Curse of Stone

by Nikki Lockwood

  “I knew you’d come,” Ruth sneered.

  “Why’d you do it?”

  “I had to. He wants her, but he is mine.”

  “He who?”

  She ignored me. Not a twitch of an eyelid, nothing. Around her neck hung Gran’s

  emerald cut padparadscha sapphire necklace. Thief.

  “So, you killed your own sister, over a man?” I lied. It was dramatic. Gran wasn’t dead, but I wanted to see if her death would provoke any emotions in her.

  It didn’t.

  “He is mine.”

  “Radu, is that who you are talking about?”

  That got her attention. Her eyes darkened. It was him all right, he was behind this.

  “I was wrong, it wasn’t Claire he wanted,” she said, her gaze narrowing on me. “It is you. He’s coming for you.”

  “Why?” I shuddered. A ball lumped in my throat.

  Ruth exploded into a fit of rage. “You cannot have him, he is mine.”

  “You can have him. Trust me, I don’t want him.”

  Keeping my eyes fixed on her, I slid one foot backwards towards the hallway, and front door. Adrenaline shooting through my body. A cool breeze whisked around me.

  “No, you won’t take him from me, he is mine,” she growled. Her black eyes no longer flickered but were still, cold, and evil.

  In a fit of hisses and mutterings, she slid forward towards me.

  So, I slipped another foot backwards.

  Ruth lunged at me. “You cannot have him.”

  64

  Running, as fast as I could, from the house. I leapt over the small hedge to the side and followed the path towards the park just beyond the trees. My heart pounded in my ears. Feet pounding the concrete. The fear consuming all sounds around me. As I reached the tree line, a sharp snarl echoed out. I’d hoped to duck into the dense trees that bordered the path to hide, but she was too close for me to stop.

  I peered over my shoulder. Ruth had morphed into a monster with large wings, covered in grey and white tattered feathers.

  Loud rasps escaped as I puffed for breath. My heart jolted with a hit of adrenaline, pushing me to run even faster. The sound of her flapping wings growing closer distracted me. One foot caught behind the other, and over I went. My arms stretched out in front of me to help break my fall, but with an almighty dull thwap, my face hit the pavement. A wet burning sensation covered my cheek, forehead, and arms. Blood pumping at an exuberant speed. Within seconds, adrenaline disabled my ability to feel any pain. I spun around on my bottom. My hands placed behind me, I shuffled backwards along the path, but I couldn’t move fast in this position.

  Ruth put her clawed feet back on the ground, the fragments of her ripped shoe wrapped around her scaled ankle. She staggered towards me. Her arced claws, sharp and lethal, moved in a curling motion. Every step that clacked closer rang in my ears.

  Breathing faster than someone hyperventilating, my throat dried. Oh, my god. It was the thing from my nightmare.

  “What are you?” I asked.

  She leered down at me and clacked another step closer. A clammy dew layered my palms against the cold path. I shuffled backwards a little further and froze. A long harrowing howl sounded in the distance. Ruth stopped and raised her head high. Another howl echoed - it was closer. Jay. I hoped it was.

  I kept my eyes on Ruth. Now was my chance. I jumped to my feet and ran, again. Within seconds, the wind whooshed around me from the flapping of her wings.

  “He’s mine,” she hissed.

  Her cold wet breath hit my ear. She was right behind me. Almost touching me. A forceful jolt threw me forward with a ripping sound. I screamed. It was like multiple whips lashed me. I tumbled to the ground; my arms sprawled unable to stop me from hitting the concrete with great impact.

  “Stone,” a voice sounded in the distance.

  I couldn’t move, the pain paralyzed me. The wet warmth spread across my back. The frigid air hit me. My body shivered without my control. My face throbbed with a stinging pain from where it hit the concrete for the second time. Breathing slowly, the world around me went quiet.

  65

  A searing fury flooded me. Stone had been here. The fresh scent of her blood hit my nostrils with infuriating agony. I was one step behind her. Fuck.

  Pulling my phone from my pocket, I called her three more times, but they all went straight to voicemail. Damn it. She didn’t want me to follow her, and that meant she was about to do something stupid.

