Cursed by the Fountain of Youth (Unnatural States of America Book 1)

by Holly Kelly

  “And beauty awakes.” Lafayette’s voice filtered in as he stepped through the door, carrying a lantern.

  Fae blinked back tears. She absolutely hated feeling helpless. “What are you going to do with me?”

  “I can’t say how much you disappoint me.” He frowned at her as he set the lantern on the table beside her. “I’d learned so much about you, Fae. I thought I knew you. How kind and self-sacrificing you were. I guess you’re only self-sacrificing when you think your knight in shining armor will save you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You ran away and left your dear friend Morgan,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “I thought your concern would be primarily for your friend.”

  “Morgan’s dead,” Fae said, her voice hollow.

  Lafayette blinked in surprise. “Now that’s just not true.”

  “You’re lying,” Fae said.

  “What happened to that trusting soul you used to have?”

  “I’ve never trusted you.”

  “Well, you can trust me on this.” He turned to glance behind him. “Morgan, come in here and tell your roommate you’re alive.”

  Fae’s heart dropped when Morgan walked into the room. Her face was bruised, her clothes tattered, and there was no ethereal glow. This was no ghost.

  Morgan turned her eyes on Fae, and Fae’s stomach twisted in a knot. She was looking into the eyes of a corpse.

  “Get her away from me,” Fae snarled.

  “Interesting.” Lafayette took a step toward her. “Tell me what you see.”

  Fae turned to him, anger boiling under her skin. “I see a walking corpse.”

  “The term is zombie,” Morgan said in her familiar, haughty voice—the voice she used when talking about people she didn’t like. It felt so wrong hearing that voice coming from a corpse—even a corpse that looked like Morgan. She narrowed her dead eyes at Fae. “And the way you’re looking at me tells me you have a problem with zombies.”

  Was she serious?

  “There’s nothing wrong with who and what I am,” Morgan said. “I’m still the same me, I still have the same hopes and dreams. I’m still a beautiful person inside and out.”

  Fae looked on in distrust. This couldn’t possibly be the real Morgan. Her spirit floated around somewhere. But perhaps there was enough of the real Morgan left in there—locked inside her brain—that she may be telling the truth. Morgan continued to ramble on in her usual way, so much so that Fae wondered if a part of her friend was still in there.

  “You still don’t believe me, don’t you?” Morgan asked Fae.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Well, you know what? I don’t think I like you anymore.” She turned to Lafayette. “Can I have her? That guy in there just doesn’t taste right, and his screams are really getting on my nerves!”

  Fae’s stomach heaved when she realized what Morgan meant. No! That wasn’t Morgan. That was simply her animated corpse. Fae pushed back the bile that rose in her throat and said, “But I thought you were the same old Morgan. Morgan never would have…done what you’re doing.”

  “Excuse me. Did you not hear the part about me being a zombie? I swear no one listens to me!” She turned back to Lafayette. “So, what do you say?”

  “If you’d started on Theon’s brain like I told you,” Lafayette said, clearly irritated. “He wouldn’t be bothering you.”

  “Have you ever tried to get into someone skull? It’s harder than it looks. I tried banging it against the floor, but that didn’t even crack it. And then I tried—”

  “Do you have to ramble on so much?” Lafayette bellowed, his voice rising until he roared in anger. “I swear, I should have kept Theon and had him finish you off. I still might if you don’t shut up!”

  Morgan snapped her mouth shut as she nursed what looked to be a bite mark on her arm. Her lips were quivering as she turned on her heels and bolted out the door.

  Lafayette breathed heavily, then seem to relax. He turned back to Fae, smiled weakly, and sighed. “As you see, Morgan is still alive, as agreed.”

  “You make me sick,” Fae said.

