Dark Curse

by Kim Richardson

  Lucian allowed himself a slow, charismatic smile. “I believe I’ve found my pick of offspring,” he said, turning his back on me and addressing Lisbeth and the Unmarked. “I’ve made my choice. One that will truly appreciate this gift.”

  The Unmarked exhaled, the sound rising like a sigh of excitement.

  I sucked in a breath through my teeth. Here we go.

  Lucian flicked the butt of his cigarette. The archdemon raised his hand dramatically and said, “Hannah.”

  Oh, dear.

  Hannah, it seemed, was just as shocked as the rest of us. Her blue eyes were wide and her smile stretched nearly to her ears. She just stood there, her teeth glinting and smiling like the idiot she was.

  “Her?” shouted Ethan, and I let out a little laugh that no one heard over the sudden shouting match. I couldn’t help myself.

  It was obvious Lucian had a soft spot for the girls. Maybe we females took to the curse better or maybe he just believed the gender was easier to tame? I think not.

  All at once, shouts of outrage and disagreement erupted among the other Unmarked. James shoved Miguel back at something he’d said. The smaller Unmarked recovered in a flash and had his soul blade out, ready to use on his brother. Now, this was really interesting. Not to mention, entertaining.

  Ethan rushed up to Lucian, pointing a finger dangerously close to the archdemon’s face. “How can you pick her over me?” he shouted, sounding like the brat that he was. “I’m the right choice. Me! Not this whore! This weak female! You idiot!”

  Oh. No. He. Didn’t. I wished I’d brought some popcorn.

  Lucian lowered his hand. He was cool and collected, and somehow that was worse than if he’d been shouting back. His lips pulled back from his teeth slightly, his eyes wild and dark with anger. “My choice is made. I choose Hannah,” he said, and then I stiffened when I felt the tension go up.

  Hannah gave Ethan a wicked grin. “It hurts. Doesn’t it? Not being number one anymore,” she said, the faint light shining on her teeth as she grinned. “He picked me. Not you. Which means, I’m better than you. He picked the winner. Not the loser.”

  She turned her back to him, looking demonic but justifiably proud of herself as she made her way towards Lucian. Ethan stepped to block her way and I sucked in a breath as he shoved her back, hard, smiling arrogantly when she staggered.

  Hannah brushed her hair out of her face. “Touch me again, and I’ll cut off your balls. That’s if you even have any.”

  Ethan stood with his legs splayed, a black ball of dark magic in his hand.

  Holy shit. He wanted to kill her. This was getting better and better.

  “Why are they doing this? I thought you said they were family?” came my grandmother’s voice from next to me.

  “Them? Because they’re stupid. That’s why,” I said, my eyes going to Lucian, who looked annoyed for the first time since I’d seen him in the warehouse. But he wasn’t interfering. Was he waiting to see if Hannah was the right choice?

  “Stop this!” shouted Lisbeth, her wrinkled face shocked and ugly. “What’s the matter with you? Have you all lost your minds! I said stop! Right now!” Right, like that was going to stop them.

  Hannah’s face was murderous as Latin came from her fast, winding up with a black ball of her own dark magic dripping in her hand.

  “How dare you touch me, you bastard,” she exclaimed, the blackness in her hands flickering.

  Ethan’s eyes locked onto Hannah’s for an instant, looking more demonic than Lucian, and then he threw his spell at her.

  In the same instant, Hannah threw her own spell at him but missed. It went spinning into a large wooden crate. Ethan’s ball of black death hit Hannah.

  She stumbled, her mouth open in a silent scream as a haze of black covered her. Hannah collapsed, seizing as if having hit an electrical field.

  “Hannah!” shouted Miguel, seeing her writhe with coils of black steam rolling off of her. And then she was still. Wide-eyed Miguel stared at his sister, his face twisting in horror and rage.

  One down, three to go.

  Lisbeth’s face paled, her eyes on Hannah. “What have you done?” she cried. “What have you done?”

  Ethan spun to Lucian. The archdemon hadn’t even moved, his eyes on the dead Hannah. His red eyes slightly slanted, his posture stiff and a cigarette forgotten in his hand.

