“What made you come sit with us at the table that day?” I asked. “What made you come and seek us out in particular and then stay?”
Quan’s eyes gave nothing away as he stared straight ahead with his double blinks, seeing a slither of film cross his eyes.
“I saw lonely broads that could have easily been taken advantage of so I thought I would take it upon myself to make sure you all were…straight.”
“Hmmm,” I nodded with a frown. I began to brush my sandy brown hair, having gotten even lighter from being in the sun all day. “So do you pronounce it Collins with an S or simply Collin? I’ve never heard of a black man named Collin…”
Quan slowly turned his head to look at me with wide eyes as I grinned. The loop of emotions that crossed his face went from shock to relief then fear and back again. He didn’t know what to say.
“What do you know?” He questioned, eyes peering at me with suspicion. “Who told you?”
“You did, just now. It was merely an educated guess on my end.”
Quan dropped his head as his chest rose and fell to the point where he looked like he was hyperventilating. His nostrils flared as his hand tightened into a fist before relaxing.
“I…” He started, voice deep as he stared at the floor. “I am…no longer that so it doesn’t matter.”
“How did it happen?”
“Same as I said before…A woman my father was dealing with cursed me into this…”
“So you’re not even a nymph…not even partial?”
“I turned into the very last thing I attacked and killed…It’s…his body that’s now mine. The cat body is merely for her enjoyment since she was a witch I guess…”
“She must have been very powerful,” I said with a proud smile, liking this woman already. “What did you do to deserve this type of karmic spell?”
Quan didn’t say anything at first. Just closed his eyes with a hard sigh.
“I used to kill, slain, drain, and drink from sirens and nymphs all the time. It was the only blood I ever desired…” I could see a hint of his former self appear as a small devious smile crossed his lips, but they didn’t reach or match the sadness in his eyes.“That was so long ago…I don’t even associate with being a vampire anymore…I don’t think about blood and the thought of it makes me sick…”
“Yet here you are…you don’t age nor grow.”
“Nope,” he muttered. “I am stuck like this for eternity, and I’ve made peace with it some years, other years I have not. My father was…worse…The witch had a daughter that he killed, and she vowed…however long it would take, she would have her revenge. My brother died. My father eventually died and I…came close to killing her but was eventually... He had a pet cat before he died, and I suspect that is the cat she used to turn me into as a fucking joke. The spell locked my fate in two times over so if I did attempt to shift, the only thing I could ever shift into is the last mythic I killed.”
I stopped brushing my hair long ago as I stared at Quan, waiting for him to say it. Waiting for him to say what I already knew was about to come next, and why he had such a hatred for Isis. It was all beginning to make sense.
“You...shifted for the first time in a while when you slept with Isis,” I said. “The witch put a love spell on you…”
“I shifted when she mentioned a love spell of her own,” he let out with his head sinking lower. Oh this woman was absolutely brilliant; I wondered if she was a part of the Southern Five with that type of power and magic?
“That can only be broken when you fall in love with…a nymph…but it can never happen because of what you actually are…”
“Do you want a fucking cookie for figuring out the obvious, detective?” He snapped angrily.
“You’re in love with Isis but won’t let yourself be in love with her because of what you truly are…ohhhh she’s good. That woman is really good…”
He turned to glare at me while I fell back into the sheets in a fit of giggles and laughs.
“Quan Mittens!” I cooed before leaning in close. “So are you in love with Isis?”
“No!” He declared. “She’s a bird and can’t keep her legs closed.”
“No of course not…That would mean you telling her you’ve been attacking and killing her kind for centuries, however old you are anyway…and once you admit it, the spell would be lifted, and she would see who you really are, and you would therefore lose her. Ahhh…it’s absolutely perfect…”
Quan only glared at me again as I laid back on the bed, infatuated by it all like a lovesick maniac.
“I haven’t been First Family in a long time and the idea of killing doesn’t sit right with me. I’ve settled with the idea of being what I am as you see me today.”
