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I walked into my bedroom and found that I was still smiling. I didn’t know anything about Hugh, but I liked him.
I removed my bracelets first. They served as more than decoration; each one had a different spell or enchantment to enhance my abilities. I peeled out of my wet clothes and tossed them into the laundry basket in the corner of the room. I walked into the bathroom and took a quick look at myself in the mirror. My busted lip had already healed and I had no other visible injuries. The only marks on my pale skin were the faerie tattoos, inked with elvish magic. They look like dark vines with small red buds, running down the right side of my back from shoulder to just above my butt cheek.
I took my long dark hair in my hands and gave it a squeeze over the sink, getting rid of any excess water. The red streaks running through my hair matched the small red buds on my tattoo. Pulling back my hair revealed the slight point at the top of my ears, the only obvious sign of my faerie DNA. My eyeliner was smeared to hell and back and I laughed as I thought what must have gone through Hugh’s mind when he first saw me. I wasn’t exactly the picture of vampire sexiness that most people imagine.
After washing my face, I slipped into my favorite plush purple robe and went back into the hallway.
I found Hugh standing in the living room, wearing nothing but a towel and a smile. The bright blue towel matched his eyes.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you have food in the house?”
“No, but I can always order take out.”
“How about wine?” he asked. “I’d kill for a good merlot right now.”
I laughed as I walked to the kitchen. “That won’t be necessary. I’ve got some stored from when I was human. It wasn’t that long ago.”
I took the bottle from the cabinet and was flooded with bittersweet memories of purchasing the wine on a shopping trip with my mother. No point in saving it any longer. It’s not as if I could enjoy it. Everything tastes like ashes to me, except blood. That tastes like magic and candy all swirled into one.
I poured the wine for Hugh and could almost hear my mother’s voice saying, “Never let good wine go to waste.”
My fridge had always had a shelf reserved for potions. Now that was its only contents other than blood. No matter how clean I kept it, there was something so grim about a fridge full of blood. It seemed like a waste of a very nice refrigerator.
I poured myself a glass of AB negative. AB negative is like a rare vintage, if we’re comparing it to wine. Tonight had been strange, to say the least, and I felt I deserved a good drink. But first, I needed to heat it up. I could drink cold blood, but it’s pretty gross.
“Do you gather the blood yourself?”
I turned to see Hugh standing in the doorway.
“No. I use a home delivery service.”
“The she-wolf’s blood wasn’t enough to sustain you?”
I shrugged as I offered him the glass of wine. “I barely got a taste, and I’ve got the munchies.”
I took the warm blood out of the microwave and savored my first sip.
He tried the wine then and smiled. “This is good, thank you.”
“Do I get to hear now why a gargoyle came to my rescue tonight?”
“I wasn’t sure you were still alive,” he said softly.
“Well, technically ...”
“You know what I mean. I didn’t know I was a gargoyle until seven years ago, when I spontaneously transformed for the first time.”
“What triggered it?”
He seemed to be searching for the right words before finally saying, “The death of your mother.”
I couldn’t hide my shock and nearly dropped my glass. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not just your guardian. I am your family’s guardian.”
“I don’t mean this to sound hateful or anything, but if my family has a badass gargoyle guardian, why is my mother dead?” Despite my best effort, there was a hint of bitterness in my voice.
His expression was full of regret as he said, “Because I didn’t know I was living under a curse. I know from my research that your mother was a very powerful witch with fae blood.”
“She was also a vampire hunter by trade,” I added.
“As were you, the last time I checked.”
I nodded. “You are correct, but why do you know all this?”
“I’m getting there, I promise. The talisman you wear, did it belong to your mother?”
I touched the necklace absently as I replied, “Yes.”
“The night she died, I’m guessing her blood touched that stone, and activated my curse.”
“I’ll admit I have limited knowledge when it comes to family guardians of any kind, but I have heard of them.”
He took another sip of wine. “Then you’re already ahead of where I started. First, I suppose I should tell you that I am a private investigator and I specialize in paranormal cases. So, none of this was completely strange to me. I was tracking a werewolf who owed someone money when my skin started to turn gray. By the time I got back to my car to hide, my wings and horns grew all at once, busting out my windows, and tearing the fabric on the roof of my car. The change lasted for a few hours. During that time I had a panic attack while pulling myself from the car and somehow managed to fly onto a roof, where I waited it out. It was a miracle no one saw me. Afterward, I threw myself into research. After more than a year, and a few tracking spells, I started to learn about guardians and curses.”
“You can perform magic?”
“My abilities are pretty limited, but yes. My grandmother was a witch. I have some small amount of her magic in my blood. Information on guardian curses is very limited. And my grandmother is no longer around to ask.”
The way he spoke about her let me know his grandmother hadn’t moved away, she was dead.
“I’m sorry. I know what that’s like.”
His eyes though icy in color were anything but cold. They held such heartfelt appreciation for my expression of sympathy that words were not necessary. I knew he meant, “Thank you.”
“It was her murder years ago that got me into this business. I was good at tracking down information and people,” he said.
“And being big and muscular doesn’t hurt.”
He smiled. “No, it doesn’t.”
“How did you learn your curse was connected to me?”
“I found a specific type of tracking spell, one that was supposed to help a guardian to find the bloodline they were meant to protect. It led me to the place where your mother was killed. Of course, I didn’t know that at first. I did some further research on the location and found a write up in the paper about her murder.”
“I didn’t mean for it to be reported. Apparently, the fighting had drawn some attention and someone already called the police.”
I closed my eyes and tried not to remember that night. But that didn’t do a damn thing to help. I could still see her there, lying in my arms covered in blood. With her last breath she pulled the talisman from around her neck and pushed it into my hand.
“Never lose it,” I said softly.
“What’s that?”
I shook my head and realized I was touching the amulet again. “Those were my mother’s last words. I wonder if she knew anything about your curse.”
“Once I had a name to go with, that made things a lot easier. And of course, I recognized the name. Marigold Grima was like the boogeyman to all the vamps I’ve ever worked with. So is her daughter.”
“Why did it take you so long to find me?”
“The problem was, I couldn’t track you by magic and I didn’t have a sample of your blood. Knowing that you are undead helps that to make more sense. May I ask how that happened?”