Undead and Unappreciated by MaryJanice Davidson Page B

one or two were gonna have to go.
    Jessica swayed a little and clutched the doorframe to steady herself. “I mean really crazy. I think—I think she read the Book for too long.”
    â€œI gathered. Oh, Majesty.” Tina shook her head. “What are we going to do with you?”
    This was annoying, to put it mildly. “You, shut the fuck up. And get lost; this is vampire business. And you, stand still.” I crossed the room too quickly for Tina to see—except she did see and easily avoided me. That was okay; it brought me much closer to the cross. I bent to get it. I’d ax Tina, and then I’d tool up on Jessica so bad, she’d be more worried about her iron lung than ratting me out ever again.
    I heard the whoosh a split second before I felt the impact. The sun must have come up early, because my skull was filled with light.
    Then the sun fell down. And so did I.

Chapter 13
    I groaned and opened my eyes. The hangover was incredible. Had I read a book or downed a liter of vodka?
    The light made me blink, and I tried to process the eighty zillion thoughts rocketing through my head. There was one tiny bit of good to come out of the whole mess: I knew a lot more about the devil’s daughter. But there were other issues I had to—
    Wait a minute.
    The light ?
    I looked. I was in a small room on the west side of the house; there was no furniture, but it had a good solid oak door. In fact, it was going to be the wine cellar until Sinclair pointed out that we couldn’t keep wine in a room with so much light, the big know-it-all. So the bottles had been moved to the basement, and this room had stood empty and…
    The light.
    It was the sun.
    I climbed to my feet—I was still in my robe—and walked over to the window.
    The sun.
    I stared. Then I stared some more. The big golden ball was just about level with the tree line; it looked like late afternoon to me.
    I hadn’t seen the sun since my thirtieth birthday, way back in April.
    I’d read the Book of the Dead and let it turn me into a real asshole. That was bad. Very, very bad. But in return, I could now wake up when it was still daylight out. That was good. Very, very good.
    And since I was the Queen and the sun didn’t burn me, I could go out . Walk around and feel the light on my face, the warmth.
    I tried to pull the window up, but it wouldn’t budge. The mansion had so many rooms and there were so few people living in it, the window probably hadn’t been opened in fifty years or more.
    Too impatient to mess with prying, too wild to get outside, I broke the window with my fist and punched out the bigger pieces. Then I dove through it, feeling like Starsky. Or Hutch—which one was the blond again?
    I thudded to the ground two stories below, spat out the dirt, and flopped over on my back to soak up the sunshine. The grass was chilly (it was a mild October for Minnesota, but it was still October), but I didn’t care. The sun wouldn’t be up much longer, but I didn’t care. I had some tall apologizing to do, but—well, I cared about that, and I’d get right to it, too.
    In a minute.
    Thank you, God. Thank you so much! I totally don’t deserve it. But thanks all the same.
    Thoughts of the previous evening’s activities kept crowding into my brain, wrecking my sunbathing. Unfortunately for me, the Book didn’t provide amnesia.
    Last night’s itinerary flashed through my mind. Trying to kill Tina—who had handily kicked my ass. It was embarrassing to get stomped by someone half my size, but I was glad I hadn’t succeeded. Those awful things I’d said to Marc…He’d been a good friend to me, and I’d called him Dr. Leech.
    And Jessica… Oh, Jess. I screwed up so bad. I’d set myself on fire before I’d hurt you again. You’re the best friend a vampire could have. Yeah, that sounded good. Repeat as needed. And repeat. God, if she