Jack Kursed (29 page)

His iPhone rang on the
coffee table. He stared at it a moment in confusion. Very few
people called him.

"Hello?"

"Jack? It’s
Erica."

"Holy crap, it is."

"You gave me your number when I
started tutoring Tiffany." There was amusement in her
voice.

"I know. I just never
thought you’d use it."

Her amusement quickly
turned to apprehension. "I can stop calling, if you
want."

"No, no. Call anytime."

"Okay, good. I just wanted to thank
you for stopping by uninvited this morning. It was very
nice."

He couldn’t tell if she
was being sarcastic or serious. Maybe both.

"Sure, anytime. I had fun."

"And I’m officially
inviting you and Tiffany to stop by and visit anytime. We can watch
a movie, maybe do the tutoring over here. Just give me a call
first."

"That doesn’t go against
your teacher’s code of ethics or whatever?"

"We’re friends, Jack. Not
secret agents boinking in a tunnel under the White
House."

He loved her sense of
humor.

Friends. The word still sounded
strange in his head.

"I’d like that. Maybe this
weekend-"

Jack froze when Victoria
opened the front door without knocking. He read her expression
instantly, and thought her red hair would catch on fire.

"Hmm, I think it’s time to
go. My sister’s here, and I think I’m in trouble."

"What did you do?"

"A lot of things. We’ll
hook up later."

"No, we won’t
be
hooking up
.
We’ll
talk
later."

"Okay, whatever. But Erica, seriously,
you do own a pair of shorts, right? Maybe something you work out
in?"

"I’m hanging up now. I
feel better, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Damn," he whispered,
after she’d hung up.

Victoria still dressed for
the weather in shorts and a tank-top. He’d kill to get Erica in a
pair of shorts like Victoria wore. The vampire was so angry Jack
thought her fangs would pop out in front of Tiffany. He had a
feeling it wasn’t about her case.

"How’s the case
going?"

"Hi, Victoria," Tiffany
said. She left her books to give Victoria a hug. "We’re gonna eat
spaghetti and watch a cartoon. Are you gonna stay?"

"Listen, Tiff, I need a
minute alone with Jack. Would you go hang out in your room for a
bit?"

Jack marveled at
Victoria’s ease with small children. He read Tiffany’s lips as she
walked by.

You’re in
trouble.

"Indeed, I am."

"The case," Victoria said.
"The case isn’t going anywhere. But it looks like you’ve been real
busy."

"Whatever do you
mean?"

She turned off the DVD
player, snatched the remote from his hand, and flipped through the
channels until she settled on the local evening news. The
attractive news anchor told Jack what he already knew. She talked
about the two violent incidents in Parkville, one at a pool hall
and the other at a bar. Several men were dead, including a rumored
local crime boss. The only new information Jack learned was the
police suspected local gangs.

"That’s so sad," Jack
said, smiling. "I’ll bet it feels just like Baltimore
now."

"Cut the shit, Jack. What
happened?"

"I don’t know. Ask the
local gangs."

She ignored his redirection. "So,
what? These guys pissed you off, so you go drop Tiffany off at
school, kill them, and then go pick her back up?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Soon were
murdered," he said, his eyes narrowing. "The news doesn’t show you
that. They don’t show you a couple still in love after forty years
of marriage, dancing in each other’s arms an hour before being
murdered."

Victoria’s features
softened and she sat on the couch next to him, muting the TV. She
put a hand on his shoulder.

"I’m sorry," she
said.

"Yeah, me too. The
insurance stuff alone will be a nightmare, and I’ve gotta try to
find someone willing to run the store."

"Stop, Jack. I know you
cared about them."

"Of course I cared.
No one, and I mean
ever
, made a ham and cheese sandwich like Soon. And I’m old,
Victoria, I’ve seen a lot of ham and cheese
sandwiches."

She smiled, but said
nothing. She knew him better than anyone, and could read between
his words with precision.

"You should have called me, let me
handle it."

"I can take care of my own
killing."

"Yeah, and a pool hall and
bar gets destroyed. People that didn’t need to die get caught in
the way."

"I killed nothing but
scum. You were right. The things we do can have an effect in the
future, past what mortals see. And I probably saved a thousand
lives today, just like we did back in Monterrey."

She rolled her eyes.
"That’s how you’re gonna justify this? Twist my logic
around?"

"I don’t need to justify
myself to you or anyone else."

"Wrong. You have a little girl
upstairs who watches you, worships everything you do."

"Give me a break. This is
all temporary. You know it, Tiffany knows it, I know it, everyone
knows it. This was never a permanent arrangement. She’ll be with a
real family soon, and forget all about me. And I'll help from a
distance."

"You could give her up, just like
that?"

"You want me to adopt her? Is that
what you're saying?"

"Why not?"

"What part did you forget
about the fact that I don't age? Unless you have a full-blooded
witch in your pocket I don't know about, that's never gonna
change."

Victoria said nothing, simply watching
him.

"She thinks it's weird I
don't sleep. And she pisses me off. She's already pissed all over
the bed. She's got a TV in her room, but we're always fighting
about what to watch down here. She falls asleep with her head on my
shoulder when we're on the couch . Then I can't move, because I'll
wake her up. And how the hell am I supposed to sneak out and have a
one-nighter with her around?"

"All that, and you still love the
child."

