Twice Cursed (20 page)

“
Glad to hear it. But if
that’s not what’s bugging you, then what? And don’t say it’s
nothing, because the scent of anxiety is coming off of you in
waves.” He dug his fork into his baked potato, bringing the
steaming, sour creamed deliciousness toward his mouth.

She put the buttered roll down on her
bread plate, and then smoothed her fingers against the starched
linen napkin resting on her lap.

Sean picked his hunters well. Jack was
smart and almost as perceptive as his alpha, but she wasn’t about
to say anything about what she sensed. She may have picked up on a
flutter in the atmosphere, but it was much too premature to do
anything about it yet. Telling Jack would only turn him into an
overbearing wolf.

Sean would be so
proud.

She’d given Jack enough of a heads up
already. Perhaps what she sensed was nothing more than a by-product
of full moon fever, and it was her turn to have sensibilities go
haywire. She still hadn’t forgotten how Jack had looked before he
left for his run.

“
I don’t know what’s wrong
with me. Maybe it has to do with what we talked about earlier. I
know you took my head off for calling you a babysitter a few days
ago, but after what you said, I can’t help but feel like we’re back
at square one.”

“
Square one? What did I
say?”

She frowned, her brows knitting
together as she looked at him. “Jack, you said, and I quote, ’Sean
puts my skills on ice at times’. That sounds an awful lot like
disgruntled, and I can’t help but wonder if it has anything to do
with you being here with me, instead of up at the compound,” she
said, lifting one shoulder and letting it drop.

“
I didn’t say
my
skills. I said
our
skills. Sean is the
Alpha, and as members of his hunters, each of us is obligated, by
more than just loyalty, to obey.”

“
I understand the political
maneuvering going on in your world right now, and with the way you
said it, it makes me think you’d rather be in the thick of things
up there, instead of down here with me.”

A small smirk spread across Jack’s
mouth as he leaned forward with his forearms on the table. “You
know, for someone so smart, you can be really dumb sometimes. And
what’s with the, ‘your world’, crap. Last time I checked we were
both a part of that world, or does that mean you changed your mind
about Sean in the last few days?”

Lily picked up her wineglass, but put
it down again. “Now, look who’s wearing the dunce hat? I never said
that, not even close,” she shot back with a huff. “But since you’re
obviously trying to change the subject, it must mean I hit a nerve.
Answer my question. And what’s all this bull about you being
obligated by more than just loyalty? Are you trying to tell me Sean
forces you to do things against your will?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I’m
saying. Not that he ever has, or will,” he hesitated, “…only that
he can. At least that’s what I’m told. As to putting our skills on
ice, I was referring to the bedpan duty Sean gave us last month,”
he answered with a matter-of-fact frown. “It’s not exactly the
hero-hunter role I looked for when I joined the Hunters. But I get
it. I’m one of the newest to join, so shit rolls down hill.
“

She raised one eyebrow. “Pun intended,
I’m sure.”

He chuckled, taking another sip of his
beer. “You got that right.”

Lily gazed at him still unconvinced.
“You still haven’t answered my question, though. What about now? Is
shadowing me the equivalent of a Hunter on bedpan duty?”

Jack’s smirk spread into a full on
grin. “Other than you being a royal pain in the ass? No. I
volunteered for this assignment. I mean, hey, what better way to
move up the ranks then to guard the Alpha’s girl?” he added,
waggling his eyebrows. “Besides, somebody needs to keep track of
what you’re up to.”

“
Me? And what am I up
to?”

“
Oh, I don’t know, how
about hunting rogue vampires, for one?”

“
Hmmm. And let’s not forget
the cynical cops I’ve been hanging out with, and my almost
non-existent credentials by the time this is all over, and the fact
that Sean is still stuck playing political Russian roulette with a
power hungry sociopath.”

Jack tapped his fork lightly against
the side of his plate, a frown creasing the area between his
eyes.

Exactly.

Lily exhaled, picking up her knife and
fork. “Who could blame either of us for being distracted? Hell, but
this is progress, as far as I’m concerned,” she said, gesturing
with the utensils. “If this was a couple of months ago, I’d be
almost postal.”

She sighed.
Dramatic much?
Count
your blessings, things could be much worse.
Her stomach clenched. There it was again, that uneasy ripple
along her sympathetic nervous system, making her pulse quicken.
“Maybe I’ll join you the next time you go for a jog. Might take the
edge off for me too.”

“
We could always walk
home.”

She choked, swallowing a piece of her
steak, hard. “From Brooklyn? Are you nuts?”

He pointed his fork at her, bouncing
slightly up and down. “Hey, we took the subway across the
Williamsburg Bridge, with you insisting the entire way that I
needed the whole New York experience. So once we cross back over
the river, why don’t we walk home from the Delancy Street subway
station, instead of taking a cab back from that point?”

Wiping her mouth, she considered him.
“You do realize that means walking almost completely across town?”
She waited for him to say something, but he just shrugged. “At
night,” she added to reiterate her point.

Jack shrugged again, picking up his
water glass and signaling to the waiter for a refill. “It’s only
about two and half miles, I clocked it in the cab over from the
apartment. Maybe, we can go barefoot in Washington Square Park,
like in that 60s movie with Jane Fonda and Robert
Redford.”

The waiter poured ice water into both
of their glasses, and topped off Lily’s wine. She cut another piece
of steak, and dipped it into Peter Lugar’s famous steak sauce,
letting the combined flavors melt in her mouth.

“
I’m starting to wonder
about you, Jack. First quotes from
Sex in
the City
, and now classic movies. I don’t
know whether to be impressed or suspicious,” she said with a
chuckle. “But as to walking back, I suppose we could do it. That
is, if it’s not raining.”

