Ready Or Not

Neck To Nuts

**Lydia**

They’d asked me when I’d last eaten, and I lied and told them I hadn’t yet that day. I knew I couldn’t tell them I’d grabbed a bite on the way to Daniel’s office. I also knew they were going to give me the bare minimum amount of blood they could get away with from that point forward, so I figured it was best to tell them they should feed me.

I also knew whatever they gave me was going to be laced with yew, but at that moment, I hadn’t really cared. All I could think about was Daniel’s face when my necklace had fallen into his hand. His fangs were exposed, but he hadn’t noticed yet, and thankfully, his mouth had closed, because he was doing his habitual teeth grinding thing. He looked nearly as sad and shocked as I’d ever seen him. Almost. The image of him on the floor of Theo’s place, surrounded by broken glass and a mewling cat, looking completely vacant and broken is one I’ll never forget, so thank god he didn’t get that low over me getting my ass hauled away. I don’t think I could have handled it.

But it made me wonder. If Daniel was so upset by my arrest, what was it going to do to Anna? To Theo? I couldn’t really let myself think about what the news would do to Hannah, simply because even though she was the reason I wouldn’t run, I didn’t want to get my hopes up that she’d actually care. What if my arrest was the final nail in the coffin for our relationship? Who knew?

I let them heat up a yew-laced bottle for me and grimaced at how heavy handed they’d been with the poison. I’d have time to complain to the chef later though. Probably lots of time.

Daniel had said not to say anything until he got there, but time ticked by, me cuffed to a table (ridiculous, and obviously only done to humiliate me) in a small, dark room with one mirrored wall, and no sign of my favorite lawyer. I thumped my half empty bottle against the table and looked into the mirror. How many people were on the other side, gawking at the vampiric murderer? Four, at least; I could tell by the heartbeats.

“When are we getting started? You guys better not be holding up my lawyer.”

Silence. As expected.

I swirled the remaining and quickly coagulating blood around the bottle as best I could while I waited. It got thicker and thicker, and I watched the way it clung to the bottle and slowly made its way down the sides before it hit me that this may be the last full meal I got for a while, and as repulsed as I was by the taste, I’d better just get used to it. I made a show of holding my nose and downing the contents, glaring at the two-way glass the whole time I did so.

The bottle hadn’t even hit the table and the door opened. A smartly dressed woman with the most beautiful skin I’d ever seen (seriously, she must have moisturized with the good shit at least twice a day) walked in, grabbing up the bottle. Everything about her was dark. Hair, skin, eyes…mood. And beyond that, she had no heartbeat and I hadn’t heard her coming until her hand had grabbed the doorknob.

Probably thirty something when she turned. She had just the faintest hint of frown lines that had been beginning to form, and carried herself like a person who’d actually matured a bit before they were flung into a life that would never end. I wondered briefly if she thought vampirism was a blessing or a curse, but her words cut off my wandering thoughts and my visual inspection.

“I’m Detective Monica Wills,” she introduced herself. “We’re not ‘holding up’ your lawyer, Ms. Montgomery,” she informed me, crossing her arms and tapping a fingernail on the now-empty bottle. “Daniel Porter can’t represent you.”

It was like I was one of those clowns that doesn’t stay down no matter how many times you punch it, except she’d poked a hole in me and I could feel the air escaping.  I’d pop up again, but it was only a matter of time before I couldn’t stand.