Cursed Hadley (Lengthened Version) (Cursed Hadley #1)

by Jessica Sorensen

  He smacks me across the face again. “You know what? I was trying to help you realize what a fucking waste of time it is to care about things, but now I’m going to make this as miserable as possible for you. And it’ll only get worse after I make you mine.” His lips come down on mine hard, the taste of his blood filling my mouth.

  Hunger…

  I’m so hungry…

  Stop it, Hadley! Stop!

  But I don’t think I can…

  No, no, no—

  Swoosh.

  One minute I’m being held to the ground and the next I feel weightless. When I open my eyes, I learn why.

  “Holy shit.” I cling to Jaxon as he soars across the night sky, holding me against his chest, his cloak whipping in the wind behind him. “You guys can fly?” I say, trying not to look down because I have a bit of phobia of heights.

  He nods as he glances down at me. “Tomorrow, I’ll show you, okay? I’m also going to show you a defense spell to help you protect yourself.”

  “Okay.” I swallow hard, remembering everything Rider said. How my dad may have ratted me out. How he might not even be my real dad. How Rider was the one who took my mom’s soul. How Rider has been hunting me for a while. How I’m the last cursed fire reaper to exist.

  While I may not know much about this world, it doesn’t seem like a good thing to be the last creature to exist that can give grim reapers power.

  In fact, I suddenly feel as if I have a target on my back.

  Chapter 23

  By the time Jaxon and I land in front of the inn, I’m beyond exhausted.

  “You need to feed,” Jaxon murmurs as he sets me down on the ground and interlaces his fingers with mine. “You’re running out of energy.”

  “I’m fine.” My lie shows through the shakiness of my tone. “Where is everyone else?”

  “Taking care of a problem.” He avoids my gaze.

  By problem, I’m pretty sure he means Rider.

  I swallow hard, hunger lingering in my throat. “Jaxon, back in the alleyway, I had a book…” I shake my head as the taste of blood fills my mouth and dizziness spins through me. “I think I need to sit down.” I grip onto his shoulder as I begin to sway.

  In one swift motion, he scoops me up and carries me inside. I’m too tired to protest and curl against him, trying to erase the awful night’s events from my mind. But the stench and taste of Rider is branded into my senses.

  When Jaxon arrives at the room, he carries me inside and lies me down on the sofa. “I’m going to try to find you something to eat.” Uneasiness creases between his brows. “Just lie here, okay? Don’t try to move.”

  I think he’s leaving me in the hotel room alone and that sends panic through me. But when he walks into the bedroom, I relax and close my eyes. I feel so worn out, confused, and yes, scared, but I’ll never admit that to anyone. Most of all, I feel hurt.

  Why did you never tell me, mom? That my sisters aren’t really my sisters? That my dad wasn’t really my dad?

  Maybe Rider was lying, but then I think back to all the times my dad made us move, as if he were running away from something. Then there was that one night he mumbled about it chasing us…

  I fold my fingers around the pendant, my lips longing to utter the words that will bring my mom here so I can get some answers. But I can’t bring myself to do something that could lead to her getting hurt.

  Sighing, I lower my hand from the pendant and roll onto my side, curling into a ball. Every part of my body hurts, parts of me I didn’t even know could hurt. My mouth tastes like blood and I can’t get the stench of Rider out of my nose. He smelled so gross, like a sewer, and tasted like rotten blood.

  I wonder what will happen to him.

  I wonder if they’ll kill him.

  I wonder why I don’t care if they do. Because I’m a reaper? Because I’m sick and twisted? Because he’s one of the reapers who took my mom’s soul?

  I lay motionless for a while, over analyzing everything until a soft breeze gusts through the room. The scent of curses and magic and effervescent mint sweep through the air, and I know before even opening my eyes that the rest of the Porterson brothers have arrived. What’s surprising as how knowing that brings me comfort.

  “Where is she?” Blaise growls, undiluted panic ringing in his tone.

  “Calm down. I’m sure she’s fine. Jaxon wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Rhyland says, but sounds panicked himself.

