Moon of Curses

by H. D. Gordon

  Still, it would be a lie to say that I didn’t feel uneasy when I sensed the others splitting off from me. I had a very specific mark to go after, and this one needed to be me.

  Angelo Mangera was mine.

  Chapter 26

  I had to admit, the Mangera estate was impressive.

  Made entirely of stone, it resembled more a castle than it did a house, with turrets and battlements as its main features. The grounds were perfectly maintained, the gardens and lawns having been prepared for winter, and there were even courts and arenas where one could partake in various sports. I passed several pools and fountains, each adorned with statues and decorative tiles. When I made it to the back door, I waited with my heart pumping hard in my chest until one of the Wolves went inside, and then I slipped in after him.

  The Wolf standing guard there turned his head sharply, but upon seeing nothing, went back to his task.

  The inside of the place was even more inspired.

  The door let into a large foyer with a high ceiling where a chandelier that looked heavy enough to crush an elephant hung. Crystals dripped from this piece and cast dapples of warm light below. To the right were double doors that looked in on a library or sitting room, where an enormous fire blazed, and books lined dark shelves. To the left was another large room with an enormous table and yet another fireplace fully ablaze. Just ahead was a staircase. It was here that I headed.

  During Mila’s previous reconnaissance, I’d had her mark out the rooms of this place, along with who dwelled within them, and at what times. It was amazing what one could learn as a fly on the wall. I knew that in all likelihood, Angelo was in the master bedroom at this time of night, either fucking one of his females or having a drink and gazing out his balcony windows at the land below.

  I made my way quickly up the stairs, trying not to flinch at every little sound my movements made, ever aware of the clock ticking down before the elixir wore off. I was so concentrated on not making any noise that I nearly collided with one of the Wolves who was coming down the staircase.

  I drew a sharp breath and stepped to the side just in time to avoid the collision, my pulse hammering and my adrenaline spiking. The Wolf who’d passed me paused for a moment and glanced around.

  I didn’t wait around to see more, lest he hear the hammering of my heart. I continued my trek up the staircase, turned left, and went all the way down the hall. At the very end of the hallway was a red door, and from Mila, I knew this to be Angelo’s personal chamber. Reaching into my jacket, I removed a dagger and gripped it in my hand. I made my way forward.

  Two Wolves were standing guard outside Angelo’s door. I was still invisible, but they glanced at each other curiously as my scent no doubt hit their noses. I gritted my teeth and slit the throat of the first, and while the other was staring in confusion as his comrade gripped his neck in futility and bled out beside him, I did him the same way.

  Their bodies slumped to the floor with thuds that made me cringe. I could feel their blood on my hands, though the elixir made it invisible as soon as it touched me. I ignored the fact that such brutality had slowly become more repulsive to me, and opened the door to Angelo’s room.

  “What the fuck!” came the response from over by the bed, where Angelo was currently buck ass naked, a female Wolf riding him hard.

  His brow furrowed in confusion when he saw no one. By that time I was standing over them, an undetectable monster at the bedside, hands red with blood, heart frozen over with ice.

  I gripped the back of the female Wolf’s neck with one hand and ran the blade across her throat with the other. With her position still on top of him, her blood showered down onto Angelo in a way that I was sure would revisit me during sleeping hours. For his part, he was too shocked to do anything but stare with wide eyes, to utter a few more foul curses, to stare up in horror as the female drew her final breaths atop him.

  I made a slash for his throat, but he threw off the female and rolled to the side, only sustaining a cut on his shoulder.

  “Show yourself,” the Alpha growled, his face a horror with all that blood coating it and his body completely bare for the state I’d found him in.

  I advanced, having the advantage of invisibility, but Angelo was not stupid. He concentrated on his ears, realizing that his eyes had failed him, and he danced away from my attacks with an admirable swiftness for such a big male.

  He looked utterly ridiculous, but I would not feel pity for him. When I looked at him, I saw my Wolves lying dead in that ghost town where he’d ambushed us and stolen my shine. I saw an ally of Lucian Borden, a facilitator of my downfall. I hadn’t wanted this; I’d been content to keep doing business with the male, would have kept our relationship mutually beneficial as long as I could have.

  No, he’d made this Gods damned bloody bed, and now the bastard would lie in it.

  I dropped down and swept his legs out from under him, and he fell onto his bottom with a thud. Then I was on top of him, plunging the knife into his neck and chest again and again. I knew my invisibility had worn off when his eyes fixed on my face, and the hate that filled them had me driving the knife down again.

  “You,” he said even as the light in his eyes began to dim.

  I grinned, and could only imagine what it must have looked like covered in all that blood. “Me,” I confirmed.

  He gave one last ditch effort to throw me free, but the damage I’d already done was detrimental, and despite being a female, I was strong. I dug the blade across his throat so deeply that I nearly removed his head.

  Then, I sat there for a moment, still straddling his body, panting and shaking.

  When I rolled off of him, I glanced around the room, seeing that it was a scene from a nightmare, trying not to let the images burn into my memory despite knowing the effort was futile. I found my feet, surprised that my legs were trembling though I supposed I should not have been.

  I turned my head and looked at the doorway. My heart dropped.

  Standing in the entrance was a pup of no more than five years old, dressed in pajamas, with a teddy bear tucked under his little arm, eyes wide in horror.

  I took a step toward the child, not sure what I was intending.

  Of course, I would not have hurt him, as even people as ruthless as I had their limits, and children had always been where I drew the line. I think I meant to scoop him up and carry him away from the sight of such horror, but that one step sent him darting away, as though a monster were on his tail.

