Cursed Hearts (A Crossroads Novel) (23 page)

Rome led them through a dark corridor on the ground
floor, running
towards the exit on the east side of the building. He was
heading for the
parking
lot, and more importantly, his car. It hadn’t registered
to him yet that his keys were still three floors up, in his room, resting on
his nightstand. It
didn’t matter
. He wasn’t going back. He bolted through the parking lot
in a mass of black fur, jumping over the large bush in front of his car. He
shifted back in mid-air, rolling as he hit the grass. This was the first time
that he’d ever changed out of fear. Anger was usually the emotion he had to
keep in check.

“Oh
my
fucking
god!” Rome yelled.

That
hadn’t just happened. It hadn’t. It didn’t matter what he tried to tell himself
though, he knew what he’d seen. There was no way to rationalize it or sweep it
under the rug. That had really happened, and now he was standing in the cold
night air, alive, but completely naked.

“There
are some clothes in my trunk,” he whispered, clutching both hands over himself
and looking away. There was nothing more than a plant between him and Kaleb now,
and that instilled a fear all its own. It was followed by the paranoid worry that
someone could have seen him, or that they still might. Kaleb was suddenly
tossing him a pair of sweat pants, and Rome frowned down at the thin grey
fabric.

“Wait…
how did you get into my car?”

He
stumbled into his pants
and walked over to
find his passenger door
ripped open, lock broken and metal dented. He’d
been so far in his own mind he hadn’t even heard him do that.

“What
the hell?”

“Did
you want me to break the window instead?” Kaleb said brusquely. “Can we just
hurry up and get in?”

Rome
nodded.

“Shit, your back,” he said. “It’s covered in glass.” He
could
smell that Kaleb
was bleeding. The sharp pieces had penetrated through his clothing. “How hard
did you hit the floor? Never mind that, take your jacket off. We have to get
the glass out of your skin.” Kaleb tipped his chin up at him in a singular nod
and Rome realized he wasn’t the only one bleeding and covered in glass. “Fuck.
There’s a first aid kit in the back. Grab it, and get me a shirt.”

The sprinklers sputtered to life and the two of them
nearly jumped out
of
their skin. They spared each other a look, and then Kaleb was wiggling out of
his jacket and shaking it out in the grass.

“Stop,”
Rome demanded. “It’s going to be hard enough trying to get the glass out, I
don’t need you digging it in deeper.”

“Whatever,
it doesn’t even hurt.” Rome gave him a stern look and then told him to take his
shirt off, carefully. Kaleb smirked. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble
just to get me shirtless,” he quipped.

His
voice lacked its usual luster.

“Just
sit,” Rome said, crouching down between the cars. He
swallowed harshly around the enticing smell of Kaleb’s blood. It was
running down his back, making Rome’s muscles twitch and his mouth salivate. He
only managed to pull out a few pieces before his stomach growled. He had to
fight the urge to lick over Kaleb’s wounds. He just wasn’t sure if it was to
help heal him, or to quell his own hunger.
Probably both
, he thought.
But either way, it was a bad idea. He needed a distraction. Rome didn’t know
it, but the hot touch of his fingers on Kaleb’s back was Kaleb’s distraction.
It was the only thing keeping him from feeling like he was completely losing
it.

“I
fucking hate this place,” Kaleb breathed.

“You
and me both. I draw the line at murderous ghosts.”

“I
hope you realize this is your fault,” Kaleb accused.

“My
fault? How is any of this my fault?”

“Something
followed us from that cemetery.”

“Nothing
followed us. I’ve been going to that place for years. Plus,” Rome said, holding
his breath. “Okay, maybe it’s possible that it’s a little bit my fault, but it
didn’t follow me from the graveyard. It was him. It was that guy from the
museum.”

Kaleb
looked at him over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes.

“The
one who told you about the curse?”

“Yeah,”
he nodded. “He said everything comes at a price.”

“What
the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kaleb said, wincing as
Rome removed another piece of glass. He wasn’t
sure why he was letting
him do this. All he needed to do was feed and
the glass would push itself out. He could always heal on his own, too.

“That’s not all he said,” Rome whispered. “He was angry, I
could
feel it. He
told me you were supposed to be alone. He specifically used the words, cursed
to be left in the cold.” He shivered just thinking about it.

“If
I’m cursed because of you,” Kaleb said, turning to meet his eyes, “I’m going to
kill you.”