"I love two people," he said,
gesturing to Victoria and himself. "That's it."

"The strongest lies are the ones we
tell ourselves."

"Okay, what's your point?
What are we really saying here?"

"Next time, call me, and I'll help.
That's all. We'll take care of it more quietly."

"So you're saying I can be a good
person for Tiffany if I just watch the killing? If only the Brady
Bunch could hear us now."

They sat in silence. It
felt good to argue with her again. He didn't realize how much he
missed it.

"Tiffany's okay," he said. "I do like
having her here."

She nodded. "You've
changed."

"Yeah. I don't know if I like that
part yet."

Jack rubbed his chin, deep
in thought. Victoria studied him, watched his expressions and
ticks.

"What's on your mind?" she
asked.

"I'm making
friends
," he said. "It's
the weirdest thing."

She laughed. "Erica?"

"Yeah. We're friends now.
Even if I wanted to have a one-nighter with her, I couldn't,
because we're friends."

"Life sucks, doesn't it?"

He smiled at her.
"Not
my
life. I'm
just trying to figure things out."

"You want some advice?"

"No, but you'll give it to me
anyway."

"Don't be afraid to make friends. I
have plenty of friends. Some know I'm a vampire, some don't. You've
always let Angela's curse control you, instead of the other way
around."

He chewed on her words a moment before
nodding. "Thanks."

"I have to get going. I
need to go see what my good friend Dr. Collins is up
to."

"You're still shadowing that
clown?"

"Yeah. Another fun night of watching
porno, no doubt."

"Victoria, listen. I'm...glad we're
back again."

"Me, too. We'll fight, but
no more century cool-off periods."

"Deal."

CHAPTER 13

Jack worked over the stove
on a Friday night. Broccoli was steaming, rice simmering, chicken
grilling on the back porch, green beans nearly ready to go. The
scent of delicious food permeated through the kitchen, sending his
nose into overdrive. Tiffany was finishing up her homework. She was
becoming a schoolwork machine, scoring another B on a recent
test.

Jimi Hendrix transitioned
into Dream Lover by Bobby Darin. Jack stared at his iPhone on its
dock. He had no problem with Bobby Darin, even seeing him perform
live once. It simply seemed like an odd choice for Pandora to make
after Hendrix. He was convinced the Pandora music service was an
early form of Skynet.

Tiffany closed her books
and made her way to the iPhone dock. Jack pointed a wooden spoon at
her.

"Hey, what are you doing? Get away
from there."

She poked at the iPhone
with a smile. Dream Lover cut off and was replaced by a strange
sound he’d never heard before. He nearly put his hands to his
ears.

"What is that?"

"Miley Cyrus. She’s
awesome."

"Holy hell. How did we go from Hendrix
to Cyrus?"

He raised an eyebrow as
Tiffany ran around the couch three times. She did a little slide
maneuver, reminding him of Risky Business. She expertly lip-synced
the words to the song and moved in a way that he assumed was
dancing. Now he had an idea of what she did the rare time she spent
in her room.

"What...are you doing?"

"I’m dancing. What does it
look like I’m doing?"

"I thought maybe you were having a
panic attack or something."

"Hey," she said. "I dance
good."

"Well," he corrected. "You dance
well."

She paused long enough to
give that defiant look, her hands on her hips and chin out. The
stance was a reminder that Tiffany could take on
anything.

"Fine.
Well
. I dance
well."

"And that’s still a matter
of opinion."

"Let me see you dance."

"I’m actually not allowed
to dance."

"Why not?"

"I danced once, back in
fifty-seven. Believe it or not, I send off little radio signals,
and women go crazy. They swarm from miles around, like some horror
movie, trying to get at me. Ripping off clothes, stomping over each
other, just to get a glimpse. It’s very dangerous. I’ve promised
never to dance again, for the safety of everyone."

Tiffany stopped dancing and thought
about his words. After thirty seconds of thinking and chewing on
her fingernails she looked up at him.

"Nuh-uh."

Jack leaned his head back
and laughed. Tiffany was a hilarious little girl.

His ears thanked fate as the phone
rang, effectively cutting off Miley Cyrus. He set down the wooden
spoon and crossed the living room.

"See? I told you," he
said. "Just talk about me dancing, and it all starts. If we have to
board the house up, it’s your fault."

"You’re just making up
stories because you can’t dance."

"Are you kidding me?" Jack shouted
after he pressed answer. Tiffany laughed maniacally and ran up the
stairs. "Hello?"

"Uh, should I call back?" Erica
asked.

"Nah, you’re good. Tiffany
and I were just having a little argument. And she better hope I
don’t come up there," he called up the stairs.

"Would you two minded if I stopped
over?"

He narrowed his eyes in
confusion. "Didn’t we do tutoring last night?"

"Well, yeah. I
wasn’t thinking tutoring. I mean...just to hang out. We
are
friends, aren’t
we?"

"Yeah, we’re
friends."

"I could stop on the way, pick up a
pizza or something."

"Do you even know where I
live?"

"I was assuming you’d
share that top secret information with me."

"That’s not
necessary."

"Wow...I guess that’s a
no."

"No, I mean the food.
There’s plenty here. One second." He muted the phone. "Hey,
Tiffany!"

He didn’t see her, only
heard her voice from some mysterious hiding spot on the second
floor.