The Vampire's Curse (27 page)

"If only she didn't make friends with that creature. Maybe we should let her go." Charity said.

Jackie's heart leapt hopefully.

"What? Are you kidding? She'll go to the police."

"She doesn't even know where she is, or who's holding her. I should've talked to her first. Maybe she didn't know what she was doing."

Claire's voice raised in volume. "She knew he was a vamp and she knew he was about to turn. The slut's putting out to a creature that nearly let himself turn feral.
Feral
, mom. That's all we need."

Jackie clenched her jaw. They knew Kyle was spending the night at her apartment. Charity must've been watching her since the scene in the library.

Claire was the obvious choice for the one in charge here, but Charity was not going to stand up to her daughter and stop her from what she was doing. It sounded to Jackie like Charity didn't mind what her daughter did to vampires, but when it came to someone who was human, who used to be a friend, it seemed that’s where she got iffy.

"We stick to the plan. We wait for it to find her through their link or whatever, and put him away too. Then, when they turn, we won't even have to stick them in collars. We can put her to sleep before sticking her with them if it makes you feel better about it. They'll feed from her, we'll put the vamps down, and then we'll leave. You won't have to see anything like this ever again, we won't even talk about it if you don't want."

The comforting coo in Claire’s voice made Jackie want to be sick. They knew Kyle was coming for her, that they were matched, and they were planning on starving him and Evey until they had no choice but to feed off her. Claire talked about putting Kyle and Evey down like they were sick animals.

She had to get out. Had to think of something, anything, she couldn't let them hurt Kyle! He was walking into a trap!

"We won't even have to wait for her to turn into a feral. A week, two at the most without blood and they'll be so thirsty they won't be able to resist. We can get this over with fast and then get out."

“The police already suspect us, we should leave now instead of drawing this out.”

“No.” Claire’s voice was firm, controlling. “It isn’t enough. What we’ve done isn’t enough to make dad’s death mean anything. Just two more vamps, then her, and we’ll go.”

The stairs moaned under the strain of holding Charity's weight as she walked back up the stairs. "Fine, fine. I'm tired. I’m going to take a nap. If you hear anything—"

"I'll check on them. If anything happens I’ll tell you."

The creaking of the stairs stopped and the heavy door shut behind them. Jackie waited sixty seconds before deciding it was safe to open her eyes. When she did, she saw Evey up on her elbows staring at the spot where Charity and her demented daughter had exited the room.

Jackie knew what she was thinking but said it anyway. "They've completely lost it."

"They could give the Shepards a run for their money."

She talked like she knew from experience, but Jackie didn't feel like sitting around comparing the two women to other ruthless killers. She leapt to her feet and found the door to the cage, shut and locked with three combination locks: one at the bottom where the door opened, the other in the usual spot in the middle, and the other at the top. She looked at them all, as if they could give her the combination, but nothing came to her.

"They didn't want to risk that anyone they took knew how to pick locks. Or was strong enough to bend the door at the corners."

Jackie looked back at Evey, who was laying on her back and now seemed to be staring at the top of her cage. "They even charmed my cage against magic because they discovered I was a witch after the last time they sent their pets after us." Evey flicked the metal bars. “They’ve thought of everything.”

Jackie grinned as she held one of the locks in her hand. "But I'm the worst witch in the world." And everyone knew it.

Evey was silent for a few seconds. "What are you thinking about?"

The rest of the conversation she had with Kyle in her hospital room came back to her. "He told me he'd show me how to defend myself, in case I needed it." She shook her head. "He didn't have time to show me much of anything, but he gave me a few pointers."

Evey got to her knees and gripped the bars of her cage.

Jackie looked her square in the eyes. Or at least, what she thought were her eyes. "You didn't happen to see them charm my cage, did you?"

Evey shook her head. "No, but are you sure you want to try this. They could hear you and come down here."

Jackie held the bottom lock in both of her hands, calling all her faulty magic to come to her and focusing it into the lock. "They know Kyle's coming. They'll hurt him."

"He seemed to be very good at his job, he'll come with Michael and every cop in the city."

Jackie shook her head. No, not good enough. She couldn’t risk it. She focused on a simple warming charm, like when she made her coffee mug explode, and already felt the energy she came up with going haywire. "You said they've thought of everything, right? I'm not risking the chance that they thought of that."

The lock heated in her hand like an oven burner but she didn't let it go. She felt no burn even as it darkened and turned red. It popped like a gun and pieces flew in all directions.

Upstairs she heard a clatter of footsteps.

"Hurry!" Evey said, and she all but threw herself on the steel floor and played dead again.

The second lock popped faster than the first, and she was on her toes with the third lock in her hand when the heavy door at the top of the steps flew open. Claire ran downstairs with her hand outstretched straight in front of her and a holding a silver blurred object. Gun.

"What are you doing!" She shrieked, stopping in front of her and pointing the gun. Her teeth were clenched and a blue vein in her forehead was preparing to burst. "Let go of that lock."

With her back to Evey, Claire didn't see her rise to her feet. She reached her long, skinny arms through the bars and grabbed Claire by her scrawny neck and pulled her backwards. Jackie flew away from the bars in case the gun went off in their struggle. When she looked up, Evey had the gun in one hand and Claire's throat in the other, her open mouth within kissing distance of Claire’s neck.

Claire's cheeks were puffed out and red from how tightly Evey held her, though she didn’t struggle with her words. "Let go of me you blood sucking freak!"

Evey sunk two of her pointed fingernails into Claire's creamy flesh and hissed in her ear, ignoring the blood dripping down her neck. "One more word, and I'll turn you into a blood sucking freak."

