4-Ever Cursed (4-Ever Hunted Book 2)

by Kasi Blake

  The hunter wore a black jacket with several zippers, jeans, and thick black gloves. The frigid wind played with his longish hair. Even with three layers of clothing Bash looked cold. If he wasn’t wondering why Trick was only wearing a thin shirt, the idea would hit him soon enough.

  Trick started bouncing on the balls of his feet. He swung his arms, crisscrossing them in front of him as if standing still made him colder. In way of explanation, he said, “I play better without a heavy coat weighing me down.”

  Bash took the statement as a challenge. He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it aside. After picking up the ball, he showed off by spinning it on the tip of his finger. “One on one?”

  Trick didn’t get it. The moody hunter had blown him off twice, refusing to speak to him. Now he was in Trick’s driveway offering to play basketball with him. What had changed? “Did Baxter tell you to come see me?” Trick asked, hopeful.

  Bash’s eyes flicked to the neighbor’s house. A muscle worked in his cheek. After a moment he shook his head. “My organization asked me to talk to you.”

  Organization? Trick slowly made the connection and realized what the hunter was doing in his driveway. The hunters from the van had sent Bash to talk some sense into him. They weren’t going to take no for an answer.

  “You’re with John Foster’s hunting group,” Trick said.

  Bash put a lot of distance between him and the basketball hoop. He threw the ball with barely any effort. It went straight in without hitting the backboard, no rim, all net. Swish.

  Standing beneath the net, Trick caught the ball and bounced it on the pavement. “They grabbed me the other day and tossed me in the back of a dirty van. I didn’t like them. Why would I want to join an organization that kidnaps minors?”

  He bounced the ball while holding his arm out to keep Bash from stealing it. They played for a few minutes. The only sounds were the grunts of two men trying to dominate the game. Although Trick had to concentrate every second to keep from using supernatural speed, he enjoyed the challenge. His father’s former friend was wicked cool, and Trick wanted to learn from the guy more than ever.

  Down by six points, Trick dribbled the ball several feet before shooting. Once again Bash leaped into the air and smacked the ball to keep it from going into the net. The hunter grinned in triumph. He already knew what Trick was just starting to realize. They could play all week and Trick would never win.

  “Join us,” Bash said. “We’re your only real option.”

  That sounded like a threat.

  Trick’s eyes narrowed. “My father didn’t work for them. Why should I?”

  Bash sighed, and his gaze dropped to the ground. Hands on hips, he stared at his jacket as if he wanted to put it on and leave. Finally, he said, “Ian Carver worked alone because he was a paranoid basketcase.”

  The insult was a jab to Trick’s heart. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something nasty in return. Getting into a fight with Bash would just complicate the situation. A plan formed in the back of Trick’s mind. He shot the ball while giving the idea time to fully develop. More than anything he wanted the surly hunter to train him, and the hunter wanted him to join his group. Maybe they could make a deal. Of course, Trick wouldn’t keep his end. He couldn’t. If he joined the hunters, they would discover his secret. Even though he walked in daylight, someone was bound to piece it together. Sooner or later, his identity would be exposed. No way around that.

  “Train me,” Trick said. “I want to hunt with you, just you. If it works out, I’ll join your organization.”

  Bash stared at him in silence, mulling over the offer, but he didn’t look pleased.

  Trick waited.

  The hunter’s reluctance was obvious; Trick decided to sweeten the deal. “If you hunt with me, train me, and tell me stories about my dad, I will tell you how I defeated the Shadow Faerie.” That’s how desperate he was to get his way. He added, “I’ll tell you everything and if you want, I’ll even help you find one to battle yourself.”

  Bash’s eyes lit up. “I would love to kill a Shadow Faerie.”

  “You see? We’d make a great team.”

  “Can you do your father’s trick with the burning hand?” Bash asked. “Can you set monsters on fire?”

  “No.” When the hunter’s interest in him seemed to fade, Trick hurried to explain. “I think I can learn how. If you want, I can try. I’ll do anything you say when it comes to training. You’re the boss.”

