Chapter 20

My fingertips felt numb, prickling with heat and sensitivity.  Even as I placed my palms in the soft, dewy grass to crawl over to Bruno, I felt tiny aftershocks.  I didn’t panic, I didn’t speak.  I was silent, observing the phenomena that had just taken place.  When we made an attempt at a reversal curse a week ago, I knew something was wrong when he went unconscious.  Now, I felt like something was right.  I couldn’t explain the feeling, it was like a tunnel that connected our souls had opened up and was transmitting high frequencies of emotion.

“Holy shit...” He murmured, blinking a few times while he remained on the ground.  He covered his face and then held up his arms, looking at his tattoos.  “What was that?”

“Bruno...is that you?” I asked, my voice soft, hopeful.  A part of me still didn’t want to believe that it was so easy.

He slowly sat up and looked around at our surroundings before his eyes landed on me and a smile crept across his lips.  “I’m pretty damn sure it’s me.”  His hands travelled down his torso, then back up to his fedora.  “And it feels so good to be back!”

“Oh my God.” I lunged forward and tackled him to the ground, clinging tightly to him for fear that if I let go, I would lose him again.  “Oh my God.” I repeated like a mantra.

“Baby, that spell did something to you.” He said, seriousness returning to his tone as he sat up.  I still clung to him regardless, my arms around his waist, head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, it brought you back.” I tilted my head up and laid tender, open mouthed kisses along his jawline.

“But you shouldn’t have been able to do that babe; as much as I love being back in my body, and being able to ravage yours, you shouldn’t have power like that.”

I sighed, a tinge ruffled at the timing of his rational thinking; but nonetheless he was absolutely correct.  Glowing tears, white light force emanating from my hands, this wasn’t normal.  And this didn’t happen until the voodoo spell went awry.  “What are you saying then?” I asked, finally loosening my hold upon him, if only slightly.

“I’m saying keep your guard up.” He said simply.  I nodded in understanding and we looked upon each other in silence for a few moments.  Bruno looked away, down at the blades of grass he held between his fingers absentmindedly.  “I remember everything, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“It was like...an out of body experience.  I watched myself kill innocent people...I don’t think I’ll ever forget that poor pregnant woman.  I never staked another vampire until that night at the corner store.  I was...ruthless.” As he spoke, I could feel his guilt within our blood bond connection.  

I perked up a little, “Yeah but you couldn’t help it.  You were also very kind, and very innocent.  You wanted nothing more than to protect me, to understand the depth of our love.  You moved forward trying to find a cure for this without hesitation, without reservations because you had no recollection of bad experiences.  You were learning nearly everything for the first time.”

He continued to roll the blades of grass between his fingers.  “You loved the other me better.” He concluded.

“No!” I gently turned his face up to look at me.  “I love you like this, normal.  I just don’t want you to regret anything you did under that spell.”

I heard a rustling in the nearby bushes, and Bruno’s arm came around my waist protectively.  He leaned in towards my ear, his voice low.  “It’s a Shifter.” He murmured.

I remained still as a German Shepard, in fact, the one from Ray’s home, came out into the open and morphed into a woman.  She was petite and thin, with milky white skin and auburn curly hair and light freckles dusted across her cheekbones.  Her eyes were a forest green color, bright and vibrant.

“Good job, vamp.” She said, her voice airy.  “I’ve been watchin’ you two f’er a while now, had to keep an eye out f’er my brother.  But my, I didn’t expect this one to have any kind of actual talent besides gyratin’ her ass onstage.  If you call that talent.”

“Hey, watch it bitch, I’ll knock you the fuck-” I stood up and barreled towards her but Bruno grasped my arm tightly.

The woman chortled in laughter.  “I’d like to see you try.” Her eyes twinkled with challenge before she approached us, circling us slowly.  “Now you’ve got your mind back, huh vamp?”

“I have a name...and it isn’t vamp.” Bruno’s hand still held a vice grip on my wrist.  I wish I could channel the power I had from before to break free and rip this woman’s head clean off her shoulders for disrespecting me the way she was.

The woman rolled her eyes, “Bruno Mars...yeah yeah, just ‘bout everyone knows you and y’er sappy ass love songs.”

“Yo let me kill her!” I started fighting against his grip but he held me close now, both my wrists behind my back.  I was now rendered completely useless.  “Ooh you stupid bitch, let me get you alone...”

“Your anger, baby, please.” Bruno said, and that was all it took for me to relax.  My anger always seemed to bring out bad memories...that one specific bad memory.  It was the one thing he hated about me.  I bit my lip so hard, I was afraid it might bleed.  “What do you want?”

“I can tell you what y’er friend is.”

“We’re already aware that she’s a witch by bloodline.” He replied sharply, “Try again.  What do you want?” His tone was venomous, low, lethal; as he paused between each word.

