Twice Cursed

by Marianne Morea

  “Damn girl, you look like a hot mess,” he noted with a chuckle.

  Her hand immediately went to her hair, pushing the heavy curls and windblown volume back off her face. From the corner of her eye, she caught what he meant in the hall mirror, and frowned. She looked like a Barbie doll or a big-haired refugee from a 1980s cat walk.

  “You’re such a charmer, Jack. I’ll have to remember to return the compliment.”

  Grinning, he tossed his jacket over the high back chair just inside the living room. “Anytime, cupcake.”

  She dropped her bag and her keys on the credenza, intentionally ignoring the playful jibe. She hated chauvinistic tags of any kind, so of course Jack slid one in every chance he got, but she was in too good a mood to give him the satisfaction of even rolling her eyes. She glanced from his face to his jacket and back again. “Where’s Sean? Were you guys heading out somewhere?”

  Without waiting for an answer, she turned her attention back to the mirror and smoothing out her errant curls. A disgusted sigh escaped her lips after a minute or so and she gave up, tucking what she could behind her ears.

  “Don’t worry,” Jack said with a chuckle, gesturing toward her tangled mess. “That’s nothing a hot shower and a little axle grease won’t fix.” At her dirty look, he grinned even wider. “Take your time. Sean’s in the kitchen, and no, we’re not headed anywhere, yet. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  As if on cue, Sean stepped through the kitchen doorway. Still looking in the mirror, Lily’s eyes met his in the silvered glass, and she flashed him an awkward smile.

  He leaned against the door jam with his arms crossed casually in front of his chest, a sexy grin spreading across his lips. “This is a new look for you. Kind of untamed…I like it,” he said, with his eyes sweeping her face and wild hair.

  Sean’s voice held a hint of a growl, and the familiar bedroom pitch left Lily’s knees a little weak. He pushed himself away from the wall and walked across the parquet floor to where she stood. Reaching for her, he dipped his head in for a quick kiss, but straightened, wrinkling his nose. “Why do you smell…?” He let his words drift, his face suddenly leery. “Did your pet detective pull something I should know about?”

  Lily shook her head. “Not really, but let’s just say I owe you a huge apology for giving you such a hard time when you marked me.”

  Sean’s face went dark. “Are you okay?”

  Lily grinned. “I can take care of myself, wolf man, but, at the same time, I’m glad I had a supernatural firewall punctured into my shoulder to prevent things from getting too hairy.” She lifted her fingers to his urban chic stubble, the rough feel sending a familiar shiver through her belly. “Those canines of yours pack quite a punch.”

  Sean shot her a questioning look, then dipped his head again close to her hair and inhaled. His posture eased, and he burst out laughing at the mental synopsis of how she handled the situation. “That half-breed cat and I need to have a nice long talk, or the fur is definitely going to fly.”

  She let her hand drop, breaking the flow of her recap. “Sean…”

  He tweaked her nose. “Don’t worry, I get it. He doesn’t know which end is up when it comes to being a Were, but he’s going to get one hell of a crash course soon enough.”

  “Sooner than you think. He’s due here in about an hour and half.” She peeled off her jacket and walked toward the aroma of tomato sauce and Italian spices coming from the kitchen, her gurgling stomach leading the way.

  “Smells great. Nino’s?” she asked, tossing her coat onto the chair beside Jack’s.

  Jack nodded. “Yeah…I can’t seem to get enough of the stuff. They were just taking the pizza out of the oven when I got there, so it’s really hot and stringy. I had them go easy on the garlic, though, considering tonight’s agenda.”

  “And?” she prompted, following them both into the kitchen. She didn’t really need to ask. The sun had set long before she and Ryan said goodbye at the Starbucks on First Avenue across from the promenade, which meant the vampire race was awake and ready to be reckoned with.