  “I’m not going to relax until I find her,” Blaise snaps. “Do you even realize what almost happened back there?”

  “Of course we do,” Rhyland says. “But it’s over with now and you need to calm down before you see Hadley or you’re going to freak her out.”

  “I can’t calm down,” he whispers hoarsely. “Not until I see her—see that she’s okay.”

  I feel that little twinge in my chest again and have the strangest urge to go over and hug Blaise. It makes me super uncomfortable, so I do the only thing I can do.

  I shove the feeling way, way down where I don’t have to deal with it yet and force the old sassy Hadley to come out. Then I sit up and toss a throw pillow at them. It ends up hitting Blaise in the side of the head.

  Blaise’s and Rhyland’s eyes widen while Alex keeps his expression emotionless.

  “Will you guys be quiet? I’m trying to rest over here.” I roll my eyes. “Are all reapers this fucking noisy?”

  Blaise blinks a couple of times, then bends down to scoop up the pillow. I brace myself for him to throw it at me, but he clutches it in his hand and sinks down on the edge of the sofa beside me. Then he circles his arms around my waist, hugging me as he buries his face into my neck.

  “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” he whispers over and over again, his lips brushing my skin.

  I can’t help myself. I wrap my arms around him. That stupid twinge in my heart that I’m trying hard to ignore is being a real damn bastard.

  “I’m fine,” I promise, patting his back when really all I want to do is curl into him.

  “You’re bleeding,” Rhyland states as he moves over beside us and sits down on the edge of the coffee table.

  Alex remains where he’s standing, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

  Did I piss him off or something?

  “It’s just a little blood,” I say, wiping my hand across my mouth. “I think I bit my tongue when that Rider dude smacked me across the face.”

  Rhyland tenses and Blaise’s arms ripple with tension.

  “He hit you in the face?” Rhyland’s tone quivers with rage.

  “Hey, I want to point out that I hit him first. Not that it gave him an excuse to hit me. But I want you guys to know that I’m not totally incompetent,” I say. “And I probably could’ve kicked his ass if he hadn’t used magic on me.”

  Rhyland scoots forward, cups my face between his hands, and examines me closely. “Did he hurt you anywhere else?”

  Blaise slants back, snarling. “If he did then I’ll kill him.”

  Rhyland rolls his eyes. “You already killed him.”

  Wait, so they did kill him…

  “Well, I’ll kill his ghost then,” Blaise snaps through gritted teeth.

  “So you really killed him?” I ask quietly.

  Blaise stiffens, his gaze sliding to me. “Yeah.” He pauses, his hand resting on my side. “Does that frighten you?”

  I shake my head. “No, not really.”

  “Good. Because he deserved to die,” he says matter-of factly. “Not just for hurting you—although that played a big part of it—but for what he did to my brothers and me.”

  “And to my mother,” I whisper.

  Their brows dip.

  “What do you mean?” Rhyland asks.

  “He was one of the reapers that took my mom’s soul.” Tears burn in my eyes, but I quickly blink them back. “He seemed so pleased about that fact too.”

  The three of them trade a l
ook then Rhyland shakes his head.

  “He must’ve joined another group after he got us banished.” The muscle in his jaw ticks.

  “Did he… Who is he exactly?” I ask as Rhyland lowers his hands from my face. “Because he seemed to know a lot about me and obviously knows you.”

  Rhyland absentmindedly skims his finger back and forth across my hip. “He grew up in the orphanage with us and we once considered him our brother.”

  “Until he stabbed us in the back and got us banished in order to save his own ass,” Blaise spits out with bitterness.

  Alex ambles toward us and sits down on the back of the sofa, his intense gaze welded to me. “How else did he hurt you?”

  “He didn’t hurt me that badly.” At least physically. “Other than shove me around a bit.”

  Alex traces a finger along my bottom lip. “He tried to get you to drink from him, didn’t he?”

  I nod, swallowing hard. “I almost did too.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Rhyland places a hand on my thigh. “You haven’t eaten for days. You’re practically starving to death.”

