The Vampire's Curse (3 page)

Mike tapped his fingers some more on the steering wheel. "So tell me about what this guy looked like, before and after you kissed him."

She flinched at the hurt in his voice. She should have known he wouldn't be silent about that. "He was definitely on the verge of feral before I kissed him."

"What makes you so sure?"

She sighed, hating that he had to question her like she was just some person off the street, even though she was the one who insisted she couldn't be close to him. "Everyone knows what a Feral looks like.
Trust
me, he was turning," she insisted, remembering his black eyes and warping teeth.

"Hmmm," Mike tapped his fingers some more while he thought. "There's no way of telling if he was trying to turn feral on purpose, even if what you saw was a feral vamp."

"It was."

"But you said after you kissed him he ..."

Jackie brought the memory fresh into her mind. "He started to turn normal. I guess he wasn't Feral after I kissed him, but the funny thing is he looked human."

"All vamps look human, Jackie."

"I know, but you can usually see a hint of teeth. I didn't see them after I kissed him, plus I got this feeling."

"A feeling?"

She deflated in her seat and crossed her arms, knowing that he was struggling to believe her. Hell, if he was just another cop and didn't know who she was, there was no way he'd be giving her the benefit of the doubt like he was right now. "Right, just a feeling."

He tapped the wheel some more. She knew what he was thinking. He wanted to read her mind to see for himself that she was telling the truth, and it made the little hairs on the back of her head stand in a rage.

She'd rather he believed her just because she said it happened.

When they finally pulled into the clinic he parked the car and turned off the engine, but neither of them got out. Jackie could taste the thick tension swirling around the car with all the things that had yet to be said. "So, why did you kiss him?"

Not the question she'd been expecting, he was lucky for that, but she groaned and rubbed her face. "Mike."

"No, really. I know you can heal people and all, but even you know that you can't cure things like Lycanthrope and vampirism. You can't even cure the common cold, so if someone comes along in a dark alley that you think looks like a feral, why kiss him?"

Her anger at his lack of faith and heated words burst through without her permission. "I don't know, it was just something I did without thinking. And if you don't believe me when I say he was at least a vampire, why would he try to bite me?"

"It could easily have been some crazed guy who's a fan of vampires, who’s running around trying to drink blood. That's not that uncommon y’know. And I'm not trying to downplay the danger you were in. Even if this was just some guy with a vamp fetish and a screw loose, he could’ve still hurt you."

Jackie unclipped her seatbelt and exited the car. "Well, I took care of myself just fine." She reached into her purse and searched around for her wallet. She kept her health card in there and wanted it on hand so she wouldn't have to search for it later.

She didn't find it, and her hand became jerky as she shoved aside spare keys, pens, makeup and some little notebooks in her attempt to find it.

The answer punched her in the gut.

Oh God, what if she dropped it in that alley? She’d been thrown around like a chew toy. It was possible that the thing had fallen out of her purse while she struggled and ran.

Mike got out of the car and stood on the other side, watching her. He must’ve sensed something was off. "What's wrong?"

She tried not to let her panic show. "Uh, you wouldn't happen to know if anyone picked up a wallet from the scene, do you?"

He blinked. "Didn't hear nothin’. Why? Is yours gone?"

She nodded, relieved by his answer. If it wasn’t in the alley when a bunch of cops were sweeping the place for evidence then she must’ve misplaced it. "Yeah, but I must've forgot it at home or something."

His green eyes darkened. "Or you dropped it in that alley and the guy you kissed took it."

A spidery shiver crawled up her back. "That's possible too, I guess."

They stared at each other while processing the thought that someone dangerous could know where she lived.

"Maybe I should go home and look for it," she said, hoping to prove that theory wrong.

Mike got back in the car. "That's prob’ly best. You should make some calls to see if anyone's used your cards."

Jackie collapsed against the car and groaned. She only had two cards, but both were worth two grand each. Right now that guy could be charging whatever he wanted to them and having a ball doing it. "I didn't even think of them."

Mike leaned over and opened the door for her. "Well, you know now. Get in, I'll take you home. It's been long enough to know you aren't going to grow fangs anyway.

Jackie got in the car and allowed Mike to drive her home. When he'd driven her to the clinic she was satisfied with his slow driving for safety, but know she wanted him to slam his foot through the bottom of the car if he had to, just to get her home fast enough.

He barely parked the car before she jumped out and ran to her apartment on the third floor, barely aware of Mike following behind.

She pulled her credit card papers out of the drawer in the kitchen and called the numbers. Nothing had been spent.

"Maybe I really did leave it here." She started looking in all the possible spots where she could have left it.

Mike checked his watch. "A little over fourteen hours since you called last night. Could be. Did you leave it at the shop?"

That hadn't occurred to her either, but she didn't stop turning over papers and lifting the couch cushions. "I'll have to call mom and ask."

"You do that, and call me when you find it. I don't want to worry about someone having your ID."

She looked at him, his stance the exact opposite of what she'd seen on TV last night, and the air between them thickened.

She hated these awkward times between them. She knew he felt something for her, something that could easily be love, but she just didn't feel anything for him other than friendship, and because of that she was ruining what little they did have.

If only he could understand, she wasn't trying to hurt him.

He turned and opened the door. "I guess I'll see you later."

She pushed a nonexistent strand of hair out of her face before stuffing her thumbs in her pockets. "Yeah."

