Curse of Stone

by Nikki Lockwood

A short, elderly lady stood in front of me. Her hideous appearance was chilling. A large mole with long wiry hairs, protruded from her cheek. She wasn’t frail beneath the long grey matted hair and tattered purple hat she had on.

  “Yes, I’m okay,” I said.

  “This is no place for a young lady this time of night,” she said.

  It took a moment for her comment to sink in, but it confused me. If it wasn’t a safe place for me this time of night, then why was she here by herself? Most people her age, like my gran, would be asleep.

  “No, it’s not.”

  She tilted her head and studied me. Her deep-set eyes crafty. “Walk me home dear, it’s not far, just around the corner.”

  Alarm bells screamed in my head. Not sure whether it was the adrenaline still coursing through my body from the terror moments ago, but it was odd that she should be out at this time of night, by herself.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

  “Who said it was a question, dear.” She wrapped her fingers around my arm.

  I tried to pull away, but she was damn strong for an old lady.

  “Let go of me.”

  She pulled my arm, dragging me.

  I clenched my free hand into a fist and swung it at her face. “I said let go.”

  She stumbled back, releasing my arm. Terrified, I turned and ran. A hiss roared behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. The old woman had sprouted huge wings, and with a low-rumbling growl, she ran at great speed towards me.

  I tripped, landing with an almighty thud, my face and arms scraping hard against the tar-seal.

  She snarled. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  Her fingers were clawed, and wings covered in grey tattered feathers. Her eyes had blackened into a darkness like pure evil.

  I shuffled backwards as she edged closer.

  “What are you?” I asked.

  A wide sinister grin creased her face. Suddenly, she stopped, her gaze shifted to behind me. Her menacing grin replaced with wide-eyed fear.

  A low-pitched growl rose in the dark and, visibly terrified, the old woman turned and ran, disappearing into the fog from which she came. An uncontrollable shudder swept through my body. Whatever scared her away must be pure horror.

  Still seated on the ground, I braced myself with as much courage as I could summon, and cautiously turned to see what was behind me.

  Two red eyes burned into mine. The blood drained from my face. Oh no. I’m going to die.

  My eyes flew open, senses heightened. Gasping with exaggerated heaves.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  With a prompted thunderous jolt, I leapt out of bed and tiptoed to my door. My entire body was damp, in clammy sweat. Flustered, I wiped the dew from atop my upper lip.

  “Hurry up Dani, open up.”

  It was Mac’s voice. Placing my hand over my heart, relief calmed me. It had been a nightmare.

  “Danielle open this door now, before I go and get Jamie to open it for me.”

  The towel that adorned my body post shower, was laying visible on my bed. Shit. A quick scan downwards revealed my naked body. Not how I wanted to answer the door.

  Dressed in a robe, I hurried back to the door and flung it open. Mac rushed into my apartment and stood behind me. She was panicked.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Arms crossed, she appeared unconvinced, her eyes scanned me up and down. “You didn’t answer any of my texts after you left last night, or today. I thought something had happened to you,” she said, like it was a matter of fact.

  Now her panic made sense, she was worried.

  “You look kind of pale. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Mac, I’m fine, seriously. You startled me, I was having this weird nightmare, but it felt real, like déjà vu or something, I don’t know. I need coffee.”

  “Thanks, me too.” She smiled. “What was your nightmare about?”

  “Um there were these red eyes in an alleyway, and then this old lady attacked me, but she looked like a bird, then something scared her as she was about to attack me, and she ran off. It was fucking creepy, and weird, so weird.”

  “Really? Weird,” Mac said.

  “I know, it was intense.”

  “Sounds it.”

  The jug boiled in the kitchen with a small squeal. Relieved the dream wasn’t real, I sighed. A folded piece of paper caught my eye. Slight hope filled me with warmth. It had to be from him. My heart raced as I opened it.

  It was from Velkan. A handwritten note with his phone number at the bottom.

  Mac walked over and eyed the note over my shoulder. “Isn’t that sweet,” she said, but the tone in which she said it, was a red flag.

