A Taste For Blood – Jason P Crawford

The great dining space had transformed into a staging area, with a half- dozen stations holding different problems that needed to be addressed. “Are we still agreed to have the ceremony outdoors?” Alaric passed over a document, a letter signed with a flowery hand. “Madame Vivienne insists that she repay you for your work on the Glass case. She wants us in her establishment.” Millie shook her head and tucked her skirts underneath her.

“Vivienne’s lovely, but there is no world in which I subject myself to the kind of over- perfumed, deafening performances she hosts. I can’t.” “I thought as much.” He tapped the signature. “But you’ll have to write to decline or else she’ll feel slighted.” “How many letters is that I need to write?” Alaric’s lips pursed and moved as he counted to himself. “Hmm. Twelve? I think it’s twelve, so far.” “Twelve.” Millie rubbed her eyes. “I just woke up and I’m already set to go back to sleep.

Don’t hit me with that so early.” “Apologies, love. There’s just a lot of letters to go through. I didn’t want to do it by myself.” She favored him with a warm smile and squeezed his arm. Such a kind way of saying that he’d been waiting for her to be ready for a long time. “It’ll be fine.” He let go and picked up the next envelope. “Oh. Tatianna is willing to sell us pastries at cost, as long as we let her hang her storefront-” “We’re not eating Tatianna’s pastries at our wedding.”

Millie tapped the table. “If we don’t engage Margot for this, we’re not getting married.” He laughed and put up his hands. “Peace! You don’t need to threaten me! But can Margot handle the order size? Thirty-two people—not counting any extras they might drag along—is quite a bit for an older woman.”

“She’ll do it and she’ll love every moment of it.” Millie smiled, imagining the fierce lines of Margot’s face as she worked on dough and batter. “And she’d never let me live it down if I didn’t ask her.” “That can be your mission for the morning.” “What’ll you be doing?” He nodded to the next pile of letters. “Payment requests that need fulfilling. I’ll have to go to the bank.” “Payment requests?” Millie tilted her head, frowning. What had he already bought?

He seemed to sense the follow-up question before she asked it.

ater dripped from the gutters into the rain barrel outside, a persistent, repetitive drone that dug its way into Millie’s ears. She pulled her hat down in the back, putting the felt between her head and the offending noise. Her thin gloves whispered against the fabric and her skin, something that brought her comfort even in the midst of such grotesquerie. In one corner, a soggy stray cat bristled, hissing in defense of its newly claimed territory. The bloated pig corpse on the table in front of her smelled of internal rot and putrescence.

Her nostrils flared behind the handkerchief tied to her face and her eyes sought out any indicator, any clue as to what caused the creature’s death. No wounds. No bruising. She poked a finger at the pig’s side, feeling the loss of elasticity. Normal decay. Behind her, near the farmstead door, Theodore and Cassius mumbled to one another. The two rancher brothers stood at the threshold, seemingly unwilling to come any closer to Millie’s operation, exchanging glances every time she moved or did something new.

“You said five?” She didn’t look at them, instead pulling back the swine’s lips and examining its teeth. The gums had only started to retreat, but the infection was obvious, with bits of slop stuck between gum and enamel. “Five dead?” “Mmm.” That was Cassius; the cleft in his mouth made his voice high and nasal, more unpleasant than the drip-drip-drip. “Five. That’s right, lady.” “Doctor.” She pulled out the pig’s tongue.

Small sores decorated the thick membranes, the beginnings of rot showing. Maggots squirmed inside the dimpled skin. “Doctor Colburn.” When no one answered, she paused, turning her eyes on the two men. Cassius shifted in place and glanced at his older brother Theodore, a burly man with a greying beard and sharp eyes.

“You heard her.” Theodore’s voice rumbled in his chest. “You call the lady ‘Doctor,’ like she expects. Deserves. Understand?” After Cassius’s nod, Millie turned back to her examination. The insect whines made her skin crawl, but she didn’t show the discomfort—better to keep it hidden until she could deal with it later. She glanced at the hissing cat and snarled at it, sending the creature scrabbling to find cover. Then, before the farmers could remark on that, she tossed them another observation. “They died six days ago.

You found them collapsed at the trough.” This time, Theodore responded. “Ayuh, doctor. How’d you know?” She didn’t answer. It wouldn’t matter, anyway; these two would never remember. Moving to the animal’s haunch, she lifted a leg, tilting her head to hear the tissues moving. Cassius couldn’t help himself.

“What’re you listening for?” She ignored him and raised her eyebrow at Theodore. “Who’ve you made angry lately?”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 4cb46c4c2890db1d
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,241,869 bytes (1.184 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 298
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 307.28 minutes
• Total Words: 61,456
• Total Characters: 347,156
• Average Words per Page: 206.23
• Average Characters per Page: 1164.95

Most Frequent Words

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