“Yeah, but she ain’t just no regular witch, she’s a real special kind o’ witch.  See, I been watchin’ her close ‘cause she’s real peculiar; she has some real odd dreams, and she likes to speak out loud when she’s havin’ em.  When she’s alone, thinks nobody’s watchin’...she has conversations with herself.” The woman stopped her full circle in front of us and lifted a brow.

“So what do you want?” Bruno was adamant about her price.  Nobody would offer that kind of information for free.  He let me go, I guess realizing my temper had drifted back down into tolerable territory.

“I want some V.”

This time it was Bruno’s turn to lift his own eyebrow as he chuckled at her request.  “Are you crazy? Hell no.”

She smirked, “Then y’er stuck with the wildcard, and I’ll tell you...she’s one hell of a wildcard that cain’t neither one of you do nothin’ about.”

A gust of air, that familiar gust of air, whipped my angled bang askew in my face as I removed it to see Bruno holding her up mid-air, his hand enclosed around her throat.  She kicked her feet, tugging at his hand, but her expression remained relaxed, save for her choked gasps.  “Tell me what you know.” He demanded, fangs bared.

She looked down at him, amused.  “I’m a Shifter, loyalty is in my blood, you can kill me f’er all I care.”

“If loyalty is in your blood, why do you want mine?  Isn’t that against your kind?”

She growled.  “I just want the fuckin’ V.”

“Bruno.” I called out, rushing over to them as I placed my hand upon his arm, forcing him to lower the woman back to the ground.  She collapsed in a heap, spitting and gasping for air.  “Maybe you should just give her some...I mean yeah, I got your memory back but that’s the least of our worries if we can’t figure out what the hell is going on with Robyn.  She could do bigger damage.”

The woman looked up at us, her eyes fiendish, hopeful.  Bruno seemed utterly disgusted with the idea as he looked upon her as though she were worthless.  I guess these were untold rules between species; and he was breaking them.  He brought his wrist up to his sharp teeth and broke his skin, kneeling down to the woman who’s eyes grew wider, breath more rapid as she leaned forward, her tongue running over her dry lips, moistening them with anticipation.

Bruno took his wrist away just moments before she could get a taste.  He smiled, his perfect white teeth glinting in the moonlight, the fangs stained with his blood.  He was amused by her fervor.  He even chuckled in his signature higher pitch, something he did when he found something really funny.

“Come on...” The woman begged, near tears.  It was a polar opposite from her over confidence just moments earlier, and I wondered how vampire blood could render someone so vulnerable.  Maybe it didn’t affect me the way it did other supernatural creatures.  

“Tell me what you know about Robyn.” He demanded.

She furrowed her brow, “I know better than to trust a vampire.”

“And I know better than to trust a V-addicted Shifter.”

I could tell the woman was thinking hard.  She fidgeted with her fingers, eyes dancing from Bruno to me and back to him again, her lower lip quivering.  Finally, she decided, wisely, to speak.  “When she’s dreamin’, she starts speakin’ in this heavy island accent.  Talkin’ all kinds of mess about killin’ vampires, savin’ the innocent humans, gettin’ the life back that she lost.  Hell, I ain’t understand half of it ‘cause her accent was too thick.  When she’s alone and she talks to herself, she talks in two different voices.  One is that same thick island talk, the other is her normal voice I assume.  She argues with herself, sayin’ she wants her gone.  Who “her” is, I don’t know, but somethin’s in her.  That girl ain’t right, the only time I done seen somethin’ like that is when someone is possessed.”

“Possessed?” Bruno repeated.

I snapped my fingers, a discovery coming to my mind.  “Her grandmother was killed, the one who practiced Obeah! Rih didn’t tell me how she was killed but-”

“Vampires.  She was probably killed by a vampire.” Bruno finished my thought, his eyes wide with realization.

The woman whimpered.  “Keep up on y’er side of the deal, come on now.” She begged.  He looked at her, and for a moment, I thought he was going to trick her and leave; but sure enough, he reopened his healed wounds and allowed her to drink from his life source.  I had a feeling the amnesia Bruno would not have been so generous.

He ripped his arm away seconds later.  “Don’t get greedy, Shifter.”

She wiped her mouth hungrily, licking up the residual blood from her messy feeding.  “I gotta name too, y’know.”

“And that is?” I asked.

“Gina.” She stated, before transforming on the spot back into her German Shepard form and galloping off into the forest, letting loose a long, powerful howl.
 

“Possession, it’s all adding up now.” Jason said in understanding.  “I had faith in my child, but I must say you two together are quite the detective team.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Have you ever considered joining our ranks?” He asked.

“Uh...” I was thrown off by his sudden question, wondering if it was rhetorical or if he was actually asking me that.  When he didn’t continue to speak, I assumed the latter.  “Not particularly.”

