Cursed (Demon Kissed #2)

by Holly Ward

  Not here. Not now.

  The Martis grew impatient with his lack of response. Julia screeched at him, but he said nothing. The Martis guards that surrounded the room were rigid, waiting for something that I didn’t see coming. When Eric refused to answer and Julia was done berating him, another Martis spoke.

  This man was older, his voice softer, but no less powerful, “Eric, if you will not defend yourself we have no choice but to find you guilty…of treason.” The old man looked at Eric with concern.

  Behind him sat Al, and several rows back sat Shannon. Shannon’s face revealed raw terror as the guard behind Eric moved slowly toward him, holding silver chains. Her green eyes were wide when she caught sight of me. It looked like she was caught in a silent scream.

  Eric didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He remained on the chair, with his jaw locked tight. The guards pulled his wrists behind his back and bound them with the silver chain. Eric’s brazen gaze did not falter. He stared at Julia.

  The old Martis sighed in resignation, “Eric, you’ve left us no choice. You have broken our code of honor and abandoned your quest before completion. You did the unthinkable and allowed a powerful Valefar to regain life, by failing to kill your target. Your defiance makes us think that you are under the influence of another.” His eyes cut to me, and then back to Eric. “Because you will not counter these claims, we have no choice but to sentence you as traitor. You are hereby stripped of your title and rank. Celestial silver made you one of us, now it will take you away.” The man’s face was grim, as he turned away from Eric. It was as if he were too horrified to watch.

  The guard, who restrained Eric, stepped in front of him. Eric didn’t move. He didn’t plead, flinch or try to run. He sat rigidly; intent on taking whatever they were going to dish out. The guard tore open the front of Eric’s white shirt, and ripped his Celestial Sliver necklace away. They took his only means to protect himself against the Valefar. Now there was no way to kill his enemies or hide his Martis mark.

  The guard touched the small silver X pendant on Eric’s necklace to his mark. The silver glowed blue before changing into a sword, Eric’s sword. The guard turned, and walked toward the elder Martis with the sword lying across his open palms. He was saying something that didn’t make sense to me, as some Martis handed him something. Were they speaking Latin?

  The guard moved carefully, as if he were handling poison. The room was eerily silent. It wasn’t until the guard turned around again that I realized what he’d done. The gleaming silver sword was covered in a black substance that clung to the blade. My heart jumped into my throat. It couldn’t be. But it was.

  Brimstone. They coated the entire blade with the lethal black substance.

  Paralyzed, I stood there watching. I didn’t know what was happening. There was no way they were going to do what I thought they were going to do. They wouldn’t kill their own kind, would they? Suddenly, I wasn’t too certain. Some of the Martis looked shocked, while others were outraged. But, Eric’s face didn’t waiver. He didn’t beg, speak, or cry out. Surely he’d say something if he was in mortal danger.

  Disbelief was making me stupid. The guard continued to move towards Eric. Eric continued to remain silent. If he spoke, and said why he didn’t kill me that night, there was no way that this would happen. The elder Martis made that clear. But Eric said nothing. Why was he doing this?

  Everything else happened in a matter of seconds, utterly horrifying seconds. The Martis guard turned. He held Eric’s sword above his head for the entire court to see, careful not to touch the blade, turning slowly to each side of the room and then back to Eric. The entire assembly was on the edge of their seats. Al was vigorously pulling at the man sitting next to Julia, spewing off angry words in his ear. But, he only shook his head. Shannon was sitting rigid with a look of horror frozen across her face.

  The sword. The fear. The guard. The guard was delivering the punishment. My eyes widened as I accepted the reality of the Martis penalty for treason.

  Death.

  This was an execution. My mouth dropped open in horror. I couldn’t swallow. My body wouldn’t move. Every sound in the room faded away. I stared at Eric in disbelief. He knew. He knew his actions that night were guilty of treason, an offense punishable by death—but he did it anyway. He let me live. Me and my rancid demon blood filled body. Me. The abomination. Me. His prey for centuries.

