Though I don’t understand what she says, I understand her meaning: don’t look.
I duck my head into her shoulder. As much as I want the cretins who destroyed my apartment and terrorized that kid to die horrible deaths, I don’t want to witness it. There are some things in this life you never forget and killing is one of them.
With Kia’s singing though, I don’t even hear it.
As she strokes my hair, she gently tugs the bat from my hand, then runs her fingers over my shoulder. The pain cools and the pounding in my head calms. By the time her song ends, I hardly feel like I just fought for my friggin’ life. Even my feet hurt less than when I started my double shift this morning.
I’m definitely not imagining the weirdness. There’s no way.
Ash leans into my vision, brow wrinkled with concern. At first, he doesn’t say anything, just touches my shoulder, slides a thumb along each of my shins, then gently nudges my stubbed toe. Tiny little pin pricks scatter across my skin as feeling returns.
I try to swallow a groan, but it comes out anyway. “Y’all owe me a massive explanation.” My voice shakes as words tumble out all at strange pitches and different speeds. “A great big, huge explanation. I mean, as long as it’s not one of those things where, if you tell me, you’ll have to kill me. If that’s the case then I’ll be on my merry way. After I steal your best bottle of liquor. It doesn’t even have to be good liquor because I won’t be able to tell the difference. Obviously underage drinking is bad and all, but that should do the trick to wipe my memory pretty good. Right?”
Brow wrinkled, Ash looks at Kia. “I think she’s right. I know it’s frowned on, but after what she just went through...”
Kia sighs, the corners of her eyes drooping. “Can you sit up, Case?”
“I can give it the old college try.” With her help, I get mostly upright. I catch sight of the carnage on the street. This doesn’t help the nausea rolling up my throat. Time to focus on something else. Like the sound of sirens wailing toward my apartment. “I guess we’ll owe the cops an explanation first. I’m happy to accept any and all suggestions because my brain is now no longer functioning. I can promise to be physically, but not mentally or emotionally, present.”
A laugh I can’t control jitters out of my chest. It feels better than puking, but still sucks. Hysterical tears threaten to come next. I have no desire to break down in front of either of them, but the very idea of having to deal with police after everything else pretty much does me in. Everybody’s got their limit.
“Give me a second.” I press my face into my bare knees and squeeze my eyes shut.
Humming again, Kia strokes my back. This kind of gentle touch, the kind my mom sure never gave me, soothes the unbearable pressure on my chest and helps release stress and sorrow in a stream of tears. Fingers tangled in my curls, I cry until my face burns and my head pounds, then I cry a little more.
When I finally dry up, Kia runs her hand under my chin and lifts my face. As before, her touch cools and calms and I can think again. I breathe a sigh through pursed lips and look up at Ash. He runs a hand over his jaw, but doesn’t say anything.
“Okay, guess now that I’m not about to die anymore I should go deal with the cops.” I rub my nose on an arm, then wipe my cheeks and force my face into something akin to a smile. “That should give y’all time to decide whether to let me into your super secret club.”
Ash chuckles a little. “Kia has a contact in the police department.” He stands and offers me his hand. “Don’t worry. She’ll help us get things under control.”
AS WE WALK BACK ACROSS the parking lot toward my apartment, Ash gives Kia one final glance before she closes her eyes, and nods. “Go ahead. But before we explain, we’ll have to ask you to keep quiet about what we’re going to tell you. Our kind survives on secrets. Which I’m sure you understand.”
A small thrill runs through my chest as blood thumps against my skull. “I’m good at secrets. Especially ones that might get me killed if I blab them.”
Ash chuckles a little, pausing to let Kia and me duck through the fence into my complex first before following us in. Cop cars already crowd around my building. My neighbors lean out of doors, mill about the halls. Every muscle in my throat tries to close off my windpipe and the ground vibrates gently under my feet.
“We’ll explain back at The Mercury Room,” Ash says in a low voice as we approach the flashing lights and officers. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Got it, chief.” I breath in through my nose and out through my mouth, giving him and Kia a double thumbs up.
