“What?” he asked, succeeding in making the single word sound as unfriendly as possible.
I frowned and looked down at the address I’d scrawled on a yellow sticky note. “I’m looking for a Steven Kendall.”
“For what?”
My jaw clenched, but I forced a smile. “A business matter. Is that your father? Can you get him for me? It’s kind of urgent.”
He studied me through narrowed eyes. “Are you the vampire?”
I glanced at George, then back at the kid. “Vampire?”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, are you or aren’t you?”
I swallowed. “I am. But I’m a nice one, I promise.”
“Depends on the day, really,” George said from next to me. I elbowed him in the ribs.
The kid opened the door wider. “Come in, but we’re going to have to make this quick. My mom’s at the grocery store and she’ll be back soon.”
“And your father?”
“Last time I checked, he was dead,” the kid said without any emotion. “And if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay that way.”
“Okay.” I blinked slowly. “So, that leads me to believe that you’re Steven.”
“I don’t go by that name. You need to call me The Darkness.”
“The Darkness,” I repeated.
“That’s right.”
“Maybe I’ll just wait in the car,” George said, but I hooked my arm in his and dragged him into the bungalow. I wasn’t facing “The Darkness” without him.
The wizard Claire had found was a teenager. An obviously hate-filled, Goth-boy Harry Potter.
I could deal. It would be fine. After all, it’s not as though I had much of a choice in the matter. This had to work. If it didn’t, my only option to break my curse was to hand the Red Devil over to Gideon and get the grimoire. But since I’d already agreed to hand him over to Veronique, his schedule was already very full.
“You have the money?” the kid asked.
I nodded.
“Then follow me.” He led us down a flight of creaky stairs to a basement with wood paneling and a deer head mounted on the wall. An orange vinyl couch lined the opposite wall and a chipped imitation wood coffee table sat blandly on top of a white, retro shag throw rug. There were piles of packing boxes everywhere, a sign of The Darkness’s upcoming move. Other than that, a hundred candles flickered—a fire hazard that I chose not to comment on—strategically placed leading toward a desk holding a computer tower and monitor.
“Money first,” The Darkness said, holding out his hand.
I clung onto George’s arm. “I’m going to be really up front with you. I was expecting somebody older. I don’t want to get scammed here.”
“You have a curse.” He sat down in front of the computer and tapped away on the keyboard for a moment. “I can eradicate it for you. Wipe it away completely.”
I glanced at George, who shifted his feet uncomfortably, then returned my attention to the teenager, who looked over his shoulder at us. “So it’s some kind of a reversal spell?”
“Not exactly.”
My stomach dropped. “Then what are we doing here?”
He rolled his eyes again. “Reversal spells are unstable magic and they’re not my thing. When dealing with another witch’s spells or curses, I have to go deeper with my own magic.”
“What exactly does that mean?” George asked.
The kid leaned back in the chair, swiveled around, and studied me, starting at my feet, up my jeans to my purple blouse. He stopped and blatantly stared at my breasts for about ten full seconds. I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Hello?” I prompted. “Earth to The Darkness.”
“I get half the money now,” he said. “Half when it’s done. But you’ll have to give the money to your friend so I can make sure I’ll get it.”
“What do you mean, ‘make sure you’ll get it’? If the spell works, then I’ll pay you. Believe me, you will have earned every penny as far as I’m concerned.”
He shook his head and forked his fingers through his greasy hair. “I already told you, this isn’t a spell, it’s an eradication. I have to use dark magic for this, that’s why it’s not cheap.”
“Why is an eradication different from a spell?” George asked.
The kid glanced at his computer screen again. Even the website he had his browser set to looked creepy—skulls, caskets, black background, purple text. A laser eye surgery waiting to happen.
“I’ve never done one on a vampire before. I’m pretty excited about it.” Excited or not, his expression didn’t change from sullen. “An eradication is taking a handful of black magic, shoving it into the subject’s very soul, and scooping out the curse.”
I shuddered. “Sounds like a macabre trip to Baskin-Robbins.”
“There will be side effects, of course.”
Claire hadn’t mentioned anything like that. “What kind of side effects?”
“Sit down.”
“I’m not so sure about—”
“You want this curse gone, or what?” He looked annoyed with all my questions now. “Like I said, my mother is going to be back any minute, and if she catches me doing another eradication then I’m going to be grounded.” He touched his rock band T-shirt. “And if I miss seeing Death Suck in concert this week I’m going to kill myself.”
I sat down on the vinyl couch and it squeaked in protest. Then I handed George the money, which he folded and slid into his pocket.
“If anything goes wrong,” he said. “I promise to spend this on a fabulous flower arrangement for your funeral.”
“Very funny.”
“Again… not really joking. But let’s hope for the best, shall we?”
The Darkness brought a black candle over to me and he waved it slowly in front of my face, so close for a moment that I felt my eyelashes singe. I jerked back from him. Then he dragged a chair over so he was facing me.
“I need to concentrate,” he announced.