  Bash folded his muscular arms. “If you inherited Ian’s power, why didn’t the Sugar Bomb kill you?”

  Trick’s heart dropped to his feet. The clever hunter had boxed him into a corner. Now what? If he admitted the truth, that he’d made another vampire touch the Sugar Bomb before he did, Bash might kill him on the spot. He was already taking a huge risk by spending time with the guy. Bash was a genius when it came to hunting. Hadn’t his father expressed admiration for the man? Trick could spot a vampire a mile away, so he had to assume Bash could too. The only thing Trick had going for him was the fact Bash didn’t expect a vampire to be hunting other vampires. Plus, he was immune to sunlight and didn’t need to feed.

  Bash continued to stare at him with a burning intensity that made him shift from one foot to the other. He could lie to the hunter. But what if Bash already knew the answer? What if he was testing Trick?

  “I didn’t touch it,” Trick admitted. “I carried it in a box until I battled the Shadow Faerie.”

  “Does Baxter know?”

  Trick hesitated. He didn’t want to get the woman in trouble, but he had to be honest if he wanted Bash to trust him. Bash might tell the other hunters, and they might all turn against her. What if they kicked John Foster out of their group? That sure wouldn’t make Dani’s father like him any better. But he had to be truthful if he wanted Bash to trust him.

  He nodded.

  “Does John Foster know?” Bash asked.

  Trick shook his head. “He wasn’t around when she gave me the box. I knew I had at least a glimmer of power. I am my father’s son, so I would have to have some sort of magic in me. Right?”

  Bash grunted.

  They played basketball for a few minutes without talking. For a big man Bash moved with ninja-like grace. He stole the ball from Trick, spun on one foot, and threw it. Two points. No matter where the hunter stood, no matter how far away from the basket he was, he sank the ball every single time.

  Trick managed to hit the ball out of Bash’s hand once. He had the feeling the hunter let him do it. If he was Bash, he would have done the same thing to study his opponent. Learn your enemy’s weaknesses. Another of his father’s favorite sayings.

  Bash grinned as he grabbed his jacket off the cold ground. “I’ll call you when I’m ready to hunt.”

  The hunter gave him a pat on the shoulder, a fatherly gesture that made his heart ache for the real deal. Bash walked away without waiting for a response, and Trick watched him go. He bounced the ball a few times before throwing it. The ball hit the backboard and returned to him. Missing the basket didn’t rattle his fiercely competitive nature in the way it usually did.

  Bash had agreed to train him. Excitement gave Trick renewed joy for life and rekindled his love of hunting. Finally, he was taking a step in the right direction. He stood at the start of the cement path and watched Bash drive away.

  Piercing pain drove Trick to his knees. It came out of nowhere and blindsided him. Extreme hunger made his gut ache, but it wasn’t food he craved. Blood. Visions of killing and feeding flooded his mind. A list of nearby people presented itself. He couldn’t help but wonder which would be the easiest. Which of them would be the least likely to get him killed by a hunter?

  Inside his home, the housekeeper was busy doing laundry; Sean and Matt were at work, and Laura was doing some charity thing across town. He could kill the cleaning woman and ditch the body before they returned.

  Next door Claudia Baxter was alone; John was on a hunting trip, and
Dani was at cheerleading practice.

  A ten-year-old kid lived across the street. Everyone on the block knew he was by himself until his parents got home at six.

  A few houses down, a retired couple spent their days doing yard work and watching television. They were in good health but moved slow.

  The monster in him worked on instinct. It asked him multiple questions. Whose disappearance would go unnoticed the longest? Which one would the police care about the least? Who was known for taking unexpected trips? If he could make it look like they left town, he might get away with it.

  Cowboy would help him cover up the kill.

  Trick squeezed his eyes shut and fought the blood lust building in his system. It was about to blow like an active volcano. He gritted his teeth. Somehow he had to stop the monster in him from taking over. He’d rather die than kill an innocent.