  “I think I can help with that.” Jaxon emerges from the doorway of the bedroom with a mug in his hand.

  “What did you do?” Alex glance at the mug curiously.

  “It’s that witch’s soul Blaise gave me for my birthday,” Jaxon says, offering me the mug. “I’ve been saving it for a special occasion, but Hadley needs it more than I do.”

  I don’t take the mug. “I’m not drinking a witch’s soul.”

  “She was an evil witch,” Jaxon assures me, urging me to take the mug. “She killed a ton of creatures and almost ever reaper was after her soul, but Blaise was the lucky bastard who got it.”

  “I bought it on the black market.” Blaise takes the mug from Jaxon and glances inside. “You think she’ll be able to handle this better than the artificial souls?”

  Jaxon shrugs. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  Four pairs of eyes land on me as Blaise sticks the mug in my hand.

  I shake my head, trying to give the mug back to him. “No way. I’m not doing this.”

  “If you don’t, you’re going to grow so weak you’ll barely be able to move.” Rhyland gives my leg a soft squeeze. “And with everything going on, you need your strength.”

  I stare down at the mug. “Rider said I was the last cursed fire reaper… Is that true?” I glance up as they trade one of their infamous secretive looks.

  Then Rhyland takes my hand. “It’s true. We didn’t know about it because we’ve been gone from this world for so long, but the Weeper Reader confirmed it.”

  “Is that why this darkness is after me?” I ask quietly, mostly to hide my worry.

  Rhyland casts a quick glance at his brothers. “We’re not sure why… Darkness usually doesn’t hunt creatures for their power. But we do know that it can’t just swoop in and steal you from us.”

  “How do you know that?” I ask, glancing at the four of them.

  “Because it would’ve shown up already and done it. Something has to be stopping it from getting to you.” Blaise puts his hand against the bottom of the mug and pushes it toward my mouth. “Now drink up.”

  I move the cup back down, not ready to drink a soul just yet. Yeah, I know I’m probably going to have to, but I want to hold onto the fact that I haven’t yet for just a little bit longer.

  “Rider seemed to know a lot about me. He even knew about my sisters. Although, he said they weren’t my real sisters. He also said my dad wasn’t my real dad.” I measure their reactions carefully and a hint of anger transpires at their lack of shock. “Did you already know that?”

  Jaxon looks at me apologetically. “When we figured out you were a cursed fire reaper and your sisters aren’t, we knew they weren’t your real sisters. Same with your dad.”

  “You should’ve told me,” I say then sigh. “Or maybe I should’ve been able to figure it out on my own.”

  “No, we should’ve told you,” Blaise says, surprising me. He fixes his finger underneath my chin and angles my head back so I’m looking at him. “From now on, we’ll try to be more honest. And I want you to be more honest with us too. We can’t protect you if you don’t tell us stuff.”

  “I should probably tell you then that Rider also said he’d been hunting me for a while, but that he couldn’t get me because of some magical promise my dad…. my fake dad made to my mom. But when you guys brought me here, the magic that sealed that promise was broken and Rider paid my dad a couple hundred bucks to get my location. Although, I’m not even sure how he knew where I am…” I look at them, hoping they might. Their expressions are guarded, which makes me instantly worry, but they remain quiet. “You promised you’d tell me stuff,” I remind Blaise.

  He lowers his finger from my chin to tug his fingers through his hair, making the blonde strands go askew. “You’re right.” He casts a quick glance at his brothers before focusing on me again. “If your dad knows you’re here, more than likely it means a witch put a connection spell on you and him. Which means, not only could he tell more creatures where you are, he also probably isn’t human.”

  I shake my head in denial. “No… there’s no way…” But I stop myself right there.

  After everything that’s happened, nothing seems impossible anymore.

  “So what do we do next?” I ask in an uneven tone as the agony of being betrayed by a man I thought was my father pierces through me. “I mean, are more creatures going to come after me?”

  “I think we have a bit of time,” Rhyland mumbles, staring off distractedly. “We tortured Rider enough that I don’t think he was lying when he said he was the only creature besides Fredrick that knows where she is. But with the connection spell… it’s only a matter of time before more show up.”

