by Jill Myles
“The curse was not placed upon you.” Her blue eyes met mine, and the faint smirk returned. “As I thought, it was passed to you by another.”
“But how?”
Delilah’s smirk grew bigger. “Surely you can guess. I don’t have to explain something like that to you, do I?”
A Suck-to-Suck conversation about the birds and the bees? I narrowed my eyes at her. “Thanks, but I’ll pass on the enlightenment. And that’s not what I meant. I was cursed back when I was still in New City. Days before all of this.” I waved my hand, gesturing at her living room. “So I don’t see how all this works.”
“Don’t you?”
Noah gave me an odd look. “Are you being deliberately obtuse, Jackie?”
“No.” I scowled at him. “If I received the curse while in New City, the only people that touched me were you and Zane. And neither of you would do that to me.”
Delilah picked up something from her table and held it out to me, her palm extended. “Here.”
I took it, wrinkling my nose as she handed it to me. It was a clump of hair, a few long strands of blond. “Um, thanks?”
She gave me a frustrated look and gestured with her hand. “Place it in your own hand, palm up.”
I did as she told me to. “I really don’t see—”
“That hair belongs to Noah,” she said, interrupting me. She pulled a small vial from her altar and removed a stopper. The faint smell of herbs touched my nose. “This is an oil, specially blessed by the loas. It will show if Noah has ever been touched by a curse.” She grabbed the tips of my fingers to ensure that I wouldn’t move my hand, and sprinkled the oil over the strands of hair on my palm.
Nothing.
I resisted the urge to wipe my hand. “So, what happens now that we’ve watered it? Do I grow a new Noah overnight or something?”
Delilah raised her chin, glaring at me for poking fun of her magic. “If Noah had been touched by a curse, you would have known.”
“I’m really not sure this voodoo stuff is working.” I grabbed a Kleenex from a nearby box and began to wipe down my oily hand.
“Voodoo is the religion. Hoodoo is the magic, you idiot,” she hissed at me. “And it is working.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my temper in check. “Any way to prove it?”
She reached forward and jerked at the now-dry ponytail that draped over my shoulder. Her fingers snagged in my hair and I yelped.
“Ow! That hurt—” My hand flew to my hair as I stared at her. Delilah took the clump of stolen hair in her hand and shook the oil over it. A faint flicker edged over her palm, like fire. The room filled with the smell of burning hair and the strands curled and writhed on her palm.
My skin prickled. “Give me the oil.” She must have switched bottles when I wasn’t looking. That had to be it.
Delilah handed me the vial of oil. I looked over at Noah. “Sorry, Noah,” I said, and reached over and jerked on his hair.
He hissed, getting up from the couch and taking a step away. “You could have asked, you know.”
I guess I could have. Grumpy, I took Noah’s hair and shook the oil all over it. Nothing again. “So . . . maybe it works,” I admitted, a little freaked out.
“You have been touched by a curse,” Delilah said calmly. “Noah has not.”
“Then that means . . .” I trailed off, unwilling to say it aloud.
“I’m sorry, Jackie,” Noah said. “Zane cursed you.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I thought I handled it pretty well. After all, finding out that your vampire lover has cursed you gives you a permission to shriek and cuss. Maybe even sob loudly.
But I handled it like a pro. I let my lower lip wobble for a while, but I refused to cry. I was tired of crying. He’d asked me to trust him, and I’d trusted him so much that it hurt me.
My lower lip wobbled a bit more.
Noah was back at my side in an instant, pulling me against him. “Hey there,” he said softly. “No crying. Let’s just think about a solution, okay? We’ll figure everything else out later.”
He was right. I looked back to Delilah. “Why haven’t I passed the curse to Noah, since it’s passed with bodily fluids?”
A flush crept over Delilah’s round cheeks—whether she was angry or embarrassed, I couldn’t tell. “Curses don’t work that way. Most are geared toward one specific person, and one person only. It’s kind of like a key.” Her pale eyes flicked back to Noah, and I could almost see them turn bluer. “The curse will be transferred continually, inactive, until it hits the intended target. Once it does, boom. The curse is in play.”
