Chapter 19: *CHAPTER 19*

I stood from my chair, happy that my legs had steadied enough to stand again. It felt like I'd been sitting for an eternity, and the sensation was strange—a tension in my lower back and thighs pulled me forward like a rubber band. Malcolm stalked across the room, his face calm but his jaw tight. When he reached to open the door, I felt a splinter of fear twist through my stomach as he tugged it open.

'Finally. Uncle Richard.' Came Malcolm's thoughts through my head.

Oh.

Somehow I'd forgotten that he'd been on the phone with Richard. As the door swung open, a surprising amount of relief washed over me when I saw a bespectacled Richard walking through my doorway. He was still in his long brown tweed pants, his cream-colored dress shirt still buttoned up to the very top button. Though his graying brown hair now curled a little more wildly than when I'd seen him earlier.

He was calm as he peered around the room, his eyes going to the ashy barbecue in the middle of my entryway, thick eyebrows twining together to make one dense line, "What an interesting turn of events."

'Interesting is one word for it.' Came Malcolm's voice in my head.

I was trying to ignore the mental dialogue that wasn't my own when Richard turned to me. "How are you doing Kassie? Did the Vampire injure you at all?"

"I'm alright." I gave him as steady a smile as I could muster.

"It didn't bite you?"

"It bit her alright," Malcolm answered for me, " I checked the wound and it doesn't appear to be infected. The venom's already wearing off."

The sun shining through the narrow opening in my front door cast a warm hue on Richard's face as he eyed the tattered fabric of my sleeve, stained with dried blood that matched the deep purple of my shoulder, "Vampire venom can lead to severe hallucinations in humans. We wouldn't want you to have to experience that on top of everything else."

"Luckily, she didn't have that strong of a reaction to it," Malcolm said.

I didn't know what to make of that. I'd certainly felt like I'd had a strong reaction to it the way I'd almost ripped mine and Malcolm's clothes off.

Behind Richard, Caleb's figure popped through the doorway, rolling what looked to be a shop vac behind him. My pint-sized entryway was becoming impossibly crowded.

Caleb grinned, eyeing the remains, "Gnarly. Nice work, Black." He gave his cousin a jab to the shoulder, and Malcolm just shook his head. "How you holding up over there Kassie?" Caleb called, bending to plug the vacuum's cord into the outlet on my wall.

"I'm okay."

"We're both fine," Malcolm said, stepping out of the way as I picked my way across the floor to get a better view of what they were planning to do, "except that the Curse Mark is now becoming a problem."

"What sort of symptoms are you experiencing?" Richard asked, concern marring his previously calm demeanor.

"I can hear her thoughts in my head and she can hear mine. We can't control it," Malcolm's expression turned sour, like he'd tasted something bad. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I can also hear her heartbeat in my chest—though, I guess, feel would be more accurate."

This was the first time I was hearing about the heartbeat part, my head swung in his direction. He pointedly ignored me. I don't think I was imagining the surprised look that passed over Richard and Caleb's faces. It wasn't reassuring.

"And when did you first notice this was happening?" Richard asked.

"I was next door scoping out George's house when Kassie got attacked by the vampire. I only knew to come over here because I could hear her panic in my head. Thought I might be having some sort of heart attack when the heartbeat thing started," he muttered the last part under his breath almost as an aside.

Richard pursed his lips thoughtfully, eyes shifting between Malcolm and me, "If it happened when Kassie was attacked, I'd think it was a stress-induced acceleration of the Curse. Any other symptoms you've noticed?"

"No," I said, "and I don't have the heartbeat thing like Malcolm does." And there was no way in hell I was going to say anything about the strange new pull I felt toward Malcolm. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction. It was probably just a weird reaction to the vampire venom anyway.

'It would have been nice to know about the heartbeat thing earlier.' I pushed that thought toward him. I wasn't sure if that helped him hear it or not, but was annoyed enough to give it a shot.

'And when would have been a good time for me to mention it?' Came his scathing retort, 'When you were mid-panic attack or when you were considering throwing up on my shoes?'

I glared at him and he glared right back. Richard carried on, not noticing our mental barbs, "I've never encountered anything like it before," I don't think I was imagining the scholarly excitement gleaming in his eyes, "but that doesn't mean that it's unheard of."

"Do you have any idea how we can fix this?" I asked him. I silently pleaded with the universe that Richard would know how to make this nightmare end. I couldn't live like this for the rest of my life. He turned an apologetic expression on me, "I'll have to do a little more research. It's not something I'm incredibly familiar with, but it does sound something like certain Life-Binding Curses I've heard of performed in the past."

'And here I thought things couldn't get worse.'

I ignored Malcolm's mental barrage as much as possible.

Richard continued, "I think our Coven leader, Peter, might have some information that might help on blocking out Mental magic attacks that might be useful in this case. Let's hope he can meet with us on such short notice. Let me call him now and see what we can do."

Everything was going to be okay. At least that's what I chanted to myself as I watched on in sick fascination as Caleb proceeded to vacuum the vampire's ashes from my tile. When he finished there were still scorch marks leaving a ghastly rendering of a burnt figure blazed into the ground. My house now looked like something from CSI. I made a mental note to get a rug to cover it up before my Uncle David came back into town.

Leaving the house, my eyes were drawn to Lucille still watering the plants at the end of her driveway. Something in my chest panged at the thought of her totally unaware that a vampire had just been burnt to a pile of ashes only two houses down from her while she'd been taking care of her plants. That same dead vampire's ashes were now being stuffed into the back of Malcolm's truck that very moment.

I turned away from the quiet street and back to where Caleb and Malcolm were tossing my pink duffel bag into the bed of Malcolm's truck.

"Ready to go?" Caleb asked me.

I opened my mouth to answer when a shadow off to the side of George's house drew my attention. My heart kicked up a notch as I recognized the skittering shape. Malcolm tensed—probably feeling my heart rate take off in excitemeny. His head turning to see what had caught my gaze, "What—" he started, but I cut him off.

"Look, it's Mrs. Nisbitt!"

He groaned long and low as he followed my gaze to the graying Tabby cat now slinking cautiously around George's front porch, "Not this again."

"Who's Mrs. Nisbitt?" Caleb asked, turning to where the graying tabby cat was licking at her paw. She watched us with narrowed yellow eyes.

"She's George's cat. Or was. He treated her like his baby," I told him as I took a few cautious steps to fill the gap between us and George's house.

"Let me guess," Malcolm's voice was as resigned as a martyr's, "you want to take her with us."

"We can't just leave her here," I pointed out, "it's too hot for her to be living outside. Not only that, what if a vampire comes back?"

"A vampire is not going to be interested in a stray cat," Malcolm sneered, "And that's not to mention the fact that the probability of another vampire being in this city is next to none."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Caleb had stepped around the truck to stand beside me, bending down to get a better look at Mrs. Nisbitt. She chose that moment to let out a pitiful mewling sound. "Kassie's right Malcolm, we can't just leave George's cat sitting around without a home. I'm sure there's someone in the coven who would be happy to adopt her."

I shot Malcolm a triumphant look, raising my eyebrows. 'See, Caleb gets it.'

I don't think I was imagining the horrified look that crossed his face before he smothered it down waving a hand in a gesture for us to get on with it.