“If
you are cursed, it’s not because of me. I just don’t get it. Back in the
museum, that guy… he was solid, real. But tonight it seemed like he was
struggling to muster enough energy just to do what he did. And why would he be
standing over your bed? Why was he haunting you, if he followed me?” Concentrating
on this was helping distract Rome from the need to clamp his
jaw over Kaleb’s skin, but only barely. “He said
all the wands were cursed
, all six families. But that would mean Dallas
was cursed, and if you ask me, that guy does not look cursed. I’m just sayin’.”
Rome wiped up the blood staining Kaleb’s back with the shirt he’d given him and
started working at the glass in his own skin. It left a sickening feeling in
his stomach. He hadn’t done something like this in nearly a year. “You’re
eerily quiet,” he said. “You got anything to add to this conversation, or am I
just talking to myself?”

“I’m tired,” Kaleb remarked. “I hate feeling tired.” He
brushed a
hand
over his forehead. “It must be him. I’ve been
feeling him, before
tonight. Like there was someone following me around
– an unsettling presence, always watching or whispering just outside of my perception.
It’s exhausting me. I haven’t felt this tired since—” He exhaled forcefully.

“Go
lay down in the car,” he said. “And try not to get any blood on the upholstery,
alright?” It was really just a joke. His car was already a wreck. What harm would
a little vampire blood do? Not much. Not anything
noticeable, at least. Other than he might start drooling whenever he got
behind the wheel.

“No,”
Kaleb said.

His
voice was so soft Rome had to strain to hear him.

“I
don’t want to lie down. I don’t want to close my eyes, and I don’t want to go
to fucking sleep. I just want to run, or drive. I want to put as much distance
between me and here as possible, and I don’t want to look back.” He was barely
breathing as he spoke. It fit with how he felt – barely alive. “I’m never
closing my eyes again,” he whispered.

Rome
clenched his jaw, starting to feel that familiar dull, aching sensation in his
bones. “You can’t
not
sleep,” he said, straining to get the words out.
He cried out in pain a second later, curling over on his hands and knees as the
pavement bit into his skin.

Kaleb
touched Rome gently on the shoulder.

“What’s
going on?” he asked. “What’s happening?”

“It’s
normal. I just need to—I might…”

Kaleb
fumbled to catch Rome as his body went limp. He was alive, but he was out cold.
“…Nothing about any of this is normal,” he sighed.

Chapter 23

If
you’d ever slept in a Trans Am, you’d know it was the most uncomfortable,
cramped place on the face of the planet to try and get some rest. Rome was used
to it. He was used to the restrictiveness of the steering wheel in his lap, and
the lack of leg room. It was lie on your back, or nothing at all. There were
plenty of nights that Henry would lock Rome out of the house altogether. He had
a strict, be home by nine, policy, and he didn’t care if Rome was working until
ten or later. There were no exceptions.

“Don’t
watch me sleep,” he groaned. “It’s creepy.” He reached over and shoved his palm
into the side of Kaleb’s face, smiling all the while. He hadn’t even opened his
eyes yet. He could just feel him staring.

Kaleb
scoffed, turning back to glare at Rome. He couldn’t help but smirk. Normally
that would have been grounds for broken fingers, but watching him like that, it
was hard not to let that smirk grow into a full on smile. “How are you
feeling?” he asked.

“Pretty
good. Better than usual after a shift, actually,” he said, blinking his eyes
open. Kaleb had used his jacket to cover him like a make-shift blanket. It may
have smelt like blood, but at least it was warm.

“Did
you put me in here?”

“You
passed out,” Kaleb said simply.

Rome
smoothed a hand over his jaw, stretching as he yawned. He reached over and
patted Kaleb on the chest a moment later. “Thanks, you’re a good man… Good
man,” he repeated in another yawn.

Kaleb
shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Did
you get any sleep after all of that?”

“No,”
Kaleb whispered.

“Right,
I forgot. You’re never closing your eyes again,” he grinned. “Did you know that
the average person blinks about fifteen thousand times a day? I’m just sayin’,
good luck with that.”

“Smartass.”

“It’s better than being a dumbass. Seriously though, you
look
haggard again.
Do you need more blood? Like how much blood do you need in a day? Could you
drink an entire human being in one go?”

“Maybe
I shouldn’t have given you my blood...”