Then he was gone, and she was left with the guilt.

It didn't stay with her long, her mind quickly returned to her lost wallet and the task of relocating it.

That man's face flashed in her mind. His strong jaw, dark hair and golden eyes flashing with bliss, and she shivered. There was a chance he knew where she lived, and she didn't know how to feel about that. For all she knew he could just be some poor guy who fell victim to the thirst of vampirism, he might even be grateful that she cured him.

But on the other hand, if he was so grateful why didn't he try and return it if he had it?

What if he was waiting for the right time to pay her a visit?

***

Kyle woke in his single bed under the itchiest covers in the known world. He was in a room devoid of any bright color as they’d long ago faded from the walls and been stained a piss colored yellow by cigarette smoke, a scent which still hung in the air, and allowed himself a luxurious stretch.

That was the best sleep he'd had since Sarah cursed him five months ago. Vampires didn't sleep during the night; he learned that quickly after turning. They were up and about like a man hyped up on ten cups of extra large coffee. The nighttime was their daytime, and during the day, if he could snatch a nap for an hour while the sun was up he counted himself the luckiest man in the world.

He turned and caught sight of the red numbers on the clock. He wasn't bothered to see that it was 3:45 in the afternoon.

Whatever, it didn't matter, he could have slept for three days and he would’ve woken up just as happy and refreshed.

He was cured.

Kyle contemplated staying under the covers and making up for five months of lost sleep, but opted to get up and shower and spend his first night out on the town as a normal man.

"It'd be interesting to see this place as a tourist." He laughed at the absurdity of the words leaving his mouth.

Griffon City couldn't be found on any map that he knew of. He doubted that a city like this was accustomed to getting many new people. From what he already saw of it the place was nothing like any normal city, there was a bustling center filled with stores, malls, and other businesses, but nobody stood around selling cheap T-shirts saying,
I
Love Griffon City
.

No. Vendors shouted out for buyers to purchase their magical rings and necklaces. Usually cosmetic stuff. The rings were charmed to change a woman’s nail color to suit her mood, and sometimes the necklaces would do the same thing, but for hair and eyes.

He’d contemplated picking up some for his mother and sister, but then the vendor, a lanky man in round sunglasses, pulled another tray of jewelry from beneath his wheeled display table. There were more necklaces, and even men’s chains. The vendor claimed that these necklaces could make the wearer more beautiful or handsome in the eyes of the person the wearer loved. So much so that the intended, “Will even drop the lover they’re with to be with the wearer, so long as you don’t remove the chain, of course.”

The whole air of the man and everything he sold suddenly smelled of
illegal
, or, if there were no laws to govern things like that in Griffon City, then definitely immoral. And, reminded of how he’d come to be in the city in the first place, Kyle had then put his almost purchases back on the table and promptly got back to work, disappointing the vendor who lost out on a sale.

It was a busy, but private, city, and ever since he got here he felt like he was too normal, not welcome.

That was about to change. He could finally leave and wouldn’t have to worry about it any longer.

He undressed, turned on the shower head and waited until the spray steamed before stepping under. He sighed loudly when the wet heat met his chest, and opted to stay right where he was until there was no hot water left.

It had been so long since he could just stand and enjoy a shower instead of getting in and out so he could get back to his search. It had been so long since he enjoyed anything.

That woman was going to get a roomful of flowers with his thanks. He’d pour the last of his savings into roses if he had to. Five months of searching for Sarah and a chance meeting with a random angel was what lifted his curse.

He left the shower at the first sign of cooling and toweled off. Her face stood fresh in his memory as though he'd known her all of his life, and he couldn't wait to see her again.

He dressed in the last set of clean clothes he had with him, pulling on his jeans and cotton black sweater with her face never exiting his mind.

He'd dreamed about her, even.

Slim, firm body, slightly dark blonde hair and big eyes behind box glasses. It’d been an interesting dream indeed.

"That's never happened before," he said to himself, chuckling and shaking his head.

If he was being a giddy fool then he figured he had the right, all things considered. The pull in his chest towards that woman was just his attraction to her natural beauty added to how grateful he was for her service.

Since his rude awakening to magic he hadn’t realized it could also be a good thing, it could help people as well as hurt them.

He grabbed the wallet from the nightstand and flipped it open to her driver's license, the pull of attraction still there when he saw her face. She was still better in real life. "Hello Gorgeous."

He dropped the wallet when the stab of pain punctured his teeth and fingernails. The shock forced him to his knees, and he clutched his jaw with one hand while fisting the other, the growing claws digging into the flesh of his palms.

Panic swelled and burst inside him. "No," He choked, feeling the change take over, familiar, tingling sensations that turned painful rushing through his body and under his skin like a river. He tried to fight it but the water knocked him back and he was drowning in his transformation.

"No," he said again clenching his teeth together to keep them from becoming points and fangs. It didn’t work. His claws came next, bloodying the skin around his fingernails as they lengthened and sharpened.

When the change stopped he still felt the river of adrenaline in his body flowing, the strength it brought to the muscles in his arms and legs, the speed, and agility ... the hunger. Kyle’s heart plummeted.

He fisted his hands and pounded the thinly carpeted floor. He roared like a man gone wild. "No!"

His breath came in shocking gasps as it always did after a change. Like he'd run a marathon and lost.

He stared at the spot between his fists, where the wallet lay open and the picture of the woman from last night sat smiling up at him without a care in the world.