Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (51 page)

“Hard. I didn’t know any of your logins, of course, and it wasn’t like I could call you and ask you for them. That would’ve been a dead giveaway.”

I nodded in agreement. “So, what did you do?” I asked.

Watching my own body walk away with my fiancée was definitely a weird experience, but I wasn’t supposed to show it, so
when we were leaving the diner after lunch, I took Laney’s hand and led her to Oliver’s car. I opened the passenger door for her and made a mental note to be more of a gentleman with my own girlfriend. Maybe it would mellow her out. Yeah right.

I drove Laney back to the apartment and walked her upstairs. I held her hand the whole way, ‘cause her and Oliver were always holding hands. She didn’t hold mine back. She was also still avoiding eye contact with me as much as possible. She felt uncomfortable near me. More so now that we were alone.

This whole crappy day and messed up situation had to end, and fast.

When we were inside the apartment, I called Felix. I told him that I had absolutely no idea where I was supposed to go so that I could pretend to be Oliver at work.

Felix laughed, really freaking loud! I had to hold Oliver’s phone away from my head to prevent the sound from hurting my ear. When he was done laughing, Felix told me where to go and that he’d meet me there.

“Won’t that look suspicious?” I questioned.

He reassured me it wouldn’t because he’d be meeting me with a list of tasks that I (Oliver) was in charge of. They were things I (Oliver) needed to look over as soon as possible.

With some apprehension, I left Laney in the apartment and headed over to Grandma Levesque’s antique shop. Hell, little did the rest of us know, Grandma’s shop was a cover for the Brookehaven Vampires. Sure, she actually worked the shop and sold stuff, but it turned out one of the main entrances the Brookehaven Vampires used to access the tunnels was in her shop.

Crazy shit!

I’d been in the tunnels before, not long after we’d come back to town after the Were had attacked me. I’d never entered from anywhere but the street, though. The shop was one of the “official” entrances.

I parked the Challenger in a covered parking structure across the street from Zoey’s place. There was a vamp manning the booth at the entrance to the garage. He only nodded to me. Didn’t ask for anything. Just gave me a nod and lifted the little striped “arm” preventing anyone from entering.

Once
I parked and locked the Challenger, I hiked Oliver’s backpack onto my shoulder and took the stairs, heading for the street. The tug I had, the one that felt like it was constantly pulling me toward Laney, it was stronger, and distracting. Like I needed one more thing to think about.

I found Felix inside the antique shop. He and Zoey’s grandma were chatting as i
f they were old friends. Felix was leaning against the glass display counter all casual-like. He gave me a nod in greeting when I came through the doors, the bell jingling overhead as the door opened. I was busy being very curious how long Zoey’s grandma had been around, and what her association with the BHV was. I also wondered if Zoey knew any of this.

“Oliver,” Felix said in greeting, pushing himself away from the counter. I was surprised the glass
didn’t crack with his weight against it.

Grandma Levesque kindly greeted me, and I had to think fast, trying to figure out how Oliver would respond.

“Good afternoon,” I said to her.

Her brow furrowed for a quick second. I got a wave of emotion from her that might have been confusion. I wasn’t sure.

Shit!

“Here is that spreadsheet you requested,” Felix said, giving me a look that confirmed I was an idiot. He thrust a clipboard into my hand. He then led the way to the
tunnel entrance, telling Zoey’s grandma that it was nice seeing her before he led us to the backroom of the store.

Once in the backroom, Felix led me past some tall metal shelving loaded with old crap. Then he led me to some stairs. The stairs were kinda hidden behind a wall, but not like a secret passage or anything, more like two walls, a smaller one in front of the other, but so similar they looked like one. I’m pretty sure I
would’ve thought it was a solid wall had I been sent to find the staircase on my own.

We headed down the creaky wooden steps, and it was like the shop had a basement. Or so it looked. In actuality,
the stairs led down to the tunnels.

While following Felix down the steps, he mentally told me that the list
he’d given me was an old one Oliver had already signed off on, and that everything I would be required to do had already been done. But the others wouldn’t know this. There was no way for them to.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was little space between the steps and a large door.

Felix pulled a key from his pocket that was similar to the one Oliver had used on Halloween to unlock the manhole in the street. Felix’s key unlocked a heavy metal door at the bottom of the stairs. The door looked old and rusted, but the hinges appeared new. There was no knob.

