Page 165 of Taming the Beasts
If he remembered everything up until getting here...maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. I was hoping that the change back from vampire to human had done the same to the rest of the townspeople. Because I wasn’t sure what the repercussions would be if everyone did remember.
This memory glitch was probably why we weren’t being arrested right now. We were all covered in blood. But we’d invited pretty much the whole police force to the wedding. So...
“I feel sticky,” Grudge said.
Yeah. Well that’s what happens when your feast on a bunch of wedding guests and get blood all over you! Naughty Grudge.
Grudge looked down at his bare chest. “Is that blood? Wait, where are we again?”
It would be a good thing if the townspeople just forgot everything. But maybe it was better that Grudgeknew. After all, he was kind of a part of this whole thing too.
“Don’t freak out,” I said. “But you’re having some memory problems. Kebe lied about the Anubis coin being a cure. It was the complete opposite. And she used the coin during the wedding and turned you and everyone around the coin into vampires. And then you all lost control and attacked the wedding guests that hadn’t been changed, changing them too.”
Grudge laughed.
“She’s being serious,” Emma said. “You and everyone else went crazy. It was a bloodbath.”
“Wait, I killed people?” Grudge asked.
“Um...” Emma looked at me.
“I don’t think so?”
“What do you meant you don’t think so?” Grudge asked.
I shrugged. “I didn’t see any dead bodies. I think you were just making more vampires.” The only people that had gotten truly hurt seemed to be my boyfriends.
Grudge breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, good.” And then he shook his head. “No, not good. Why don’t I remember any of this? And am I a vampire right now? How does being a vampire feel? Should I try biting one of you?”
“No,” Emma said. “To all of that. We cured you. And it appears as though the cure made you forget what happened.”
“Oh. Great. So where’s Kebe at?”
Emma just stared at him. “Did you not hear the part about Kebe being evil?”
“When did anyone say that?”
“She lied about the Anubis coin and turned all of Crooked Point into vampires,” Emma said.
Grudge laughed. “Oh. That. But everyone is fine now?”
“No, not everyone is fine,” I said. “Your memory is clearly wonky. And all my boyfriends were seriously injured.” It was driving me crazy that we hadn’t heard from Callum. “We’re in this hospital waiting for news about Titan.”
Grudge stared at me. “Then where is Kebe? Locked up somewhere?”
“No. She’s helping Callum get the rest of my boyfriends into their vaults so they won’t hurt anyone. And hopefully she’s helping clean up her mess in the town square.” Because even if everyone forgot what happened, seeing the carnage tomorrow morning might jog their memories.
“So...she’s not evil?”
I threw my hands up. “I don’t know. She had a change of heart and helped with the actual cure. Or else you wouldn’t be you again right now.”
“So she’s the opposite of evil. She’s quite good.”
Maybe?I had no idea. “We’re choosing to trust her right now.” I didn’t forgive Kebe for using that horrible coin. But she was trying to make it right. And that seemed like a start. I stared at the doors, waiting for a doctor to come out and tell me how Titan was doing.
“Wait, is Kebe still a vampire?” Grudge asked. “Or did she get cured too?”
“She never was a vampire,” I said. “She’s Kebechet. The Egyptian goddess of embalming and serpents. And I don’t think that can be undone.”
