Page 47 of Too Cursed To Kiss
I glanced back at the apartment complex. Two cop cars were in the parking lot. They would get to that main room, and Agatha would be there. They’d deal with it as a violentcrime scene. Of course, my blood and my fingerprints were all over it. I was really improving my chances of a long stay in high security. Marvelous.
I got into the car first, and Wald slid in after me. “Carasella Hotel,” he said to the Uber driver.
I leaned into him and whispered, “I have questions.”
“I know. Hold them till we get to the hotel.”
“Why the hotel?” Oh right, luggage. That would mean clothes and a shower, and why the hell was I thinking of being clean when I’d just witnessed a death, escaped a demon and the police, and fallen out a two-story window?
Priorities.
Wald peeled off his jacket and thrust it at me. I looked at it, then him, and squealed inside. I know, ridiculous. With his help, I managed to shrug it over my shoulders. The movement should have left me screaming from the damage to my side, but I wasn’t feeling pain now. I gingerly put my hands in the still warm sleeves. A purr undulated inside of me, which was even more ridiculous, but the scent of Wald and the heated leather was like falling into plush velvet or fur.
I rubbed my back against the seat and pulled the leather close. He handed me a pair of sunglasses a moment before the valet opened the door. I put them on and crawled out, the serenity of the jacket relaxing me enough I really didn’t care how the rest of me likely looked. Wald was all lean and hard in sharp detail from the enhancement of the glasses.
He leaned into me whispering, “Keep your head down and follow my lead.”
It was amazing no one approached us, considering how ragged we looked. We took a direct path to the elevators through the casino. Wald’s arm around my shoulders gave me enough strength to keep going, and we made it to the elevator. I held my breath as the two other couples gave us horrifiedglances. Wald turned me to face him banding his arms around me. I buried my face in the heaven of his chest until the elevator dinged at the twenty-seventh floor.
Traversing a myriad of corridors, we finally got to the hotel room that I’d never been to. Double doors and the name of some suite on a brass sign.
“Card is in my breast pocket,” he whispered, moving in close to me and keeping his eyes down.
I tucked my hand inside the jacket, feeling for the pocket. The hard plastic caught as I tugged on it, and I dug my hand in deeper. My fingers touched the cold roundness of the marble as I pulled the card out.
“What does the marble do, and why did you cover it in blood?” I asked.
“Shhhh, get inside,” he said, pushing me through the door.
I whirled on him. “Don’t shush me, or fricking push me,” I snarled, pulling off the jacket and flinging it onto the bed, realizing a second too late that my side and ribs still hurt. I screeched as the pain doubled me over, rasping for breath, every rattled bone aching with the effort. The pain delay made no sense at all.
“I thought you fixed me? Why the hell am I dying again?” I asked, panting through the waves of agony.
“You aren’t dying. You’re healing, but there’s still damage. You’re going to be okay. I promised,” he said, unzipping the duffel he’d packed.
Oh yeah, completely understand that.But his definite statement that I would be okay sank in with the promise.
He pulled out some black clothing. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” He glanced at me as if to check how I was reacting.
Holding my breath, I leaned sideways to examine myside. The wound was covered by the leaf bandage. At least it didn’t hurt much when I prodded it.
“What about the marble? Why did you smear blood on it? What is it?”
“The marble, as you call it, is a family artifact. I don’t know why you have it, or how you can hold it, but we will figure that out later. It needed to recognize you. There are other ways, but your blood was handy.”
Wald had taken the T-shirt off. He turned toward me, his unmarred flesh staggering in its beauty and leaving me speechless. “Why not lie down for a little while? Frank is a unique being, and the effects of the wound will likely wax and wane until they are gone. Time is our friend right now.”
My old world was full of monsters, but this one, with even bigger scarier monsters, I might want to stay in forever if that was my come-home-to-present. I found my voice again. “Who the hell is Frank?”
Wald was undoing his belt. I swear the air conditioning had stopped working. I wiped the perspiration from my forehead, and my hand came away grimy.
“An elder in our family, way back when there was a lot more power in the bloodlines. You might call him the Album Keeper. You bled on him and called him forth. Now he knows who you are. It’s kind of like you were introduced. ”
“And how in the nine hells was I supposed to know that?”
“You weren’t, but Agatha wasn’t expecting you to bleed on the album.”
“Then why the fuck did she give it to me in the first place?”