  “Uh-oh. What happened with you and Jamie, last night?” I asked, slumping down onto the couch.

  “Oh no, don’t change the subject from note boy. What happened with him?”

  Mac sat on the opposing couch and sipped her coffee.

  “Nothing, I mean, he brought me home, we kissed, then we fell asleep, that’s about it.”

  “What?” she exclaimed. “He stayed the night, but you guys didn’t sleep together?”

  “Nope.”

  “Wow.” She sounded surprised. “But he was smoking hot, how could you not?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s really nice. I want to know more about him than just his name. But I assure you, it took everything for me not to pounce on him.”

  She laughed, an over the top and extended laugh. It got a raised eyebrow from me. She was stalling.

  “So, what happened with you and Jay, last night?” I asked, not wanting to let on that he turned up here. But I was intrigued to find out what had caused him to do so. Mac was unpredictable when she drank, some nights she was good, on her best behaviour, and other times it was absolute madness. But I couldn’t blame her. She had a string of arsehole ex-boyfriends that fuelled her drunken chaotic rages.

  “So, we were flirting at the club, everything seemed all good, he acted like he was into me, and what not. Then after you guys left, he went cold on me. Like ice fucking cold. He was angry too.”

  “What?”

  “And then when I went to kiss him because you know, he’d been flirting with me and all that, but he pushed me away. I got so pissed off with him that I gave up and went home. I can’t deal with someone who runs hot one minute and cold the next.”

  “Wow,” I said, stunned beyond belief. That wasn’t like Jay.

  “I know right. I thought he liked me.”

  “I thought he did too.”

  “What a weirdo. I’m so over my crush on him, even if he is the best kisser ever.”

  “Gross. Well don’t worry about him, it’s his loss.”

  “Absolutely, I’ll be damned if I let another guy make me feel like shit.”

  “He’s not worth it,” I insisted. “So, did Tiff leave with you?”

  “Yeah, she and that guy Cai, left with me, shared a cab etc.”

  The sting of Jamie’s rejection was visible, even though Mac was trying to hide it from me. Being rejected hurt, and Mac, never took these kinds of things well – at all.

  Never in the history of Jamie, had he ever bailed on a chick before taking her home. It was strange.

  “So, are you going to text him?” Mac asked, referring to the note from Vee.

  “I’ll do it later.” Truth was, I would do it when she left, I wasn’t going to rub her nose in it.

  Mac stared at me. “Are you crazy? Did you see how hot he was? Text him, now.”

  “Okay, okay, geez.”

  My teeth bit down hard on my lip, thinking of something casual to text, so I didn’t come off desperate.

  ‘Hey, it’s Danielle. I found your note – obviously.’ Nervous, I tapped my thumb on the screen in thought. Velkan’s eyes flashed through my mind. A warmth spread through me, I smiled. And send.

  Just as I placed my phone beside me, something caught my eye, movem
ent. My heart galloped like a thousand wild horses running across the plains. There it was, under my sent text message, a speech bubble with three little dots. Velkan was typing. Showing Mac, I kept tight grip of my phone, protective of our messages.

  “Woah. I’m impressed,” Mac said.

  After a few seconds, the bubble disappeared off the screen. A small pang of doubt slowed my heart rate. I pouted at Mac. “Never mind.”

  “Wait, what did he say?”

  “Nothing, it dropped off.”

  My phone exploded into song. My eyes widened and darted to Mac.

  “It’s him,” I uttered.

  “Answer it.”

  My cheeks burned, and butterflies flittered in my stomach. “Hello.”

  “I was thinking that I’d like to take you out for dinner, tomorrow night, if your free?”

  Trouble, I was in deep, deep, trouble. The sound of his voice in my ear, like sexy silk dripping through the phone. A warmth spread through my body like a sexual prowess.

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 7pm. See you then beautiful.”

  “Okay.”

  I put my phone down, and stared at Mac, who was hanging on every word.

  “He’s taking me out for dinner, tomorrow night.”

