CURSED 1

I WON'T

I didn’t sleep as soundly as I wanted to.

I tossed and turned throughout my slumber. Mostly, I kept dreaming about

the surreal night I had. I dreamed about Atticai, Yari, and Lena. I dreamed of

kicking college punks’ asses. I dreamed of dark clearings and birds and long

kisses. Some of the dreams were extremely erotic. And other dreams were not so.

much. Additionally, my body was painfully sore from the bat. It was, in short,

one of the worst sleeps I’ve ever had. I eventually couldn’t take it anymore and

I just got up. I looked at my cell phone. It was 2:00 p.m.

I got up, and my back was still killing me. Not that I expected the pain to go

away magically, but, damn, it seemed even worse. I walked over to the bathroom.

and took the longest shower of my life. Even the spray of water hurt my back.

Without looking at it in the mirror, I knew how big the bruise was and what

color it was today. While the hot water blasted me, I took the bandage from my

wrist and washed the wound, too. As I washed it, I took a close look at it. It was

truly one of the most bizarre injuries I’d ever had. There were two perfect teeth

marks on my wrist. Wyatt feasted on my arm something fierce. What the hell?

Would a guy do that?

I got out of the shower and was drying off when I heard a kee-eeeee-arr

squawk at the window. It was Daphne, my little red hawk friend. She was

peeking through the window.

“Hey, girl. You like what you see?” I did a little dance for her.

Daphne gave a shrill chwirk. I laughed. Apparently, she liked my jig.

I went into my bedroom and looked at my cell phone. I missed a call. I

didn’t recognize the number. It was local, so I called them back.

“Hello,” a girl’s voice said. A cute girl’s, too, if I was any judge of voices.

“I got a call from this number—”

“Josiah? It’s Lena.”

“Oh, hello. What’s going on?”

“I got your number from Johnny Wade.” Johnny Wade was an old party

buddy of mine that Lena knew apparently, as well. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon

and all that. Johnny Wade knew everyone who knew someone that he knew. He

was the real-life Kevin Bacon connection in our city.

“No problem, Lena. What’s going on?”

“I need to talk to somebody and...I don’t know... after last night, I thought I

could talk to you.”

“I was about to head down to the gym, but I guess I can talk.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, no problem. I had a pretty vigorous workout last night.”

“The fight or the time you spent with Yari in the woods?”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“Can we talk in person?”

“Sure, do you want me to pick you up?”

“That would be great. I’ll text you my address.”

“Cool, I’ll be there in a half hour.”

I got off the phone and sat on my bed with my towel. I looked at myself in the

mirror. Tommy was right. I had a hickey the size of New Jersey on my neck. It

was the most impressive hickey ever. World class. Too bad it was from a guy. If

If anyone of my friends, outside of Vampire, ever found out, I would never

hear the end of it.

I got dressed and headed over to pick up Lena, not bothering to cover up my

world-class neck badge of courage. I drove to the ghetto part of San Bernardino.

And I do mean ghetto. Her address led me to a rundown trailer park where a

movie could have been made if someone wrote a script about a haunted

trailer park. It was a broken-glass, trash-strewn, borderline epic. Just like

Everything connected with Lena was epic.

I pulled the truck into the community, and Lena was right in the front, waiting

for me. She was wearing a black tank top with a short black skirt. She playfully

stuck out her thumb, pretending to be hitchhiking. I grinned and stopped my

truck. She jumped into the passenger side.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey, there. Nice neighborhood,” I quipped.

“Don’t be harsh on my hood,” she bantered back. “We’re getting a mini-golf course.

as soon as the meth factory pays off big on the next batch.”

“Mad props, then,” I said sarcastically. I flipped a sassy U-turn and pulled

onto the main highway. I glanced over at Lena. Her eyes stared straight ahead.

“So, what’s up, pretty girl?” I asked.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“I’m actually starving.” And she smiled for a flash at the “pretty girl”

compliment, as it registered with her.

She offered, “We can go to this mom-and-pop burger joint on the corner. We

can talk inside.”

“You sure? We’re not going to get shot or anything?”

“It’s not that terrible out here. People out here are meth-heads, not

gangbangers.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when a meth-head slits my throat for the twenty dollars.

in my wallet.”

“Trust me, it’ll be okay. I’ll protect you.”

“You’ll protect me?” I laughed.

“What’s so funny about that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re a hundred pounds, dripping wet.”

“I could kick some serious butt if I had to.”

I glanced at Lena’s petite body. “I bet.”

“Pull over in there.” Lena pointed to a little diner on the corner. It had a sign

out front that read “Burgers and Tacos.”

“Classy,” I said, pulling my truck into the driveway.

“Don’t be so mean. It’s affordable. It’s good. It’s a clean place. Nobody will

bother us here.”

“So, what style of food do they serve here?” I asked. “I just hate when the

The name of a place gives you little idea what to expect. I mean, what if I want the

prime rib but they are out of it and they try and bait-and-switch me to the petite

filet mignon and offer A-1 Sauce with it? That would be a meal tragedy.”

Her mouth twitched in amusement. “I think they serve a little of everything.

You might want to stay away from their roast lamb and mint jelly, though. It

might really be mutton, you just never know.”

I laughed at our light banter and glanced at Lena. Our eyes met, and I didn’t

say anything.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said. “Or, well, I just think you should smile more often.”

“If you were as funny as you think you are, then maybe I would.”

“That so, huh? I didn’t realize Goth girls liked to laugh.”

“Goth girl? Is that how you see me? You think I’m some kind of ‘emo’

weirdo who cuts herself, starves herself and longs for death?”

