Celis T Rono [Julia Poe Vampi Tomorrow's Dead (epub)

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.I’m so sorry!” cried the girl.“Dammit, Poe! You don’t wait to know who’s around? You just shoot them dead?”“I’m really sorry,” Poe said, her voice nearly breaking.Maclemar was a dear and loyal friend, and if Poe had killed him, she never would’ve forgiven herself.The tall man wearing blue rain slickers approached her.“It’s fine, Poe.Next time look first.” He didn’t like the defeat in her voice and the shame in her brown eyes.Visibly shaken, Poe, the one-time feared Public Enemy Number Two, allowed James Maclemar to take her trembling hand.Without saying a word, the two humans and Penny climbed a hill to Poe’s cabin.The vacation home was a small wooden cottage with two rooms, a bathroom, and a tiny kitchen.Poe could’ve chosen a more spacious home, but she wanted to be near the docking area to see the comings and goings on her island.James Maclemar switched on the lights in the cabin, but they didn’t turn on.“Must be a short,” he said mostly to himself.He helped Poe with her raincoat and hung it on the door peg.He slid out of his, clapped his hands, and rubbed them for warmth.The cottage was arctic.No piled logs could be found on the porch, and Maclemar had no choice but to stomp on an old rocking chair until he had an armful of wood.He crossed the room, piled pieces of the rocking chair into the fireplace, and lit them.“Give it 10 minutes, love, and we’ll get you warm and toasty.” Looking shamefaced, Poe still stood by the door.“Ah, Poe, no need to look like that, or I’m going to drown you in a barrel of ale with the kittens.” He held out his arms, and she went to him reluctantly.The feel of her friend’s strong arms reminded her how long she’d been without his company.Three months and six days.Maclemar was the only one who made the effort to see her at all.Not even Kaleb Sainvire had visited her since he left the island 18 months ago.“You’re lucky I’m not a sure shot anymore,” she said, her voice extremely still.“You told me so last time I was here.I didn’t believe it.Saying you’re the best shot in our shoddy world would be an understatement.”“Not anymore.I’ve lost the one questionable talent I had.I fired six rounds, and I should’ve plugged you good.But I missed.”“You sound sorry you didn’t make Swiss cheese out of me,” he said.He ran his hand lightly over her back.“You’re my only friend now.Why would I want to turn you into cheese?”“Ah, sharren.You have many friends, but now they’re busy laying down the foundation for a better city which includes vampires and humans alike.That’s not a simple feat.” Maclemar nicknamed Poe “sharren” for in Welsh it meant a woman who thought she was tough.“Yeah, well they got stuff to do.So do I.I hope you’re not here to convince me to go back with you again,” she grunted.She pulled away from his embrace and kicked off her Wellingtons.Penny was already sitting on her hunches by the fire.“Why don’t we talk about it after dinner, eh? I brought seaweed, shellfish, and goodies for my famous seafood porridge.Take a hot bath while I prepare the best meal you’ve had since last time I was here.” He ran his hand in his dark, buzzed hair as his deep green eyes followed Poe’s every movement.Poe smiled for the first time.“Must be a stiff decree from Sainvire to send you all the way here in rainy season.He’ll get the usual no from me.” She cut Maclemar off before he opened his mouth.“I haven’t had hot water in two months.No electricity.I’m going to have to heat up some water on the grill outside.”Maclemar seethed with anger directed at himself.Poe had been living without heat or electricity since he’d left, and her rough lifestyle made him feel like a heel.“I’ll take care of it, sweetheart.” He grabbed a tool box from under the kitchen sink and put on his rain slicker.Maclemar, an exceptional mechanic and repairman, went outside to have a go at the generator.“Poor girl,” he whispered to himself.Pain suddenly inflamed his entire body.The woman he loved had turned into a fearful hermit.She’d been so magnificent once, destroying Revenents and vampires with her eyes closed.There hadn’t been anyone like her with her fierce fighting skills and tenacious love for her friends.He recalled the girl running through an ocean of Revenents, non-sentient walking dead that could reform broken bones to repeatedly attack, to rescue Michelle and him.Without pause for her safety, Poe had tried to reach the farmhouse where the last of the fighters holed up to protect Megan who was dying from childbirth.Trench’s henchmen outnumbered her friends.Her legend had grown on the mainland.She had rescued hundreds of cattle and protected revolutionaries fighting against Trench, master vampires, and Vampire Council members who had been angling to keeping human slavery alive for their bloated self-interests.The city needed Poe.A symbol of hope.Sainvire had asked him to deliver a letter and convince Poe that she was needed back Downtown.“No matter how much she refuses, you’ve got to get her back to L.A.,” instructed Kaleb Sainvire before Maclemar left.The vampire’s hair had grown to the nape of his neck and stubbles freckled his face.The man responsible for distributing Plasmacore was neck-deep trying to keep Downtown and its residents afloat without a return to violence.“I’ll try my best, Kaleb,” said Maclemar.Sainvire’s gray eyes bore into his green ones.“Don’t try, my friend.You have to do it.I don’t care if you have to hogtie her in your boat.”Maclemar didn’t envy Sainvire’s task.Being an idealist could kill a vampire.***Clutter spread over the kitchen sink and dining table.Maclemar petted Penny’s bloated stomach on the floor while gazing up at an equally satiated Poe.Maclemar hadn’t seen anyone gulp down food like that in a long time.The girl took down three bowls of his seafood porridge, and he felt good about himself.He was feeling remorseful for being away for so long.He tried to visit once a month, but his duties had absorbed his time for weeks on end.He studied Poe.The indomitable girl he knew was no more.In her place was a woman unsure which steps to take next.Julia Poe was one of the most attractive women he’d ever met, not only because of her unusual beauty stemming from a multiethnic background of Scot-Irish, Japanese, Mexican, and Filipino.Her grit was near palpable however much she claimed to have lost her fighting prowess.She was tough and caring despite her pleas for a solitary existence.The five-inch scar on her face and the multitude of cuts, whip marks, and bullet holes in her body gave her the right to live as she wished.She’d done so much for what was left of humanity, and she earned bitter little in return.The diminutive Poe stood a little over five-foot-three but seemed so much larger because of what she’d accomplished by the young age of 26.“Er, Poe.I must apologize for not visiting sooner,” he said.He ran his eyes over Poe’s damp waist-length black hair.The girl always tied her hair in a ponytail.If it weren’t for the fact that Poe was drying her hair by the fire, he’d never have seen the rare sight.“I’ve been indisposed.” The muscular man of over six feet in height looked uncomfortable.“You don’t need to apologize to me, Maclemar,” said Poe.She rubbed her stomach like a pregnant woman expecting a kick from little feet.A man that could cook like Maclemar would make a young woman giddy-toed someday.“Yes, I do.The thought of you here by yourself without heat in the middle of winter freezes my heart.I should’ve checked the electricity and the—”“I’ve been alone most of my life, mister.Don’t get all dramatic [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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