“You are not a shifter. You are not bound by their—whatever it is. Their rules. You can walk away.”

Her platinum head shakes, and she glances down. “You’re right. I’m not bound by their rules, but I don’t want to walk away.” She smiles so big as she reaches forward and takes my hands again. “Have you seen him? Can you believe my luck?”

“I think you’re being impulsive about something really serious.”

Her eyes narrow, and she pushes my hands away. “I would think after all this time you would trust me. I can read minds, after all.”

“I’m sorry.” I reach for her hands again, and she lets me take them. “You’re right. He’s gorgeous, and he does seem very fun—from twenty feet away. I’m just… I’m not very good at optimism these days.”

“Come here.” A sad little smile pulls her lips as we hug each other. “You’re going to be just as lucky, I promise. We’re going to fix this.”

My eyes heat, and I’m afraid I might cry. Instead, I clear my throat, remembering the other part of her story that concerned me the most. “You said something about Derek. What was that?”

“Oh!” She’s back to excited. “He’s a vampire hunter as well. One of the top guys in his field, in paranormal investigations.”

“Oh my god.” My head goes light. “Oh my god, Elaine.” I lean forward, pushing my hands into the sides of my dark hair.

“I thought you’d be happy!” She’s watching me with a frown. “If anyone would know of a cure, it would be someone who specializes in vampires, don’t you think?”

I bit him. Oh my god, I bit a vampire hunter. His blood is swimming in my veins. Oh my god. Was I cursed as a child? Born under a bad sign?

Elaine hops up and catches me, stopping my rocking. “You know it drives me crazy that I can’t hear you anymore. Why are you so freaked out by this?”

For the first time in my life I’m thankful she can’t read my thoughts. “I’m a vampire,” I deflect. “He hunts me.”

“First, you are not a vampire. Not until you make your first kill. Second, I can’t think of anyone more qualified to help you! I told you he has powerful feelings for you.”

With a shudder, I can’t imagine his feelings are as powerful as mine, and if he ever found out what I did…

A quick glance at the clock tells me it’s two-thirty. “We’ve got to get moving or we’re going to be late to meet Mariska.”

“Oh!” She jumps away. “I showered already with Patrick. I’ll head on down. Meet us there, okay?”

Shaking my head, I pick up a towel. “I’m right behind you.”

7

Special Forces Melissa

Mariska studies my palm, examining the lines, extreme concentration creasing her pretty brow. Finally, she releases a deep exhale. “I’m sorry. I can’t read your future. It’s a swirl of indecision. One option appears then another contradicts it.”

“Fuck,” Elaine snaps.

“Lainey.” I glance around the crowded restaurant. “Families come here. Anyway, she tried.” I give Mariska a genuine smile. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry,” my best friend says. “The uncertainty of all of this is making me crazy.”

I squeeze her hand and turn back to the young woman in front of us. “Did you find anything?”

Mariska pushes a lock of wavy chestnut hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to give you false hope, but…” Her golden eyes are so earnest, I can’t help liking her. “The problem with vampire cures is no one’s ever survived long enough to confirm if any of them actually work.”

“Oh.” I pull back. “What does that mean?”

“I spent all day yesterday pouring through Yaya’s journals and the journals of Philome. In most cases, the alpha vampire either kills the hybrid, or the hybrid kills the human trying to save him or her.” She gives me a cautious look. “From what I understand, the drive to feed is overwhelming. Most hybrids aren’t strong enough to stop before it’s too late.”

The memory of Derek’s blood floods me with heat. “It’s very hard,” I whisper.

“Well, that’s not very encouraging,” Elaine retorts.

Just then our oysters arrive. We lean back as the server puts a bowl of Oysters Rockefeller soup in front of Mariska, an ACME Special po-boy in front of Elaine, and a Peace-maker in front of me.

Mariska takes a spoonful of the dark brown soup and makes a happy sound before she continues. “Either way, I found two distinct possibilities!”

“What are they?” Elaine’s tone is sharp before she takes a bite of her debris-style roast beef sandwich.

I place a hand calmly on her forearm. “Tell us what you found.”

“Okay,” Mariska nods taking another bite of soup. “The first is pretty quick and easy. Kill the head vampire.”

“Seriously?” Elaine flops back against the booth, throwing up her hands. “Fucking Lost Boys?”

“I’m not sure Patrick is such a good influence on you,” I mutter, looking over my shoulder in her direction.

“I know!” Mariska nods unfazed. “They used it in that movie, but it actually has a basis in fact. Many devices novelists and screenwriters use have a basis in fact. It’s really cool.”

“I’m sure.” Elaine’s tone is the exact opposite.

“So our first option is to kill the one who made me straight out,” I say, trying to get us back on track. “I don’t think I’m strong enough for that.”

“Oh, you’re not,” our gypsy friend says with certainty. “Only specially trained vampire hunters should even attempt something like that. And they usually fail.”

I do my best to steady my breathing, and I realize I’m not going to eat any of my fried oyster and shrimp sandwich. All I can think about is Derek being specially trained. Derek failing.

“So assuming that’s not an option,” I say. “What’s our number two?”

“Okay,” she says again, wiggling a bit in her seat. “This one has real potential. It’s an old cure for chupacabra. It involves mingling lycan blood with verbena root—”

“Lycan?” I interrupt. “As in werewolf?”

“Or shifter. They’re also immune to vampire bites, so their blood would work.” Elaine and I exchange a look as Mariska continues. “I don’t know where we’d find a lycan or a shifter, but supposedly, if you mix their blood with the verbena root into a draught, it will burn the vampire taint out of you.”

“Burn?” My voice is quiet.

We’re all quiet, and Mariska looks straight at me. “Yes. That’s the downside of this cure. The lycan blood and the vampire blood oppose each other in your veins until one wins. It’s incredibly painful, and I’m not even sure how much shifter blood we’d need. If we even knew a shifter.”

Ice fills my stomach. “Oh, god. I was born under a curse.”

My hand is suddenly clasped in an iron grip. “Stop it!” Elaine’s green eyes bore into mine. “Whatever you’re facing, whatever sign you’re born under, I’m with you in it. We’re going to fix this.”

Turning to Mariska, her tone is all business. “Can you get this verbena root?”

“Of course!” Mariska smiles. “It grows wild all over the place.”

“Get as much as you need.”

“Wait.” Mariska’s eyes narrow. “Does that mean—do you know a shifter?”

“Actually, if you can believe it, we just met one.”

“Here in New Orleans?!” She jumps in her seat, immediately excited. Then, just as fast, she seems embarrassed by her enthusiasm.

“Yes,” I say, studying her strange reaction. “It’s a real coincidence.”

She starts, and her voice goes quiet. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Neither do I.” Elaine, unlike me, is calm about all of these things.

Golden eyes blink up to us. “Can I meet him?”

“I guess you have to if you’re going to do the spell. What’s wrong?”

Mariska’s entire body flushes, but she tries to hide it by switching the subject. “It’s the most painful cure. Are you sure you can do it?”