Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles)

by L. D. Hutchinson

  Her nails dug deep into my right arm, and I lost my grip on the sword that now lay a good three or four feet away from me. She was standing up now, and starting to circle me. I watched her intently, and suddenly she moved away getting something, and made her way towards me once more.

  “Stupid mortal.” She spoke, laughing as I laid there. I could see the glee in her eyes; hear the joy in her voice.

  I sat up slowly, struggling to get to my feet as I started to go for my sword. She kicked me in the ribs, it felt like a car had hit me and I flew back. I wasn't sure how far I was thrown, but I knew she was a few feet away from me, and still coming.

  I got onto my knees, and started push myself up, ignoring the searing pain and looked around for something I could use as a weapon. If I wanted to live through this I needed protection, I couldn't just face someone like her without any defense.

  “What, not going to fight me? How terribly boring.”

  “Fight you? Without a weapon?” I called out to her, laughing bitterly. “That’s a bit unfair for a mortal.”

  “I don’t like being fair, takes all the fun out of everything.” Her voice was like a sickening chime that rang throughout the air around me. Though, I could still hear the fight that was going on around us.

  The clanging of metal, screams of people. I noticed quickly that the people from inside were no longer inside, but were all scattered around us out here. Running for their homes, or staying to fight alongside everyone else. When I took the chance to look away for a moment, I noticed the increasing count of dead bodies around us, and I wanted to cry, so many dead now because of her.

  I saw a sword next to a fallen body, and I went for it. I had looked around too long though, Amamai was on me again. Her cool hand wrapping around mine from behind, and her nails were digging deeply into my fragile flesh. She held me up, and I began to start kicking at her, unable to yell or speak. My hands were clawing desperately at her hand, but that only made her laugh.

  “It’s not a good thing to play with mortals, but it’s so much fun. I'll enjoy killing you.” She cooed into my ear, I could feel her lips against it. “I’ll start by cutting up that pretty little face of yours, and then I’ll cut out that delightful tongue. Maybe I’ll get Maldre to help, what do you think? Then we can keep you alive for hou-”

  She was cut off and let out a shriek. I noticed the cold sting of metal against the back of my knee, and she dropped me almost instantly. It sliced up the back of my leg, before I hit the ground. Once I could, I turned to see what had just happened. A sword was sunk through her stomach, her white dress was turn an ugly crimson red color.

  The sword was pulled back out, and came down on her again making her cry out once more, before she moved away from the person. “I’ll kill all of you for this.” She hissed loudly, and then turned before anyone realized what was going on, raising her hand she ran a sword through my stomach. I screamed in agony from the blow, and watched as she disappeared.

  I looked up as I tried to bite back my screams, and saw Nixon panting heavily, looking down at me. His eyes were coal black and he was covered in blood. He looked pained, and pulled the sword out of my stomach. Bending over me he was doing something. I was already numb, but I noticed I wasn't bleeding as much. He leaned down and looked at me.

  “Raine? Are you ok?” He asked, I felt like slapping him for that. But, then I realized he was trying to get a reaction out of me, to see if I was still with him or not.

  “What - about - your sisters?” I managed to get out; I felt some pain here and there that made it harder to speak and had to stop. “Raven? Your father?”

  He looked at me holding up a hand, and I watched his face change to pure sadness. “They’re fine, but I’m your guardian. I can’t worry about them and not you first, you’re my duty.”

  I could feel my facial expression turn to horror, even in this state I was mortified by that. Then I felt the flaring pain shoot up my body, the numbness was wearing off, and I wished it was back again. I bit down on my lip, and wanted to curl up into a ball and see if I could fall asleep and rid myself of the pain. Apparently my body agreed with me, since I was being shaken by an arm making the pain even worse. Nixon wasn't stopping either. “Do not fall asleep Raine!”

  I stared at him, through half open eyes. I felt him lifting me up and moving as fast as he could through crowds of people. He kept saying my name over and over again, as I fought against closing my eyes. I was only able to stay awake because of him, but it was growing to be too painful, I couldn't help it anymore. I was tired, in pain and it sounded so nice to fall into nothingness. I couldn't listen to him anymore; I let my eyes start drooping once more.

  Why can’t I sleep? I thought over and over, wanting to ask him so badly. I just wanted to sleep. To get away. To pretend none of this ever happened.

  I began to bury my face against his chest, let my eyes close slowly once more. Only this time, he didn't get through to me. His voice was too far away from me, and I let the darkness take me over completely.

  *****

  “Raine? Raine, wake up!” I could hear the voice, only I couldn't place it. I couldn't even get my eyes to open, as much as I wanted them to. It was a long time before I as able to even pry them open one at a time, blinking groggily towards the blurred figure that sat next to me.

  “Raine?” This time I actually recognized the voice. My eyes cleared enough for me to make out the matching eyes, blond hair and the worried expression of an older brother that Tom always seemed to wear on his face when he looked at me. Tom was okay. That was all that mattered.

  “T-Tom?” I asked aloud, thinking it sounded normal, until I heard the hoarse rough voice that left my mouth. I wanted to slam my hands over my mouth almost instantly.