Once we were in the tunnels, Felix locked the door with the key from the inside, then we started walking. A few others passed us, acknowledging Felix and “Oliver” with a hello or a nod, but also causing their emotions to affect me. It was a lot to handle while trying
to act like someone else.

Felix chatted with me while we walked, telling me coven related info. Things like who was on duty, who had requested vacation, and so on. At the same time, he was mentally giving me answers to the questions I was thinking. Too loudly. It was difficult to concentrate on Felix’s mental answers while he was talking. It amazed me how easy it was for him to do both. I couldn’t even focus on one thing, let alone several at once.

I didn’t get a whole lot of emotion from Felix. He felt neutral to me. That was nice. Laney was a huge mix of feelings. Combined with my own, it was exhausting.

W
e moved to another tunnel, and this one was busy with many coven members. I felt overwhelmed.

“Focus on one emotion, Carter,” Felix’s voice boomed in my mind.

With all of my effort, I focused on Felix’s neutral feeling. He made the mass of emotions coming at me feel, uh… Normal? Pretty sure I had no clue what normal actually was. Anyway, I focused on his feelings of neutralness and walked beside him through the tunnels.

Long ago, Felix had told me about the tunnels
, about the coven’s use for them, and the fact that portions of the tunnels which led outside of town had been collapsed. He’d also told me that somehow those portions of the tunnels had been infiltrated the night before I’d been attacked. This was how so many Weres and the rogue vamps had gotten into town. Apparently there had already been some Weres in town, but since that night, there were many more… I didn’t know about the rogue vamps though, or what had come of them…

I think there was more to the story
, because when Felix had told it, it had a couple holes in it. But I didn’t have enough knowledge about such things to fill those holes. I was pretty sure Felix knew something else—that there was something he was not sharing. I wasn’t quite sure he had told anyone what this “something” was.

It made me uneasy. Not that I didn’t trust Felix. I did… with my life. I just had
this feeling he was always so busy trying to keep our world safe, that he had a habit of overlooking what was really important. Say, just as an example, letting Laney’s angel free and not telling any of us. Yeah, I get he supposedly had no choice. But, isn’t there always a choice?

Anyway, I’d be keeping my eyes out for clues. Well, I
’d be keeping Oliver’s eyes out for clues, considering the situation. Speaking of, I was pretty sure Felix knew more than he was leading on about our “situation,” too. Maybe that was what he “knew.” Maybe he did know who’d done it…

I’d be questioning this more, but at another time. For the moment, I had to play “being Oliver.”

Felix got me set up at a desk in one of the rooms that led off from the busy tunnel we were in. Before leaving, he let me know he would be close by.

There was a little silver lining to our situation, however tarnished it might be. Oliver was
on probation. Due to taking Laney’s blood against her will, among other things, he was to be supervised and on light duty. Bonus for me. Well, at the moment, anyway. It hadn’t been any sort of bonus at the time. But as for now, at least I wouldn’t be out, running around and killing bad guys, or whatever the hell it was Oliver did.

The day was uneventful. Boring, but thankfully uneventful. The only problem I ran into was
with another Brookehaven Vampire. I was seated at the desk Felix had set me up at—desks that appeared to be first come, first serve—and facing the door that led out into the tunnel system. I had my face hidden behind the screen of Oliver’s laptop. Yeah, he’d already let me know that he’d be taking my life if anything happened to it, or his car. Laney was a given. I knew, even as my regular self, my life was always in danger if I let any harm come to her.

Anyway, face behind the screen, phone in my lap, about my hundredth
game of solitaire in progress on the phone, not the laptop. Oliver had conveniently neglected to give me his login to anything but his phone. But I’m pretty sure I would’ve been doing the same if he had.

“Hey,” some vampire dude said.

I poked my head around the screen. Dude was standing in the doorway. Not sure how I didn’t notice him, ‘cause as soon as I looked at him, I got a strong wave of dislike coming my way.

“You figure out what the new cars are going to be yet?”

New cars?
“Oh, uh, not yet,” I said, hoping my answer would be sufficient. It wasn’t.

Dude came closer, taking several steps inside.

