Jack Kursed (35 page)

"I’ll deal with him," Mark
said. "Just get out of here and make that call!"

Jack leaned away from Dom.
As much as he wanted to kill both Dom and Mark, Tiffany’s safety
came first. He was on one knee and ready to stand up when Dom
pointed his gun at Jack’s head.

"No!" Mark shouted.

Dom pulled the trigger.

Jack flinched from the
noise. The bullet struck his forehead, stinging for a moment before
falling to the grass. Dom gasped when Jack didn’t move, and Mark
backed up a step.

Dom’s face took on a look
of utter terror right before Jack threw the first of many punches.
He growled as he attacked, landing blow after blow. Dom tried to
cover his face, so Jack stood up and kicked him repeatedly in the
ribs.

He stood up and went to a
nearby trashcan. He picked it up and slammed it down into Dom’s
body, getting garbage all over him. Dom curled on his side,
coughing up blood and spitting out a few teeth. The fight had all
but left him, but it hadn’t left Jack. He grabbed the plastic liner
and wrapped it around Dom’s face, pulling with all his might. Dom
struggled and grabbed at Jack’s arms uselessly.

"Stop!" Mark shouted. "I said
stop!"

Mark wrapped an arm around
Jack’s neck and tried to drag him away. Jack let go of Dom and
turned his attention to Mark. He spun around and grabbed Mark by
the legs, taking him to the ground. The cop struggled for a moment,
but a knee to his groin and a hard slap to the face stilled
him.

Jack glanced at Dom. The
henchman lay in a pile of garbage and blood, the plastic liner
still wrapped around his face. He coughed as he struggled to pull
the liner away.

Jack was prepared to beat Mark to
death when a strange feeling crept over him. He grabbed Mark by the
collar of his shirt.

"She’s watching, isn’t
she?"

He pulled Mark up slightly so the cop
could look over his shoulder. Mark nodded, and Jack slammed him
back to the ground.

"Yeah," he said. "She’s
watching over the dashboard."

"You should thank her,
because she’s the only reason I’m not gonna kill you tonight. Now,
what you need to do is take that piece of shit over there and find
a nice hiding spot. The next time I see you, it better be on the
side of a milk carton. Otherwise, I will kill you. Do you
understand?"

Mark nodded, and Jack had
to shift his body to avoid touching the urine that was running down
the cop’s slacks.

"I’m sure you’ve figured
it out by now. I’m worse than any vampire you could ever hope to
find."

Jack smiled and gave Mark
one final slap across the face. He didn’t want Tiffany to see any
more violence, but couldn’t help giving one final kick into Dom’s
ribs. As he climbed in the truck Tiffany was hugging him again. He
gave her a squeeze and a quick kiss on the cheek. He could feel her
smiling. She had trouble buckling her seat-belt with shaking hands,
and he had to help her.

"You saved me," she said as they drove
away from the park.

"I’m so sorry," he said,
wiping a tear from his eye. "I promised nothing bad would happen to
you."

"It’s okay. I was a little
scared. They said they’d hurt me if you didn’t pay them a bunch of
money. But it’s funny. I was actually more scared when I was with
Miss Simmons."

"Why is that?"

"Because I knew you’d save
me this time."

He smiled at her and
playfully ruffed up her hair. She closed her eyes for a moment,
like she was about to fall asleep, and then jumped
excitedly.

"Jack," she said. "There’s
still a monster out there!"

He laughed as he sent the
text message putting his people back on standby. In another two
minutes the killing would have begun.

"I doubt for much longer."

*****

"You
’ve got some trouble heading
your way."

"The
normal
kind?"

"Nope. The supernatural
kind."

"On it."

Victoria hung up her phone
and set it on the table next to her. Erica looked down at the cast
on her ankle once again.

"I can’t believe I broke
my ankle. Who breaks their ankle in a car accident?"

"I’ve seen weirder
things."

"Was that Jack? Is Tiffany
okay?"

"He just got there. But
Jack will take care of her. Don’t worry about that."

She hung her head sadly. "I bet he
hates me."

"What?"

"I was supposed to take care of
Tiffany, not get her in an accident." A tear ran down her face. "We
were just going for ice cream."

"On the contrary, Jack’s
always been solitary...a hermit, almost. You’re the first adult
I’ve really seen him take to. The first woman for sure. He cares
about you, really trusts you."

"He just wants to see my
legs," she said with a smile. "And he’ll never trust me again after
tonight."

"You worry too much. You and Jack will
be fine."

"I haven’t made too many
friends in Parkville. I definitely didn’t think he and I would
become friends. The first day we met, the first thing he does is
point out my scar."

Victoria laughed. "Jack
certainly has some social issues. But I couldn’t ask for a better
brother."

"I’ll make him dinner one
night, for an apology. I’ll get Tiffany some flowers."

"I’m not sure how much
dinner you’ll be making on a broken ankle."

"I’ll pull it off, don’t
you worry, as soon as they let me out of here. And you’re invited,
too."

"Why, thank you very
much," she said, and glanced around the hospital room. "You know, I
don’t like this room."

"It could be worse."

"Maybe, but let’s go find
another room."

Erica laughed nervously as
Victoria stood up and unlocked the casters on the bed. She propped
the door open and pushed Erica’s bed into the hall.

"Uh, Victoria," she said.
"I don’t think you’re really supposed to-"

"You’re saying you don’t
want a nice room with a view?"

"Well, I didn’t really put
much thought into it."

"You deserve better. Let’s
go find one of those VIP rooms."

"Shouldn’t we maybe tell a
nurse or doctor or something?"