  “Yeah, well, you make me young. And as long as you continue to keep me young, you and I are stuck together.” He stepped forward and crouched down next to her. “Listen, I’m sorry about Morgan. I’m sorry about a lot of things I’ve done lately—locking you in a dungeon, throwing you down a well, killing your friend. I truly don’t know why I’ve been acting so crazy. I’m not usually like this. But I’m trying to make things right. I thought by bringing Morgan back, it would go toward making restitution to you. I thought it would fix things. I think it still can. I’m sure she’ll come around. Theon acted pretty normal in his nerdy kind of way, so I’m sure Morgan—”

  “Are you talking about the guy Morgan is eating?” Fae interrupted.

  Lafayette blushed. “Um, yeah. Sorry, that didn’t sound right, did it?”

  Is this guy for real? “Listen,” Fae said, “if you really want to make restitution, I know exactly what you can do. Let me go.”

  He shook his head. “You’re asking the one thing I absolutely cannot do.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “What if I can’t find you again? I’ll die.”

  “Yeah, maybe in fifty or sixty years. Everyone dies sometime.”

  “No. Not me. I refuse to die. I refuse to disappear into nothingness.”

  “You’re not going to disappear. Don’t you believe in life after death?”

  “Do you think my fate would be any better? If there were life after death, I’d be going to hell and I’d burn for eternity for what I’ve done.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  “And you can’t know any of it. You don’t understand. You’ve never had to look at the face of death and wonder. You’re immortal.”

  “That’s not true. I may not age, but I can definitely die. You almost killed me yourself when you drank my blood and left me in that dungeon.”

  “You’re lying. I know about your ability to heal quickly.”

  “That ability comes from my blood, which you drained—leaving me vulnerable.”

  “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “You’re only sorry you almost lost your blood supply.”

  “Yes. And I won’t risk it again. I’ve got the bear working on your next home. And this time, I’m keeping you close.” He squatted down and brushed his fingers across her cheek.

  Fae jerked back. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m keeping you right here. In the well. I’ll just fill it with water, bolt a steel door down, and put you in. We’ve got a filtration system and everything. This will be a much better home for you than that dungeon.”

  “You’re crazy!”

  Lafayette pulled out his phone and swiped the screen. “Probably, but Hunter is getting it…ready…” His voice dropped off as confusion spread over his face. He furiously tapped his screen, and horror spread across his face. He burst into rage and a string of profanities poured from his mouth. He stepped toward the doorway and bellowed, “Hunter, I need you to come here now!”

  Minutes later, a huge man stepped into the lamplight. “What is it, boss?”

  “Did you use my phone to text anyone?”

  His eyes widened in surprise. “No, of course not.”

  Lafayette glared at the phone in his hand. “It had to be Theon.”

  “What did Theon do?” Hunter asked with a hint of regret in his eyes. Fae wondered how he felt about Morgan eating the nerd. From what she saw, she thought he might not appreciate it. Perhaps Theon was a friend of his. She might be able to use that to her advantage.

  “He texted Kaare and offered him a trade! The FBI agent for Avira.” Lafayette dragged his fingers through his hair. “At least he asked for a dead FBI agent. That’s one less person I have to worry about.”

  Fae’s heart took off on a sprint. Would Thomas really kill Nick to save the woman he
loved?

  “But we don’t have Avira,” Hunter said.

  “You don’t think I know that?” Lafayette snapped. “Theon was probably after a snack. That kid has a ravenous appetite.”

  “Had.” Sadness darkened Hunter’s face.

  He did like the zombie nerd.

  Lafayette’s eyes widened.

  “Morgan found the sledge hammer,” Hunter said.

  Fae felt sick again. This whole situation sickened her. “That’s not Morgan,” she said.

  Hunter turned a glaring eye on her. He looked livid. As if all this was her fault! She didn’t ask to be ripped out of her world and taken here. And Morgan didn’t ask to be murdered and her body brought back soulless and craving human flesh.

  Lafayette didn’t even acknowledge that she had spoken. “Theon deserved to have his head bashed in,” Lafayette said. “Do you know what Kaare is capable of? And he thinks we have his mate! He’s going to be tearing apart every lead until he finds us.”

  “And you don’t think Nick isn’t already doing that?” Fae asked.

  Finally, Lafayette turned to frown at her. “Agent Chase can’t decapitate me with a swipe of his claw or eat me while I’m alive and screaming. A werecougar can and will do that—especially when his mate is threatened.”