  If she thought I was protective beforehand, it just amped up to overprotective. Never again would I let her out of my sights while she still had a beacon on her back. If she wouldn’t let this rest, then she’d have to deal with me as her shadow.

  There was a foulness to the living room. Mixed with the pungent metallic of the blood puddled on the floor. Gran’s blood. A demon did this.

  I had to find Stone.

  “Can you smell that?” Dassies asked as I walked back out of the house.

  Dassies had caught up to me mid-run. Along with Velkan, Cai, Bayley, and Perry.

  I was glad King sent Perry. He was of Native American Indian descent and had been raised on a reservation with his father, as his Swedish mother died when he was six years old.

  His mother’s genes were strong, long blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. Perry’s features were refined, but when he was younger, he’d been attacked by a bear. Seven scars, like ravines, marked his face; and his right arm had been pretty messed up, it was one big scar. But of all the wolves I knew, he was the best tracker. Except for Casmir, Vee’s cousin. Arsehole if you asked me.

  Casmir, he didn’t really like other wolves, he was a loner. Wolves on their own don’t sit straight, they become strange, and he was one real piece of work. Absolutely brilliant, but peculiar. I hadn’t seen him for many years.

  Cai lifted his nose to the sky and inhaled. “Yes, I can.”

  “It’s close,” Velkan stated.

  A blood curdling scream rang like a siren in my ears. Stone.

  I ran, as fast as I could, towards an area of the park covered by dense trees, with Dassies beside me. He morphed mid-air, and was now covered in short, light brown fur, with longer tuffs of fur on the sides of his face, and elbows.

  The foul odour that consumed the air, wasn’t enough to mask the metallic scent of fresh blood.

  Bursting through the trees into a clearing by a pond, a winged demon stood over a motionless figure on the ground. Blood covered her back, and ran from her face, pooling around her.

  “Stone,” I yelled.

  She looked at me for a split second, then her eyes closed.

  Enraged, I transformed in a burst of fury into wolf form, and with all the strength of the ancestors I charged. The demon spun round, spread her wings, and grabbed Stone by the arm. Its claws pierced her flesh, causing fresh blood to drip. A searing white heat consumed me.

  She launched upwards, with Stone in tow, but I leapt into the air and tackled her. The demon hissed and released her grip on Stone’s arm. We hit the ground with a great thunderous roll. I bared my fangs and sunk them into her wings. The demon shrieked. A hand on my shoulder pulled me off her so hard, my fangs retained part of her wing in my mouth. I spat them to the ground. Dassies and Cai grabbed the demon, muscling her into a firm grasp, where her claws couldn’t cause damage.

  I stood, panting, and looked over my shoulder. Velkan, in human form, knelt on the ground at Stone’s side. I morphed back into human form and rushed to join him.

  Her face was pale and the gapping gash on her forehead was bleeding. The skin on her back, ripped in shredded lines. Blood clotted in amongst the tissue and muscle. They were so close to the bone; I could faintly see her spine.

  “Danielle, can you hear me?” Vee asked, touching her forehead.

  “Stone, don’t you dare die on me.” I clutched my chest.

  The demon cackled. “It is too late, dog, you cannot save her.”

  I rose to my feet, lips curled
, heckles raised, teeth clench, and growled. How fucking dare she. Without hesitation, I smacked the sneering smirk from her ugly face.

  She snarled in response. Droplets of black fell from the corner of her mouth.

  “Get this foul creature out of here,” I ordered.

  Stone laid limp in Vee’s arms, resting against his blood covered, bare chest. Blood dripped from her wounds, soaking into his denim jeans.

  “We must take her to Mum,” Vee said.

  I nodded and pushed him aside, lifting Stone up in my arms. She couldn’t die on me. The best chance for her to survive, was not at the hands of human doctors, but Velkan’s mum, the Chief, the very first of our kind. She would know how to save Stone.