“What?”
They stared at each other for a moment before he thought to check his body.
There wasn’t a scratch or blemish on him. It was as if last night never happened.
“Shit, are we like, linked now or something? Why would you do that?”

“Did you really expect me to be able to sit in here with
you
bleeding
like
that?” he replied. “I assure you, it was purely selfish. And I didn’t give you
enough to bind us… I don’t think.”

“You
don’t think?” He was really considering kicking Kaleb’s ass right now, and he
might have if he didn’t feel like he was on uppers.

“I
feel kind of drugged. Is that normal?”

“I
don’t know. Not for a human or a witch, but for a creature who craves my flesh…
it might have an effect, I suppose.”

“Well,
don’t let me do anything I wouldn’t normally do,” Rome smiled. “Because you
smell
really
good.”

Kaleb
smirked. “How good?”

“I’m not that drugged,” he laughed. “What time is it? Did
we miss class?” He waved a hand in the air a second later, deciding he didn’t care.
He
was more interested
in asking Kaleb questions. “How are you not
frying
into a
crispy critter right now? And is your heart supposed to beat like
that? Oh, and why do you need real food? Can your body even digest it?”

Kaleb
sighed. This was beyond annoying.

“The
answer to all of those questions is exactly the same,” he said. Rome looked at
him with another hopeful expression. “…Half-vampire,” he elaborated, pointing roughly
to himself.

“Right.
I figured that, I was just checking.”

“Maybe
you should go back to sleep,” Kaleb mumbled.

“Mm,
no, not tired,” he said. He got another strong whiff of Kaleb’s blood and realized
it wasn’t just coming from his jacket. “Are you still hurt? Why didn’t you feed
off me? That would heal you too, right?”

Kaleb
shifted uncomfortably in the seat. He had thought about feeding off of Rome.
He’d been lying there, helplessly, smelling as
good as he
did. The thought had definitely crossed his mind. He
just didn’t want to abuse their friendship like that. It was something he was
actually coming to value. For the first time in a long time, Kaleb wasn’t
alone, and it was a good feeling. He wasn’t about to let something as selfish
as a craving ruin that. Because that’s what Rome was – something he lusted
after, hungered for, and wanted to devour. “I can heal on my own,” he mumbled. “It’ll
just take longer. Another little downside to being a half-breed.”

“Or,”
Rome drawled, “you can stop being stubborn and learn how to accept help from
people when you need it. Come on, I’m sure you’re starving,” he said, holding
out his wrist.

Kaleb rubbed his thumb across his lips, trying to resist
the
tantalizing
offer. He wasn’t sure he could
do it. Rome was literally asking him to taste him. It was too big of a
temptation to resist. He took Rome’s arm gently, cradling his hand in his
upturned palm. He was staring at the rich, blue veins, hypnotized by the feeling
of Rome’s pulse against his skin. His eyes flicked up to meet deep blue ones,
staring at him uncertainly.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Rome said, “
I kind of like it.” If he had any
idea how much of an effect his words would have on Kaleb, he might not have
said them. Kaleb pressed a soft kiss to his skin, brushing his lips hungrily
across his flesh. Rome’s heartbeat was in his throat. The quick sting of fangs
breaking skin jolted him, but the pain was quickly replaced by the spread of a
pleasurable heat. Whenever he bit him, a euphoric sensation always followed. Like
a form of sedation, a drug creeping into his veins. Kaleb drank slowly from his
wrist, sucking on him enticingly as a rogue hand traced over his body. Rome
would be lying if he said he hadn’t been expecting it. He’d be lying if he said
he didn’t like it.

“What
do I taste like?” he whispered.

“…Sex.”

A
knock on the driver’s side window startled them both.

“Dallas,”
Rome said, cranking down his window.

“Rome,”
Dallas replied with a smirk. “What’s going on here?”

“Breakfast,”
Kaleb said.

“Unless
somehow Kaleb is also your sister, go away.”

“Hey,
you should be nice to people who have more money than you,” Dallas said. It
wasn’t unwise advice. “How about some real breakfast?” he offered. “I was on my
way out.”

“You
know there’s food in the cafeteria, right?” Rome asked.

Dallas
looked at him blankly. “I don’t eat cafeteria food.”

No
further explanation was given.

“Are
you hungry, or not?”

“You
payin’?” Rome asked.

“Sure.”
It was the least he could do. The kid had saved Aria’s life.

