Twice Cursed

by Marianne Morea

  “You did this? You caused all this death and pain? You’re the one responsible for ruining all those lives, all those families?” Lily’s fists balled in her palms.

  He sniffed. “There is always collateral damage. I know you are my child because it’s the only explanation why you survived, why your blood was a key to the serum Volkmann distilled. Every human I infected died within days, if not hours. And the vampires, well, tantalizing as they were, they degenerated to a base nature.”

  He waved his hands in the air. “It’s immaterial now, anyway. I had the antivirus for the Weres, you just came along to speed things up. It’s karma, my darling child, can’t you see that? You were brought here by something bigger than both of us. It was meant to be.”

  Lily paced back and forth. “Certifiable,” she mumbled, her thoughts racing.

  He chuckled. “It’s a lot to digest at once, I know. It’s taken me all week to come to terms with it myself. You see, I wanted to you dead along with Leighton, but once I connected the dots, there was no way I could bring myself to murder my own child. Take a moment and think about it. I’m going to get us some champagne!”

  Lily’s eyes bugged out of her head. She had called him delusional before, but that was just rhetoric. Now she wasn’t so sure. Champagne? Christ almighty, he’s got me as some kind of heiress to the empire he’s building in his mind! She chewed on her bottom lip. Nah. This had to be part of some elaborate ploy.

  Her mind sorted through everything Parr had said. Genetic experimentation? On both humans and vampires? Parr had created some horrific Were version of Nazi Germany and the sick human experimentations performed by Josef Mengele—and for him to dismiss the fallout as collateral damage—perhaps this wasn’t just a ploy, and he truly was insane.

  A thought registered and Lily slid down in the chair by the window. Stephanie’s nightmare claimed the woman in her dream smelled like the people Volkmann was trying to help. She had to have meant the people infected with the virus, as that’s the part of the hospital where Rissa had been staying while going through the antiviral testing.

  Her mouth fell open as another puzzle piece fell into place. The redhead! She recognized Jack’s scent as her mother’s tormentor! That meant Parr had experimented on Améile! Jesus. It was him. He was indirectly responsible for all those deaths in the city.

  The man’s web and all the blood associated with it just seemed to widen, and Lily’s skin crawled thinking about what else it might encompass.

  Her nerves were on overdrive. She shot to her feet, pacing again. Is it true? Am I his child? She mulled his words over in her head. She shook her head, pressing her eyes shut at the prospect. No. She had her birth certificate, and her parent’s would never have knowingly lied to her, not when their best friends in the whole world had gone through it themselves. Beverly and Carl. They may have never gotten around to telling Terry, but Lily knew in her gut that Bev had told her mother. It was the kind of things best friends shared.

  Lily looked at her left palm and the faint white line that traversed the center. Best friends. Sisters in everything but blood.

  Her eyes flew open. Holy Christ! Terry was born in California and she was a twin. Lily licked her lips, mashing them together. Yeah, but so were hundreds of other unfortunate kids.

  The notion ran circles through her mind. What they hell was Terry’s birth mother’s name… Lily shook out her wrists, pacing even harder. She knew it, she heard it in the vision she had in the attic that day with Beverly. Oh God, it was Teresa! Terry’s birth mother’s name was Teresa.

  Parr had just mentioned the woman who conceived his children was named Teresa. The time line fit, and if Terry was half Were, then that stupid blood sister ritual they did when they were twelve years old was what gave Lily her immunity.

  Parr said the woman was pregnant with twins. What about Terry’s twin? Lily’s vision couldn’t verify if the child survived or not. Think, Lily think…

  She stopped pacing and sunk down on the edge of the bed. Ryan. It was the only piece that fit. He looked like Terry and he was a half-Were…a Werecougar! Holy Christ, Ryan was Terry’s twin brother and Parr’s son!

  Parr walked back in and Lily scrambled to wipe any sign of what she had just pieced together from her face.

