Death (Cursed)

by Tara Brown

  I put my hands up, "Okay. Got it."

  I looked at Aleks who stands with his arms crossed over his broad chest and shake my head, "I knew he wouldn’t be evil for no reason."

  Aleks sighs, "Can you take away all the brainwashing?"

  Giselle shrugs and grabs Shane's arm. She looks into his eyes and speaks, "You forget everything Marcus made you do and everything he made you be. Just be the Shane we always knew before and don’t remember the bad stuff you did to the humans."

  She steps back. His eyes fuzz over. He looks at me and then at Giselle and Aleks.

  He points at me with a limp hand and frowns, "Aimes. What's going on?" He looks down at Giselle, "Did we kiss?"

  She laughs, "I guess. Sort of. No." She looks at me, "What should I say."

  I smile. "The truth. She kissed you and you are cursed. Those are two things you're going to need to work out."

  He steps towards me, "I kinda got the impression you and I were trying to work something out."

  I step back and shake my head, "No. Not doing this again. Shane, you and I are good friends. Very good friends. This is actually my boyfriend, Aleks."

  He squints at Aleks confusedly, "Hey man. Did we meet before? Where the hell are we?"

  Aleks starts to laugh. I join him.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Hanna

  I wipe the sweat from her forehead and watch Lucas. He's desperate.

  "My dad is really smart. I promise he can help her."

  Lucas doesn’t take his eyes away from her. The memories of her being snarky and shitty to me try to sneak their way into my mind. I shut them down. I know her and Sam are close. I know what I did.

  The memories of the women from my mother's family still haunt me. They were so convincing. Almost like my effect on other people. I wanted to be with them and make them happy. I wanted to be part of what they were. They convinced me I wanted it more than I wanted him.

  That was never a truth. Never.

  "They'll be okay. He'll be back." Lucas speaks softly but doesn’t move from his vigilant watch.

  "I just screwed up so many times. I don't think he's ever going to forgive. Not for real."

  "He loves you Hanna. Trust me, if anyone gets it it's me. You've been a complete shit to him but you're the one."

  Ben sighs, "I hope I never fall in love."

  Lucas's words hurt but I glance back at Ben and smirk, "You mean like how you love Giselle and never tell anyone because of the succubus thing and Vampire thing and her being completely moronic thing?"

  Lucas laughs. It isn’t hearty and strong like before. But it's a laugh. Ben scowls at me and then smirks, "Screw you Hanna."

  Lucas laughs harder, "She got you there."

  "Damn succubus. How did you know?"

  "The midnight watch at the hospital when she was sick. I caught you sneaking and staying with her for hours at a time."

  He nods and stares, "It's the magic of the mythical beast. It isn’t love."

  I tilt my head, "You sat and rotated icy cloths on her forehead for hours. I watched you once. I sat there waiting for Marcus to come and help her. He didn’t. I just wanted to believe he would. He would be the man I needed him to be. Prove me wrong about him."

  Ben scoffs, "Yeah, that worked out eh."

  I shake my head, "He deserves what has happened to him." I catch a glimpse of the tight jaw Lucas is sporting. I know he, like the rest of us, blames Marcus completely.

  "You going to kill him?" I ask softly.

  Lucas shakes his head, "No. The thing that’s been done to him is much worse than simple death."

  Ben knocks me in the back, "Wanna go get a drink?"

  I nod and stand up. "I'm sorry if my bracelet isn’t keeping it all at bay."

  Lucas shakes his head, "It's fine. You love Sam. We know."

  Ben grabs my hand and pulls me out. He drags me down the hall. Sam walks up as we round the corner. He sees Ben holding my hand. His eyes narrow, "Hey."

  I pull my hand away and walk over to him, "We were just talking about how he loves Giselle."

  Ben groans, "Dude."

  Sam laughs and shakes his head, "Please. Like everyone didn’t notice that one already. You think too loud."

  Ben crosses his arms, "She's bad news dude. Always attracting bullshit. I just think she's hot."

  Sam nods, "Okay."

  Ben looks at us both and walks past us, "See ya's."

  I look up into Sam's eyes and smirk, "I love you."

  He grins, "I know. That's never really been our problem has it?"

  "Can you forgive me?"

  "I already told you, nothing to forgive." He pulls me into him.

  "You aren’t kissing me or touching me."

  "I want to. I just want to make sure this is what you want."

  I pull back, "So what you're really saying is that you're still hurt and don’t trust me."

  Ben pops his head back into the conversation, "No. Don’t do that. Why do girls do the 'what you're really saying thing?' What he's really saying is bitches be choosy. Now I'm starving. I've been eating nothing but raw meat with Luke. Let's go."

  He touches me and Sam flashes us to the kitchen.

  I shove Ben, "Bitches be choosey. You're a dork."

  He shrugs, "Maybe. Whatever." He opens the fridge. There are shelves of blood bags. I grimace and point to the fridge on the other side, "Wrong fridge."

