Curse Reversed

by Rebecca Royce

  He kissed her cheek. “Sorry. Running late. Thanks for coming with me. I can’t leave you there after what just happened. I have to know you’re close to me. I hope that doesn’t make me… off.”

  It didn’t. She touched his chin. “I haven’t had a lot of people in my life who care about what happens to me or at least maybe I didn’t know they did. I have been alone a lot. I won’t ever feel off that you care about me.”

  He took her hand. “I brought us here in case you wanted something to eat before we went?”

  “I thought you were late.”

  His cheeks turned pink. “I wanted out of the room where that happened to you. Like putting space between here and there seemed pivotal. You have a minute to eat.”

  She walked to his fridge. Now that he’d said food she did want some. She grabbed a piece of cheese and ate it quickly. Mitchell ran into his bedroom and returned with papers. All of that took less than two minutes, and they were on their way.

  It felt bizarre to be walking. She couldn’t float, but with all the popping around, to do something as mundane as walking seemed somehow off. Mitchell linked their fingers in the cupping way that he did, his hand embracing hers, and she leaned against his arm.

  She didn’t let herself overthink what she was going to say. “I know this is too fast, and I hope it doesn’t ruin everything, but I can’t count on getting to speak about this later. I… I’ve fallen in love with you. I wanted you to know. And, it’s fine if you don’t feel that way yet and you don’t need to feel pressure to ever feel that way, if you don’t. I just wanted you to know.”

  He stopped walking and Eleanor’s heart fell into her stomach. She suddenly wished she had just kept her ridiculous mouth shut. Why would she say that? They’d hardly known each other outside of the institution.

  Mitchell’s mouth met hers. He breathed against her a second before he kissed her so hard she had to wrap her arms around his neck to stay upright. “You… I saw them bring you into the hospital, and I thought who is that gorgeous girl? Then you came out and saved me. I had to taste your mouth right after you spoke those beautiful words.”

  She sucked in a breath, her pulse calming a bit. He didn’t hate that she’d done that. In fact, he kissed her again.

  “I love you, too. From that first second. But we aren’t running out of time. This is just the beginning. I…” He cupped the side of her face. “I saw what happened today and it was everything I could do not to scream at that witch to get out of you. I let her talk. We had things to learn. I love you, too. Okay? Believe.”

  That was easier said than done. But she did. She believed him.

  “Mitchell, I…”

  He kissed her lips gently. “I have to go teach. Save this, please. For later. I want to kiss the words from your mouth, own them, love you. I want to… I’ve never felt like this before. Its best described as giddy. I don’t do giddy.”

  Mitchell’s gaze spoke volumes. He was always reserved. That had clearly been his upbringing, but there in the depths of those eyes that moved her, she could see all the things he was saying, that he was feeling.

  She nodded. “Later.”

  There would be a later.

  Eleanor sat in the back of the classroom and watched Mitchell teach. The subject shouldn’t have been as interesting to her as it was. The truth was, she had no background whatsoever in ancient runes. But his students were riveted and she liked watching that happen.

  Pictures moved through the room, darting back and forth based on which student had a question and what they’d asked. He didn’t even have to think about it to do it. An older woman slipped into the seat next to her, but Eleanor didn’t look up.

  That was her guy up there. He was brilliant. Talented. Smart. He had hidden depths even people who knew him had never seen and he was hers. How had that happened?

  “You’re Eleanor St. Vincent.”

  The woman next to her spoke, and Eleanor wrenched her gaze from where she wanted it to the intruder stealing her attention. She immediately recognized Mitchell’s mother.

  “Ma’am.” She kept her voice low while her internal guards raised. “I am.”

  “I’ve wanted to meet you.” She smiled sweetly. It seemed… genuine. Was she about to be attacked by a mother who wanted Eleanor to stay away from her son? “And I thought I might take Mitchell to lunch. This is a treat, running into you. You can come to lunch, too. Unless you both have plans?”

