Cursed (Book 1, The Watchers; Young Adult Paranormal Romance)

by S. J. West

  “Nothing, that would harm you. I promise,” he said holding his hands out to the side as if showing me he had nothing up his sleeves. “You’re far too rare a creature to simply destroy.”

  He slowly started to step back away from me. He snapped his fingers in the direction of the maintenance building. I heard what sounded like claws run across the asphalt. Before I knew it, a creature I couldn’t have made up in my wildest nightmare stood beside Malcolm. It was taller than Malcolm by two feet with white patchy hair like a mangy dog and a face resembling a greyhound with tall pointy ears. It reminded me of pictures I had seen of the Egyptian god Anubis in my world civilization class except this creature was albino white instead of black.

  The creature looked at me with curious eyes and I heard him whine but it wasn’t like a sound out of pain, more out of yearning. I got the distinct feeling he wanted to come closer to me. Malcolm put a comforting hand on the creature’s arm.

  “Sebastian and I will leave you now. But you may see us again one day. Oh, and tell Brand I’m sorry I missed him the other day when he came looking for me. He’ll have to do better than that.”

  They both silently disappeared into thin air.

  I ran as fast as I could back to the apartment and picked up the phone Brand had given me. I found his cell phone number quickly and called him.

  Izzi answered the phone.

  “Hello?” I could tell she was laughing. Music was playing in the background.

  “I need to speak with Brand.”

  “Oh, hon. He’s a little busy right now,” she said, with a lilting laugh.

  “Get him on the phone right now!” I screamed so hard I hurt my own ears.

  “Like I said, Lilly,” a hard edge came into the other woman’s voice. “He’s busy right now.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to regain some sort of control over my hysteria.

  “Fine. Tell him Malcolm sends his regard.”

  I hung up the phone.

  I had expected Brand to call me back but instead I heard him yelling my name and banging on my front door like a maniac.

  As soon as I unlocked the door, Brand rushed into the living room.

  “Where is he?” he asked running from room to room before I could even answer.

  I don’t know if I was still in shock from my encounter with Malcom or if it was because I was so close to Brand again, but I couldn’t do anything but stand there like an idiot and stare at him mutely. After he saw there wasn’t anyone but me in the apartment, he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, like I was the most precious thing in the world.

  “Did he hurt you?” he asked looking down at me, worried. His eyes fell to the blood on my hands. “Where did he bite you?”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t bite me. I cut my foot on a piece of glass walking home.”

  A confused look crossed Brand’s face.

  “He didn’t even try?” he asked bewildered.

  “No.”

  Brand took me to the kitchen sink and tenderly washed the blood away from my shaking hand. He made me sit at the kitchen table while he filled a bowl with water and brought it to me to soak my injured foot in.

  “Tell me what happened,” he said washing the blood away from my foot.

  I told him everything I could remember about my encounter with Malcolm.

  “Who is he? What is he?” I asked.

  Brand had finished washing my foot and was drying it off with a towel by this time.

  “I can’t believe he left you alive,” he said instead of answering my questions.

  “He said my blood didn’t smell like other humans. What did he mean by that?”

  Brand stood and pulled out his cell phone. He found the number he wanted and hit send.

  “Will, you need to get over to Lilly’s as quickly as you can. We need to talk. Malcolm paid her a visit.” There was a pause. “No don’t bother with that. Just get over here.”

  Within seconds there was a knock at my door. What the hell was going on? How were they traveling so quickly?

  Then it hit me. Malcolm had traveled just as quickly. The memory of Will in the basement came back to me. It was the same thing. But if Brand and Will could travel like Malcolm…

  I stood up and ran to my room as Brand let Will in.

  I shut the door behind me and locked it. Lot of good that would do, I realized. If they were like Malcolm they could just appear in my room before I could even blink.

  “Lilly!” Brand banged on my door with his fist. “Lilly, what’s wrong?”

  “You’re both just like him!” My heart was pounding in my chest. I was having difficulty breathing. “Stay away from me!”

  “Lilly, please. We can explain.” It was Will this time.

  “Stay away from me!” I shrieked.

  “Come on, we need to talk,” I heard Brand say to Will. “Let her come out on her own.”

  They both walked away from the other side of my door.

  I put my back to the door and slid down it until I was sitting on the floor. My mind raced from thought to thought so fast I didn’t know what I was thinking anymore. I could hear Brand and Will whispering in the front room. Whatever they were saying it sounded like they were having a heated argument.

  I sat on the floor and put my aching head in my hands. What the hell was going on? I desperately tried to sort through what I knew, which wasn’t much.

  There wasn’t any logical way that both of them could have come to my apartment so quickly unless they had the same power Malcolm demonstrated to me. What were they?

  “Lilly.”

  I jerked my head up out of my hands and looked around the room. The air around me suddenly became very cold, like I was in a freezer. I could see my warm breath condense in the air around me. The light on my ceiling flickered like it had a short and finally went out plunging me into darkness.

  “Lilly, don’t be afraid.”