  “I killed her,” expressed Ethan, his eyes wild with satisfaction. “If she was the right choice, she would have bested me. She didn’t. I should have your gift. Me.”

  Miguel let out a scream. Slipping on the smooth cement floor, he lunged at Ethan, knocking him down before the other Unmarked could conjure up another spell.

  The two young men went down, Miguel landing front first across his brother. The sounds of fists hitting flesh rose. With a grunt of pain, Ethan scrambled up to his feet, an invoked curse in his grasp.

  Ethan flung his curse at Miguel, and it exploded as another ball of dark magic intercepted it.

  “You’re dead, Ethan!” James shouted, shaking as he stood next to Miguel.

  Ethan let out a manic laugh that had my skin riddling in goosebumps. “You can’t defeat me. You’re nothing. Nothing! I’m the chosen one. Me. Not you. Not any of you. The gift is mine! Mine!”

  “Kill him!” shouted Miguel, arms waving, as James stood next to him, his lips working out another spell.

  My mouth dropped open, and I glanced at the fighting. This was insane.

  “They’re acting like children,” said my gran, aghast. “Spoiled brats.”

  “That’s because that’s exactly what they were,” I answered. “Little bastards.”

  I smiled as Ethan’s mouth worked more Latin. The Unmarked were killing each other.

  And I was going to let them.

  23

  Heart thrashing in my chest like it wanted to explode through my ribs, I turned to my grandmother. “Do you have any more hairpins?”

  Her lips parted in surprise. “Yes. Here.” She pulled out two more pins from her bun.

  “We’re getting out of here.” I took the hairpins carefully in my blistered hands. I felt my skin tingling as my wounds started to heal. But I didn’t have time to wait.

  Ignoring the pain, I got to work. My adrenaline pulsed and my hands shook as I strained to push in the lever down. Next came the pick.

  I heard a scream and looked up in time to see James fall back on the ground, convulsing as a black curse coated his body.

  Two to go.

  Ethan and Miguel stood facing each other, black energy balls blazing in their outstretched hands. A standoff in a show of strength, their final duel. In a flash, they flung their dark magic curses.

  Pulse fast, I pulled my eyes away. I didn’t have time to watch. We had to get out of here.

  With the last click, I twisted the lever, put pressure on the pick, and the lock popped open. I unhooked it, let it fall on the ground, and swung the door open.

  “Hurry,” I said as I moved and grabbed an unconscious Kora while my gran grabbed Tyrius. Together, we stepped out of the cage.

  I caught a glimpse of Lucian. A shimmer cascaded over him, and he was gone. The bastard didn’t even stay to see the results of the fight. Lisbeth was nowhere to be seen. She’d left as well.

  Balls of black energy filled the air as Miguel and Ethan continued their duel. One hit the crate next to me and it exploded in a mass of black energy, like tiny lightning bolts.

  “This way,” I urged and pushed my grandmother in front of me.

  And then we were running.

  We ran towards the exit door, leaving the shouting behind us. The air was thick with the scent of sulfur, and pulsing with dark magic. My skin prickled at the intensity, and the smell of burnt flesh made me gag. Shrill sounds of panic as heavy as thunder beat the air. A giant explosion rocked the warehouse, but we kept going as a wave of dust and dirt rolled over us. I choked, my eyes watering as I staggered through the cloud of dust. The lights flickered and
went out as another great boom rocked the warehouse, the earth shaking beneath our feet. Coughing, I hooked my free arm under my gran’s and I yanked her forward with me through the semi darkness, my eyes on the door.

  Almost there. Zigzagging through tables, chairs, and crates as fast as we could without dropping our furry bundles, we made a beeline for the door.

  I heard a series of harsh curses somewhere in the warehouse, and then more screaming. A loud buzzing echoed around us and the lights flickered back on. The ground gave another hiccup, and a noise crashed down on us, making me cower. But we were almost out.

  A shot rang out, the sharp, cracking report of a real gun.

  White-hot pain erupted in my left leg and I stumbled, catching myself before I fell and brought my gran down with me.

  “Rowyn?” she cried as she steadied me. Wincing in effort, she pulled me up, fear showing on her face.