  My eyebrows pinched together as trembling worked its way up my tense muscles. It was then that Eric finally looked at me. His expression softened, as he mouthed, I’m sorry. His golden eyes remained locked with mine. They revealed unspoken sorrow that I would have never listened to had he tried to put it into words.

  That did it. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I couldn’t wait here! Not another second. No way. I don’t know what Eric’s angle was, or if he even had one, but at that moment I felt utter hatred flame through me. But, this time it wasn’t directed at Eric. It was directed at everyone else—the Martis. They were the ones who were sentencing him to death. And, it was because of me. They thought I deserved to die. Eric didn’t. He spared me. I couldn’t watch whatever they were going to do to him. I couldn’t tolerate it. This was unjust. It wasn’t right. Eric saw something in me that they didn’t. His logic didn’t always make sense to me, but this was wrong.

  I felt my eyes rim violet, as I began to lose control of my anger. I could feel it happening. It was the same insane rage that shot through me when I slashed down Valefar after Valefar last fall. My lungs felt like they were on fire. Every muscle in my body went rigid as if I were prepared to fight to the death. The tips of my hair flamed deep violet. I could see it happening out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t know why that happened some times and not others. Truth was I didn’t care. I let the surge of power overtake me. The air felt like it was stifling hot, crushing my body.

  I must have looked insane. Someone near me shrieked, while others pointed in alarm. My guard hesitated, backing away from me. They were terrified. I could see it in their eyes.

  Now many of the Martis were standing, and screaming to be heard over the chaos. Julia was standing, leaning over the oak divider, and screaming at the guard to finish his job. Al was silent, watching me. The old Martis next to her was pulling at Julia to sit down and restore order. But, she wouldn’t. Utter hatred flashed across her face when she looked at Eric. And something worse appeared when she looked at me. She knew what I could do, even if I didn’t. And at that moment, I didn’t have any clue what I was capable of or why I was dangerous.

  I acted without thinking. I had to. There was no time left. The guard suddenly remembered he had arms. His sword swung backwards, poised to swing down and lodge the blackened blade in Eric’s skull. I launched myself across the room at exactly the same moment that the silver sword swung down. The swordsmen did not falter until my hurtling body appeared in front of him. During that brief second, he hesitated making his sword falter mid-swing.

  I crashed into Eric, causing his chair to rock back and crash to the floor. The sword completely missed Eric and nearly cleaved me in two. The silver sword slashed down my back ripping the flesh open. Pain shot through my body, as the tainted blade tore through me. Others were shouting, but it was too late. Heat surged through my body as the efanotation began.

  My arms were wrapped around Eric, as we fell and I allowed the heat of the efanotation to overtake us. The screams, gasps, and chaos were soon muffled by the roar of fire coursing through my body. I knew where I wanted us to arrive, but I’d never been there before. And the screaming pain in my back was making it difficult to concentrate. I’d broken a cardinal rule of efanotation. In order to move your body from one place to another, you had to have been there before. Collin once told me he spliced himself, and separated his skin from his body, because he didn’t observe that little rule. I never bothered to ask him how to fix that. I just knew it would hurt beyond comprehension.

  As it was, no other Valefar could efanotate with another pers
on. But, I could when I didn’t have a fatal wound on my back. While Celestial Silver or Brimstone alone couldn’t kill me, combined they might succeed. The demon blood that flowed through my soul-ravaged body overtook me. The dark magic coursed through my veins. Valefar powers were always paid for with pain. Efanotating felt like I was being burned alive from the inside out. I could barely tolerate it under normal circumstances. The wound on my back made it unbearable. I noticed I was crushing Eric’s limp body in my arms. He didn’t have any demon blood to protect him from the scalding heat. And, I knew he felt it. As long as I maintained contact with Eric, he would come with me, and feel what I felt—or worse. I risked killing him instantly and splicing us both, but I had to. There was no other choice.

  The heat licked my stomach making me cry out in agony. Warm blood oozed from my back, stinging as it touched my sweat soaked shirt. Catacomb. Focus, Ivy. Attempting to ignore the pain, I continued to picture the painting from the book in my mind; every vivid detail. The angel’s wings. The flaming swords. The Valefar mark painted on the tomb. I imagined the cool smell of the earth and the narrow passages that surrounded the graves.

