Blood Harvest: Two Vampire Novels by D.J. Goodman

did this might still be
active.” Maybe that wasn’t even a lie. It certainly seemed
probable, especially considering what Peg now knew or
suspected.
    “But no solid leads?” Peg wasn’t sure whether
he sounded more upset or relieved. She couldn’t blame him if it was
the latter. He probably had visions of the one time he’d seen her
rip roaring drunk. It had been on the anniversary of Zoey’s
disappearance just a couple weeks after they’d started seeing each
other. While Peg had no memory of that night, Tony had told her
later that’d he’d found her sobbing and babbling on the front stoop
of his apartment, an empty vodka bottle in one hand, an exacto
knife in the other, her dinner in a greenish-brown puddle in front
of her, and the sleeves of her t-shirt stained with her own blood.
She only remembered waking up the next morning on his couch, her
arms inexpertly but thoroughly bandaged and one of his own shirts
on instead of her own. The blood still soaked through on her
shoulders from cuts that were deeper than she usually went.
    Tony wasn’t the first person to see her like
this, but he was the first that had done anything to indicate he
cared. That was the morning she resolved to give AA another try,
because if there was someone like Tony who was willing to help her
despite what a mess she’d made of her life then she didn’t want to
end up pushing him so far that he couldn’t do it anymore.
    “No, nothing,” Peg said. “It doesn’t really
mean anything. It’s just, you know, bringing up things I’d rather
forget.”
    “You’ll talk to me if you need to, right?”
Tony asked. “Or V? Just talk to someone.”
    “I’ll be fine,” Peg said. The next words came
out of her mouth before she had a chance to realize how much she
would regret them. “I just have to call my mom back after
dinner.”
    Tony almost choked on his wonton. Apparently
he thought that was as bad an idea as she did. “Why?”
    Because V was right. As much as she didn’t
want that vicious creature shrieking in her ear, Anita might know a
few things about the investigation that Peg would need. She was
just really uncomfortable about what she thought she might need to
do to get through the conversation.
    “She wasn’t in much condition to talk. I told
her I’d call her back and we’d finish.”
    “That doesn’t mean you actually have to do
it.”
    “Maybe she’s changed a little after all these
years.”
    Tony raised an eyebrow at her. Zoey sighed
and shrugged.
    “Or maybe I can make millions by shitting
into an ice cube tray and selling it as Pudding Pops,” she
said.
    “Jesus Christ, honey, I’m trying to eat here.
Look, if that’s really what you feel you need to do then do it.
Calling her, I mean, not the Pudding Pops. But don’t go thinking
you owe her something. You don’t. Not after everything she did to
you.”
    Peg resisted the urge to say that she’d
actually done all that to herself, but they’d had that conversation
too often to count and he tended to win. While Peg may have been
the one who’d nearly driven her life off a cliff, Anita had been
the one to give it a good hard push in that direction.
    “I’ve got to do it,” Peg said. “It’s just…
anything to get a few answers, you know? No matter how little.”
    Tony nodded. He stared at his plate for
several seconds then looked into the living room. Brendan had
turned on Adventure Time , which Peg wasn’t sure he was ready
for at this age, but his understanding of it seemed to begin and
end with how funny it was when Jake’s arms went all noodly. He was
laughing his sweet little boy laugh, a strange counterpoint to the
solemn look on Tony’s face. He stood up, walked over to her seat,
and then took a knee next to her like he was about to propose
marriage again. Peg already had an idea, though, about what he was
going to say and there was decidedly nothing romantic about it.
    “Peg, I need you to be honest with me,” he
said quietly,