Jack Kursed (12 page)

"Hey, that hurts. I’m not
hurting in the wallet either, and I live in a mansion."

Jack stopped and smiled as
he took notice of their vehicles. He was suddenly reminded of their
friendship, as silly as it sounded. Opposite in so many ways, yet
somehow working together, and even thriving. Her Porsche was parked
close to his old beat-up pickup truck.

"I see you finally broke
down and bought one of those automobiles. I figured you for a truck
guy."

"Yeah. Nice Porsche."

Jack noticed his neighbor
Larry outside watering his lawn, getting an eyeful of the gorgeous
vampire. Victoria moved to the back of her car and opened the
trunk. She searched through a bag and pulled out a short-sleeved
tee shirt.

"I’m still getting used to
the new attention I’m getting," she said, gesturing to Larry over
her shoulder.

Jack nodded and laughed.
"You’re driving."

They left his
neighborhood. She had the top down, and the morning breeze felt
great. Jack had a different sense of hot and cold than mortals. If
he was set on fire, or exposed to extreme cold, he’d feel it for
only a second. Then he’d go numb, and not feel anything. Still, he
could enjoy a nice breeze.

He guided her away from
the neighborhood deeper into town. Victoria frowned as the beach
setting faded into a more urban type. The scent of saltwater was
still in the air, but the tourists were all gone, and more shady
types hung out on the street corners.

"Where the hell are you taking
me?"

"To the best sandwich place ever. Just
relax."

They ended up parking
outside a corner convenience store. Victoria looked around as she
slid from behind the wheel. There was a McDonald’s across the
street, and next to it a shopping mall. A Royal Farms was not even
a block away. The corner convenience store didn’t fit.

"How the hell does this place stay
open?"

"Because I own it."

"You’re
kidding."

"Nope. I own a lot of
things."

"Jack, I know a little
about making money, too. There’s no way you make a profit off this
place."

He held his index finger
and thumb an inch apart. "Just a small one. Like I said, the best
sandwich you’ll ever eat. They wanted to buy this place out when
they put up the mall. I wouldn’t let them."

Jack led Victoria inside
the store. It was empty of customers, like he thought it would be.
The elderly Mister Soon stood behind the counter while his wife
swept the floor. They were Korean, and never did completely master
the English language. Mister Soon was easy to talk to, but his wife
spoke no English. Jack loved the way they looked at each other,
like they were still newlyweds. Soon and his wife always reminded
him there were still good people left in the world.

Soon's eyes lit up when he saw
Jack.

"Mister Jack? Is that you? How many
years?"

Jack smiled broadly. "Ten years, I
think? How have you been?"

Mrs. Soon laughed and
cheered as she dropped her broom and rushed to embrace Jack. He
winced and prepared himself. Victoria tried to hold in her laughter
as the older woman wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on
the cheek.

"You haven't aged," Mister Soon said.
"What is the secret?"

"Lots and lots of sex."

Mrs. Soon understood that
word, and her cheeks turned red. Mr. Soon laughed and gestured to
Victoria.

"With this lovely lady?"

"Her? No, no. I'd like you to meet
Victoria, one of my oldest friends."

Victoria shook hands with
the elderly couple, and even got a hug from Mrs. Soon.

"Are you living in Parkville now,
Mister Jack?"

"Soon, come on. It's just Jack. And
yeah, not too far from the beach. So I'll be in here a
lot."

"You want a sandwich?"

"Ah, finally, we're getting to the
good stuff."

Ten minutes later Jack and
Victoria were leaving the store. It took him that long to convince
Soon that even though he owned the store, Soon still had to take
his money. He had a ham and cheese sandwich and a bottled soda. She
couldn't get the smile off her face as they climbed back in her
car. The elderly couple stood in the doorway and waved
goodbye.

"What are you so happy about?" he
asked as they stopped at a red light.

"Jack, you
actually...
care
about that old couple, don't you?"

"People come and go. What
I care about is this sandwich. No one puts them together like Soon.
Now, go back six blocks and take a left. We're heading to Cromfield
Park."

Victoria simply smiled and followed
Jack's direction.

*****

It was the second time
Jack had been in the park that day. Victoria sat next to him, her
legs stretched out. They watched the people in the park as they
enjoyed the early afternoon. She leaned her head back and offered
herself to the sun. He was finishing up his sandwich and drinking
his soda.

"Part of what you said is
true," she said. "You were like a brother to me, and I wasn’t ready
to let you go. But I didn’t kill Annie because of that."

"I know. You’re a regular
Girl Scout."

Jack was quiet for a
moment. There were so many things to talk about, but his mind was
blank. He was glad Victoria was next to him. His life felt right
again. She was the closest thing to family he had.

"So, are you seeing
anyone?" he asked. "How's the old bloodsucking love-life treating
you these days? Hopefully better than that Daniel fellow back in
Idaho."

Victoria winced at one of the worst
relationships she ever had. Daniel had incredible stalker skills,
even for a human, in a time when spy technology didn't
exist.

"I took a few decades off,
but I am seeing someone. A vampire hunter, believe it or
not."

Jack laughed. "How does that work?
I'll bet doggy-style is out of the question. Gotta keep an eye on
him, in case he tries to stake you."

"Real funny, Jack. How about
you?"

"This is me we're talking
about. Nothing steady here. I'll hit up the occasional one-nighter,
but that's about it. One time, I got with this woman,
and-"

She held up a hand. "Enough.
One-nighter. Real classy."