So someone had deliberately set out to curse me. Oh, Zane. I gave a heartbroken sigh. “So how are you going to get it off of me?”
“The curse isn’t a hoodoo curse,” she said, putting the emphasis in for my uneducated benefit. “I can’t remove it. There’s all kinds of magic out there. Witchcraft, warlock magic, shaman magic—religious magic is just one small piece of the puzzle. It could be any kind of magic.”
“So how do we figure out which kind it is?”
“We bring your sire here.” Delilah’s expression was cold. “You lure him here, confront him, and force him to reveal the one who laid the curse.”
Somehow I doubted Zane would be up for that. “That’s our only option?”
She shrugged. “We could always have someone cast an even greater curse on you. That would negate your current curse.”
Gee, what a solution. “I’ll pass, thanks.”
Dark fell, and Noah retired to his rooms to sleep off the evening hibernation. I hated to see him go, but I knew that he would have stayed with me if he could have. It left me alone with spooky Delilah and her servants.
I hung out in my room for a bit, lying on the bed and trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Zane had betrayed me. Again. I still didn’t believe it; my mind kept flashing back to our last face-to-face conversation. When I’d told him about the curse he’d been just as puzzled—and surprised—as I had been. If he’d given it to me, surely he wouldn’t have reacted like that. But the evidence was stacked against him, even if I wasn’t much of a believer in voodoo-hoodoo-whatever. It was hard to trust him when everything kept pointing to a betrayal.
And he’d abandoned me. I couldn’t work past that.
My stomach growled, pulling me out of my heartsick misery, and I decided to help myself to Delilah’s kitchen. Cookies always made me feel better. Cookies and milk.
I wasn’t the only one in Delilah’s kitchen. To my surprise, four other women loitered around the breakfast bar, sipping coffee and laughing at a shared joke. All of them wore short skirts, high heels, and skimpy tops. They eyed me as I entered the room and headed for the fridge.
“You a new girl?” one asked, her voice blunt and unfriendly.
“Look at her hair,” another whispered. “No way that’s a natural red.”
Bitches. “It is so a natural red,” I argued, grabbing the milk out of the fridge and placing it on the counter. Supernatural red was still natural for me. “And why do you care?” I opened a cupboard, trying to figure out where she kept her cookies.
A tall, lean girl with pale skin and a poof of dark, curly hair—the prettiest of the lot and the leader if I had to guess—gave me a sneer. “Delilah didn’t tell us there were any new girls.”
“Maybe Delilah likes me better than you.” Doubtful, though. Delilah and I got along about as well as two rabid wombats. “What are you guys? Voodoo groupies?”
The girls just glared at me. I sighed and turned back to my food hunt. The cupboard revealed nothing but health food: wheat pasta, diet popcorn, baked soy chips, rice cakes. Bleh. Like a succubus needed to diet? I grabbed the chocolate-flavored rice cakes and tore them open. Mmm, disgusting. I forced myself to wash it down with a double-swig of milk.
I was in the middle of another swig when the leader sized me up again, scowling at my boobs. “Ain’t enough johns tonight to go around
for all of us.”
Milk sprayed out of my mouth. I choked for a moment, then wiped my dripping chin. “What?”
She lifted her chin. “You heard me.”
I was saved from having to answer by the kitchen door opening, and Delilah breezed in, wiping the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were bleached silver, and she was followed closely by her handsome blond butler, whose shirt buttons were done up wrong. He bent his head at the sight of the women in the kitchen and slipped past Delilah, a blush on his cheeks.
She swatted him on the ass as he walked past and grinned at the women. “Hey, girls.”
Weird. Delilah looked way too young to be treating men like a piece of meat. Even if her eyes seemed a bajillion years old.
The leader inclined her head at me. “Who’s the new ho?”
“Ho!” I sputtered.
A bright, delighted grin crossed Delilah’s face. “She’s one of ours, so quit worrying. Do you have any clients lined up ahead of time?”
