by Mandy Rosko
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.
The good thoughts he had of her wisped away like a mist. "Yeah, I'll be seeing you again for sure, Gorgeous."
THREE
Jackie trudged up the steps to her apartment because the elevator was out—good thing there were only three floors—her fingers itching to hurl a few breakable things into a wall. She’d have to give her apartment one last sweep before she called to cancel her credit cards and report to Mike that the man in the alley probably had her wallet.
She'd called her mother, but Patty only had time for a quick search while dealing with customers. So Jackie had to run over and look for herself before Patty closed for the night.
No wallet. Shit.
She shut the door and slid the chain into the lock before turning the bolt. She flipped on the light switch and managed a half a scream before a hand clamped down on her mouth and she was shoved back with a bang against the door. A rock-like body pressed up against hers and prevented any movement.
Just like the night before.
A pair of angry gold eyes stared menacingly down into hers, his face pale and fingers against her mouth strong and painful.
She could have swallowed her tongue and never noticed with the way her heart flopped like a fish in her stomach.
That man, the one she'd kissed the other night in the alley stood so close their noses touched. How was it possible she hadn't heard him moving around in her personal space in the dark?
She couldn't lift her arms, couldn't move, and she shook while he stared at her.
He was going to kill her, she knew it. Oh God, God, God.
She didn't feel his grip on her arm go slack, or even his hand remove itself from her mouth until he stood a good inch away from her.
He jumped away when she screamed, eyes wide as if he hadn't expected it.
"What the Hell are you doing in my apartment?" Jackie shrieked, with the sudden rush of adrenaline she forgot to be terrified.
He held his hands out, as though trying to calm a wild animal. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just need you to do something for me and I'll go."
"You'll go when I tell you to go. Which is right now. Get out." Her mind buzzed trying to figure out how he'd gotten inside. Vampires couldn't get in someone’s home unless they were invited.
Then it hit her. Mrs. Harlen, the little old lady across the hall. She had Jackie's spare key.
"You got Mrs. Harlen to let you in, didn't you?"
He grinned. "It was easier than I thought it’d be, she's so trusting, and nearly blind. She couldn't tell what I was. She trusted me whole heartedly when I said I was a friend of yours."
Jackie swung her fist at him as hard as she could but he caught it in his much larger hand without so much as flinching.
His eyes narrowed and lips parted enough for Jackie to catch a glimpse of his fangs, then she remembered to be scared and yanked her hand away. This was a vampire in her apartment. He didn't look feral anymore but he could still snap her neck and disappear into the night before her body hit the floor.
She swallowed over the rock hard lump in her throat, fighting to keep from sounding as terrified as she really was. "What do you want? I won't let you drink my blood."
Her eyes went down to the floor where she dropped her purse, where her garlic spray lay inside and was useless to her unless she could get it.
She inched her way along the wall he'd backed her into, towards her purse, but he snatched it up before she could get within an arm’s length of it. A hard glare from his golden eyes told her to stay put.
"Hey!" Anger coursed through her when he dived his hand inside and searched through it, finally dumping all the contents onto the carpeted floor. He grabbed the spray when it appeared among her other things and stood to read the bottle.
His eyes widened and mouth dropped. Jackie watched his teeth go to a relatively normal size in his shock. "This is garlic?"
She wasn't prepared for that. "What did you think it would be?"
He continued to examine the little spray bottle, reading over the label as though he expected it to have something else inside. "I don't know, acid or something, the way that other guy's head melted."
She knew in that instant where his confusion came from. "You're a turned vamp."
When he blinked and said nothing she had her confirmation, and a little bit of fear trickled out of her.
"When were you turned?"
"About five months ago." He shook his head, still staring at the bottle. "I had no idea this would actually work. Do crosses hurt vampires too?"
She couldn‘t believe the dumb question and let it seep into her voice. "Of course not."
His eyes narrowed. The tiny cuts along her arms from his claws reminded her that he was a potential killer and she shouldn't be talking down to him.
"How was I supposed to know? How was I supposed to know about any of this?" He threw the bottle hard enough that it stuck into the drywall across the room. He ran his hands through his hair and paced like a caged animal.