  “Thank god…” Tom muttered, and pressed his head against my shoulder. It seemed like relief was flowing off of him, I wasn't sure what was going on here, but it was scaring me a bit. “They thought you had a concussion, hell you might have, you’ve been out for the past four days.”

  I jolted up right when I heard that, and was greeted by the piercing pain from my wrecked body. Tom grabbed hold of my shoulders, and he gently pressed me back against the pillows once more. “Careful, you’re still hurt.”

  “Four days?” I nearly shrieked at him, my eyes were suddenly huge, and I could hear my heart beating insanely in my chest. This wasn't right, maybe a day but not four, no way.

  Tom nodded his head slowly, and then frowned at me. “You got beat up pretty bad; hell a lot of us did actually.”

  I could only stare at him, still not able to comprehend what he'd just said. He continued, but I was still stuck on the part where I was out for the past four days. All I remember was fighting, and now a bed.

  “Nixon’s mom was nearly killed in her own house, she was found in a pool of blood almost dead. Bliss and Pandora had a few broken bones, and Raven got a pretty bad concussion but has healed from it already. Their dad was beat up pretty well,” Tom paused taking in the mortified look on my face. Nixon's mom was almost killed, I was afraid to know the details, but even knowing that much was difficult enough to hear. She of all people, didn't deserve this.

  “Nixon saved you, if he hadn't gotten to you when he did, you would’ve been dead. Talon, he’s beat up still, so is Dolphus Eyloff and Nickel. Talon got his neck ripped open, and his leg was not just broken but shredded in different areas, though he was still trying to fight when Nickel got to him. At least that’s what Nickel said, Nickel had both arms broken, and his entire chest was shredded. Dolphus tried to protect him, and got slashed up pretty badly, Eyloff… I don’t know what happened to him, he won't tell anyone.”

  I was speechless from all this information, I just stared at him. Everyone was hurt, and I didn't know how to even react to any of it. I was only able to sit there breathing normally, and feeling nothing. I was so numb; it was too much… for anyone to hear.

  “Nixon got hurt too; he just won’t leave his mom. His back
is nothing but huge gashes that he won’t let anyone touch. Layre has bloodied rope burns all over her body, and she’s weak as hell. Somehow her blood was practically drained from her body, I think me and you got away luckiest...” He smiled at me weakly, and then I actually took in how damaged he was.

  His lips were scabbed over, his neck had slices along them in different areas, his left arm was hanging in a sling, and those were only the visible areas of him. I couldn't see if there was anything else or not and that alone was starting to worry me. “If you’re wondering, your neck, it’s covered in gashes from that things nails, you got a pretty bad blow to the head.”

  "They said your throat may hurt too, it was nearly crushed. Two shattered ribs, your face has scattered cuts on it, your stomach has a wound like you fell on a sword and never realized it, and your leg’s slashed open.”

  Looking down was my only response to him; I stared at my bed sheets and swallowed slowly. It hurt like hell when I did, but I refused to show that kind of pain. I felt his hands falling onto my shoulders and start to rub them slowly. At some point the tears fell, but I didn't feel anything and I wasn't sure if it was from rage, fear, sadness or something else. But, when I cried and couldn't stop I wanted to scream.

  The tears just ran down my cheeks, splattering onto my bed sheets. I was like a small child, and I didn't want him to see me like this. I didn't want pity, and I didn't want him to worry. I felt my embarrassment and looked down, letting out a low and rough but mainly audible. “Get out, please...” To Tom, who stood up quickly, stayed there for a moment I'm sure trying to thinking of what he should do or say, and without a word he left.

  I used my hand to wipe my face as the tears kept falling, ignoring the pang from my arms as I moved them. What Tom said, it'd woken emotions they were delayed, but nonetheless emotions. I felt sadness for everyone who got hurt, kidnapped, or worse killed. Fear for Nixon's mother, she didn't deserve what she'd gotten, and I didn't want him to lose her because we didn't move fast enough to get there.

  Then there was the anger I felt, it was bubbling up to the top of everything. The anger for not being able to see something like Amamai taking over Morana. Not even being able to tell the difference between the two of them. I had yet to hear if Morana was ok, and not being able to warn and protect everyone like I was supposed to. This wasn't what I wanted; this wasn't what was supposed to happen. Lives were lost, because I didn't notice the obvious.

  Balling up my fists in the blankets, I just stared ahead thinking to myself. They were thoughts that I didn't remember once they were gone again, mindless little things. I wasn't sure how long I sat there like that, but I knew I was there for a long time and had managed to stop crying finally. Though, I still couldn't move, at least not until the door opened and I heard a voice I didn't expect to hear.

  “Nixon wanted me to check in on you, see if you were really awake.” Talon said in a low voice, moving over to me slowly. I could hear the steady click of his boots against the floor as he made his way over.

  I lifted my head slowly, almost robotically, and looked over at Talon. I didn't know what I expected to see after what Tom said, but it sure wasn't what I saw when I looked at him.