“Are you going to tell me what the side effects are, or what?”
“I will,” he snapped. “God, be patient, would you? Old people are so annoying.”
I gritted my teeth. I would be patient with this little Emo-with-Attitude. I would. If I could get rid of my curse, I could be the most patient person in the universe. However, I felt the stress welling up inside me and ready to burst out of my chest. It took all my concentration to stay calm.
Could he do it? Could he “eradicate” my curse? A line of perspiration slipped down my spine like a waterslide at an unamusement park.
Relax, I commanded myself. Try to stay calm and think positive thoughts.
I strained my mind and focused on an image of Thierry in a tuxedo. And me in a big, white, expensive gown. Getting married in a big, fancy church. It was one of my favorite calming fantasies.
Ommm.
“Half the money.” He stretched out a hand to George, who counted off a thousand dollars and gave it to the kid.
“Okay.” The Darkness closed his eyes and then breathed out through his mouth. The scent of SpaghettiOs hit the air. “I need to concentrate. I need to allow the dark magic to fill me.”
For a long, disappointing moment, I doubted this kid was anything other than a teenage scam artist. It was worth a try, but I felt that nothing would come of this. It was too easy. I appreciated Claire for trying, but this was too good to be true. I was about to stand up, grab Veronique’s money back, and walk out of the house instead of wasting any more of my time.
Besides, what would Thierry say about this little situation I’d gotten myself into? It was best he never found out about this, either. Unless it worked. In which case I might throw a small party to celebrate.
The candle’s flame flickered and turned blue. I inhaled sharply as the temperature in the room cooled about twenty degrees in five seconds.
The Darkness nodded slowly. “I see the price beyond money that you must pay. Performing this eradication will remove half
a year of life.”
A chill went through me. “Which means what?”
“The results are specific to the subject; in this case, you. Six months will be gone and with it everything that happened during that time. Any injuries, any illness, all of it will leave your body forever. It will still be today, but you’ll be like you were then.”
I looked at George as my heart slammed inside my chest. My eyes were so wide I could feel them quickly drying out. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
His eyes were just as wide. “I don’t know.”
I reached forward and poked The Darkness in the chest. “A lot has happened to me over the last few months.”
He nodded without opening his eyes. “I can feel it. The curse is not the only thing that will be removed. There is also the fresh vampire virus inside you.”
Was this kid saying that when he eradicated the curse, I wouldn’t be a vampire anymore?
The light from the candle flickered against his face. “When I eradicate the curse, you won’t be a vampire anymore.”
Okay. I guess that’s exactly what he was saying.
Chapter 5
My cure. This was it.
Holy crap.
In the beginning, adjusting to vampire life was so traumatic for me that I’d latched on to the rumor that there was a cure. The journey had led me to a whole heap of trouble, but didn’t result in anything but disappointment when I learned there was no real cure for vampirism. Once you were infected, that’s just the way it was.
Forever fanged.
But this wasn’t a cure. It was an eradication. A completely clean slate, an erasing of everything that had happened to me. Along with getting rid of my curse, I would become human again.
No more worrying about getting staked by an overzealous hunter. No more pointy teeth. No more drinking blood to survive.
I’d get my reflection back. I could eat solid food. I’d have the chance to live a normal life and not need to fret about finding a vampires-only club to hang out at that served my favorite blood type.
“This is great, Sarah,” George said. “I know it’s what you’ve wanted all along.”
Of course it was.
This was seriously too good to be true. Which meant only one thing.
“What’s the catch?” I asked.
The Darkness’s eyes were still closed. “The catch?”
“I go through with this and it removes my curse and my inner vamp.”
“And six months of your life.”
Then it dawned on me. “My memories will be gone, won’t they? Everything that’s happened to me in the past six months.”
“That’s right.”
My heart sank down to my toes. It was one thing to come here looking for the solution for my nightwalker curse. The cure for vampirism was a gift with purchase. But losing my memories of everything that had happened to me as well?
Including everyone I’d met. Everything I’d experienced. Everything that had changed me, for better or worse, into the person I was today?
And aside from that fact, if Gideon found out that I’d played deal or no deal with Goth-boy to get rid of the part of me that he was counting on to cure his own problems—and I no longer even remembered who he was in the first place…
He probably wouldn’t take that news very well. Call it a hunch.
He wouldn’t be trying to give me jewelry then. He’d be following through with his threats—whether or not I remembered who he was or why he was doing it.
Rock and a hard place. My new sucktastic address.
“Listen… Darkness—”
“It’s The Darkness.”
“Whatever. Can we adjust this? Any way we can just lose the curse, and maybe come back later for the other stuff if I happen to have a change of heart?”
His eyes snapped open. I drew in a breath and grabbed George’s hand when I saw that his eyes, even the whites, were fully dark red. I guess he really was a wizard after all. Normal eyes didn’t do that. Obviously.
“You’re joking, right?” he snapped.
“Uh… no. I’m not.”