I sat up straight in my seat, hoping he wouldn’t see I’d been playing solitaire just to look busy.

“I think we should get a choice,” Dude said, a little too confidently. He put his hands on the other side of the desk and leaned closer.

I got another emotion from him. A weird one. Almost like he hated me, but respected me. But it could’ve been someone who was passing by, their emotions mixing with this guy’s. I really couldn’t tell, but I did know this whole emotions thing sucked ass.

Felix’s voice boomed in my mind, giving me the reply I needed. “You’ll have a choice,” I said, and Dude’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, you’ll be able to pick between the vehicle I choose,
and walking.” I smiled at him.

His
expression changed.

He pushed himself away from the desk and glared down at me. “Whatever,” he said, and he turned to go.

As he was leaving, I heard him mutter something about things being bullshit, but at the same time, Felix’s voice was telling me to remind this soldier (as Felix referred to him) to address me properly.

I felt a little powerful when I called after Dude, giving him the reminder. Dude called me Sir, gave me a nod, then he was gone. Told ya Oliver’s life was awesome.

Felix came in to talk to me a few minutes later. He acted like we were going over some sort of document on “my” laptop.
I
didn’t even own a laptop. You know, ‘cause I’m a full time loser.

While going over the pretend document, Felix mentally told me that he would be in the next office over if I needed him.

Yeah, having this information to begin with would’ve been nice.

Anyway, he left a few minutes later, and I played solitaire for the next couple hours.

Felix came back a while later with more pretend documents for “me” to sign off on—documents Oliver had already taken care of. Thankfully he had already approved them, ‘cause I was certain I couldn’t forge his signature.

Once the last doc was “signed,” Felix told me, as if he were actually speaking to Oliver, “I think that’s it for today. If you want to finish those other items at home, feel free.”

I nodded, and in my mind he told me to wait about twelve minutes, and to act like I was finishing some things on the laptop before actually leaving. So I did. It was a really long twelve minutes.

When those twelve minutes were up, I tried not to run out of that place. There were too many emotions flying around, and
way
too many people. I kinda wanted to rip my hair out. Well, it was Oliver’s hair, but I was sure he’d not appreciate that.

Felix slowly walked me out the way
we’d come in, and while he was unlocking the door for me, he mentally reminded me to get Oliver’s key from him. I couldn’t very well have Felix opening all the doors for me. Not only would that look suspicious, rumors might fly that he had a thing for me. You know, Oliver’s good looks and my massive charm, a killer combination, if you ask me. (Yeah, you insert that wicked grin.)

When I got home, and crawled out of the most awesome car in the entire world, I headed upstairs. Laney’s car was gone, and when I got to the apartment, so were Laney and my body.

I sent Oliver a text to let him know I was back, and then I sorta had a breakdown while I waited for the other me to get back. I didn’t cry or anything, just a little freak out.

I think I was hungry, but I didn’t know what to do about it.

It was creepy-weird to see my own body come through the front door and ask me how my day was.
Way creepy.

I dropped onto the couch
, and he sat in the chair, watching me as I gave him a rundown of my day in his life and all that had happened.

After a couple seconds of staring off into space, the other me quickly texted Felix, telling him to put a tail on Dude. Felix responded a second later and told him that he was already on it.

“You think Dude (his real name was Warren) might have something to do with this?” I said, pointing back-and-forth from him to me.

“Hard to say,” Oliver responded with my mouth and my voice. Yeah, weird. “He was one of Marcus’
friends, so it would be safe to say he’s not one of our biggest fans.”

“You guys have troubles within your coven often?” I asked.

“There’s always someone who doesn’t agree with the way things are run,” he said.

I found his response rather vague. But I didn’t push. Instead, I changed the subject. “How’d it go?” I asked.

“What?”

“Meeting the church guy?” Duh!

“Oh, it was fine. He said he’ll marry the two of you.”

“Sweet! Now Kiera will stop stressing over it,” I said, relieved she’d finally stop bitching about meeting the preacher dude, and also relieved I hadn’t actually had to deal with it. “Hey,” I said, remembering something else Kiera had been hounding
me about, “aren’t you supposed to look at some notes she gave you?”

“Oh, yeah,” I watched myself say
, and then I watched myself get up from the chair and leave the room to retrieve the notebook from Laney’s room—the one he’d thrown at me earlier in the day.

