Cursed (Demon Kissed #2)

by Holly Ward

  Shannon glanced at me before she said, “You’re still thinking about that last vision, aren’t you.”

  I prickled at her words. “I’m not talking about it.”

  “I’m not asking you to,” she said. She looked at me for a second before she continued, “I don’t need details, Ivy. But, I would like to know how it changed from within the vision. Eric knows a lot of stuff. Look at him leading the way ahead of us like some deranged Boy Scout.” A smile spread across her face as she laughed. I didn’t mean to laugh at him, but the giggle escaped me in a swift snort as I tried to cut it off.

  Eric looked back at us and murmured, “Girls behind me, and they are both laughing. Awesome.” He flashed a smile and shook his head, as he climbed over a pile of stones that blocked our way. Shannon and I reached the rocks at the same time. I pretty much fell over them and slid down the other side on my butt.

  “That’s one way to do it,” Shannon laughed. And Eric smiled at me, offering me a hand up. I grimaced at Shannon and took his hand. My jeans were so trashed. Did the Underworld have a GAP? I was covered in mud, dirt, blood, and guardian drool. A change of clothes seemed like a dream right then.

  “Do you think we’re closer?” Eric asked. I had no idea how big the Underworld was or how long it would take to reach Collin. But the bond seemed to change as I got closer. It was the only indication I had that we were making any progress.

  “Yeah, we are,” I answered. “I can feel him, but something’s off. It’s like the signal is getting botched. I’m not sure why.” Eric’s face was tired and covered in dirt. He ran his fingers through his hair and nodded.

  Shannon patted my shoulder and stopped as the path forked again ahead of us. “Which way?”

  I stood in the crossroads for a moment. It was not practical to stay still too long here, not if you valued your life. Unmoving objects tended to be devoured by grackles, dragons, or demons. The grackles could be heard looming in the distance, and there was never just one. I took a few steps down one path and then the other. The pull of the hollow spot in my chest, the place that the bond usually pulled, was silent. It didn’t react to either path. I sat down hard, pushing my frizzing hair out of my face. “I don’t know.” This never happened before. I always felt something. There was always some indication telling me which way to go—a pull, a push, or a feeling. But not this time. Eric and Shannon stood watching me. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I can’t tell.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Eric said. “There was a pool a little ways back. I’ll refill the water bottle. Sit and wait. You’re exhausted.” When Shannon came running in to warn us when we were in the catacombs, she’d had the foresight to grab a water bottle and several Powerbars. We didn’t need much food, but we still needed some. Water was everywhere in this dank place, so refilling the bottle wasn’t difficult. As Eric walked away, I sat and stared at the paths. My heart twisted, and I squeezed my eyes shut to prevent Shannon from seeing the pain etched on my face, but when I looked up at her, her gaze was following Eric. There was an expression on her face, and a softness in her eyes that I’d never seen in her before.

  She broke her stare, and arched an eyebrow at me, “What?” She sat down next to me, and pulled her long hair over her shoulder. It was a nervous tick of hers.

  A lopsided grin formed on my lips. “You like him. How did I not see this before? You like Eric!”

  Shannon’s spine straightened as she twisted her head towards me.

  Her mouth fell open, but words were slow to form. “I…I don’t like him like that. I just think he’s—interesting.” She shrugged and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

  I laughed, “Interesting? A pork chop is interesting. That guy is a two-thousand-year-old Martis warrior. Interesting is the wrong word, Shan. Try again.”

  She sighed and cocked her head at me. “Fine. He’s more than interesting. He’s,” she paused searching for the right words, “kind, honorable, and loyal.”

  “Loyal?”

  “Okay, he’s really hot. I like the way he walks, his lopsided smile, those amber eyes, and him. Okay. Just everything about him.” She sighed staring down the path. This was a side of her that she rarely revealed. High school boys didn’t impress her much. There was one other time she was love struck over some guy, but that was a while ago. She turned back toward me and arched an eyebrow. “So? Go ahead and say it?”

  “Say what?”

  “That he’s not interested in me. It’s okay. I can tell. That’s the way things go, I guess. I finally find someone worth looking at and he seems more interested in you.” She said the comment causally, like it’d happened before, but I had no knowledge of it ever happening at all. Never mind now.