"Never, ever at my place.
Always at theirs. That’s one of the better things about never
sleeping. One-nighters are easy. I just lay in bed until they fall
asleep, and then slip away like a ninja. The last lady I had my eye
on was back in Chicago. But that didn’t pan out."

"Would that have anything
to do with you killing three bank robbers?"

He waited for a couple jogging to move
out of earshot before speaking.

"What can I say? I'm
famous."

She nodded. "Imagine my surprise when
I saw your name and picture popping up on the Internet."

"I tried my best to avoid those
fifteen minutes, but the Internet is a damn monster these days.
Speaking of showing up on the Internet, you want to tell me what
you were doing running around Baltimore with a bunch of vampires at
Camden Yards?"

Victoria glanced at him.
"You saw that?"

"Oh yeah, the
whole
terror
thing. The government really stepped up on that
one."

She was quiet. There was
so much to tell him. The vampire virus that nearly overtook
Baltimore, the cover-up that followed, her new supernatural
friends. If it weren’t for Alex Teague, the half-demon, and the
ghost of her old cop friend, William, they might not be sitting in
the park having a conversation. Cell phone videos of the vampire
attack at Baltimore popped up all over You Tube for a while before
mysteriously disappearing, and Victoria was in a few of
them.

So much had happened in her life in
the past year and a half. It would be fun catching Jack
up.

"I’m not sure I want to
know," he said.

"Believe me, it was
definitely a...unique experience."

He laughed, and tossed his trash in
the bin next to him.

"You want to catch a
movie?" he asked. "I don’t exactly run with a lot of plans these
days."

"That’s a great idea," she
said, her lip curling into a smile. "Maybe there’s a Chaplin movie
playing."

"Yeah. I’ll try not to
beat up anyone in front of us this time."

CHAPTER 6

It was nearly eleven
o
’clock at night when Victoria parked in
front of Jack’s house. She shook her head as the pair headed toward
the front door.

"I can’t believe you," she
said.

"Hey, the guy wouldn’t
stop talking during the movie."

"So you dump popcorn on
him?"

"He shut up after that,
didn’t he? At least I didn’t knock him out."

"Yeah, I guess I should be
proud of you. I’m amazed you got through dinner without causing a
scene."

"Are you kidding me? I’m
not the one who sank my fangs into our waiter in full view of an
entire restaurant."

"And no one even noticed, did they?
Subtlety, Jack. You should get a dictionary."

"I did, once. I didn’t
like all the words, so I set it on fire."

She laughed as he unlocked the door
and held it open for her.

"Anyway, never do that
again," he said. "That guy’s erection was two feet away from me.
Not a cool feeling at all."

"I can’t help it how
aroused mortals get during a feeding. Anyway, that was your fault.
We go to a restaurant surrounded by people eating. Of course I’m
gonna get thirsty."

"Well, next time ask for a waitress.
If that was a woman, that might have been hot."

"You pervert."

Jack turned on the TV as
he stepped into the living room, for background noise. He was
accustomed to spending every single day alone. Victoria visiting
was a welcome change. It took a hundred years, but he was glad they
reconciled. He knew she wasn’t in Parkville just to see him, but
would enjoy her company as long as he could.

"How about this past century?"
Victoria said as she sat at the breakfast bar. "Landing on the
moon. Computers. Fashion getting more revealing."

Jack poured himself a glass of
water.

"I'm all over the revealing fashion
thing. I see you've taken to it quite nicely."

She batted her eyes playfully and
tilted her chin. "Why, thank you."

"To be honest, with all
this technology everywhere, I thought us monsters would be public
news by now."

"You sound like my friend, Alex. You'd
like him. Great guy, but always paranoid about being caught flying
around on camera."

"Flying?"

She laughed. "It's a long story. Let's
just say you're not the only unique supernatural thing out
there."

He smiled and gestured to
the back door. "I want to show you something."

They stepped out on the
back porch. He had turned the entire backyard into one huge
vegetable garden. Victoria laughed and admired his work. Nothing
was sprouting yet, but everything was neatly laid out in beds and
labeled. She'd nearly forgotten about his passion for cooking and
gardening. It didn't fit his personality.

"You're growing again," she
said.

"Yeah. I've been working
so long, but after Chicago I figured it's time to relax a bit. No
more custom suits and business meetings for a while. Try to enjoy
life as best a cursed human can."

Victoria took a deep breath and put a
hand on his shoulder. He didn't like being touched, but she was one
of the few who could get away with it.

"My life has been pretty
wild these past few years. There's something we need to
talk..."

She trailed off as a scent grabbed her
nose, followed by the sound of someone quietly coughing. Peering
into the neighbor's yard, she saw nothing.

"What?" Jack said. "What's
the matter?"

"I think you have someone in your
shed."

He stared at the shed before giving
Victoria an angry glance.

"You don't have people after you, do
you?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes as she put a hand
on her hip.

"Yeah. I've got werewolves
and vampires after me, and they're hiding in your shed."

Scowling, he walked up the
lane in between the garden beds and approached the shed. Victoria
was a step behind, sniffing the air. It took her a moment to
pinpoint some details, but they were so odd she didn't believe
it.

Her sense of smell was proven right
once again as Jack threw open the unlocked shed door and turned on
the light.

A young girl cowered in
the corner next to a lawnmower. A backpack sat on the ground next
to her. She huddled under a jacket, her bare legs sticking out. It
looked like she had fallen making her way into the small shed, as
one leg had a cut and a trail of blood ran down to her
sock.