Cursed (21 page)

Somehow and I’m honestly not sure how I managed
to pull myself away, “Okay go to the chair. You’re not behaving and
I know I cant.”

He looked at me through his crazy long dark
lashes and smiled his most innocent schoolboy look he could. I
nearly died and pushed him off the bed with all the effort I
had.

He landed on his feet with amazing reflexes and
chuckled softly as he grabbed the chair and pulled it over to
beside my bed. He sat on it backwards waiting.

“Okay I’m ready brainiac fire away.” He kept a
smirk on his face probably already knowing the questions I had to
ask.

I lay on my bed on my back, “Okay, so we are
going to do the Q&A portion of this evening quickly. I have
about ten minutes of effort left in me and need some sleep.
Ready?”

He nodded, “Do your worst.”

Without waiting for my brain to even start
working I began firing away, “How old are you?”

“Six hundred and forty three.” He responded
quickly and efficiently, I liked that.

“How many families like mine have you worked
through accidental deaths that weren’t planned?”

“Not many it doesn’t happened often, I’ve never
kept track but I would say a few hundred at the most?”

“Where do you live in your off time?”

“I don’t have off time. I just roam until I’m
called.” He looked perplexed by this question.

“Is there a heaven where you go when you’re not
looking after a family?”

He shook his head, “I don’t know anything about
heaven I’ve been cursed to be what I am since my death.”

"Were you ever a human?”

His eyes flinched ever so slightly at this
question, “Yes.” He didn’t go into any other detail.

“When?”

His face told me to drop it, “Six hundred and
twenty years ago.”

“You’re twenty three?”

He nodded.

I felt my eyes get heavy as my head started to
hurt again, “Did you see my mom die?”

“No I came after wards.”

“What killed her?”

“A shape shifter.” His voice never cracked or
wavered as he said it.

My head instantly translated as I felt myself
drift off into a painful sleep, a werewolf or something like
that.

Chapter Nine - IS THERE
PHILLY CREAM CHEESE IN HEAVEN

I dreamt things that made no sense to me and I
felt lost and confused, my mom was falling and she turned into an
angel and flew up into the sky. She never came back down from the
sky and she didn’t seem too concerned that I was standing on the
road watching her fly away. She didn’t wave to me.

I woke to find Aleks sleeping beside me on my
bed, his warm body nearly burning me as I touched him, I still felt
frozen but touching him seemed to take it away.

A million questions were to be stuck in my mind
they had nowhere to go and my head was to be swelling with
them.

Aleks stirred turning on his side and wrapping
his leg around me. He pulled me into him; I let his lips drag up my
throat. I giggled until he whispered a word, “Nora.” I froze not
sure what to say. I stayed very still until he started to wake up
and opened his eyes to me. I assumed this must have been a woman he
loved before he met me. The immature side of me seeped out into my
mind and started making a mountain out of the molehill where he
said another woman’s name. I tried to fight against it but it made
sense to me, okay I was still only eighteen. A little immaturity
was to be expected. Then I remembered Shane and decided not to
judge him to harshly.

He looked at me confused watching the wheels
turning. He smiled, “You have more questions now?”

“Whose Nora?” I blurted out.

He winced in pain at the sound of the name.

He pulled away from me slightly not sure what to
do with the question. Finally after a moments thought he whispered,
“My wife.”

My heart stopped and I felt a shiver tremble
through my whole body, “Wife.” I stated it matter of fact.

He nodded, “Yes. We were married when I was
eighteen. She was the only woman I ever loved in my whole life
until now.” His eyes screamed a pain where his lips tried to calm
with a soothing smile.

I felt sadness even though the greatest moment
of my life had just happened, he told me he loved me, “What
happened to her?”

He looked down at the sheets breaking the eye
contact as if ashamed, “She remarried and moved on after I
died.”

“Did you watch her?” I asked softly.

He nodded, “Everyday I could. I watched her fall
out of love with me and in love with him but the sweet soft girl I
had married became a hardened woman. It was a tough time and she
had a hard go.”