  I looked at my thigh. A blot of red appeared on my jeans. I was bleeding, and I looked at my hand in horror, at the blood staining my fingers. There was a hole in my jeans. I’d been shot. The bullet had gone right through to the other side of my thigh.

  I spun around and stared.

  Lisbeth stood behind us with a gun pointed at us.

  “You,” she raged, the gun shaking violently in her left hand as she strained forward with her cane in the other. “It’s all your fault. Your fault!”

  I didn’t think. I just reacted.

  I turned. “Here, take Kora.” I dropped Kora over Tyrius into my grandmother’s arms. “Go. My car’s in the parking lot.”

  My gran looked terrified. “I can’t—”

  “Go!” I cried and pushed her. “Hurry.” I shoved her towards the door.

  Tears brimming her eyes, she opened her mouth to say something, but another shot rang out, thundering in my ears. We ducked as the bullet hit the metal rack next to us. Too close. I didn’t think Lisbeth would miss with the next shot.

  “GO!” I shouted, my pulse racing as I pushed her again, hard, angling my body to act like a shield behind her.

  “You ruined everything!” cried Lisbeth, exasperated, her voice thin and shaky. “Everything!”

  Another gunshot barked, sharp and loud, and I jerked, staggering to one side, as my gran finally disappeared through the metal door with the two cats safely in her arms.

  I twisted back around as a guttural growl escaped from me, my hands curled into fists. “You old bitch. You could have killed her.”

  I had no weapons, no dark gift, nothing but my wits and courage as the old woman pointed a semi-automatic gun at me. But I was crazy-mad.

  “They’re all dead because of you!” she shouted and pulled the trigger again. The gun roared, but her shot went wide, hitting the wall to my left.

  I looked over her shoulder, to the four bodies that lay on the warehouse floor. I could still see the steam rolling off of them and smell the stench of burnt flesh and sulfur. The Unmarked were dead. They’d killed each other. And I didn’t even have to lift a finger.

  “I didn’t kill your science project,” I said, flicking my attention back to her, shaking both from rage and the adrenaline.

  “You did this!” she raged, defiance and insane anger in her glazed eyes. “You killed them!”

  “They killed each other, you idiot,” I shot back. “They were crazy. Only the crazies do that kind of crap. That’s on you. You can’t blame me for this. All of this is your fault. Not mine.”

  Lisbeth staggered forward, her body shaking with rage, and nearly slipped. “Everything was working out just fine,” she said, stomping her cane. “I was almost there. I had it all planned out perfectly, but you had to go and ruin everything!”

  I felt a sudden flash of anger and vehemence. I didn’t appreciate being blamed for something as dark and sick as messing with the DNA of babies. ‘Cause that was crazy.

  I scowled at the old woman. “You created a bunch of freaks that killed each other,” I said. “Deal with it.”

  Lisbeth let out a crazy laugh, tossing the gun in her hand like she was batting mosquitoes. “What? You think you’re any better than them? You were never much different,” she said with a sneer to her voice. “You are exactly the same, Rowyn. You are all prepared to kill to protect what you care for. You murdered half-breeds and demons to protect your way of life. They did the same. You call it Hunting. We call it preservation. They came from you. You all shared the same blood.”

  I tensed up, feeling the blood from my leg trickle down to my ankle. “We are nothing alike,” I said. “You kill for business and profit. I did what I had to do to keep the balance between the half-breeds, the demons, and the mortals.” Full of indignant anger, I looked down at her as she stood there, hunched over her cane with a loaded gun still pointed at me. “I’m nothing like them. I didn’t go around torturing and killing half-breeds because I thought it was fun. They were crazy. Twisted.” And I was glad they were dead.

  “Ha!” laughed Lisbeth, the whites of her eyes showing. “Half-breeds are nothing more than lesser beasts. Filthy and diseased, a stain on this world that will eventually be removed.”

  A moan, feather light, slipped from me as I moved back a step. “You’re just as crazy as they are,” I said. “No. I take that back. You’re even more insane if you think you can remove all the half-breeds in the world. They are part of this world just as much as you or me. They deserve to be here.”

  “Spoken like a true democratic and egalitarian,” she mocked, her voice edged with adrenaline. The words came through a manic grin. “It’s really kind of annoying when you’re trying to rule the world.”