  “And nothing,” Sean replied, reaching above the refrigerator for a stack of paper plates. “You know exactly what’s on the agenda for tonight.” Putting the dishes on the counter next to the open pizza box, he glanced over his shoulder at Lily. “Don’t get crazy…” he paused, sliding an extra cheesy slice onto one of the plates and handed to her. “…but I’ve decided it’s for the best if you don’t come with us tonight.”

  The welcoming feel of coming home after a hard day seemed to dissipate along with her hunger. She stood speechless, chiding herself that she should have seen this coming a mile away. Sean wasn’t exactly happy with her involvement in this case on any level, and now that the stakes were high, he voiced his disapproval at every turn—but for him to exclude her altogether? She took the plate from his hand and put it down on the table without as much as a sniff.

  His back was still to her as she stood waiting for an explanation, but as neither wolf elaborated, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and issued a loud, rough sigh. “When did I get vetoed out of this investigation? I thought we were handling this as a team, and the plan was to leave around midnight when the council would be in full swing.”

  Sean turned around, the resolute set of his jaw evidence that he was primed and ready for a litany of questions. “You haven’t been vetoed out of anything. It’s just better this way.”

  The phone rang, but Lily barely gave the handset on the kitchen desk a cursory glance, letting the answering machine grab it while she tried to keep a handle on her rising frustration. A telltale click followed by an empty dial tone told her whoever it was had hung up.

  “Why? I don’t understand. What happened? What’s changed?”

  Sean didn’t answer. Not knowing what to say and not wanting to overreact, she sat at the table and absently watched Jack busy himself with his own plate. The boy’s appetite hadn’t let up at all, and she stared as he stacked three slices one on top of the other and took a bite. The clock above the sink read seven-thirty. It had been only a matter of hours since she had left Sean and Jack outside Bellevue to go and look for Ryan. One by one, she replayed the day’s events, looking for anything that might have led to this change in plan. Nothing.

  She had done everything Sean asked—from sifting through the residual psychic images retained by the badlands Were, to requesting the latest case pathology. According to the coroner’s report, bite marks on the victim’s hands and forearms, as well as tissue scrapings from under his fingernails, pointed to the attack being a random hit. The unfortunate Were had obviously fought for his life.

  Inconclusive lab results couldn’t provide a positive DNA identification on the attacker—no surprise there, since the perpetrator was a vampire, and what little blood remained in the victim had degraded to such an extent, it didn’t lend itself to anything decisive, either. In fact, the only definite thing the human lab had provided was the time of death.

  A dozen reasons played through her mind why Sean would intentionally discount her, but she dismissed each one.

  Sean took his own plate and sat down across from her. “You’re not eating,” he said, folding his own slice in half and talking a bite.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  As he chewed, the weight of his eyes watched her tear little bits from her paper napkin and curl them between her fingers. Lily still didn’t say a word, instead collected her shreds and piled them in front of her on the table, even as she collected her thoughts.

  “Sausage pizza is one of your favorites. Are you really not hungry, or just boycotting to try and punish me?” he asked, taking another napkin from the decorative holder at the center of the table and wiping his mouth.

  Childish as it was, she pushed her dish even further aside. “Like I said, I’m not hungry, and if I wanted to punish you, I’m sure I could think of a better way to do it than starving myself.”

  Jack hoisted himself onto th
e counter, munching away, an open bottle of beer between him and the pizza box. “Ha! I’d take a piece of that bet,” he said between chews.

  Sean crumpled his napkin and threw it down next to his plate. “This is ridiculous. I heard your stomach growling when you came in. You’re not the sulking type, Lily, so why now? No one is questioning how valuable you are in a tense situation, but this is different, and Jack and I already discussed it.”

  Shoving the tiny pieces of paper away, Lily leaned forward, her forearms pressed into the edge of the table. “Oh, you discussed it? Didn’t anyone think it necessary to discuss it with me? Like I said, Ryan is coming here in an hour or so to talk. What am I supposed to do with him while we wait for you two to get back from playing summit meeting with the vampires?”

  She cringed inwardly at the possibilities. Close proximity with Ryan at this point was not a good idea, but letting Sean in on why she didn’t want to be left alone with him was even worse.

