Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (58 page)

She met me between classes, and we had lunch together in the college cafeteria, which was definitely not even comparable to the mess hall at Brookehaven.

Kiera talked almost the entire time. I had no idea how Carter did it. I really didn’t. Every encounter with this little fae offspring elicited an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Oh, and she always had some sort of task she needed me, as Carter, to get to work on, or one she had scheduled for me (Carter, please let it be the actual Carter) to deal with in the future. All of which were wedding related.

Like I said, I don’t know how Carter dealt with her. She was a lot to handle, which was rather ironic considering how small she was.

Probably the worst part about dealing with Kiera though, was the fact I had to kiss her and pretend to enjoy it. Thankfully, we were never really anywhere private for long.

I figured if we ever ended up alone, I would feign being ill and run away. I was sure it would piss her off, but there was no way that I would let myself get put in that situation. None.

After my (Carter’s) final class of the day, Felix picked me up and took me by the apartment, where Carter, in my body, helped me put on the chicken costume.

“How have you not killed yourself yet?” I asked as he put the chicken feet on me over the ridiculous orange tights. Just an FYI, men should not wear tights. Ever
. In no way is it manly or gratifying.

“Oh, I’ve considered it, believe me. Especially now that I’m looking at myself in that dumb-ass costume.”

It was unnerving to watch those words being spoken from my actual mouth while standing there, staring at myself from within Carter’s body.

After he finished helping me get “suited up,” I said to Carter, “Do you have any pride left?” I headed for the door while trying not to trip over the stupid chicken feet. They weren’t even realistic looking chicken feet… Oh, hell! Listen to me. Who cares!

“Not really,” Carter replied as he dropped down onto the couch in my body. “Enjoy,” he said as I looked back at him.

“
Oh, I won’t,” I grumbled back.

His expression (you know, the one on my actual face) conveyed he was both pleased and distressed.

I thought about hitting him…

Felix was waiting for me downstairs. He opened the passen
ger door of his vehicle for me, grinning wide as he did so.

I responded, verbally. You really don’t want to know what I said. Believe me. However, Felix found it amusing. It
wasn’t. None of this was.

“Where is she?” I asked as we left the parking lot of the apartment complex. Laney wasn’t home. Her car
was gone when we arrived. I knew she didn’t have any classes since she’d dropped all but the two.

“She is at Ambrose’s place,” he said.

Her being at Amber’s was good. Amber and Laney got along really well, which was not a surprise, and I knew Laney needed a distraction. Being with Amber and studying with her would keep Laney’s mind occupied, at least while she was there.

For m
e, on the other hand, being Carter was no distraction. Especially right now. At the moment, being Carter was a living hell.

From within an awful smelling chicken head, I said, “Please tell me you’ve found something.”

Felix stayed silent, which meant he’d found nothing. This left me in a foul mood. No pun intended.

*****

Whoever thought dressing people in costumes and putting them on a corner with a sign was a good idea deserved to die. I mean, really? They must’ve hated the person that had first been assigned this job, because I could think up at least five different forms of torture that would be more pleasant than standing on the corner dressed as a goddamn chicken. And, at that moment, a good kneecapping seemed less torturous.

As night began to settle in, I waddled—because
that’s what it looked like when I walked in that horrid costume—back into the diner.

I changed in the public restroom. I cannot even express to you how repulsive the whole experience was.

Once dressed in worn jeans and a tee, I stuffed the chicken suit into Carter’s locker. Then, with my apron and hat in place, I went to work in the back of the diner, scrubbing dingy white plates and bent silverware.

Washing dishes was better than the whole chicken suit bullshit. However, I did end up spraying myself in the face with the faucet, and I discovered, while standing in a puddle that had accumulated on the floor in front of the sink, Carter’s trashed shoes were in such bad shape, the soles had split. My socks were soaked. With nasty dishwater, no less.

Carter’s life was awful… I mean, I had done some stomach-turning things in my life. On several occasions, I’d taken another man’s heart—ripped it right from his chest. It was no secret that I had, several times, broken the bones of another, and not on accident. Hell, I turned Julz into a vampire! That had been far from pleasant. But this—people’s disgusting leftover food… It was downright repulsive!

After a night of dishwashing hell, Felix picked me up and dropped me off at the apartments. We
didn’t speak on the way. It was probably because as soon as I got into his vehicle, I told him that if he didn’t have good news, then I didn’t want to hear a single word from him.

Trudging up the stairs to the apartment, that nasty chicken costume under my arm, I heaved the door to my apartment open.

Finding Carter sitting on the couch, in pretty much the same spot he’d been in when I’d left several hours earlier, I just about snapped.

“Your job sucks!”

“I know,” he responded. My own green eyes settled on me.

I tossed the chicken suit at my own body. “Here, you deal with this thing. I need a shower.”

I started making my way to my room for fresh clothes then remembered I was not me.
Yeah, I have no idea how I forgot either.
With a grumble, I headed for Carter’s room.

“Holy… This thing freakin’ stinks!” I heard my own voice shout.

“Tell me about it! I’ve been tolerating your stench for months,” I called back as I rummaged through Carter’s crap, trying to find any decent clothes.

Out of luck, I settle
d for the usual. The guy didn’t even own pajama bottoms, or sweats, or anything like that. He had worn jeans and some basketball shorts. Personally, I was not one for shorts, but it was my only option, other than boxers, and Carter’s body didn’t need to be strutting around the apartment in its underwear.