  Ben looks back, "Wow. Marcus is blood bagging it?"

  Sam smiles, "He has to. He can feel and sense everything his victims are feeling. Not as fun when it hurts to eat."

  Suddenly an onslaught of memories of Marcus and I alone in my room attack me. I gasp and feel the heat and fever crash into me. Sam smirks and looks at my bracelet. "Yikes. What was that?"

  I am trembling and shaking, "Nothing. I need to go." I run out of the kitchen and down to my room. I close the door and drink in gulps of cold stale air.

  A glowing sweat breaks out across my face. I wipe it away.

  I turn to see Lorri and Abbey on my bed.

  "What are you doing in here?"

  Lorri points to the door, "Saying my goodbyes. I suggest you do the same. We leave here in half an hour. You really smell like sex. Siren sex? Why is it so strong?"

  "I don’t know."

  "That’s not good." She paused, "Wait. Go get really turned on. We can trap Jonathan with it. He can't resist Sirens and you stink of it my friend."

  I grimace and leave the room. My face is redder than before. I feel disgusting, like a cat in heat.

  Marcus is walking down the hall. When he walks past me he steps in and smells me. I push him off. He grins like a fool, "You just went into heat my pet. Someone not scratching that itch for you?"

  I shove him and walk away, quickly.

  Sam flashes to me and grabs my arm, "Hey. What's going on? Why did that just happen?"

  I pull away, "I don’t know. I think it's because you don’t love me like you did before. Like we aren’t mated."

  "Yes, we are."

  "No, we aren’t. You don’t love me like before." I undo the bracelet. He slams me into the walls, grabbing at me and gripping my skin roughly. His mouth crashes into my neck. I do the bracelet back up. My intense sexuality is sucked back into the shells.

  He steps back and nods, "You might be right. That was intense."

  I feel like I'm dying inside, "My Siren sex rage shouldn't work on you."

  "It shouldn’t." He says in agreement.

  "But it is."

  "It would appear it is."

  I unsnap it once more. He goes nuts. His hands touching me, light me on fire. I'm moaning and loving being slammed into the wall. He lifts me up and flashes. We're in a room I've never seen before. He throws me on the bed. He climbs between my legs and grabs at my clothes. He's tearing and ripping. His mouth drags up and down my chest. I cry out. His fingers were made for me. He slides his body against mine until I can feel every hair on my body. Every nerve. I'm clo
se to an orgasm and he hasn’t even taking my pants off yet. I shove him hard and snap the bracelet on again. He flashes mid leap.

  I am alone. I can't fight the tears.

  He flashes back in screaming at me, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?"

  I shake my head, "Lorri told me to."

  He grabs my arms and rips the bracelet by accident. My eyes widen. My extras are downstairs at my dad's. Not here.

  "Flash me home fast." I whisper.

  He does. He throws me on my bed at home and charges at me.

  My beast snarls at him. I jump up and run but he flash-runs. He grabs me again, but I throw him through the wall and continue down the stairs. He flashes in front of me and tackles me to the stairs. He rips my pants. My beast laughs. She is a bit crazed with the Siren sex rage.

  I kick him into the air. He flashes and lands on me and flashes us to my bedroom again. The beast grabs him and carries him down the stairs but he flashes us back to the bed. I stand and thump the floor several times. The wood starts to crack and snap. We fall through into my father's office.

  "HELP!" I shout in my weird beast voice. He tackles Sam, who flashes them both on top of me. I groan under the weight of them. My father grabs him firmly again. His beast is turning on. I scramble to the bracelets in the drawer and snap one on. Sam stops. My father looks up through the dust and debris into the hole in the ceiling, heaving for breath. "You two are going to need a rubber house one day."

  I cry immediately, "He doesn't love me anymore. I wrecked it. We aren’t mated."

  My dad frowns, "Hanna, fall in love like regular people. Jeeze."

  I look at Sam, who is laughing about as hard as he can.

  "Fall in love like regular people?" I ask.

  He nods and looks at both like he's astonished.

  "Regular people? Like date?" I ask again and look at Sam who points at me, "Do that to me again with the bracelet and you won't like the results."

  I grin a sloppy wet smirk, "So you say."

  My dad groans, "Okay. Look children, I need to call a contractor."

  Roland walks in with a stiff drink for my father. Sam looks embarrassed. He grabs my hand "I'm sorry sir. I will of course pay for this all."

  My father shakes his head, "No. No, it's fine. Just go do the thing you have to. Guess I will be showering for a second time in half an hour."

  Sam flashes us to Marcus's. He kisses my lips softly when we are standing in the same bedroom again, "I love You Hanna. I love you so much it hurts. I didn’t realize I'm so angry with you that it's making me not in love with you right now. I'm hurt. I want to forgive you for everything, but I can't. I guess it's going to take some time."

  I kiss him back, "We got time. I don’t want anyone but you."

  His hands pull me into him and I remember Lorri's request. I push him back, "Sorry. I gotta stay like this. Lorri needs me as a distraction.