  She looked… hopeful. “We don’t have plans. I’d like to have lunch.”

  Mrs. Sharpe reached over, squeezing Eleanor’s hand. “Good. I have to spend time with the woman who brought my son back to us. We’d lost him. But look? He’s right there.”

  He’d said something similar to Eleanor. Was it possible? She’d really done nothing. “I may have dragged him into a big mess that isn’t really my fault but is definitely my problem.”

  The older woman squeezed Eleanor’s hand again. “He’s good at messes. Always was. Takes after me that way. His father tends to slip in the mud of life and I clean that right up.” Her smile was dazzling. “My side of the family is better with a problem to solve.”

  Lunch with the Sharpes turned out to be more than just salads and teacakes. No, it was a bit of a formal affair in a fancy restaurant Eleanor’s grandmother would love. Mitchell’s father had arrived and the four of them were getting a lot of stares from passersby.

  “It’s not you.” Mitchell linked his fingers with hers. “Mom is wearing the new diamonds Dad bought her. Everyone wants to see them.”

  His mother waved a dismissive hand at him. “It’s her. Eleanor is gorgeous. You didn’t tell me she was this pretty.”

  She didn’t feel that way. Vastly underdressed for a lunch like this one. Having lived most of her life in Institutions or running around with her mother, she didn’t know how to coif herself for eating out in places like this. She kind of wanted to put her head down and make eye contact with no one. How could she have been in a cave channeling ancient witches that morning and eating tomato soup out of china this afternoon?

  “I can’t do her justice, so I don’t try to.” Mitchell picked up his spoon. “Do you have spies in my classroom that told you she was there?”

  His father laughed. “Don’t give her ideas. This was coincidence. You know I wouldn’t conspire.”

  “I’m half-human,” Eleanor blurted out. She couldn’t think of a joke to make or she’d have done that instead. It seemed easier just to get that stated. “And I have been hospitalized a lot. It seems ancient wizards have cursed me. I’m a lot. Even for myself to deal with.”

  Mitchell shifted in his seat. “She’s harder on herself than anyone is on her.”

  His father nodded. “Mitchell, presumably you’re going to do something about the curse or find someone who can?”

  That was the response? Eleanor’s mouth fell open. Why weren’t they telling him to run?

  “I am. I believe we’ve made some serious headway on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was all over very soon.”

  His mother grinned. “That’s good. You’d want that all done before the wedding, obviously.”

  “Wedding?” She choked on her soup.

  Mitchell nodded. “We haven’t talked about that just yet, Mom. But yes, all curses will be gone before a wedding.”

  Lunch was not going at all like she’d thought it would.

  “Oh, good. Eleanor, you’ll be so beautiful in bridal blue.”

  She leaned against Mitchell in the darkness. He wasn’t asleep, having just stopped communicating with Sebastian. The plan was to find the location where her mother had died in the avalanche. They would assume that the location of the ceremonies the witch who wanted to possess her used to make things happen was close to it.

  Lawson had reached out, too. Ava had come to believe Mitchell was right. She had been manipulated. The type and amount of cinnamon she’d put in Eleanor’s drink had made her susceptible to the communication.

  S
o maybe it was the least of things she should worry about, but even with two incredible orgasms behind her that evening, she couldn’t settle her mind. “Your parents seemed to like me.”

  “My mother is picturing brown haired, gorgeous grandchildren who share the Sharpe-St. Vincent genes. Yes, they loved you.”

  She kissed the side of his chest. He smelled like home. “Do you think the earth wanted me to channel that witch? Like maybe I’m supposed to? She wasn’t manipulated? That’s how it was supposed to go?”

  “No. Nothing about what they’ve done to you is ‘supposed to.’ Now, it’s just making it stop.” He picked up her wrist, running his hand over the ink there. “So many people have vanished and died. I think tomorrow, we take this off you. And we see what happens.”

  She nodded. “Avalanches and tattoos. It’s almost like ten years ago. All over again.”