Jackie eased away from the wall and took a step towards him. This wasn't a killer. Couldn’t be. He was just some unlucky individual who got a rude awakening to the things that really existed in the world when he was bitten. "Turned vampires usually figure it out as they go along. You're telling me you've never stood near a pizzeria and felt like you were getting a rash, or walked into a church and noticed that nothing happened?"
He didn't say anything.
Jackie sighed. "Look, there are programs to help people like you. Not all vampires are bad. One of my friends is a vampire. You just need to know how to live so that you don't go feral again."
"Go what?"
"Feral. It's what happens when a vamp doesn't drink enough blood."
He visibly deflated. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
More and more confidant, Jackie touched his shoulder. She pulled her hand away when a shock passed through her, but gripped his shoulder again should he think she was afraid of him.
What was that?
"You don't have to. The store where I work sells blood in cola bottles."
"Blood is sold as a beverage?"
She smiled at the awe in his face, glad to be the one to give him some good news since he looked like he could use it. Then she felt pity for him and wondered what he'd been drinking from to have survived five months without turning feral.
Farm animals, rabbits, rats. Jackie shivered. Those were the usual choices, none very pleasant.
Then a thought occurred to her. He said he didn't want to hurt anyone. What if he already did? "What have you been drinking?"
He shrugged. "Nothing yet."
She pulled her hand away and took a step back. "That's impossible. No vampire goes so long without drinking, and you were barely turning. If you did drink from someone, if you hurt someone ..."
"I'm telling you I didn't!"
The force of his anger made her step back. His features went slack and he raised his hands again. “I’m sorry, but I’m telling you I haven’t bitten anyone or anything.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. He had to be lying, but she didn’t want to anger him further. "Then you gave me the wrong time from when you were bit. You had to because I promise you that no vamp goes so long without any blood."
"I wasn't bitten."
Jackie rocked back on her feet. He was crazy! In denial at the least if what she just heard was true. "What?"
He took a step towards her and Jackie took another step back, aware that she'd been backed into the wall again when she hit it.
"I was cursed. A woman did this to me."
He put his hands on either side of her face. She wished she could stare him down, but she couldn’t help the fearful slivers that pierced her and made her flinch. "You mean she bit you."
He shook his head. "I wish, according to you that would've been easier. She blew a red powder in my face and I inhaled it, and ever since then, at night I turn into this," He put his clawed hand in front of her eyes before putting it back beside her head. "And during the day I'm normal again."
She shook her head, not sure if she was shaking her head at him or herself for even thinking of believing it. "No spell exists that can do that. You either are or aren’t a vampire."
She heard a puncture and gritty sound and turned her head. He was digging his claws into the drywall. At this rate he was going to destroy her apartment.
"You saw me last night. You know what you did."
Her words left her mouth without thinking, parroting what Mike had told her again and again. "I can't cure vampirism."
"You can!" His hand found the back of her head and he pulled her mouth onto his, meshing his lips with hers.
She gasped and he took full advantage by slipping his tongue into the space. She pounded at his shoulders and tried to push him away. He captured her wrists and held them above her head with little effort despite how she pulled her arms this way and that , trying to free them.
Abruptly he pulled his mouth away from hers and looked her in the eyes. Jackie prayed to high heaven the heat in her cheeks wasn't a blush.
He kept her hands above her head with his one strong hand and brought the other to his face to see. His skin was still pale and the claws that were his fingernails did not disappear. He pounded the wall.
"It didn't work!"
"Of course not! I told you!"
"Are you a witch?"
She hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes."
"Then don't play with me! I don't want to hurt you but I will unless you give me what I want!" And then he slammed his mouth over hers again.
Again, nothing happened, and Jackie sobbed with more fear than tears as his mouth plundered and took without her permission.
Abruptly he was away, as though he’d thrown himself off her and stepped back. She slid to the floor to curl up into herself, hating him.
His face twisted in agonizing guilt. "I'm sorry. I’m so sorry."
Her breath came out in quick gasps. She couldn't quite catch it. "I told you it wouldn't work. All I did was stop you from turning into a feral vamp."
Slowly, he knelt before her so they were at the same eye level. She knew that small act, in itself, should have scared her, even sent her into a panicking fit of hysterical crying after what he had just done, but it didn't.
He stayed close but he didn't touch her. "But you were there last night. You saw what you did for me."
She closed her eyes. Yes, she had seen, and was sure that she'd done just what he said and what Mike claimed was impossible.
