Hemlock Read Online Free Page B

vodka—Ben’s and safely tucked away behind a box of cereal—
    but I wasn’t about to let him have it.
    Jason’s green eyes narrowed. “It’s not nice to lie.”
    I wondered what had given me away. “Whatever. Besides, haven’t you had enough?” I was seriously starting to worry that Jason was going to end up in some sort of rehab facility, right down the hal from a celebrity catastrophe. Only the best for a Sheffield.
    “Am I stil conscious?”
    I nodded, not sure I liked where this was going.
    “Then I haven’t had enough.”
    “Jason . . .”
    “A reporter caled the house today, Mac. He wanted to know if I had heard about the attack last night and if I had a comment.”
    Jason watched my face, waiting for me to get it, then shifted his gaze to the floor. “There was another attack. A werewolf with white fur. The police are keeping it quiet so people don’t start panicking.”

    I felt like I had just been doused in cold water. The beginnings of a headache danced along my skul and I was suddenly freezing.
    What if it was starting again?
    It took me a while to find my voice. “It might not be the same one,” I said slowly, uncertainly. White was a rare color among werewolves—like naturaly redheaded humans—and white fur had been found at each murder scene in the spring. Amy’d had white fur clutched in her fist—or so the Dateline special had said.
    A thought occurred to me, and I reached out to tilt Jason’s chin up, forcing him to look at me. “It can’t be the same wolf—this is the first attack in months.”
    The wolf that had gone after Amy had probably been suffering from bloodlust—a condition that was sort of like rabies. Less than 2 percent of people infected with LS developed it. Not al werewolf attacks were committed by wolves suffering from bloodlust, but multiple ones almost always were. And once a wolf with bloodlust starting kiling, it didn’t just stop. It craved it.
    No way could that same wolf have gone al summer without attacking anyone. Unless it left Hemlock and came back , whispered a smal voice in the back of my head; I tuned out the thought.
    “I guess . . . ,” said Jason uncertainly. He sighed and rubbed his cheeks roughly, like he was trying to sober up a bit. “I should cal a cab or something. Get out of your hair.”
    “Why don’t you crash here tonight?” I knew the cramped two-bedroom apartment I shared with Tess would be preferable to the huge house across town. Besides, I didn’t like the thought of Jason huge house across town. Besides, I didn’t like the thought of Jason hitting up his father’s liquor cabinet. Not tonight. He shouldn’t be on his own. “We can watch a movie and you can sleep on the couch.” The sofa was a lumpy, plaid hand-me-down Tess had gotten from someone at work, but given how much Jason had been drinking, I didn’t think a few broken springs would bother him.
    He looked up. “Tess won’t mind?”
    I roled my eyes and stood. “You know she won’t. She probably won’t even notice.” Truthfuly, she might not even make it home before Jason left in the morning.
    Ben lived one floor below us, and Tess, reasoning that she was stil in the same building and therefore stil being a responsible guardian, had starting spending some nights at his place.
    “Tess the mess,” Jason muttered. He let his head fal back against the couch. “Thanks.” That one word was filed with relief.
    “Do you think you should cal home?”
    He closed his eyes. “What for? It’s not like they’d care.”
    I wanted to argue, but it would have meant lying. On the surface, Jason had everything—money, connections, a house that was better suited to 90210 than Hemlock—but the picture underneath wasn’t that pretty. Most of the time his parents barely remembered they had a son.
    “It’s al right,” he said, somehow picking up on the things I wanted to say and couldn’t. He sat up straighter and opened his eyes. “You don’t have to lie for