by R. E. Carr
“Well, Pumpkin, when you put it that way—bombs away,” he said, before gulping the entire contents. He wiped his mouth and let out a bored sigh. “Well this is a complete dud,” he said, sounding disappointed as he stared at his hands. Nothing more impressive than a tiny static charge bounced in his general direction. Gail, however, gasped. “What?”
“Steve, your eyes!” Gail pointed to his face as his irises immediately darkened from green to brown, while chestnut-colored stubble burst from his cheeks.
“Oh boy,” Steve stammered, before he collapsed unceremoniously to the floor. The lights in the fixture immediately above him exploded in a shower of plastic and sparks. In the flicker between moments, Gail could see a shadowy figure raise a finger to his lips. The door burst open as half the pack rushed into the room brandishing pistols and claws.
“What the actual fuck?” Toy cried as a dead ringer for Javier Diego Azeri-Gorri Etxeberria de Azarola pushed himself up from the floor and promptly banged his head on the underside of the table.
“Ay caramba,” Steve sighed in a terrible mix of Mexican and Brooklyn accents.
22
“Why must we say goodbye like this?” Lorcan asked, holding Lincoln tightly to his chest while Paige tried her best to stifle her tears. She tugged at the irritating edges of her bandages and fussed with the ties on her gown—anything to avoid looking at either Lorcan or her son. “Then again, it always had to end badly, did it not, A rún?”
“Of course, it did. Werewolves . . . vampires . . . who ever heard of that story ending well?” Paige asked bitterly. “At some point, time had to catch up to one of us. Look—tonight has to be the end of this mess, once and for all. I know you will hate me—”
“And you know that I will never hate you.” He eased over to her side, leaning against her. Lincoln stared at them both, then yawned. This time Paige’s tears overflowed just a little.
“Lorcan, you told me to save myself, so I am. I am done with vampires, and by default that means I have to be done with you. You need to pull yourself together and figure out who you are—hell, who you want to be. I need to keep myself in a good enough headspace to last until this little guy can take care of himself. I mean, I get it now. I understand why your ex wants us tucked away in the ass-end of nowhere until the last of us falls apart. I’m sure she will sneak in some human servants who will be there to take care of Lincoln, when I no longer can.”
“Paige, please,” Lorcan begged.
“Please what? Ignore the truth? You can’t tell me that isn’t the plan, not when she has everything stacked in her favor. I just hope that when the time comes, you’ll still care enough to look after our son. That is the little bit of hope I’m gonna hold on to.”
Lorcan nodded sadly. He closed his eyes and nuzzled against her, taking in one last deep breath of her skin and hair. Paige turned her head, so she could look at him squarely in the eyes.
“You know, there was a time when I felt like we could talk without ever saying a word. A time when, I dunno, we were connected, but I fear that’s gone. All that’s left in me is some tired little remnant of you, and I want that gone too. We just need to make a clean break, right?”
Lorcan nodded once more, this time hesitantly. He cradled Lincoln for a moment longer, then reluctantly walked him over to the door where his grandmother was waiting just outside. Maria smiled sadly at them. “I’m guessing you guys want a while longer?” she asked.
“How bad is it out there, Mom?”
“Well, your great-grandfather has turned into Javier now, in some sort of botched attempt to not look like Arthur, and there are more bloodsuckers on the way. I’ve got everyone keeping busy as best I can, you know, packing things up.”
“We’ll be packed when they get here, right?” Paige asked softly. Maria nodded. “I love you so much, Mom.”
“Love you too, kiddo,” Maria replied, before slipping out of view. Paige let out a single deep sob before sucking it up and motioning Lorcan over. He knelt beside her and lifted up her wrist.
“Oh, come on, after everything we’ve been through?” Paige asked, shaking her head just a little.
He eyed her bandaged stump and all the tubes still connected to her body. Paige snarled. Lorcan slowly traced his fangs along her shoulder and up to her throat. “Are you certain, A rún?”
“You need every bit of you that you can get. Remember, you always give me that nasty, protective part of you. I don’t need him anymore, do I?”
