Bitten & Smitten

by Michelle Rowen

  I couldn’t answer him, so I just shook my head. I felt terrible. I felt like I’d just shoved the first of many stakes into Thierry’s chest. I’d decided my plan was stupid. Even if Thierry got out alive, the club was a write-off. Shit. It was all my fault. I should have done something to stop this. I didn’t know what. Anything.

  “Sarah.” He touched my arm, and I flinched. “Say something.”

  “How about don’t talk to me? Ever again.”

  “Fair enough.”

  A few minutes passed in silence. Long enough for me to have second, third, and fourth thoughts about what we’d just done. I was about to turn and leave, but Dr. Kalisan reappeared at the doorway that led to the kitchen. He had a self-satisfied smile on his face.

  “You have it?” Quinn asked.

  “What makes you think that the cure is an it?” the doctor said.

  Another person appeared in the doorway from behind him. A familiar face, lined and worn with age and experience. A well-kept graying beard adorned his face. His eyes were similar to his son’s, but much less friendly and compassionate.

  “Yes.” Quinn’s father stared at the both of us, but he was speaking into the cell phone held to his ear. “Midnight Eclipse. That is correct. I shall meet you there.” He closed the phone and tucked it into his inner jacket pocket.

  Shit. Double shit. My stomach dropped.

  “Father?” Quinn’s voice was barely audible.

  Roger Quinn shook his head, an obvious motion of disappointment. “Why am I not surprised? My only son has sullied the family name. I can smell your vileness from where I stand.”

  “I’m sorry.” Quinn took a step forward. I wanted him to do anything but apologize. I had a feeling that he’d spent his life apologizing to this man, even for things he hadn’t done.

  “Don’t waste your breath. I have nothing more to say to you.”

  “But, Father, I’ve come here to get the cure. I don’t want to be what I am. I don’t want it! And now I won’t be. Dr. Kalisan said that he has the cure for this. That’s why we’re here.”

  “Stupid boy,” Roger Quinn said. “There is no cure.”

  Chapter 23

  My mouth dropped open as I heard his words fall on the air. “There is no cure?” He had to be kidding. He just had to be playing a game with us. Any moment people were going to spring out from behind the couch and tell us where the hidden cameras were.

  It was a joke. It just had to be.

  Then why wasn’t anyone laughing?

  I looked at the doctor. He shrugged slightly at me. “I’m sorry, my dear, but he speaks the truth. There is no cure for vampirism. Never has been, never will be.”

  “But… but why did you lie to us?”

  “A means to an end, I suppose. It was a rumor originally started by the hunters, a ruse to draw out some of your kind. Clues had been scattered, here and there. Mostly as an experiment. My name was leaked due to my background as a scientist and my friendship with Roger. It’s what I do to help fight the evil in any way I can.”

  I tried to frown, but my face felt frozen. “How many times do I have to tell people that I’m not evil?”

  “It’s in a vampire’s very nature to be evil. I don’t blame you any more than I could blame a lion for stalking her daily meal.”

  “You used us,” Quinn said, his voice still soft. “To find out Thierry’s location. That’s all this was about.”

  “The opportunity presented itself. That particular result wasn’t planned, it was just a happy coincidence.”

  “But he killed my mother.” Quinn glanced at his father.

  Roger smiled a thin, unpleasant smile. “How you remind me of her right now. She protested her innocence right until the end as well.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Roger sighed and shook his head. “I never told you the truth about your mother. And now, now I feel as though I’m living those horrible days all over again.”

  “Her murder—”

  “Her punishment,” Roger corrected. “It would have been better if you’d been led to believe from the beginning that de Bennicoeur slaughtered her. But, instead, I told you nothing. I assumed you’d try to find out more on your own and was disappointed when your curiosity didn’t lead you any further than it did.”

  “Father, what are you talking about?”

  “Your mother was a whore.” Roger spat the words, his anger as palpable today as it must have been twenty-five years ago. “An adulterous whore who cavorted with vampires.”