She must have been out of her mind to be considering this. "You know, it could be because I wasn't concentrating."
"What?"
She couldn't believe what she was about to say. "What I mean is, you kind of scared me there.” She shrugged. “So that could be it."
He leaned over her. All of his interest directed to her mouth again as his eyes wouldn't leave her lips.
His voice was a low purr. "How about that."
His head moved in, but she put her hand between her mouth and his lips before he could kiss her. He quickly pulled his lips from her palm, a questioning look on his face.
She had to be strong if she wanted him to take her seriously. "If this doesn't work, you have to promise to turn yourself in to the clinic."
"Clinic? Why?"
She rolled her eyes. He was so fixated on her lips that he completely forgot about what she’d said about the programs. "Because they can set something up for you that can help you get your life back on track, make sure that you don't get on the verge of turning feral again."
He raised a single eyebrow at her, and she held her breath while waiting for him to make his decision.
He took her hand and lowered it so that it no longer acted as a shield between their mouths. His descent was slow and hypnotic. "Alright."
All thoughts left Jackie's head when he kissed her. A gentle and calming thing unlike the violent kisses he forced on her earlier. When she relaxed beneath him and moved her mouth against his, calling on all the power in her body and moving it out of her body through her lips and into his.
The tingle that came with her magic appeared and Jackie knew it was working. Her mouth buzzed from the magic and the kiss as she allowed herself to fall into it, healing him.
He seemed to feel the magic coursing through him and cupped her head, moving closer, pressing her body to his. Although tongue was not required, when he touched her mouth with his tongue she opened up and allowed him entrance. She gasped when she felt his canines, which he was careful to keep small and out of the way for her.
The shock had her shaking away from him, her glasses were crooked on her nose and she had to straighten them to properly see.
His skin shined like he'd stood in the sunlight for hours, no longer chalk white on his face but bronzed and beautiful. She looked at his hands, his claws were gone, replaced with normal fingernails. He looked too, the grin on his face matching the one from last night.
"Oh my God." She breathed.
He leaned over her again, his smile both predatory and playful. "Now do you believe I'm cursed?" He kissed her full on the mouth once more even though it obviously wasn’t needed before getting up to better inspect himself.
Jackie sat there, dazed. He didn’t sound like a man who was cursed, but she nodded to his previous question anyway.
"So if you're a witch, do you think you can help me? Because this cure seems to be only temporary." He spoke as casually as a man would ask about how her day went.
Again she nodded, but the questions in her head were too great to be held back. "B—but, this shouldn't be possible. I can only heal things that are physical. I shouldn't be able to heal you."
He raised another brow at her. "If you thought that kissing
me would do nothing then why'd you kiss me last night?"
Jackie groaned. The same question Mike asked her, only this time asked by the man she’d kissed. Awkward. "I don't know, okay? It was just something I did."
He grabbed her hands and helped her to her wobbling feet. He reached a hand to his inside coat pocket and pulled out a black something before handing it to her.
It was her wallet.
"Hey! You stole my wallet!" She immediately searched for any missing money or credit cards.
His voice was flat. "No, you left it in the alley after you ran."
Jackie's face heated, and what was worse, she found that nothing was missing. "Oh, sorry," she said without knowing why. He broke into her house to manhandle her, and scared the crap out of her. She could be as rude to him as she damn well pleased.
The problem was that she didn't have much of it in her.
He slid his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "So, since I'm new to the city would you show me around?"
She knelt down to her purse, stored the wallet safely inside, and began picking up the rest of her things. He knelt down to help her, and she could feel his eyes still on her, waiting for her answer. Dammit, her eyeshadow case cracked with the fall.
“What do you want to see?"
“Anything that will help me break this curse."
“This curse shouldn’t exist.” Jackie stood when her things were cleaned up and looked at him. He was determined to do something about his predicament and just as determined that she help him.
She sighed. "I guess the library is our first stop."
"Makes sense, where is it?"
"Far enough away that I'm not walking. How long have you been in town anyway?"
"Just a few days, I haven't had the opportunity to look around."
She knew she was probably going to regret it, but she straightened her coat and made the decision to help him.
"Do you have money for a cab?" There was no way she was going to pay to cart him around town after the scare he put her through.
"Yeah, we’ll need to take one anyway since I haven’t been using my truck to get around much.”