  The man’s manner was not only celebratory, it was downright triumphant. He had two champagne flutes in one hand and a bottle of Dom in the other.

  “A toast to my beautiful daughter, and my heir apparent,” he said, raising the bottle high. He practically pranced to the side of the bed, sliding his arm around Lily’s shoulder and resting his head on hers. “Just think of it. Together we will bring the American Lion back to its former glory.” He sniffed, almost overcome with emotion. “My darling girl, I am overwhelmed with my good fortune. I’ve even given the staff the night off!”

  Lily sat there speechless, afraid to make any sudden movements.

  “Don’t you have anything you want to say to me? His demeanor flip-flopped, his eyes narrowing as if challenging her to disagree.

  She ducked out from under his arm, moving toward the center of the room and a clear shot at the door. “Shall we open the champagne?” She cocked her hand on her hip.

  “Ha! I so enjoy your nerve, my dear. Oh, Lily, we have so much to learn about each other, but I’m a firm believer in nature over nurture. My blood runs through your veins, so it’s only a matter of time before you come around completely. That you sought revenge for your friend’s death and taught yourself to hunt supes with no formal training, only proves my point.” He let the silver paper from the top of the bottle flutter to the floor, and untied the wire around the cork.

  He walked to the door once more and returned with a white cloth. Draping it over the top of the bottle, he wiggled the cork until they both heard the loud pop. “May this be the first of many celebrations,” he offered with a tender look.

  Skepticism ricocheted straight into full blown alarm, and Lily pasted a smile on her face. This was no ploy. Parr had slipped a cog. He truly believed everything he said.

  The flutes were on a small round table between the two chairs he’d placed by the window, and he filled the glasses, reaching into his pocket for sugar cubes. At Lily’s raised eyebrow, he dropped one each into the glasses. “Sweets to mask the bitter bubbles.” He smiled, handing her one of the flutes. Raising one high, he winked. “To us.”

  ***

  Sean slammed the car door behind him. He was tired of using a four year old as his intermediary. He wanted to hear Lily’s voice himself, even if it was just in his head.

  The police had been all over Bradford Farms Dairy. They found the rope and the razor, and the broken window, but still wouldn’t offer the evidence as anything but suspicious, possibly coincidental. The only evidence they considered to be hard, were the accounts given by eye witnesses, and those pointed toward an animal attack in the road, or at least that’s what the police were leaning toward.

  His hunter’s had her scent, but they lost it not far up the road, finding it impossible to track the scent of a single vehicle for more than a mile. There were just too many on the road.

  Lily was okay; at least that’s what her last communiqué through Stephanie had said. Parr was acting crazy, and she was playing along until they found her. If he could only find Jack, then he’d have what he wanted in spades. Sean’s hands itched to rip his former hunter’s throat out. He was a dead man, regardless of the story he spun.

  Sean’s phone buzzed. “Leighton.” He was in no mood, and his clipped tone spoke volumes.

  “Sean, we’ve got Jack. He’s been spotted in wolf form in the woods outside Bradford. He’s been covering his tracks well. We must have been through that area three times. It appears he’s been following the stream to camouflage his scent. Do you want us to move in?

  Sean smiled. “No, Mitch, have one of the men send him a message along the Hunter’s path. Tell him that Lily is still missing and we have no leads other than that the plates
on the car that took her were from Maine. Say that I’m rallying the Weres for a full out search, and that I need my best officers by my side. Play it up, tell him that I’m distraught and that you’re worried about my state of mind. That’ll bring the cocky bastard in. If I know him, he’ll think I’m easy pickings and lead me right where I want to go. Have one of guys do it now. We’ll hold a fake strategy meeting in the library tonight. Tell him I want him there. No questions.”

  Mitch nodded. “You got it, boss. What if he says no?”

  Sean’s anger boiled just below the surface. “No refusals. Tell him it’s mandatory or he faces abnegation.”

  ***

  Jack snickered as he walked up the main path leading to the front door of the manor. “Like taking candy from a baby” he muttered to himself, pushing the heavy oak door aside and walking straight into the library.