I blinked away a tear, as his voice remained so
soft, “You still love her.” It was statement not a question.

Aleks got down on his knees in front of my bed
where I lay and stroked my arm softly as he spoke getting lost in
the story as his eyes began to look peaceful, “Yes of course. She
was my first true love and I truly never got closure.”

“Where were you from?” I asked kissing the tip
of his nose back. I could see him putting up a wall like I did so I
backed off a little.

He smiled brightly, “I’m from Norway. Aurland,
its on the Nærøyfjord. My family was farmers. My surname was Jonson
because my dads name was Jon, that’s how it was done. So my sisters
were Jonsdoter. Our mom was actually captured from somewhere near
the Greek islands in a raid. So she named me Aleksander, it was a
Greek name but it sounded Norwegian. Well it did to her, I was made
fun of a lot for my name. Everyone thought it was a girls name but
education wasn’t as important back then as it is now where everyone
knows about Aleksander the great.” He beamed at me. I rolled my
eyes.

“So can you speak Norwegian still?” I asked not
thinking about it

“Ja Jeg Kan.” He smiled laughing, “So shall we
get to the rest of your questions. I know you have million.”

I nodded, “I’m sorry about your wife, that’s
really sad. What did she look like?”

His eyes turned annoyed, “Not letting this one
go huh, fine. She was tall, very tall. Almost as tall as I am. She
had long blond hair to her waist, it was thick and white almost.
Her skin tanned even though she was fair. Her eyes were blue like
mine, very intensely blue. She had a pretty face with beautiful
features. She was thick, not fat but strong. She could pull a cart
and carry kids around all day. She was an amazing woman. Are you
happy you know that now? Shall we talk about you past
boyfriends?”

I bit my lip, “I don’t have any past anyone’s. I
have never been kissed in my life before this last few weeks.”

His face grew reddened and angry looking,
“Shane?”

I nodded frowning at him, “Yeah but you were a
criminal and always vanishing on me. I thought you were a ghost for
a while. Kissing Shane still seems like a better idea than kissing
you.”

He growled, “I’m not going to comment.”

I blushed sensing his annoyance on the subject,
“I know I have to end things with Shane, this is what I want.” I
smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes at me, “You know I haven’t
felt this protective and possessive in a long time. It’s going to
take me a while to learn to control my emotions.”

I looked up at the ceiling watching him as I
thought for minute and then decided to ask the question I had been
wondering from the moment he started this conversation, “How did
you die and become an immortal?”

He nodded, “There it is, the right question.” He
ran his right hand through his short hair and looked down at the
bed. His eyelids lifted without moving his head and he watched me
through his lashes again, “Same as your mom. A shape shifter killed
me. I was attacked and left in the woods to die. Next question.” He
shut it down before it could start.

I interrupted, “But you didn’t turn into a
werewolf from the bite?”

He laughed, “Hollywood made that up in the
thirties with The Wolfman. No a man must be cursed by a special and
rare person to become a lycanthrope. The bite does nothing but
infect the person if the wound is not taken care of. Rarely is a
person bitten though. Most of them hunt animals in the forests not
people. We don’t taste very good.” His smile was haunted.

I felt my brow squeeze together with
concern.

“But how did you become a this? How did you
learn all your magical powers?” I could see him backing away
emotionally from this conversation.

He shook his head Aimee, “Lets focus on right
now. We have enough problems. I don’t know how to stop my curse
from pulling me to the next place. I want to stay with you but you
have to ask less questions, seriously.”

I nodded and got the message loud and clear. I
tried to think about questions I had that weren’t part of the
things he wouldn’t want to talk about, his wife, his family, his
home land, his turning into whatever he was, and definitely no
discussing his death. That left me with very little.

“How did you know to come here when my mom died?
How do you know where to go next?” I hoped he would at least answer
this and I could possibly hypothesize on my on from the breadcrumbs
he left me.

“I just know, I get a feeling. Like when you
have a dream, I see what happens in flashes or pieces I guess. I
just know I need to go right or left.”

