Immortal Chocolate (a vampire novel)

Part 14

Chapter 8

We pulled up in Claud’s stupid expensive car, he’d insisted that he drive us, and walked toward the shack. A man was standing just outside of it, looking to be a completely normal looking guy, with a gray beard, laugh lines, and average clothing. He was going to fix this? What, no juju herbs, books, or candles?

“Thanks for coming on such short notice, Kale,” Claud said, shaking the man’s hand. Kale gave him a light smile.

“Is this the girl?” He tilted his graying head toward me with an amused look on his face.

“Beautiful, right?”

“Very.”

It was weird that they were talking about me like I wasn’t standing smack in front of them.

“Come on,” I said in a groan and walked through the shack’s door. Lawrence was pacing around, looking like he hadn’t slept in a week.

“Iva!” he said like he thought he’d never see me again.

“Hi, I brought someone who can help you.” I ushered toward Kale, who gave Lawrence a kind smile.

“Let’s find a seat, and we’ll get ourselves started. Can you tell me your exact symptoms?”

Lawrence went into full detail of everything that had happened to him since I’d killed him oh so long ago. I looked at Claud skeptically, trailing behind them, but keeping a slight distance. I’d been around witches before, and they always made my skin crawl.

“He’s good, just watch.” Claud and I stood in the entryway of the sitting room as Kale talked to Lawrence for a long time. It felt like hours before Kale stood up and simply gave Lawrence a bottle of some weird looking pills.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Just let him work,” Claud said to me.

Lawrence looked hesitant but then popped two pills in his mouth. An earth shattering scream split his lips, his body convulsed, his arms flailing like he was having a seizure.

“What the hell?” I screamed at Kale. “What did you do to him?”

“Let it work.” Claud touched my arm, as Kale put a finger to his lips. It felt like forever before Lawrence stopped convulsing. He was so still I was afraid this crazy man had up and killed him. Finally, after what felt like forever Lawrence rose to his feet. He was now the man I’d met and fallen in love with oh so long ago.

“Oh my god,” I said in a hushed voice. “What is he now?”

“I had to pick one form for him, and I asked him what his preference was, and he told me human,” Kale informed me. “His life expectancy will be a bit shorter—I’d give him twenty-five years, since the transformation took quite a bit of life from his cells.”

“Lawrence,” I said and ran over to him. It felt odd—seeing him like that again—it brought back a lot of memories.

“I don’t care if I only live for a short time—at least I’ll live like I did when we were together.” His eyes swam with tears. “Thank you, Iva, you gave me my life back.” He pulled me into his arms, and I let him hold me for a moment. I wasn’t in love with him anymore, in fact, I wonder if I ever really was in love since I’d become a vampire. Love was odd. I’d cared about Lawrence, I’d really cared, but somehow I’d screwed up with him and killed him. Love certainly didn’t kill.

“Thank you,” he said again and let me go. He gave me a light kiss on the forehead. “I’m going home.” He walked out of the freaky weird mansion shack. I stared at where he’d been for several heartbeats, feeling happy and depressed all at the same time. I turned to Claud, knowing what was to come.