  66

  It wasn’t good. Her flesh started to blacken. I scooped her cold, bloodied hand into mine. I’m so sorry Stone, this is all my fault, I should’ve protected you. If only I hadn’t been such a jackass that night, I would’ve noticed that homeless woman wasn’t human. But I’d been so blinded by rage that all my senses had shut down. Fuck. I’d fucked up – again.

  Her blood niffed as it seeped onto the bed spread, like a sponge absorbing it. My hands were covered in her blood. I shook my head. So much fucking blood.

  Velkan’s room was one of the closest to the entrance. Over the years, some wolves had renovated their rooms with timber walls and ceilings, modern furnishings, and bathrooms, while others were left as stone. Vee, being the son of the chief, had his modernised. One wall left as jagged rock face, but the other three were lined with vertical white painted timber slats. The ceiling was a dark mahogany timber, with several lights built in.

  A commotion of voices sounded from the hallway. Vee and I looked at each other as King appeared. Whoever he’d been talking to, didn’t join him.

  In human form he stood just over six-feet tall, and his one-hundred-and-ten-kilogram frame, pure muscle. King showed no curiosity at the sight of the blood on our bodies, his wild eyes fixed on Stone.

  “What have you done? You have brought a human here,” King growled.

  “We are going to help her,” Vee said.

  King outranked Velkan, but there were only two people that Vee answered to, one being his mother, the other was his alpha, Grayson.

  “No. Take her to the hospital, where human doctors can help her. She’s not our responsibility.” His head held high, and stance wide.

  “King, it is,” I said.

  “Enough.” His response cut me off.

  “Can you not smell it? Can you not smell what attacked her?” I said talking fast to get it out before he interrupted me, again. She was more our responsibility than he knew. He just didn’t recognise her because he hadn’t seen her since we were little.

  King raised his nose, pointing it in Stone’s direction and sniffed. “It cannot be.” He paused and sniffed again. “A demon did this?”

  “Yes. That’s why we cannot take her to a human hospital,” Velkan said.

  King stepped towards the bed. “I know her face. That’s the girl you were friends with when you were younger. Is she—”

  Finally. I nodded.

  “Cathwulf needs to know, regardless that she is your mate, you have broken the rules, and brought a human here. It doesn’t matter what I think, she is the only one who can decide if we help her or not. Stay here,” he ordered, and left the room.

  I walked around the bed, opposite Velkan, and looked down at Stone. To see her like this stabbed my heart. But I had to stay strong for her. Fight for her. Keep her alive at all costs. I owed her that much.

  “You’re going to be okay. I promise I’ll find a way to help you,” Velkan said, stroking her forehead.

  I snarled. “Hands off. She is not yours.”

  He looked up, the hurt in his eyes vivid. “She isn’t yours, yet, either.”

  My lips curled back. The wolf growled, wanting out. Claws scratching through flesh. We both wanted blood – Velkan’s blood.

  “Doing this now, isn’t going to help her. So, reign your claws in. Plus, it’s up to her,” Velkan said.

  Fuck off. She was mine. But he was right as acidic as it was to accept. If we did this now, it wouldn’t help her. But it would please me.

  I threw my fist against the timber slats. They splintered and cracked beneath the impact. Heat rose inside me, boiling to the surface. Fucking hell. I felt so useless. Why hadn’t she just fucking waited for me? I would’ve come with her to confront that old crone. The guilt burnt like toxic waste churning in my stomach. “I knew it. I just knew she’d do something like this. She never fucking listens.”

  “Jay, you know she does whatever she wants, and even if we tried to stop her, she would’ve found a way.”

  “I know, she’s a fucking pain in the ass like that,” I said. But that’s part of the reason why I love her.

  “Woah, what’s going on here?” a female voice asked.

  It was Luciana, smirking from ear to ear. “I’m not interrupting something, am I?”

  She was the last person who needed to be here. Velkan’s half-sister and a real piece of work. No help to anyone that girl. Always dressed like a Chicana with a plaid shirt with only the top button done; a bustier underneath, revealing her barely ‘a’ cup cleavage; bare mid-drift; baggy chino dress pants; hair pulled back behind a bandana; big hoops; and dark coloured lip liner that matched her black heart. Just a little punk.

