Four Centuries (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (34 page)

Jack shook his head as he leaned in the doorway.

"That little ho."

"I don't get it.
 
What's happening?"

"Is she banging someone?"

Victoria glared at him, surprised herself at how protective she felt regarding Zoey.

"What?"

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"She's either out to kill someone, or she's introducing her vagina to someone's penis.
 
Now, third time, Victoria.
 
Boyfriend?"

"No.
 
She had one, but they broke up at the end of the summer.
 
That's why she started going to clubs."

"A simple
no
would have worked.
 
I don't need her life story."

He signaled with his finger for Victoria to follow.
 
She frowned at the back of his head, curious as to what he knew.
 
Jack's brain didn't work like any other.
 
An insignificant detail to everyone else was a clue to him.
 
She had him beaten out on life experience, and most certainly compassion, but she would never match his ability to observe.

Leading her straight to the kitchen, he walked to the stove and pulled out a single piece of paper from a baking sheet.

"She's on her way to show this guy here some murder."

Everything finally clicked into place when she saw the portrait Zoey had been working on.
 
Victoria saw the pot with a mysterious liquid on the back burner, permeating some odd smell.
 
The baking sheet and portrait were still soaked in it.

Victoria and Jack didn't need to discuss their theories.
 
They both arrived at the same conclusion.
 
She summed it up with a single name.

"Kevin."

"Like I said.
 
Glinda always finds a way to fuck things up."

She sighed as she stared at the handsome man Zoey had captured on paper.

"I thought it was just a drawing."

Jack flipped it around to look.

"No.
 
Look at the detail, the strokes, the care she put into this.
 
This isn't random bum number two on Pratt Street, Victoria.
 
This is someone she's sexually slurping, or someone she wants to kill."

Victoria remembered Zoey's eyes when she expressed her desire to kill the vampire Steven, if she ever found him.

"This is my fault," she said.
 
"I didn't think anything about this.
 
I didn't pay attention."

"Eh, no big deal, really.
 
Stray's not worth paying attention to."

"Zoey's going to hurt someone, or maybe get hurt herself.
 
I'm responsible for her."

"She's responsible for herself.
 
Whatever reckless, idiotic thing she does is on her."

"She's out there.
 
Right now.
 
In the daylight somewhere.
 
I don't even know where she's going."

"Hopefully she found a shady tree.
 
Just ask Glinda, he knows.
 
Anyway, if you really want Stray back so much, just cancel the credit cards.
 
That'll bring her ass back real quick."

"I can't do that.
 
That could strand her somewhere.
 
If she needs gas, or a hotel, or even a toll, and can't get it, she'll die."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

Her face twisted in confusion and anger as she glared at the man she thought of as family.

"Are you…serious?"

"Am I ever not?"

She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms.

"I would have thought having Tiffany in your life, and a good night's sleep, would have mellowed you out somewhat."

Jack's anger matched her own, and his voice reached a dangerous tone.

"You leave Tiffany out of this," he said.
 
"Stray is eighteen, Victoria.
 
An eighteen-year-old vampire.
 
She's going to be that way.
 
Forever.
 
Is that any kind of life?
 
What is she going to accomplish?
 
Is she going to follow boy-bands for the rest of her life?
 
Wear the same dress for prom twenty years in a row?
 
She was dealt a bad hand, and that sucks.
 
But maybe she shouldn't be alive.
 
I know vampires have discussed before about the age line for immortality."

"Yes, and that line isn't eighteen!
 
She'll be able to go to college six times over.
 
Start her own business.
 
Fall in love.
 
Get married.
 
There are
no limits
as to what she'll be able to do."

"How, though?
 
Are
you
going to pay for six colleges?
 
Going to take care of her forever?
 
You are the best person I know, and even you had to do ruthless things to get where you are.
 
Do you want that for Stray?"

She shook her head.
 
"This isn't even a discussion.
 
Are you talking about killing Zoey?
 
Letting her die?
 
Ridiculous.
 
This conversation stops now.
 
But damn it, why now, Zoey?
 
Why did you have to do this now?
 
There are vampires dying."

She held her temples in frustration.
 
The answer suddenly came to her, and she looked up to meet Jack's gaze.

No words needed to be said between them.
 
His eyes took on a look of fear and frustration.

"No, Victoria," he said.
 
"No fucking way."

"Jack—"

"No!"

"You said you'd help me however I needed."

"About the vampire shit.
 
Not with missing strays."

"I can't let this go.
 
I have to find out what killed those vampires.
 
But I need Zoey here, too.
 
You can find her, easily, and bring her back."

"I could, but there's a problem."

"What's that?"

"I don't care.
 
I don't care about Stray.
 
I know that's hard to believe, but in the twenty minutes we talked, we just didn't form a bond.
 
And believe me, I tried.
 
I'm trying now.
 
Do you see this face?
 
Do you see the strain?
 
That's me trying to care.
 
But it's not working.
 
It probably looks more like I'm trying to take a shit."

"Listen to me—"

"Did you miss the part about me missing my daughter?
 
I owe the babysitter and my pilot a small fortune right now, because I hung out all night partying in strip clubs with you.
 
