The Week I Was A Vampire (12 page)

             
Jude looked over at Kyle and found him smiling at her.  It was infectious, his smile that made his eyes light up, and she found she couldn’t resist smiling back.

             
“I just want to make it through the week,” she said.

             
“And you will,” said Kyle, “I just know it.  Vamps may not be the cuddliest things around, but us wolves don’t have some innate hatred for them.  It’s on a person by person basis, you know?  Either way this turns out, you’ll have a friend in the pack, but I want you to know we’re all rooting for you.”

             
“Thanks,” Jude said, “that really means a lot.  I know Mafe and her family are supportive, but I can’t help but feel they want me to be a vampire, especially Daniel.”

             
“He’s the one who bit you, right?” Kyle said, but Jude shook her head.

             
“I was Jemima’s midnight snack,” she said.  “It was Daniel and Tess who saved me.”

             
“Old Aunt Tess to the rescue,” Kyle said and then looked sharply at Jude.  “Tell her I called her old and I will make you drink holy water.  Which would probably suck, even in your transitioning state. It’d also suck because you seem nice and Tess, Mafe, and the rest of the gang seem to like you.”

             
“Except Jemima,” Jude said and Kyle laughed in a way that sounded more like a bark.

             
“Jem doesn’t like anyone,” Kyle said.  “I’m convinced she needs me, but she can’t look passed the part where I turn into a wolf.  She’ll get over it one day and when she does, I’ll be waiting.”

             
Jude laughed at Kyle’s antics and he grinned like a child before turning onto her street.

             
“Need some company?” Kyle asked as he pulled to a stop in front of her house. 

             
Simon’s car wasn’t in the driveway, so Jude shook her head.

             
“No,” she said, “I think I’m just going to go inside and go back to sleep.”

             
“I’ll get your car picked up,” he said and Jude handed over the keys she’d tucked into her jacket pocket.

             
“Thank you,” Jude said.  “And thank your Aunt Tess for me.”  She paused, perched on the edge of her seat as she opened the truck door.  Her feet dangled above the ground as she looked back at Kyle.

             
“Something wrong?” Kyle said and Jude shrugged.

             
“I’ve just been wondering about Tess a lot,” she said and Kyle nodded in understanding.

             
“She raised me and even I don’t know what she is,” he said. 
“
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy
.
”

             
Jude frowned at the odd comment.

             
Kyle looked put out.

             
“Hamlet,” he said.  “And I don’t think anyone knows exactly who or what Tess Banewood is.”

             
“Banewood?” said Jude.  “I’ve seen that name before.  Isn’t there a bar with that name at the Eerie Street Club?”

             
Kyle narrowed his eyes at her.

             
“How do you know about the club?” he said and Jude gestured towards the house.

             
“My brother Simon has been there a few times,” she said and watched Kyle’s face light up with recognition.

             
“I knew the Carstairs name sounded familiar,” he said.  “I’ve seen your brother around.  Gangly, socially awkward, looks kind of like you only not as attractive?”

             
Jude laughed.

             
“That would be Simon,” she said.  “Say hi to him if you ever see him at the club again.  I know he likes the atmosphere, but no one ever talks to him.”

             
“It’s mostly a supernatural place,” Kyle said, “but we attract a human crowd with our supermodel good looks and mind blowing charm.”

             
Jude gave Kyle a thorough once over before frowning.

             
“I thought you said you went to the club.”

             
Kyle growled playfully before giving her a shove.  She landed on her feet and spun back to laugh at him before slamming the door shut.  The window rolled down as he shook his finger at her.

             
“Could’ve sworn you were cool,” he teased and Jude shrugged.

             
“Could’ve sworn werewolves were attractive,” she said and watched Kyle grip at his heart.

             
“Low blow, human,” he said.  “Low blow.”

             
Jude waved before heading inside her house, pausing to look at herself in the mirror hanging by the door.  She looked perfectly human now that she’d lowered her glamour, and just knowing that Kyle still thought of her as human and was rooting for her to succeed gave Jude the burst of encouragement she needed.

            
 
I can do this
,
she thought as she mounted the steps and returned to her room.
 
I’m going to make it.

Thursday Afternoon

Therapy

“So you’re making new friends.  That’s good, Jude.”

              Jude didn’t know if Kyle and the Ward family qualified as friends, or at least friends her parents and therapist would approve of.  After all, Kyle was a werewolf and the Ward family was composed entirely of vampires, some nicer than others.

             
“It’s okay, I guess,” said Jude.

             
Seated across from her in a dark leather chair was Dr. Lulu LeBlanc.  The first time Jude had met the stylish redhead, she’d thought her more suited to the profession of a supermodel as opposed to being a therapist.  But apparently, she was brilliant at what she did and had come highly recommend to Jude’s parents, who never did anything half-assed.  Why the family needed a therapist though, Jude didn’t know.

             
“Just okay?” Dr. LeBlanc said.  She uncrossed and then recrossed her legs, smoothing her burgundy skirt over her knees. 

