Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (10 page)

He pulled the collars of my hoodie and T-shirt aside. With a few kisses, he healed the bite he had left in my shoulder. “Sorry about that,” he said, grinning at me.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure you aren’t,” I said, eyeing the wicked sparkle in his eye.

Then his expression turned all serious. “Seriously, Laney, we can’t do that again. We need to be careful. We’re not ready for the consequences.” He trailed his fingers across my cheek.

“I know,” I said, looking down at the sand.

He tipped my chin up to look into my eyes. “I cannot risk losing you when I’ve only just made you mine.”

I smiled,
unable to speak. I didn’t want to take that risk any more than he did, but there were also things that I wanted—things that might make taking that risk worth it. But not just yet.

The last of the sunlight disappeared. The sky rumbled overhead. It began sprinkling, and we hurried to the house.

Meeting the Parents

“Hey, Laney,” Oliver called from outside the bathroom the following morning.

I was only brushing my teeth, so I opened the door. He stepped inside while I continued to brush. He had that distracted look about him, like he was really focused on something.

“It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow and most of next week. I’ve got one more thing I want to do before we leave. So dress warm, we’re going to the cemetery today.” He kissed my cheek and left.

Alrighty. I guess hanging out in my pajamas all day is off the table.

After getting ready for the day, I found Oliver in the front room, sitting on the edge of the loveseat that sat under the front windows. He had his laptop in front of him; it was sitting on top of a trunk that was to be used as a coffee table.

He glanced up at me and smiled when I entered the room. “You ready to go?” he asked.

“Sure.” I said as I crossed the room to him.

He sat back just far enough to pull me down into his lap. He gave me a quick kiss, then, reaching around me,
and his fingers were back on the keys of his laptop.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I turned to see the screen. My mouth about dropped to the floor.

“Cell phone bills are due,” he absently replied.

“Oliver, why is your cell bill so high?” I questioned, very slowly. We’re talking some ungodly amount, like the high hundreds. I mean, how many texts and calls would a person have to make to get their bill so freakin’ high?

He let out a small laugh, like a huff, and a half-smile appeared. “It’s not just mine, Laney.” He clicked the “confirm payment” button, then he sat back and held me in his lap as he explained his super freakin’ high cell phone bill. “I’ve got Julz, Isaac, Hayden, and myself on one plan. Plus, I added you when I replaced your phone this last time.”

“Why?” I asked as I draped an arm around his
shoulders.

He shrugged. “Easier to deal with this way, I guess.”

“But that’s really expensive, Oliver.”

I had no clue what my cell phone bill was. Lilly had always taken care of that stuff. She just told me to watch my usage from time to time. But I was certain my bill, even combined with Lilly’s, had been nothing compared to Oliver’s.

“It’s not a big deal, Laney. Don’t worry about it. Okay?” I eyed him and another crooked smirk appeared. “If it makes you feel better, Isaac pays me for their lines.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I don’t use it though, the money Isaac gives me.”

“What do you mean?”

He took a deep breath, then he exhaled. “Well, Isaac pays me for all three of their cells, and he pays me rent, but I have never asked him for any of it. He feels he needs to do this since I took them all on, financially, when I found out Julz was pregnant with Hayden. But Julz and Hayden are my responsibility.” He gave me a look, one that reminded me he had turned Julz.

“You’ve been supporting them all this time?”

He nodded, he gorgeous green eyes holding mine. “Isaac got mixed up in all of this as I was trying to get Julz to safety. He made a hasty decision, and he gave up his life for this one. Once he started earning money with his music, he told me he was going to pay me back. I didn’t need it, Laney. It’s not like I have a lot of bills. I was just doing what I felt was right. I made sure Hayden had her family and a place to grow up.” He trailed his cool fingers down my arm, and I shivered. “Over the years, I’ve put all of the money Isaac has given me away for him, in case he ever chooses to leave, and if he doesn’t, then I imagine he’ll want it for Hayden’s education or something.”

“Wow, Oliver. Have I ever told you that you
’re the most awesome person I know?” I said, leaning in and giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Maybe once or twice.” He
smirked. “Oh, and none of them know that I’ve done this, so keep this information to yourself.” He winked at me. Then his eyes fell on my lips. He moved closer, pressing his perfectly soft lips against mine, kissing me long and slow, his hand running up into my hair just behind my ear.

When the kiss ended, I asked if he was hungry. “Uh-huh,” he breathed, his hand still in my hair and a hunger in his eyes.

“I meant for lunch,” I said, laughing and shaking my head at him in disbelief. Not that I would turn down what he had in mind; I just really needed some food.

He flashed me a heart-melting half-smile.

After untangling myself from his arms, we headed to the kitchen for lunch. I made myself a sandwich, and I commented that I was running low on bread and that we would soon need to make another run to the store.

Once I’d finished making my sandwich, I took a seat at the little dining table with Oliver and we shared some organic oranges while
he informed me that his bottled blood didn’t taste anywhere near as good as mine. How flattering.

Once we finally made it out the door, it was dreary outside. And cold. I hurried to get into the car, and I promptly requested the heater be turned up on high as we headed to the cemetery.

Is it weird that I was nervous? It’s not like I was actually meeting his family. Maybe I was nervous about how he would be while we were there. Would he be sad? Would he cry? I had seen him get teary-eyed a couple of times, but I had never actually seen him cry. Come to think of it, I don’t think I had ever been around a man who cried. Were they capable? I quietly giggled to myself. Oliver shot me a look. It made me laugh, especially when he smiled and shook his head at me.