  I clutched Eric harder when I heard him cry out. I couldn’t stop it. There was no stopping efanotation midway through. The pain was intensifying and searing every inch of my body from within. My lungs let out another scream drowning out Eric’s cries. The cold earth crashed into us abruptly.

  I fell face-down in the dirt and lost consciousness as the pain in my back overtook me.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Pain coursed through my body unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. My muscles felt raw in an unnatural way. I patted my arms, checking to make sure my skin was still intact. It felt like it had been fried off. That was the most painful efanotation that I’ve ever done. I sighed in relief, rubbing out my sore muscles, and sat up looking for Eric. He was lying a few feet from me, facedown into the dirt. He rolled onto his back and was breathing hard. Dirt streaked his white shirt.

  I slowly dragged my wounded body toward him. A moan escaped his lips as he tried to move. His amber eyes opened cautiously and stared at the tomb ceiling. He blinked slowly, finally focusing on my face. “What happened? Where are we?” he asked.

  Leaning over him, I looked to see if efanotating caused him any permanent damage. He obviously didn’t do with it well, but he seemed fairly unscathed. He would have looked better if I didn’t hurl us into the floor.

  Relieved, I breathed, “We’re somewhere safe; for the moment anyway. We’re under Rome.” In a grave. I left that part off since it was obvious from the piles of bones stuffed into the stone walls. I slammed my eyes closed and stifled a moan.

  “Are you all right?” he asked sitting up.

  I looked up at him. “The blade hit my back.”

  The expression on his face changed, as he crawled next to me. Slowly I sat up, trying hard to swallow the pain. He knelt behind me and after a minute said, “Your shirt is covered in blood, but it’s stuck to the wound. I can’t see it very well. May I?” indicating he needed to look under the shirt to see how bad it was.

  I nodded, “Just do it, Eric.” He hesitated. My back was covered in blood. When he didn’t move I turned sharply and said, “Forget it.”

  “Ivy stop,” he said. “It’s not like that.”

  “Then what’s your problem? You’re so afraid of touching demon blood that you won’t help me. Forget it Eric.”

  “No, that’s not it. If you’d be quiet for a minute, I’d tell you.” I folded my arms and stared at him. Bright red marks blossomed in his cheeks until his entire face was in a full blush. “The blade cut through your bra. The strap is cut three-quarters of the way through.”

  I laughed. “I was slashed with a deadly weapon and you’re blushing over the back of my bra strap? Seriously, Eric?” I reached behind me and ripped the strings that were holding the fabric together. The bra broke, and I pulled it out from under my shirt and threw it on the floor. The back strap was covered in blood.

  Eric’s blush deepened, but I pretended not to notice. It was kind of sweet. “You shouldn’t be walking around, ya know. From the amount of blood on your back, you should be dead.” His fingers pushed the torn sections of the back of my shirt apart. For a moment he said nothing, and then I felt his fingers pressed lightly on my back, and I flinched. “Does that hurt?”

  I shook my head. “Not really. But, you’re hands are cold. How bad is it?” He moved in front of me. Eric’s expression was odd. He studied my face and then looked at the floor, gathering his thoughts. His response was making me panic. I tried to look over my shoulder to see the wound, but I couldn’t twist far enough to see anything. “Eric! Tell me.”

  His gold eyes looked up at me with a blank expression. “There’s nothing there. The wound’s gone. The only thing left is the dried blood sticking to your back.” I stared at him for a moment. My finger reached around to the spot where the wound was and slid over my skin. Caked blood came off in my fingers, but nothing else. No warm, wet blood. What happened to the wound? “Well, apparently silver and Brimstone in the back won’t kill you.”

  I stared at the dried blood on my fingertips. “How is that possible? Where’s the cut? Shannon had to heal me last time I was hurt. I know I was cut badly. That blade sliced through my back. It missed bone, but I felt it slice my skin open. The pain was unbearable. It wasn’t a scratch. And it’s still sore.”

