Damned and Cursed (Book 2): Witch's Kurse (14 page)

Jack had been in similar situations many times before.
 
A gunman using a hostage to manipulate him, blocking him from an objective.
 
It never worked.
 
He simply didn't care about the hostage.

This situation was far different.
 
Erica
was
the objective.

He climbed out of his truck slowly, keeping his hands visible so the stranger would relax.
 
He shoved his feelings deep down.
 
The stranger still gripped Erica by the hair, arching her back, shoving the barrel of the gun into the back of her head.
 
She cried out as she tried to grab his hand, ease his grip.

"He's crazy!" Erica shouted.
 
"He was waiting for me in my house—"

"Shut up!"

The stranger shoved her to the ground violently.
 
Jack took a step forward, but stopped when the stranger pointed the gun at Erica.
 
Tears ran down her face as she stayed down on the concrete.

Jack's brow furrowed.
 
Whoever the stranger was, he was already a dead man.
 
It didn't matter if it was a case of mistaken identity, or if he was the son of the president.

Nothing
would save him.

Jack studied the man as best he could in the flickering light.
 
Definitely mortal.
 
Blond hair, probably in his early forties.
 
He hadn't shaved in a day or so, sporting a stubbly look.
 
He wore a pair of jeans with a flannel shirt.
 
Probably some kind of blue collar job, maybe a construction worker.
 
Jack could see the hate in his eyes.
 
He held the gun with confidence.
 
It was not the first time he wielded a weapon.

He looked down at Erica.
 
The first mortal he cared for since he'd been cursed.
 
Laying on the pavement, her life in danger.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Erica nodded, afraid to move.

"Wow, Jack," the stranger said.
 
"As old as you are, I'd have thought you'd have a nicer truck."

"Well, it gets me from point A to B.
 
Can't ask for much more than that, right?
 
So, you know me.
 
Who might you be?"

"Kurt Shaeffer.
 
I'm guessing you don't know that name, right?"

"Can't say I do.
 
I don't know what your problem is, but it's obviously with me.
 
Erica doesn't need to be here."

Jack took a step forward.
 
Kurt did the same and pointed the gun at Erica's head.
 
She clenched her eyes shut and recoiled.

"If you take one more step, I'll kill this woman.
 
I'll spread her brains all over the parking lot."

"That," Jack raised a finger.
 
"Is the very
last
thing you want to do."

"Oh, what are you gonna do?
 
You gonna kill me?
 
You gonna rip me to little pieces?"
 
He leaned forward to shout at Erica.
 
"I fucking told you!
 
Your boyfriend's not who you think he is."

Erica looked up, and through the tears, Jack saw confusion, along with doubt.

"Jack?
 
What's he talking about?"

"Oh my God, I can't believe you haven't told her anything."
 
Kurt looked up for a moment, exasperated.

"Look, Kurt—"

Jack stopped when Kurt lifted the gun, pointing it at him.
 
He froze in confusion.
 
Why would Kurt point the gun at
him
?

"Don't get cute over there.
 
We both know what's in this gun.
 
Silver bullets will kill her just as easily as it does you."

A werewolf.
 
Jack held in a laugh.
 
Kurt thought he was a werewolf.
 
Jack thought back to the first time he met Kevin Mishnar.
 
Why did everyone assume he was a werewolf?

"Silver bullets," Erica said.
 
"You really are crazy."

"I said shut up!"
 
He trained the gun back to Erica and focused on Jack.
 
"Lehrer Hospital, 1943.
 
Is this bringing back any memories?"

It actually did.
 
Jack remained quiet, stealing a glance at Erica.

"He killed everyone there," Kurt said.
 
"It was a hospital in Nazi territory.
 
Full of the sick and elderly.
 
He killed them all.
 
Patients, doctors, staff."

"A hospital, during World War II?" Erica said.
 
"Jack wasn't even alive then."

"Oh, and why is that?
 
Because he's human?
 
You couldn't be more wrong.
 
Jack's not human.
 
He's a fucking monster.
 
He was there, with the injured.
 
My grandfather was there.
 
He worked as a janitor.
 
He didn't want to be there.
 
He hated the Nazis.
 
But Jack didn't care.
 
You killed my grandfather."

Jack said nothing.
 

"I'll bet you just want to change and tear into me with your fangs and claws.
 
But I've seen your kind.
 
I know you can't change fast.
 
Your girlfriend here would be dead before you even sprouted fur.
 
I'm going to watch you squirm.
 
I want you to suffer, like all those people suffered in that hospital.
 
And the easiest way to make you suffer..."
 
He gestured to Erica.
 
"Is making
her
suffer."

Jack only saw one way out.
 
He couldn't rush Kurt.
 
Kurt posed him no threat at all, but Erica lay right at his feet.
 
She could get hurt, or worse.
 
The safest thing to do was make Kurt point the gun back at him, play with his emotions, give him a more enticing target.

The easiest way to do that was with the truth.

"Yeah.
 
I was there."
 
Erica looked up at him, stunned.
 
"But I think some of your facts got mixed up along the way.
 
You see, Lehrer Hospital, wasn't really a hospital."

Kurt blinked.
 
"What are you talking about?"

"It was a secret testing facility for Nazi scientists.
 
They used the whole hospital thing as a cover.
 
Hitler was into some weird shit.
 
You know what he was trying to do there?
 
Cross-breed vampires and werewolves."

"You're lying."