  It was a voice I instantly recognized. In the far corner of my room, I saw a blue light appear. Slowly, just like in the science building basement, the image of the eight year old Will took shape.

  “Don’t be frightened, Lilly,” he cautiously walked closer to me doing his best not to scare me. He stopped a foot from me and sat down Indian style.

  “Will?” I asked, not believing my eyes but strangely not afraid of the ghostly form in front of me. I actually felt comforted by my ethereal visitor.

  “It’s me, Lilly.” A sad smile touched his lips.

  “I don’t understand,” I said shaking my head. “You look like a ghost.”

  “I am.”

  “But you’re not dead. You’re sitting in the living room!” I pointed toward the wall where the living room would be on the other side as if this would prove my point.

  “It’s hard to explain.”

  “Could you try?” I pleaded. “Because I think I might lose my mind if something doesn’t start making sense soon.”

  “I’m sorry you’ve been having such a tough time lately. I’ll try to explain, but I don’t know everything either.” He paused obviously trying to think of the best way to explain what was going on. “Do you remember that night by the lake?”

  “Of course I do. I almost died.”

  “I did die.”

  “Then who’s that out in my living room?”

  “It was so dark the night you fell in,” he continued with a distant look in his eyes remembering that night. “I tried to find you but I just couldn’t. I wasn’t strong enough. I went so deep in the water I got confused and couldn’t tell which way was up anymore. He came to me then and said neither of us would survive unless he took my body.”

  I gasped. “Did he kill you?”

  “Not exactly. I was already dying. He just gave me a way to save you.”

  Young Will looked at me with a melancholy smile, filled with regret for not being stronger for me. Maybe he should have let me die that night. Maybe I was supposed to have died and Fate was just trying to co
rrect the course of my existence.

  Will had been the first of a string of innocent deaths caused by my cursed life and I didn’t even know it. The reality of my loss finally sunk in. I had lost my Will, my best friend that night. His soul had been replaced with something I couldn’t even fathom existed.

  “What is he, Will?”

  “It would be better if you let him explain it to you. Do you trust me Lilly?”

  “I’ve always trusted you,” I cried.

  “Then you need to go out there and let them explain what’s going on.”

  “How can I trust them?” I asked, tears spilling freely now. “All they’ve done is lie to me.”

  “They love you. That’s not a lie. They can explain things to you better than I can. Don’t cry, Lilly. You’re not alone.”

  The ghostly form of Will slowly began to fade.

  I stretched my hand out to him in desperation. “Don’t leave,” I begged, unable to bear the thought of losing him again. “Stay with me.”

  “I wish I could but it’s hard for me to stay this way for very long. Don’t cry, Lilly Rayne. I’ll be with you. I’ve always been with you.”

  Will faded away leaving me alone in the dark.

  Chapter 13

  I’m not sure how long I sat there, probably just a few minutes. The air in the room warmed back up and the ceiling light eventually flashed back on. I finally pulled my self together and decided I needed some answers. If what Will’s ghost said was true, then I had nothing to fear from Brand and the Will sitting in my living room.

  I wiped the tears from my face and stood up. My hand trembled as I held onto the door knob but I forced myself to stop being afraid. I needed answers. I unlocked my door, took a deep breath and walked into the living room.

  Will stopped his pacing in front of Brand, who was sitting on the futon, when he saw me. Brand stood up immediately. I noticed he’d taken off his tie and coat. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the top.

  Neither of them spoke. I guess they were waiting to see if I was going to freak out on them again.

  I hugged my arms to my chest. “I need some answers.” I said to them. “And I don’t want either of you to lie to me anymore. I need to know the truth.”

  Will looked at Brand who was staring at me with an apprehensive expression on his face.

  “We’ve already decided to answer anything you want to know, Lilly. As best we can anyway,” Will said.

  “I’d feel better if you both sat down. You’re making me nervous.”

  Brand retook his spot on the futon and Will sat beside him. I sat down in the rocking chair across from them.

  “I’m not sure where to begin,” I said more to my self than to the two in front of me. “I guess I need to know what you both are.”

  “You know,” Will said with a wry expression on his face. “I think I’ve had this conversation with you a thousand or more times in my head and each time I never knew exactly what to say to that question.”

  “Say the truth.” I implored.

  Brand took the lead. “Do you believe in angels?”

  “Like in the Bible?”

  “Yes,” Brand nodded. “You’ve read those stories right?”

  “Yes.” I looked at Will and Brand. “Are you telling me your angels?”

  “Yes and no. We are angels but we’ve both fallen out of grace for different reasons.”

  “Are you talking about God’s grace?”

  “Yes.” They both said in unison.

  “So you’re telling me you’re both fallen angels?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yes,” Brand said watching me closely for my reaction.

  “What did you do to get kicked out of heaven? Was it something evil?” I asked.

  “Sinful would be the more appropriate term,” Brand said.

  “What did you do?” I asked him pointedly.

  He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his thighs and lacing his fingers together in front of him as if contemplating his next words. It was obvious by his expression that what he was about to tell me was difficult for him to say out loud.