“I guess you don’t,” Lorcan whispered before sinking his fangs into her. Paige moaned and sank into her pillow, shuddering as the artery on her neck pulsed and swelled. Lorcan trembled as well, holding her far too hard. She yelped in pain but grabbed onto him as tightly as she could with her good arm, refusing to let him pull away. Finally, his eyes rolled back, and he slumped against her chest for the briefest of moments before sliding gently over her and pressing his lips against hers. They remained that way as long as they dared, even as something flickered in the darkest shadows of the room. Paige swallowed hard before finally pulling away and giving a tiny nod to Lorcan.
“I guess this is it,” she whispered. Lorcan tried to look away, but she tilted his chin back to look at her. “It’s OK, it’s better this way, don’t you think? You’ll understand in time, I’m sure. There is just . . . nothing really left to say, is there?”
“Indeed,” he choked out. He took a deep breath. For a moment, he seemed lost in her eyes. “Will today really be the last day I ever see you?”
“As long as the world is the way it is and there are rules for creatures like you and disaster looming for creatures like me, then yeah, we can’t be together.”
“I will suffer. I am sure of it,” Lorcan said, finally pulling away from her. “I don’t know if I can—”
“You have time. You’ll get over it. You’ll get over all of us, and it’s OK. Now, let’s not drag this out any more. I need to recover before they get here because there is no way in hell I’m going to lie in some hospital bed when those bloodsuckers arrive. Hey—if it’s not too much, can I ask you for one last little thing, Lorcan? Please?”
“Anything.”
“I never got a chance to say anything to my dad. If you can, could you maybe . . .?” Paige looked away.
“I’ll find some way to get a message to him. Maybe he will have an opportunity someday to atone for the mistakes he’s made, too.”
Lorcan rubbed his temples. He gave Paige another sad look before kissing her gently on the forehead. “Perhaps the fate for us was always separation and tragedy, A rún. Maybe it’s time we accept that, for both our sakes. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye,” Paige whispered, before sliding her covers up and closing her eyes. She choked back tears and shut her eyes, not daring a final look. She held her breath as the door slammed. Soon her heartbeat pounded, and her sniffles drowned out the beeps and whooshing sounds of the machines. In between one of her snorts, the tiniest of footsteps could just be heard in the corner of her room. The corner of Paige’s lip turned up ever so slightly before she drifted into a nap.
Paige snapped her eyes open as she smelled vampire miasma in the air. She growled and popped out her claws but pulled them back as she picked up a familiar sweet overtone. She saw the hazy outline of a guy in a black hoodie and jeans. “Great-Grandpa?” she asked as she squinted to see him. “Is that you?”
“Another version of me, slightly less-horrible than looking like Arthur, I suppose,” he said softly.
“You’re blurry,” she said as he took a tentative step towards her. “Did you drink another vampire’s blood or what?”
“At this point, why not try anything, Pip? You never know what just might work.” He shimmered a little bit more before a familiar pair of brown eyes appeared. The haze lifted, and a pretty close approximation of the original Steven J. DeMarco wandered over to Paige’s bedside. She cocked her head at his ever-so-slightly straighter nose and angular jaw, as if he had been given a stylis
t and the best makeup artist money could buy. Still, as he smirked and pushed his curly hair off his forehead, Paige had to smile.
“Now that’s an ugly DeMarco mug.”
Steve clutched his hands to his chest and wavered in and out of view for a moment. “You have the same nose, Pip. Don’t you forget it.”
“So, are you going to be alright?” Paige asked. Her great-grandfather shrugged. Paige rolled her eyes but still managed to smile. “Look, I’m not here to stop you if you want to run off after Arthur. I’m not even judging you.”
“Well, you’re getting out of the picture, right? You’re gonna be safe, take care of the next generation of this crazy family?”
Paige nodded. “I’m going to do what I have to do, and you should do what you have to do too, Steve. If you get a chance to take down that smug asshole—”
“Wait, are you encouraging me to be stupid and go after revenge, Pipsqueak?”
“We’re DeMarcos . . .”