  “What?” Quinn’s eyes were wide.

  “When I found out, I confronted her—demanded the truth. She didn’t deny it for a moment. She said she was in love with one of them.” He laughed, and it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “ ‘Love,’ as if a vampire could know the meaning of such a word. At the time I was still in love with her, and ready to forgive her indiscretions, but she’d already been turned, the marks still visible on her pale white neck. She was planning on leaving me, leaving you, boy, without a word of explanation that very night.”

  I could feel my heart beating loudly and violently in my chest. I wasn’t liking this tale one little bit, and I can’t imagine that Quinn was, either. He stared at a spot on the wall just to the side of his father’s head. His hands were clenched into tight fists, but he made no sound that might stop the truth from being told finally.

  “Your mother,” Roger continued, “was a whore vampire, her black heart filled with the joy of deserting those she promised before God to love and obey till death do us part.”

  “You were the one who killed her.” It was my voice that said those words. I didn’t mean to; they just came out all by themselves. Roger looked at me directly for the first time.

  “I did only what had to be done. And knew that from that day forward, it was my sacred duty to rid the earth of scum like her.”

  It wasn’t Thierry. He didn’t kill Quinn’s mother. This news should have made me happy or, at the very least, relieved, but I was numb. I waited for Quinn’s reaction. What was he going to do? He’d just learned after two and a half decades that his father murdered his mother for being the exact thing he was now.

  “You didn’t seem to be having much of a problem with Veronique the other night,” I said. But then, I already knew why. She was the traitor. Roger Quinn liked vamps as long as they provided him with the means to kill other vamps.

  A strange smile twisted across his wrinkled face. “Veronique is a special case. A rare rose in a garden of snakes. But I wouldn’t hesitate to tear her heart from her lovely chest if she provoked me.”

  He glared at me, his narrow gaze doing its hardest to intimidate me. It was working. I looked away first.

  “Well, this is rather uncomfortable, isn’t it?” Dr. Kalisan said after a moment. “Perhaps I should put on a pot of coffee and we can move this discussion to the kitchen?”

  “Unfortunately, my friend”—Roger reached into the jacket pocket opposite to the one with the cell phone and pulled out a long, sharp wooden stake—“there’s no time for that.”

  Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “Just what do you think you’re going to do with that, Father?”

  “What I have to,” he said simply. “Do not think that for one moment I shall take any pleasure from your death. I had great hopes for you. Great hopes. But they are not to be anymore.”

  “Yeah, quite the disappointment I’ve been to you, haven’t I?” The anger and bitterness in Quinn was so strong it was like a thick, dark aura surrounding him. “Trained me to hunt and kill all of these years, and look what happened to me.”

  “Yes.” Roger tested the sharpness of the stake with the tip of his finger. Looked pretty damn sharp to me. “It is unfortunate, but a risk with the life of a hunter. At least to the weaker ones.”

  “You never gave me any credit for all the work I did.”

  Quinn’s voice was getting stronger, fueled by the truth he just heard. “What I thought was right. You raised me to believ
e that vampires are evil and need to be killed, as if they’re no better than insects.”

  “They aren’t, son. Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.” Roger took a decisive step toward Quinn with the menace of the practiced hunter he was.

  “No!” Quinn’s arm moved almost faster than I could see, and in the one motion he snatched the stake right out of his father’s hand. “I’m not evil. Sarah’s not evil. I’ve spent all these years murdering vampires in the name of good. And all of that time, I never knew I was one of the bad guys. Snuffing out innocent lives because of your personal vendetta. You lied to me. Lied to me. You killed my mother. It was you, all of this time.”

  “Yes, it was me. Doing what had to be done. Protecting my only son from the hurtful truth. I feel no guilt over your mother’s death. She deserved it. She deserved worse than that, but unfortunately she died much too quickly for me to inflict the quality of pain I had planned.”

  “I hate you.” Quinn’s voice was uneven and pitchy now, just short of hysteria. “I think I’ve always hated you.”