For once, the owner doesn’t smile, but she does offer another solemn nod.
Detective Mai Ito meets us at my apartment a few minutes later. She stands in the open doorway, the wind whipping her black hair around her oval shaped face. Though slender and small boned, she almost matches Ash’s height, and her grip about breaks my hand.
She lifts her chin in greeting. “Ms. Ryan, seems like you’ve had a rough night.” The detective arches a brow at Kia and then Ash. “What kind of trouble are you causing now, Daughtry?”
Ash crosses his arms, angling his head so shadows bleed over his eyes. “My dad’s back. After my brother this time.”
Detective Ito’s jaw clenches.
Mine drops. “That kid is your brother?”
“He told us when he woke up,” Ash says. “Same dad, similar species, different moms.”
I rub my temples, dizzy with information. “Wowza.”
“Did Masera come in person or send his people to do his dirty work?” Detective Ito asks.
“It was his minions,” Ash says in a harsh whisper that edges on a growl.
Ito sneers.
“Have you dealt with the crazies before?” I ask, glancing at the smattering of my neighbors who now gather in the hall. Hunching my shoulders, I duck my head, covering my face with my curls.
“More than once.” Ito rests an elbow on my doorframe. “He wanted to make me one of his mates.”
I choke. “He wanted to what now?”
Possibilities to my unanswered questions sprint through my head. Mate sounds like something I read in shifter novels back in high school. Maybe they’re werewolves or...werecoyotes. That might make more sense in Houston. I have to swallow some more ridiculous giggles. Not sure how long I have before my brain cracks.
Ito shrugs. “I’m pureblood. He made the mistake of not taking no for an answer.” She smirks. “I broke off a chunk of his spikes.”
“Spikes?”
The detective glares at Ash and Kia. “So she’s in but not fully briefed yet?”
“We haven’t had time to do so,” Kia says, her expression tight. “We weren’t planning to tell her at all, but after everything...”
Detective Ito lifts a brow, then looks at me. “Ash and I are what you might know as vampires.”
She says this very quietly, but I flinch as if she shouted it, craning over my shoulder to see if my neighbors heard. Most of them still stand outside of their doors. They angle toward each other, all pretending not to watch or listen. But I know better. They’re straining for every word about the strange girl in apartment 908.
“Though most of the myths you’ve heard are only bits and pieces of the truth,” Detective Ito says, calling my attention away from the onlookers. “Ash’s father is one of the most dangerous of our kind. I barely escaped with my life. He is not easily defeated and should not be underestimated. None of our kind are, but Masera in particular.”
Way to kill my girl-power moment.
Why this warning strikes me even harder than shock about the revelation of vampire, I have no idea. Chalk it up to a fear-scrambled brain. I hug my midsection. “Noted.”
With a slow breath, I finally step through the door to my apartment, glad to get away from the eyes of my neighbors. The destruction hits me hard. I guess I hadn’t gotten a real good look whilst fighting for my life. Drywall piles on top of my fan and couch, dust thickens the
air, and drops of red dot the carpet. Latent panic tightens my chest as I remember captain lady fang’s reaction to my blood...
“You taste...different.”
I sway a little and grip the doorframe.
“You okay?” Ash asks, placing a hand on my back to steady me.
“Not really.” I fake a grin. “All things considered, I think I’m keeping a full blown anxiety attack at bay pretty well.”
Detective Ito weaves past us, slipping through the wreckage in the same almost serpentine way Ash moves. She scans the massive hole in my roof and then the floor. When she looks back up at me, she grins.
“Seems like you got in a few good hits,” she says. “Impressive.”
“Why thank you. Wanting to survive makes previous cowards brave.” I laugh and it feels as crazy and jittering as it did on the porch.
“I’ll go ahead and take your official statement, then you can get packed. Obviously you can’t stay here.”
Emotion strangles me so my throat closes off. “But where will—”
“You’ll stay with us,” Kia says, resting a hand on my shoulder. “There are rooms above the bar. We have plenty of space. And we’ll keep you safe. I promise.”
4.
