Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Three months later
Gemma threw herself in a chair and buried her face in her hands at the kitchen counter in Val’s apartment.
“What’s up?” Val asked, pouring a smoothie fresh out of her blender. The crystals on her charm bracelet clanked against the glass cup.
She peeked between her fingers. “There was an incident at work.”
“You bit someone?” She poured a second smoothie for Gemma and slid it across the counter. “We both knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.”
She groaned. “Worse.”
“You killed someone who annoyed you? I’ve been waiting for this. I need details.” Val didn’t seem appalled by the thought, only curious.
“A patient got discharged and I was cleaning up her room. There was an unused bag of blood hanging on the IV stand.”
“You did not.” Val put a hand over her mouth, but it didn’t hide her laughter.
“I popped the top on it like a soda can and guzzled. I was hungry after my self-defense class before work. In the middle of my snack, the chief of surgery walked in.”
“Oh, my,” Val said in mock horror before she fell against the counter giggling.
“I was a half bag into the disgusting swill, which did nothing for my hunger. I didn’t realize it wasn’t whole blood, but packed red cells.
Drinking them alone is like drinking coffee grinds instead of the coffee.
I don’t recommend it. The chief lost it.
I’m talking high-pitch girly screaming. I spewed blood everywhere. ”
Val bent over at the waist, emitting snorts of laughter.
“The screaming surprised the hell out of me, but after I spewed, it got worse. I decided to attempt persuasion, and I overdid it. The guy’s probably still walking around the hospital like a drooly zombie who can’t remember his name.”
“Oh God, Gemma. That’s…” Val wiped tears out of her eyes.
“Did you know you can’t un-do persuasion?
I tried. A second try makes it worse. I have no clue how long the persuasion lasts.
A day? A year? The rest of his life? I ruined a brilliant surgeon’s life.
The guy might never remember his kids. I did that.
My fault. So, logically, I put in my notice.
Actually, I outright quit.” Gemma covered her face again.
“This vampire thing sucks.” She glanced up. “Stop it. This isn’t funny.”
“You’re right. Not funny.” Val swiped at both of her eyes, but burst into laughter again. She held up a hand and took a few breaths. “You are hands down the coolest being I’ve ever met. I’d love to have some of your abilities. Well, maybe not the blood hunger part.”
“I’m not biting you. I don’t think I’m allowed to turn a witch. So, you can’t be like me.” She sniffed the smoothie and almost vomited. Pushing it away she muttered, “I’m so hungry.”
“Why not go to the dangerous part of town and kill someone doing something illegal? No one will miss them.”
“Straight from the source? Humans… That’s gross. Besides, I don’t want to kill anyone.” Gemma shuddered before laying her head on the counter. “I’m a complete failure as a vampire.”
“You’re still learning. You’ve still got a few hundred years, maybe a thousand, to figure it out.”
“Oh, God,” she moaned. “I’ll die of starvation long before that.”
“Stop being a drama queen. You’re hungry, and you’re horny. Time to start dating again.”
“I’d have to update my app profile to say ‘if I bite you, I’ll have to kill you.’”
Val crinkled up her nose as if considering it. She shook her head. “You’ll get crazies who’ll be into kinky stuff. Joking aside, you need to move on. Forget Skarde. You’re young, immortal, and beautiful. Maybe there’s a vampire underground you can tap into here.”
She rolled her head on the countertop. I will not cry.
Not again. “I need to go back. I’d rather die over there than live alone over here.
I can’t let something like today happen again.
Let’s also not forget what happened yesterday with the witch in the restaurant.
So many people got hurt when she attacked me. ”
Val sipped her smoothie. “You rocked. I taught you well. You don’t need some alpha macho vampire who tried to get rid of you to take care of you. Maybe he already moved on. Did you think of that? Sounds like he has a weakness for sex. Do you think he could go twelve weeks without?”
That hurt.
“He doesn’t deserve you. He made you feel worthless. Then, at the last possible moment, he had regrets.” Val picked a scrying glass off the counter and flipped it over. “Forget him.”
Gemma’s throat tightened. “Sending me back here was his misdirected way of saving me.”
“You didn’t need saving. You need someone who’s not a mess, someone who has his shit together and sees you for how incredible you are.”
“I don’t think I would’ve survived the past few months if you hadn’t let me move in after we set my apartment on fire.
I’ve learned so much about magic. But…I still want him.
” Her chest clinched at the same time her stomach rumbled.
“His blood tasted incredible. And the sex… Oh, God, I miss it. Maybe if I saw him one more time, I could get closure and accept that we never had something special.”
“I can’t make a portal.” Val rinsed the blender in the sink. “I’m not sure I would even if I could.”
“Could you arrange for me to have a few minutes to talk to him through a TV screen or mirror?”
“Girl, you want far more than a little chat. You’ll try to get to him the second you have a chance. It’s selfish, but I like having you here. I’ve never had a friend who’s weirder than me.”
“You said I was cool, not weird.” She smiled at Val.
“You’re both.”
Talking to Skarde through the TV…
She sat up straight. “That’s it. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.
The DVD. Maybe it’ll give me a final episode so I can see into his life.
Maybe talk to him.” Maybe I can go across.
“I bet the disc is still in my external hard drive.” Thankfully, she’d grabbed that and her computer before burning down her place to cover up the witch’s attack.
* * *
“Hope this works.” Gemma hooked her external hard drive to her computer and waited. She held her breath and stared at her computer screen. “Oh, my God. Look!” She pointed.
“Is that a new episode?” Val asked.
Gemma nodded.
The opening theme of the show echoed around them.
Val grabbed her hand. “I’m so excited for you. And for me to see into another realm!”
The scene opened up in a stone structure, but not Skarde’s house.
He was fighting not one, but two beings—a witch and a zombie.
They watched him dodge and score hits with his knife.
He uttered something, possibly a spell, that froze one of his opponents for a moment, just long enough for him to kill it.
As the camera panned back, Gemma recognized the church where Skarde had fought the zombie-making witch while she’d been attacked at the inn.
“Zombies with some level of reasoning?” Val whistled. “Those guys require top level magic. See the tattoos on the witch’s neck? She’s upper echelon. I have total respect for this vampire of yours, going after someone who can make zombies like those.”
The witch blasted Skarde with some sort of lightning strike, which threw him out of the half-foot thick wooden doors into some sort of courtyard where, of course, it was raining. It had to be behind the church, since she didn’t recognize the space.
“Always with the rain,” she muttered.
Skarde rolled and stared her way. “Gemma?”
She waved at the television.
His eyelids closed and he ran a hand through his hair. “Of course you pick now to show up.”
She stood directly in front of the screen. “What does that mean? Are you happy with your alone time? Did it help you decide you don’t want me back?”
“Get the hell over here.” His lips turned upward into a smile. “Fair warning, there’s an angry witch trying to kill me in there.” He nodded toward the church
She glanced at Val. “I—”
“Go. I had a dream that I think means I’ll see you again. Maybe through a portal. Maybe by dream walking. Maybe we’ll meet somewhere else.” Val hugged her. “You’re my bestie and I’m going to miss you like a hole in my heart. Now go. Drool a bit on that brother of Skarde’s for me.”
“Cade?”
Val’s face flashed bright pink.
“Seriously?” Gemma whistled. “He hates witches. Just saying.”
“You go.”
“Thank you. For everything. You have all my account information. If you need anything, you can have whatever you want.”
Gemma pushed her hands through the screen, the portal sucking her in and compressing her. As she landed, shards of glass fell around her from the church window that had served as the other side of the portal.
No option to return. No problem. She had no desire to go back.
I’m home.