“Pity.  You would be valuable to our kind.” He paused before continuing, “So the theory now is that the witchcraft in her bloodline makes her receptive to possession by her more powerful ancestors, in this case, her vengeful grandmother who...we are hypothesizing, was murdered by a vampire.  This being said, I doubt she would use possession just for a murder, she must have a past with our kind as well...something triggers this need to use her grandchild to find her own peace.”

“Well Jason, what are we supposed to do with this?  I mean, do we get her an exorcism or what?” I shoved Bruno away as he tried to kiss the back of my neck while I was on the phone.  His timing was horrible.

“If she’s actively possessed, the spirit won’t even allow her to get to the location of an exorcism.  This kind of situation calls for a stealth procedure.  But first we need to be sure our theory is correct.”

“Nnngh.” I made a indistinguishable noise as Bruno found my spot, right at the crook of my neck.  I shoved him again.

“What was that?” Jason asked.

“Nothing!” I said brightly, trying to fight while the vampire in my presence tried to restrict my flailing arm.  He shoved me onto the bed, pinning me, the phone landing just inches from my face.  “Can we come back to Los Angeles?” I still tried to have a decent conversation, this was important.

“You’ll be taking a risk by attempting to restore the Sheriff’s memory.  Many vampires will be present to be sure no ulterior motives are present.” He replied.

“Get the fuck off me.” I whispered fiercely while Bruno straddled me, running his hands down the sides of my body.  I felt his clothed erection between my thighs and damn it I wish my body didn’t submit to him the way it always did as my hips raised up to meet his slow grinding.

“I can do it.” I whimpered at a higher pitch than normal.

“Is everything alright over there?  Should I be alarmed?”

“Yes.” Bruno snickered.  I thrust upwards, hard, to make him shut up.

“When can we come back?” I asked.

“Tomorrow evening, I’ll send the alert out to have the guards stand down.  You can come to the Sheriff’s mansion, make sure my child is with you, and make sure Robyn is not present whatsoever.” Jason explained.  Bruno’s intention became more apparent, his hips building a needy friction against my own.

“I...nggghh....I’ll....see.....bye.” I said abruptly, unable to hang up since my arms were restricted.  Bruno grabbed the phone, pressed end quickly and threw it onto the floor, ripping my cutoffs from my legs.

“Horrible timing.  Absolutely horrid.” I scolded him while he used his vampiric speed to take his cargo shorts and boxers off.

“Fuck timing, I got my memory back and I need to be inside you.” His voice was deep and gravelly, eyes glazed over with need, his lids low.  In no time, he plowed deep inside of me with his length; thick and powerful, filling me to the hilt and beyond.  Splitting me open in the best way possible; and oh my God how I had missed this.  How I had missed the ultimate connection of our souls, the slickness of his body sliding against mine.  The feel of his muscles flexing with every thrust that brought him nearer to his release, and ever nearer to my own.

I tightened my legs around his waist, pulling him into me harder, clutching him closer, breathing into the nape of his neck.  Moaning and writhing in uncontrollable pleasure.

“Say my name.” He groaned into my ear, stroking me slower, deeper.  My skin was ablaze, hotter than it had ever been before; which was a stark contrast to his icebox skin pressed flush against my own.

I gasped as he impaled me again, “I-I can’t...the others...” I tried to speak but I couldn’t coherently form sentences.

“I know.” He smirked, “I want them to know who’s fucking you through the bed right now.”

“Fuck....I hate you....unnnghh.” I relapsed back into incoherency, and had no choice but to arch my back and wail his name louder than intended when he lifted my hips to change the angle, his thumb coming down to circle my bundle of nerves into abandon.  The more I chanted his name, the harder and faster he thrust, soon pushing me over the edge as those white hot stars burst behind my eyes and I felt the pinprick of his fangs into my neck simultaneously with the explosion of his own climax within me; my walls holding tight onto his throbbing length while he rode out the entirety of his orgasm amidst my own, pulling blood from his wounds upon me.

My heart rate slowed to normal and he pulled away, licking the spot until the holes closed, leaving nothing but bloodstained skin.  A knock at the door jarred me and I sat up, covering my body with the blankets hurriedly.  Embarrassment washed over me as I realized how loud we had been; but Bruno seemed nothing but pleased with himself for it.

“We’re in a community of Shifters; all kinds of animals with impeccable hearing.  I’m pretty sure the entire neighborhood heard you.” Robyn’s voice announced from the other side of the door, before I heard her retreating footsteps back down the stairs.

I shoved him roughly and turned over, clutching the sheets to me while he laughed.

“I love you.” He spooned me.

“Ok.” I replied.

“I love you.”

“Ok.”

“I love you.”

“Ok.”

“Fuck you.” He said, and I could hear him smiling.

“I love you too.” I said with a grin.