Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (33 page)

Even in a state of panic, Oliver made sure I was in the car before running to the other side.

“What just happened?” I frantically asked as he jumped into the driver’s
seat.

“I have no idea.” He was quick to start the engine. He shifted into gear, and we sped away
, heading straight for home.

Once inside the apartment, my adrenaline started to crash, and so did I. I dropped onto the couch, sprawling across it like I’d just run a marathon.

Oliver paced behind the couch while we waited for Felix to call and notify us whether or not the whole shenanigans of what we’d just experienced had even worked. Hell, for all we knew, things just got worse.

When Felix did call, I jumped off the couch and hurried to Oliver’s side. I listened with my head next to Oliver’s.

“I will be keeping her overnight for observation, but it appears to have worked. I will contact you in the morning. I will need a sample of your blood before we can know the final results.” Felix ended the call.

Together, Oliver and I dropped onto the couch, exhausted, confused, still a bit terrified, and maybe only slightly relieved.

We were not yet in the clear.

****
*

Very early the next morning, Felix was at the apartment with his black doctor’s bag in tow. He didn’t say much, just took a vial of blood from Oliver then headed out on his way back to the hospital. The only thing he told us was that he would be calling us soon. Oh, and he did let us know that Avery was not pregnant
—that it had only been a ruse, as he put it.

Although I knew it wasn’t possible, the thought that Avery might be pregnant, even with someone else’s child, was slightly terrifying on multiple levels. I knew she
would’ve tortured me, claiming the baby was Oliver’s. I would have known differently, but I knew the torment would eventually get to me.

I was just relieved that it was no longer a possibility. Not that she couldn’t run out and get knocked-up right away and do the same thing
. It would just be different, somehow.

We waited nervously most of the day until Felix finally called us late in the afternoon. He told us that Oliver’s levels were all back to normal, and that Avery not only no longer carried a bite-connection to my boyfriend, she also did not seem to recall the previous day at all

Sadly, she was still connected to Oscar, but that connection was nothing more than fleeting thoughts of him, Felix informed us.

With Oliver, she had been full on addicted. Felix told us that was probably because witchcraft had been involved. And although I appreciated what the witches had done for us the previous day, I wanted to keep my distance from anyone with magic.

“There’s one more thing,” Felix said.

Oliver and I shared an uneasy glance before staring back down at the phone that was on speaker in Oliver’s hands.

“It would appear Delaney was correct in her suspicions of the employee at the hotel.” We shared another glance. “We believe she has a connection to some of our unfavorable foes. However, she has gone missing. I will do all that I can to track her down and find out exactly who she is working with. I will also request stricter security at the hotel and a thorough investigation of every employee there.”

Well, this was both unsettling and reassuring news. Even outside of “Treeville,” danger found us.

All we could do was hope Felix could hunt this woman down and make her pay. I really had no clue what she had done or why, but I wanted anyone who tried to cause us harm “taken care of.” Especially if that someone was trying to harm Oliver.

We stayed home the rest of the day, and we spent our evening with Carter, a movie, and dinner in front of the TV. It was a welcomed normal evening.

Creepers

It had been a couple of days since the bite-connection between Oliver and Avery had been severed. Oliver and I relaxed a little, but I was still slightly on edge. I just knew something terrible was coming. I could feel it! So, on Thursday afternoon, when Kiera invited us to join her, Carter, Zoey, and Rudy for eighteen-and-over night at the Lunatic Stallion, I was reluctant to say yes.

It was Oliver who accepted the invitation.

“It will be fun,” he told me as he gently pulled me against him. “We can’t stay cooped up in the apartment forever, you know.” He flashed me that signature, gorgeous, crooked smile of his just before his lips met mine.

Of course I caved.

“This is a bad idea,” I told Oliver later that night, while we were getting ready to leave.

“It will be fine, Laney.” He flashed me a smile as he waited for me to finish tying my shoes.

“How can you be so sure?” I questioned as I stood, standing right in front of him.

He smirked and then
guided me out of our room, through our apartment, and out the front door.

“I can’t, but I would like to spend some time with you somewhere other than the couch,” he said, the hint of a
smile appearing as he opened the passenger door of his car for me.

I couldn’t argue with that.

To my surprise, Oliver was right. The entire night was incident free, for once, and we actually enjoyed ourselves.

It was also nice not worrying about hiding anything about anyone’s true nature anymore. We could all relax and be ourselves. Meaning, within our group, Oliver and Rudy
didn’t have to hide the fact they were vampires.

And it turned out
Oliver and Rudy knew each other, not well, but Rudy was also a Brookehaven Vampire. He was just way further down the line from Oliver. One of the “soldiers,” I assumed.

While the Brookehaven boys
chatted, each one drinking a Brookehaven Ale, Carter danced like his goofy self out on the dance floor with us girls. I had fun out there with my friends. I hadn’t realized how much I missed hanging out with them.

It felt great to let loose and enjoy myself, and it felt especially wonderful when a familiar
pair of arms slipped around my waist from behind me. I turned in his arms and smiled, and when I saw the way he was looking at me, my heart picked up a beat.

Oliver and I spent several songs wrapped in each other’s embrace, just happy to enjoy the moment. However, the moment ended too soon when everyone called it an early night and headed home.

Had we been Carter-free, I imagined our night would have ended naked and under the covers, but Carter was eager to finish a movie the three of us had been watching earlier in the day.