“Holy shit!” Carter said while
he was standing in the doorway of his room, getting his (my) nose closer to the disgusting costume, making a nasty face in response. “I really smell this bad?”

He moved past me and stuffed the chicken costume into
his closet. “Oh my god!” he said as he closed the closet and turned back to me. “My whole room stinks!”

I grinned. Now he knew how I felt.

“Damn! I smell so bad I can’t even stand to be near myself,” he said as he rushed out of the room.

Okay, besides the food I was happy to consume, Carter getting a taste of his own stench was
pretty gratifying.

It surprised me
Carter, with his amazing sense of smell, had never noticed the foul odor he exuded at times. This made me wonder about my own scent—my bonding scent. Had I not noticed it because my consciousness knew the scent? Or was Carter’s body so used to it, it didn’t register?

After considering going into my room and taking a big whiff, I decided against it and headed for the bathroom.

In the shower, I considered turning the hot water up all the way. Maybe it would burn the stink away, for good.

Laney was home when I emerged from the bathroom. I had to stop myself from pulling her into my arms and holding her. Instead, I joined her on the couch, sitting on the opposite end, while she stared at the TV screen.

“How was your visit with Ambrose?” I asked.

Her eyes shifted to meet mine for a moment. “It was fi
ne.” She offered no more, but I could see that she was holding back. Carter was there, sitting in the chair. He was engrossed by what he was watching—probably another stupid movie. I think his presence made Laney uncomfortable. She seemed to relax with me the previous night. Not completely, but enough that we could have a little break from our nightmare and enjoy each other for a moment.

Although I wanted to, I
didn’t ask her any more questions. She would share when she was comfortable. Or when we were back to ourselves.

After a long while, my vision started to blur on the TV screen. I was exhausted.

“Let’s go to bed,” I said. I yawned and stood, reaching my hand out to take hers.

“Uhhh…” She stared up at me, her dark brown eyes filling with a mixture of confusion and sadness.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” I said, realizing my mistake. I quickly pulled my hand back.

Dragging my feet, I headed to Carter’s room and crashed on his bed.

I was having a crazy dream about many little Kieras chasing after me with soggy French fries when I woke to the sound of Laney screaming.

Without even thinking, I rushed to our room and found my brother there. Every nerve in my body was on fire. I would never let him touch her again. I would never let him take her from me.

Then I saw what was in his hands. He was holding one of the few remaining photos I had from my childhood, of my life before we had turned.

“That’s mine,” I growled. I immediately realized my mistake.

So did he.

“Is it now?” he crooned, a wicked grin I was all too familiar with
appearing.

I
couldn’t protect Laney, not like I could in my own body, but I’d die trying.

It was close to midnight when Felix called. I was in the middle of watching an older Batman movie, the one with Michael Keaton, and I waited a couple of rings before I answered Oliver’s cell. This did not please Felix.

“We have a
new situation,” Felix’s voice boomed in my ear.

“Okay, why are you telling me?”

“It’s Ashton, he’s been attacked.”

“By what?” I questioned, sitting up straight in the chair in the living room.

This was the moment I realized there was a very small part of me that cared about Ashton’s wellbeing. I still cared if Ashton lived or died. This revelation surprised me.

“Appears to be a vampire attack. He was found in the park near his home.”

“Is he…” I swallowed hard. “Is he still alive?”

“Yes, it would appear as if this was more of a physical beating, not an attempt
on his life. However, he was bitten.”

“What can I do?”

“My belief is that it was your brother who attacked him.”

My first thought was of Harrison, and I almost said, “You’re kidding, right?” Then I realized others were with Felix. They thought he was actually talking to Oliver. “Oh,” I responded quietly.

“I will be by to pick you up in ten minutes.” He ended the call.

I didn’t know what I, as Oliver, could do about this new situation… Especially in front of other Brookehaven Vampires. What was I supposed to do? And how the hell could Felix think I could pull it off?

After putting on a pair of Oliver’s shoes and one of his black hoodies, I stood at the broken doorway of his and Laney’s bedroom. I watched her sleeping until Felix arrived. At least I think she was sleeping, restlessly. I picked up several emotions while I stood there, but it was hit or miss if I got them right.

As I waited, I thought about what Felix had said, about “my” brother being back in town. I was afraid Oscar would come back for Laney. But I was also nervous for myself. Was I about to find out what her boyfriend—who was passed out in my bed and in my body—did when he was called out in the wee hours of the night?

Felix sent me a text to let me know he was out front. I opened the door to find him standing on the other side. He wasn’t alone.

“Oliver, you remember Erik?” Felix said, giving me a look that made it clear I knew the guy standing beside him.

“Of course.” I nodded in acknowledgement to a vampire I’d never seen before in my life.

“He will stand watch over your mate and roommate while we are out on this run,” Felix explained.

Erik nodded to me and took his place as sentry next to my front door. ‘Cause that didn’t look odd. Some random dude just kickin’ it outside my place in the middle of the night. I was sure that wouldn’t draw any attention to our apartment at all. Yeah, right!

But Dude was happy to be given this task—this I got straight from the guy’s emotions. All kinds of excited happiness to guard my “mate” and my “roommate” oozed from him.

Once Felix and I were alone in his SUV, I voiced my opinion about someone standing guard outside my place, and how weird it would look to strangers.

He
confessed that he often had Brookehaven Vampires stationed just outside the apartment. This creeped me out. It also made me wonder if the figure Laney and I’d seen outside the window a few nights back had just been someone sent by Felix to watch over us. I didn’t ask though, because Felix was too busy explaining the situation and what was about to take place.