“Shepard. I thought you believed in straight answers.”
He looks over at me like he’s hurting somewhere, and it has nothing to do with a vampire bite. “I do.”
I sit back a little farther. “Whatareyou?”
He turns himself completely towards me. “Penelope, I’m exactly what I look like. I’m a Talker, a Bleeder, a Normal.”
“And…”
“And I am also slightly… a little bit…” He swallows. “Cursed.”
I wasn’t expecting him to say that. I don’t even know what that means. “You’recursed?”
He rubs his eyes under his glasses. “Yeah, I… Josh the tech-bro vampire couldn’t claim my soul because,technically speaking,it belongs to someone else.”
“Who?”
“Nobody you’d know. I hope. A demon. Demon-type. I’d tell you his name, but then he might show up. I…” He looks embarrassed. Caught out. He slowly takes off his jean jacket.…
His arms are covered with twisting black tattoos. Runes and numbers. Thorns.
“Shepard.”
“Pretty goth, right? Not the ink I’d choose for myself. I thought about getting a Vonnegut quote, but everybody has those.…”
“How did thishappen?”
He looks down. “Oh, you know—your classic wrong place, wrong time scenario. A summoning circle. Midnight. And then… a series of miscommunications and cultural differences.”
I’m still looking at the curse markings. I press my gem to his flesh.“Out, out, damned spot!”
The spell shoots down through my arm, then seems to double back on me. I pull my hand away like I’ve been shocked, and my gem drops.
The balcony is made of wood decking, and the gem is resting at the edge of one of the slats. Shepard carefully picks it up and holds it out to me. “Thank you,” he says. “But I don’t think there’s any un-cursing me. Some magic works on me, but nothing that would change my fate—”
I clench my amethyst in my fist and press my hand against his neck.
“Penelope,” he says, catching my wrist.
“Get well soon!”I say. I feel the spell hook on him. He feels it, too. His head rocks back a bit, and he squeezes my wrist.
I move my hand away. The vampire bite already looks a bit better. Good.
He’s still holding my wrist.
“Shepard, you’re not going back to Las Vegas.”
“But my—”
“If you mention your truck again, I’m going to turn you into a frog.” I pull my hand away. “A demon-cursed frog.”
“I need to get back home.”
“No.” I fold my arms. “You’re coming back to London with us. I’m taking you to my mother, and she’s going to fix you.”
“I appreciate the offer, but this situation is beyond ma—”
“Nothingis beyond magic!”