  “He does NOT like me. I just remind him of someone he was fond of.” She looked skeptically at me, ready to say uh huh, but I cut her off. “It is not the same thing. Reminding someone of the past is just that—I’m reminding him of someone he cared about who’s dead. He feels like he’s seeing a ghost when he’s around me. It’s horrible. No, actually liking someone brings happiness—not hollowness and grief.” I rolled my eyes at her. How could she even think that? I was starting to think that I didn’t know her at all anymore. Could she change that much over such a short time?

  Eric returned with water and handed me the bottle first. Shannon gave me a ‘told you so’ glare, and I rolled my eyes at her. Eric asked, “What’d I miss?”

  Shannon jumped up and dusted herself off. Smiling at him she said, “Absolutely nothing. So which way, Sacagawea?”

  “Are you Louis or Clark?” Eric laughed.

  I stood, ignoring the two of them and walked towards the fork in the path again. The cavern ceiling divided the path in two, touching the ground and forming the largest stalactite I’d ever seen. Knowing time was a luxury I didn’t have, I took another swig of water and shoved the bottle at Shannon. With my hands emptied, I walked over to the massive rock and ran my fingers over it. The bond pulled slightly, warming my chest and giving me hope. I pressed my eyes shut to savor the sensation. I’m coming Collin. I’m coming.

  Shannon’s voice cut through my thoughts, “Great. We have to go through the rock, right?” When I turned, her hip was cocked and her head tilted. I nodded at her.

  Eric walked to the stone, and ran his fingers over it. “How? Do you really mean go through it—as in go inside of it? Or go over it?”

  “I think we have to go inside of it.” I dragged my fingertips along the cold damp stone. There was no entrance, no obvious door to walk through. The horrifying music of demon bird calls caught my ear, and Eric and I turned at the same time to see them coming in the distance.

  “Grackles,” all three of us said in unison.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.” Shannon said urgently, and started pressing against the rock. She slid her hands all over the stone, but nothing moved.

  The ear piercing cries grew louder. “There’s no time!” Panic raced up my spine in a cold flash. All three of us dragged our hands over the stone, looking for an entrance, but nothing appeared. My heart pounded faster in my chest. The memory of what those birds can do came back to me. Their cries made my skin crawl. Desperately we tried everything we could think of to open the rock. We had celestial silver, brimstone, and Apryl’s necklace.

  “The necklace!” Eric shouted. “It opened the crypt. Try it on the stone! Do it now!”

  I pressed her necklace to the stone but nothing happened. The swish of a thousand wings echoed off the stone walls. My throat constricted as I looked over my shoulder and saw a mass of black beating wings. Their calls were so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else. I couldn’t even hear the rapid beating of my own heart. I screamed and slammed my hand against the stone, half clawing at it. The rock sliced my palm open, but I didn’t care. The grackles and their scissor beaks were within a few feet of us. I pressed my face to the rock and tried to block out the spaces by pressing my arms and hands into the stone. Suddenly, the rock turned to s
and and I fell through. Eric and Shannon followed. As we tumbled through the sand-like stone, the opening that swallowed us sealed. Silence washed over us as we stared at each other wide-eyed.

  “What happened? What’d you do?” Eric asked.

  Breathing heavily I stood, and looked at my palm. Without a word, I held it up. Apryl’s necklace was in my palm, and covered in dark red blood. “It wanted blood, brimstone, and silver. Greedy rock.” I meant it jokingly, but Eric nodded.

  “Indeed. And you are certain we have to go this way?” Eric looked around. The cavern walls were paler, almost as if they’d been dry-brushed with gold. He swallowed hard.

  I turned to see what was concerning him only to be confronted by a narrow golden passage. The floor was lined with sapphires. The walls were real gold with a dull luster. Etchings were carved into the precious metal revealing beautiful flowers with jewel-crusted centers. It was beautiful. It was beautiful. Oh no. My worried gaze cut to Eric for an explanation, but it was Shannon who spoke.

  “This is the Lorren, isn’t it?” Her fingers touched the golden wall gently. She turned back toward us with her eyes as big as emeralds.