  Roger leaned over to his side and pulled a long blade from his boot. “Silver,” he said and moved it so it reflected the light in the room. “Works just as well as wood on monsters like you.”

  He rushed Quinn before I could move or even scream. Quinn tried to hold him off, keep the knife away from his throat, his chest. The wooden stake, Quinn’s only weapon, was knocked to the floor. His fist flew out, catching Roger’s chin. I saw a streak of red as the blade caught Quinn across his cheek.

  Then I heard the gunshot. And the body slumped heavily to the floor.

  Quinn stepped back from his father’s body. He was shaking. I was shaking. I looked over toward the kitchen. Dr. Kalisan held a smoking gun in his hand and shook his head sadly.

  “I never knew the truth. If I had, I would have wanted no part in this. Please forgive me.” He turned around and disappeared into the kitchen.

  I staggered toward Quinn and grabbed ahold of his arm, tried to stop his shaking.

  He was in shock. I could see it in his glassy eyes as he turned to look at me. “He’s dead.”

  I nodded.

  Quinn fell to his knees in front of his father. He was crying. Crying over this man who’d killed his mother in cold blood. Who’d made his life a living hell for the ensuing years. He cried because his father was dead.

  Then he wiped his face on the sleeve of his shirt and took a deep and shuddering breath.

  I got down on my knees and hugged him. I expected him to push me away, but he didn’t. He didn’t hug me back, he just let me hold him.

  I felt a nudge at my arm and jumped. It was Barkley. He’d come into the room to see what the noise was all about. He sat next to me, panting. I gave the werewolf a small smile and looked back at Roger.

  It was usually at this point in a horror movie when the bad guy would sit up, unhurt by his injuries and keep coming, focused only on getting the job done.

  But Quinn’s father wasn’t going anywhere. He stared at the ceiling with blank, unseeing eyes.

  The doctor must have come back, because after a few minutes I heard him speak.

  “Excuse me,” he said, and I looked up to see he had poured himself a very tall glass of amber-colored alcohol—probably Scotch. He took a healthy chug of it and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I don’t mean to interrupt.”

  I just blinked at him. I could barely register what end was up, let alone what to say or do next.

  “I feel very responsible for what has transpired here,” he continued. “But I don’t know who to call to stop them. I only knew Roger.”

  Quinn didn’t look up. “What are you talking about?”

  “The information you gave me. It doesn’t feel right that the hunters should have it, now that I know the truth.”

  I let go of Quinn and got to my feet in the space of a heartbeat.

  Thierry.

  I remembered what Roger said to his friends over the telephone. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “Shit, he’s already told the other hunters. We have to leave right now.”

  “My apologies will never be enough,” Dr. Kalisan said. “Only know that if you should need my assistance in any way in the future, I’ll give it to you without hesitation.”

  Quinn and I ran out to the Beetle. It felt like hours had passed since we arrived there, but I knew it had only been a matter of minutes. The big, life-changing stuff always tends to happen quickly.

  “I need a cell phone.”

  Quinn handed his over without question. It would take us a while to drive back to Toronto, but I could at least warn Thierry—tell him to get the hell out of Midnight Eclipse before it was too late.

  That meant I’d have to tell him what we’d just done. Sold him out. It didn’t matter. He could hate me, but at least he wouldn’t be dead because of me.

  I dialed the number from memory. While it rang, I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was 9:15. The club would have been open for fifteen minutes already.

  “Come on,” I said into the phone as Quinn pulled the car away from the trailer. “Answer, dammit.”

  What if it was already too late? What if the hunters had all been at Clancy’s bar drinking beer and playing pool when they got the call? They could have just marched across the road and taken the whole place down within minutes. It was too horrible a thought to consider.

  On the fifth ring someone finally picked up.

  “Midnight Eclipse,” Zelda’s voice rang out over the phone, and I let out a long sigh of relief.

  “Is this some kind of pervert?” Zelda asked as she listened to my long exhale.

  “No. It’s Sarah.”

