The Cure - Act 1
Pearce dropped his hands to his sides in annoyance. “I don't have a frickin’ clue what you’re talking about.”
Logan reached out to the arrangement of fresh fruit and selected the freshest looking apples. “Yesterday,” the man in the blazer said with equal annoyance, “we were sitting at your place —your palace— watching Magnum and you said—”
“I don’t think so,” the vampire raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Are you sure you weren’t just watching it by yourself...? At your place?”
Logan made an expression of confused contempt. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He bagged the apples and twisted the bag tight. “I think I’d remember going over to your place and watching TV. It’s kinda hard to confuse a gothic condominium with my suburban dream home.”
“Whatever,” Pearce dismissed, internal alarms going off. Something was terribly wrong. “Aren’t you getting bananas?”
Logan shrugged. “And why should I get bananas?”
There was a pause as Pearce waited for Logan’s question to answer itself. “...Uh, because you always get bananas when you go shopping. Niki loves them.”
Logan turned away and pushed the cart to the bakery section. “I’m not shopping for Niki.”
The realization dawned on the vampire and he nodded. “Ah, I see. This is part of ‘Logan’s Apology.’ How’s that going by the way?”
“I don’t know what the hell I was thinking ever hooking up with Niki in the first pl...” he stopped and seemed to see something flash before his mind. “Oh, yes I do — but that doesn’t make it right. She’s right. I have a family and a responsibility to them. Even scum bags have responsibilities.” Pearce eyed the human who was examining the loaves of bread on the shelf. “White or whole wheat?”
The vampire shrugged. “What would a scum bag choose?”
Logan thought for less than a second. “White,” and he tossed the loaf into the cart. “And if anyone asks, you’re my brother.”
The vampire in the black KISS shirt and faded blue jeans shrugged his shoulders as if he were Logan’s apathetic teenage son rather than his brother. “Whatever.”
“A couple of weeks ago, he forgot this car accident we saw on the news together. And before that, he kept forgetting when he was supposed to pick me up...” Niki up ended the amber liquid. The Stuff in it kept her as much a Slayer as she could be without feeling the sudden and unexpected emptiness Logan’s absence had introduced. “And that’s not to mention all the erratic and aggressive behavior of late.” She blinked away the after image of the lights behind her eyes. “I mean... seriously. He totally just up and left me. How’s that rational?”
“Hobbs,” Pearce frowned, carefully nursing a beer, “what were the symptoms again?”
The barkeep sighed as he refilled Niki’s glass. “Plague sufferers get irritable, aggressive and irrational from the lack of sleep caused by frequent blackouts and lapses in memory. Eventually hallucinations set in and total cognitive function breaks down. Then it’s all over.”
“Hallucinations,” Pearce snapped his fingers. “Just last night, he was convinced he’d come over to my place to watch TV. If that’s not delusional, I don’t know what is.”
“How do you know you didn’t have a memory lapse?” the Slayer asked with a frown.
The vampire scoffed. “I didn’t, alright?”
The Slayer shrugged. “I believe you. I’m just worried about the amount of information we’re going on.”
“If he is infected,” Pearce cautioned, “then his family is at the mercy of the Nosphorus he serves. And if he’s told to infect other vampires —allow them to feed on him— then we’ll have a whole new outbreak on our hands.” Niki was nodding. Everything Pearce was saying made perfect sense – then again, with all the Stuff in her, just about anything made sense. “Can we afford not to take him... under quarantine?”
Niki swallowed. “Hell of a price to pay for being an ass.”
Logan carried the bag of video cassettes towards his car. On an impulse he had decided to rent some movies. Popcorn... cuddling... The possibilities were endless. They were even chick flicks. A sappy romance for Hanna – then it was off to bed with her and the slightly more adult romance for Mr. And Mrs. Kilpatrick.
“What’ve we g-got here?” the skinny crack-vampire stepped out of the shadows cast by the narrow alley. “A p-poor defenseless man on his w-way home.”
Logan, still not recognizing the nature of his enemy nonetheless prepared himself for an attack. In an instant he could call up a protection spell that would prevent any kind of contact. This relatively newly perfected power gave him such a confidence that he didn’t even set down his movies. His car was in sight. He would be out of this situation in seconds. It was almost amusing.
“Can I help you with something?” the man asked, courteously.
The vampire played along. “Yeah, you c-could. I’m a l-little hungry. You mind t-terribly if I suck you dry?”
Logan finally laughed. Had vampires declined so much these last few weeks? He set down his bag and raised his arms helplessly. The barrier between himself and the vampire before him was firmly and invisibly in place. This was going to be funny. “By all means,” the man smiled, “suck me dry.”
With a dull thunk, the board came down on the back of Logan’s head. The vampire ran off into the darkness. He had played his part.
Niki and Pearce looked down at the unconscious body at their feet. “You were right,” Niki said regretfully. “He was going to offer himself to spread the plague.”
Pearce sighed. “Only one thing to do now.”
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