Oliver
was right; there was definitely something off with Carter and Kiera. Carter was fine when she wasn’t around—he was his regular ol’ self and all—but when he was with Kiera, or even for the next hour or two after he’d spent time with her, he just seemed…on edge.

I asked him again if everything was alright. He blew me o
ff like I was crazy for asking.

Whatever it was, I imagined it would surface soon enough. Eventually, everything did.

Surprisingly, the next few days were without incident. You would think this would ease my mind, but all I could think was
it’s always calmest before the storm
. And I was right…

It was Monday. Classes had resumed the previous week, but I
didn’t attend. Instead, I’d hung out with my boyfriend and my friend. So, on this particular Monday, I made an appointment with my academic counselor for the following day. I had missed so much school, there was just no making up for it.

And yes, Oliver had once again tried to convince me to let him “fix” my grades.

That was just too unfair to others.

So, late Monday afternoon, after
I’d made my appointment with Mr. Niemus and while Oliver was off getting his blood work done, I picked Carter up from school.

All was fine, at first.

“I’m starving!” Carter announced as he climbed into my car.

“Okay…” I said slowly, raising an eyebrow at him and waiting for him to get on with it. I knew he either wanted me to take him somewhere, or he wanted me to make him something. I wasn’t in the mood to cook, so I said, “Where to?”

He flashed me a goofy grin. “To Taco Bell, my trusty sidekick!”

I laughed. “You’re such a dork.” He’d so be the sidekick.

While we headed to Taco Bell, Carter told me all about how he couldn’t eat another burger or fry. He went into such great detail about the burgers from work and everyone’s leftovers that he was constantly encountering while busing tables and washing dishes, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat another one either. My stomach actually turned.

While in the
drive thru, we rocked out—awesomely, I must add—to a Lady Gaga song on the radio while waiting for his order. Carter danced in his seat and belted out the words. I too wiggled and sang along—not as enthusiastically as Carter, and only when I wasn’t doubled over from laughing so hard. Carter was just hilarious. He always made me smile. And right then, I could hardly see him from laughing so hard.

We were next up to hit the pick-up window and the song was almost over. So, with a final wiggle and
his arms flailing about, Carter sang (shouted) the last words of the song.

My sides were hurting as we rolled forward to the pick-up window.

“Can I get some hot sauce,” Carter asked, leaning across me to see the guy who was about to hand me the bag of food and overemphasizing the words “hot sauce” in the process.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing again.

Carter sat back in his seat and acted totally normal, like he hadn’t just made a total ass out of himself or acted like a weirdo while asking for hot sauce.

Once a handful of hot sauce was dumped into the bag, the Taco Bell guy handed it to me and Carter about took my hand off as he
grabbed it from me.

I shook my head, still laughing as I drove away.

My gas light had come on while we were in the drive thru, so we hit the gas station on the way back home.

I was out of the car, waiting for the pump to finish. Carter was inside—the windows slightly down because it was a beautiful day, cold, but beautiful—and he was still humming that Lady Gaga song while happily munching his food.

I smiled to myself at how peaceful and normal everything was.

The gas station was on the edge of the parking lot of a grocery store, but it was separated from the store’s parking lot by a row of shrubbery
and a couple of trees. While I waited for the pump to finish, I scanned the area, eyeing what I could see of the store, wondering if we should head over to it for a few needed groceries. That’s when I noticed something…odd.

There was
a man in the distance, and he looked like he was watching me. He wasn’t too far away, maybe six car lengths. What was most odd was that he was peering out from the bushes that separated the gas station from the store. It was almost like he was waiting for something, or someone.

The man
stepped out of the bushes and began heading our way. He was a pretty good-sized man, big and tall, but not like Felix, just regular big and tall. Felix was abnormally large, but that wasn’t the point. The point was this man was above average in comparison to, say, Carter, or even Oliver.

I eyed him as he got closer, wondering why he was coming straight toward my car.

He appeared to be older, but not old by any means. He was wearing a dark trench coat with the collar turned up, as if trying to hide behind it. His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders were hunched, and his eyes darted about making him look ever more suspicious. And he was still making his way toward me.

My brain was suddenly stuttering and stumbling over the man’s height, his short dark hair, and the coat he was wearing. I
t was right then that I realized I’d seen him before. He was at the diner the night we had returned. He was the creeper who’s eyes had lingered on me and my friends just a little too long.

As
he got closer, his eyes still darting about in a very shifty way, I noticed a second man lingering at the edge of the shrubbery. He was also wearing a long, dark jacket, but he was also wearing a baseball cap, and he had it pulled down low.

I
tried to catch a good glimpse of him, but he was too busy searching the parking lot on the other side of the bushes, keeping his back to me, as if he thought I might recognize him…

My creep-o-meter went on high alert. The man lingering near the bushes made me think of that slayer, Paul. I was pretty sure it wasn’t him, but something about
him really triggered Paul in my memory. Paul was the one who had recruited Ezra Morgan to help him plot against Oliver and the other vampires. I’d also seen him with Ashton not so long ago… But there was no time to think about all of that. The first man was getting closer. Too close, and still heading right for me.

I tapped on the window, trying to tear Carter’s attention away from the love affair he was having with his food. I knock
ed harder a second time to pull him out of his food trance.

He was quick to get out of the car when I pointed out the man coming at us. The guy had gotten pretty close. We’re talking, I could see the color of his eyes. Blue, a light shade of blue.
He stopped when he saw Carter getting out of the car.