“In a ‘Suicide Girls’ sort of way, you do wear a lot of black and your friends

are pretty out there.”

“Black is an amazing color. Everyone could use a little more black in their

wardrobe,” Lena said, looking at my colorful Ed Hardy T-shirt. “You might also

want to let your legs breathe, ‘cause those jeans are snug.”

“The chicks dig the snug. All the way up the legs and to where they meet.”

“I’m pretty sure Yari digs your snug, too,” she said, with more than a little

bite.

“Wow, where did that come from, Lena? I think you might be jealous.”

“Okay, now you’re getting funny.” Lena made a whopping fake ha-ha-ha laugh.

“I’m not so sure...” I said, letting my voice trail off.

“Why? Do you want me to be jealous?”

I once again stared at Lena. Her eyes were asking me ‘Well?’ I thought about

it for a second and decided to leave the topic alone. After all, the last time I had

Seeing her, she had been pretty cozy with Atticai. Instead, I asked, “Are you

hungry?”

“Starving.”

We walked inside and gave our orders to the old man who ran the joint. He

gave us a number, and we sat down in a deep and comfy booth next to a window.

that overlooked the street. We were both quiet. Lena stared morosely at the

window.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

After a moment, she turned and looked at me. “You know, one thing was lost.

in the scuffle last night.”

“It was less of a scuffle and more of a battlefield. But what was that lost?

item?” I asked.

“That those boys at the party tried to take advantage of me.”

“It didn’t get lost on me. I have an aching back to prove it.”

“I know. I’m sorry. How’s your back?”

“It hurts like hell, but I’m all right. Nothing a bat to the chest wouldn’t set

right,” I joked.

She nodded and reached out and patted my forearm. She retracted her hand

quickly.

“Thank you, again, but I just feel so stupid.”

“Don’t feel stupid. That’s the last thing you should feel. Those guys were

Grade A douche bags. They got what they deserved.”

“Did they?” Lena seemed upset.

“I’d say so. They got an ass kicking by me and then your friends beat the crap.

out of them, too, not to mention taking bites out of them in the process.”

“I’m just pissed that I let it happen.”

“Well, don’t be. We all make mistakes. Look at me, I made the biggest

mistake of all. I decided to go jogging last night.”

“Very funny.”

“Hey, I almost stayed home. To sleep the sleep of the right. I almost ended up

Sleeping the sleep of angels. A dirt nap, shall we say?”

Lena stared straight ahead. She had tears in her eyes. I finally got up and down

next to her.

“Sometimes, I need to feel normal,” she said. “Sometimes, I just want to be

like everyone else.”

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and so I got up again and got

her a napkin. I handed it to her. She took it without comment and wiped her

eyes.

“Look at me, I’m crying like a typical chick.”

“I have news for you, sweetie: you are a chick. And you’re human. You had

An extremely traumatic thing happened to you last night. Don’t be so hard too

yourself for feeling some aftermath.”

“Josiah, there is so much you don’t know.”

“Like what? Tell me.”

“Stuff.” Lena looked out the window again, this time up into the bright

afternoon sky. I had at first thought she was gazing absently into the sky, until I

saw her eyes tracking something. I turned and looked, too. There was nothing up

There but some birds. Crows, I think.

“What are you looking at?” I asked, not sure why I suddenly cared if she was

staring at the sky.

“Nothing.” She turned away and faced me again.

I could tell something was weighing heavy on her mind. So I decided to

press, “Are you talking about Atticai and his buddies? Have they done some

pretty bad things?”

Lena’s eyes focused on the napkin in her hand as she crumpled and

uncoupled it. I could tell she wanted to tell me something—but was afraid to.

“Lena, you can tell me anything.”

“That’s the problem, Josiah. I can’t. For your own good. I can’t.”

“For my own good? What will happen to me?”

“Josiah, let’s just change the subject.”

“Or what? will your wannabe vampire friends try to eat me again?”

Lena took a pen out of her purse. She began writing on her wrinkled paper

napkin. When she was done, she handed it to me.

It read: They are not wannabes, Josiah. They are real.

“Real what? Vampires?” I said out loud. “Just because someone decides to

Dressing up like it’s Halloween every day doesn’t make them something that

doesn’t exist.”

“Please stop talking about it, Josiah. You have no idea what you are doing or

saying.”

“Are you kidding me? Vampires do not exist. For one thing, they were not

sparkly in the least.”

“Josiah, please. Don’t even joke about that. There’s so much you don’t know.

Please trust me. Don’t talk about it out loud. At all.”

“Why not?”

“Just don’t!”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what Mani wants. They want you to know.”

I was confused. “Who the hell is Mani?”

Lena had the kind of look on her face that suggested she had just happened accidentally

revealed the secret location of the Holy Grail, and that, despite what Dan Brown

says, it’s most certainly not under the Louvre in Paris. Her combination of horror

and surprise was almost comical.

“You’re afraid of these many people. You had better tell me what you are to

against, so I can protect you. Help you.”

“Josiah, please. I promise you that someday I will tell you, but right now it’s

not safe to talk about it.”

“Talk about what? I’m still lost.”

But Lena was as serious as a heart attack. I couldn’t believe that she thought

her friends were really vampires. She was either delusional or on something. She

shook her head, and like a little kid, mimed zipping a zipper across her lips,

locking it in the corner with a twist and throwing away an invisible key. At that

moment, she had never looked so vulnerable. So pathetic. So afraid.

“Okay. I’ll drop it.” For now, I told myself.

“Thank you.”

TO BE CONTINUED.....