  “So, what do we do?” Hunter asked.

  Lafayette narrowed his eyes. “We move forward with our plans. There’s no way they can trace this farmhouse to me. I left no leads, no trail. We should be safe.” They stepped out the door and started back to the house. “How soon before it’s ready?”

  “It’s nearly done. Putting on the cover should be easy enough, and then we’ll just need to fill it with water and turn on the filtration pump.”

  “As soon as it’s ready,” Lafayette said, “put her inside and…” their voices trailed off.

  He’s going to trap me in that old well and fill it with water? “Oh, no you won’t.” Fae pulled on the rope tied around her wrists, but the harder she pulled, the tighter it got. Finally, it was so tight that she couldn’t feel her fingers. She looked around in a last attempt to find a way to escape. Lafayette had left the burning lantern. It didn’t help her though. There was absolutely nothing within reach.

  Where were her ghosts when she needed them? “Morgan? Jenny? Where are you?” she whispered loudly. Maybe they were still at the well. They had a hard enough time removing the old grate. A steel door would be impossible. This situation in the barn provided her best chance for escape.

  “Morgan! You can’t leave me here like this!” She hoped to see their glowing faces any moment, but they didn’t come.

  A darkened silhouette stepped into the doorway. Morgan stepped into the lamplight as she entered the room. Blood covered her smiling mouth and dripped down her chin. “You called?”

  Chapter 34

  Nick sat at his former boss’s desk, furiously searching through this year’s auto sales of ’66 Chrysler Windsors. There were a good number of them, but none around the area where Jenny was kidnapped.

  Thomas paced the floor and once again stopped to glance at the clock. “It’s six o’clock, we have—”

  “An hour and thirteen minutes. I know.”

  Nick turned his focus back on the case. Perhaps the car wasn’t bought but stolen. Nick started a new search. Results popped up immediately. Young had a wicked fast computer. “Ah ha!” he shouted.

  “What?” Thomas said.

  “I’ve got something. There was a report of a missing black ’66 Winsor fifteen miles from the location of the kidnapping, and it so happens the theft occurred the day before Jenny disappeared.”

  “But if it’s stolen, how do we find it?”

  “I haven’t gotten that far.”

  Thomas swore. “We have to find it before sunrise.”

  “I know.” Nick’s fingers flew over the keys. “Let me just check a few things.” A strange pattern emerged as he searched reports in and around the area where the car was stolen. “This is odd. There was a missing person’s report that was never properly followed up on.”

  “So?”

  “Apparently, the person who reported it turned up dead the day after the report. The police didn’t put two and two together because the man filing the report lived two hours away and died of so-called natural causes—a heart attack.”

  “A heart attack doesn’t sound strange to me.”

  “The man was twenty-five.”

  “So, he was young. That’s not unheard of.”

  Nick dug deeper as he pulled up related files. “And here’s another strange coincidence. The man who was reported missing signed over the deed to his house to someone named Mark Hansen. But it happened just two days before the man disappeared.”

  Thomas breathed a curse. “Mark? Marcus? That can’t be a coincidence. I think we’re looking at another alias. Where is the home located?”

  “Sixty-eight miles south from here.”

  Thomas grabbed his jacket and jogged toward the door. Nick followed on his heel.

  “This better be it,” Thomas said. “If we’re wrong, Avira is dead.”

  Nick wanted to assure him that he wasn’t wrong, but he couldn’t. This was the best lead they had, but it wasn’t a sure thing by a long shot.

  They averaged a hundred and fifty miles an hour down I95. Nick was shocked they didn’t see any flashing lights along the way. Finally, they turned off and made their way through rural forests and swamps.

  The sky began to brighten as the sun approached the horizon. Nick glanced over at Thomas. He clutched the steering wheel so tight, there was blood dripping down his wrists. He hadn’t retracted his claws since he noticed the first glimmer of sunlight on the horizon. He also hadn’t said a word.