Savoring the taste of the food on her
tongue, she mulled over Jack’s idea. Maybe it wasn’t as dubious a
suggestion as she first thought. Plunging herself into the thick of
things worked best these days, and perhaps it would give her a
better bead on what was making her senses erratic.

Fork and knife in hand, he leaned
forward to make his point. “Come on, with your stress levels and my
usual peccadilloes compounded by the full moon, we need to head out
on foot at some point tonight. So eat up. You’re going to need all
the energy you can get.”

The dessert cart passed, and Jack
rubbed both hands together, like a kid. “As for me, I’ve got my
name all over one of those ‘Holy Cow’ hot fudge sundaes and a piece
of New York cheesecake.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Can you say
WerePiglet?”

“
Oink, oink.”

Chapter Eight

***

The two walked up Broadway,
past New York University’s
Tisch School of
the Arts
. The famed university comprised
whole area, with student and faculty buildings surrounding the park
and its environs. They crossed onto Washington Square Place, two
blocks from NYUs
Arts and Sciences
building and the park entrance at Washington
Square East.

The unease rippling along Lily’s nerve
endings had subsided by the time they had finished dinner and left
the restaurant. But when they got off the subway and started
walking, the feeling of being watched came back with a vengeance.
It crawled up her spine and over her shoulder, and the closer they
got to Washington Square Park, the louder the warning bells clanged
in her head.

She tried to shake it off, but
profiling was akin to speaking another language—if you don’t use
it, you lose it. Except for the few hours she’d spent with
Martinez, she hadn’t really worked in months. She was out of
practice and could almost smell the thin metallic coating of rust
on her deciphering skills. Odds were, what she sensed was no more
than the average aura of menace hanging like smog over dark corners
of the city.

“
The Arch is just around
the corner. Do you want to head into the park here and walk over
toward the fountain, or do you want to head over to University
Place and the north entrance?” Lily asked, as they stopped at the
corner. Shifting her weight in her boots, she winced.

“
Don’t tell me your feet
hurt, because I know you’ve tracked creatures for longer than we’ve
been walking.”

With a grimace, she shot him a dirty
look. “That’s easy for you to say, you’re not wearing heels. If I
had known we’d be traipsing all over lower Manhattan on foot, I’d
have worn my shit-kickers.”

“
You’re the one who’s
supposed to be the psychic.”

Grimacing again, Lily toed off her
right boot, scooting back to lean against the scaffolding in front
of NYU’s Silver Center. “I knew you were going to say that. I’m
psychic, Jack, not the Amazing Kreskin,” she grumbled, rubbing the
ball of her foot.

A high-pitched howl cut through the
empty street, jerking her back to attention. The sound came from
somewhere down University Place, and Lily jammed her foot back into
her boot, her senses moving into overdrive. It was a definite cry
of pain, but the sound was anything but human.

“
I knew it!” she hissed
through her teeth.
Rusty skills my
ass
. Grabbing Jack by the arm, she tugged
on his jacket. “Let’s go.”

When he didn’t move fast enough, she
shot him a look and took off at a run, crossing the street and
sprinting down the block in the direction of the arch.

Another agonized wail
echoed through the adjacent trees and the flat expanse of the
ornamental circle surrounding the park’s central fountain.
Shit. What the hell has she got pinned? A
Were?
She’d never heard a shifter make a
noise like that, and wondered how many other kinds of supes there
were out there, that she’d yet to come across. With the way her
life had been going lately, she’d bet the Grimm brothers an entire
fairytale full.

Jack came up beside her, his
yellow-gold tie fluttering behind him as he ran. “What the hell are
you doing?” he asked, grabbing her elbow and pulling her to a stop
next to the wrought iron fence surrounding the park’s
perimeter.

“
It’s here, Jack. I can
sense it,” Lily answered, hoping her look told him loud and clear
to stay out of her way.

Eyes narrowing, he tilted
his head to the side. “Who? The vampire?
Here?
”

“
No, my Aunt Susie. Yes,
the vampire. I was in its head at the crime scene, Jack.
Remember?
Even if the
images were residual, it feels like the same imprint. I know it. I
can feel it. Tell me that howl didn’t raise the hackles on the back
of your neck.”

Jack let go of Lily’s arm and
straightened. Exhaling, he put his hands on his hips, pushing his
suit jacket back.

“
Of course it did, along
with raising the gooseflesh up and down my arms to match. I thought
I sensed something when I went out for my run. Things were too
quiet.” He shook his head and sniffed, wrinkling his nose. “There
are supes all over this city, but I just chalked the muted signs up
to the garbage and funky smells you all seem not to
notice.”

His eyes narrowed, and he crossed his
arms in front of his chest. “You’ve been feeling it all along,
haven’t you? Despite your little tap dance back at the restaurant
when I asked what was bothering you.”

Lily lifted her chin a notch. “Well, I
guess that means we both need to stop second guessing, but that’s
not what matters now. The vampire is here, and based on that
pitiful sound I don’t think it came to play.”

Jack peeled his jacket from his arms
and loosened his tie, slipping it over his head and shoving it into
his breast pocket.

“
Why are you
stripping?”

“
If I need to phase, I
don’t want to ruin this jacket. I just bought it.”

Lily looked at him, and blinked.
“Seriously? We’ve got a deranged supe in the park across the street
from crowded NYU dorms, and you’re worried about your
outfit?”

With his black slacks, a
black shirt, yellow tie and a black sports jacket, he must have
gotten his idea of New York chic from watching reruns of the
Sopranos
. He couldn’t
have looked more Mafioso if he tried.

“
Pretty sharp,
huh?”