America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 5: Insurgency (20 page)

Bryan always had a fascination for all things
morbid – zombies, ghosts, werewolves, serial killers – but his
first love was always vampires. After a recent ‘pilgrimage’ to New
Orleans with Carl, he returned completely caped out, looking like a
cross between Inspector Gadget and Count Chocula. Melanie hoped it
was just a passing phase and that he would soon find something else
ghoulish to obsess about. Maybe even her.

In order to appease him, Melanie began
ditching the long, flowing hippy dresses she loved for tighter,
darker clothing. She painted her bright turquoise eyes with black
liner so they’d look more baleful, and took right away to the
endless supply of drugs and liquor that Carl provided. Melanie
suspected visits into Bryan’s albeit limited fantasy world might be
the closest she’d come to an exotic getaway.

“What’s the plan?” she asked. Though she
already knew the answer, she hoped, just once, Bryan might add a
change of venues to his limited repertoire. Maybe they could even
leave the city, if only for just an evening.

“Where else?” Bryan grinned. “Anybody got any
‘shrooms?” He rummaged through his backpack.

“Better.” Carl dropped a small plastic baggy
filled with white tablets on the table.
Ecstasy
.

His choice of drugs was getting progressively
bolder but he had yet to produce something Melanie refused. She
wondered if she had any limits; if there was nothing she wouldn’t
swallow.

Bryan smiled, and he and Carl let the small
pills melt on their tongues, then washed it down with swigs of
wine. Melanie secretly dropped hers in the back pocket of her bag –
she needed to be clear-headed for the walk to Hell House.

###

Blood and Sunlight
is
available now through Penumbra Publishing

www.penumbrapublishing.com

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