We tiptoed through the kitchen and made it to the dining room. Opera music was playing lightly from another room. It was just loud enough that we wouldn’t be heard walking, which helped my racing nerves.
I reached for the doors and pushed them open only an inch, peering inside. There was a blonde figure sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper. Bingo.
I watched him pick up his cell phone, and then the music became louder. It was then switched from opera to rap. I glanced back at Scout, whose eyes were wild and appeared confused. I closed my eyes for a long moment and took a few long, deep breaths.
I opened the door slowly, and we went through. Charles was still facing away from us, but he was still playing on his cell phone. I tightened my grip on my knife as I crept up on him, intent on slicing his throat and then getting the rest of his head once he was on the floor.
A blur moved past me quicker than I could register. My mouth fell open as my hand flew to my back pocket, only to find that my pocketknife was gone. I watched in horror as Scout stabbed him in the back instead. The man’s hands flew to his shoulders. Scout shoved something against his face, and then she shoved him to the ground.
Scout looked back at me with a giant smile, her chest heaving from the adrenaline.
“What the fuck was that?” I hissed as I stormed over, snatching the knife from her. She shoved me aside and went to the body on the floor.
“Give me that knife. I got to make the kill.” She put out her hand expectantly, eyeing the large kitchen knife in my other hand.
“I thought I told you not to fuck this up.” I snapped. When I didn’t give her the knife right away, she reached out and snatched it from me. I sighed, realizing I didn’t have a choice, as Charles would be waking up in a second, and he was going to be pissed. She didn’t get deep enough to take his head off.
She plopped down at his head and lifted him up. I bent down beside her to assist. But then I noticed that the wound wasn’t healing. That’s odd. I opened his eyelids, and fear went through my body as I stared at his dark brown eyes. This wasn’t Charles, the vampire that hurt Corrine. This was a human.
“Scout, stop. We need to get out of here. Now!” I said as quietly as I could. The rap music was loud, but I couldn’t risk it. Not now. This guy was about to regain consciousness, and he was going to scream.
“What? Why? Let me finish the job.”
“You did. Come on.” I shoved her hands away from the body and tugged on her. She started to stand, but then the guy groaned. Scout froze. She looked down, then back up at me. I took a deep breath before explaining. “He’s a human. Come on, before he sees us.”
“Too late, fuckers,” the human snarled. He leapt up, and he swung his fist at me. I jerked quickly and hit him with my fist on the top of his head, causing him to go back down.
“Great. Come on, we have to put him somewhere. Help me.” I snapped at Scout. Together we took him under the arms and brought him to the kitchen. I searched the kitchen, looking for things to constrain him. I ended up tying him with a dog leash to a chair.
“I didn’t know he had a human family!” Scout let out a small cry as she looked at the unconscious body. “I mean, the face. It’s uncanny!”
“Didn’t I ask you not to fuck this up?” I barked. I paced the kitchen, trying to figure out my next move. I wasn’t used to missteps.
“Can’t we just kill him?” She grimaced.
“No!” I threw my hand out. “No. His family is too affluent. We came for Charles. That’s it. Look, okay. The mark is somewhere upstairs. Let me go take care of it. You stay here. Keep this one sleeping. Not dead. Sleeping. Scout,” I stormed over to her and put my hands on her cheeks. “Can you handle this?”
She shook her head. Her eyes were shiny. “I just wanted to do the kill for you.”
So you didn’t break your curse.
I bit my lip. This was not the time. We were now under a time crunch.
“The curse doesn’t matter.” I threw my arm into the air, pointing toward the other room where the stairs were. “I’m going to go up, kill the fucker I was sent to kill, then I’m going to come back down, and I’m going to love you just as much as I did when I left. Do you understand me?”
Her lips trembled, and I repeated my question. She didn’t respond. I kissed her and then stormed out, intent on doing exactly what I had told her.
I took the stairs two at a time, and when I reached the floor, I started throwing doors open. Besides the music blaring from below, nothing else stirred. Had the ancient fuck finally left the house?
Scout’s scream rang out from down below, and fear shot through my spine. I sprinted down the stairs and burst through the kitchen. Blood was all over the floor. I looked around frantically and found her crouched near the door, holding her stomach. I ran to her and picked her up.
“What happened? Where is he?” I demanded. She gulped and pointed behind her.
“He woke up.”
I turned just in time for something to come crashing down on me, making everything go dark.
***