Claire went silent and Jackie could only imagine the repulsion on her face.

Evey nodded to her. "Get back to work. I've got her."

Jackie got back to her feet and lifted her good arm to the top lock. She held it in her fist and called every ounce of Magic inside of her. It exploded like the last two, and the steel door swung open.

"Can you get me out?" Evey asked when Jackie inspected her locks. “Her mother will be down soon.”

She grabbed one of the locks and tried to perform the same warming charm, but the charm on the locks was stronger and absorbed everything she put into it. It was like trying to pour water into a sink with the drain open and hoping to fill it.

She slapped the lock which clanged loudly against the steel. "No, it won't let me."

More footsteps moved around on the floor above them. Jackie heard Charity's muffled call for Claire.

"You need to get out of here." Evey shoved the gun she took from Claire through the bars. Jackie took it and held it like she would a dead rat. By the tail. "I don't know how to use this."

"If she doesn't know that upstairs then it doesn't matter. Now go!"

Feeling as though she were leaving a piece of herself behind, Jackie did as she was told and ran for her life.

***

Kyle knew she was inside. He could feel her heart beating erratically from his perch on the neighboring roof, and he thanked God because it meant that she lived. Thick snow fell in slow clumps that made seeing anything beyond the house difficult. Much like it had the night they first met.

The suburbs of Griffon City were as unimaginative as any other suburb in the world. Only in one innocent looking house were horrors he couldn’t imagine. And Jackie was inside.

He didn't need to see her to be able to feel her fear, her breathing, or her pulse. His own heart beat in time with hers under his skin.

Good, this was very good.

He was not too late. She was alive inside and that gave him time to get her out.

But he couldn't just go charging inside, as much as his limbs itched to do just that, he had to stay put, literally, because being a vampire left him incapable of entering the house without the permission of the people inside.

He was stuck. For the moment. He just needed a plan, a way to trick them into allowing him inside, if only for a second.

He heard Carter speaking over the radio they gave him. "This the place?"

Carter and his aid Miller sat in a car someplace where Kyle couldn’t see them, but where they could see him. There were other men with them he knew, but he couldn’t see them either.

He held the little black button that would send his answer. "I can feel her inside. What do I do?"

"Stay there. We’re getting into position."

His inside froze. Stay? Was he out of his mind? How could he expect him to—?

Kyle's thoughts screeched to a halt and crashed when the side door of the two-story soccer-mom house opened and Jackie ran into the snowfall, unharmed and alone.

"She's out, she's out!" He called into the radio and leapt down between the two buildings.

She spun when his boots thudded flat in the snow. She pointed a gun directly at his forehead, screamed at the sight of him, dropped it, and fell into his arms crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He stroked her hair, smelled her scent and made shushing noises. He bent down enough, while still holding her, to grab the gun and backed out of the cramped space with her. He didn't think she even knew he was moving with her. He kept the gun ready in case someone or something tried to surprise them. "You're alright. You’re safe, Gorgeous. We need to get you out of here."

"We can’t! Oh God, Evey's still inside!"

He didn’t care. She was a big girl who could handle herself for another two minutes while he dragged Jackie into the street, flashing cars immediately surrounded them. Carter jumped out of his vehicle and ran to them so fast his hat flew off.

He grabbed her shoulders, pulling her out of Kyle’s hold and forgetting her one arm was still in a sling.

“Careful!” Kyle snapped.

Carter ignored him. Lucky for him his actions didn’t irritate Jackie’s injury. "Are you alright? What happened in there?"

"Evey's still inside!" Jackie said again, pointing her finger at the house. Kyle felt her anger and hatred for the place rolling off her when she pulled away from Carter and wrapped her good arm where it rightfully belonged, around Kyle.

Carter barked orders to the men suddenly swarming the street to proceed with caution as they surrounded the house, warning them of a possible hostage situation.

"I had to get out of there. They knew you were coming for me and wanted to get you too and turn you both into ferals." She clung to him while she cried and told him of their plan. “I couldn’t let them do it.”

"Who?" Carter said. "Who is Claire working with?"

She sniffled and tears poured out of her eyes. "Charity's with her. Oh God, they’re working together." Now he felt her regret, but he couldn't tell what it was for as he tightened his arms around her. "I can't believe I thought she wasn't involved."

Oh
.

"How did you get out?" Kyle asked, holding her at arm’s length, inspected her for anymore damage, though he didn't feel any when he held her in his arms, moving his hands about in case there was something under her clothes that he couldn't see.

She smiled up at him through her tears. "You told me to observe. You told me that blowing things up with magic would help save my life, you were right."

The hand that squeezed his heart and clawed the inside of his chest went away, and he held her close again. An insane part of him would’ve loved to charge in there and save the day, but knowing Jackie used his advice to save herself was better. "Good girl."

Carter saw the gun in Kyle’s hand. “Where’d you get that?”

He looked down at Jackie, wondering the same thing. Did she even know how to use it?

She answered them both. “Claire came downstairs, we were in the basement, and she got too close to Evey’s cage. She grabbed her when I got out. I took her gun and ran.”

"The house is surrounded now. No one's getting in or out of there without us knowing." Carter said, regret in his eyes as he watched Kyle comfort the woman he'd loved. Kyle felt neither jealousy nor any possessive anger. Jackie was his, and they both knew it.

"We need to get Evey out of there right now.” Carter said, clearing his throat. “Jackie, were there any ferals left in there? Did you see the device they used to control their collars?"