Demon's Doorway (15 page)

"You're not very romantic, are you?"

"My girlfriend and I screw all the time."

"That's not what I…nevermind."

Jack rubbed his hands together. "They can provide good entertainment, though. Do you see that woman at the buffet, with the scarf over her shoulder?"

Kevin spotted her. "Yeah."

"Well, she's got a thing for that man two tables in front of us, the guy eating with his wife. He doesn't know."

Kevin rolled his eyes, and nearly looked away, but then he saw it. The woman gave a quick, fleeting glance to her crush.

"Holy crap. You're right."

"Of course I'm right. And the DJ's been staring at the lady handling the green beans."

"How do you know all this?"

"All you have to do is keep your eyes open. Mortals can't seem to do that. They go through their short lives with blinders on. Do you want to see something really scary? Look at that face the redhead over there is giving us."

Kevin saw Victoria standing in the doorway to the kitchen, her arms crossed, staring at them. She seemed agitated, concerned.

"Is she mad? What's that about?"

"She's afraid I might cause a scene."

"Are you?"

"I haven't decided yet. It depends on how boring this party is."

Kevin actually laughed
with
Jack.

Jack winced when his gaze fell on something else. "Oh, man, that's not cool. Those two over there just had sex in one of Victoria's spare rooms."

Kevin looked at the couple in question, and had to admit he was fascinated. "How can you tell?"

"Her face is flush, hair slightly out of place. His pants are just a little crooked, his belt one notch looser than it usually is." He stole a piece of ham from Kevin's plate. "I'm sure Victoria smells it, probably heard it. I'll bet she loves that."

"What about Alex and Cindy? What can you see about them?"

Not satisfied with only a piece of ham, Jack slid Kevin's entire plate in front of him and grabbed a fork.

"Just take my food, why don't you," Kevin said.

"I did. Let's see…Alex and Cindy." He stared at them, laughing and talking, for thirty seconds, before they got up and danced once again. "Those two…actually love each other."

"Well, it is a wedding, Jack. You'd think love would show up somewhere."

Jack scowled at him. "How naive are you?" He returned his attention to the newly married couple. "They're intensely attracted to each other, but there's also an old love there. It's strange to see. She knows everything about him, and loves him all the same. They remind me of an old couple I knew, Mr. and Mrs. Soon."

"Are they still together?"

"They're dead, murdered."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

He smiled a disturbing grin that gave Kevin a chill. "Not as sorry as the person who killed them."

They sat in silence while Jack ate Kevin's confiscated food. Kevin tried to drink some water, only for Jack to snatch the bottle and take his own drink.

"You didn't touch this, did you? The way you witches turn water blue, it makes me think of toilet water."

"I guess you're the person Victoria wanted me to meet. You know about us? About witches?"

"Oh, believe me, I'm quite familiar with witches and witchcraft. But we'll get to all that later. There's something you should see."

"What's that?"

"Look up and check out your three o'clock. But don't stare, be quick."

Kevin spotted Alicia looking at him from across the dining room. She glanced away quickly when their eyes met, returning her attention back to Cindy's mother.

He had trouble processing what just happened.

"That was Alicia. Holy crap, was she checking me out? Why would she do that?"

"I see why Victoria didn't have a problem letting you live. You're not bright enough to come up with anything really dangerous."

Kevin ignored the snarky attitude. "Uh…what do I do?"

Jack dropped his fork, almost angrily. "Is that a joke? Young, hot lady, undressing you with her eyes…maybe you should go hide under a rock? Okay, let's see what we can figure out about the blonde bombshell here."

He studied her, and Kevin looked around to make sure no eyes were on them, almost feeling guilty. He was a little amused, though. He suddenly felt like Jack and he were a team, working on some mission.

"She's got nice breasts, nice legs. Very lovely body."

"Nice, Jack. I can see that from here."

"Okay, okay. She likes to laugh, good sense of humor, full of fun. She had braces growing up. A little clumsy, not very comfortable in heels. Get ready to look away, she's gonna look at you again."

Kevin averted his gaze, waving at nobody across the room. "Did she look? Is she done?"

"Yeah. That's four looks. I don't think even you can screw this up."

"I thought it was only two."

"That's because you don't pay attention. She had long hair until recently, past her shoulders."

"How do you know?"

"She keeps touching her neck. It's a different feeling for her." Jack cast him a sideways glance. "Stop asking me stupid questions. Let's just assume I'm smarter than you."

"Whatever."

He watched Alicia again, and slapped Kevin on the shoulder. "She just asked who the smoking hot guy was across the room. You're in."

Kevin opened his mouth to ask the question, but hesitated. Jack answered before he could ask.

"I can read lips. Now, I'm better-looking than you, but I don't think she was asking about me." Jack watched her one more time. "She's got a sadness she's carrying around."

"Really? What's that?"

"You want me to tell you what positions she likes in bed, too? Go over there and ask her."

"You mean…talk to her?"

Jack said nothing, but it wasn't difficult to see his frustration.

"Hey, sorry. I'm just not good at this," Kevin said, and took a breath. "I've been dating off and on for the past year, after I broke up with my first serious girlfriend. This last girl I dated…everything was going pretty well. Then date number three came along, and I could tell she was waiting for something, that next step. At the end of the night, I was gonna kiss her, but then I figured…what was the point? I'm a damn witch. No one wants a witch. Even if we got along great, there would come a point where I had to tell her, and everything would fall apart."