  He slammed his fist into the concrete, breaking the small bones in his hand. Pain brought relief, and the blood lust subsided... for now. What about next time? Maybe he should get someone to stake him before he took a life.

  Scarlet was still mad at him.

  Maybe she would stake him.

  ♫

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Foolish Heart

  Several days passed without a sign of trouble. That made Trick anxious. He’d love to relax, but he knew the second he let his guard down his life would implode. His stomach muscles remained clenched on a daily basis. He wouldn’t be surprised if he got an ulcer from the continuous waiting. Did vampires get ulcers? More than anything he wished for a straight out battle with Oberon. Once that was over, he could get on with his life.

  Dani had become his escape, a safe haven during a violent thunderstorm. The time he spent with her kept him sane. Whistling an upbeat tune, he went to her backyard at their regular rendezvous time. As usual, she was sitting on the swing, waiting. Her face lit up when she spotted him crossing into her yard. She jumped up, teeth chattering. The light coat she’d put on wasn’t thick enough to keep her warm.

  Trick shrugged off his leather jacket and put it around her shoulders. She slid her arms into the sleeves and zipped the front. “If someone sees us,” she said, “they might wonder about you. At least try to look cold.”

  He grinned. “Maybe they’ll think I’m tough.”

  “Or they’ll think you’re trying to impress me and make me think you’re tough. You would still look cold even if you were fighting it.”

  He started to jog in place and wrapped his arms around himself.

  She giggled, and her brown eyes twinkled. “Too much. You’re supposed to be trying to impress me. Remember?”

  He shoved his hands deep into his jean pockets and stood rigid so he would look cold to the casual observer. The whole thing was ridiculous. Who was going to see him in Dani’s backyard? John Foster and Baxter had gone to a party with friends. He and Dani were alone. The dog wasn’t even around.

  “Where is Carter?” he asked. How was the dog supposed to protect her from monsters if she didn’t keep it with her?

  “I put him inside a few minutes ago.” She looped her arms around his neck. It was becoming her signature move, and he liked it. She tilted her face a bit so her glossy lips were a couple inches from his. She asked, “What should we do with all this alone time?”

  “How about this?” He kissed her, a slow press of his lips on her full mouth. To him, the best part of having a girlfriend was the kissing. He could do it whenever he wanted. They didn’t have that stressful should-I-kiss-her garbage anymore.

  Instead of deepening the kiss he took a step back, a few things weighing heavy on his mind.

  “Something wrong,” she asked in a sexy breathless voice.

  “Matt and I were talking about him and Summer and how she’s a vampire. They think they don’t have a future unless he’s one too. It made me think about us.”

  She grinned. “I’ve been thinking a lot about us too.”

  “Are you in love with me?”

  She sputtered. “W-what?” Shocked expression, she took a step back. “You aren’t supposed to ask me that.”

  “Sorry. My dating etiquette is rusty.”

  “If you love me, then you tell me you love me, and if I love you, I tell you I love you. We don’t put each other on the spot. When it happens, it happens. You can’t rush it.”

  In retrospect, Trick realized he should have used his power to see into her mind. Asking her outright was a dumb idea. She had it all wrong. He wasn’t trying to rush things with her. In fact, the opposite was true. He had zero intention of getting into a heavy relationship. Perhaps it was morbid curiosity. He just had to know. “If you loved me, would you be willing to become a vampire? Would you let me turn you if you couldn’t imagine life without me?”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “This is just hypothetical,” he said, hands up to show he didn’t mean any harm. “Summer has Matt thinking about it, and it got me wondering about us.”

  She tucked dark hair behind her ear and looked away. “How can you ask me to do something like that?”

  “I did it for you,” he reminded her with blunt force. Then his face burned with guilt and a touch of shame. The accusation was only partially true. He would have turned vampire to rescue anyone he had put in danger. The Shadow Faerie had only tried to kill her because she was important to him.