“It’s what we do,” they finished in unison. Steve took another tentative step, so he could take her hand. She jerked him all the way in, so she could give him a sloppy lopsided hug.
“Oof! How is it you can be half-dead and still stronger than me, Pip?”
She squeezed him again. “Just—if you do go after him, do it right,” she whispered in his ear. “Remember that, OK?”
She felt Steve nod. He finally pulled away. “I’m glad I got to see you, you know, before the next round of insanity. If there is one thing I know, it only gets worse . . . before it gets even worse for us.”
“As always, you’re an inspiration, Great-Grandpa.”
“I just wish there was another way. Deals with vampires never go well—”
“I know Steve, but there is more going on here. I’ve learned—”
“What, some crap about squished skulls and all werewolves going batty? I don’t believe it. It’s exactly the sort of crap vampires would say. Gail was worried about it too, but if there is one thing I know, it’s that you guys are different. You’re not monsters, no matter what Ma thinks.”
“Your mom is right about some things, Steve,” Paige whispered. “Trust me. Look, I’ll look out for Link and for Mom. You just do your best to live out to a ripe old vampire age, find some nice vampire girl and settle down, OK? Actually, no—just be yourself . . . and try not to get into too much trouble.”
“Hey, I’m not making any promises that I can’t keep.”
“What are we promising?” Kyle asked as he slipped into the room. “I need to change her bandages and get ready. I just got word that the bloodsucker brigade is on its way.”
Steve gave a sly look as Kyle pushed past him. “You’re gonna look after her, right, Red?”
“Oh, please,” Kyle said. “She’s always the one taking care of us.”
“I meant the arm,” Steve said, pointing to Paige’s stump. “That’ll grow back . . . right?”
“Goodbye, Great-Grandpa, Steve,” Paige said softly.
“Take care, Pip.”
She gave him a sad smile. She winced as Kyle started tugging at tubes. Once Steve flickered a bit and disappeared, she nodded to Kyle. “I need to see her, please.”
“You sure?”
“She’s the only one I can ask,” Paige said, flipping an emerging curl off her forehead. “Bring her on.”
“Bring it on.” Gail psyched herself up as she stared at her non-existent reflection. “God, I wish I had an assistant.”
Gail straightened her dress and checked her hastily packed bag for deodorant and lipstick. She only dared a pale pink gloss by feel, then finger-combed her hair until it no longer offered any resistance at the ends. Just as she was bending over to tighten the strap on her sandals, the door to the bathroom burst open.
“Nice view.”
Gail looked up but saw no reflection. “Hi, asshole.”
“Nice to see you too, Pumpkin,” Steve replied. “Kyle asked if you could help him bandage Paige back up again.”
“Damn it, I just got dressed.”
“Trust me, a little bit of werewolf blood on your décolletage will be a fashion coup in this crowd. Now hurry up.” He instantly cringed as Gail immediately grabbed her bag. “Did I?
“Easy, tiger—I’m just in a hurry, you didn’t whammy me. Oh my god, how many werewolves can I deal with in a single day?”
The toilet flushed behind her. “I had to ask,” Gail muttered as Kayleigh slipped out of a stall. Another flush quickly followed. None of the ladies so much as batted an eye as Steve waved from the door. Gail sighed and made her way back to the infirmary.
“OK, OK, I’m here!” Gail burst into the exam room, trying her best to get both her gloves and lab coat on at the same time. She stopped cold as she saw an already-dressed Paige sitting on the edge of her bed, twirling both her feet and her tail at the same time.
“Heya,” Paige said softly. “I was wondering if I could ask you a favor before all the other vampires arrive. I’m afraid it’s a favor that I can only ask of you, Gail.”
Gail warily eyed the very large ginger werewolf standing protectively over Paige. Kyle looked away pointedly. “What is going on here?”
Paige motioned to Kyle who made a deliberate sweep of the room, taking extra care to sniff out each of the corners. He locked the door then gave the injured werewolf a thumbs-up. Paige bit her lip.