Kevin hadn't confessed his recent confidence problems to anyone, and wasn't sure if he regretted including Jack.

Jack finished off his water. "Wow. This is amazing."

"What?"

"I think your little story almost put me to sleep."

Kevin rose to leave. Jack gripped his arm and pulled him back down.

"Relax, Glinda. Christ, just hold on." He was quiet a moment, rolling his eyes. "Jack Kursed, inspirational speaker."

Jack said nothing for nearly a minute, and Kevin almost laughed. It was easy to tell Jack wasn't very good at relating to anyone.

"You and I, we're a lot alike."

Kevin wrinkled his nose. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm serious. You see Alex over there? He's one of a kind, but lucked into Cindy. He doesn't know what true loneliness feels like. And Victoria, there are plenty of other vampires out there, if she wanted to dump her vampire-hunter boyfriend and screw one. But me and you? We're on our own. There's not exactly a dating site for witches. So, I feel where you're coming from. But look, you're spending too much time thinking about the end. Think about the path, not the end."

"Did you tell your girlfriend about…whatever your problems are?"

"Nope, and trust me, that didn't stop us from having fun Saturday night, when we—"

Kevin held up a hand. "Stop, please. I don't want to know."

"You're right. You're too young to understand, anyway. My point is…I didn't stop a relationship with her before it started. I didn't worry about how it
might
end. Look at Victoria. She's dating a mortal. The best possible end for them is for him to die from old age, and that's not stopping her from doing whatever weird sex-things vampires do."

Kevin sighed and glanced at Alicia. Their eyes met, and she looked away, embarrassed, at having been caught again. He had to smile.

He could create portals, turn invisible, heal any injury. He controlled the forces of magic. Certainly he could approach a beautiful woman.

"She's standing there out in the open like that hoping you'll walk up to her. She wants you to see her legs. She's proud of them. And I'm tired of talking. So, either get out of here, or get me some more food."

Kevin stood up and slapped Jack on the back. "Wish me luck."

"No. And don't touch me."

*****

Jack watched Kevin walk across the dining room. The witch was on his way to make a fool of himself, start something amazing, or maybe land somewhere in the middle. He could tell Alicia had some knowledge of the supernatural world. That was only common sense, considering she had both Alex and Victoria in her life. But would she be willing to accept a witch?

Jack put him on the path, but in the end, he didn't care.

He tried to keep his eyes low, and avoid meeting the gaze of those around him. Weddings weren't something he was particular fond of. There could be some great moments, like when an idiot ran around screaming
I object
. But weddings had one fundamental problem. People. He didn't like people very much.

The two people he cared about most weren't near him, and he could already feel his mood souring because of it. He loved Victoria like a sister. He
considered
her a sister. But he missed Tiffany and Erica. Tiffany cried when Jack put her on the plane, and he could feel his own heart breaking. He had trained men watching Erica, and at the first sign of any trouble, they were prepared to walk her to a plane as well.

He could only imagine the trouble that was coming.

Perhaps, there was no trouble. What happened at the airport and office building could lead to nothing. They were possibly isolated incidents. Jack remembered one time when he fought a pack of werewolves. They were gathering forces in the forest, and vowed they would grow stronger and attack cities. That never happened.

In the end, it didn't matter. The demons, the magic, it was all secondary to his main goal.

Lifting his curse.

Emotions tried to attack him as he stared at his empty plate. He'd been awake for two centuries. Just a night of sleep would be a blessing. He would love to watch his daughter age, and age along with her. He'd give anything to fall asleep next to Erica after a night of ravaging her.

He was distracted, and didn't see the vampire sit next to him. His eyes lit up when she set a fresh plate of food in front of him, along with a cold drink. Ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, dressing, corn, rolls.

"You are my savior. You really know how to throw a party, except for all these people."

Victoria sat next to him and quickly hugged him with one arm. "You're welcome. But actually, I'd say your savior is over there." She pointed at Kevin. "I heard you guys talking about Alicia."

"She was getting all tingly and damp just looking at him, and if it wasn't for the kindness in my heart, he'd have missed it. He's not exactly a genius, is he?"

She ignored the insult. "That's unlike you, Jack, helping a young man with romance. Actually, helping anyone with anything."

"Eh, I did it for myself. If he scores a one-nighter, or even just a phone number, he'd better remember me. Hell, do young mortals trade phone numbers now? Or do they just masturbate on webcams in front of each other?"

"Nice. Real nice. What do you think of him?"

"He's got a little alpha in him. Not entirely afraid to take charge. But he's holding back. I'd think a full-blooded witch could handle a few demons."

"He's young, still learning. But his control is what I love about him. His idea of rebellion is selling potions to college kids. Not raising ghouls, or conquering countries. Or cursing humans, for that matter."

Jack tore into his food. "I hope he can help me."

Victoria smiled. "How's it feel again? To hope?"

"Shut up, Miss Sentimental."

She laughed and playfully pushed him. "Is Tiffany safe?"

"She's on her way to Paris, to a safe house I have there. I'll call her on the iPad soon. I love technology. The question is…does she
need
to be safe?"

"I don't know. I don't have the pieces of the puzzle yet. I don't even know what the puzzle is supposed to look like, or if we'll be getting into anything. But when I do…will you help me?"

"You keep food coming like this, and I'll think about it."