Vampire Miami Read Online Free Page A

here?”
    Selah pushed off the wall. Almost said I’m no
baby but stopped herself in time. “I was catching my breath, is
all. What’s it to you?”
    The girl smiled, a flash of white teeth, and
then the flame died away. “Nothing, chica. You just arrived?
You must be terrified, but it’s not all bad. Trust me, all right?
I’ll find you when I get back and we can talk.”
    “Get back? Where are you going?”
    Selah sensed the girl’s amusement. “There’s a
big world out there, and it don’t stop just because Mama B wants
that door locked. I’ll tell you about it soon. Now I gotta run if
I’m going to get some food before I head out. Don’t want to miss my
ride.” A hand found her shoulder, gave it a squeeze, and then the
girl was moving down and past her.
    “Wait, what’s your name?”
    “Maria Elena,” said the girl, stopping at the
bottom step to look back up. They held each other’s gaze and then
Maria Elena smiled a brilliant smile and turned the corner and was
gone. Selah stared after her and noticed three small kids who’d
gathered just outside the stairwell were now watching her. She made
a fierce face at them, and they scattered, laughing. Feeling
better, she turned and climbed the steps after Mama B.
    Selah stepped out onto the first floor and
glanced over the railing at the central courtyard below where the
children had moved on to teasing the goats. She didn’t look down
for long. Cholly stood a few doors down. He looked, as ever,
infuriatingly apologetic.
    “This here’s your place,” he said, nodding to
the door beside him.
    “Thanks.” Selah said. She walked up and Cholly
stepped aside.
    “You’re gonna be all right,” he said.
    “Yeah? I don’t know about that.” She tried to
smile bravely up at him, but the compassion in his large eyes
nearly undid her tenuous self-control.
    “Sure you will. There are rules here, different
from what you know, but there are rules everywhere. You just got to
adapt. We live pretty good, things considering. We’re doing better
than last year, and we did better last year than the year before.
Soon you’ll find a way to contribute, and you’ll help us grow.
You’ll make friends. You’re gonna be all right.”
    Selah studied his wide, honest face, and then
shook her head. “Thanks. I don’t know if I believe you, but it’s
nice for you to say.”
    He smiled ruefully, and then patted her
shoulder. “Be easy on Mama. She’s all worked up ‘bout your being
here.”
    Selah put her hand on the door handle and then
stopped. “ She’s worked up? She doesn’t seem to even
care.”
    Cholly shrugged and stepped back. “She cares.
She’s just used to showing it by telling people what to do. You’ll
see.”
    Selah opened the door and stepped inside. Mama B
was waiting for her in a large armchair, facing the door with her
hands laced over her stomach.
    “All right,” said Mama B, “let’s hear it.”
    “Hear what?”
    “How upset you are. How unfair life is. How much
you blame me for getting deported to Miami. Go on now, get it off
your chest.”
    Selah blinked. Her grandmother’s face was hard.
There she sat, larger than life, chin raised, waiting, and suddenly
Selah didn’t know what to say.
    “No?” asked Mama B. “I can see the fire in your
eyes, girl. We both know that if I’d stayed with you and your daddy
in Brooklyn, you wouldn’t be here right now. But here you are, and
I bet you’re mad. I don’t blame you. So come on now. Speak your
piece.”
    Selah shook her head. “What? No. You got it all
wrong.”
    It was Mama B’s turn to look surprised. “What do
you mean, got it all wrong? You saying you’re happy to be
here?”
    “No, not that, but just that I don’t blame you
for it.” Selah did her best to ride the old anger as it surfaced.
Mama B had never gotten along with her dad, but when Selah’s mother
had died in a car accident during the War, it had been Mama B’s
confidence and calm and all-enveloping love