When he returned, he threw it at me again.

“Ow!” I said as it hit me upside the head.

“She’s not here. You don’t have to pretend you’re not you,” the other me said, smugly, as he dropped back down into the chair. “Do it yourself.”

“Dang it. I was really hoping you’d do it.”

“Yeah, good try.” I saw a smirk, an Oliver smirk
, that started to form on the lips of my own face.

I opened the notebook. “Geez,” I said as I skimmed the list.

Oliver was curious, so he leaned over and took a look. He whistled and sat back. “Have fun with that.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do?”

He shrugged and turned on the TV.

I was seriously sick of looking at my ugly ass. I mean seriously
! What did Kiera see in me?

I shook my head. I didn’t need to think like that.

I skimmed the list again. “There’s like a hundred different ideas here!”

“Probably more like thirty,” he said, not looking away from the TV. “Just pick five to ten and circle them.” He looked over at me. “But you might want to make sure the ones you choose are ones you are willing to live with.”

I looked down at the list again, then back to Oliver in my body. “How are you so good at dealing with so much shit? And girls, how is it you seem to know how to make them happy and tell them what they want to hear?”

He shrugged again, his focus back on the TV. “Just awesome, I guess.”

I felt both my eyebrows rise.

He looked over at me. “What? Did I sound too much like you?” He grinned. “Carter,” he said. It was
WAY
weird to watch myself say my name and direct it to the me looking at me.
Argh!

I shook my head again and listened to Oliver as he continued.
“I have spent my entire life in the company of women. My sister used to drag me just about everywhere with her, and I was a total momma’s boy. Then you factor in Julz and Hayden,” he said with a smirk. “Plus, my first field partner was female, and she was rather high maintenance. I’ve done my time. I’ve learned.” He winked at me.

I felt like bowing to him. The only woman I’d really ever spent time with was my mom. I mean, I’d hung out with girls from time to time, but not like Oliver had. Not until recently.

He returned his attention to the TV while I focused on Kiera’s notebook. I read every “suggestion.” I picked eight that I found to be the least ridiculous. I didn’t care about centerpieces or decorations, I just knew that if I got stuck helping make, assemble, or hang any of these things, I needed them to be as simple as possible.

So, I chose the centerpieces. That seemed super easy. I also chose seven other ideas that required little to no imagination. It may have been an asshole thing to do, but was anyone but Kiera really even going to care? I didn’t think so. Plus, knowing Kiera, even these smaller tasks were sure to come with step-by-step instructions.

Once I was finished, Oliver looked over my choices. He asked a couple of questions, just in case Felix wasn’t able to get us back to normal before Kiera wanted to talk about my picks.

“Oliver,” I said to the person wearing my body and sitting just a few feet from me. He turned his head to look at me. “I’m hungry.”

A creepy smile spread across his lips. I found myself getting a little unnerved by it, and the emotion of excitement he was suddenly exuding. I think he figured I’d be grossed out. And yes, the idea of drinking blood did freak me out, but it was only in my head, which happened to be the head attached to the body that required such nourishment.

And I’d had Brookehaven Ale on several occasions. It was blood based, so it wasn’t like I was a blood virgin or anything.

I watched my body eagerly hop up from the chair and head back into his and Laney’s room. My body returned a couple minutes later with one of Oliver’s stainless steel water bottles.

I gulped back a lump that had formed in my throat.

The Paranormal Lifestyle

Amber called earlier in the day while I was moping around the apartment alone. I figured she wanted me to come to the school a take my midterm, but she surprised me by inviting me over to talk about my future in the paranormal field.

When I arrived at Amber’s, she was very happy to see me and to share her paranormal knowledge. She had a couple of her field journals set out on her coffee table for me to view. She also set out some books on different paranormal subjects.

“These are more of my recent documents,” she said as she handed me one of the journals.

Hoping Amber’s journals weren’t cursed, I halfheartedly flipped through the one
she’d handed me, being gentle with the worn and aged pages.
Recent?
To me or to her? Because by the look of the pages, I would say they were far from recent.

I skimmed a few of the
entries. Amber had beautiful penmanship, but the words were not registering in my mind.

I
couldn’t focus, and I think Amber knew.