EVERYTHING AFTER THAT blurs together and the next thing I know, I’ve filled my small, duct tape covered suitcase and followed Ash and Kia back to the bar. Because, like, my apartment no longer has a functioning roof. Not to mention the fact that I do not want to be alone.
Reality blinks in and out of focus, marred by shock and exhaustion and the last dregs of terror. I don’t know how exactly I got to one of the upstairs bedrooms built into the second floor of The Mercury Room. Kia helps me with the “temperamental” shower and, after I get rid of the sweat, dirt, blood, and what is possibly drool, I stumble to the bed, too tired to push for an explanation. The owner sits on the edge of the mattress as I pull the sheets to my chin.
She takes my hand, her gaze intense and unwavering on mine. My heart claws into my throat as she says, “I know this is terrifying and incredibly dangerous. You could get hurt, maybe even killed.” Her nose wrinkles like she’s fighting off tears. “But you don’t have to deal with any of this. We could have your memory wiped and you can go back to your normal life. You’re under no obligation to stay, to help us. I can even help you find another job and a new apartment.”
Face contorting, I shake my head in a full panic. “No. Please. Please don’t send me away.”
I’m so painfully tired of bouncing from family to family, community to community, of never forming solid connections. And now that I’ve found people who might be like me? There’s no way I’m leaving without a fight. Even if that means telling her about my own powers before I’m quite ready.
Wrinkling her brow, jaw tight, Kia brushes my curls away from my face, then nods. “If that’s what you want,” she says in a gentle whisper.
She stays with me until I float into a heavy, blessedly dreamless sleep, peaceful in her motherly presence.
Partway through the night, I jerk awake, shaking with a new wave of adrenaline and drenched in sweat. I roll out of bed, pacing a moment to try and get rid of the nervous energy filling my body. Realizing this isn’t going to work in such a small space, I throw on a pair of leggings and tank top, and stumble onto the landing. One of the three doors stands open. When I peek around the frame, I find what looks like a common room.
Ash sits in an armchair at the end of a rough wood table, reading a thick book. A kitchenette spans the wall behind him — complete with a red painted refrigerator — and a little couch cozies up to another fireplace in the far left corner. Bright light pours from a roof access sign above a set of stairs and I swear snoring filters through a door on the other side of the room.
Running a hand over his face, Ash turns his head toward me, resting his chin on a palm so his full lips purse to an almost pout. It strikes me how much he looks like that old movie star. Jonny Dean? Jason Dean? No, that’s not right...
“Can’t sleep?” he asks, before I can remember.
I wrap my arms around my middle, and step into the room. “I did for a bit but...”
Ash props his elbow on a knee. “Maybe I can answer some questions? Promise I’ll tell it as dry as possible, bore you to sleep maybe?”
Grinning, I flop onto the bench. “Is Kia okay with you telling all?”
As much as my brain burns with questions, the last thing I want is to tick off the big boss, or disappoint her.
“She’s not totally comfortable with it.” Ash frowns, adjusting the collar of his shirt. “It’s not against our law, but because we try to keep our existence quiet, it definitely isn’t encouraged.”
I chew my lower lip, stomach bobbing a little, then I grin again. “At least in this case you have a good excuse. It’s your dad’s minion’s fault I know anything, right? Y’all are just telling me the truth so I don’t call the angry townsfolk to get their rakes and Roman Candles.”
Ash chuckles. “I’ll be sure to use that in my defense if I ever have to go before the tribunal.”
“You’re welcome.” I wink. “Okay then. I know Detective Ito said vampire, but basically all I think I know is wrong. So what is true about what you are?” I grimace. “Is that rude to ask? Like the paranormal version of ‘when’s the baby due?’”
That phrase “what you are” sends a jolt through my chest even as it passes my lips, and not simply one of fear. Could these people have answers about my own, weird condition? Could they help me figure out where my powers come from? Help me put an end to the eternal buzzing that exhausts and terrifies me constantly?
I lean forward, curiosity and hope taking over for the shock and terror.