  “What’s the Lorren?” I asked. “Where are we?”

  She replied, “We’re in part of the Underworld—the Lorren shows you everything you ever wanted, but never had. It’s pure temptation. No one has passed through this tunnel and lived.” Her gaze was wide, as her fingers pressed against a golden lily.

  “How do you know that?” Eric asked. He walked briskly toward her, and she turned from the flower. His brow creased at the center when he asked again, “How did you know that?”

  She flinched, unable to back away from him. I asked, “What’s the matter, Eric? Why wouldn’t she know that?”

  He turned sharply, with an agitated expression, “Because only The Seeker knows that. Only the Seeker knows what the Lorren is, and how it traps the Prophecy One. I was supposed to use it to trap you, so you couldn’t escape. No one escapes from this tomb.” He turned back to Shannon. “Answer me. How did you know?”

  Shannon tried to laugh it off, but Eric was in her face. She rested her hand on his shoulder, “Eric, it’s not…” but he shook her off.

  He was practically growling now. “Answer me. How did you know about the Lorren?”

  She rolled her eyes, “Fine. I’m not as saintly as you, all right? Are you happy now? I overheard Julia talking about it. With you. I heard about the whole thing.”

  Eric’s expression softened, but he didn’t back away. “When?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered annoyed. “It was some time last year before you knew you were tracking Ivy.” She slid past him and looked to me for help. “Martis or not, I’m still a little bit of a snoop. How could I hear part of that conversation and keep walking? Ivy, come on. Tell him.”

  “She has a way of knowing everything and never getting caught.” I shrugged. “Is that not a Martis-ie thing to do?” I knew it wasn’t, but Eric seemed to think it was on the same level as something really bad.

  “No, it’s not.” His amber gaze bore into Shannon’s back. I reached for his arm, but he shook me off. He turned toward Shannon, “So tell us about the Lorren. Tell us why we can’t pass this way.”

  Shannon’s eyes shifted between Eric and me, but it was Eric she had to appease. He seemed very uneasy now. “It’s what I said before. The Lorren can manifest temptations specific to the individual who passes through the tunnel. It will create the deepest desires that hide within your heart. The Lorren uses it to isolate it’s victims, and leave them encased in gold in their fantasy forever. The carved flowers and gems on the wall aren’t carvings, are they?” she asked him.

  “No, they aren’t.” Eric replied.

  My fingers had been touching a rose with a jeweled stem. I turned and asked, “What are they then? It has to be a carving. The image was stamped into the gold on the walls.”

  “Tell her.” Eric said.

  Shannon looked uneasy and walked away from him. She stood next to me and stared at the flower. “They were people. People who were trapped here. They became part of the tomb. It’s part of the riches that lure new victims into the tunnel.” I pulled my hand away, horrified. Each exquisite flower had been a person?

  Eric nodded. “Victims thought they would be in ecstasy forever. They were given the thing that was most desirable—the thing that they longed for but didn’t have. It’s pure bliss at first.” His gaze met mine and didn’t waiver. “But at the last moment of consciousness, their temptations twist into a terrifying perversion of what they had desired. The victim’s horror is frozen in time, as their body is devoured by the Lorren. When the Lorren is finished, the victim’s remains are etched into the walls. That is what the Martis intended for you Ivy. That was the way to bind you so you could never return.”

  I swallowed hard as horror poured over me. “Eric, I did nothing to deserve this. How did the Martis send me here? How did they do this!” I was about to burst into tears.

  He reached for my shoulder, as he bent to look me in the eye. “They didn’t. The bond is pulling you through here. Why we have to come this way is unimaginable. I also don’t know if we can follow you. I couldn’t get past the Pool of Lost Souls. I know who will be waiting in the tunnel for me. I know what guise the Lorren will be wearing for me.” His voice trailed off as his gaze shifted toward the golden tunnel.

  Shannon said, “We’ll go through together. That should help, right? As long as we keep putting one foot in front of the other, we should be able to walk out the other side. It’s stopping and giving into the Lorren that will kill us. We can do this Eric. We’re Martis.”