  Eric shrugged. “Part of the mystery of the Prophecy One. Martis can heal from most wounds, and so can you. That’s why you didn’t need Shannon this time. You’re part Martis and your powers are intensifying. You healed yourself. You’re changing, Ivy. You’re changing into the Prophecy One.” I cringed. I didn’t want to be the Prophecy One. At the same time, I was still alive because I was. Eric looked around and then asked, “We’re in the catacombs, aren’t we?” I nodded. “How did we get here?”

  “We efanotated,” I said cautiously. He was going to be pissed. I used Valefar magic on him. He hated that part of me. Well, I wasn’t going to hide it. Those dark powers saved our lives. I didn’t really care where they originated from at the moment, but the former Seeker might have difficulty disregarding it. I decided to explain when he didn’t respond. “I can make my body move from one location to another by thinking about it. It hurts like hell, but it saved us.”

  Eric’s brow pinched together as he stared at me with his mouth open. He was frozen…but with what? I expected him to rip into me and give me the scolding of a lifetime. But the tension flowed out of him and he smiled saying, “Then, why did you stay there for three months? The Martis thought they had you trapped. And this whole time, you could have left whenever you wanted?”

  I nodded as the corner of my mouth pulled into a faint smile. “Yeah. I could have left whenever. I stayed because it seemed like they’d see…Well, I was hoping that they’d notice that I wasn’t evil incarnate the way they thought. But, after a while, it didn’t seem like they were capable of seeing me any other way. It didn’t matter what I did.” I pushed a curl back behind my ear. “Then I was just staying to research stuff about Kreturus. I spent the entire time looking for a backdoor into the Underworld. I planned on leaving as soon as I knew for certain, but the Martis said I was needed at the hearing. They stopped me earlier and dragged me to the courtroom. And I wanted to know what happened to you. So, what happened?”

  Eric’s eyes darted away from mine for a second. When they returned to my face he seemed decided about something. “They called me back. They initially questioned me about the battle and sealng the portal. When I repeated that you helped me, and said I did not act alone, they changed what they were questioning me about. They shifted to another night, night that I should have killed you, the night you changed Collin. I stood there and watched. I did nothing. Shannon was to follow my lead. She failed to act because of me.

  “Then, tonight the Tribunal told me your fate—you were to be executed. They concluded that they had to destro
y you before it was too late, and that your involvement in sealing the portal was irrelevant. The Tribunal said that there was nothing I could do that would change their minds, but they had hoped you would try to change mine. You were supposed to be used as leverage to get me to speak.” He laughed, “That didn’t work out the way they planned, huh?”

  I stared at him with my mouth hanging open and a shocked expression on my face. I didn’t know what to say. The Tribunal already sentenced me? Why didn’t Shannon or Al know about it? And they moved onto other matters, like my ability to save Valefar, and the one boy that could have killed me, but didn’t.

  “Eric, why didn’t you just tell them? You couldn’t kill us. You couldn’t even see what was happening until it was over.” That night was a blur. I remembered Eric being irate, but I didn’t remember him being passive and just letting it all happen.

  He shook his head. “Ivy, there was black mist swirling around you, but not in the beginning. When you tried to help him, I was shocked. I couldn’t tell if you were a Valefar or… you. So I waited when I should have killed you. Then after that, I could have called as much light as I wanted to try and bust the black mist apart. I didn’t. I just stood there.” He went to say something else, but closed his mouth instead. He looked away from me.

  “Why’d you hesitate? Why not kill me if you thought I was Valefar? Eric, what aren’t you telling me?” I tried to piece things together in my mind, but they weren’t coming together. He should have killed me that night. No questions asked. He thought I was a Valefar. But when he realized that I wasn’t, I was still The Prophecy One—the girl he’d been hunting for centuries—and he did nothing. He should have killed me, but he didn’t. Why not? Especially with the rage that was plastered all over his face that night. What was with him? Why couldn’t I figure this out? It made me totally uncertain about Eric. It was part of his bipolar personality. At least he seemed that way to me. He didn’t do things half way. His actions were either totally saintly or inherently evil. I didn’t know what motivated him to act the way he did. Without that information, I couldn’t decide if he was trying to help me, or finish his original assignment to kill me.