             
Jude had always believed the fashion rule that redheads couldn’t wear red, but here Dr. LeBlanc sat, in a sharp red suit with her fiery hair twisted neatly in a chignon.

             
“They’re okay,” Jude said.  “I mean’t they’re okay.”

             
Dr. LeBlanc’s mouth turned down and she set her legal pad aside to lean towards Jude.

             
“Are these the sort of friends you shouldn’t be socializing with?” she said.

             
Jude looked away.

            
 
Well one of them did try to kill me
,
she thought
,
and the most recent addition to the gang turns into a wolf every full moon.  Granted, I’ve never seen it for myself, but at this point, I’m willing to have a little faith.

            
 
“They’re just different,” she said instead.  “They’re not like Lux who is crazy and colorful and loud.  They’re elegant and refined and I feel out of my element whenever I’m around them.”

             
“But it looks as though they’ve rubbed off on you,” Dr. LeBlanc said, gesturing to encompass all of Jude’s new appearance.  “You look good, Jude.”

             
“Thanks,” she said, “but I can’t help feeling like I’m losing myself.”

             
Dr. LeBlanc tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment before rising from her chair.

             
“I used to practice a different kind of medicine,” she said as she retrieved Jude’s coat from the coat rack.  “Natural medicine, you might say.”

             
“Sounds kind of New Age,” Jude said, but then quickly apologized before taking her coat from Dr. LeBlanc.

             
“Maybe,” the doctor said, “but it was oftentimes effective.  Would you mind if I sent you something?  Just a little something to keep in your room when you sleep at night.  I think it might help you.”

             
Jude highly doubted anything Dr. LeBlanc gave her could help with her current situation.  But she looked so hopeful that Jude couldn’t refuse.

             
“Sure,” Jude said and slipped on her coat.  “I’ve got to go pick up my brother.  You have my address, right?”

             
“Right,” Dr. LeBlanc said and escorted Jude to the door.  “Simon came with you to the city?  That’s nice of him.”

             
Jude laughed and shook her head before she noticed the look on Dr. LeBlanc’s face.  She tried to ignore the prying gaze, but felt herself giving in the way she always did when Dr. LeBlanc looked at her like that.

             
“He’s at the Eerie Street Club,” Jude said and when Dr. LeBlanc frowned, she quickly elaborated.  “Not drinking or anything; the Banewood Bar won’t serve minors.  He just likes the atmosphere.”

             
“Maybe he should find a new atmosphere to like,” Dr. LeBlanc said, opening the door to her office.  “Maybe something closer to home.”

             
“That’s why he likes it,” said Jude.  “I don’t know what’s so wrong with his life that he thinks he has to disappear from it, but I think that’s why he keeps going to the club.  At this point, it’s almost like an addiction.”

             
A strange look passed so quickly over Dr. LeBlanc’s face that had Jude not had her heightened vampire sight, she would have missed it.

             
“We can become bound to the strangest things,” she said.  “Sometimes I wonder if the Fates are involved.”

             
“The Fates are not easily deterred,” Jude said, parroting what Tess had said to her.

             
Dr. LeBlanc smiled.

             
“That is a wise statement to make,” she said, “but do not, for a moment, ever believe you cannot change your fate.  Nothing is set, Jude, and human will is one of the strongest forces in the world.”

             
Jude thanked Dr. LeBlanc and promised to see her again in two weeks before exiting the office and heading towards her car.  In her pocket, her phone beeped and she knew without looking that it was Simon wondering when she was coming to pick him up.  She found it strange that, for being as intoxicated by the Eerie Street Club as he was, her brother could only handle being there for so long before he was desperate to leave.

•§•

Jude never went into the Eerie Street Club.  Before, it had been because she’d been underage and only people eighteen and older were granted access into the monstrous club that took up half a city block and was built inside an old, Gothic cathedral.  She’d never had the desire to go in anyways, something about the place always striking her as strange and almost repellent.  But now armed with heightened senses and the ability to strip away glamour, she could see the club for what it was and she did not like what she saw.

             
Werewolves.  An entire pack or more was at the club if she had to guess as she wandered about the ground floor looking for Simon.  A pool had been carved into the center of the floor and while the other, decidedly more human club goers seemed unimpressed by the shimmering water, Jude could clearly see that shimmering element was caused by what was swimming around in the pool.

            
 
Mermaids.
 
One shifted onto its back as if catching her thought and when it locked eyes with her, Jude felt a chill run down her spine.

            
 
You don’t belong here
,
a voice whispered inside her mind.
 
This place isn’t for you.

            
 
She didn’t need any more prompting, but couldn’t leave without Simon, who wasn’t answering his phone.  Turning on her heel, she hurried up one of the staircases that flanked the entrance of the club. 

             
A sign above the entryway read “Banewood Bar.”  The second story was shaped like a horseshoe with a gap cut into the middle of the floor so everyone in the bar could look down on the lounge area below and enjoy the music the house band was playing.