The
car ride was taken in silence, and was actually a fairly short one, considering
that Dallas was the one driving. Rome and Kaleb had squished into the backseat
together, where Kaleb had attempted to continue feeding off of him. Dallas put
an end to that before it began. They pulled into a tiny strip mall that looked
more suited to being called an alleyway, and Rome frowned at the wooden sign
propped up just outside the diner door.

The
Silver Spoon was, apparently, a restaurant. Not one Rome had ever heard of, or
would have gone to, but Dallas seemed eager to eat whatever it was that they
served. They took a seat in the back and a waitress dropped some menus on their
table before shuffling off to pour a customer some more coffee. “Is this place
new?” he asked, squinting around in confusion.

“Nope,”
Dallas said with a smile, scanning over the menu.

Rome
was baffled that Dallas would even walk into a place like this, let alone turn
his nose up at four-star cuisine in exchange for some greasy diner food. “So, you
won’t eat in the cafeteria, but you’ll eat here?”

“I
don’t eat in cafeterias,” Dallas said, slapping the menu
down on the
table. He wasn’t sure how he
could make it any clearer.

“Okay,”
Rome muttered. “Clearly there’s a story there.”

“Not
one I’m telling you,” he smiled, flipping the menu closed. He frowned at Rome,
finally realizing how weird his attire was. He was decked out in sweat pants,
dirty white sneakers, and a dated leather jacket. He wasn’t even wearing a
shirt. “What the hell are you wearing?” he asked. He must have been really
hungry to have overlooked that outfit.

“To
explain that, I’d have to tell you what happened last night, and I’m not
entirely sure you’d believe me.” He glanced over at Kaleb, who hadn’t uttered a
word since they’d sat down.

“A
ghost kicked us out of our rooms,” Kaleb deadpanned.

Rome’s
eyebrows shot up into his hairline as he laughed at him.

“Yeah,
that pretty much sums it up.”

“Fascinating,”
Dallas replied. “So tell me, have you always been crazy, or is this a new
development?”

Rome
seemed to be contemplating his answer.

“Didn’t
you see the door in the middle of the hall?”

The
waitress walked back over then, setting a mug down in front of Dallas. A
mountain of whipped cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles towered
dangerously over the beverage. Dallas greeted the girl by name, and Rome had to
pinch himself to be sure he wasn’t in some parallel universe.

“The
usual, doll?” the waitress asked.

“You
know it,” Dallas said, sliding the menu across the table.

“And
what about you?”

Rome
flipped through the menu thoughtfully. If Dallas was paying, he wasn’t holding
back. “I’ll have… the steak and eggs, with a side of hash browns… biscuits and
gravy… waffles, and… some fried chicken.”

The
waitress blinked back at him slowly.

“Oh,
and a milkshake.”

“How
do you want that steak?”

“Rare.”

Kaleb
was trying not to laugh.

“What
kind of shake didja want?”

“Strawberry,
please.” He handed her his menu and she turned expectantly to Kaleb. “Did you
even look at the menu?” Rome asked.

Kaleb
shook his head. “I’ll just pick off of his ten plates.”

“The
hell you will. I do not share food.”

“Fine,”
Kaleb said tightly, turning to stare at the menu. “I’ll have a grilled cheese.
Actually, make that two. And clam chowder, if you have it.”

Dallas
frowned at the both of them. “Weirdo’s,” he coughed, watching the waitress
strut back into the kitchen.

“So
what’s with the grilled cheese and chowder?” Rome asked.

Kaleb
sipped his water without answering him.
“…It’s
the only thing my father knows how to cook
,” he said finally.

Rome
was trying not to laugh at the image of some badass vampire cooking a grilled
cheese sandwich for his son. Suddenly he was trying to imagine Kaleb as a
child. His mind was conjuring the image of a tiny version of him, complete with
waist-length hair and a mini leather jacket.

“Did
he wear an apron?”

Kaleb
ignored him with a practiced poise.

“So
Dallas, got any curses you’d like to tell us about?”

“Are
you on drugs?” he asked seriously.

“He
drank my blood. It’s making him loopy.”

“No,
seriously,” Rome said. “Are you cursed?”

“Cursed with good looks,” Dallas smiled.
“Cursed with an abundance of
loose women. Cursed to be loved and adored by all.”

Rome
stared back at him, face devoid of humor.

“Cursed
to yammer on and on,” Kaleb said, adding that to the list.

“I
don’t have to pay for your breakfast,” Dallas informed him.