Page 10 of Night of the Vampire
I glanced over at him, confused. "And you think I can help her?"
"I hope so, yes."
"What makes you think I'd be able to help her? I don't know anything about medicine."
"It's not that kind of illness," he explained. He glanced around, then said, "She's been struck down by one of your own."
I frowned up at him. "One of 'my own'? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Your kind," he explained slowly.
Still, I was confused. "My kind of what?" I asked him. "Another woman?"
Shoving his hands in the pockets of his sweater, he cocked his head, studying me as we walked. I swear I could almost feel him poking around in my brain.
"You said you came here from New York?"
"We're not supposed to be talking about me," I reminded him. "You're supposed to be telling me about your friend."
He nodded. Took a deep breath. "Her name is Kenya." We turned the corner and headed toward my street. "Lizzy, I need to ask you something."
"I wish you would," I told him. The sooner we got this conversation over with, the sooner I could be safe in my apartment forgetting it ever happened.
"What kind of power, exactly, do you possess?"
The laugh that erupted from me was short and loud. The kind my mother would frown about for not being "ladylike." "Power?" I asked. "You think I have a power." I didn't bother trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice. "You sound like Mike. My assistant," I explained at his inquiring look.
He made an "ah" expression. "I know you have magic," he insisted. "I just need to know if it can heal my friend."
I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, stepping in closer to him to avoid anyone overhearing. A shiver crawled up my arm when our hands accidentally touched. It wasn't entirely unpleasant. "Look," I said. "I told you before, I don't know anything about medicine. I'm an actor who needed to get out of the city and start a new life doing something else and this voodoo store shit fell into my lap. I don't have any kind of magical healing powers. I'm not some kind of voodoo queen. I'm just trying to pay my rent and get some semblance of my life back."
"And running a voodoo store in this den of evil is your big dream, is it?" he asked me.
"Not really," I admitted honestly. "But it's all that's left to me. I'm getting too old to start over." I started walking with Wiggles again, not caring if he followed us or not.
"Why did you leave New York, Lizzy?"
Oh, my God. Seriously. What was with this guy? "I told you why."
"Not the true reason."
We were close to my place now. I could hear the music from the House of Blues and smell the po boys. "I sort of had to," I admitted as I glanced over at a threesome of girls as they stumbled by without really seeing them.
He ignored the girls completely, and every other person around us, too. The guy was completely focused on me. It was disconcerting, and if I were to be honest, kind of flattering.
"But why is that?" he wondered after a moment. "New York is a big city. Lots of people. Easy to get lost in."
"Not the world that I came from," I told him. "Besides, I wouldn't be able to do what I loved anymore. And it was too painful for me to stay there."
His eyes searched my face for a moment before they narrowed in on mine. "What did you do, Lizzy?"
Again, that uncomfortable feeling came over me. The one that nearly had me convinced he could read my mind. I hadn't said anything at all to hint at the fact that I wasn't entirely blameless in what had happened, and yet somehow he knew. I felt it all the way to my bones. "I burned down my dreams." I could barely get the words past my throat. "Quite literally, but accidentally. And while trying to escape, I fell and twisted my knee. I had to have surgery, and I couldn't dance anymore even if I wanted to." I shrugged. "My career as a Broadway star was over before it started."
"But I wonder, how someone as athletic as you—a dancer and performer—would be so clumsy."
"There was a fire," I whispered. "It was chaos." My mind wandered back to that day. Back to my hurt and my anger, and the fires that had appeared out of nowhere.
No, not out of nowhere. Out of my own thoughts. Or so it had seemed, because that was impossible, right? I could still feel the heat of the fire as I fought my way out of the building. My legs useless, dragging behind me. It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever lived through.