  “No,” his voice was razor sharp and his eyes burned with anger, “I’m not. Not anymore. They cast me aside Shannon. They thought I turned on them. I may have angel blood flowing through my veins, but I’m not one of them. Not anymore.”

  We stood silent staring at Eric. Such an outburst was unusual for him. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I had to say something. “Labels don’t matter. You are who you are. You’re Eric. And you can do this. You have the benefit of knowing Lydia will appear in there. You know it isn’t her. This isn’t like the Pool at all. That thing tricked you into thinking she’d been made a Valefar. She’s not. She isn’t down here, so whatever you see in the Lorren isn’t her. You’re insanely rational Eric. You can do this. Me on the other hand…God knows what I’ll see.” The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

  Shannon snort laughed, “Of course you know what you’ll see. It will be Collin. So you do the same thing. Tell yourself it isn’t him, that he isn’t in there, and keep walking. And if you don’t, I’ll pull you.”

  I gazed at Eric and could tell he had a better idea of how hard that would be than Shannon did. But what choice did we have? This was the way to get to Collin. We had to pass through it. “So, stick together and don’t stop. We can do this.” My words didn’t convince me we’d succeed, but they solidified my resolve. And I wasn’t spending eternity in the Lorren. Screw that.

  Shannon walked in first with her dagger drawn. Eric followed next, with me at the rear. As we walked into the tunnel the etchings became more numerous and more elaborate. The golden carved flowers had cascaded in bunches, each with its own jewels nestled in the petals. My throat tightened, as I breathed in controlling breaths. Beware beautiful things, Collin had said. The Lorren was the most beautiful part of the Underworld that I’d seen yet, which meant it was the most deadly.

  I slid one foot in front of the other, waiting for something to happen as we walked into the golden tunnel, but nothing did. From the looks of it, the Lorren was a circular tunnel made from gold. It looked like a long slender tube, large enough to walk through. Although we couldn’t see the other end, it looked pretty straight forward—walk through the tunnel and come out on the other side. As we walked deeper into the Lorren, I looked at the flowers on the walls. They were people who didn’t make it out. And the place was full of flowers.
I swallowed hard. We had to make it out. Staying together was our only option. We all naturally closed any space between us. Shannon and Eric must have been thinking the same thing. Silence surrounded us. The sound of dripping water was gone. No grackle noises. No dragon’s wings. Just the sound of our footfalls.

  When we entered the Lorren none of us thought it was very large. We were wrong. None of the things Eric was taught prepared him for what happened. He was never supposed to step foot inside the Lorren. His job was to capture me, kill me, and leave my body here. When he refused, he turned his back on his own kind. I looked up at him. He was walking next to me now. We all inched closer to one another. My eyes were darting everywhere trying to foresee what was coming. What happened was so incredible; there was no way I could have seen it coming. The Lorren was more deadly than I knew, and I was about to learn why.

  As we walked further into the Lorren, the golden flowers were plentiful. They rose off the walls like they were cast in gold, and not just carved into it. I touched the wall with my fingers thinking of all the lives lost in this place. My stomach sank as the air began to move gently through the tunnel. The three of us instinctively stopped. Shannon and I reached for our blades, but it didn’t matter. It turns out that you can’t fight the Lorren.

  The gentle breeze became instantly violent, and spun me around before throwing me back into the shining wall. The room twirled as the wind forced us apart. Eric was ripped from my side. The wind hurled his body deeper into the Lorren and out of sight. At the same time, I heard Shannon’s scream erupt and suddenly die. As I tried to peel myself off the wall, a shimmering gold curtain formed around me. I pushed forward, forcing one foot down at a time. The wind pushed me back. For every two steps I took forward, I was pushed back one. My long hair whipped about my face and stung my skin. Finally, I made it to the golden curtain. I pulled it back and looked through. The golden flowers seemed to sway as the violent wind died. The gale finally stopped, and it was utterly still. There was no trace of Eric or Shannon anywhere. They were gone. My pulse was thundering. I turned in a slow circle wondering what would happen. Would the Lorren attack me now? Would it send a fake Collin to finish me off? I had to get out of there, but the spinning made me uncertain of which way I’d come in. There were no landmarks, and all the flowers looked exactly the same.