  “Hey,” he said giving an offhand salute to the men standing around the room as he entered. He walked straight toward the table where Mitch and Sean were huddled over a map. Near the alpha’s hand was a yellow legal pad with the names of hunter’s listed alongside different regions from the State of Maine. “Am I late?”

  Sean looked up and shook his head. “Right on time, as usual. Look, I’ve divided the map among the best hunter’s we have, from there I’ve made teams of the lower personal, plus Ross Stanton has graciously offered to give us aerial coverage through his Avians.”

  “Great. What can I do to help,” Jack asked, the picture of compassion and friendship. He had to make this look believable, and overstated opinions or excessive enthusiasm were the quickest way to raise suspicion. This was the moment he’d been waiting for.

  Sean looked at Mitch. My second-in-command here doesn’t agree, but I want you both with me. He thinks I should have you managing the hunters and their regions, but this has shaken me up pretty bad, and I’ll need you both to stop me from doing something I’ll regret later.”

  Mitch gave Jack a knowing look. “He means he’s afraid he’ll go crazy and kill Parr before we have a chance to bring him before a tribunal. We want to handle this in a civilized manner. No bloodshed, just diplomacy.”

  “Of course. You can count on me. What’s our plan of attack? Do we have a region of our own?”

  Mitch shook his head. “No. We’re heading back to Bradford. The police just got in the way when we were there, and we didn’t really find anything. It looked on the surface as though the place had been sanitized, but if the three of us head out, we should be able to find something the others missed.”

  “Great idea. When do we leave? Jack asked, not wanting to sound too eager.

  Sean just looked at him. “We leave now.”

  “Okay. Do I have time to grab a change of clothes? I’m feeling a little grubby.”

  Sean nodded. “Yeah. We’ll meet down by the car in fifteen minutes.”

  Mitch and the others walked out, leaving just Sean and Jack in the library. Jack stood at the door, his hand on the oiled bronze handle. “Sean, I’m so sorry about this. I had no idea that Parr was working with the vamps. It’s the only thing that makes sense, or else he wouldn’t have gotten through me. I can’t help but feel responsible.”

  Sean sighed. “I know, Jack. I know exactly on whose shoulders this lies, and believe me—they’re going to pay dearly.”

  Jack closed the door behind him, Sean’s expression at his last statement giving him chills. He’d never seen the alpha so focused, not even when they were hunting Jerard. Could he suspect it was him who was truly responsible? Nah. He had all bases covered. The common Were path was bugged, as was the Hunter’s path, plus he had wiretaps on all the phones. He’d know the minute they doubted him.

  He turned the corner and took the stairs up to his room two at a time. He’d grab a five minute shower and put on his camo. Really look the part. On the landing he ran into Clotilde, one of the old housekeepers, and they shared a look. She was one of Parr’s moles. Why he felt it necessary to blackmail women was beyond him, but who was he to questions Parr’s methods, when they seemed to get the job done?

  “Hey,” he said. “How’s the boss doing?” He gestured down the stairs so she knew he meant Sean and not Edward.

  She clucked. “He’s a mess. Yelling one minute, and apologizing the next. You better find his lady soon or he’s going to snap.” She nodded then headed the rest of the way down the stairs.

  A full grin spread across Jack’s face. So, Mitch wasn’t bullshitting. Sean was more pussy whipped than he’d thought. Edward would get a hardy chuckle out of this.

  ***

  Mitch sat in the back of the SUV as it cruised north, with Jack occupying the passenger seat next to Sean. They were quiet, with no one really saying much on the long drive. That suited Sean perfectly. With his hands on the steering wheel, he kept tabs on Jack from the corner of his eye, the scene from Godfather II, where Carlo Rizzi is garroted from the backseat by one of Michael Corleone’s captains, playing over and over again in his mind as he drove. If only.