  Talon's neck had a bandage wrapped around it, and his left leg as well. Though he was walking on it with hardly any limp, it was still there. His face was scattered with nearly healed bruises and cuts, he didn't look like someone who'd nearly had their throat ripped out in front of everyone.

  He looked like someone who took a bad beating, got up and kept going. That was the part about vampires I was starting to hate, they healed too fast, and I was still the same as the day I got there.

  “It isn’t polite to stare.” He said to me, in a bemused voice.

  Looking away, I still didn't care to speak. My eyes went right back to my sheets, my hands were still balled up into fists. I didn't even notice that he was standing next to me at first; he was scanning me curiously until I looked back over, and nearly screamed.

  “Are you alright?” He asked me, and then took a moment to think about what he'd just asked me. “Well, alright mentally.”

  “No.” It was all I could get out, and it was the only thing I could think to say anyway.

  He took the seat next to me, getting comfortable before letting out a bit of a sigh. “What’s wrong?”

  “I should’ve seen it, warned everyone, and saved people from getting hurt.” I snapped. The anger I had felt was leaking out now, and being directed at him as if it was his fault. “I should’ve been able to tell everyone, let everyone know. Prevented Nixon’s mother from nearly dying prevented his sister’s from being put in harm’s way. None of us would be like this right now; if I would’ve listened to my gut that insisted something was off about Mora.”

  “You can’t blame yourself, you’re human.”

  “I’m human, but I’m also the chosen, Tom and me, we’re supposed to be able to protect you all! Kill these damned gods and save everyone! How can we do that if we’re blind to something so obvious?” I nearly screamed at him, ignoring the pain and taste of blood from my raw throat. My fists grew into tighter fists, and my nails started to bite through the blanket into my palms.

  “By learning, by adjusting and by having your guardians help point out things like that.”

  I lifted my head once more, looking straight at Talon. The anger I felt wasn't easing, but nor was it growing. For some reason I wanted to listen to him. I wanted to hear what he had to say, or what he thought about all of this.

  “You’re chosen, yes. That’s because you have the power to take on these stupid immortals who think they can screw with us all, and you have the power to destroy them. Along with the power to take on the blood from the other immortal races.” He paused, shifting his body and leaning back into his seat like this wasn't anything and he did this all the time. He looked too relaxed, and I wanted to hit him, or scream at him, of course I refrained from both.

  “You and your foolish brother are chosen because you have potential that our humans are blind to having, that they lack in every way. They are too afraid of the races, too afraid of the gods to take them on. But, neither of you are, and whether you realized it or not you did, in fact, save us that night. You called Amamai to yourself, you did not stop and think about what would happen, you just drew her away and fought. You might not have thought it was fighting, but even standing up to her to draw her away is enough to save lives. If you didn’t do that, I’m damn well sure that neither your brother, Layre, me, Nickel, or Nixon’s family would be alive at all.”

  I stared at him for a long moment, it was the only thing I could do. He stood up, stretched and put his hand on my head for a moment, pulling his lips into an attempt at a grin. It was creepy to say the least. “I’ll tell Nixon you’re alright; he’ll probably stop by later when his mother has to feed.”

  I continued to stay silent, watching him as he moved closer to the door. I blinked my eyes a few times, and breathed in as he started to open the door. That's when I decided to speak. “Is that always going to be enough?”

  He stopped moving, turned his head and looked over his shoulder at me. The normal bemused look he chose to wear was back, dancing along his facial features. “I don’t know, but I think it might be, we’ll see.” He left after saying that.

  Chapter 13

  _______________________

  I'm not sure how long I stayed there, thinking about what he said, what'd just happened. I kept replaying it over and over in my head; I couldn't stop myself no matter how hard I tried.

  All I know is that after a while, after I finally gave up pondering his words, I fell asleep. It was peaceful for a while. But, the peace didn't last long enough for me; I was pulled out of my dreamless sleep and into somewhere else.

  Padding around barefoot in the grassy area, I started to spin in circles freely, and let the warm sun bathe me. The crisp air swirled around me, and I could smell the earthy scent that followed all around me. Flowers
, crisply cut grass and other scents flowed over me.

  I could hear the running of water from a small creek, creatures were roaming around, and I felt like I was in heaven. In my mind I figured it was just me missing the sunlight all over again, and open areas like this one back home.

  Of course I was mistaken, like I always was. I felt the surge of a great energy forming nearby. I wanted to scream, I knew this dream was officially ruined.

  "Hello?" I called out; my voice was echoing weirdly all around. It almost sounded like I was in some alternate dimension. I could practically see the words falling from my lips and floating all around through the air. Yep, I'd completely lost my sanity.

  "Who's there?"

  "It's me child, do not be alarmed." A voice echoed back to me, a second later a centaur of light appear before me. The same one from last time, Aerbael. "You made it out alive, which is good."

  "Good? I nearly let people die!" I yelled pointing my figure at him, only to have an amused grunt slip through the air in reply. "You, you're a god! Aerbael, god of Law and Justice, so tell me why you aren't bringing either here!"