I felt disappointment in waves, asking him
questions was making my head want to explode.

“I kinda saw it more as you fly up to the pearly
gates and someone gives you a clip board with a name on it and you
ask questions around the Philly cream cheese snack bar and figure
out how you’re going to crack this tough case.”

He burst into laughter, “Oh god I wish it was
that easy. I’m not a real angel, I’m cursed.” He moved a strand of
hair from my face and smiled, “I think you should go and eat
Aimee.”

I nodded feeling frustration filling me as I sat
up. I felt a little dizzy again but I knew now to wait it out. The
stars always cleared after a moment or so. Aleks stood holding a
hand out for me to take.

I reached for it letting him pull me off the
bed. My legs wanted to buckle but I could tell from his worried
expression if I did that he would be taking me back to the
hospital. I knew all I needed was more sleep so I stood my ground
and walked out of my room. My dad wasn’t downstairs, I called out,
“Dad. Alise?”

No one answered and I motioned behind me for him
to come out.

“Do you get hungry?” I asked as I walked slowly
down the stairs.

“Yes and no, I am an immortal now. I’m not like
an angel in that I can make myself vanish and become air. I have a
sort of magic now. I can cloak myself around people who haven’t
been to the in between obviously. Even cloaked you’ve seen me so
you’re not a normal person anymore. I need food and drink to live
but I won’t die without it. I will get tired and weak after a long
time.”

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a frying
pan, “Like omelets?”

He nodded sitting at the bar.

“So you are a flesh and blood human with a
beating heart?”

He nodded not answering. I could see I was
wearing on his last nerve and stopped asking questions. I was
stewing on safe questions while I beat the eggs and chopped the
vegetables.

“Are vampires real?” It only made sense to me
that if the wolves were real so was the vamps.

He didn’t answer but when I looked at him I got
my answer. His face was grim as he watched me chopping.

“Are you a vampire?” He had said he was an
immortal maybe he was a nice vampire.

Again he didn’t look amused, “No for god sake.
I’m sorry I said you could ask questions you’re the most
inquisitive person alive. I am not a vampire, yes they’re real. I
think that in our world you will find things have changed now that
your second sight has started.”

I interrupted, “Second sight?”

He nodded impatiently, “Your ability to see me
will make other things easier to see as well.”

I couldn’t stop my brain now, “Do Vampires
become vampires from a bite?”

He slumped at the bar and groaned, “No,
Hollywood is not the place to look for facts. No like lycanthropes
vampires have to be turned special way. If a vampire bit you he
would drink your blood and heal your wounds before you even
realized it happened. They’re very charming.” He smiled as I passed
him the plate of toast and omelets.

I sat beside him at the bar with my orange juice
and steaming plate of food and blinked, “So they drink blood?”

He nodded blowing on his fork full of eggs,
“Yeah, unfortunately they do. They aren’t all bad but they need
human blood.”

“Could they drink yours?”

He sighed, “This is the last question for a
while okay, no they cannot. I am an immortal, my blood would mean
death.”

I nodded eating my eggs stuck in all the empty
knowledge that lead nowhere and the millions of questions I
couldn’t ask.

I turned and watched him eating, I distracted
myself with his jaw flexing.

He frowned at me with a mouth full of hot eggs
and peppers as he tried to suck in cold air and talk, “Eat Aimee
you’re weak and watching me eat isn’t gong to make you feel
better.”

I took a bite of the eggs on my fork and chewed
barely tasting the food. My stomach seemed to turn at the thought
of food. I ate to make him happy and tried to seem like I could
move on.

Having suddenly nothing to say and sitting in
silence proved that to be quite a challenge. I waited for him to
talk about anything he wanted to talk about but he seemed content
in the silence. We finished breakfast and I started cleaning up the
dishes and I realized I had a whole line of questioning I hadn’t
even touched on.

He saw the gleam in my eye and moaned. I ignored
him and moved in for the kill, “Do you know who the rapist is?”