Page 15 of Batty About You
Kelly blinks, wide-eyed and pale. Her lips tremble. The beautiful smile is gone. I’ve made the woman I love cry and scream in terror, not in excitement or pleasure, and now I have to leave her with the memory of her best friend, her boyfriend, as a freak and a monster.
Oh, yes. The curse is very real.
“Don’t go!” I don’t know why I scream it, but I do.
The thing in front of me talks with Boggie’s voice. It knows my name, and it has his cadence and speech pattern. I can tell that from just a few sentences.
But it’s fucking huge man-bat. It was a little bat with wings—and now it’s the size of a professional wrestler with fur-coated rippling muscles and wings, and bright red eyes that are overflowing with tears.
Tears.
Red and blue lights flash behind Bogdan, and he looks like he wants to run, but I shake my head, thoughts a cloudy mess.
Officer Ardy Walsh—dressed like someone who escaped from the Ren Faire—steps out of his personal car and turns off the little stick-on siren. “Is the guy we’ve been looking for? Mr. Bogdan Lupescu?”
I manage a nod, but my face must show my terror and confusion.
The officer steps forward, face grim. “I see you’re already in costume, sir. Is there a problem?”
My mind races. I don’t know what to do, but some instinct is still to protect my best friend. If I don’t, maybe something horrible will happen to him. Would the officer shoot him for being some sort of monster? Does the officer evenhavesomething to shoot him with since his uniform has been replaced by a baggy tunic and poofy pants that lace up around his ankles?
“I’m leaving, officer. I didn’t mean to upset anyone. I just need to get my car. It’s parked back at the party,” Bogdan says sadly, backing away, his arm held up defensively in front of his face.
I can see all the veins in his wing as it stretches thin, his eyes squinting against the harsh glare of the flashlight I’m still aimingat him. I can see his fur—thick and smooth, every little strand of it.
“Oh. Okay. Well. Sorry that you can’t stay.” Officer Walsh looks between both of us, face uncertain. “Let me tell the folks back at the house that you’ve been found. I—”
“Ardy! Is that the missing guest?”
I look up—and practically faint.
The man in the mothman costume—Cindy’s husband—is flying above us, swooping low to shout to Ardy.
“We’ve got him, Lennox! Just about to call Minegold and tell him to call off the search.”
“Oh, thank God! Thought he was lost in my maze, and I would have never lived that down.” The big guy waves and swishes back up. “I’ll head back and tell everyone he’s safe!”
“Thanks, Len!”
My mouth is hanging open. “He flies.”
Yes, I know it’s an obvious statement, but the world feels woozy right now.
Officer Walsh cocks his head at me. “Well, yeah. He’s a mothman. We have him and Genesis doing an aerial scout.”
“Genesis is another mothman?” I whisper. Funny. The starry sky is losing its stars. The furry black and red shape is blurring out.
“No, he’s a gargoyle. No offense, fella, but I don’t think I’ve met someone like you before. Ahool?”
“No, just... just a hybrid between wolf shifters and vampires, back in the day. I got all the bad family bloodlines.” Bogdan is speaking, his voice nervous.
It sounds like a badly tuned radio, breaking apart and fading in and out. The sky is doing the same thing.
“Catch her!”
The policeman in the Renaissance Faire get-up gestures frantically towards Kelly, who suddenly pitches forward in a faint, her eyes fluttering, her beautiful hair falling askew.
“Ohh. Oh, sweetheart,” I whisper, catching her just in time, cradling her in my arms while my tears start to fall. “This is all my fault. I should never have come.”
