This Curse

TEN



The most annoying thing about running after a man is that it makes you look desperate. Seth was at the door and it appeared he was leaving. “Stop!” I shouted. When he turned the knob and threw the door open, I sent a jolt of power out, it slammed into the wall beside his head, freezing him in his tracks.

“Please?” I whispered.

“Why, Grace?” He turned. “Why should I stay? You act as though you are infinitely more superior. No one can be the same as you. As if I do not know my own body? Can you blame me for hiding my changes? You treat me like a fool who must be pitied. I have been alive longer than you could fathom. Yet, you think that in all of that time I would not notice a change when it came? I am not what I once was, yet you treat me as if I am some sort of idiot child.”

Overwhelmed, I threw my hands up and shouted, “What the hell did you expect me to do?” I closed the distance between us. “Did you ever come out and say, ‘Hey, Grace, I’m just as powerful as you?’ No, you are all mysterious and secretive. You hid from me just as I hide from you. If you wanted me to welcome you as a Madea, you should have told me. God. You are an idiot child!”

He glared at me and turned on his heel. I ran after him again. “Why are you so pissed?” I stopped in the middle of my driveway. “Something else is wrong, Seth. Spill it. Enough games.”

He turned. I could feel his anger pushing at me like a wall of heat. His eyes had bled to solid silver and his teeth were long. All the signs of a vampire losing his temper. Lovely!

He glared at me. Growling in frustration, he threw his hands out. “Of course I hid it from you. Of course I lied! I am not as powerful as a full Madea and now, I am no longer a full vampire. You figure it out. This is my curse, Grace! I have not felt the sun on my face in centuries, but my strength and abilities as a vampire were enough of a fair trade in my mind. But now,” he spun in a half circle and threw his fist in the air. I flinched as he screamed between clenched teeth, “I know not what I am!” I took an instinctive step back. “I have consumed gallons of your magical blood and yet I am still a f*cking vampire!” He fell to his knees, his hands rose to cover his face.

He looked lost and anguished and I felt my heart break as he let out a deafening roar. Something in me felt his pain it was a link. I had no idea what a maker could feel for the creature they create but I knew one thing for sure it was strong. I ran to his side, falling to my knees beside him, I cradled his head in my arms.

“Show me your secrets, Sweet?” he whispered, turning his alien eyes to me. “Show me what might have been?”

“I don’t think...” I began.

Seth pulled away violently. “Why? You enjoy my suffering?”

I felt my eyes well.

“I want so much to change over. I can feel it, you know. It taunts me. Please, I have to know how close I am.” He stood and held his hand out to me. I shook my head and moved to stand across the length of the driveway.

“If I show you my true form, Seth,” I shouted across the distance, “things between us may never be the same. My true form does crazy things to men. I don’t know if it’ll be safe for me to show you. I seem to send men, particularly very powerful men, to their knees writhing in sweaty, horny knots.”

“Grace, my sweet, I have to test it.” His arms fell limply to his sides, “I have to know. Please? Just trust me?”

“God, this is stupid.” I growled and dropped my glamour.

The air tingled deliciously along my glowing skin, raising goose bumps. My hair lifted, tickling along my neck and shoulders to begin its unnatural dance. I kept my eyes closed as the exhausting feeling of holding onto my glamour fell away. When I was myself, I felt free. I felt as if my worries were nothing. Nothing mattered because it would all be all right in the end. My Madea soul was so much larger than my human soul had been. As if it was stuffed with so much more life. It filled me with love and strength. I always closed it off when I hid in my glamour. I closed so much of myself off. God, maybe Seth was right? I was no longer human. I was a walking lie.

When I opened my eyes, Seth stood before me; tears of silvery blood ran freely from his eyes, Stripes of liquid metal soaked into his clothing.

“Oh, my God!” I reached out, “You’re crying blood!” I sucked in my breath as fear hit me.

Seth laughed and shook his head and he gazed tenderly at me. “All vampires cry blood, Sweet.”

“Oh. Okay, but, um… Why are you crying?” I felt a moment of tenderness, and then I really looked at him, “Hey, why aren’t you writhing on the ground like a pathetic, sex crazed animal?” I frowned, completely confused.

He continued to smile. It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen on him and couldn’t help smiling back. “What?” I wondered out loud. “Explain?” I laughed nervously.

“I’m not writhing on the floor, Sweet, because as I had hoped, I am a Madea. Maybe more now than vampire. I feel intense attraction to you, yes, but in the manner that a male of your species is supposed to feel. I am the only male who can control it, because I am the same as you.” He grabbed me in a hug and spun me around. Kissing me all over my face and hair, Seth was acting like a giddy school boy. “If you ever doubted that I am Madea, this is your proof. Forget that I am still part vampire. I have to believe that more changes are sure to come. I have to believe that.” He sat me on the ground and stepped back.