             
One half of the space was a designated dance floor while the rest of the area was occupied by small tables, booths, and a massive bar that ran the length of the far wall.  Floor to ceiling mirrors had been installed behind the bar and it was in the reflection of one of those mirrors that Jude caught sight of her brother... talking to Kyle.  The werewolf had an arm around her brother who was, she could tell even from this distance, wasted.

             
“I thought this bar didn’t serve minors,” Jude said, turning the full force of her glare on Kyle as it would be wasted on Simon in his current condition.

             
Kyle shrugged, entirely unaffected, and rose from his stool.  With a flick of his wrist, he dismissed the curvy brunette bartender who’d been fixing the pair another round of drinks.  She glanced at Jude for a moment, sympathy clear in her dark eyes, before disappearing to the other end of the bar.  Jude watched her go, confused as to why a human would be working at a place like the Eerie Street Club.  Even she, transitioning vampire that she was, could tell the place was rife with the supernatural.

             
“Are you going to play nice?”

             
Jude turned her attention back to Kyle and was struck by how tall he was, but it was the shift in his personality that truly caught her by surprise.  Gone was the upbeat, mouthy werewolf she’d met only that morning.  Before her now stood a predator.  A rigid, serious man.  A wolf.

             
“First off,” he said, “your brother has an impressive fake i.d.  Secondly, I’m the one who

served him drinks until he was too drunk to remember his name.”

              “Are you defective?” Jude said.  Or, rather shrieked, which earned her a sharp glare from Kyle who looked pointedly at the other bar patrons before returning his full attention to her.  But something told her he wasn’t focused solely on her.  Something in the way he moved and carried himself reminded her of Tess with her predatory grace and eyes that missed nothing.

             
“Why did you get my brother drunk?” Jude hissed.  She watched Kyle pull Simon off his stool, handling the gangly boy as if he were nothing more than a limp rag doll.  Considering the strength of supernaturals, Jude imagined that was a fair comparison.

             
“You saw the mermaids downstairs,” Kyle said.  “You know what this place really is.”

             
“And how would you know that?” said Jude.  She reached out to take Simon from Kyle, but the werewolf kept a firm grip on her intoxicated brother.  With a huff of indignation, she folded her arms over her chest and glared at Kyle with renewed vigor.

            
 
I told him.

            
 
Jude jolted at the voice inside her mind.  It was the same, chilling voice she’d heard downstairs when she made eye contact with the mermaid.  Turning around, she saw a lovely girl approaching them and wondered if all supernatural creatures were beautiful as a rule of thumb.

             
“What,” said Jude, “you speak to him telepathically too?”  She jerked her thumb at Kyle who had relaxed marginally at the arrival of the redheaded girl who moved to stand at his side.  Something about the action struck Jude, and for a moment she thought she was watching two puzzle pieces connect.  It was as if this woman belonged at Kyle’s side.

             
“Things are tense here at the moment,” the girl said.  While her mental voice had an edge to it, her speaking voice was nothing but mellifluous and sweet.  There was a rocking quality to it, almost like waves lapping against the side of a boat.

             
“You have a drunk teenaged boy on your hands,” Jude said.  “I can imagine why things would be tense.”

             
“No need for an attitude,” Kyle jumped in, but the girl stopped him with a gentle touch on the arm and a disarming smile.  Kyle backed down like a well trained dog and while it wasn’t the nicest comparison to make, it was the most accurate.

             
“We had an incident with a few of our patrons earlier,” the mermaid said.  “Nothing out of the ordinary, but there were a few humans present during the altercation.  Kyle knew who your brother was and offered to handle him as the other humans were dealt with.”

             
The term “dealt with” didn’t sound too pleasant, but something in the girl’s bright green eyes assured Jude that no harm had come to the humans who’d witnessed a supernatural fight.

             
“By handle you mean intoxicate to the point he can’t even remember his own name,” Jude said, but then the brilliance of it all struck her.  “He’s not going to remember any of this in the morning.”

             
“And if he does,” Kyle said, “he’s lucky to live with a transitioning vampire who can easily persuade him to forget.”

             
A spark of recognition flared in the mermaid’s eyes and her smile grew as she looked at Jude.

             
“You’re the girl?” she said.  “The one who is going to be human again?”  There was an undercurrent to the girl’s tone that made Jude hesitant, but she nodded nonetheless.

             
“That’s the plan,” she said and then looked to Kyle.  “Can I take him home now?”

             
“Of course,” Kyle said before readjusting his grip on her brother.  “I’ll help you get him in the car.”

             
“Thanks,” said Jude and headed towards the exit.  She stopped halfway to look back at the freckle faced mermaid who was still staring after her with a curious look on her face.  It took Kyle calling her name to break her from the spell and she hurried after him, helping him carry Simon down the stairs.  It was a pointless gesture since Kyle could carry her brother without any effort, but it made Jude feel useful.