  Nick was worried himself about Fae. He had no way of knowing if she were alive or dead. He only knew one thing: if Lafayette has killed her, Nick would rip him apart with his bare hands. He didn’t care if it landed him in prison. If Lafayette had harmed her in any way, he would pay for what he did.

  Nick glanced over when he heard a low rumbling growl coming from Thomas. Nick had a feeling Thomas was thinking along the same lines—though Thomas was more equipped to rip people to shreds than Nick was.

  Finally, they came to an old, beat-up mailbox at the head of a dirt driveway. Thomas passed by the box, pulled into a hollow in the foliage, and parked. Reaching into the back seat, he grabbed a thick blanket under his arm.

  “Our priority is search and rescue,” Thomas said. “Vengeance will come later.”

  “Agreed,” Nick said as he headed into the trees. They moved in silence for several minutes before Thomas grabbed Nick by the arm and pulled him to a stop.

  “What?” Nick whispered harshly.

  Thomas nodded toward the ground. In front of them in an unbroken line, sat a row of rocks going on as far as he could see. Thomas gestured to the left. Nick’s gaze followed his. There was a small candle flickering in the wind. As brisk as the wind blew, it should have blown it out.

  “That’s a protection circle,” Thomas said. “If we try to pass this…”

  “What?” Nick said.

  “Bad things will happen.”

  An especially hard gust of wind blew at Nick’s back. Leaves fluttered around the candle, and it flickered out.

  Thomas turned to Nick, his eyes wide. “That’s not supposed to happen.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “The protection spell is broken. The witch is inviting us in. Why? I have no idea, but we need to proceed with caution.” Thomas pulled out his gun, and Nick followed suit.

  They moved carefully, and quickly. The glow of a porch light beckoned them forward. They kept to the trees to see the layout. Nick could see the touch of direct sunlight lighten the leaves on the tops of the trees. They had little time before time ran out.

  A low growl rumbled from Thomas’s chest. “I need to change,” he whispered. “This body is too slow.”

  Nick nodded. “You
look for Avira, and I’ll check the house.”

  Thomas nodded as he stripped out of his clothes. Nick’s eyes were on the house as he moved forward. He stopped when Thomas began to transform, and his eyes locked on the strange sight. Thomas’s whole body quivered. His face morphed and changed. Hairs sprouted over his body and he hunched over, hands turning to paws just before they touched the ground. In seconds, a large mountain lion stood before him. Thomas raised his head to scent the air and leaped back into the forest.

  Nick shook off the awe and turned back to the house. A shout caused him to stop in his tracks. That was a woman’s cry. It very well could be Fae. It seemed to come from behind—toward the barn.

  Nick sprinted to the old barn and stopped at the door. He looked inside. By the light of a flickering lamp, he could see two women wrestling on the ground. The one on the bottom kicked her foot around and pinned the leg of the other woman, then lifted her hips. The woman on top—unable to move her foot—tumbled off to the side. Fae’s frantic face surfaced and locked eyes with him. “Nick,” she breathed as she scrambled away. He rushed forward just as she was yanked back. The other woman had caught her by the ankle.

  Nick lifted his gun. “Let her go or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

  The other woman paused, her head down, her face covered by a mop of wild hair. She lifted her head, and he breathed out a curse. It was Morgan. Her face was covered in smears of blood, and her once vibrant eyes were now clouded over. If he didn’t know better, he’d say it was the face of a dead woman.

  “Morgan?” he said, stunned.

  “Nick!” She smiled, her teeth tinged with red. “How’s it going?” she asked, her words slightly slurred, and there was a gurgle deep in her throat.

  “What are you doing to Fae?”

  “Fae?” Morgan said. “Oh, she’s being a terrible friend. She hates what I’ve become. But you know it’s not like I asked for all this.” Morgan yanked on Fae’s leg.

  “Let her go,” Nick said.

  Morgan frowned. “Fine.” She let go and Fae scrambled to her feet. She rushed to his side and wrapped her arms around his waist. Even though they were not out of danger, he couldn’t help the wave of relief that washed over him at having her so close.