“I don’t want her. I want you.” He told me, but I didn’t believe him. He had come from her house to tell me about her. We had met and been dating for almost a full year now, and it took him until now to confess that he’d been dating her for five. They were still engaged.
“Scout, look at me.”
I tensed my jaw and shook my head. “No. No. I can’t. Desiderio. You lied to me.” I ripped myself from his hands. Anger returned. “I’m an idiot. How did I not realize you were with someone? That you promised them forever? Not me- her.” My voice cracked, and I spun back around, letting a sob get through. I was so stupid.
“You don’t understand. It’s not as easy as you think!” He called out to me. I shook my head and started down the road. He had driven me here, but I was completely fine walking the distance back to my friend’s place. I was not getting back in the car with that monster.
“Thank you for the birthday present.” I kicked my leg up. The fresh tattoo of a chubby cherub devil sat under my boot right above the ankle. “It’ll be a good reminder for the rest of my life to stay the fuck away from men like you.”
“Yeah, and what’s men like me?”
I flipped him off without turning. “Fucking losers.”
I heard the tell-tale fast thump of running, and as I turned around, I was grabbed by the middle and hoisted over his shoulder. “Put me down, you psycho!” I screamed.
“Not until you listen to me!” He struggled to get out his words as I kicked my legs out and pounded on his back with my fists.
“No!” I said. He started taking me back to his car, and only when we were there did he set me down. I stood, and then all of a sudden, I felt pressure in my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I dropped to my knees as the tightening in my chest was too much.
“Scout? What’s going on? Scout, can you hear me?” Desiderio screamed, but I couldn’t do anything. I collapsed completely and let my eyes close as my heart stopped, killing me.
The alarm I had set on my phone went off, telling me it was time to climb back down and go back to my apartment.
That day crushed me. We had spent the perfect day together. He took me to breakfast, then we did a double feature at the local theater. It was cheaper in the daytime, so we only ever went while everyone else was at work.
That’s what he told me anyway. Things were less busy during the day, so it was cheaper, better to go while the sun was still out. He happened to leave out the second half about how he had to be home before nightfall because his vampire girlfriend would wake up and wonder where he was.
That night I had begged him to spend the night with me. Our birthdays were one day apart. Twenty-seven was going to be our year. He’d make it memorable, he swore. Well, he wasn’t wrong.
When I broke the curse, I was greeted once again by the demon who had made the deal with me.
“It took you twenty-eight years to deliver one thousand evil souls to me? Tsk, tsk.” He snickered. I stood in front of the same fireplace I had that night. The room in which I was transported was just the same. This was the third time being here. The first was when I turned into a vampire. The second was when I begged someone to help me save Desi.
“It’s not something I enjoyed,” I told the demon.
“I have what you gave me. It’s yours if you want it.” He shrugged as if he didn’t care either way.
I turned away from the fire to look at him. He appeared to me as a tall Hispanic man in a suit. His mustache was too thick and too long. I wanted to tell him, but I also wanted to keep my life.
“What did I give you?” I asked cautiously. He grinned, and it made my stomach sour.
“Oh yes. Of course, you don’t know. Your memory. You begged me to take it. Your memory and your heart. You didn’t need either, if I recall. You just wanted to make sure that boy was safe. That he’d survive, even if he never knew who you were.” He flung two fingers in the air, and then suddenly, it all returned to me. The diner, the shooting, the deal. All of it.
“Was it worth it?” he asked me. My mind shifted from the Desi I knew before I died and the one I knew now. Those were two different people, but—not. I understood now why I had found myself so attracted to him when I met him a few months ago. It was because I had known him, and I had loved him. But did he really love me? Or when his curse was broken, would the feelings for Aleida return?
The demon laughed. It was an evil cackle as he knew the answer. So did I.
Can we just go back to before?
Desi said that to me that day, and now I wish I could say that to him. What was the saying? The grass wasn’t always greener. Maybe we were better off not remembering.
Guilt turned my stomach. I couldn’t wish for that. After I had fully turned, I saw them together. They were in love. I hadn’t wanted to admit it back then, but I could see it now. He had told me they were engaged.
Asking him not to break his curse was shitty enough. He and Aleida deserved happiness, even if I didn’t get mine. Or maybe this whole thing was some larger message. Maybe I was an independent vampire woman who didn’t need a man. Maybe happiness was from me and not directly dependent on someone else. I needed to reevaluate my life.
When I got back to my complex, the sun was threatening to shine down on me. I hurried inside and had barely turned my head inside my apartment when I dropped my keys on the floor, and my mouth fell open.
It looked worse than it had after that beast of a man had come in here looking for revenge, and I killed him. Everything had been torn apart by a savage animal.
