“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it,” she tells me, voice still shaky.
Phil slowly shakes his head. “What the hell is going on? Callie is covered in blood.”
“It’s mine,” Lucas says casually. “Well, most of it.” He grabs my wrist and lifts my arm. “This is hers.” Much to my chagrin, he brings my arm to his lips and licks the blood off. Feeling his tongue on my skin sends a jolt of warmth through me, even now.
“Why?” Phil asks slowly, turning back to Abby, whose jaw tenses. I know she hasn’t told him everything, and I hate that she’s been lying to him for me. Phil proved himself to be a surprisingly cool guy who’s rather accepting of both me and Lucas.
“Lucas was stabbed by some holy-roller protestor, which normally wouldn’t be a big deal since he can heal, but he wasn’t healing, so I panicked, brought him here so Abby could stitch him up, and then I realized he was cursed by necromancers, and since I don’t have what I need to break a curse here, I did what I could with what we had and bound the curse so it can’t progress and kill my husband,” I spit out quickly.
“And Michael and I go way back. Not really. Only like back to late this summer. My cats aren’t cats, and Scarlet isn’t a puppy. She’s a hellhound. Also, I didn’t fall down and cut myself a few weeks ago. I was shot with an arrow by witch hunters who were paid by a vampire of all things to try and kill me. I didn’t want you to be freaked out, so I had Lucas change your memory.” I let out a breath. “Wow, it feels good to tell the truth.”
Everyone stares at me, and Lucas gently presses his fingers into my side. “Anything else you want to confess?”
“One time I accidentally stole a lipstick from Target. It got pushed to the back of my cart and I didn’t see it, but when I was unloading everything into my car, I saw it and just took it.”
“That’s it?” Lucas cocks an eyebrow.
“I live on the edge.” I shrug and look at my sister. “Sorry about the memory thing. It was kind of for your own safety. I’ll cast an extra protective spell around the house later, too.”
A few seconds of awkward silence tick by, and it’s only then I realize that Abby was watching TV when we came over. A commercial for toilet bowl cleaner sounds behind me.
“Will this new circle actually keep the in-laws away this time?” Phil asks, a smile slowly coming to his face.
“I can definitely make that happen.” I rub my temple, feeling a massive headache starting to form. “But really, we should go. I need to get back to Thorne Hill so I can work on breaking this curse. I’ll help you clean first.”
“Seriously, Cal, it’s fine,” Abby presses.
“It’s late.” I step out of the salt circle and grab the bloody blanket from the couch. Abby will be disappointed to know that the couch is pretty much clean and she can’t use it as an excuse to trash the thing.
I’m aware Phil is still standing there, rooted to the spot as he watches me move about the living room, gathering up the remaining bloody rags.
“You’re still bleeding,” Lucas tells me, wincing as he reaches into Abby’s first-aid kit for a bandage.
“I’ll heal. In due time.” I ball up the blanket. “I’ll toss this and will get you another.”
“Are you sure you’re both okay?” Phil asks again. “I mean…not to be insulting, but you both look terrible.”
“It’s nothing a shower, some wine, and like a gallon of Kristy’s healing balm won’t solve.”
“Uh, okay. If you say so.”
“Callie,” Abby says. “Can I talk to just you for a second?”
“Of course.”
I follow her into the kitchen, which would be enough distance for a normal human not to be able to hear us, but not a vampire. “Hang on,” I tell her and cast a silencing circle around us. “Okay, no one will be able to hear us now.”
“Wow, that’s…that’s handy.”
“Yeah.”
She wraps her arms around herself, trying to gather her composure. Then she takes the bandage from me and wraps it around my arm. “You said Lucas’s heart hasn’t beat in over a thousand years.”
“Right.”
“Your words made something occur to me.”
“That sounds urgent.”
“It is. Or at least I think so. Lucas is still a vampire, right?”
“Yes,” I say confidently. He still has his fangs, has his ability to move with super speed, has super hearing, and still drinks blood. Yet…yet his heart is very slowly beating.
“Why would they do that? Curse him with, um, humanity I guess you’d call it, right?”
“To kill him. He’s been alive for over sixteen hundred years. Murdering him isn’t easy. Cursing him is the only way to get to him without risking him ripping their throats out first.”