Cursed by Fire (Blood & Magic Book 1)

by Danielle Annett

  “Don’t judge me,” she slurred. “You even look like her, you know that. That stupid bitch Viola. She took everything from me.”

  Before I could stop her, Jessica slammed her fist into the mirror. The glass splintered in a web-like pattern and Jessica slammed her fist into it again, small pieces breaking away clattering to the countertop and floor. I grabbed her hand before she was able to hit the mirror again, rivulets of blood dripping down her forearm from her injured hand.

  “Jessica stop!”

  “She took everything. Everything.” She was sobbing now, clutching her bloodied hand to her chest, the crimson liquid staining her dress. I hastily grabbed paper towels, shoving a wad in her hand to staunch the flow of blood.

  Jessica jerked away from me. Her tears gone in a flash and only anger left behind.

  “Don’t touch me,” she all but snarled. “I don’t need help from the likes of you. Tell Viola she can rot. I won’t allow her to ruin my life any longer.”

  With that she stormed out of the restroom, leaving me standing in the middle of the room perplexed. I didn’t know where to even begin deciphering what had just happened.

  Taking a deep breath I pulled out my phone from my small clutch and sent Mike a quick message asking that he look into an organization called PsyShade and a woman connected to it by the name of Viola. He didn’t immediately respond but I knew he’d get the message. I then sent James a similar message. Two heads on this were better than one. Seconds later he responded and I knew I was in trouble. So much for having him convinced that I was taking the night off. I sent a non-committal message letting him know I’d come up with a lead but was still taking things easy and not to worry.

  Tucking my phone away, I exited the ladies’ room running into a wall of solid flesh. Inarus steadied me with a hand on my elbow and a smile in his eyes. “We have to stop meeting this way,” he said.

  A slight heat crept up my cheeks and I turned away to hide the blush.

  “I was wondering where you’d gone off to,” he said.

  “Sorry, just made a quick trip to the ladies’ room.”

  He handed me a glass of champagne and I took a cautious sip. Having seen its effects on Jessica, I decided to take it easy on the alcohol this evening.

  I scanned the room looking to see if she was still around but she was nowhere to be seen. Inarus led me back to our table and we took our seats.

  “I’m glad you came with me this evening,” he said.

  I smiled. “Me too.”

  Before either of us could say another word, the lights in the room dimmed further, grabbing everyone’s attention.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice called. I searched the podium and saw a woman, brightly lit, on the stage. The spotlight was so bright that it was difficult to see what she looked like aside from the floor-length emerald dress she wore and the fall of rich brown hair cascading around her shoulders.

  “Thank you all for joining us this evening. I wanted to take a moment to welcome you. We will have dinner served shortly but until then, please mingle.”

  She exited to the right of the stage. Something about her was oddly familiar. I craned my neck over the sea of guests in an effort to get a better look but each time I got a clear line of sight, her back would be towards me as she greeted a guest.

  “What are you looking at?” Inarus asked.

  “Oh, that woman,” I said. “She looked familiar but I can’t get a good look at her. Do you know her?”

  He nods. “Her name is Viola Reynolds, she’s on the council for the Humans Unite Corporation.”

  “The what?” I ask. Since when was there a Humans Unite Corporation? Just the thought of it made me shiver with past thoughts of the KKK and other prejudice groups. Viola, the very woman Jessica was so upset with.

  Inarus let out a laugh. “If you could see the look on your face,” he says. “It isn’t some anti-paranormal group if that is what you’re thinking. The HUC is just an organization that looks out for human rights and their safety. The human population is at a bit of a disadvantage don’t you think?”

  I mulled that over for a moment.

  “I suppose,” I said, reluctantly. There was something about it that just didn’t sit well. Call me paranoid but anytime in our history when a large group of united individuals assembled, shit typically hit the fan. My skin itched knowing that there was more to it. But I decided not to prod. If I attacked him with questions now, he’d clam up. Better to let him believe it wasn’t a big concern of mine. If he got comfortable with me and was convinced I thought they were a benefit to the community, perhaps he’d share more information. Information freely given was always more telling than when pried out of someone.

  Inarus and I ate dinner, laughing and joking about inconsequential topics. He introduced me to a few patrons and I smiled politely and shook their hands. A part of me felt like I was their entertainment. Everyone eyeing me as though I were a prize. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

  The buzzing that persisted whenever Inarus was around had lessened, though I could just have been growing used to it. I wondered if there were others like us in the room. I assumed there were and was surprised that the buzzing didn’t overwhelm me. My experiences with Psykers aside from Inarus were nil and while I had a decent handle on my abilities, having the opportunity to speak with someone who shared my pyrokinesis and had mastered it, or at the very least maintained control over it, would be useful.

  “Come, follow me,” Inarus said, leading me away from the couple we’d been speaking to. “I want to introduce you to someone.”

  I nodded and followed along like a good date. My feet were aching and I was ready for the night to end. Fancy dinners were not really my thing but I figured I could meet one more person before calling it a night.