Sometimes strays run away, and you don't get them back."

Her face softened a touch as she locked eyes with him.
 
She knew exactly what she was doing.
 
He held a palm up and backed up a step.

"Don't you dare," he said.
 
"Don't say it."

"
Please
, Jack."

He let out a scream as he held his ears.
 
"You redheaded, bloodsucking bitch!"

Holding in a laugh was terribly difficult.
 
It would have ruined her pitiful, sorrowful expression, the one she pulled out rarely to temporarily weaken Jack's armor.
 
The cute-face, as he called it before.
 
The two fought, sometimes with anger and bitterness.
 
They were nearly opposites in every way.

But they loved each other, and they would do anything for each other.
 
He was a part of her inner circle.

Jack forced his anger at Victoria's obvious manipulation aside, his eyes turning dark and serious.

"You
do
know what you're asking?"

She nodded.
 
"I do."

"Are you sure?
 
You know how I do things.
 
People might get hurt, and I don't want your whiny voice in my ear—"

"I know what I'm asking."
 
Victoria was completely aware she was opening a different version of Pandora's Box.
 
Instead of the evils of the world and hope inside, there was only Jack and death.
 
"Just bring her home."

"Home?
 
As in
your
home, or her home?
 
That's a weird choice of words—"

"Stop."

He smiled, having made his point.
 
"I'll do this.
 
For
you
, not for her."

Victoria rolled her eyes as she nodded.
 
Jack was always quite clear in the fact that he cared for very little people.

"I know.
 
I get it."

"And this isn't just a favor out of the goodness of my heart.
 
You're going to owe me on this one."

"Again, noted."

"Well, then," he said, undoing his tie and slinging it over his shoulder.
 
"I'm off, then.
 
I'm going to call Glinda and go home.
 
Then I'm going to wind my stopwatch for a few hours, and get some beautiful sleep.
 
Then it's Stray hunting."

She stepped forward for a hug.
 
Jack wasn't fond of people touching him, but Victoria was one of a handful that could get away with it.
 
She embraced him tightly, with him returning the gesture.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I need some sleep, too, before I pass out."

"Yes, you do.
 
Something tells me you're in for a long day."

*****

Zoey awoke with a start from another short, restless nap.
 
She'd lost track of how many times she'd fallen asleep.
 
She didn't have any idea of what time it was.
 
Her only guess was sometime mid-morning, due to the heavy traffic she could barely see through the trees on I-70.

The idea was simple enough, so simple it could only possibly work.
 
But now she had doubts.
 
The GPS in Victoria's Jeep told her Illinois was an eleven-hour drive away.
 
She nearly felt sick as she plucked several of Victoria's credit cards from her dresser, but she would pay her back somehow.
 
After dropping Olivia off at the hospital Zoey had filled the Jeep with gas.
 
She would drive until the sun came up, hide during the day, and then drive again.

So simple.

The
hiding
part was something she hadn't completely thought through, along with other elements of her plan.
 
She'd never been accused in school of thinking things through.

The thicket of trees on the side of I-70 was sufficient, but the sun still poked through here and there.
 
Zoey thought she could sleep behind the wheel, but a single ray of sunlight found her and burnt her arm.
 
She'd felt the sun more than enough after her transformation, notably during a home invasion back when she was in Florida.
 
Alex had saved her life again then as well.
 
The burning of her own flesh was a smell she never wanted to experience again.
 
Now she was stuck under the Jeep, sleeping away the day in the grass.

She had everything she thought she'd need.
 
Clothes, blood, a vehicle, gas.
 
More than anything, she had determination.
 
It was fate that brought Kevin into her life, if only for an hour.
 
She now had the means to find the vampire that attacked her and murdered Kylie.
 
Kylie had hired Alex to find who was responsible for her death.
 
They'd identified Steven, the vampire, but stopped short of pursuing.

Zoey would not stop short.
 
She owed Kylie that, and she owed herself.
 
There was also every other person Steven had certainly hurt.

She kept her mind focused on the task, even as she shifted in the grass to get more comfortable.
 
She was two hours into the drive.
 
For whatever magic Kevin graced her phone with, it still had only a flashing red light in the state of Illinois.
 
When the sun set she would drive as long and fast as she could.
 
If Kevin wasn't lying, or if he wasn't wrong, the phone would change.

Could Zoey drive nine hours or more nonstop?
 
She didn't know.
 
Victoria had taught her many things, but endurance was something that never came up.
 
Zoey used to get tired on family vacations, the long, boring drive to Disneyland, and she was only a passenger in the back seat.
 
Could she handle such a long trip?

She was going to find out.

If not, she could always find another hiding spot, or stay at a hotel.
 
The idea of a hotel left as quickly as it came.
 
Victoria had no doubt already discovered Zoey was missing, and canceled her credit cards.
 
Zoey thought she was clever enough to fill the Jeep with gas first, but it would be a short-lived victory.
 
She was on her own.
 
No cash, with only what was in the Jeep to get by.
 
Hopefully she brought enough blood.

If not, she would have to feed.

She pushed the thought aside.
 
Feeding was the last thing she wanted to think about.