  After all her sermonizing, Ryan was finally willing to talk with Sean, and now they were leaving it to her to explain why neither Were was around to meet with him.

  Gee, thanks guys.

  It’s not that Ryan wouldn’t understand, at the end of the day he was still a homicide detective, and this was still his case. Hell, if he knew where Sean and Jack were headed, he might even insist on going with them. Just the same, there was no way she was sitting home alone minding the castle.

  “I know it’s an inconvenience, but you’ll have to call him and reschedule.” Sean shrugged apologetically. “If you want, tell the detective I’ll meet with him after I meet with the vampire council.” Clearly trying to soothe whatever feathers he’d ruffled, he reached across the table and brushed her forearm with his knuckles. “I am sorry, Lily.”

  She squashed the urge to shove his hand away. “No, you’re not…but I am. Sorry for a lot of reasons.”

  “Uh oh…” Jack uttered, scooting further down the counter away from them.

  Sean pushed himself up from the table, and stood with his hands on his hips as if weighing his next move. With a rough breath, he walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer from the open six-pack on the top shelf. “You’re being ridiculous, even for you. For once can’t you just do what I ask, without turning the request into a grand inquisition? You’re not coming. I won’t allow it.”

  He leaned against the counter and twisted the cap off the bottle, tossing it into the sink. The metallic plink as it hit the stainless steel like an audible exclamation point.

  Since when did they use words with that connotation between them? “Allow?” she questioned.

  Silent, Sean tilted the bottle to his lips and swallowed a good mouthful before dragging the side of his hand across his mouth and chin. “I don’t have time to debate this, so you can save your daggers for later. This is Were business, and bringing you along will only arouse things best left in peace.”

  Lily’s eyebrows creased. “You’re just chock-full of surprising semantics tonight, aren’t you? Arouse? That’s an odd choice of words, even for this situation. What could I possibly do, or possibly have, that would provoke the vampire council?”

  Sean looked at her, not an ounce of humor in his face. “Not everyone appreciates a passionate disposition the way I do, and it’s no secret that mouth of yours could provoke a saint to profanity, but that’s not what I mean. You’re a smart girl, think about it for a minute.”

  Lily beat back on her rising impatience and considered him. Sean wasn’t usually cryptic, especially not with her. Although sanctioned, this meeting certainly wasn’t classified, so why was he being so bullheaded about her going? What was so worrying, he couldn’t come right out and say?

  She blinked a couple of times, and then lifted her eyes to his, her body frozen in place. No wonder he thought she was slow on the uptake tonight. This wasn’t just a meeting. It was a possible death sentence. Jack and Sean were walking into the belly of the beast, and the vampires would tear them to pieces if they so much as blinked the wrong way.

  Or just because they felt like it...

  Shivering mentally, her eyes moved from one man to the other. How could she be so stupid? So wrapped up that she couldn’t read between the lines? They were both prepared to die, and she would be left to carry the news back to the compound. A cold reality crept over her shoulder and wrapped its icy fingers around her heart, and she swallowed hard against the unfamiliar nudge of fear tightening her throat.

  Hands shaking, she curled her fingers into her palms and got up from the table, moving around to where Sean stood. Facing him, she tried to conceal the depth of her realizations.

  “I understand what you’re trying to say. I’m human, which in itself is enough of a distraction, not to mention I have Were blood and carry your mark. The combination probably makes me some sort of delicacy.” She paused, watching Sean nod in agreement while surprise drifted across his face that she didn’t press the issue and took the obvious hook.

  He put the beer bottle down on the counter, his eyes still serious, but relieved. “I’m glad you realize that. You would be in tremendous danger, not to mention an unwitting liability. Jack and I alone would be no match for the conclave of vampires we expect to face in the council’s lair, should anything untoward happen.”

  Leave it to Sean to make her safety a priority, and downplay the risk to himself and Jack. He was right, of course. When it came to things like this, he was always right.

