The Vampire's Curse (20 page)

She shook herself. Jesus that was something. He wasn’t a vamp until the sun went down, but she couldn’t ignore the pull she felt when he looked at her like that.

She forced herself to remember the real matter at hand. "Do you still want to know about the matched thing?"

He leaned against the plain table in her plain kitchen; his arms crossed while his eyes held onto hers. There was no anger there, only curiosity. "Yes. Because knowing you can feel what I'm feeling would have been nice, I would have been able to keep some control over myself."

"You can feel my emotions, I can’t feel yours." Not entirely, anyway.

He approached her, slow and purposefully. She didn't allow herself to get up and step back. "Apparently you know when I have certain … thoughts about you." He ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. Her eyes snapped back to his as her flesh prickled, warmed by his nearness and breath on her face. "I'd say you could feel a few things that I did."

She shivered and anger took over. She slapped his hand away, and he allowed it but didn't step back. He knew everything now. Not only that they were matched, but that every emotional stress he’d felt since meeting her
came
from her. She thought about how she cried last night after her argument with her mother and sister, and Jackie hid her face in her hands.

How could she not have seen it coming? Kyle obviously put it together and now knew about her messed up emotions involving her family. It was probably the only reason he didn’t blow up on her for hiding their match.

"Did Evey help you?”

"Does it matter? Right now we're talking about why you’d hide something like this from me."

She exploded on him. "Because it doesn't make a difference! Just because we're matched doesn't make us meant to be or anything!"

"I think it does."

He was so calm she wanted to punch him. He all but said he wanted her without any heart in his voice. "Maybe I kept this from you because I don’t want other people knowing about my family problems. What do you know about how things work here anyway? You aren't even a real vampire and you don’t have the right to go poking into my life." She was stabbing her finger into his chest by the time she finished.

He leaned forward until his nose was a hair's breadth away from hers, rage boiling just under his surface. "What do I know? I'll show you what I know." He grabbed her by the face and smashed his mouth against hers.

She let out a tiny shriek and jumped. He used this move to his advantage and pushed her down onto her couch where they crashed together. She gasped, and using this advantage, he slipped his tongue in her mouth, pushing inside until she pushed back. Her hands stopped trying to push him away at the shoulders, and instead, pulled him against her body, which was rapidly increasing in interest.

He settled between her thighs, the little towel around his waist wasn’t enough to disguise the firmness she felt there. Her body throbbed in want.

He must’ve sensed this, because the second she began doing that he pulled away, still holding her body trapped, he rasped. "Don't tell me I don't know anything about this.”

The hard pressure between her legs didn’t vanish at his words. "You're in lust." She felt strange saying it. No one had ever been in lust with her before, especially not so early in the morning when she didn't have on make-up.

He smirked, grinding himself against her, and they both gasped. "Figured that out, did you?"

She put all of her weight into shoving him away and slapping his shoulders until he grabbed her wrists and put a stop to her feeble attack. She blew the loose hairs out of her face. "Get off me."

"No."

"I'll scream. Mrs. Harlen will hear and she'll call Mike."

He looked down at her, measuring her words. "I don't believe you. You're just scared that someone might actually want to be with you."

"Mike wants to be with me." She snapped, not sure if the comment was below the belt or not considering their positions, but it was the truth.

Kyle trailed his lips along her jaw. "I meant someone you actually wanted to be with, too. I’m tired of holding back just because of some promise I made to myself in New York. You’re not a client and you’re nothing like your sister. You’re better. And I want you."

Her blood ran hot, in a way that was delicious to every area of her body. Her wrists went slack in his grip and her heart pounded. He didn't put his lips anywhere other than her face, but it still felt good.

Abruptly, he got off of her and all she could do was lay there and stare at his back as he moved towards the table and opened the coffee bag, taking out his bagel.

"What are you doing?" She couldn't stop the question blurting out or the rising feeling of being the stupidest girl on the planet.

"Eating," he said, sitting down and pushing her chair out for her. "If you want to talk about us then I'll listen."

She stayed where she was, twisting until she was on her stomach. "There is no us." It was the truth. There wasn’t. He admitted to wanting her but not once did he mention anything about caring for her.

He took a bite of his bagel and leaned back in his chair, the towel slipping farther down his waist at the movement. Jackie’s body hummed in every place she had, pulsed like a violent drum in the sensitive areas. If he was going to keep twisting her around in circles like this then she’d be better off if he left so she could take care of the throbbing herself.

Of course, he could do that for her too. But he didn’t love her. He just wanted sex. Just like all the others, and when he couldn’t get it from her he’d find it somewhere else.

He looked at her, and she became very aware of the fact that she hadn't even changed out of her pajamas, which were even more rumpled than normal because of his wandering, rough hands.

"There will be an us," he said, going back to his bagel.

This time her blood boiled with rage. She stomped to her chair and sat down. "Sure of yourself, huh? What if I don’t care about this match thing? What if I don’t care about that stupid vow you made in New York and don’t want to have sex with you just because I don’t frigging feel like having sex? You’re going to leave when this is all over anyway."

He shrugged and she wondered if he heard her. "As of today that doesn't matter anymore. As soon as Carter confirms that the store was the target and not the owner or the people inside, you'll hardly need me around, will you?"

She hated these circular conversations. "But you'll stick around anyway."