“So?” I smoothed my clothing and took a few steps away from him. I was shaken, but determined not to show it. “Now that I’ve shown you mine, you need to show me yours. What secrets have you been hiding?” I folded my arms and used glamour to tame my hair and skin. It would never do for some well meaning neighbor to pay a visit and see me in my natural form. I had some decisions to make, but right now in the middle of my front yard was not the time or place to make them.

“As you wish, Sweet.” Seth stood next to me, and then a second later he was on top of my roof.

“You’re a vampire. You could already do that with speed.” I yelled. “Show me something you couldn’t do before.” I yelled louder. “Impress me, Madea!”

A second later, he was back on the ground standing across the length of my driveway. A strange look entered his eyes as he focused his gaze on me. After a moment, I could feel his hands caressing my arms. His touch was unmistakable. I caught my breath as my shirt disappeared from my body, followed by my jeans. I stood in shock, as our gazes remained locked. Then, a strange tickle began low in my belly as I suddenly felt his hands slide along my skin. I knew what sex with Seth was like, and he was doing it, right here in my yard!

I stared wide-eyed at him. Our eyes still held from across the driveway. His smile was crooked, making him look mischievous and wicked. When I felt his warm touch at the back of my bra, I cried uncle.

“Okay, enough.” I was fully clothed again. “Cute parlor trick. So now that you have proven you have the magic of a Madea, what’s with the apple?”

His face fell and he folded his arms. The playful man was gone. “I can eat very small amounts of food.” He shrugged. “Nothing much, though. I think that maybe, if I slowly introduce more solid food each day, I might be able to process more and more until the day comes when I no longer need your blood.” He shrugged again and that devilish smile was suddenly back. “Until then?” he winked and nodded toward my house.

“Oh, brother.” I shook my head and walked past him, into the house. He followed, much happier than when we had left.

I was more comfortable with Seth than I had been with anyone before in my life. He had opened up to me in a way that shocked me to my core. Could the Madea in him be causing this rapid change in his personality? In the changes, I felt for him? When he first began to drink my blood, the transformation to his eyes was obvious and almost instant. Then I escaped his hold and he no longer had access to my blood, so the change must have stopped in its tracks. But he didn’t revert to his former self. Then after his return into my life and his steady diet of my blood, he could now do magic and eat small amounts of food. I wondered.

“Seth, have you tried to walk into the sun?” I asked as we sat at my kitchen table.

“Ah, the sun.” he smiled sadly. “I’m afraid I can not, Sweet. I must sleep when the sun is out. Whether I want to or not. I have not been granted the opportunity to test it.” He sat up straighter, “At least the shutting down of my system has prevented curiosity from frying me alive.” He laughed mirthlessly, “No, I have yet to meet the sun, Grace. Not even to soothe my curiosity.” He stood and walked around the table.


***

After I gave him my blood, we studied my brainstorming efforts and tried to come up with a plan. The fact that Seth was part Madea was our ace in the hole. I was sure no one else knew.

We were trying to devise a plan of attack that did not involve Lucian or his new whore, I mean girlfriend. The salt and pepper shakers were used to represent the both of us, and Seth had turned my entire glass jar of dried beans out onto the table to represent our enemies. That move filled me with dread and I told him he was a total fatalist. All he did was shrug and grumble about reality.

“So, dearest Grace, now that you have a better idea of what our numbers look like, perhaps it would be a good time to admit that you are being far too timid with your powers?”

Seth was being kind, rational, and making sense. My feelings for him were beginning to confuse me. I stood up and moved closer to him.

“You realize,” he continued, capturing my full attention, “that you could cut through these creatures with a thought while sitting at this very table? It would increase our chances mightily.”

And he’s back…

“No, Seth! I’m not killing several hundred people from my breakfast nook! What kind of horrible creature do you take me for? Not all of them are bad.” I turned from him, to take my seat again.

“I assumed as much.” He turned to look at me and I glared. “Well? You were so eager to listen.” he defended. “I was feeling like my warrior self again. Protecting the woman I lo…” He abruptly stopped speaking and sat down. “Well.” He cleared his throat as I tried to process what he almost said. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he turned and made a fuss over a small wrinkle in his already filthy, bloodstained shirt. “At least tell me what you plan to do with your magic.” He continued as if nothing was amiss. “You are going to at least use it, correct?” He folded his arms and looked down his nose at me.

“Seth,” I leaned forward, happy to let it go. I stared into his eyes, “I’m not only going to use it; I’m going to bring them to their knees!” I smiled and leaned back, mirroring his earlier movements.

He laughed loudly and stood, a frightening light entered his silver gaze. “Finally.”