  Behind her Cathwulf, our chief, entered the room. Her eyes cemented on Stone. Cora, King, Ivor, and Bayley followed behind her.

  Cathwulf walked to the bed. “Who is she and what’s she doing here?”

  I let Velkan take the reins on this because if we had any chance of Cathwulf agreeing to help Stone, it would be because of Velkan, not me. My mating bond with her had not been initiated, and as such, Cathwulf would not recognise her as important.

  “This is the woman I told you about, Danielle Stone,” Vee said.

  She peered down at Stone. “The human you’ve been seeing?”

  “Yes.”

  “And Jamie’s mate. But not claimed,” she added. “King said she was attacked by a demon?”

  “Yes. That’s why I brought her here because—”

  Stone let out a blood curdling scream that was so haunting my heart sunk. Icy dread filled froze my veins, jerking my body rigid.

  She writhed on the bed. Her body spasming in an uncontrolled manner. Limbs thrashing about.

  “Holy shit,” I said.

  Vee and I leapt at her, trying to hold her still. Beneath my grip, her arms were trying to wriggle free, but they weren’t going anywhere.

  Just as sudden as the convulsing started, it stopped.

  “Mum, please, we have to help her,” Vee’s raised voice pleaded.

  “Her grandmother was attacked by the same demon, is that right?”

  “We believe so.”

  Cathwulf scanned Stone. “Good. I must go. You two stay with her.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t bear to leave Stone’s side.

  “Mum, can we save her?” Velkan asked.

  Cathwulf placed her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know, son. She’s been poisoned. For us, our bodies can fight it, but a mere mortal cannot. Not without assistance.”

  “It is strange for a demon to attack a human, but even more so to attack two members of the same family. We will help her, if we can. Ivor, you know where the Tieflings dwell, bring them here, and take Bayley with you. Cora, send word to Torgrer and Mozgur, their presence is required.”

  She stepped towards King and whispered something to him in ancient Turkic. He nodded and then they both left, followed by Ivor, Bayley, and Cora.

  Vee and I looked at each other.

  “What just happened?”

  “My mother’s going to save her.”

  67

  I was running.

  Blind in the sempiternal blackness of the forest, I had to keep moving forward. The immense dark figure following me, thudded closer. Nothing seemed to
stop it.

  I stumbled over knotted tree roots, brushed past solid tree trucks, and low-hanging branches.

  A chill ran down my neck. My hands tingled with a cool dew.

  Amongst the sickly stink of wood rot and muggy earth, a foulness radiated up my nostrils. The presence was drawing closer.

  Branches sighed and moaned, almost masking the heavy thud of relentless footfalls in the darkness.

  Almost.

  I plunged onwards, trying to silence each step but doing so, distracted me. I tripped and sprawled on the soggy forest floor. Before I could get to my feet, a twig snapped behind me and a stinking darkness suffocated my senses. Claustrophobic panic poisoned me. The hairs on the back of my neck spiked. Breath caught in my throat. A cool dampness covered my body.

  Manic, unsettling cackling sounded in the dark. Shaking with a hypothermic twitch, I couldn’t move. I waited for whoever it was to appear. A chilled breeze brushed my hair.

  Out of the pitch black, lit up by a faint ember behind them, they appeared. Two pairs of eyes, pits of pure nothing, evil and black, glaring at me.

  “Hello dear,” Ruth said.

  Beside her, Maurice. A long-forked tongue slithered in and out his mouth. Black scales covered his cheeks. He hissed and sneered. “No talking, let’s just kill her now.”

  My bladder felt weak. A warm, urgent, feeling rose from my pelvic region. I touched my groin. I hadn’t pissed myself, yet.

  I closed my eyes and slapped my face. “Wake up. Wake up,” I said. They weren’t real. I opened my eyes after one final attempt to wake up.

  “Boo,” Ruth said, right in my face.

  A cold, wet heaviness pressed into my shoulder. They had me. There was no escape. Their terrifying laughter rang in my ears.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  They crept closer. Ruth’s claws moving in scratching motion. The hiss of Maurice’s tongue lingering.

  “Your heart,” Ruth said.