I blanched but stood my ground. “Why does Scout think I won’t want to be with her?” I demanded.
“I told you. Take your memories and go. You asked me to save your soulmate in exchange for ten thousand evil souls. Payment accepted.”
“I’m so confused. Who is my soulmate?” I groaned, bringing my hands to my temples.
“You’ll figure it out shortly when you return to earth.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?” I asked. He snickered.
“I can. But what’s the fun in that? If you want to make another deal, find me.” He flicked his fingers, and I found a business card in my hand. I looked down at it. It was blank. He waved his hand, and I cried out in pain as suddenly my brain seemed to be crammed full of shit.
“Goodbye, for now,” he said, and when I blinked, I was back in the Matheson mansion, in my boxers, and on the floor.
“Scout?” I called and tried to stand. I flinched and looked down at my hands. The skin had reattached itself to the rest of my hand, but it was still healing. “Scout?” I called again, but I heard nothing.
I paused when I saw her handcuffs on the bed, and I realized then that the ones that had been around my ankles had been removed as well. I searched the room for her clothes, but I didn’t see anything. She had run.
Rage filled me. I stormed back to the room the human had taken me to. He was dead, which I already knew. I found my clothes and shoes and pulled them on. I stormed out of the house only to realize that I didn’t have my car keys. I didn’t remember seeing them. Scout must have taken them.
I stalked up the hill and toward the trees where I had parked us. My stomach unclenched when I saw that the car was still there. I hurried down the hill and stormed over to it, ripping the driver’s side door open. I was a little taken back to find Scout sitting there, sobbing. She looked up at me, and when our eyes locked on each other, I saw what she had been so afraid of me seeing.
The Hanged Man. Aleida, her naked body, entangled with my own nakedness. My shitty break up with Scout when I finally accepted that I would turn without her, and I’d be stuck marrying Aleida. But I loved Scout. Even then, it was Scout I wanted.
“Scout. I want to explain. All of it.” I said quickly. She closed her eyes, and fresh, large blood tears slid down her face.
“What’s there to explain? I’m not your soulmate. We were wrong. I’m sorry. I wished I could have told you. I wasn’t allowed to.”
“What do you mean?” I realized I was still standing outside, so I urged her to move over. “We need to get out of here before people come back. They are gonna be pissed I killed someone who hadn’t turned yet.” She moved, and quickly I got in and started the car. “Tell me everything you remember.” I put the car into drive and started away as fast as I could.
“You were engaged to Aleida. I was your mistress, and then when you got caught, you confessed. I remember that night on the bridge.”
“I was engaged to Aleida, but I didn’t love her,” I said, but even saying it aloud, I knew it was untrue. I did once. I faltered in my stance. “Not when I met you.”
“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit.” She spat. “I wanted all your flowery words to be true, but you were engaged, Desi. She was planning a wedding. With all of your family and friends and I hadn’t even met a single one of them. What had you planned on doing after you guys tied the knot? Just keep me a secret forever?”
“That’s why I told you!” I cut her rant off. I turned onto the highway and sped up to match the traffic flow. “I put it off as long as I could because I didn’t want to let you go, but I knew I had to. You want to know why I stayed with her so fucking long? You want the truth?” Suddenly, it was as if Scout and I had been thrown thirty years into the past. We were on that bridge again and this time having the conversation we should have had.
“Sure, Desi, tell me another excuse. You can lie to me all you want, but don’t lie to yourself.”
My foot pressed harder on the gas, taking us past all the other cars. “I was marrying her because she was a vampire, and you weren’t.”
Flashes of mine and Aleida’s relationship flew through my mind. My father had introduced us when we were in our early twenties. We’d been pushed to be together, as both of our families had high track records of producing vampire children.
At first, it was nice. She was beautiful and fun, kind of. She was good in bed, and in my youth, I didn’t mind the doting. But eventually, I realized that a good blow job wasn’t worth an eternity with someone I had little else in common with.
“I lost feelings for Aleida long before I met you. You were—” I gulped, remembering the night I told my dad about Scout. It didn’t go well. “I would have ruined your life if I had tried to keep you.”
“So you were going to fuck me until you turned and then forget about me? You were just sowing your wild oats. Cool. Good to clear that up.” She gave me a thumbs up and turned toward the window.
“Fuck off, you know that’s not true.” I scoffed. “When did I ever give you the feeling that I loved her more than I loved you? Other than when I told you about her?”
She swerved her head around and glared at me. “You didn’t have to say it. I could see it.”
“When? Scout, if you’re going to accuse me of something, then I’d sure like some fucking proof.” I spat and turned into the exit to take us to the nearest blood hotel.
“Because I died in your arms, and you left me there.” She choked out a sob. She covered her face in her hands. “I was turning, I had no idea what was going on, and afterward, when I woke back up as a vampire, I was alone. But you know what I saw the next night?”
I pulled into the hotel parking lot and parked the car. I closed my eyes, realizing exactly where she was going. I remembered seeing her then, right before the shooting. But despite me not wanting to hear the truth, she told me anyway.