  Sam sighs, "Oh my god. That is going to kill me."

  I grin, "Nothing can kill you baby. We gotta go though. Lorri said we were leaving now."

  He flashes us to the front door. I grin at him adjusting himself.

  "Something wrong?" I ask. I can't help myself.

  He shakes his head and laughs, "You're gonna wreck that power of yours if you keep it up." He leans in and whispers, "I'll make sure you don’t have a need for weeks."

  I inhale sharply and bite my lip to stop myself from tempting him.

  He nods, "That's what I thought." He turns away from me, to where Aleks walks up dragging a fierce looking Aimee. Giselle and Shane are right behind them. My skin crawls seeing him. I feel panic and terror creep into me. Sam grabs my hand. My skin sparks when he touches me.

  Lucas growls at Shane, but Giselle puts her hands in the air. "No. He didn’t do it. Marcus, tell them."

  "Blow it out your ass." He shouts from his spot on the couch, in his too short robe that's flashing his dark hairy legs.

  It's silent for a moment and then Giselle shouts at him, "Stop acting like you're the only one WHO'S life is SCREWED. You selfish, self centered piece of shit. You are not the only person in the world who didn’t get what he wanted in life. You think THIS is what I wanted? Do you? answer me god dammit."

  We all take a step back. No one has seen Giselle lose it since the reign of the dark queen days. She looks fierce like Aimee. She storms into the living room and grabs him by the ear. She hauls his nasty ass off the couch. He cries out. She turns and screams again, "Stop acting like this is celebrity rehab and get dressed. You smell funny. King of the vamps, ha. You're more like the dirty cousin to the king that shits himself and no one admits to being related to." She drags his filthy ass to where we are.

  Aimee is outright laughing. I'm still eyeballing Shane nervously. I could kill Marcus though.

  He winces and pulls out of her grip, "I wiped his mind. I changed him and wiped his weak little mind. Bloody hell. Are you happy now? Now can I go back to sulking?"

  She slaps him in the face, "No. You owe Hanna an apology too."

  He tenses his jaw and looks at me. My eyes narrow. I'm not in the mood for his shit.

  "Hanna, I am sorry that you died and became an amazing immortal and sex goddess. Yes, your life is horrid just like mine." He bows and vanishes.

  Giselle is almost breathing fire out of her nose.

  Lorri storms up the front door. She looks more savage than normal.

  She looks at me harshly, "You ready?"

  "Yup."

  A smile plays with the corner of her lips, "You smell ready."

  "That's the understatement of the century. What is that?" Aleks grins at Sam, "Dude. Really? Can't take care of business."

  Sam glares and shakes his head slowly, "Nope."

  Aimee is smiling like a fool suddenly. She smirks at Sam and bats her eyelashes a couple times. He frowns but not nearly as severely as Aleks does.

  Sam looks at Lorri and points at me, "This was a good idea?"

  Lorri laughs and puts her hand in, "Probably not. Group up with me and Sam. We know the way."

  Me, Aimee and Giselle slap our hands on Sam. He smells delicious. The guys frown at him. He winks and we're there. The sun beats down. It's warm and lovely compared to the dank air on the west coast of America.

  "Ari would love it here." Aimee whispers.

  Sam nods, "She would die and go to heaven. Man it's hot."

  He tugs at his shirt and doesn’t notice the looks Giselle and Aimee shoot him.

  "Bad timing." I whisper.

  His jaw drops, "Oh. That was the wrong thing to say. Sorry."

  Lorri, Aleks, Ben, Luke and Shane show up seconds later. "Thanks for letting me ride with the sausage party." Lorri snorts.

  "You fit right in." Giselle smirks.

  Lorri shoots her a glare and the rest of us stifle giggles.

  "You're all awfully cheerful for people about to die."

  Aimee puts her hands on her hips, "What's the worst that can happen? We die? Big deal. Everyone else is dead. We are the worst kind of enemy right now. We've got nothing to lose."

  Lorri's grim face splits, "Have I ever told you I love you, Aimee? I love the ass kicking bitch you've become." Aimee beams. Lorri turns around looking at us all, "She is right. We got fuck all to lose. So Jonathan wins. If we're dead we aren’t here for the Armageddon. Fuck em. Let's just do the best we can and see what happens. What have we got to lose?"

  Sam grins, "You coach a lot of basketball Lorri?"

  She looks at him for a moment and then breaks into a gut-blasting laugh. I'm scared. I've never seen her like this.

  Giselle whispers, "Home girl got herself a piece of ass."

  I snicker, "Fo sho."

  "We run it the way we practiced. This is going to be typical. Stay together. Don’t attack until we know for sure." She stalks off. I wait for Sam to lead us the other way. Aimee, Ben, Aleks and Giselle go with Lorri.

  I look at Sam, Lucas and Shane and sigh. "Only girl. I hate my team. I miss Ari." I pout. Lucas rol
ls his eyes but Sam and Shane both watch me. Like predators.