Page 22 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Friday

Emma

I stared at Kebe. Her being a vampire did make sense. But why did it seem like everything she said was a lie?

“I can’t believe you found me out,” Kebe said. “I thought I was hiding it so well. Shucks.”

Callum stepped closer to her. “Kebe, I don’t understand why you hid it at all. After everything we talked about.”

I stared at my fiancé. Seriously, what did they talk about all the time that he couldn’t talk about with me? I pressed my lips together. Well I guess they did have something I couldn’t relate to now. Being vampires.

But...was she a vampire? Because I’d never seen her eyes darken. And I hadn’t heard about anyone going mysteriously missing since she’d arrived in town. “Do you feed on animal blood?” I asked. “Like Callum?”

“Oh, yes.” She nodded. “I could never hurt another human. That wouldn’t be right. Callum and I have so much in common in almost every way. Don’t we, Callum?”

He smiled at her.

I was glad she wasn’t killing people. But I hated everything else she’d just said. And I didn’t love the fact that Kebe and Callum now had even more in common .

Bennett pulled Callum aside. The two of them started talking about something in hushed voices.

Which was great. Because it gave me more time to question Kebe without Callum interfering. “Wait,” I said. “You disappeared the other night. On the security feed. That’s not something vampires can do, is it?”

Kebe laughed. “Disappear? Nonsense. No one can disappear. You must have mis-seen.”

“No, you definitely disappeared,” Zoey said. “Twice.”

I was glad I wasn’t the only one not buying this vampire confession.

“We figured it just looked like you’d disappeared because you were really fast,” Huxley said.

Kebe quickly nodded along. “Huxley is right. That must have been it. Cameras don’t always pick up quick vampire movements. Glad we cleared that up.”

We hadn’t cleared up anything! And why had Huxley supplied her with an out there? I tried to think of anything else that didn’t make sense.

“This is amazing,” Callum said as he walked back over. “I’ve never met another vampire. I thought I was the only one.”

I hadn’t gotten a chance to tell him about Zoey’s client that had recently changed.

And I didn’t want him to buddy up with Kebe.

I’d much rather him buddy up with this new guy vampire.

“One of Zoey’s clients recently became one,” I said.

“And someone must have changed him. So there are two more out there. We should go on a trip and try to find them.”

Zoey gave me a weird look .

Okay, yeah, going on a vacation to hunt down more supernatural creatures wasn’t exactly at the top of our list right now.

“Really?” Callum asked. “Are you sure there’s more?”

“Sorry, what did you just say about one of Zoey’s clients becoming a vampire?” Otto asked.

Zoey sighed. “We’ve been kind of busying dealing with other stuff. But yes, I have a client who was a little suspicious normally. And then he skipped town and left a bunch of dead bodies in his apartment. Apparently it was a bloody mess.”

Bennett lowered his eyebrows. “And you didn’t think this was important to tell us? He could be coming here to find you.”

“I don’t think so.”

But Zoey didn’t look so certain.

“I remember what it was like when I first turned,” Callum said. “I wasn’t in control at all. If he wants to find you...he will.”

“Yeah,” Kebe said. “I remember what it was like turning too. It was crazy. All that blood lust. Those were wild times. So little control. Just tons of blood.”

“Were you alone when you turned?” Callum asked.

She nodded.

“Wait.” I’d caught Kebe red-handed in her lie. “You have a father. You’ve mentioned him quite a bit. How could you possibly have a dad that’s still alive?”

“I mean, I’m not opposed to calling someone else Daddy.” Kebe winked at Huxley.

“What is happening right now?” Zoey asked. “That was not the question. How do you have a father? ”

“Well, clearly he’s a vampire too,” Kebe said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

It was the only thing that made sense? Or it was the truth? It did kind of make sense though. She’d talked about him being a curator, a professor, and an anthropologist. A vampire did have time to have all those professions. “So he’s your actual father?”

“Oh yes. He’s my real daddy. He changed me like a bunch of years ago. But he was like, busy a lot. So I was left to my own devices and just went like wild. Exactly like Callum said.”

Her timeline there was very unspecific. Callum knew the exact year that he’d turned. “When did he do it?”

“When did who did what?”

“When did your father change you into a vampire?”

“Hm. Great question. Geez, honestly it was so long ago. We weren’t even using the same calendar. Rather than just using one dumb solar calendar we had both a lunar and solar calendar. Oh and I loved Akhet. It was my favorite season.”

Callum smiled like he understood all of that. But I was lost.

