S. Harper - Cursed

The air has grown chilly. The moon is still bright enough that I can see the waves as they crash onto the shore in front of us. Since I’d rather not spend any more time with this bore than necessary, I tap into my powers and get down to business.

Jacobs succumbs to my influence even more quickly than Barakov. The alcohol in his system and my power break down any resistance he might feel to answering my questions. I spend ten, maybe fifteen minutes grilling him and get nothing of value. He thinks Evan is exceptionally talented, with the courtroom presence and breadth of knowledge rarely found in a man his age. When I ask if he’s aware that Evan’s missing, he thinks I mean from the party and says he’s probably just running a bit late—there’s a very high-profile case he’s in the midst of trying. Mention of Isabella and Amy elicits empty stares.

Essentially, Jacobs’ connection to Green Leaf is financially motivated. Scoring Green Leaf as a client helped Polk and Wagner lure in Evan and gave the firm an entrée into what’s become a very lucrative niche. As a senior member of the firm, he’s more than happy to attend a few board meetings a year in order to keep that highly visible cash cow happy. Privately, Jacobs thinks global warming is a bunch of hooey. He couldn’t care less about the mission.

There’s only one thing on Jacobs’ mind tonight and it has nothing to do with charity. Finally tiring of his feeble attempts at seduction, and with a silent apology to the other women at the party, I send him back inside.

I hope Zack is doing better than I am.

When I reach the parking lot, Zack is already in the car, waiting for me. My first thought is that he, too, struck out. Not only did he beat me back to the car, but his jacket and tie are now gone, his sleeves rolled up.

“Any luck?” I ask, steeling myself for disappointment. I’d so hoped to have news of a break for Liz.

Zack pulls a cocktail napkin from his pants pocket. “I got Taylor’s phone number.” He dangles it in front of me. “She put it in my pocket herself. You?”

“Nothing.” I climb into the passenger seat and kick off my shoes.

Zack crushes the napkin into a ball and tosses it into the backseat. “Now what? We’re no closer than before. All we’ve got is a thin connection between Green Leaf and the disappearances.”

He’s staring straight ahead, into the darkness, his brow furrowed. His profile is sharp and clean, his lips turned down at the corners.

I have to steel myself to keep from giving in to an impulse. I want to turn his face toward mine, brush my lips across his.

I look away quickly. “Then the connection to Green Leaf is where we’ll start,” I say. “Tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll look at the case with fresh eyes.”

But not tonight. Tonight, I know what I want. I want to break this spell Zack has on me. I need to break it. I need to stop wondering, to get him out of my system.

There’s one sure way to do that. One even Demeter can’t fault.

“Take me home.”

Zack reaches for the seat belt. As he slides the latch home, I cover his hand with mine.

I take his chin and turn his face until his eyes meet mine. “Take me to your home.”

A slow smile forms.

“Don’t. Don’t read anything into this, Zack. It’s just for tonight. It’s just sex.”

He throws the car into reverse. “Right. Just tonight. Just sex.”

“I hope red is all right. I’m out of white.” Zack leans casually in the doorway, a glass of wine in each hand.

“So this is it?” I give one of the steel bars a shake before accepting the wine. The cage is built solid.

“I hope you realize I don’t invite just any girl up to see my cage.” He smiles, but without warmth or humor. It’s a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“How long ago were you turned?”

His eyes become distant. “I wasn’t turned. My father was Were.” He nods toward the cage. “This was originally his. It’s mine now. But that’s a story for another day.”

“So you always knew you were Were?”

“I knew my father was. He was adept at hiding it from the world, but he didn’t hide it from me. He wanted to prepare me for the possibility that I carried the gene. The testing that’s available now wasn’t then. I didn’t know for sure until my freshman year in high school. That’s when everything changed.”

“I can’t imagine what you must have gone through.”

He smiles wryly. “At first it was incredible. Everything became better, more intense. I was faster, stronger. I evolved in ways you couldn’t imagine and I never anticipated. I’d always been a good athlete. After my ascension I was unbeatable, and not just during the changeling times. I should have held back. I didn’t. I was ambitious. I wanted to go to college. Recruiters flocked to my games. Unfortunately, not just college recruiters. I came to the attention of the wrong people.”

One glance and somehow I know. “The people you worked for?”

He studies his glass, swirling the wine gently before taking a sip. “Yes.”

There’s no way I can let him leave it at that. Now that he’s opened up, I want to hear the whole story. “Tell me the rest.”

He shakes his head. “The rest of this sounds like the plot from a bad sci-fi movie. Not the average woman’s idea of foreplay.”

I have to smile at that. “Remember who you’re talking to. What do you think the story of my life sounds like? Plus, Siren. We don’t really need foreplay. I guess I could have saved you a lot of time if I’d told you that before.”

He laughs. “That’s okay. I like to be thorough. Take pride in my work.” He closes the gate to the cage. Locks it. Starts to move away.

I take his hand, make him turn back toward me. “Please? I want to know.”

He takes another pull from his glass, stares down into it. Finally he relents.

“They knew what I was. I was told they represented a special division of the U.S. military. Only it turned out they were more of a subcontracted splinter group. They said they were building a special team to carry out top secret military operations and they wanted me on board.”

“Flattering.”

“It was to a seventeen-year-old. The opportunity to join an army of supernatural creatures who would fight against tyranny and protect the American way was too compelling to pass up.” He looks up. “I completely let go of the idea of college. Why sit in a classroom when I could be part of a real-life Justice League? I volunteered . For a kid with an IQ of one sixty, I was incredibly stupid and naive.”

I reach out and touch his cheek. “Or incredibly brave and courageous.”

“I’ve never spoken of it before.”

“Why me? Why now?”

“Because you’re unrelenting and work on me like kryptonite?”

I frown, playing with one of the buttons on his shirt so that I don’t have to look him in the eye.

“I know you could find out anything you want about me at any time,” he says at last, lifting my chin. “But you let me tell the story myself. Is there anything else you want to know?”

A dozen questions flit through my mind before I settle on one.

“What is it that finally made you break away, leave that life?”

He hesitates. Seconds pass. Just when I reach the conclusion he’s not going to tell me, he takes a deep breath and begins.

“I was sent on a mission. It was supposed to be quick, simple. Everything had been carefully orchestrated. The research, as always, was thorough. The target was a threat to national security. He’d reportedly been responsible for the loss of many lives, could be responsible for the deaths of a great deal more. He was a monster who needed to be eliminated. At least that’s what I was told, what I believed.”