The Vampire's Consort (Undead in Brown County) by S.J. Wright Page A

it. Hopefully she won’t protest too much.”
    He stood up.
    “Back to bed, sweet pea.”
    Sam tumbled into her bed, crawled under her covers and accepted his gentle kiss on her forehead. When he turned out her light, Sam noticed that he still had the copied newspaper article in his hand. It took her three hours to fall asleep.

     
    Chapter 9
     
     
    “My God, Sarah! Look at this place! Get up.”
    Nelly’s voice pierced through the fog surrounding Sarah like a shining blade. She lifted her head slowly and looked around. The last few days were just sad dim ghosts in her frazzled brain. The cabin was a wreck. There was a pot of what was once macaroni and cheese sitting on the coffee table. The bright yellow cheese sauce had crusted over on the edges of the pan and the wooden spoon she had used to eat it with. There was an empty pack of cigarettes on the floor and extinguished butts floating in a bowl of chicken noodle soup next to the pot of macaroni and cheese.
    “Good heavens, you’ve been smoking too?”
    Nelly began picking up things, shaking her gray head and muttering under her breath about bad habits. She picked up two empty bottles of vodka from the coffee table.
    “Well, I hope you had a good time because I’m hiding your keys. You will not be going down to Paul’s Liquor Store anytime soon, young lady.”
    Sarah felt like her head weighed a hundred pounds. She half rose from the sofa and realized that some of the macaroni and cheese had landed on the old t-shirt she had been wearing for the past three days. She smelled like stale cigarette smoke and saw where she had burned a hole in one of the cushions of the green sofa.
    “What time is it?” she asked Nelly. Her voice was hoarse.
    “Time for you to get your fanny up and take a shower. You’re going to have a visitor in a little while.”
    “No. No visitors.”
    Nelly sniffed and turned her head.
    “You don’t have a choice. He’s already on his way.”
    “Who?”
    Her heart did a little flip inside her chest. Was it possible? Could Michael be coming back for her? She stood up and grabbed the edge of the sofa for support when the dizziness hit her.
    “Alexander,” Nelly said. “So get yourself cleaned up and I’ll do what I can with this mess.”
    Of course, she thought. Alex was going to come sweeping in and try to save her.
    Pointless , I have no interest in life anymore .
    “He’s wasting his time. Nothing is going to make things better.”
    “You just hush and get in the shower before I take you outside and turn the hose on you.”
    Sarah moaned and shuffled to the stairs. She looked over her shoulder at Nelly who was still busy picking up the ridiculous mess she’s made of her own house. She watched for a few minutes and then went quite slowly up the stairs to the bathroom across from her bedroom. Her head pounding. The light streaming in through the bathroom window hurt her eyes. She yanked the curtain closed and looked at herself in the mirror over the sink.
    “Holy shit. ”
    It had never been this bad before. She had suffered occasionally from minor bouts of depression, but she had never completely neglected herself this way. The hangover she was suffering was the most painful she’d ever had. She turned the cold water on and splashed some on her face.
    What was going to happen to her? Except for Nelly, she felt totally alone in the world. But, Alex was coming. He would try to help—she just hated that he had to. She didn’t want to inconvenience anybody. Even now, she felt guilty about Nelly cleaning up the shit storm downstairs. She couldn’t dwell too long on the guilt because she was in so much physical agony.
    Twice she went to the toilet, leaning over it and thinking she was going to be sick. The second time she vomited bile, which stung her throat and left her eyes watering. At that moment, she told herself that she would never touch vodka again. She flushed the toilet, took off her clothes, and got in the