  Wow. We just reached a higher level of crazy.

  Lips pursed, she gave me a sour expression. “You could never be part of my new world. You’re too stubborn. Never follow rules. You never have. You wouldn’t have made a good soldier.”

  I snorted. “Thank the souls for that.” God, my leg hurt.

  “No,” she sneered and took a few steps forward, the stomp of her cane echoing loudly in the warehouse now that the shouting had stopped. “You were weaker. They were stronger, perfect. True soldiers.”

  I shrugged, feeling sweat breaking out over my entire body. “They don’t look like soldiers to me anymore. More like dead soldiers.”

  Lisbeth’s expression darkened and she lifted her gun again. “I would have killed Cecil and the baal demons just to see you fall apart. But I’ll settle for just you now.”

  I swallowed, glad that my gran and the cats had gotten away. They were safe. Thank the souls.

  The woman’s face lit up at what she saw on mine. “Oh? What’s this? You think I’m going to stop at you? Stupid girl. After I kill you, I will find her and kill her. And believe me, she’ll die begging for her life. I’ll make her suffer because of what you’ve done.”

  I felt my own anger tighten. “You twisted old bitch,” I hissed, pursing my lips so that I wouldn’t scream. Sweat slipped into my eyes. Blinking, I felt a wave of dizziness. Suddenly feeling trapped, my hand clutched at my wounded leg, and I felt sick.

  I slumped against a metal rack. I was losing too much blood way too fast. Faster than my body could heal.

  My left leg throbbed, and I shifted my weight to my right. If I wanted to live, I had to disarm her. To do that, I needed to get closer. But the closer I got, the easier it would be for her to get a clear shot of me. I was so screwed.

  “You are a selfish, self-righteous fool.” Lisbeth’s jaw clenched harder, the muscles in her face bulging. “How does it feel knowing that you’re about to die? Being too weak to protect yourself.” Her gun trembled as she raised it.

  My tension spiked and I pushed off the rack with my hand. “What was your great plan, eh?” I said, struggling to stay still, and thinking of ways to stay alive. “You think you could have controlled Hannah or any of the others once that dark curse was in them? If you do, you’re the idiot.”

  “I’ll admit, Hannah was not my first choice,” said Lisbeth, faint wrin
kles about her eyes deepening in doubt. “But she would have been the easiest to control out of the lot of them. Ethan... well...” her words drifted to nothing.

  I took the opportunity to push. Maybe the old hag would believe me. “They would have turned completely over to the darkness. That gift would have controlled them in the end. They would have surrendered to it. I probably would have too. It would have changed them into demons. Something that only Lucian could control.”

  “Lies. Lies. Lies.” Lisbeth slammed her cane on the ground, her eyes widening and her expression twisting into fury.

  “It’s the truth—”

  “Lies!” The old woman snarled and pulled the trigger.

  I barely had time to throw myself out of the way as the bullet grazed my shoulder with a sting. I hit the cement hard, my hip burning. A deep, throbbing ache seemed to come from my hip bone and pulse in time with my heart.

  I scrambled to my feet just as Lisbeth aimed the gun at me, but she was shaking so uncontrollably, she’d never make the next shot if she took it.

  “I’m not lying,” I said, mouth dry. “It was happening to me. An uncontrollable thirst for death. To kill. I was in a dark place. I don’t think you fully understand what the archdemon’s gift is. It’s not what you think.”

  Lisbeth’s low, mocking laugh grew in depth and then faded with a bitter sound. “It’s exactly what I hoped for, you insolent fool. The gift should have been for my children, not you.”

  “Swell,” I breathed. “This talk we’re having... is really awesome.” This conversation was going nowhere fast. I had to do something before she pulled the trigger again and killed my ass now that she’d stopped shaking as badly. I was going to have to make a run for it and pray the old hag missed.

  “The archdemon and I made a deal,” said Lisbeth, her cane thumping as she came forward. “All is not lost. It can still work.” Her face broke into a smile. “With his curse, we will create a new army of the Unmarked and rid our world of half-breeds.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me?” I nearly hissed. “Is that what he led you to believe? You can’t honestly believe that crap.”