“Wait, you’re Egyptian?” Bennett asked.

“Mhm.”

“Sorry, what is Akhet?” Zoey asked.

“It’s also known as Inundation.”

“I’m still confused,” I said. “What is it?”

Kebe smiled. “The flooding season of course.”

Well that sounded destructive. That would be her favorite season.

“So you were you born in ancient Egypt? Thousands of years ago?” Bennett asked .

Kebe nodded. “You really know your Egyptian history. Impressive. You guys really are full of surprises.”

I ignored her dig at werecats. I was stuck on the fact that she’d been born in ancient Egypt. She was like super old. No wonder Callum thought she was an old soul. In my humble opinion, she was a bit too old for him.

“No wonder we felt the shift in the air,” Huxley said. “You must be really powerful if you’ve been around for so long.”

“Honestly you probably just felt my aura.” She winked at him.

“Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here,” Zoey said. “So you’re really a vampire?”

“100%.”

I couldn’t tell if Zoey believed this or not. But I wasn’t really convinced. It seemed like Kebe was just going along with what everyone said.

“So should we get this cure going? Because I’ve been searching for it since lunar calendar times.” She laughed.

“What does your dad think about you using the coin?” I asked.

“He’s oh so very excited.”

“Is he going to use it too?”

“Absolutely. Like I said, he’s really excited about this. So where is it?”

Zoey didn’t move to grab it.

I was relieved. I was pretty sure we were on the same page. “I really think we need to do some more research first.”

“Agreed,” Zoey said. “We definitely need to do our due diligence here. This is a big decision. And we need to make sure it’s actually going to work the way you say it will.”

“Of course it does. Why else would I be willing to use it? My daddy has done tons of research about it.”

“You’re sure it will work on us?” Callum asked. “Because I’ve already done a lot of research. And our cure shouldn’t have anything to do with Egypt.”

“It’s not specifically a cure for vampires,” Kebe said. “You’re right, that wouldn’t make any sense. It’s just a magical coin with a magical cure for all things supernatural.”

“Like a blanket cure?”

“Exactly. The Egyptians were all about blanket cures.”

Were they?

“So let’s do this thing. Wait, we should probably go outside to use it.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I feel like we need fresh air when we fill our human lungs for the first time in so long.”

“It might be safer to do in here,” Zoey said. “I don’t know how it works exactly, but there’s people outside. It’s right around lunch time.”

She was right. Main Street would be packed right now.

“I think it will be fine,” Kebe said. “Nothing bad is going to happen or anything.”

When she said it, it made it seem like something bad was actually going to happen.

“I really think we need to do more research,” I said and grabbed Callum’s arm.

“Right?” I wanted to talk to him about all this in private.

I didn’t trust Kebe. And I couldn’t get something Callum had told me out of my head.

That he shouldn’t technically exist anymore.

What if he used the cure and just...died? My stomach churned.

“Agreed,” Zoey said. “Maybe we can take some time to discuss this privately?” She was looking at Bennett.

Bennett nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. And we have a couple of contacts in Egypt that I can reach out to.”

“But I’m from Egypt,” Kebe said. “And I already told you guys it would work. What else is there to discuss? Don’t you want to stop being cats?”

Titan cleared his throat. “Werecats.”

“Sorry,” Kebe said. “At least I didn’t call you kitty cats, am I right?”

Titan glared at her.

Which made Zoey smile for some reason.

“This has all just been a lot to process,” Bennett said. “We need some time. To talk to our contacts and discuss it.”

Kebe sighed. “Fine. I’ve been waiting for this long. I guess I can wait another couple of hours.”

“One of the guys we know is on location at a dig. It could be a few days before we can get in contact with him.”

“Or a few days then,” Kebe said. “But I already know how to activate it and everything. So I’ll be waiting. When’s lunch?”

“I kind of think Callum and I are going to go talk about this privately now,” I said. And wait. “Besides, you don’t need to pretend to want normal food anymore, Kebe.”

“Right,” she said. “Yuck. Normal food. I only love that blood. ”

She really was sus as hell.

“I’ll call you later,” I said to Zoey and practically pulled Callum out of the bank.

“Where is the coin?” Kebe asked as we left. “I don’t mind holding on to it.”

“We’ll keep it safe,” Titan said.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind us. I was glad they weren’t just handing it back over to her. She’d probably try to skip town again.

“I can’t believe she’s a vampire too,” Callum said as we walked down Main Street. “I have so many questions for her. I’m not the only one anymore.”