“I know how to break my curse. I just don’t want to. Thanks, but I don’t need a fucking hero.”
My mouth fell open, and she took a step forward. I put my hand out to stop her, but suddenly it opened, and Arsenio came in.
“You shouldn’t be standing.” He moved quickly, scooping her up and turning out of the room. I didn’t have a moment to protest.
I followed them out and felt pure devastation as he carried her as I had just half an hour ago. She was snuggled into him, and her eyes were closed. He nodded to Aleida and Una before kicking the glass door open and taking her to his car. In less than a minute, they were gone.
Pissed off, for too many reasons, I turned around and went back to the offices. I slammed every door I went through. Making sure to lock my office, I didn’t know what to focus on first. The bite, or the curse.
She had lied to me. When she came into my office to try to figure out my curse, she had said hers was a mystery. But it wasn’t. She was closer than I was. But to what? What could she have possibly given up in exchange for?
Scout was purposely secretive. As was I. I couldn’t really be angry at someone for that.
Eventually, I gave up on solving her curse and turned my brain onto the bite. I knew better than to do that. I had only heard about it. Arsenio used to swear by it when we were younger. Humans loved it, he told me.Just don’t take too much, and make sure it’s nowhere people could see.
That was before the vampire community was outed. Before, being a familiar was a bragging right. Those damn red ribbons.
I had the urge to piss and left my office to do so. On the way back to my solitude, I stopped short at Scout’s office. It was open, and the light was still on.
I stood there for a long moment, fighting with myself. Finally, I stepped in and glanced around. I found her black backpack on the floor beside her chair. I picked it up and looked around. Somehow it felt even worse to snoop in her own space. So I took the backpack and her laptop and brought them back to my office.
The computer was a dud. It required a password, and I knew I wasn’t going to figure it out. Knowing her, it was probably some Mexican slang. What was that word she called me the first day we met?Cabrón.
That did not work.
I focused on her backpack instead. It was heavy without the sketchpad and laptop.
I opened it and began taking things out. A reusable bottle of blood and art supplies. Lots of pencils, erasers, and brushes. I hadn’t realized she was a painter.
I had just reached in and pulled out a thick black diary-like book when a knock came on my door. I rolled my eyes.
“Yes?” I swore under my breath as Aleida turned the handle, and I saw that I had forgotten to lock the door after I came back. “I didn’t say you could come in.” I snapped. She ignored me, stepping forward.
“Have you heard from Scout or Arsenio? Is she okay?”
I snorted at her question. I knew she didn’t give a fuck about Scout’s wellness. It was an excuse to come back here and attempt flirtation.
“No. Is that all?” I asked sharply.
“No.” She sauntered forward, swaying her hips as she walked. I couldn’t help but notice. While I wasn’t interested, I also wasn’t blind. “Ludovica told us about your curse. Yourpursuit of happiness.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I think I do.” She stepped up to my desk and looked down at it. She dropped her hands to the surface and bent over. Her cleavage was in full view. I refused to give it any attention. I made sure to keep eye contact with her through my sunglasses. “You see, I think I’m the one you’ve been waiting for.”
I blinked and laughed.
“Is that so? Tell me why you think that?”
I leaned back, putting Scout’s bag aside. I tilted and put my boots on my desk. I began to rock slowly as my hands rested in my lap.
She hopped up onto my desk. Flashes of Scout doing the same thing popped into my brain.
“Your eyes, for one. That was the final clue. You’re cursed. Ludovica told me that the one with the mismatched eyes had given up his soul to save that of his soulmates. She didn’t give names. She just told us to find the one with the eyes.”
I snorted, and she continued.
“You turned in Nineteen-ninety-four. I was in ninety-three. We’re from the same town. She told me.”