  Wading our way through the crowd, offering a smile and casual hello along our way, we approached a woman and a man. The woman’s back was to us but I recognized her dress and the fall of brown hair. Viola was laughing at something the man said and her laugh inspired a smile on my face. We were about ten yards away when she turned to say something to an approaching woman and I froze.

  Inarus kept walking forward but my feet refused to move. My chest grew tight and my breathing became labored and choppy as though I’d just run a marathon. Time seemed to stand still as I watched the woman before me. Small wrinkles formed around the corner of her eyes as she smiled, she looked happy. Ecstatic even.

  I wanted to run to her. To throw my arms around her and cry in her embrace. She was alive. I couldn’t believe it. I heard a voice call my name but I ignored it. My gaze focused solely on that of my mother, the woman I’d believed dead for the past six years. I knew she was my mother. It didn’t matter that she used a different name, deep down, I knew exactly who she was.

  A million questions ran through my mind. What was she doing here? Why was she going by Viola Reynolds when her real name was Victoria Naveed? Why had she left me? The last question made me pause. I knew my mother. She had raised me, loved me, and she’d loved my father. She never would have leftwilling.

  A part of me wanted to steal her away. Rescue her, because why else would she be here, away from me, if she didn’t need to be rescued? But reality set in. Something wasn’t right. Inarus said she was on the council for the Humans Unite Corporation, she wasn’t just my mother. She was important to these people, to their cause.

  I saw Inarus reach her, he placed a hand on her elbow and gestured in my direction. She offered him a small smile and turned her head towards me. Her movements appeared to be in slow motion. I watched her hair brush her shoulder, her eyes slowly roving the crowd before her in search of the woman Inarus was pointing out, me.

  I panicked and turned away. I couldn’t let her see me, not until I had this figured out. Not until I knew why she had left, how she was still alive.

  I force
d my feet to move. Forcing my body to walk away from her and Inarus. I heard Inarus call my name but I ignored him and kept walking, refusing to chance a look over my shoulder.

  The cool breeze hit me as I exited the building. I ran down the front steps and rushed to a cab.

  “Cab’s reserved lady, you’ll have to call another one,” the driver said.

  “I’ll double your rate if you get me out of here,” I said. He eyed me through the rearview mirror before giving a tight nod and pulling out of the circular driveway. I looked back as we made our retreat and saw Inarus on the porch steps, a concerned expression on his face. I couldn’t worry about him right now. I just…I needed to get the heck out of here.

  I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t go home right now, it was the first place Inarus would go to look for me, assuming he chose to follow, and dressed as I was I couldn’t go hangout at the coffee shop either. I checked my phone and saw I had a message from Mike telling me he’d dug up some information and that he’d be at the office late.

  Perfect.

  I gave the cabbie the address to Sanborn Place and an hour later he dropped me off. Sanborn Place was a stout brick building in the heart of downtown Spokane. It was on the rougher side of town nestled between a bakery and a drycleaner. We had a private parking lot though so the building was perfect in my book.

  I handed the cabbie a wad of bills I pulled from my thigh holster behind my blade, and stepped out of the car. I hoped Mike had answers for me because this was getting more and more twisted as time passed.

  Mike met me at the door with a steaming mug of coffee.

  “Mike, you’re a life saver,” I told him. I practically inhaled the coffee as I followed him over to his desk. “What did you find?”

  Mike’s expression was grim as he sat back in his chair. “Ari, I’m not sure how to tell you this but...”

  “She’s my mother,” I blurted out.

  His eyes met mine and shock colored his expression. “How did you know?”

  “I saw her, in person. She was at the gala and I was maybe ten yards away from her.”

  Mike was shaking his head. “Did you talk to her?”

  “I panicked. I froze when I realized it was really her and then before she saw me I ran and took a cab here.”

  I saw pity in Mike’s eyes and it made my chest ache that much more. I didn’t want his pity.

  “Why didn’t you talk to her, Aria? Maybe she could have answered some questions, ya know?”

  “Mike, what was I supposed to say? ‘Hey Mom, it’s me. You know, your daughter that you obviously abandoned six years ago. What’s up?’”

  I plopped down in one of Mike’s reception chairs, holding the cup of coffee to my chest in an effort to have the warmth seep in to me. My hands were shaking slightly.

  “Ari, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “It isn’t your fault she left me. I feel like an idiot missing her this entire time though. She’s been here Mike, right here less than an hour away.” I was shaking my head, my mind filled with disbelief. I’d been in the area for two years now. How had I never run into her before?

  “What if she had reasons for needing to be away?” Mike said.

  “There isn’t a reason good enough. She left me. My father was murdered right in front of me. I watched as she was dragged away screaming. I held my father as he bled in my lap, watched the light leave his eyes. I was alone. I was terrified and alone, and she left me.”

  Mike stared at me for several moments. I knew he was at a loss for words and that was okay. There wasn’t anything he could say to make any of this better. Right now, I just wanted whatever information he’d been able to dig up.

  “What else were you able to find?” I asked.

  He sighed before pulling out a small stack of papers from his top desk drawer.

  “I spoke with a few of our guys on the streets.” I waited for him to continue, taking another sip of coffee.