As I ate my horrid rice cakes, the girls discussed clients that had already booked time with them this evening. So Delilah was a madam, as well as a voodoo priestess. I’d forgotten about that. Guess she had picked up a few little hobbies over the years.
A knock came at the back door and another girl stepped inside, a puzzled look on her face. She held a hand to her neck.
“You’re late, Lucy,” Delilah snapped. “If you’re late again, I’m going to dock you one night’s work.”
Man, harsh taskmaster. Poor Lucy looked rather distraught.
“I’m sorry, Miss D,” she said, on the verge of tears. “I was coming up the walk and this other woman distracted me.”
“One of those pamphlet carriers again?” Delilah frowned. “Do I need to call the police?”
Wow, Delilah was all business. I shoved another rice cake into my mouth, interested. This was better than TV.
Lucy dabbed at her neck again. “No, some freaking weirdo,” she said. “Red eyes.”
The rice cake lodged in my suddenly dry throat and I choked. As I coughed, trying to breathe, Delilah shook her head at Lucy. “What are you talking about?”
“The girl with the red eyes,” Lucy said, puzzled. She touched her neck again, her fingers red. “She bit me.”
I shoved past Lucy and out the door. Delilah’s backyard was quiet, the oleander bushes and magnolia trees obscuring my view of the street. I descended the steps to the small walkway that cut through the grass, scanning my surroundings.
“Get away from me, lady!” a man yelled in the street, and I bolted in that direction.
Remy was there, her eyes bright red as she wrapped her arms around a tourist in a golf shirt. The balding man struggled to get away from her, clearly unnerved by her eyes. Around them, passersby were slowing down to stare.
I rushed forward and grabbed Remy by the arm, trying to pry her off the tourist. “I’m sorry,” I said, jerking on my fellow succubus. “She’s on a bad acid trip.”
“Tell her to leave me alone!” the man shrieked, shoving his hands in Remy’s face. The laugh that rumbled out of her throat wasn’t a normal one.
“Joachim,” I said in her ear, trying to distract the spirit possessing her. “Stop it! If you cause a scene, you’ll get locked up. And then you won’t be able to bite anyone at all.”
Remy’s hands flexed and she released the guy, sending him tumbling backward and the two of us sprawling in the street. A car honked.
I sprang back to my feet and dragged Remy/Joachim to hers. She smiled at me, red eyes unnerving, and tried to pull me in for a kiss. I slapped her hands away. “What are you doing?”
“Need to feed,” the deep voice rasped from her throat. “Blood. Sex. Need.” She reached for me again.
Oookay. People were stopping in the street to stare. I grabbed Remy’s arm. “Blood. Sex. Sure thing. Let’s go inside and make wild crazy whoopee. I’ll let you bite the crap out of me. Deal?”
Remy’s strong hand grabbed my arm and began to drag me toward Delilah’s house. Her grip was much stronger than it should have been, and it dug into my arm as she pulled me through the backyard.
Once inside and through the front door, the girls emerged from the kitchen to watch as red-eyed Remy began to drag me up the stairs.
I clung to the banister, trying to stop my forward motion. “A little help here?”
Remy jerked on my arm so hard, I thought it was going to fly off. Could I regenerate an arm? I didn’t want to find out.
Delilah stepped forward, a puzzled frown etching her young brow. “What’s wrong with Remy?”
Another vicious jerk by my possessed friend nearly sent me tumbling backward. I wrapped my arm around the banister and clenched my hands together, forming a closed circle. She was going to break my arm if this kept up. “Long story,” I panted, as Remy gave my arm another tug and growled. Her hand dug into my hair. “She’s possessed.”
The girls backed away. Delilah turned and ran back to the kitchen.
They were leaving me here with Remy? Alone? My grip slipped and I tumbled backward. Remy gave a grunt of approval and began to drag me up the stairs by my hair. “Hey!” I yelled back at the cowards hiding in the kitchen. “Help me!”
Remy crashed through the upstairs hallway, my legs flailing and kicking as she pulled me behind her. With her other hand, Remy grabbed me by the shirt and hauled me into my bedroom, which was the first one down the hall.
