Always in Shadow by Heather Davis

because I didn’t want her to get into trouble, but I hugged my backpack to my chest the whole ride home. Now I had the the map, and a little piece of hope. Chapter Seven IT STARTED off as a silent night, holy night. Somewhere the bloodsuckers were sleeping off an afternoon blood binge – I’d seen the empty martini glasses in the lounge. Boris, of course, was not in a festive mood. He’d told Fuzz about my temporary escape, but luckily, they’d both believed my story that I was trying to find a shop that sold more of those sausages. It turns out a wolf’s hunger is never in doubt. I hadn’t seen Austin all day. My guess was he was down in the lab with Dr. Lyndon. Seeing I was bored, Monty, the tour manager, invited me to help him decorate the tree in the main hall. Not that anyone cared about having a Christmas tree, but he was going to shoot a video of Fuzz and the band wishing their fans a happy Christmas to build buzz for the New Year’s Eve concert. Of course, I was having trouble keeping from eating the popcorn I was supposed to be stringing for decorations. I’d already gone through two bowls and only had half a string to show for it. “Here,” Monty said, thrusting a box of colorful paper and ribbon at me. “Perhaps you’d enjoy wrapping your presents from town instead? We need some gifts under the tree. Try not to eat the paper, yeah?” “Okay.” I took the box upstairs, then grabbed my backpack from my room and headed to the library one floor up. I rolled out the wrapping paper one