“Look, lady, this is a one-shot deal. You pay me, I do the eradication. You leave. Besides, this sort of black magic doesn’t usually work in a browse-now-pay-later way. It’s already assessed you. If you don’t do it now, you’re tainted.”
“Tainted?”
“Yeah. Which means if I try this again, there’s a good chance the demonic power I’m channeling might mess me up. Badly. We’re talking a lobotomy and a whole lot of drooling. Even if you weren’t tainted, my mom and me are moving to Germany and we’re not coming back. I’m just lucky she’s letting me stay to see the Death Suck concert. After that, it’s all over.”
“Maybe you should go for it, Sarah,” George said. “What’s the difference of a few memories for something this major?”
“Speak up soon.” The Darkness’s voice was even less friendly than it had been before. “Because the moment this candle goes out, the deal is off.”
George squeezed my hand. “You can get rid of your curse. Poof. Gone. That alone is worth it, don’t you think? Don’t you want to forget all this and be normal again?”
He didn’t know the reason I was stalling. He thought the idea of losing my memories was my only reason for hesitating.
Every possible scenario raced through my mind like a bat out of hell. My head ached. I really wished I could think of another solution, but there wasn’t one. Not today. Not tomorrow. Possibly, not ever again.
“I guess normal—” My voice sounded as strained as I felt “—doesn’t live here anymore.”
I blew out the candle.
The Darkness, otherwise known as the Germany-bound Death Suck fanboy Steven Kendall, pitched a hissy fit when I asked for the thousand-dollar retainer back. We left without it. George pulled his car away from the curb just as the wizard’s mother drove up to the house.
That wasn’t very much fun. To say the least.
I was disappointed. It was as if a piece of chocolate cake—cake that could solve all of my problems—had been dangled deliciously in front of my face a moment before I was reminded I was one of the vampires who couldn’t eat solid food.
Wiping away six months of my memories was a much heavier price than two thousand dollars. At least money could be paid back.
Forget about six months. It was the last three months that had contained some of the worst moments of my life. But they’d also had some of the best.
If I hadn’t become a vampire, I wouldn’t have met Thierry.
Or George.
Or Barry.
Well, at least there was one bright spot.
My cell phone vibrated, and I grabbed it out of my purse to look at the screen.
G CALLING.
The day was not looking up.
I considered letting it go to voicemail, but then with a glance at George, whose attention was firmly fixed on the Gardiner Expressway, I pressed the talk button.
“Yes?” I began.
“Did your appointment with the young wizard go well?” Gideon asked.
The hair on my arms raised. He seemed to know almost every move I made as if he had supernatural powers instead of spies. It was so unnerving. “It didn’t.”
“You’re still cursed?”
“Afraid so.”
“Who is it?” George asked, reaching over to lower the volume on the radio. “Is it Amy?”
“Nope,” I told him. “Definitely not Amy.”
“Amy’s having a facial right now after receiving a French manicure,” Gideon informed me. “At a quaint little spa slash hair salon called Studio V. She tips exactly 15 percent, in case you were wondering.”
A vampires-only business probably wouldn’t be thrilled to learn that somebody like Gideon had discovered it. Easily, too. Any sense of security from hunters I’d ever felt vanished. We thought our vampire clubs were remotely safe from harm?
“I can’t talk,” I said.
<
br /> “Wouldn’t want George to know about our little partnership.”
“I’d hardly call it that.” I swallowed as I thought about how I had left him last night in his hotel room. “So, are you feeling better today?”
“See, I knew you cared about me.”
I gritted my teeth. “Hardly. But you were in pretty bad shape.”
“I thought I was looking pretty good now, all things considered.” He was quiet for a moment. “But you’re right. I’m not well. If I can hold on for two more days everything will be better.”
“What do you want? Or did you just call to remind me about that? Can’t you leave me alone until I absolutely have to see you again?”
“If I leave you alone, you go running out of town to try to change things. Maybe if you could try behaving yourself for a few more days, then I might be inclined to give you more space.” Some of the charm had left his deep voice. This was my warning. My slap on the wrist. Did he know how close I’d come to screwing up his plans?
“I am behaving myself.”
“I know you saw Thierry this morning. I’m fairly certain we agreed that wouldn’t happen.”
I felt fingers of panic reach toward my heart and squeeze. “It was nothing, just a coincidence he was there. I didn’t mean to see him.”
“I believe you.” But there was something in his voice that made me think he didn’t believe me. I’d made him doubt me. “Please don’t let it happen again.”
“Well, since you said please.”
“I have to see you later. I need something from you.”
“What? Witty repartee? You dialed the wrong number.”
“Something else. Come to my hotel room at eight o’clock. I’ll be waiting.”
He hung up. I clutched the phone so tightly that my fingers were numb.
I cleared my throat. “Okay, Mom. Great to hear from you. Hope to come visit you and Dad again real soon. Bye now.”
I flipped the phone closed and looked at George, who stared back at me with confusion. “That was your mom? I only heard one side, but that seemed like a strange conversation.”