  Mac screamed with glee and waved her arms in the air.

  After she left, another shower, and some more coffee, I was feeling better. I settled in for an afternoon of movies and junk food.

  I must’ve fallen asleep because a loud scream ripped me awake. My heart raced, pulsating in my temples. I scanned my apartment. Jay wasn’t here yet. A thunderous knock sent my body rigid.

  21

  The door flung open, and I half expected it to slam back in my face after last night’s stunt. Stone stood in the timber door frame. Her vivid green eyes narrowed at me. Her lips pursed, twisting to one side. My chest heaved. She took the breath right out of me. So beautiful, even dressed in sweats, and hair pulled back in a bun like mine, minus the dreadlocks.

  “Dinner?” I asked, holding out the Thai food.

  Her gaze shifted from mine to the food. Nostril’s widening as she inhaled the delectable aroma of chicken and cashew – her favourite.

  The flat line across her face widened into a smile. “Sure,” she said and moved aside.

  I walked into her apartment and placed the food down on the coffee table. The television was on. Fucking hell. ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’ was about twenty minutes in. Lucian, ah, if Stone wanted a werewolf, here I was. Ready and waiting for her.

  A mythology book laid open on the table. The page was on symbols. Nothing of course, was relevant, or truthful. I sniggered to myself. She was trying so hard to find out about her gran’s encounter. It was both troubling and hilarious to me because here I was, right in front of her, an urban legend, a mythological creature, in the flesh, and she didn’t even know it. Oh, how she would flip out if I told her, but I couldn’t, not yet.

  The lingering scent of Velkan in her apartment pricked the heckles on my back. She needed to smell like me, not him. I dared not go near the bed, but even though the residual aroma of sexual prowess lingered, it was not a sex smell. I smiled. They hadn’t had sex, yet. Thank fuck. As hard as it was, I wanted to be here, right by her side. Where I belonged.

  “I haven’t seen you today. What did you get up to?” Stone asked while tipping up onto her toes, her calves tightening, and her bottom taut, as she grabbed plates from the cupboard.

  Dumping myself down onto the couch facing the television, I spread out, arms and legs taking up as much space as I could, without looking like a douche. “Went for a run, you know, just stuff.”

  “Is that what that smell is,” she said, then laughed.

  I smiled. “Very funny. But your apartment is the one that stinks.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “Stale Velkan.”

  “Oh,” she said, a light dusting of pink covered her cheeks.

  I was wasting time, my time, with her, talking about him. No more. She returned to the couch with plates and forks in hand. Seated beside me, she pushed up her sleeves, the paleness of her bared flesh whiter under the dim lighting. The colour of a snow moon, or like the skin of the fabled vampire. But she, was hardly that, and Vampires didn’t exist.

  She stared at me for a moment, then shook it off. I knew that masterful mind of hers was working overtime. That’s just who she was. I loved that she questioned everything, but it also drove me nuts. And she always went quiet when something was on her mind.

  “So, what happened with Mac last night?” she asked.

  I figured Mackenzie would’ve already been over to bitch about me, so Stone would know her side of the story at least. Stone was my end goal, and as harsh as it sounded, Mac would ruin that with her schoolgirl crush. So, there was no way in hell, I would bed Mac.

  “She’s not my first choice.” My answer was the truth.

  It got me a raised eyebrow. “Didn’t think you had a preference.”

  There was no need to answer. One day she’d know, but today, wasn’t that day.

  “Why did you come over last night, after I left Scarecrows?” she asked.

  Shit. My eyebrows clenched together. A lump balled in my throat. I wanted to tell her that she was mine, and I was hers - only hers - but I couldn’t. So, I lied. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it.”

  Her pink lips so full and luscious. I wanted to bite them and hear her moan. Take her right here and now, on the couch, claiming her as mine.

  “You knocked on my door at like two in the morning, for nothing? Okay then you weirdo.”

  “I said it was nothing, just drop it.” I had never been short with her before. My stomach churned. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t like this with her. She was my everything.

