Four Centuries (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (24 page)

"Why did you leave the door open?"

"So the medics will have an easier time spotting him."

"Ohmygod.
 
Our fingerprints, our DNA, it's all over that van!"

Victoria laughed.
 
"You watch too much TV.
 
I wiped the phone because I could.
 
But stop worrying."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I.
 
There are countless fingerprints in that van.
 
And just in the past few days, there's been a lot of sex in there.
 
You would have smelled it, if you weren't so distracted.
 
And is your DNA on file from a previous arrest?"

"Uh, no."

"He'll barely remember what you look like, and the others are drunk.
 
They're unreliable.
 
Shawn has no wounds.
 
He wasn't attacked."

"He
was
attacked!" Zoey said, her voice breaking.
 
"By me!"

"That's not how they'll see it."

She tried to turn around again.

"Shawn, I'm so sorry—"

Victoria gently grabbed her neck and forced her to look forward.

"Stop looking back.
 
Just keep walking straight.
 
One foot in front of the other."

Neither of them said another word.
 
Victoria was gracious enough to help Zoey settle into the Porsche.
 
Zoey was too afraid to look her in the eye.
 
Victoria buckled Zoey's seatbelt and gave her hand a squeeze.
 
In another minute they were leaving the club.

The night started out with the promise of fun and education.
 
Zoey was surprised to discover she could still have a good time, still be social.
 
The essence of who she was wasn't robbed from her in that alley.
 
She liked to dance, smile at the guys, laugh, play pool, make jokes.

But the
nature
of what she was still loomed over her.

She was a vampire, and she was following her maker's path.

It had been nearly a week before Victoria said more than two words to Zoey.
 
She could hear the young vampire, moving about in the basement.
 
The television, hot tub, shower, washer and dryer, the refrigerator opening and closing.
 
But Zoey didn't leave, didn't even poke her head out to say hello.

Victoria wanted to talk to her, make sure everything was okay.
 
But the truth was she didn't know what to say.
 
There wasn't actually
anything
to say.
 
There were no words that would make Zoey feel better, magically pull her out of whatever rut she was in.
 
Whatever she was going through, at least for the time being, she had to go through it alone.
 
Zoey had to understand her own feelings before Victoria went poking at them.

But Victoria would wait.
 
She was a patient woman.
 
Whether Zoey realized it or not, Victoria was watching over her.

An interesting thought crossed her mind.
 
Perhaps Zoey's growing pains was a perfect reason to visit a place such as the Vermilion.
 
She didn't like the idea of Zoey possibly having sex with a stranger, but the mutual feeding aspect could work.
 
With a willing partner, and Victoria's supervision, Zoey would be fine.

Maybe a call to Frank was in the immediate future.

Soft music played over the speakers in her living room.
 
The television was on, but muted, a bad habit she picked up from some of her mortal friends.
 
There was no sense watching television without sound, but she did it anyway.
 
Her legs were curled up on the couch, a wineglass of blood in her hand.
 
She was in the middle of an email frenzy, mostly business.
 
Her laptop sat on a folding table in front of her.
 
She'd answer one, two more would come in.

Her ears perked up as a familiar sound reached through the music.
 
The basement door opened and closed, followed by tiny footsteps.
 
Zoey walked into the living room.
 
She wore sweatpants and a tee shirt with no socks or shoes.
 
Her hair was wet, having just gotten out of the shower.

No words were exchanged.
 
Victoria eyed her quickly, as inconspicuously as possible.
 
Zoey didn't glance in her direction.
 
She carried her sketchpad under her arm and sat in the chair across the room.
 
Victoria caught a glimpse of the portrait she was still working on.
 
She wasn't joking when she told Zoey her work was amazing.
 
When things settled down she would perhaps look into art school for Zoey.

Zoey tucked her legs under her like Victoria, drawing a smile from the elder vampire.
 
She worked on her portrait, but did more fiddling with her pencil than actual work.
 
Victoria continued to wait patiently, answering emails and moving money between different accounts.
 
She also investigated some land she was thinking of buying in Maine, assuming the werewolf population died down somewhat.

"I'm sorry I let you down."

Victoria glanced up from her laptop.
 
Her eyes met Zoey's briefly before the young teen looked back to her sketchpad.

"What?
 
Let me down?"

"Yeah.
 
I'm, uh, I'm sorry."

"Zoey, you didn't let me down.
 
Did I make you feel that way?"

"No, it wasn't you.
 
But it's the truth.
 
I'm not…doing good.
 
I keep screwing up."

Victoria closed her laptop and crossed the room.
 
She dropped to her knees and placed her hands on Zoey's.

"You're not
screwing up
.
 
You're young.
 
And I know none of this is easy."

"You make it look so easy."

"I'm over four centuries old.
 
I've had a lot of practice."

"Four
centuries
?"
 
Zoey cleared her thoughts of this new information, returning to the subject at hand.
 
"I'm going to
kill
someone.
 
And I don't want to.
 
You believe that, right?
 
I didn't mean for that happen to Shawn."

"If it makes you feel any better, he's okay.
 
They gave him some blood, and he's already back at work."

"You checked up on him?"

She nodded with a smile.
 
"I know people.
 
And I know you didn't mean it.
 
I'm not worried at all."