  “Yes and no. This time you have me. No one will hurt you. I promise you that.”

  Chapter 12

  Eleanor woke up knowing something was wrong. She looked around. Mitchell slept next to her, his breathing even and steady. What had made her jerk awake like that? Bad dream? She couldn’t think of anything but neither could she shake the dread forming in the pit of her stomach. No, she had to trust herself. Something was wrong.

  “Mitchell.”

  She shook him, and his eyes opened, but when he looked at her, even in the dark, she could tell his gaze wasn’t his own. His eyes were lit up like the sun. He blinked, a small frown on his face. “I see you have woken.”

  His voice was wrong. Not how he sounded. It was Mitchell’s tone, but the cadence was off. The way he used the see, elongated the ees. No, this was someone else wearing his body.

  “Whoever you are you need to get out of him right this second.”

  He held up his hands. “What happens to this vessel is entirely up to you. And it isn’t just this one, every single person who was with you in our cave has been taken tonight. Our mistress is tired of you resisting her. You will come. You will say yes. Or they will die.”

  Goosebumps broke out all over her body. If she’d thought fear for her own life the most overpowering sensation, that was because she hadn’t understood how mind numbingly terrifying it would be to know that she could get others killed. She placed her hand on Mitchell’s arm. “Whatever is happening, I’ll take care of it. I promise.”

  Mitchell tilted his head to the side. “He can’t hear you. He may never hear another word you say if you don’t comply.”

  She swallowed and put her shaking hands in her pockets. It didn’t matter that she was afraid or that she’d asked for none of this. Life happened and it was what she did when things sucked that would matter in the long run.

  Mitchell mattered. He was her love, and he wouldn’t have hesitated to save her.

  “I’ll comply.”

  He put out his hand. “This one knows how to transport. We will do it that way.”

  She nodded. It was then she realized they were both naked. Going to bed that way after making love to Mitchell had been warm and bonding. Now, she needed clothes. “We need to be dressed. That’s going to take a minute.”

  The person wearing Mitchell’s body looked down at himself. “Agreed.”

  They dressed quickly. She had the few things she’d brought with her when she’d come to surprise Mitchell. How many days ago had that been? She didn’t even know anymore. Eleanor hadn’t been thinking about needing to dress to save her life when she’d packed.

  A pair of dress black pants and a pink turtleneck were going to be an odd way to dress to meet her fate. Fortunately, her plain black shoes were comfortable. She made a mental note to remember that on any given day she might have to run for her life in whatever she was wearing.

  He put on Mitchell’s sweat pants and a white t-shirt. She’d never seen Mitchell so informal since they’d left the Institution. He was a slacks kind of a guy. Okay, she had to focus and let this go. But it was easier to focus on clothes than whatever was about to happen.

  The not-Mitchell took her hand and popped her out of there. The world tilted but this time she didn’t care. She forced herself to be fine, to ignore the dizziness, and take in her surroundings quickly. Her friends were all there, each one of them with the same distant looks as Mitchell. Lawson. Ava. Sebastian. Trident. Stefan. Kim. They really had all become her people.

  And now she was going to get them all killed. No, she wasn’t. She was going to manage this.

  A dark presence floated toward her, and she shivered. Maybe every time someone thought they were feeling ghosts they were really experiencing witches who wouldn’t go away. Eleanor sighed. Focus. She wasn’t in an institution where she could sip ginger ale and think about nothing important. This. Was. Happening.

  She steeled her spine. “What do you want from me? I’ve neither consciously nor unconsciously let you in nor kept you out. This is not something that I’m doing.”

  Black smoke formed in front of her eyes, taking on a form she could recognize. A woman, not quite solid but clear and distinct, stared at her, a passive look on her face. “I don’t think you’re doing it on purpose. How could you when you have so little control over yourself, child.”

  Condescension dripped in her every word.

  Eleanor chose to ignore it. This woman didn’t sound like she was pleasant when she was corporeal; she wasn’t going to be reasoned with as some sort of smoke monster.

