Page 10 of The Curse of Eternity
“Oh, thank the goddess,” squeaked a voice from behind a tall stack of cardboard boxes.
I rushed forward to catch them, relieving the load from a pair of very freckled pale arms. Everly stepped back, and I peeked around a cardboard flap while she clapped dust from her small hands. At barely five feet tall, not including the volume fromher curly red hair, Everly was a sight for sore eyes in her light-washed jeans and sky blue spaghetti-strap tank.
Her bright green eyes widened, thin red eyebrows high on her heart-shaped face when I easily hefted the stack with one arm.
“Ialmostforgot how strong you are.” Everly beamed, revealing slightly crooked canines—nowhere near as sharp as the ones I’d often seen.
“That’s pretty bad for your brand,” I mocked in good humor, glancing pointedly at the ‘Psychic’ neon sign behind a shelf of Tarot cards Everly had drawn herself. She rolled her eyes.
“Memory was never my strong suit. It’s foresight that I excel at,” she retorted, and I bounced my eyebrows in concession.
“Alright, where do you want these?”
“Just over there is fine.” Everly pointed to a bare stretch of wall beside a cozy armchair. Its startlingly familiar shape made goosebumps crop up along my arms while I set the boxes down in a row one after another, careful not to jostle her array of baubles. When I straightened and turned, Everly’s knowing eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Okay, I take it back, you’re good.” I stifled a sigh,where to begin?Thankfully, Everly was patient. She hopped up onto the reception desk in the corner, over half as tall as her, and made herself comfortable beside the unplugged laptop. Avoiding the armchair, I slowly paced from one end of the work-in-progress shop to the other. Then I blew out a long breath, and told her everything. From the fight with Andrew, to being dropped off by my mortal enemy—or immortal, technically. Everly’s red eyebrows rose, nearly disappearing beneath her bangs.
“Wow, that’s a lot. Are you alright?” Her concern didn’t offend like my family’s dramatics had. Mostly because Everly wasn’t ‘superhuman’ like us. Able to glimpse snippets of the future, yeah—but for her, a bruised elbow took a week to heal.
“Yeah, physically I’m fine. It’s just my head that’s going crazy.” Tired of standing, I decided to sit on the floor. Moments passed in silence, both of us speculative, but then Everly opened her mouth.
“Do you believe him?”
At first, I didn’t know who she was talking about. “The vampire?” I clarified, and she nodded.Leave it to Everly to voice the same question that kept pulling me up short.Averting my gaze, I rubbed the back of my neck.Wasit actually possible for a vampire to abstain from human blood on purpose? I thought back to last night, and the vampire’s face surfaced in my memory.
Beyond the classical good looks I pretended didn’t sway me, his expression had seemed so sincere. The way he pleaded for my understanding… Even when he threatened to leave me in chains, there was something about it that gave me the impression he was strangely…lonely.
When I’d barked back at him, he’d only hesitated for the briefest moment before remorse won out over his obvious frustration. Of course, he’d probably been around for ages, so maybe he was just a great actor. Less confusing memories were suddenly catapulted to the forefront, of the broken victims my family and I had found over the years.
The bodies drained of blood, missing persons finally found, but too late.Thatwas the reality, not some pretty story cooked up by a bored, psychopathic monster who probably just wanted to mess with a young vampire hunter.
“Nope,” I answered at last, but my teeth clenched when Everly smiled. She promised she wasn’t telepathic, but the way she seemed toknowwhat I was really feeling surpassed even our close friendship. That, or my face was obvious. Clearing my throat, I stood and brushed the dust off my jeans. “I’m going to find out where he’s holed up, decapitate his undead ass, andthen have a sweet bonfire out in the desert.” Easier said than done.
“And how are you planning to do that?” Everly’s amusement shifted to curiosity. At least she wasn’t worried that I couldn’t handle myself. Granted, Everly had never seen a vampire before, let alone fought one. Still, the faith in me was nice.
“I heard a train pass by right when he drove off the driveway and onto the road,” I explained, motivated by my singular clue. “It only took about fifteen minutes to get back to Richmond Drive. All I have to do is map out the city’s train routes in relation to anywhere fifteen minutes away from the warehouse.” Ihadpicked up a thing or two from my family.
Everly’s eyes widened appreciatively. “That sounds like a lot of work.”
“Yep, but I know just where to start,” I said, and my grin slowly strengthened.
“And where’s that?” Everly played along, biting her lip to keep from smiling.
“The library.”
I probably could have gotten all the same information at home using my computer. Except that ran the risk of my family popping in on me unexpectedly, and the last thing I wanted to do was skirt more questions with outright lies. It was easier for everyone if I kept the plan between me and Everly, for now. Because she’d already proven to me that what happened last year—what I’ddone—hadn’t killed her respect for me as a person.
She’d been there for me through every way-too-long message I sent her during my recovery process last summer. Even a few thousand miles apart, her responses were a hell of a lot more supportive than how my ex-boyfriend handled my rehab admission.Thatrelationship imploded well before I’d gotten out. Good riddance, my family had said. After what had happened, I didn’t blame them.
Not like I’d have been able to tell my ex the truth about me, anyway.
I drummed my thumb on my faded steering wheel, patiently waiting at a traffic-heavy red light, but my depressive thoughts were more draining than the stop-and-go. The only person ‘in the know’ outside of my family, and the Tsosies, was Everly. After she announced her veganism when we were sixteen, I grew progressively more guilty about her passionate soap-boxing over my family’s ‘hunting excursions.’
It wore me down so much that I just blurted out the truth to her. At first, I thought she might call me crazy and storm out of my bedroomandmy life altogether. I hadn’t counted on her having a secret of her own—that she practiced witchcraft. Telling the truth had brought us closer together, each other’s first true confidantes outside of our blood relatives.
That friendship was priceless, which might’ve had something to do with why my two ex-boyfriends and one ex-girlfriend were so jealous of it. Lying to them about my weekend activities sucked, but a part of me, deep down, always felt that they wouldn’t have understood it. Knowing that things wouldn’t progress beyond a ‘good time’ was what hurt the most.
My designated therapist at the rehab center had ‘inferred’ that my issues with substance abuse stemmed from an inability to form deeper connections with others. In layman’s terms, I hadtrust issues—big whoop. The rest of my family, and the Tsosies, kept the same secrets but never failed as hard as I had.