  Dani twisted her fingers. “Usually, I make a list of pros and cons and reason out which way I should go. But I can’t do that with us. It doesn’t work. Feelings are illogical. My heart wants to be with you, but my head says I should run the other way.” She grimaced. “Oh, and my father wants to send me away. So I may not be around long enough to fall in love with you.”

  Trick gaped at her. “He can’t do that, not while we’re trying to figure this out.”

  “He knows about the Shadow Faerie taking me. I think his stupid hunter friends told him. Now he wants to send me to live with my aunt in Arizona while I finish school.”

  “There are monsters in Arizona.”

  She flung her hands into the air. “That’s what I said.”

  “You know, even if we do fall in love, you don’t have to turn vampire,” he said. “Cowboy told me there have been a few vamps that hooked up with mortals. They enjoyed time together, decades even until their human lovers died.”

  “That’s terrible.” Dani frowned. She looked away, blinking rapidly. “Think about it, how hard it would be to love someone and watch them get old and die while you stay young. The worst thing would be knowing you’re going to lose them. I don’t think I could do that.”

  He shrugged. “The only alternative is both people turning vampire.”

  “I can think of another option.” She cleared her throat and stared at a point beyond him. “They could walk away before they fall in love. They could leave each other rather than risk their hearts being broken.”

  Was that what she wanted to do?

  Her hand slid down his arm until her fingers reached his. She grasped them firmly and said, “I promise I will think about our future and all the what-ifs. Believe me. I’ll be thinking about it non-stop. Just give me some time. Okay?”

  Trick forced a smile he wasn’t feeling. An alarm went off in his head. His inner voice warned him this girl would break his heart if he let her. She raised her hand in an awkward half-wave before disappearing into her house. Were his feelings stronger than hers?

  Maybe he should have asked her if she wanted to go to her aunt’s house in Arizona. It was possible she was ready to put distance between them to keep from falling for him. If that were the case, he’d want her to go. He’d want her to be happy.

  The light snapped off in her living room, and the terrace went dark.

  With a last look at the glass doors, he turned for home.

  ♫

  Saturday morning had him alone in the kitchen when Scarlet entered through the back door. She didn’t bother to knock. That meant trouble. He hadn’t seen her since their
argument in the school parking lot. She had the ready-to-kill look on her face that she usually saved for vampires. The girl was spoiling for a fight. He mentally prepared himself while waiting for her to speak first.

  Dark purplish circles underlined her eyes, and she hadn’t bothered trying to subdue her untamed hair. Masses of strawberry blond spirals surrounded her face, slightly damp as if she’d gotten caught in the rain. She wore her usual faded jeans and layer combo that included a black tee, a plaid shirt, and a denim jacket. Had she gotten any sleep since their argument?

  She went straight to the coffee and poured herself a cup without asking. Laura had turned it off on her way out the door that morning, but it was probably still warm. Laura and Sean were spending the day up at Lake Tahoe with friends; Matt was at the bookstore; the housekeeper didn’t work weekends. Trick used to sneak a cup once in a while, but turning vampire had taken away his need of stimulants. He always felt wired now.

  Scarlet held the cup between both hands and drank with greedy gulps. Her eyes watched him over the rim, unblinking. After she finished, she set the empty cup in the sink. Her shoulders sagged.

  With a sigh, he relented and spoke first. “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?” Her eyes were accusing, and her hands went to her hips. “Are you sorry you spied on me? Or are you sorry you lied about it?”

  “Both.”

  He had the feeling they were about to have a worse argument than before. How could he make her understand their friendship was one of the most important things in his life? He was having trouble sleeping. He kept going over and over the fight in his mind, reliving it while trying to find where he had gone wrong.

  “It wasn’t totally my fault,” he said. “I didn’t spy on you on purpose. It’s a new power, and I can’t control it yet. When I went to the hospital to check on you, I tried to use the power to see the attack. I wanted to know what had happened to you. At that point, I wasn’t even sure it was the Shadow Faerie that hurt you.”