Crave - Teresa Mummert Page 0,53

the sense to take me to a safe neighborhood, at least while the vampires rested.

I spotted the big hospital from behind a row of stores. Crossing the street, a million thoughts raced through my mind. What if Elijah had taken my car? What if Reid has humans looking for me? I shook away the nervous thoughts and walked down the first row of the parking lot.

With a huge sigh of relief, I raced to my car. The door was unlocked and I slid in the driver’s seat. “Thank you,” I called out while reaching around the compartments searching for the keys.

“Shit!” I realized nothing in life could ever be that easy. I grabbed my bag off the back seat and pulled out a pair of flip flops and slid them on. My purse was inside the duffle bag as well. “That’s something,” I said with a smile and pulled out a cigarette and lit it, exhaling deeply.

Digging around in my purse I had come up with money and a cell phone. The battery was nearly dead, but I could turn it off and use it in an emergency. I slid it back into my purse and straightened the bag on the back seat.

I left the parking lot and walked down the main road, ducking into a small café.

“What can I do ya’ for?” A cheerful voice called out from behind the counter. I smiled at the woman with long, blonde hair in her thirties who was preparing a pot of coffee. I glanced around the empty diner.

“Servin’ breakfast?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t too early to get a bite to eat.

“Yes ma’am, you just missed our mornin’ rush. Get ya’self a seat and I’ll see what we got on the griddle,” She replied with a wink. I smiled and walked back the row of tables, sitting in the corner booth farthest from the door. The waitress followed me to my seat with the coffee pot in hand and setting the menu down in front of me. “Rough night, Sugar?” she asked as she filled a mug full of steaming coffee for me.

“You bet,” I answered with a yawn as I dumped a mountain of sugar into my glass.

“Well, you just find something that looks good to ya’ and I’ll fix ya’ up with some fresh biscuits. We made ‘em from scratch.” She was off through the kitchen doors. I grabbed the ashtray and slid it in front of me before lighting another cigarette.

The menu was pretty standard. The waitress made her way back to me with a basket of biscuits in hand. “Find somethin’ you want?” She asked, the smile still plastered on her face.

“I’ll have the number two special,” I replied, handing her the menu.

“How would you like those prepared?” she asked, eagerly waiting to write my decision on her pad.

“Dippy,” I answered. Her smile turned to confusion. “Over easy,” I corrected myself, remembering I wasn’t in Pennsylvania anymore. She took my menu and flashed a grin before heading back through the double doors, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I had to figure out how I would get home and not get caught. My mind raced. Why had Reid taken samples of my blood? There was entirely too much about the undead that I didn’t understand. Unfortunately for me, I was going to learn the hard way.

The bell above the door chimed as several young twenty-something guys poured into the restaurant. They donned construction worker garb and shouted as if they were still competing with the overbearing noise of rush hour traffic. The waitress brought over my plate and hurried off to take the men’s orders.

I salted my eggs and dipped my toast into the yolk as I watched them hit on her relentlessly. She loved every moment of it. One of the workers whipped out his cell phone and typed in her number as she blushed. I rolled my eyes and threw my toast on my plate. I had lost my appetite. It suddenly hit me that Grayson may still have access to his phone. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

I slid out of the booth and threw some money on the table to cover my meal and a tip. I made my way out onto the sidewalk where I turned on my phone and held it in the air. I had barely any signal. “Damn it,” I murmured to myself and walked further down the road with my arm extended in