  Stone brushed it off. I studied her as she lifted her legs onto the couch, leant against the cushions at the other end, and pulled a mink throw over her.

  “Have you seen The Ugly Truth?” she asked, pointing the remote to the television. Her smile smug.

  It was a fucking romance movie. It had to be from the way she smiled and didn’t look at me. I’d rather stick pins in my eyes. “No,” I said, my voice stern and unimpressed.

  “Stay, watch it with me.” Those big green eyes looked at me like a fucking puppy.

  Of course, I would. Hell, I’d do anything for her if I were being honest. My hand patted the blanket covering her feet. “Sure, but I want something in return.”

  Her head snapped in my direction.

  I smiled. Letting out a deep sigh. “Lean my way. If I watch this movie with you, we are going to at least cuddle.”

  She paused. Her nose scrunched. Lips pursed. She was squirming. “No funny business,” she said, pointing her index finger at me.

  “Cross my heart.” I used my finger to mimic my words mockingly.

  “I mean it, Jay.”

  Warmth flooded me. My heart fluttered as she flipped her legs in the other direction and leant against me. Swiftly, I moved my arm up, around her, tucking her against my chest. Her head nestled against me, getting comfortable. I let out a loud laugh as her hand balled into a fist and rested against my chest. Of course, she wouldn’t lay her hand flat on me. That would be too personal.

  The movie was boring as fuck. I must’ve nodded off because when I snapped awake, the home screen of Netflix was on. The movie had finished. Stone was asleep on me. I stroked her cheek with my finger and froze. Her hand had fallen over my crotch. Innocent as the motion was. My pants tightened. Fuck. This was not happening. I shuffled at once, but it was too obvious. I lifted her hand from my crotch to my lower abdomen. If she woke and saw where her hand was, she would retreat from me in awkward embarrassment, and that’s not what I wanted.

  Her head nuzzled against my chest. I froze. Her hand balled, grabbing a handful of my shirt, as she came closer. Air escaped me. The nape of her neck exposed. My tongue ran over my top lip. My wolf
growled. It wanted to bite her right now, claim her. I sighed, I wouldn’t bite her, not until she asked me to. I couldn’t take away her right to choose.

  But if she didn’t choose me, I would be lost.

  My parents were murdered when I was five years old. Scared, I ran away and hid. There was a tree in the forest behind Stone’s grandmother’s house, which stood tall, but its foliage drooped to the ground, and was covered in white – like cotton wool. Beneath the coverage, a deep hole had been carved out at the base of the tree trunk. It was Stone that found me, hugged me, and wiped the tears from my eyes.

  That was when I knew I loved her.

  Using a finger, I slid the strands of hair off her face. She was even more angelic when she slept. Perfect, was the better word. Every single part of her, I loved. Those soft pink lips, plump, ripe for biting. Shit. Tension in my crotch was tightening again. She didn’t even have to do anything to get a rise from me. Guess it was a long time coming, and I would take it just to please her. The day she screamed my name in pleasure, was the day she would be mine forever.

  Her hand lifted to her eye, rubbing it gently. She was awake. I closed my eyes and leant my head slightly to the side, pretending to be asleep. Stone’s weight shifted off me, and internally I whined.

  “Jay,” her voice whispered, and I came back to reality with a thud.

  22

  Gabriel sat perched atop the Cathedral rooftop. The unsettled sky rumbling above meant trouble followed. It was nights like these that unnatural disturbances in the sky weren’t seen nor recognized by humans, and something could pass through worlds unnoticed, except by those who knew.

  Those that did, waited to capture whatever tried to break through onto the Earth’s plane, and send it back to the depths of hell from which it came.

  Very few demons lived above ground. One sat in the stars, waiting to return; the others were minions of the devil, sent with precise objectives. One way they could enter the Earth’s plane was through the paths laid by the one in the stars. An atmospheric plummet.

  One had already got through. If a second demon entered the city, the race was speeding up. Gabriel hoped they could find the healer in time.