Jack Kursed (31 page)

"Oh no," she joked.
"Caught by the older sister. Another five minutes and you would
have had quite the show."

Victoria smiled and closed the door
behind her. "Thank God. The last thing I want to see is Jack's
naked body on top of yours on the couch."

Erica leaned in close to
Jack's ear. "Now that's a thought," she whispered
playfully.

She leaned away and stretched her arms
over her head. Jack met Victoria's gaze. The vampire grinned and
raised an eyebrow, obviously overhearing the whisper.

"Wait a minute," Jack
said. "How do you know she's the older sibling?"

Erica shrugged. "She acts older, more
mature."

"You hear that? Erica just called you
old."

Victoria laughed. "And she would be
right."

"Watch some TV with us," Erica said.
"Want some popcorn?"

"No, thanks. Actually,
Jack, I need to talk to you outside a second."

"Oooh," Erica teased. "You're in
trouble."

Jack watched Erica run her
fingers through her hair as he followed Victoria onto the front
porch. Erica seemed to have caught a second wind, digging into the
bowl of popcorn.

"I'm sorry," Victoria said. "I should
have called. But I knew you'd be awake."

"Hilarious. What's up?"

"My case is going nowhere. Tomorrow
night I have a...let's call it a distraction...planned for Dr.
Collins."

"A hooker?"

"A call girl. Come on,
Jack, be nice. Anyway, I need to get a look at his laptop. Come
with me."

"You don't need me for
that."

"No, but I wouldn't mind your eyes.
Maybe you'll catch something I don't."

"I'm sure I would, because you're
old."

"So, you'll help me?"

"Sure. I just have to get a sitter for
Tiffany."

Victoria shook her head, never
thinking she'd hear those words. "Can Erica watch her?"

"I'm not gonna ask Tiffany's teacher
to babysit. But I'm sure she knows people."

"What's next for you two?
She really is into you."

He peeked in through the window at
her. Popcorn fell to the floor as she laughed hysterically at the
Marx Brothers. He loved her smile and laugh. Erica was a fun
woman.

"She's hot, isn't she?
Tiffany says you're hotter, but I told her she was out of her
mind."

"Hey," Victoria said, looking down at
herself. "I'm still attractive, even in this century."

"She's real sweet, and cracks me up.
But we're just friends."

"Friends don't get all gropey on the
couch."

"There was no groping.
Look, I honestly have no idea what's gonna happen next. The road
map for my life got tossed out when I became a
foster-parent."

She smiled. "It's nice, isn't it? Life
can still surprise us. Jack Kursed cares about two mortal
females."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway,
tomorrow night. I’m with you."

"Thanks. Now go back in there and have
fun with your friend."

Jack went back inside to
see Erica putting her glass in the sink. She had her sandals back
on, a sign she was leaving soon. He silently cursed Victoria for
ruining whatever Erica and he had going on.

"Hi," she said. "I should
be leaving. I didn’t even know it was nearly one in the
morning."

"Time flies when you’re
having fun."

"It does. I had
a
lot
of
fun."

"Come on over whenever you
want."

She said nothing, simply staring at
him.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said. "It’s
just...nice to finally make a friend."

He walked her to her Jeep.
She walked slowly, hands in her pockets, looking at the ground. She
didn’t want to leave.

"Oh, hey, I have to give
my sister a hand with some stuff tomorrow. Do you know of any good
sitters?"

Erica shrugged. "I’ll
watch her."

"I already owe you a ton of money from
tutoring. You trying to bleed me dry?"

She laughed and leaned
against her Jeep. "I like Tiffany. I don’t mind watching her for a
night. We’ll do girl things, maybe go out and get some ice
cream."

Jack thought it over. It
almost felt like he was taking advantage of Erica, but the truth
was she was the only person he trusted besides Victoria.

"You wouldn’t mind?" he
asked. "That doesn’t go against your code?"

"I’m not a samurai
warrior, Jack. I don’t have a
code
. I had a parent ask me out on a
date one time. I turned him down, and when his kid got a C on his
next test, he accused me of grading him unfairly, even though his
kid wasn’t the smartest cookie."

He smiled. She was showing him more of
her personality, and he liked it.

"Anyway, I just make it a
point not to get involved with the hot single fathers out
there."

"But you’ll watch
the Marx Brothers with one? Unless you’re saying I’m
not
hot."

"Oh, you’re hot," she said
with a sly smile. "And you’re also different."

They stared at each other
a moment longer before she climbed in her Jeep. Jack was confused
about his own feelings, and he liked it. Confusion made life more
interesting.

CHAPTER 14

Victoria listened to quiet
music as she lay in bed, reviewing the plan in her mind. The
objective was simple. She needed to see Dr. Stan Collins'
laptop.

Dr. Collins was proving to
be the most boring case she ever had, both a blessing and a curse.
She had time to enjoy the sun, lie out on the beach, and spend the
occasional evening with Jack and Tiffany. All she had to do was pay
someone to watch Collins, a chore that wasn't hard to do since he
seldom left the hotel room.

But something gnawed at
Victoria, told her that despite the lack of activity, something
important was happening. Collins would spend hours a night watching
adult movies and working at his laptop. She needed to see what he
was working on.