"How can you say that?
 
I'm
worried.
 
I'm terrified.
 
I can't go to sleep now without seeing Shawn's face."

"And that's why I'm not worried."

Zoey frowned.
 
"What do you mean?"

"Not all of us turn out good, Zoey.
 
Even the ones who were good mortals, don't always turn out to be good vampires.
 
They change, thinking vampires are better than mortals.
 
I've seen a vampire kill a mortal and say 'Well, there are billions more'.
 
But not you.
 
What happened to Shawn, that
affected
you.
 
I could see it in your eyes.
 
Not only were you a good mortal, but you're a good vampire, too.
 
And I know you'll get it.
 
You won't let what happened to Shawn happen again."

Doubt flickered across Zoey's eyes, but Victoria also saw a touch of confidence.
 
Of defiance.

"It won't."

"You didn't let me down," Victoria said again.
 
"And I'm very happy I brought you here.
 
It's been a lot of fun.
 
Challenging, too."
 
Zoey couldn't fully appreciate the challenge.
 
Victoria still had a few secrets to hold onto.
 
"But fun.
 
Even if you do dance better than me.
 
And you'll never repeat that."

Zoey laughed, and for the first time, Victoria realized how much she missed Zoey's laugh over the past week.

"Maybe in another four centuries."

"You can only hope to look this good," Victoria joked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
 
"Are we cool?"

"We were never
un
cool," Zoey said.
 
"I just needed to get my shit together."

"Well, gather your shit, and let's do something.
 
The night is still young.
 
Catch a movie?
 
Inner Harbor?
 
Annapolis?"

Zoey gestured to her clothes.
 
"I'm not exactly dressed for a night out."

"Hey, we can relax here and soak in the hot tub."

"Will you keep your clothes on this time?"

"No.
 
But I'll warn you so you can close your eyes."

Victoria had barely made it to her feet when the doorbell rang.
 
Zoey jumped at the sound, and Victoria turned her head and frowned.
 
She received company so rarely, especially company that knew the code to the gate.

"Expecting someone?" Zoey asked.
 
"Alex?"

"I wouldn't mind at all, but no.
 
He always lets me know before he stops over."

Victoria lifted her nose to the air and sniffed.
 
The scent didn't strike her at first.
 
The door wasn't exactly close.

Finally, it hit her, and she couldn't believe it.

"Holy shit," she said.
 
"You've got to be kidding me."

Zoey tilted her head to the side, not sure if Victoria was ecstatic or angry.
 
Victoria left the living room and approached the front door.
 
Zoey stayed back and leaned her head from behind the archway, watching down the hall into the foyer.

Victoria opened the door and rested a hand on her hip.

"Well, well.
 
Look what the cat dragged in."

"I hate cats.
 
Ever since Glinda, that silly son of a bitch, has been working in my town, he's been eating dinner at my house.
 
How the hell did this happen?
 
It seems like we have dinner every six hours, he's over there so damned much.
 
And guess who he brings?
 
That fleabag he calls a cat.
 
So don't talk to me about cats."

Victoria opened her mouth to offer a greeting, but decided against it.
 
The oldest member of her inner circle was on a roll.

"And now because of all that shit, guess who wants a cat?
 
I'll give you a hint.
 
She's nine-years-old, and shaped like a thorn that fits perfectly in my ass.
 
The little crumb-snatcher thinks just because she flashes a cute-face, she's going to get what she wants.
 
Where the hell did she learn how to do a cute-face?"

Victoria brought a hand to her chin.

"I was wondering why Tiffany was sending me so many cat videos."

"Did
you
have something to do with this?"

She raised her palms in self-defense.

"No, no!"
 
She smiled as she shook her head.
 
"Ah, Jack.
 
I've missed you."

Jack Kursed bowed his head in greeting.
 
He didn't smile.
 
It was more of a twitch of the lip, an almost-smile.
 
Warm welcomes and teeth-filled grins weren't a big part of Jack's personality.
 
Victoria moved aside to let him in.
 
He straightened his shirt and stepped into the foyer.

He was immaculately dressed, like always.
 
A white dress shirt and tie, although the tie was loosened.
 
Black slacks and shoes.
 
He'd be at home in a board meeting, but that would imply he was a people person.

Jack was a large man, over six foot tall with wide shoulders.
 
His eyes were dark, intense.
 
No doubt they were a product of being awake, until recently, for nearly two centuries.
 
His eyes only brightened on a few occasions, such as when he was in the company of the few people he cared about.
 
But that list was very small.

Another occasion was when he was causing chaos.

"Ah, Victoria.
 
I see your house is still the same size."

"And I see you still drive the same piece-of-shit truck."

"Sounds like jealousy."

Victoria laughed as they walked down the hall.

"So, what brings you to Baltimore?"

Jack turned past Zoey without giving her a second look, or even a first.
 
Zoey glanced at Victoria, confused.
 
Victoria stood near her by the archway as Jack got comfortable on the couch.

"Just a quick stop, really.
 
I'm on my way back from Montana.
 
Had to check in on my bar up there.
 
Check out this goofy shit.
 
My werewolf friend and I were going at it.
 
I'm talking some really impressive sex.
 
And all of a sudden, in the middle of it, she asks me if I want her to change into a wolf.
 
You believe that?"