Midnight Moon (Vampire for Hire #13)(17)

So beautiful, thought Tammy.

She clenched her fist and decided right then and there that, dork or not, she would do all she could for the rest of her life to keep her mother alive, if possible. The problem was, her mother was, like, always putting herself in the world's most dangerous situations to help others. It was like her mother was asking for it. Asking to die.

No, thought Tammy. She wasn't asking to die. Not ever. She was looking to help people-pretty much anyone who came to her, her mother would help them. Well, usually for a little money, of course-unless the client had none, and then her mom would do it for free. Free! Who did that these days?

Her mom did. That's who. Her mom who sacrificed her own eternity to help others.

That put another lump in Tammy's throat and she fought it, but lost and found herself weeping again.

She was just drying her eyes when she heard her mother approaching. She could hear her footsteps-and her thoughts. Her thoughts were... interesting. It appeared her mother, who had been reading a manuscript all evening long, was sort of lost in this fantasy world. Although Tammy hadn't read the book, she saw the vivid images in her mother's mind as she relived her favorite scenes-and replayed her favorite snatches of dialogue. From what Tammy could tell, this was a damn good book. It also felt real to her, and real to her mother in particular. So real that she knew her mother was currently struggling with a rather audacious concept. (Tammy was certain she'd used the word audacious correctly.) The concept centered around a woman in the story-the heroine-a woman with whom her mother had come to love the way all bibliophiles came to love their favorite characters. Tammy saw the woman plain as day in her mother's thoughts. The thing was... this was a woman forged from her mother's imagination, cobbled together from the words of the book. Except...

Except this woman looked so real, so very real.

This confused her mother, too.

And Tammy saw why. Boy, did she see why.

Mommy's gonna be busy tonight, she thought. She also knew her mother had secretly emailed the book to herself, without telling her client. And, further, that she had emailed the book to Allison, as well. Her mother was such a sneak. 

Speaking of whom, her mother paused just outside her door. Tammy could sense her mother collecting her thoughts before pushing aside her thoughts to give herself fully to her daughter. Tammy liked that about her mom, who always gave Tammy her full attention. And when her bedroom door cracked open, she knew what her mother was going to say before she said it.

"I'm-"

"Heading out. I know, Mom."

Silhouetted in the light of the door, she saw her mother's head dip, noting her mom's hair was slightly askew. She knew her mother couldn't even see her own hair-part of the curse of that devil woman inside her. Tammy surprised herself by swinging her legs out of bed and hurrying over to her mother and throwing her arms around her.

"Be careful tonight, okay?"

Her mother blinked at that, then nodded, and smiled. "Of course, sweetie. You okay? Have you been crying?"

"It's nothing-"

"You want to talk?"

"No, no. You need to get to that guy's house before midnight. The ghost and all."

"You know about that, huh?" asked her mom.

"I know about a lot."

"What else do you know about the ghost?"

"I know she's not a ghost."

Her mother nodded. "Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe she's not either."

Her mother smiled at that, but then the smile wavered, and Tammy knew her mother was thinking about what she'd seen today: her vision of paradise. Tammy wondered if catching a glimpse of heaven was worse than never experiencing it. Her mother said, "Not much escapes you, huh?"

"No, Mom." Tammy paused and then reached out and fixed her mom's hair. The jeans and sneakers were beyond fixing, but there was at least hope for her hair.

"Better?" her mom asked.

"A lot better. But you're still a dork."

"That goes without saying. You are to stay here, with your brother."

"You mean the Fire Warrior who can, like, kick seven or eight werewolves' asses all by himself? Him?"

"Yeah, him. Keep an eye on him, and an ear."

"A telepathic ear?"

"Yes. I'm worried about him."

Tammy nodded and watched her mom move back through the hallway and open her brother's door to let him know she was leaving. Tammy knew that her brother was in the middle of an internal conversation with their dad, a man who turned out to be a royal sleaze, for which Tammy wasn't sure she could ever forgive him.

When her mother was gone, Tammy went back to her bed and lay there, and relived heaven all over again.

Again and again...





Chapter Twelve