  “Have you ever read the Book of Enoch?”

  “Enoch?” I shook my head. “I don’t remember that book being in the Bible.”

  “No, it was one of the books left out of the modern translation. In the Book of Enoch, it tells the story of angels who walked among humans in human form. I was one of those angels. We were called the Watchers. We all eventually fell in love with humans, married, and had children with them. God was furious with our actions. He banned us from ever entering heaven again unless we could prove ourselves worthy of his forgiveness.”

  “Was that all he did to you?” I asked.

  Brand became even more unsettled. “For me, it was the worse thing he could have done. But, we and our children were punished even further for our disobedience.”

  “How? What did he do?”

  “All of the Watchers were cursed with an almost uncontrollable craving for human blood.”

  “Like vampires?”

  “Yes. We are what the vampire legend stems from.”

  “So,” I was hesitant to ask what I wanted to know. “Do you drink blood?”

  “No. I have never drunk the blood of a human. Once a Watcher does that, they’re completely damned. I don’t think there’s a way to find forgiveness in His eyes after such an abominable act. The urge to drink human blood is another test we have to endure if we ever want to be forgiven. Over the years I’ve found ways to not crave it as badly as I first did. There was a long time in the beginning when I couldn’t stand being around humans at all. Eventually I found ways to live among you again.”

  “Last Sunday, you said that Michelle’s attempt on my life was your fault because of what you are, what did you mean?”

  “Haven’t you ever wondered why girls around me find me so irresistible?”

  “Well that’s easy. Have you seen yourself in a mirror?”

  Brand grinned. “But there are a lot of handsome guys around,” Brand sat back on the futon. “It’s another part of the curse I bear.”

  “What, your cursed to be irresistible to women?”

  Brand’s smile grew wider. It nearly took my breath away. I’d missed seeing it so much the past week.

  “I produce a pheromone that attracts women. Most men do but mine is a thousand times more potent.”

  “Androstadienone?”

  “Yes,” he said with a tilt of his head. “I’m surprised you’ve heard of it.”

  “Detective Randall said they found a large dose of it in Michelle’s system. Is that why she went crazy?”

  “It’s part of the reason,” Brand agreed. “She had to have already been a bit mentally unbalanced. I didn’t help matters any.”

  “Is that why I feel the way I do about you?”

  The smile faded from his face to be replaced by an expression I couldn’t read. Like he was purposely hiding what he felt. “I don’t know. It could be.”

  It wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear but neither could I deny that I was only human.

  “You’ve been around Tara a lot too but she’s never tried to kill me over you.”

  “I’ve wondered about that myself. I think it’s her loyalty to you that protects her. It’s just not conceivable to her to even think about me in that way because of the rift it would cause between the two of you. You have an exceedingly strong bond with one another.”

  “So is Malcolm a Watcher who gave in? He mentioned something about drinking my blood.”

  “Yes, he gave into his thirst a long time ago.”

  “You seemed surprised when I told you he didn’t try to bite me.”

  “I was. By all rights you should be dead now. Malcolm’s never let a human live once he’s hunted them down.”

  “Why do you think he left me alone?”

  “I honestly don’t know, but I do understand what he was talking about when he said your blood wasn’t like any other humans.
”

  “What do you mean?”

  “With almost every human I come into contact with, I have to check myself and maintain the wall I’ve built to not just rip out their throats and have my fill. But with you,” I could hear the amazement in his voice. “With you, I don’t feel the craving at all. I don’t have to raise my shield when I’m around you. I can just be myself. I can only assume that’s what Malcolm sensed. You’re a …anomaly. I’m sure he’s curious about you now.” Brand seemed uneasy with his last statement.

  “He said someone sent him to kill me. Do you know who that is?”

  “Not yet,” Will piped in. “I’ve been trying to find the answer to that for a long time.”

  “A long time? So all the near misses I’ve had, they were actually caused by someone? I wasn’t just imagining a connection between them?”

  “It’s the only way they can be explained. They had to be planned by someone because I was always told when they would happen.”

  “I thought it was odd you were always there to save me.” This new bit of information helped answer what I had been wondering about for years.

  “So you said you each fell out of grace with God for different reason. What was your reason, Will?”

  “Pride mostly. I followed someone who made me think God made a mistake when he created humans.” Will took in a deep breath before continuing. “Lucifer had us convinced your species was beneath us, that we shouldn’t have to follow God’s order to protect and guide you. When our Father asked us to bow down to you, we rebelled. I’ve had a lot of time to regret what I did, but it doesn’t change the fact I turned my back on Him.”

  “So what are you? The real Will said you took his body over that night in the lake. Are you like a demon, like in the Exorcist movie? Did you possess him?”

  “If there had been any other choice, I would have taken it,” Will said visibly defensive. “But you two were out there all by yourselves. I’d never taken over the body of an innocent before but it was either take his body or let you die. I couldn’t let you die.”

  “Why? Why was I more important than him?” I demanded.

  “I don’t know. At the time I was just following the orders I’d been given. I was supposed to protect you no matter what the cost.”