  “That’s too bad. I was hoping for a pervert. Sarah, what’s up?”

  “I need to speak with Thierry. It’s urgent.”

  “Sorry, sweetie. He’s stepped out.”

  “Where did he go? When will he be back?”

  “Hey, take it easy. He went to talk to some people. I don’t know. Something to do with finding the traitor. What’s the problem?”

  “The traitor,” I repeated. “But I already know who it is.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. God, why didn’t I tell you earlier? Thierry has to know this, too. It’s Veronique.”

  “Veronique? Are you serious?”

  “It’s her. I’m positive. When I went out for a drink with her, she ended up schmoozing with the hunters. Just be careful. She’s probably dangerous.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Just turning onto the QEW, coming back from Grimsby.”

  “You were in Grimsby? What the hell were you doing there?”

  I glanced at Quinn, but his eyes were focused on his driving. He probably needed every last ounce of concentration to keep the car on the road.

  “I’ve done something terrible, Zelda. Quinn and me—we went after the cure. Thierry’s in terrible danger. Tell him… tell him to go and hide somewhere safe. I feel so horrible. I don’t know what to do!”

  Zelda was quiet for a moment.

  “You sold him out,” she finally said. “For a cure that doesn’t even exist?”

  “I know. I’m stupid. I’ll admit it. But if the hunters aren’t there yet, then there’s still a—” I stopped talking. The sick feeling in my stomach was spreading all through my body now. “Wait a minute. How do you know the cure doesn’t exist?”

  There was silence before I heard Zelda laugh lightly.

  “I guess I should have just let you keep talking. At least that’s something you’re good at.”

  “You knew that it didn’t exist?” My brain felt like it was about to explode. “But you’re the one who gave me the phone number to get it.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  A chill went down my spine. “My God. It’s not Veronique at all, is it? It’s you. You’re the traitor.”

  “Those in glass houses, honey. I believe you’re the one who just screwed Thierr
y over. As far as I know, it wouldn’t be the first time you screwed him, but that’s your business, not mine.”

  “How could you?”

  “The real question is, how couldn’t I? We all do things for a greater purpose, Sarah. You did yours to get the cure. I did mine for simple monetary gain.”

  “For money?”

  “I’ve lived a long time. Never had a goddamned penny to my name. I’m a three-hundred-year-old bartender, for Christ’s sake. You’ve had it so easy and you don’t even realize it. Thierry never helped me as much as he’s helped you, and even then I never would have sold him out like you just did. Then again, I didn’t know he was worth so much until today. Still, nobody but him ever lifted a finger to help me. Well, now I’m lifting a finger. My middle one—and I’m finally going to get what’s coming to me.”

  My grip on the cell phone tightened. “Yes. You’ll get exactly what’s coming to you. As soon as I get there.”

  “Gonna have to let you go, sweetie. The boss just got back, and he doesn’t look happy. It’s funny, him being worth all that money. Makes me look at him in a different light. That kind of cash would have been sweet, but I guess you beat me to the punch on that juicy little piece of information. C’est la vie.”

  The phone went dead.

  I screamed into it and smashed it hard on the dashboard. It broke into pieces in my hand.

  I glanced at Quinn. “Oops. Sorry. I’ll buy you a new one.”

  “Forget it. What the hell was that all about?”

  My numbness was going away. The fog was pulling away and leaving behind a hot line of rage.

  “Zelda’s the traitor. I can’t believe it. I thought she was my friend.”

  “Who’s Zelda?”

  “The bartender at Midnight Eclipse. Looks like a teenager.” I stared out the window at the road ahead. “And as soon as we get back there, I think I’m going to ground her for life.”

  Chapter 24

  Quinn was gunning it all the way back to Toronto, but it still felt as though we were moving at a snail’s pace.

  “What’s the plan?” he asked as we saw the CN Tower ahead and the shimmering lake to our right.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t going to panic. There wasn’t any time for a luxury like that. “I don’t know. Hope we’re in time to even have a plan.”