  Suddenly, the last of the internal walls she’d built against fear and loss crumbled, and a surge of bottled up panic and dread rushed passed. She steeled herself, closing her eyes against the horrible probabilities floating across her mind. Terry ‘s voice echoed in the midst of it all, reminding her, this is what life was all about—to feel love as well as pain, or run the risk of feeling nothing at all.

  If that was the case, then it was party time.

  Now more than ever, she refused to be left waiting. Better to face real demons up front, than face the ones she conjured in her head. Whether she wanted the title or not, she was Sean’s alpha female, and better to fight beside him, than be left behind to be his widow before she ever got the chance to be his bride.

  Determined, she opened her eyes. “You’re right,” she said, knowing she had to meet them halfway, or Sean would never agree to listen. “I get it.”

  Sean didn’t say a word, just raised an eyebrow as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  “Can you repeat that, please? I don’t think I quite caught what you said,” Jack added, his snort unconvinced.

  Lily bit her tongue. “Okay, okay, I’ll say it again. You’re right, and yes, the words taste like vinegar in my mouth.”

  “Halleluiah! Can I get an Amen?” Jack mocked, his hands high and spread wide. Sean lifted Lily’s fingers to his lips, but she gently pulled her hand back.

  “You’re both forgetting one important thing,” she said, pausing for effect, waiting for both men to focus on what she had to say. “I’m the one who can prove a vampire is responsible for all the lime-lighted bloodshed, and I’m not just talking about the Were in the morgue this afternoon. I’m talking about all the attacks.”

  “Oh, God,” Jack moaned, his sixth slice of pizza halfway to his mouth. “Just when you think you’re out, they suck you back in—listen, you two can ping-pong this back and forth all you want, but I’m done.” He tossed what was left of his half-eaten slice into the open pizza box, and slid off the counter. “Call me when you’re ready to roll. I’ll be in my room.” He spoke directly to Sean, purposely ignoring Lily, before pitching his crumpled napkin into the trash and then walking out.

  Even with Jack’s impatience weighing on him, Lily knew Sean couldn’t ignore the truth of what she said, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. The big wolf folded his arms in front of his chest.

  “You’ve got it all wrong, Lily. You think you have proof, but you honestly don’t—at least nothing concrete, and you don’t seem to grasp the ramifica
tions. I have demanded a meeting with the Vampire Council of New York City, one of the largest in the country I might add, with nothing more than a post-mortem psychic assessment and an allegation of guilt. Nothing in this bodes well for anyone, no matter how you look at it.”

  Lily opened her mouth to speak, but Sean unfolded his arms and raised a hand for her to just listen. “I know what you’re going to say, and Jack is as much a witness to what happened in Washington Square Park, as you. He’s a full Were and a skilled hunter. He can phase on the fly if necessary.

  “Vampires are cruel and devoid of emotional attachments by nature, instead they create a semblance of courtesy and decorum through their laws and the treaties made with the supes they refer to as daylighters. They do not take kindly to unfounded accusations, so unless you want to break into the morgue and throw what’s left of that badlands Were at their feet, it’s best you let us handle it. ”

  He let his arm fall to his side, and he drew in a breath. “Whatever the collateral damage, we stand a better chance of walking out of there alive without you to worry about.”

  Lily’s eyes were on the floor. How could she argue with him? Did she want to go with them simply because she was afraid of being left alone, or did she have a death wish like Terry had accused? Or was it pride? Her case, her deal.

  Sean lifted his hand again, and drew his fingers along the curve of her cheek, gently raising her chin until their eyes met. “Lily, you and I have always told each other the truth, and this situation is no exception. It’s a gamble, but my gut tells me this goes beyond the attacks in the city, and I’m willing to bet the vampires are just as stumped as everyone else involved. I’m hoping they’ll be receptive, because odds are, they need all the supernatural help they can get.”

  Letting go of her chin, he picked up his bottle and placed it upside-down in the drain. He’d had enough—of beer and talk. “It’s for the best, love. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of a decision I made. You’re my life, my heart.”