The Vampire's Curse Read Free Page B

he wouldn't look at her, but his voice was soft again. "I'm getting better at controlling it."
    She nodded. She knew that, he'd been improving for years, to the point where the little accidents he had were fewer and fewer, which was why she allowed herself to become his friend.
    The problem was that he wanted more. But as his control improved, she had to admit to herself that it wasn't entirely his ability that turned her off of him, she just didn't see him that way. As handsome and noble as he was, she didn't feel the pull that she wanted.
    " You could try dating him anyway, it will come on its own." Her mother had said when she talked to her about it, but Jackie didn't want that. She didn't want to date someone just because they were good and nice, she wanted attraction to go with it. Attraction like she felt the night before when that Feral turned back into a normal vampire.
    Too bad she knew absolutely nothing about him. For all she knew, he could have been trying to become a Feral on purpose when she kissed him. It made the attraction she felt for him in that split second as useless as her lack of attraction for Mike.
    The red light turned green and they moved slowly through the traffic. The plows had already passed through but the snow still fell in heavy clumps and was quickly building again on the street.
    Mike tapped his fingers some more on the steering wheel. "So tell me about what this guy looked like, before and after you kissed him."
    She flinched at the hurt in his voice. She should have known he wouldn't be silent about that. "He was definitely on the verge of feral before I kissed him."
    "What makes you so sure?"
    She sighed, hating that he had to question her like she was just some person off the street, even though she was the one who insisted she couldn't be close to him. "Everyone knows what a Feral looks like. Trust me, he was turning," she insisted, remembering his black eyes and warping teeth.
    "Hmmm," Mike tapped his fingers some more while he thought. "There's no way of telling if he was trying to turn feral on purpose, even if what you saw was a feral vamp."
    "It was."
    "But you said after you kissed him he ..."
    Jackie brought the memory fresh into her mind. "He started to turn normal. I guess he wasn't Feral after I kissed him, but the funny thing is he looked human."
    "All vamps look human, Jackie."
    "I know, but you can usually see a hint of teeth. I didn't see them after I kissed him, plus I got this feeling."
    "A feeling?"
    She deflated in her seat and crossed her arms, knowing that he was struggling to believe her. Hell, if he was just another cop and didn't know who she was, there was no way he'd be giving her the benefit of the doubt like he was right now. "Right, just a feeling."
    He tapped the wheel some more. She knew what he was thinking. He wanted to read her mind to see for himself that she was telling the truth, and it made the little hairs on the back of her head stand in a rage.
    She'd rather he believed her just because she said it happened.
    When they finally pulled into the clinic he parked the car and turned off the engine, but neither of them got out. Jackie could taste the thick tension swirling around the car with all the things that had yet to be said. "So, why did you kiss him?"
    Not the question she'd been expecting, he was lucky for that, but she groaned and rubbed her face. "Mike."
    "No, really. I know you can heal people and all, but even you know that you can't cure things like Lycanthrope and vampirism. You can't even cure the common cold, so if someone comes along in a dark alley that you think looks like a feral, why kiss him?"
    Her anger at his lack of faith and heated words burst through without her permission. "I don't know, it was just something I did without thinking. And if you don't believe me when I say he was at least a vampire, why would he try to bite me?"
    "It could easily have been some crazed guy who's a fan of vampires, who’s running around trying