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The folks were poorer in Southtown-erous Va out on their own ht you up with their Fire power as spit on you Those were the people who called Southtown ho fondness for the area At least in South-town you knew exactly what dangers to expect, whereas in Northtown you o over to someone’s house for a friendly cookout and end up with your ribs being the ones basted in the barbecue sauce

It had been snowing in Ashland for several days straight The February cold had been so bitter, biting, and unrelenting that what snow fell didn’t even begin to melt before the next arctic front blew in and dropped six more inches on top of it By this point, the snowbanks on either side of the slick roads were taller thanout at about five feet

It was hard forthe absolute shit box of a car that I was in Twice, the old, worn tires started sliding on the black ice, and it was only by the grace of whatever god was laughing at me that the car didn’t slam into one of the trees that lined the road It also didn’t helpandas h But I forced ing into the spider rune scars on my palms, and drive on

I went as fast as I dared, the car tires alternately crunching through or slipping on the snow and ice Even though there was no one out tonight, it was still slow going, and it took , precious minutes to make it to Jo-Jo’s

Jolene "Jo-Jo" Deveraux was a two-hundred-fifty-seven-year-old dith Air eleic who used her power to heal people on the sly She also happened to beblood before I ran out of the fluid altogether

Like others of her ically elite status, Jo-Jo made her hohts Most of the subdivisions in Ashland had cutesy names like that, almost all of which had a Southern connotation Like Lee’s Lament, another nearby subdivision For some folks in Ashland, especially the vah the era, the Civil War would just never, ever be over

I steered the rattletrap car past the snowbanks that had been plowed up on either side of the subdivision’s entrance and nolia Lane I started up the hill to Jo-Jo’s house, but the tires just wouldn’t grip the ice that coated the cobblestone driveway For a et out and walk-soth or blood left for But finally the squealing, sht, probably for the last time in their miserable, rubbery lives, and the car lurched up the driveway

I crested the hill, and Jo-Jo’s house came into view The three-story, plantation-style structure looked even ant in the winter white dark, the layers of snow and ice swirling around it like buttercrea The colu the whole thing resehostly view, but tonight the snoas just another obstacle to plow through

By this point, I was fading fast It took me two concentrated tries before I remembered to put the car in park so it wouldn’t roll back down the hill Opening the door, crossing the yard, trudging up the steps that led to the porch that wrapped around the house-all of it took much more effort than it should have By the time I raised the cloud-shaped door knocker that was Jo-Jo’s rune, a syic, I was cold and clammy with sweat and about to pass out I rapped on the door as hard as I could, then sagged against the house, s blood all over the white paint in abstract, snowflake-like patterns

I don’t kno long I stood there Seconds passed, maybe minutes, before I heard heavy footsteps on the other side of the door Even out here on the porch, I still caught a whiff of her Chantilly perfume I breathed in the scent, comforted by the sweet smell, because I knew that I’d ic once more and heal me the way she always did whenever I showed up at her house late at night an inch away from death

A moment later, the door opened and a woman appeared Like everyone else in Ashland on this cold, cold night, Jo-Jo had been bundled up and fir-sleeved pink flannel housecoat swathed the dwarf’s stocky body froravel-size pearls hung around her neck In Jo-Jo’sproclaimed you to be a true southern lady more than a set of real pearls, and she never went anywhere without hers-not even to bed

The dwarf’s bleached blond-white hair had been rolled up tight for the night in pink sponge curlers in a tidy foreneral would have been proud of For once, Jo-Jo’s h the fuchsia polish on her toenails glistened in the semidarkness The dwarf almost alent barefoot at home, even in the dead of winter

Jo-Jo stuck her head outside, a turtle co who could be knocking on her door at this hour Especially since I wasn’t scheduled to be doing anything tonight other than cozying up with my lover, Owen Grayson

Jo-Jo’s eyes, which were almost colorless except for the pinprick of black at their center, widened when she spottedwith the blood that had pooled underneath

"Gin?" Jo-Jo asked in a surprised voice "Is that you?"

"Who else?" I drawled

And then I collapsed at her feet without another word

Chapter 5

I was so out to her sister, Sophia, and the younger dwarf pickingme inside into the beauty salon that took up the back half of Jo-Jo’s sprawling house<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>