  “Then why hold my friends hostage? Why do that if you know that it hasn’t been up to me to control any of this?”

  She sighed. “There will come a moment when you will have to pick. There is always a moment. And when that moment comes, I want you to remember—to steal a phrase from your time—that I hold all the cards. I am in control.”

  What she wanted to do was bend over and grab onto her knees while she hyperventilated. What she actually did was stay right where she was.

  “I don’t like the terms of this negotiation.” She’d heard her grandfather say that time and again.

  The ancient witch threw her head back and laughed. “Is that so?”

  “Yes. That’s so.”

  It was the phrasing the so-called Goddess had used that had triggered this response. Cards. Game play. She’d played endless amounts of them in the Institutions. A bunch at the end with Mitchell. She was ridiculously good at cards.

  “Here’s the truth. I’m tired of all of this. I don’t think I can continue another round of waking up not knowing what happened to me.”

  She sighed. “You should never have been taken from me. This could all have long been over for you and then you’d move on. That is assuming there’s something to move on to. Or if there isn’t, you’d be done.”

  “Well, if you’ve spent any time running around in my head, you know that I am not going to respond well to this kind of threat. Return them where they belong. Put them back in their beds, and then you and I can do this thing I was born to do.”

  Eleanor couldn’t believe she had to speak these words, but there they were. “My own life is enough to threaten me with. I’m kind of selfish that way. I mean… what do I really have in life anyway?”

  The other woman laughed. “You are so much like your mother. I have enjoyed her company all these long years. Or at least… looking at her.”

  What did she mean? More of the black smoke filled the room, and when it cleared four dozen people stood, blank stares on their faces. But it was the two people in the middle who caught Eleanor’s attention. It was her mother and father. She wanted to cry out. Only she didn’t. Her mother’s body had never been found in the avalanche and at least now she knew why. Pain like she’d never experienced wracked through Eleanor.

  She stayed upright, her face passive, her eyes bored. If she was going to be Eleanor St. Vincent, uninterested in others, then she had to pull this off. “Is that supposed to mean something to me? I want all of these people out of here now. I want my friends put back so I don’t have their dis
traction, and I want it now. After that, if you want something from me you can have it. I’m done with this conversation.”

  “Are you sure you want them all gone?” She crooked her finger, and Mitchell walked toward her. “You won’t really be conscious but you can revel in knowing I would gladly use his body to find pleasure all the time.”

  This was Mitchell’s nightmare. He’d had this happen before. He valued his mind above all other things. It had already once been taken over by a woman who abused him. No, Eleanor wouldn’t allow it to happen again. Not while she had breath in her body.

  “I’ve had him. I’m not interested in repeating the subject anymore. Don’t you know what that’s like? Maybe you don’t. They locked me up for years and it denied me the joys of the flesh.” She wanted to choke on her words. This was only going to work if this being knew as little about Eleanor as Eleanor did about her.

  Believe me. Eleanor needed her to more than anything in the world. She’d die for Mitchell and she wouldn’t let him be hurt again. She’d promised him that. If she could do nothing else for him in the universe, she would do this.

  “You know they won’t be able to find you. They’ll have no memory of being here, no idea where you are. If this is a last ditch effort to get out of your destiny, give it up now.”

  Eleanor put her hands on her hips. “Do you want me to make this easier on you or not? You want me to choose at some point. Fine. I’ll choose you then, but not with the constant drain over having to even consider them. I told you. I’m bored.”

  The woman smiled. “Fine.” She clicked her smoky fingers, and Mitchell and the others were gone. Where they had stood, smoke swirled in small tornadoes before disappearing back into the cloud of black that filtered throughout the room.

  Eleanor couldn’t let out the breath she held, but boy did she want to. Mitchell and the others were safe. They’d never know what happened, but their deaths wouldn’t be on her shoulders.

  Of course, she had no intention of having anyone else’s deaths on her shoulders either. She wouldn’t be the vessel this woman took to destroy everything.