  “Twitch?” I asked.

  He nodded. Twitch was a source we frequently used. He was a bit eccentric and the things he knew were often astounding, but he was good. Better than good. I wasn’t surprised that he was the one Mike had gone to for information.

  “Viola Reynolds popped up on the grid five years ago when the Human Alliance Corporation was founded. She’s a council member but carries the deciding vote in all arguments, so basically, she is the head of the snake. The Human Alliance is a front for a political government. Twitch says that their driving goal is to eliminate what they consider to be a threat to humanity.”

  “They want to destroy the paranormal community?”

  “Exactly.”

  “And how does PsyShade factor in to all of this?”

  “I’m getting to that part.”

  I smiled, Mike was always one for dramatics. Currently, humans outnumbered paranormals nearly three hundred to one in the population. That didn’t mean much though when a single rogue vampire could level a city blocks in a matter of moments.

  “Do we know why they want to eliminate the paranormal community?”

  Mike was shaking his head. “Nothing concrete. Twitch claims that the HAC believes paranormals are an abomination. That their souls are damned and it’s their job to eliminate them.”

  “Great, they’re a bunch of fanatics.”

  “Pretty much.”

  This certainly wasn’t looking good. “Do you know anything else?”

  Mike slid a photo to me. The image was of a man in a long trench coat. He was standing in the middle of a road, arms lifted up an expression of concentration on his face. Behind him, several cars were floating in the air.

  “Are we sure this is real?” I asked.

  Mike nodded. “Yeah, here’s another one.” The second photograph he slid over was of the same man, wearing the same coat. This time he was standing in front of a shop window, unaware of the photographer. Three metal spheres hovered above his palm.

  Inarus?

  “From what I’ve gathered, PsyShade and the HAC work hand-in-hand. HAC is the political face, clean and shiny for the public. PsyShade is more covert and does the dirty work at the direction of the HAC.”

  I stared at each image side by side. The man’s face was unrecognizable, hidden in shadow in both pictures. For all I knew, the spheres could be a habit with telekinetic abilities but my neck was prickling. Coincidences were rare.

  “Is he linked to the organization?” I asked.

  Mike’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not entirely sure but I think so.”

  I sank further into my chair. Of course Inarus couldn’t be some do-gooder in the Psyker community. He had to be some radical nutcase who wanted to eradicate the paranormal population. Just my luck.

  “Why isn’t the HAC interested in also eliminating Psykers?” I said, indicating the photographs.

  “Psykers consider themselves to be an advanced version of a human. I spoke with Twitch and he found this report for me.”

  “You mean he stole this report for you,” I corrected. Mike had the decency to look chastised as he handed over the supposed report. I skimmed the paper quickly. It basically listed similarities between two strands of DNA.

  “Where is this from?”

  “A research lab in Seattle compared the DNA of a normal human to that of a Psyker. They’re a match. With vampires you find a third DNA strand. No one knows why it’s there or what it means but every vampire has one. In shifters we see an increase in chromosomes due to the Lyc-v virus. It alters their DNA structure after infection and alters their very chemical makeup. Harpies lack three chromosomes and the Fae, well who knows? I doubt anyone has ever been close enough to study one but it’s safe to say that they’re different from humans in DNA structure and makeup. Psykers though, according to this report, are the same. Identical genetic makeup as a regular h
uman being though, this report also lists an increase in healing capabilities. I’m sure there are other differences but their DNA makeup is in fact, the same.”

  That explained why my early injuries were more of a nuisance causing some soreness rather than the amount of pain a cracked rib really should cause.

  It was comforting in a strange way. I’d always considered myself human but at the same time, I was always afraid of what would happen if anyone got a sample of my blood. What would they find, what would they suspect? These questions always plagued me but now I at least could set them aside and be thankful for the rapid healing abilities. I had a feeling they’d continue to come in handy.

  Endless questions began streaming through me. Was the HAC a threat? Obviously they were if they wanted to eliminate the paranormal community. But how big of a role did Psykers play in this? Was I the lone Psyker outside of PsyShade? Maybe that was why I’d never run into another before.

  My mind turned to thoughts of Inarus. He’d been growing on me but after this, I wasn’t so sure. What if he was the man in the photos? Did it matter? They didn’t incriminate him of anything, they were just recordings of his abilities. Right?

  That prickle on the back of my neck was warning me and I could see red flags rising. He had taken me to the gala to introduce me to the Psyker community. Viola, I couldn’t even think of her as my mother, was on the council for the Human Alliance Corporation. If Inarus wanted me to know more about Psykers and they were in fact, not related to the HAC, then why that event?

  “I ran into Jessica Blackmore,” I blurted out. I wasn’t sure why but what she’d said was striking me as important.

  “She was drunk,” I told him.

  “What did she say?”

  “She was angry. She ranted on about how Viola had taken everything from her. She called paranormals an abomination. It struck me as odd since Daniel was a shifter but I’m wondering if Jessica was involved. If she’d somehow played a role in Daniel’s death without realizing it or when she did, it was already too late.”