“Look, I don’t know how much you’ve read of the Arce’s notes or if you’ve checked out any of Dr. Antonova’s work, but I get the feeling that you’re one of the few blood . . . err, vampires smart enough to know exactly what is happening to us.”
“I did read how the change can affect you, yes.”
“And you’ve seen Williams. Let me guess, you’ve warned my great-grandfather about how doomed we all are. Well, have you?”
Gail slumped a little. “I thought he deserved to know.”
“Well, he happens to have the ability to order people around, to make them forget, and god knows what else. Did you ever think about what he might do in a situation where he could potentially be the hero? You know him, Gail. My Great-Grandpa Steve is just the kind of guy to think he’s doing the right thing but only make it worse.”
“I didn’t . . . I didn’t think about that, no.”
Paige looked Gail right in the eyes. “You’ve got laws, right? If you make a promise, you have to keep it, right?”
Gail nodded slowly. Paige smiled sadly.
“Please, promise me you won’t let him stop us tonight. I need to make a deal with Mina and the sheriff once and for all, for the good of what’s left of the pack. If I ask you to stop my great-grandfather, will you do it for me? Please, Gail, you are the only one I can ask to do this.”
“He can command me though. There isn’t much I can do if he uses the whammy voice. I’m already poisoned. I’m sorry.”
“Please,” Paige begged. “Just stop him before he does anything stupid. I hate to say it, but he can survive a hit or two. Promise me that you’ll keep him from stopping the deal. We welcomed you in, Gail. You’ll always be part of the pack. Let us have the . . . ending that we deserve, OK?”
Gail finally returned the gaze. “That’s a pretty low blow, you know.”
“It’s all we’ve got left,” Paige said with a weak smile.
“Alright, I promise I’ll stop Steve, but this is my first big werewolf-vampire negotiation. How will I know what to even—?”
“Just promise me that if I ask, you’ll take my great-grandfather out of the equation, OK? He’s never going to be able to live with himself if he does nothing while he thinks we are going off to die. He doesn’t understand the world quite the way we do—you know, the way that people who have had run-ins with the Kevins of the world. . . understand it.”
“I promise that I’ll stop him. I won’t let him ruin your deal,” Gail said softly.
“Thank you, Gail,” Paige said, barely above a whisper. “He may hate you for a while, and I’m sorry for that.�
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“Well, it’s about time he gets a taste of how I feel. I think it’s OK for him to feel helpless for a change. Now, is there anything else you want to guilt me into?”
“No, I think that we understand each other. Thank you, Gail. I mean it.”
“Good luck, Paige. I hope you find some sort of peace.” Gail turned for the door.
“I hope you find it too,” Gail could just hear as she slipped into the hall. Steve waited patiently near the breakroom door, a pair of sippy cups in hand. Gail hurried to his side and sniffed the straw.
“Hey, why is there no booze in here?” she asked the dumbfounded vampire. “There is no way I’m getting through tonight sober.”
23
“I must say, it is a delight seeing you two together,” Mina cooed as Steve and Gail stood beside each other in the parking lot, umbrellas in hand. Warm rain hissed and sputtered periodically, cutting through the heavy air. Lady Harker stepped out of her limo and tasted the rain with the delight of a small child. Both Gail and a servant tried to rush over with an umbrella, but Mina waved them all away.
“I love the feel of water on my skin,” Lady Harker explained.
“You mean you like being wet,” Steve said dryly as he stepped fully into view. Mina returned his smirk and gave him an appreciative glance.
“You seem . . . different,” she said, running her fingers along his shoulder. She gave a sidelong glance to Gail. Gail shrugged. “Pity—no jealousy, no fire. I was talking to my sister, you know. You’re her third son, Steve, and Gail is my adoptive daughter—”
“She’s a little young for me,” Steve said, leading the way towards the entrance to DeMarco’s Spicy Balls. Mina grinned at the name.
“I thought you liked younger women,” Mina offered innocently. “I mean—”
“My wife hasn’t been dead a month, Mina. Mom expects me to be over her, but I figured you’d be a little more . . . understanding.” Steve looked over at the rest of the Harker entourage. “You all stay out here until we come for you, OK?”