The name badge neatly sewn onto the front of his leather jacket reads: Järvinen.But that is all I have time to take in before he’s hustling me towards my car.
“Get that sweet ass of yours home, Luna, and go figure out how to brew the fucking fluids!Don’t make me ask you twice.I’m not in the mood to deal with a fucking whining woman right now.”
“I’m not whining, you Goddamn bully—!”Before I can work myself up into a hysterical tantrum, Järvinen has wrenched open the door and stuffed me inside the hatchback.Muohta must have run home, because he’s not around.Clever dog.
Järvinen growls through the window, his voice muffled behind the dark helmet.“Go on, get out of here before the Heiners come by.”Giving the window one ominous tap with his gloved trigger finger, the Rider steps back and folds his arms.He looks like one of those bouncers when they see someone they don’t like trying to get into the club.
I must obey him.They want me to push what just happened out of my mind and go back home.But I don’t think I can.
I’ve put this off for so long.It is time for me to finish what Tempest started—in every sense of the word.
Starting the car, I flip Järvinen the bird as I drive back to the white house on the hill.
The first thing I notice when I go into the workroom is how tidy it is.All the mess Wulf caused when he ripped the place apart is gone.
The visitor application letters have been answered, and a stack of freshly sealed envelopes have addresses with Shadow’s wonky immature handwriting scrawled on them.
Hopefully, I can get the brewery working before a new crop of vampire victims arrive with their hiking gear and wide smiles.I doubt if a can of bear spray would keep a great beast like Midnight Rider Baltosson at bay for long.
The breath catches in my throat as I think of Shadow splayed out on the pool table like a drunken god.Giving myself a little shake, I concentrate on the pages laid out in sequence on the desk.
Equipment already at the inn
5 gal brewing kettle
Fermenter with airlock
Siphon
Stirring spoon (large enough to reach the bottom of the kettle)
Ingredients you will have to get
Soak bag of barley (honey for mead)
Malt
Enzymes
Sugar and yeast
And then it goes on to give the instruction steps, like how to sanitize the equipment and when to add the sugar and yeast to the bottles.
Come on, Luna.Use your head to fill in the gaps.Think of all those mountain men who have been brewing hooch on the Appalachian Mountains for hundreds of years.
If they can do it, then so can I.
It would help if I didn’t have the pressure urging me to hurry up.I must help Shadow replace all that blood he has lost.
Muohta comes to the door and barks at me.
“Shoo!I’m trying to think.Where would I go to get barley and malt… and whatever the fuck enzymes are.”
Muohta barks and wags his tail furiously.The dog sounds desperate.Giving up on the pages on the desk, I follow Mu downstairs.
“What are you hungry for, doggy?Salmon?Salmon kibbles?Pumpkin and oat cakes?”
The Samoyed has a better diet than I do.“I suppose it would go easier if I had something to eat.Strawberry yogurt doesn’t keep a body alive.Not after losing a pint of ankle blood!”
