Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

I asked not thinking about it.
    “ Ja jeg kan.” He smiled, laughing. “So shall we get to the rest of your questions? I know you have million.”
    I nodded. “I’m sorry about your wife—that’s really sad. What did she look like?”
    His eyes slanted. “Not letting this one go, huh? Fine. She was tall, very tall. Almost as tall as I am. She had long, blonde hair to her waist, it was thick and almost white. Like yours, but thicker. Her skin tanned, even though she was fair. Her eyes were blue like mine—very intensely blue. She had a pretty face with beautiful features. She was thick, not fat, but strong. She could pull a cart and carry kids around all day. She was an amazing woman. Are you happy you know that now? Shall we talk about your past boyfriends?”
    I bit my lip. “I don’t have any past anyone’s. I had never been kissed in my life, before this last few weeks.”
    His face grew reddened and angry looking. “The guy who was here last night, making out with you on the front porch? He doesn’t count?”
    I nodded frowning at him. “Yeah, but you're still a criminal to society and before you were always vanishing on me. I thought you were a ghost for a while. Kissing Shane still seems like a better idea than kissing you.”
    He growled. “I’m not going to comment.”
    I blushed, sensing his annoyance on the subject. “I know I have to end things with Shane; this is what I want…me and you.” I smirked at him. The statement felt true, except for the small niggling twinge in my belly that hurt, when I thought about breaking things off with Shane.
    He tilted his head, "You know I haven’t felt this protective and possessive in a long time. It’s going to take me a while to learn to control my emotions.”
    I looked up at the ceiling, as I thought for a minute on how to ask the question I had been wondering about from the moment he started this conversation. “How did you die and become an immortal?”
    He nodded. “There it is—the right question.” He ran his right hand through his short hair and looked down at the bed. His eyelids lifted without moving his head and he watched me through his lashes again. “Same as your mom. A shape shifter killed me. I was attacked and left in the woods to die. Next question—” He shut it down before it could start.
    I interrupted. “But you didn’t turn into a werewolf from the bite?”
    He laughed. “Hollywood made that up in the thirties with The Wolfman. No, a man must be cursed by a special and rare person to become a lycanthrope. The bite does nothing but infect the person, if the wound is not taken care of. Rarely is a person bitten though. Most of them hunt animals in the forests, not people. We don’t taste very good. True shifters are Fae.” His smile was haunted.
    I felt my brow knit together. "Fae?"
    "A discussion for another time."
    “ But how did you become this? How did you learn all your magical powers?” I could see him backing away emotionally from the conversation.
    He shook his head. “Let’s focus on right now. We have a problem. I don’t know how to stop my curse from pulling me to the next place.”
    I nodded and got the message loud and clear. I tried to think about questions I had that weren’t part of the things he wouldn’t want to talk about, his wife, his family, his home land, his turning into whatever he was, and definitely no discussing his death. That left me with very little.
    “ How did you know to come here when my mom died? How do you know where to go next?” I hoped he would at least answer this, and I could possibly hypothesize on my own, from the breadcrumbs he left me.
    “ I just know, I get a feeling. Like when you have a dream, I see what happens in flashes or pieces, I guess. I just know, I need to go right or left.”
    I felt disappointment rolling over me in waves. Asking him questions was making my head want to explode.
    “ I kind of saw it more as you fly up to the pearly gates and someone gives you a clipboard with a name on it. You then ask questions around the Philly cream cheese snack bar and figure out how you’re going to crack this tough case.”
    He burst into laughter. “Oh God, I wish it was that easy. I’m not a real angel, I’m cursed.” He moved a strand of hair from my face and smiled. “I think you should go and eat.”
    I nodded, feeling frustrated.
    I felt a little dizzy again but I knew now to wait it out. The stars always cleared after a moment or so. Aleks