I so badly wanted to tell her what was going on, but I didn’t. I
didn’t believe she was a danger to us, but Felix had told us to tell no one…

“Are you okay, Delaney?” she asked.

“Oh, um, yeah.” I glanced over at her and forced a smiled before returning my eyes to the journal.

“Is it hard being separated from him?” she questioned very softly.

“What?” I responded, my eyes lifting to meet hers.

I
was amazed to discover that her eyes were the exact same blue-green as her brother’s. She was sitting next to me on her small, fancy sofa. Her beautiful dress was perfect, and she sat at an angle, all lady-like, with her knees together and her ankles crossed. Her porcelain skin and strawberry-blond hair were completely flawless, as usual…

I dressed, looked, and sat like a damn slob. I always felt frumpy next to Amber. And Zoey.

“From Oliver, now that the two of you have bonded, I can smell him on you,” she said, a very faint smile in place. “Is it hard to be away from him, even when he is not far?”

I nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the fact Amber had just outright stated, in not so many words, that Oliver and I had had sex. But, if I was going to talk to anyone about our bonding, or the gifts that
came along with being bonded, it was Amber. I trusted her, and I felt comfortable with her. Most of the time.

I closed the journal and set it on the spindly coffee table.

“It’s like this constant pull in my chest, like my heart wants me to find him.” And at that very moment, that pull seemed confused.

“I imagine it is even harder for him,” she said, softly, her long, strawberry-blond hair slipping over her shoulder as she leaned forward and poured us each another cup of tea.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I quietly replied. I wondered if the Oliver that was in Carter’s body had the same feelings for me as he did when he was in his own body, or if those feelings were different now. I also wondered if the Carter that was in Oliver’s body had feelings for me because that body was bonded to me.
This is such a nightmare.

“I hear that you recently spent some time with my brother. How was that?” Amber smiled, settling back on the couch with her cup of tea in one hand, the dainty saucer in the other.

I kind of laughed, like this huff of humor and exhaustion mixed together, as I thought of Levi’s visit. Memories of waking with him sleeping next to me in the hotel bed, memories of his ways with women, his confidence, his black umbrella, and how clingy he became when Nikki rejected him.

“It was definitely interesting,” I told her, returning her smile. I carefully picked up my cup and saucer, then I sat back.

“I can imagine,” she said, a quiet laughter to her tone. She sipped from her cup, then she said, “Have you met the girl?”

I nodded.

“Tell me about her,” Amber encouraged.

I did. I kept it nice. I
didn’t give any of my opinions, or my judgments over the fact Nikki was engaged and had a soon-to-be stepdaughter that called her mom. I focused on what she looked like, how she seemed to feel about Levi, and how polite she was, especially in contrast to her sister, Julz. Yet, I didn’t mention the fact she was Julz’s sister, although I was pretty sure Amber already knew.

“I know I should be accepting of her, and I am fully aware that my brother loves this woman and that he has bonded with her…”
She trailed off, a blank stare suddenly appearing on her flawless face.

“But?” I questioned
.

She blinked and focused on me. “But,” she said, a small, perfect smile forming, “our father’s wishes were for us to be bonded to other purebred vampires.”

“From my understanding, you can’t pick who you bond with, right?”

She nodded. “Yes. However…” She got that distant stare once again.

I waited for her to return from her thoughts on her own this time. It did not take her long.

“I actually do not have a problem with the girl, or the fact my brother has bonded with her. However, it does break my heart that she has rejected him.”

“I have seen the way she looks at him. Even Oliver doesn’t think she will be able to resist him much longer,” I said, hoping to reassure her. I was also hoping Oliver was right. I felt bad for Levi. And as for Nikki, that life she was living was some sort of nightmare in itself.

“Yes, my brother is persistent. Especially when he finds something that he wants.
” She cast me a knowing glance. “Nonetheless, that is not my point.” Her blue-green eyes settled on mine. “I have waited nearly my entire life for Felix. My uncle promised me to him many, many years ago. My mother and father were delighted that my hand had been given to that of another pureblood. It pleased them so to think Felix and I would continue the pure line. After they both fell, I made a promise to myself to see this union through…” Her eyes unfocused again. From over her raised, delicate tea cup, she stared past me.