"That's precisely right, Gorgeous." He leaned comfortably back against the chair, his arms dangling behind him. “This place is growing on me. Maybe I’ll find work here. Set up my own agency.”

She pouted at him and shoved her hand into the brown bag, finding a blueberry muffin and another bagel. She took the muffin.

She thought she was safe but he wasn't finished prodding. "You need to stand up to your mother."

Jackie just about choked the second time that day. "What?"

"Your mother. There wasn't any favoritism in my family but if there was it'd probably hurt like Hell. Why don’t you say something?"

Jackie clenched her fists on the table. It was none of his business. None of his damn business. Match or not.

"You look like you're about to pop," he said, ripping a piece of buttered bagel off and tossing it into his mouth.

She hissed between clenched teeth. "I probably will."

Kyle actually had the nerve to laugh. "You make it out as if your problems are some kind of secret. Everyone in town knows them."

Raw magic pulsed out of her. The muffin in her hand exploded in a shower of blueberry filling and crumbs that rained down on their heads. Jackie stood so quickly her chair knocked over and stomped to her room before slamming the door.

***

"Idiot." Kyle shook his head at himself, wondering which had angered her the most, the nosy questions or when he laughed at her problems.

He stood and grabbed a paper towel to wipe up the mess on the table, walls and floor. He wasn't laughing at her, he laughed to try and lighten the mood. Wrong thing to do.

"Fucking idiot."

When her kitchen was clean he pulled out his bag, dressed in clothes that didn’t stink of morgue, and then went searching in her cupboards. He found a glass vase in one of them, filled it with water and let the roses he’d bought her fall inside before placing them under the light. He stood back and looked at their bright red and green color in contrast to the plain kitchen. He doubted she’d want them now.

He wished she had more bright things in her life, and he wished he hadn't screwed up so bad. Talking about feelings, no matter how hard he tried, was never his strong point.

He stepped up to her door, his fist raised to knock but at the sound of her sobbing, he pulled back.

Kyle opened his mouth, an,
are you alright?
stuck in his throat. He couldn't speak.

Let her cry it out, get those emotions out of her and then maybe she'll talk to him again and he wouldn't make an ass of himself.

The insides of Kyle's chest constricted, and he leaned against the wall and grabbed his chest. Shit, he was feeling what she was feeling again and it really fucking hurt.

Was this what she'd meant when she said that being someone's perfect match didn't matter? That soul mate or not, he could still hurt her?

Yes, he lusted after her. He had to admit it since there was no point in hiding it while his erection pressed happily against her leg, but he cared for her too, something he’d failed to mention. He cared enough to be her bodyguard despite how it wasn't his occupation anymore.

He’d told her the truth as far as being sick of holding back over a promise he made to himself in New York. A stupid thing he’d done after her sister cursed him. But he hadn’t known anything like this would happen. How could he have known he would come here and meet the woman who stirred his insides more than anyone ever had?

He’d also claimed she was no longer a client since she was likely not in any danger, but if he was honest with himself he knew otherwise. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t feel the need to be close and ensure her safety.

He grabbed his bag of things from the living room, sat at the table, and pulled out a pen and pad of paper to write on. If he was going to continue living in her apartment he’d make the most of it and work.

Someone out there hated vampires enough to want to kill anyone who got in the way of that belief, including the innocent people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a half vampire, Kyle was endangering Jackie just by sitting there, but he couldn't leave until he knew for sure that Mike's theory was correct, and the killer was caught.

The only person he'd met in this town who hated vampires enough to at least be rude to one was Jackie's librarian friend, Charity. The problem was that being rude and being a killer weren’t necessarily the same thing.

He wrote down her name, her motive, but stopped at opportunity. He also couldn't figure out why, if she was the killer, she would want to off a man who hated vampires as well. Unless he objected to the thought of killing his daughter to the point that their mission was jeopardized, but there was nothing written in stone that said that either.

Kyle sighed and continued to think. One suspect didn’t help anyone, especially Jackie. He needed to work to ensure she stayed safe while he waited for her to come out of her room so he could apologize.

He decided to call Carter and tell him about his theory.

***

She waited outside the hospital for a time, contemplating going back in or simply staying a little longer for her prey to come out. If only it wasn't so damn cold.

Going inside would get her seen with that thing, that
vampire
. That disgrace to God and everything good. Then the police, hypocrites that they are, would come looking for her, asking questions. They would watch her and try to save the thing, as though it were alive. A real human being.

It would ruin everything she struggled to build.

Vampires are already dead and keeping them around was only asking for trouble. They could go feral and attack anyone in the night and there would be nothing that the victims could do but run away as the bodies of their loved ones were torn apart, mangled, and eaten.

The last of her ferals, in fact, the only one that half breed hadn’t killed had wandered back to her. It was so mangled she had to put it down, then sneak away to dispose of the body. Waste of time that it was. Now she needed more.

They were a waste of manpower and blood. A hundred and fifty years ago it would have been legal to kill a vampire on sight. The killer would have been hailed as a hero, respected, and admired. Everyone would’ve known his name and been his friend.

Not today.

Today, anyone who killed a vampire was arrested, treated like a criminal and sent to prison with all the other lowlifes. It was time to set things right.

That bitch was just as responsible for the death of her ferals as the cursed man. More were needed and more she would get, starting with Evey Smith.