Ash huffs a laugh through his nose. “All things considered, no, not really. What we are is complicated. Folklore helps protect our secret. Jeremy, Ito, and I are similar, though Jeremy’s a pureblood and I’m not. In some countries we lean into the chupacabra myth because of our spikes — Max’s favorite — Sigbin in the Philippines, Lilitu in Ancient Babylon. But ultimately, Ito’s right, vampire’s the most accurate. Though we can eat normal food, we need blood to survive. It helps us heal faster too. Jeremy attacked tonight because he hadn’t fed well in weeks. Squirrels and raccoons don’t quite cut it.”
Fingers laced together, I press my chin into my knuckles, trying to absorb this information. This should scare me. Adrenaline should flood every muscle in my body. I should tear out of the room in terror. But I can’t make myself feel the fear. Maybe because of my own inexplicable powers.
Shaking my head, I switch to the next question. “What’s this whole pureblood thing?”
Ash scratches a temple with his thumb. “For context, it might help if I start with my own stuff.” He cracks his knuckles, focus far off like he’s watching a memory. “My mom is a human. This is pretty common because, for some reason, female vampires are more likely to give birth to female offspring. A male birth happens maybe every hundred years or so. Which means pureblood male vampires are super rare, and really powerful.”
“Which is why your dad wants Jeremy?”
“Yeah.” Ash nods. “My mom didn’t know she was pregnant when she left my dad, but when she found out, she still didn’t want to go back to him. Among his many charming qualities, he has a violent temper.”
The muscles in my throat form a fist around my windpipe and my mouth straight up betrays me. “I know something about that.”
Ash meets my eyes, forehead wrinkled.
“Don’t ask.” I swallow the knot in my throat. “Not tonight.”
“I won’t.” Ash nods, then forges on with his story. “My mom didn’t know what I was, at least not until my thirteenth birthday. That’s when our kind develops the spikes on our backs and have to start feeding. My dad had been keeping tabs on me, waiting until I was worth something to him. One day, he showed up at our house. You can imagine how that conversation went down. I wouldn’t leave with him and, when he tempt
ed me with blood, I discovered for the first time just how strong this makes us. I attacked him. The encounter left us both broken and bloody. He left, but swore he’d be back. That’s why I left my mom. I didn’t want to put her in danger. I’ve had a few run-ins with him and his people since. So far I’ve managed to get away.”
Get away? My mouth dries out. If Ash, the badass who destroys creatures like captain lady fang, feels the need, ever, to run from someone, this means they’re next-level dangerous.
“Isn’t there somebody you, I don’t know, can call about him? Like, paranormal police or something? Can’t someone like Detective Ito do anything?” Rolling my eyes, I wrinkle my nose. “As if y’all are stupid enough not to have tried all of the things already. Way to humansplain, Case.”
Ash rubs his jaw, a small smile growing. “No, those are fair questions. Our law enforcement — those who aren’t corrupt — have been trying to take him down for years but...” he shakes his head, “so far it hasn’t gone well. He’s very powerful and has equally powerful friends. That’s how he kidnapped Jeremy apparently...after he killed his mom.”
Anger flares through me, completely, depressingly, devoid of shock. “Why does he want a pureblood? I know you said they’re rare and powerful, but does he think he can convince Jeremy to help him with something?”
“We don’t know his exact plans, but Jeremy’s not the only paranormal creature running from him. According to them, our dad is recruiting and...” Ash clenches, then unclenches his jaw, “Trying to breed purebloods. Like Detective Ito said.”
I gag. “Breed. Gross. Um, new question, one that’s mildly less nauseating...What is Kia? And Max? Neither of them give off blood sucker vibes.” I grin and Ash laughs.
“Kia’s a mermaid,” he says. “They have a calming effect, which is particularly helpful for my kind, and for a Brazillian water spirit like Max.”
Again, laughter bursts out of my mouth and I press a hand to my chest. “Oh that explains so much.” I arch a brow as my brain snags back on something he said earlier. “Wait, do you actually have spikes on your back? Not checking you out or anything.” I pretend to push imaginary glasses up the bridge of my nose. “It’s for science.”
Cursed: The Girl Who Shook the Earth Page 3