"Nope.
 
All true."
 
He locked eyes with Erica, and knew things would never be the same between them.
 
But he had to save her life.
 
"I saw them there.
 
Kept the werewolves in silver cages, kept the vampires in line with these cool-looking fire gizmos.
 
Then they got their hands on me and thought they had a new toy to play with."

Kurt's hand shook.
 
Erica kept her eyes on Jack, still afraid.
 
Only now, her fear was directed at Jack.

"I lost track of how much time I was there.
 
They kept me strapped to a table in a dark room.
 
They poked at me with their little mortal tools, their scalpels and needles."
 
He left the part out about how they had no effect.
 
"But eventually, they made a mistake.
 
And they all paid for it."

Kurt aimed the gun at Jack.
 
He took a step forward, past Erica.
 
If she wasn't in shock, she could have run, easily making it back to her car.

"My grandfather was a janitor.
 
A janitor!
 
He wasn't a fucking Nazi scientist!"

Jack shrugged.
 
Just a little more of a push.

"Eh, maybe he was, maybe he wasn't.
 
I don't know.
 
You're right about one thing, though.
 
I killed them all.
 
So if your grandfather was there, I killed him."

Kurt shouted in rage as he squeezed the trigger.
 
The first shot caught Jack in the cheek, the second the throat.
 
He fell to the ground and collapsed face down.
 
He tried to keep conscious of his legs, the position he fell in.
 
He'd certainly seen enough dead bodies in his lifetime, but always had a hard time mimicking them.

Kurt wasn't done.
 
He fired three more times, striking Jack in the back and leg.
 
The bullets hit his flesh, and then did what they always did, fall harmlessly to the ground.
 
Jack worried for a moment Kurt might see them, but he was still a distance away, and the low light helped mask them.

"I told you he was a fucking werewolf!" Kurt shouted.
 
Jack watched through a barely open eye as Kurt hauled Erica to her feet once again by the hair.
 
"I told you!
 
See?
 
Look at that.
 
Only two creatures in this world don't age, and that's vampires and werewolves.
 
And vampires can't go out in the sun."

Jack held in a smirk.
 
He was sure Victoria would have a problem with that statement.

Kurt thrust Erica forward.
 
Jack held in a snarl.
 
He couldn't wait to kill him.

"See that?
 
You've been screwing a monster.
 
How does that make you feel?"

Erica barely held it together.
 
Her voice quaked.
 
"Go-go to Hell."

"You'll help me hide the body.
 
Then I'll figure out what to do with you."

"I'm not helping you do a goddamn thing."

"Oh, yes you are.
 
Or I'll kill you right now."
 
Erica jumped when he pointed the gun at her.
 
"Get his feet."

Jack laughed to himself as Kurt hovered over his torso.
 
Kurt kept the gun out as he slipped both hands under Jack's arms.
 
Erica, reluctantly, still crying, stayed near Jack's feet.
 
It was almost too easy.

Jack sprung to life, wrapping both hands around Kurt's wrist.
 
Erica shouted and jumped back when a shot rang out, striking the pavement.
 
Kurt fell on top of Jack, and tried to ram his head into the ground.
 
Jack didn't flinch, or release his hold on Kurt's wrist.
 
It was Jack's turn to ram something into the ground, as he slammed Kurt's hand, over and over.
 
Erica stood to the side, her hands at her temples.
 
Finally, Kurt's grip on the gun loosened, and Jack kicked it away.

Erica was no longer in danger.

Jack snarled and smiled at the same time.
 
He could do whatever he wanted.

He stood up, dragging Kurt to his feet in the process.
 
Kurt managed to sneak in a shot to Jack's ribs, but the blow did nothing.
 
Jack's rage took over as he beat Kurt.
 
And beat him.
 
Kurt eventually fell to his knees.
 
Jack grabbed his hair, like he'd done Erica, and slammed his head to the pavement.
 
He rubbed his face back and forth.

A shadow moving to the right caught his attention.
 
He turned to see Erica squatting.
 
She held one of the silver bullets Kurt had fired, its tip a mushroom.

She'd picked up the gun.

"Erica," Jack said.

She jumped at the sound of her name.
 
Her hands trembled as she dropped the bullet and held the gun with both hands.
 
Her gaze traveled along Jack, stopping at the small trails of blood staining his shirt.

"Let me have that gun."

Jack reached out, and was stunned when Erica backed up a step.
 
Her breathing hitched as she trained the gun on him.
 
Kurt moaned on the ground, and Erica jumped, moving the gun to him.
 
She alternated back and forth, unsure of where to aim.

She gasped when she noticed the bloody mess Jack turned Kurt into.
 
The look she gave Jack was the most pain he'd ever experienced.

"Give me that gun," Jack repeated, trying to smile.
 
"It won't work on me anyway."

She handed it over, tentatively.
 
Jack immediately turned and shot Kurt in the leg.
 
He shouted in agony as Erica let out a shriek.

"There," Jack said.
 
"Now I know you're not running anywhere."

"Jesus Christ, Jack!" Erica shouted.
 
"What the
fuck
is going on?"

"Go home.
 
I'll be over soon, and we'll talk about this."

"Go home?
 
Are you kidding?
 
We have to call the police."

"The police…yeah," Kurt said, grasping his leg.
 
"That's a brilliant idea."

Jack peered into Erica's lovely face.
 
Confusion, anger, fear.
 
They were all there.