Remy’s face suddenly loomed over mine, all red eyes and creepy smile. “Blood and sex now.”
I shrank away, my shoulders raising up to protect my neck from her teeth. They weren’t long like a vampire’s, but it didn’t matter. What she lacked in fangs she made up for in batshit-crazy, and I didn’t want to be mauled. Or have sex with my best friend. Ew. I closed my eyes as she leaned in closer and planted my hand against her face, trying to shove her away.
There was the faint hiss of something burning, the smell of smoke, and Remy roared in my face. My eyes flew open to see Delilah looming over the two of us, a large silver cross in her hand and a canning jar of white stuff in the other.
She pressed the cross to Remy’s shoulder again and smoke rose from her skin. An unearthly scream rose from her throat.
“Get back,” Delilah said in a calm voice.
Remy shrank back, hissing and drooling. Her lips bared her nonexistent fangs and she growled low in her throat.
“Get back,” Delilah said again with more urgency, wielding the cross in front of her.
I realized she meant me, and I scuttled across the wooden floor behind her as she forced Remy to retreat. The growling and hissing continued, and when I hit the doorway, I got to my feet and stared at the two of them.
Delilah had backed Remy into a corner of the room. She hovered in the doorway of the closet, edging away from the cross with a hiss. “Get that away from me,” the ruined voice growled.
“Back!” Delilah said again, and Remy retreated into the small closet.
As soon as she crossed the threshold, Delilah tipped her jar over, spilling a thick line of powder onto the floor. She muttered something under her breath as she covered the entire threshold of the closet with the powder line.
Then she relaxed, and turned to smile at me. “You okay?”
I eyed her warily, staring at the closet behind her. I fully expected to see Possessed Remy leap through the door and maul the crap out of her. “I’m fine,” I said slowly, edging forward a few steps. “What did you do?”
Delilah tucked the jar back under her arm. “Rice powder. Old hoodoo trick. Your enemies can’t cross a threshold that has rice powder—or brick dust—over it.”
I edged forward a little more, staring into the closet. Remy huddled in one corner, her red eyes glaring at me as she stared at the rice powder line. Large, raised welts in the shape of the cross dotted her shoulder.
“Why did the cross hurt her?”
“Whatever’s inside of her is unholy. I don’t suppose you know what it
is?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Try me.”
I tried to gather my thoughts. “If I told you that, last month, we were trying to retrieve a halo for the vampire queen from one of the original Serim who became a vampire before he died, and when the halo broke, Remy absorbed him and now she’s possessed—would you believe me?”
She didn’t blink an eye. “Yes.”
Right. These people had weird lives. “Then I guess that saves me the long story.”
No matter how much I coaxed and pleaded, Joachim would not release Remy. He simply stared out at me from the closet with sullen, angry red eyes. I left my room so I wouldn’t have to look at her. I didn’t have any idea how to help her, and it upset me.
We’d tried more holy water but when we splashed Remy with it, it had no effect.
My friend was gone.
Downstairs, the girls and their “business” were in full swing. As dark fell, men began to show up at the house, disappearing for hours at a time with the girls into various bedrooms. So many men showed up that I stopped keeping track. The girls avoided me—I wasn’t sure if it was jealousy over the looks I got from some of the men, or because of the weird supernatural stuff that had gone on earlier.
I sat in the kitchen alone, ate more rice cakes, and tried to think of a plan. There were still hours to go before dawn. I needed to get Zane here as quickly as possible so we could figure out what to do about my curse. I’d need to call him tonight so he could fly in and be here by tomorrow.
Which meant that I needed a plan ASAP.
So I sat in the kitchen and made lists on Delilah’s Hello Kitty stationery, staring at my pen. What could I possibly tell Zane to make him come after me?
“Problems?” Delilah came and sat next to me, reaching for one of the rice cakes. “You look like someone just stole your lunch money.”
“Close,” I said. I scratched off the latest thing I’d written on my list: Remy possessed and needs help. Zane wouldn’t care if Remy was possessed. He only cared about me. “I can’t think of anything that would bring Zane running here to New Orleans.”