The cemetery was quite a bit different from the one back home. You could actually pull into the grounds and drive through the cemetery on the paths that wound through it. We drove up to the large archway, and Oliver pulled into the cemetery and drove along one of the paths for a while. Then he stopped the Challenger and cut the engine. Although you could drive through the cemetery, not all graves were that easy to access.

In silence, we got out of the car. Oliver came around to my side, took my hand, and began leading me across the cemetery.

The ground was still damp from the previous night’s rain. Leaves littered the
cemetery, some crunched under our feet, others were damp and occasionally stuck to our shoes as we walked.

The cemetery was full of headstones of all different sizes and shapes, big beautiful trees, and lots of squirrels: gray ones and black ones. I had never seen a black squirrel. The squirrels darted across the grounds and up and down trees. Watching
them was a good distraction from how nervous I felt.

After a bit of a walk, we finally arrived at our destination
, and my breath caught. I had not expected a full on monument. I guess I had just expected to see several headstones. But no, the Knight monument was a large and beautiful piece of stone artwork with a weeping angel on top of it. All five of their names and the years that they had lived was elegantly etched across the front. Their last name was displayed large across the top.

I was in awe.

Beside this elaborate monument was a smaller one that also displayed the Knight name. Upon closer examination, I discovered that Oliver’s Grandpa Sam already had his final resting place laid out for him; it would be beside his wife who had already joined their son and his family. It was hard not to cry.

With emotion in his voice, Oliver pointed out that the plots on the other side of the main Knight tombstone belonged to his mom’s parents. They too had already joined their daughter and grandchildren.

I fought back tears as I stood there facing nearly all of Oliver’s family. I squeezed his hand and pulled myself closer to him, wrapping my other arm around his. He kissed the top of my head.

Staring at the monument, I noticed some words above all of their names, just under the large “Knight” across the top. “A Family Taken Too Soon.” Those words made my heart ache.
So was the added thought that for so many years, Oliver had been coming to the cemetery, facing his family and those words, alone…

I brushed away a fallen tear.

I pulled my hand free of Oliver’s and slipped my arms around his waist. I held him tight while we stood there, silently, in front of that beautiful memorial. It was a little…
What is the right word? Creepy? Strange? Odd…odd is most fitting.
It was odd to be standing before the Knight monument, staring at Oliver’s name, the years he had lived, his life ending two years after I was born, while actually standing beside him, holding and touching the real deal. Although my mind had tried, I refused to think about what my life might be like if he actually hadn’t survived.

“Well,” he began, “I guess this is the closest
you’ll ever get to meeting them.”

He squeezed me
, and I wrapped myself around him even tighter. I knew he was trying to be strong, but he didn’t need to be, not then. Yet, it’s not like I expressed this verbally. I just hoped he already knew.

“Does it feel strange to see your name
on there?” I quietly asked. It felt strange to me.

He nodded.

Eventually, we took a seat on the driest patch of grass we could find and leaned our backs against the Knight family monument. I sat there with the middle Knight child, who was clearly alive and well, listening to him tell me about memories from his time with his family. There was a spark of happiness, or maybe longing, in Oliver’s eyes as he spoke of them. I understood a fraction of his pain, because I too shared that loss of loved ones.

“I wish you could have met them, Laney,” he said, pulling my cold hand to his lips and kissing the back of it.

“Me too.”

Once again, silence fell over us for a while, until I finally spoke. “Tell me about them, your parents,” I said. “What were they like?”

A small and beautiful smile formed as he began. His eyes lit up as he spoke of his mom. “Oh god, my mom was so warm and loving. She babied me,” he said, his smile turning bashful and his eyes sweeping over to mine for a quick moment. “Oscar hated it,” he continued. “We were always so different. He was independent and outgoing, and he was into sports, and eventually partying. And…well, I had a small group of friends, but I was a homebody. I stayed home and played video games and hung out with my parents and my sister a lot. But that wasn’t why my mom babied me.” His deep pools of sparkling emeralds held me in place. His expression was suddenly serious, as was his tone. “Those health issues I had as a kid…” he trailed off.

“Yeah?” I encouraged him to continue, nervous to hear what he was about to tell me.

“Well, I had a heart condition. I was born with a heart defect. I had surgery as an infant, but even after they fixed what they could, my condition required that I stay on medication to help regulate my heartbeat. If that weren’t enough, I also had asthma.” He gave me a little smirk; it erased some of the concern that was consuming me. “When we were attacked by vampires, well, my heart gave out.” Chills covered my body and my hand tightened on his. “Felix revived me. That’s when he forced the vampire that bit me to share his blood with me. Then he killed the guy.”

I had a whole body shiver. He had died. Oliver had died! Felix had revived him. Had he not done so, Oliver wouldn’t be sitting beside me at that very moment. The thought was torture. He was my other half, the half that made me whole. Without Oliver, life held little meaning. Life held no happiness without Oliver.

He squeezed my hand while I tried to calm my inner freak-out. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he continued, eyeing me to see if I could handle what he was about to tell me. “Felix has told me that my heart gave out two more times before my body began to accept the change.”

“Oh my god, Oliver
! Why did you never tell me this?” My entire body was covered in painful goose bumps.

He shrugged. “Once I changed, my heart was fine. It had repaired itself. My other ailments were gone, too. I was wearing glasses by the time I was a teenager, well, I was wearing contacts by the time we were attacked, but my sight was also repaired when I changed.” He flashed me a smirk.

Huh.
I stared at him, feeling even more protective. I wouldn’t have thought anything had ever been wrong with Oliver. He was perfect. Head-to-toe perfection. And, I just could not see him in glasses, other than sun glasses, of course. However, this information explained what Oscar had meant when he told me Oliver’s outcome was better as a vampire. Now it made sense.