  “I think we need to get the spell broken then find a safer place to keep her,” Blaise tells Rhyland. “Somewhere more secluded.”

  “We need to get our full powers back before we can travel anywhere else,” Rhyland stresses and their gazes all stray in my direction. “And only a higher undead witch can break those kinds of spells.”

  “Good thing we know of one then,” Blaise says to Rhyland, giving him a pressing gaze.

  Rhyland’s lips tilt downward. “I guess so…” His gaze momentarily flits to me before returning to Blaise. “That still leaves us with the problem of getting more power.”

  All of them glance in my direction again.

  I slant back a bit. “You mean, I have to drink from you, don’t you?”

  Rhyland nods, strands of his hair falling into his eyes. “I know you don’t want to, but it’s getting to the point where you might not have another choice.”

  Restless with uneasiness, I lift the glass to my lips and take a sip, too distracted to remember what’s actually in there. The moment the mist inside the mug fills my mouth, my eyes widen. I hurriedly press my lips together, debating whether or not to spit the soul out. But as the wonderful taste of the witch’s soul seeps into my tastebuds, I lose my willpower and gulp it down.

  “Oh my God.” Hunger unleashes inside me, and I put the brim of the cup to my lips, greedily devouring every last drop.

  The Porterson brothers watch me, their eyes glowing with jealousy and desire, groans slipping from their lips.

  What? Is watching me do this like reaper porn or something?

  Only when I’ve completely devoured the entire cup of soul does reality catch up with me. And it turns out, reality is a big old bitch that scares the shit out of me. Yeah, me, Hadley Harlyton, the girl who jumps head on into fights, who will do anything to protect her sisters, and who punched a grim reaper in the face is scared. Yeah, I’m pretty badass except when it comes to accepting reality. And the reality is nothing about my life is ever going to be the same. That everything I thought I knew about myself and my family was all just a big lie.

  Who am I anymore? Who was I ever?

  “I need a moment,”
I mutter, stumbling to my feet.

  “Wait,” Rhyland starts.

  But I sprint across the room, lock myself in the bedroom, and curl up into a ball. I don’t cry—it’s not really my style—but I silently mourn. Mourn the loss of what I once was, what I am now. Mourn the loss of a life I think I never really had, a family that’s not even really mine. But deep down, underneath all the abundance of mourning, I feel a hint of gratitude. Gratitude that I’m not alone in this. That I have the Porterson brothers.

  Chapter 24

  I’m uncertain how long I lie in bed before one of them knocks on the door.

  Sighing, I sit up. “Come in.”

  The door opens up and Alex walks in with a book tucked underneath his arm.

  “Wait, is that...” I straighten, kneeling up on the bed.

  He crosses the room, stopping beside the bed. “You dropped this back in the alley of the store, right?”

  I nod, moving to take the book from him, but he tucks it behind his back.

  I sigh. “Can I please have it?”

  “I need to say something first and then I’ll give it to you.” The mattress shifts as he sits down, sets the book down, and turns toward me. “I owe you an apology.”

  “Why? You didn’t do anything,” I tell him. “Except save me from eating Rider’s soul.”

  “I lied to you.” He stares down at his hands. “Back in the alleyway earlier, I convinced you we’d never hurt you and then only a handful of minutes later, Rider attacked you.”

  So that’s why he’s been acting so weirdly quiet.

  I scoot toward him. “That’s not your fault. I’m the one who wandered off at the Weeper Reader’s place. And besides, you didn’t know Rider was there.”

  “That doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t have ever touched you. If we were doing what I promised we’d do, he wouldn’t have.” He elevates his gaze to mine, his hands finding my waist and he pulls me over so I’m straddling his lap. “I promise you from now on, nothing like that will ever happen again.”

  I want to repeat that it wasn’t his fault, but instead I nod because it feels like it’s what he needs at the moment. Now, how the hell I know what he needs is a goddamn mystery and sort of freaks me out.