.”
He glanced over his shoulder again and then looked at me with a gaze so intense, it sent shivers down my spine. “Those vampires will be dead before they have a chance to make a move.”
So Charlie and his people wanted to end all the vampires in favor of making humans into sangria fountains. This was good.
“I don’t know if your idea will work,” I lowered my voice, “but it doesn’t get around the fact that I don’t know how to make Grandpappy’s swamp juice.”
He reached into his pocket and produced a folded piece of paper. “This is the recipe.”
I glanced at the paper but didn’t take it. “The mixture needs vampire blood. How am I supposed to get a hold of that?” A week ago, I could’ve just taken some from the spa, but now? I was vampire enemy number one. I couldn’t go near the place, and it wasn’t like Daddy was going to help.