The call girl she hired
was named Tonya. Tonya picked up Collins ten minutes ago for a
night in Parkville. Jack was late. She would give him another few
minutes before moving on without him. He was right in that she
didn't exactly need him, but Jack had amazing senses. He could
spend minutes with someone and know intimate details about them.
She missed working with him.

Victoria had her fangs
buried in a bag of blood when she heard someone exit the elevator
in the hall and stop outside her room. She opened the door and
grabbed Jack's shirt before he could knock. He stumbled inside as
she quickly emptied the bag of blood. He wore all black, just like
Victoria.

"You and your timing," she
said, licking her fangs.

"Erica was a little late. She picked
up dinner for her and Tiffany, although I told her not
to."

"I don't think we've ever done a job
where you were on time."

"Hey, I can turn around and leave
right now, if you want."

"Oh, shut up and hold this," she said,
handing him a pack. "Tonya will keep Collins out a while, but I'm
sure he wants to screw eventually."

"Tonya's the call girl?"

"Yeah. She's cute. You'd like
her."

"That would go over real well at the
house. I'm sure Tiffany would love me bringing a call girl
home."

She opened her balcony door and looked
at him. He met her stare and narrowed his eyes, showing that angry
look of his.

"What?"

"Everything you do
revolves around Tiffany now, doesn't it?"

"Are we gonna get started or what? I
don't want to be out here all night."

He joined her on the
balcony. She smiled at him, pleased she still had the ability to
push his buttons so easily. She looked for any bystanders below or
hotel guests on their balconies.

"You could have given me a room number
and I'd have had a key in five minutes," Jack said.

She nimbly jumped on the balcony
railing and squatted on the balls of her feet, keeping perfect
balance.

"So could I. But this is
more fun."

"Yeah," he said, climbing over the
railing. "I almost forgot how much fun we've had."

She laughed and jumped
down next to him. She held onto the railing only with a single
finger and let one foot dangle in the air. He looked at her as a
corner of his mouth lifted. She was showing off, and he knew
it.

"Don't drop that pack," she said,
wrapping an arm around his waist.

"And here comes the fun
part-"

Victoria let herself fall,
her arm still tight around Jack. As they rushed by the balcony
below she grabbed the railing with her hand, slinging Jack forward.
He stumbled and nearly fell, but held onto the pack. She easily
gripped the railing and flipped onto the balcony outside Collins'
room.

"You done showing off?" he
asked.

"Probably not. Give me a
break, I'm excited. It's been a hundred years since we've done
anything like this together."

"I'll keep an eye out for any
werewolves or witches."

She frowned at his
mention of
witches
as the bad memories returned once again. But she saw the
humor in his eye, and smiled along with him.

Jack laughed as she slid open the
balcony door without any trouble.

"I broke the lock a few days ago," she
explained. "The good doctor doesn't even know."

He simply nodded as he
examined the apartment. She went directly to his carrying case on
the bed.

"Single, organized, maybe a little too
much," Jack said. "Might be a little obsessive compulsive. Right
handed. Interesting, he has eczema."

"Now how can you tell
that?"

He lifted a shirt out of
the dresser. "His clothes are all cotton."

"Put that back just like you found
it," she said. "You sure he doesn't just like the feel of
cotton?"

"All his toiletries are
fragrance-free."

Victoria nodded and turned on the
laptop.

"I'm guessing you're not gonna just
take the laptop?" he asked.

"Of course not. I don't want him
panicking and doing anything crazy." She frowned when the laptop
froze, asking for a password. "And what do you know, I can't get
lucky."

"It's been a while for me,
too," he said. "I haven't removed a woman's clothing since I moved
here."

"I mean the laptop. It wants a
password."

Jack studied the apartment
again. "Not really much in the way of password clues here. No
pictures of any family, or even a pet."

"And I
thought
you
were
boring."

"Funny."

Victoria grabbed the pack Jack had
left near the balcony and removed a portable hard drive. She
rebooted and inserted a CD she'd burned an hour ago.

"Clever," Jack said. "Copying the hard
drive?"

"Yeah, protection and all."

"So, you're a computer junkie
now?"

"Not at all, but I've got a contact
not too far away who said he'd help me with this if I couldn't get
in."

"You always did plan
ahead."

"One of us had to."

He laughed. "I've missed
working with you."

She looked up from the laptop as Jack
leaned against the wall. "Seriously? Have you missed
this?"

"I didn't miss the Girl Scout crap,
having to save every person. But hunting creatures with you, I did
miss that."

Victoria smiled. "The
first vampire Girl Scout."

"Yeah. Anyway, who are we saving here?
You really don't have anything?"

"Nope. Bradley gave me the name and
place, and here I am. It was just a bonus when I found out you were
here, too."

"Who the hell is Bradley?"

"His name was Jonathon
before."

"Jonathon? You still do work for that
wannabe-British-vampire?"

"On occasion. He pads my bank account
very well."

"He never did like me."

"No one ever liked you, Jack, besides
me."

He shrugged. "Oh well. It's not like
I've lost any sleep." Jack pushed himself from the wall and
wandered aimlessly. "This is so exciting. How long until that's
done?"

"About a half hour. Hey,
it could be worse. Remember when we fought that newborn vampire who
thought he was Dracula?"

Jack smiled and nodded. "He ruined one
of my favorite shirts."

Victoria laughed as they reminisced
about their adventures in another time.