  Truth be told, Mitch would strangle Jack in a heartbeat, but first they needed to find Lily. On the other hand, Sean wanted the pleasure of ripping Jack’s heart out himself.

  The silence grew, and there was a palpable tension in the car as the headlights marked the entrance to the farm, and its long gravel drive. Sean turned wide, bumping the side wheels into a large divot in the road. Jack’s head smacked against the inside roof of the SUV.

  “What the fuck, Sean? If you keep this up, I’m driving home,” he complained, his fingers massaging the top of his head.

  You’ll be going home alright. In the trunk.

  “Sorry, Jack. I guess I missed that one,” he said, his face contrite, but chuckling inside. Sean glanced in the rearview and Mitch wore a wide smirk. Tearing this traitor to shreds was going to feel so good.

  They pulled up to the ramshackle farm house and parked out front. The minute Sean stepped foot on the grounds, he knew they were in the right place. He could sense Lily, and this time it wasn’t the old, faded scent they’d picked up when the police were here. This was new. She must be walking around. He inhaled again, and Parr’s scent hit him as well. He didn’t say anything, but he knew both Mitch and Jack sensed it too. Now he just needed to wait for Jack to make his move.

  Smoke rose from the back behind the house, and Sean took off with Mitch and Jack on his heels. The barn was on fire, but the flames had already imploded the structure and were dying out. The wind had calmed, so the chance of the fire spreading was small, and even if it did, the buildings were abandoned and the property so far off the road, there was no danger of it spreading anywhere significant.If Sean knew Parr, he was well insulated from any danger from the fire, and if Lily was with him, then so was she.

  “Well, so much for getting a better look at the barn,” Mitch said, throwing a random stick into the embers.

  “Bad luck, really,” Jack interjected. “This whole thing has been nothing but a series of bad luck.”

  Sean’s head snapped around. “Luck? Is that what you think this is? If anything this whole situation smacks of precision planning,” he said, stalking off toward the car.

  Jack looked at Mitch. “I see what you mean about him walking a fine line. This isn’t good.”

  Mitch just shook his head. “No shit Sherlock. Any other brilliant summaries or suggestions?”

  Jack picked his way through the debris near the house to peer through one of the cracked windows. He smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do. Go get lover boy. I think I found something.”

  Sean came back around the house with Mitch. This was it. Bingo. Jack was going to make the second biggest mistake of his short life. The first, of course, betraying him and taking Lily.

  “Mitch says you sense something. What is it? We went through all this earlier.”

  Jack snorted, and the familiarity of the sound made Sean want to shove his fist in his face. “Yeah. You went through this with a bunch of human cops trampling around
like a herd of elephants, not to mention mucking up the scents. If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself,” he offered, stepping to the side, a broad grin on his face.

  Sean peered through the glass, and sure enough, on the mud floor inside were boot tracks leading to the front of a bookcase, Lily’s boot tracks.

  Sean looked at Jack. “Come on,” he said, but then glanced over at Mitch. “Call the team; tell them to meet us here. Lord knows who or what we’re going to find around this place.”

  Jack led the way inside, with Sean following close behind. He sidestepped the ruined household items strewn about the floor, and went straight for the bookcase. He knocked on one of the back panels like he was looking for a hollow sound.

  “What are you doing? Trying to announce that we’re here?” Sean whispered harshly.

  Jack shook his head. “The bookcase is obviously the way in to some sort of secret entrance. Lily’s boot prints end right in front, they don’t turn around anywhere. Just get on the other side and help me lift it out of the way.”

  The shelves slide to one side, clattering in the silence like a bomb going off, but they managed to move the piece of furniture away from the bunker entrance, revealing a stairwell heading straight down.

  “I’ll go first,” Jack volunteered, and he pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and flicked it on.

  Sean bit the inside of his cheek. You got that right. See you in hell, asshole.

  The staircase was metal, and they climbed down as quietly as they could, Jack flashing the light ahead and to the sides.

  “Lily?” Sean tried their shared link, knowing better than to try the common path, but not hoping for much.