"You’re so cute. No wonder
Jack likes you so much."

*****

Thirty minutes later
two men stepped into Erica
’s old room. The
TV was still on, quietly playing late night advertising. One man
gestured to the other, pointing at the feminine head of hair barely
visible under the sheets. The man in back closed the door behind
them, careful not to make a sound. He readied his gun as his
partner grabbed the corner of the sheet. He yanked the sheet away,
but didn’t see what they expected. Instead of seeing a woman hours
removed from a car accident, a beautiful redhead in jeans and a
white tee shirt spun in bed toward them.

"Boo!"

Victoria studied the men
sent for Erica. She shook her head at both of them for different
reasons. The man on the left holding the gun was Officer Derek
Thomas. She didn’t recognize his partner, but could smell the
vampire blood in his veins.

"Well, well," she said,
casually resting her head on her hand. "Laurel and Hardy." She
stared at Derek. "How did you go from wanting to protect Tiffany
from the evil Jack Kursed to wanting to kill her and her
teacher?"

He aimed his gun at her,
and was noticeably upset when she didn’t flinch. "You’d be
surprised at the things a man will do when he gets fired. I have a
family to take care of. The way I look at it, this is all Jack’s
fault."

"Interesting logic."

"Where’s the teacher? Tell
us in the next ten seconds, and maybe we’ll let you
live."

"Ah. So, which of you can count to
ten?"

The nameless vampire lunged at her,
stopping a few inches from her face.

"Listen, bitch, you have
no idea who you’re dealing with," he said, his fangs
exposed.

"Burke, back off," Derek
said.

"Oooh," Victoria said. "You have big
teeth, too."

Victoria shoved him
backwards, her strength catching him by surprise. He stumbled
backwards into the wall. By the time he regained his balance
Victoria was already on her feet. She held Officer Derek Thomas’
body up with one hand, having snapped his neck one second before.
His gun fell to the floor.

"Seriously?" she asked.
"You couldn’t tell a vampire was under the sheet? Do you not have a
sense of smell? How old are you? Two? Three?"

Her comments struck home,
as Burke was confused and afraid. He held his hands at his side,
ready to attack.

"I was turned two years
ago. I’ve been trying to find my place ever since."

"Well, you chose the wrong
one."

"You won’t be saying that
after I beat you within an inch of your life."

Victoria laughed. Burke
swiped with his claw. She easily leaned back and thrust Derek’s
body out like a shield. He raked Derek across the chest, slicing
through his shirt and flesh. She tossed the body onto the bed
before it could drip blood to the floor. She didn’t want to spend
much time cleaning up.

"Clumsy and slow," she
said. "I’m surprised a vampire hunter hasn’t come knocking at your
door-"

He swiped two more times,
snarling as he did so. Victoria dodged easily, and rammed the
broken table leg she concealed behind her back into his chest. She
covered his mouth before he could scream.

"Shhh, little baby."

He stared into her eyes as
he lost consciousness. She would be the last thing he ever saw. She
stacked his body on top of Derek’s and covered them both with the
sheet. Speed and timing were important, as she didn’t need Derek’s
body trailing blood all over the hospital.

She shook her head as she pushed the
bed into the hall.

"Newborns."

*****

Jack and Tiffany
stopped short of entering Erica
’s room. He
took a deep breath and knelt down to look Tiffany in the eyes. The
child was quickly looking like her old self. The tears were long
gone, the pink back in her cheeks. He'd put a bandage on her
scratch. She looked exhausted, like she could fall asleep any
second.

"You can’t ever tell
anyone," he said. "Okay? About what happened tonight, it has to be
our secret."

She shook her head. "I
won’t tell anyone ever. I promise. I remember the story. They took
me to the wrong hospital, and you came and got me."

"You got it."

"I love you, Jack."

He smiled and gave her
another hug. "You’re not so bad yourself."

Jack opened the door to
see Erica lying in bed. She was asleep, but woke up when Tiffany
shouted her name. Tears ran down Erica’s face as she held her arms
out.

"Tiffany! Are you okay?"

She ran across the room
into her teacher’s arms. Erica turned on her side as best she could
to hug Tiffany.

"I’m fine. They took me to
the wrong hospital. Jack came and got me."

"I’m so sorry. God, I feel
so terrible."

"It’s okay," Tiffany said.
"I’m fine. Are you okay?"

Erica cried, but was able
to talk through the tears. "I’m fine. You are one awesome little
girl."

Tiffany beamed. "I know."

Jack laughed and looked at
the new room. "Took us a while to find you. You switch
rooms?"

"Yeah. Victoria snapped, said I should
have a better room. I see where you two are a lot
alike."

His phone vibrated as the text message
came in. It was a single word.

Roof
.

"That’s her now," he said.
"I’ll be right back. Tiffany, would you stay with Erica for a few
minutes? Keep her company?"

"Yeah. But you have to give me another
hug."

"And me, too," Erica said.

Jack rolled his eyes. "What is it with
you females and the hugs?"

He knelt down to give
Tiffany a hug, and nearly stumbled when Erica leaned over and
wrapped her arms around him. Tiffany laughed, and the three shared
a group hug, the first in Jack’s long life.

"Okay, okay, that’s enough
hugging. I’ll be back."

He made his way to the
stairwell leading to the roof and saw the lock was broken on the
door. Pushing it open, he could see it was almost dawn, the night
slowly retreating.

Victoria sat casually in a
chair she’d brought up. She turned and offered Jack a
smile.

"Hey there," she said.
"You’re just in time to see the fireworks."