Read Online Zara's Curse (Empire of Fangs) by Andrew Domonkos - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Andrew Domonkos
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sighed. “Don’t blame yourself for that. He probably got in your head. They like to do that.”
Zara kept staring at the boy’s face. “You could have closed his eyes…isn’t that what people do when someone dies?” she said sadly, the gravity of the situation dawning on her. She sat down on the sidewalk curb. Her world felt suddenly very dark and angry. A simple, predictable life suddenly cluttered and messy. How had it come to this? Why her?
“I tried. They just open back up…” Twig said.
“What are you going to do with it…with him I mean.”
“Nothing. The last one I got turned to dust a few hours after I staked it. Probably some vampire-evolutionary-thing. Destroys the evidence and whatnot. I’ll spread the ashes at the cemetery later.”
“The last one? How many have there been?”
“About five others. Both kids like this one. I think there is some kind of hit on me because of my father. Either that or I have the most delicious blood in all of Denver,” Twig said. “On the plus side though,” he chuckled, “they do seem to carry a lot of cash around with them…”
“So this is why you have been acting like James Bond. You were hunting vampires. I can’t believe I didn’t guess that,” Zara said sarcastically. Suddenly it all made sense: the mystery job, the you-can’t-come-over-because-my-place-is-a-wreck routine (as if guys cared about that).
“Yeah,” Twig said. “I had to get a new place and a couple fake ID’s too. My apartment is rented under the name Alex Murphy.”
“That sounds familiar…” Zara said, looking up at him with a puzzled expression.
“Robocop’s real name,” Twig said with a grin.
“You are such a nerd,” she said, pretending to be in awe of his nerdiness. But her mind was elsewhere.
“Yeah, yeah…” He sat down on the curb next to her and began looking over his hands. They were all cracked and blistered. He took off his aviators and clipped them to his shirt. He squinted, still studying his hands and turning them over in the sunlight like they had just been given to him. Zara saw sadness in his face, mostly in his soft hazel eyes. It was something she had never seen in him, but maybe she just hadn’t ever bothered to look, or had chosen to ignore it. Twig was the party guy everyone liked but nobody really knew. Zara felt a sudden regret that it took her life being thrown into such chaos for her to truly assess the value of her friendship with him.
“They were hunting me first,” he said. “I just recently decided to show them what it feels like. If I had told you about it before, I might be sitting next to my father in the loony bin right about now. I didn’t want you to get hurt…but I had to know he was there. You don’t know what hell those people brought on my family.”
“It’s my own fault,” Zara said. “Micah made me feel something…I had never felt before. Something powerful and raw. It was like…a high. This whole thing is just so surreal.” She rubbed her temples. The light was making her skin itch and the whispers had returned and had become agitated.
“Shut the hell up!” Zara yelled, and swatted at her head.
Twig gave her a worried look. “Who’s up there? Al Roker? Is he telling you the weather?”
“I wish. It’s just gibberish. At least the weather would make sense.”
They sat in silence for a minute.
“I saw him, you know.” Twig said finally. “The father. Their father, Damon. He is in a room on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. I had to pick the lock to get in. He seems to be in a coma of some kind. He was just lying there in bed, as frail as death itself.”
“So why didn’t you, um, you know,” Zara made a staking motion with her
Zara kept staring at the boy’s face. “You could have closed his eyes…isn’t that what people do when someone dies?” she said sadly, the gravity of the situation dawning on her. She sat down on the sidewalk curb. Her world felt suddenly very dark and angry. A simple, predictable life suddenly cluttered and messy. How had it come to this? Why her?
“I tried. They just open back up…” Twig said.
“What are you going to do with it…with him I mean.”
“Nothing. The last one I got turned to dust a few hours after I staked it. Probably some vampire-evolutionary-thing. Destroys the evidence and whatnot. I’ll spread the ashes at the cemetery later.”
“The last one? How many have there been?”
“About five others. Both kids like this one. I think there is some kind of hit on me because of my father. Either that or I have the most delicious blood in all of Denver,” Twig said. “On the plus side though,” he chuckled, “they do seem to carry a lot of cash around with them…”
“So this is why you have been acting like James Bond. You were hunting vampires. I can’t believe I didn’t guess that,” Zara said sarcastically. Suddenly it all made sense: the mystery job, the you-can’t-come-over-because-my-place-is-a-wreck routine (as if guys cared about that).
“Yeah,” Twig said. “I had to get a new place and a couple fake ID’s too. My apartment is rented under the name Alex Murphy.”
“That sounds familiar…” Zara said, looking up at him with a puzzled expression.
“Robocop’s real name,” Twig said with a grin.
“You are such a nerd,” she said, pretending to be in awe of his nerdiness. But her mind was elsewhere.
“Yeah, yeah…” He sat down on the curb next to her and began looking over his hands. They were all cracked and blistered. He took off his aviators and clipped them to his shirt. He squinted, still studying his hands and turning them over in the sunlight like they had just been given to him. Zara saw sadness in his face, mostly in his soft hazel eyes. It was something she had never seen in him, but maybe she just hadn’t ever bothered to look, or had chosen to ignore it. Twig was the party guy everyone liked but nobody really knew. Zara felt a sudden regret that it took her life being thrown into such chaos for her to truly assess the value of her friendship with him.
“They were hunting me first,” he said. “I just recently decided to show them what it feels like. If I had told you about it before, I might be sitting next to my father in the loony bin right about now. I didn’t want you to get hurt…but I had to know he was there. You don’t know what hell those people brought on my family.”
“It’s my own fault,” Zara said. “Micah made me feel something…I had never felt before. Something powerful and raw. It was like…a high. This whole thing is just so surreal.” She rubbed her temples. The light was making her skin itch and the whispers had returned and had become agitated.
“Shut the hell up!” Zara yelled, and swatted at her head.
Twig gave her a worried look. “Who’s up there? Al Roker? Is he telling you the weather?”
“I wish. It’s just gibberish. At least the weather would make sense.”
They sat in silence for a minute.
“I saw him, you know.” Twig said finally. “The father. Their father, Damon. He is in a room on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. I had to pick the lock to get in. He seems to be in a coma of some kind. He was just lying there in bed, as frail as death itself.”
“So why didn’t you, um, you know,” Zara made a staking motion with her
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