  I supposed there was some truth to that.

  Then, the sounds of battle began, and I knew that my elixir was not the only one that had worn off. There were howls and screams, shouts and crashes, and I drew my duel irons as I stepped out of Angelo’s chambers, the guns gripped firmly in my blood soaked hands.

  Whatever happened tonight, none who lived to tell the tale would ever forget it.

  Hardly a handful of seconds passed before I was confronted. Two large male Wolves barreled down the hallway toward me. I raised my weapons and fired two shots, my aim as true as the practice I’d invested afforded. The bullets struck them both dead center their foreheads, and they dropped like rocks.

  Then I was making my way down the staircase, firing off more shots as I went. I reached out with my mind to my brother. He confirmed that he had killed one of Angelo’s brothers, and that it was time to go.

  I fired shot after shot, taking down Wolves that seemed to come in an endless supply. When I made it out to the back porch, I paused in my tracks for a moment, because there were so many Wolves that I could not see a path through. And these Wolves were in their beast forms, eyes glowing Wolf-gold and sharp teeth bared in rippling snarls.

  Kyra joined me on the porch, along with Mila and Devon.

  “Shit,” Kyra said, seeing the horde of angry Wolves enclosing.

  Her eyes sparked as she gathered her magic around her, the air sizzling with electricity. I watched in awe as she sent out a blast of magic that suspended th
em in their states, halting their movements the way a puppet master might those of his dolls. Her teeth were gritted, her dark hair a curly cloud atop her head, and I saw that there was blood on her hands as well.

  “Did everyone get their marks?” I asked.

  Devon, Mila, and Kyra all confirmed this.

  This left only Elian, who had yet to join us on the porch.

  “I can’t hold them forever,” Kyra gritted out.

  My heart thundered, my palms sweaty against my irons. I shot another Wolf coming out of the door behind us, and peered around him in hopes that I might see Elian. We waited a handful more seconds.

  No Eli.

  “Dita,” Kyra groaned.

  I released a harsh breath, and it hung in the cold air before me. “You guys go. Get out of here. Go back to the house and hole up. Do what you have to in order to make it.”

  “Dita,” Devon said, “I won’t leave you.”

  “The fuck you won’t,” I replied.

  “Dita…I can’t…” Kyra gritted out.

  “Go,” I insisted. “Get out of here.”

  I turned to Mila, and could see the anguish in the green of the Shifter’s eyes. “Please,” I said.

  Mila held my gaze for a heartbeat, the look somehow a goodbye, a painful acceptance. She gripped me by the shoulders and kissed me hard on the lips, and I held her back. Then I hugged my brother and my best friend, and shoved them down the porch steps.

  “Go, now.”

  Without another word, Mila shifted into a Griffon, a sight that I would have preferred to marvel at had there been the time. The magnificent bird stooped so that Kyra and Devon could jump onto her back. Then she opened her massive wings and lifted off into the night sky, taking my dear ones to safety.

  I watched for only a moment, just long enough to ensure their escape. Then I turned back to the house, heading inside in search of the male I loved.

  Either we would make it out of this place together, or we would not make it out at all.

  Chapter 27

  “Elian?” I called out as I bolted the doors behind me.

  I’d no sooner latched them than I heard the thumps of Wolves trying to break through. I slid down a heavy metal bar that was meant to hold the doors in place, the fortitude of the place now an unexpected advantage. The doors would not hold forever, but they would keep for now.

  I killed three more Wolves I came across as I stalked through the rooms of the castle, the irons smoking in my hands. I found what I was looking for in a bedroom upstairs, the one that belonged to Angelo’s grandfather, Anton Mangera. I’d assigned Eli to Anton because I’d thought he’d be an easier target, but when I reached the chamber, I saw that I had clearly been wrong.

  The male was older, but he’d been an Alpha in his day, and he had not allowed time to zap the strength from him. As I walked in, I found him with a blade to Elian’s throat, and noticed that he’d locked a bracelet around Eli’s wrist that was no doubt hampering the Demon’s fire magic.

  “You fucking bitch,” Anton snarled as I entered. “You come into my home, you kill my family. Drop your fucking guns before I slit his throat.”

  I opened my hands and let the irons thud to the floor, noting the crazed triumph in the old Wolf’s eyes. “My sons?” he said. “They are dead, yes?”

  I remembered the blood covering my face and person, and saw no point in lying. “Yes,” I said.

  I stole a single glance at Elian, who appeared as cool as a cucumber, despite the fact that I could hear his pulse racing. In that one look, he told me to go, begged me to leave him. I would do no such thing.

  “A trade,” I said. “Me for him.”

  “Not a fucking chance,” snarled Anton. “You’ll suffer the way I have suffered.”

  With this, he dug the blade into Eli’s neck. I rushed forward, a scream ripping up my throat that I had no control over.

  Eli’s eyes went wide and he twisted, keeping the blade from going too deep, though blood did rush from the wound. I knew that cuts to the neck could quickly become fatal, and I shifted into Wolf form in midair, tackling Anton as Eli threw himself to the side.

  I took the old man down, tearing into his throat with a fervor I’d never known. The taste of his blood on my tongue was incredible, and even after he’d stopped moving, I couldn’t seem to help myself. As gruesome as it was, I might have devoured his whole body if not for Eli saying my name.

  Saying my name in a way that revealed he was struggling for air, for life.

  I was back in my mortal form in an instant, kneeling beside my beloved, my hands pressing into the wound on his throat, tears welling in my eyes and fractures spreading across my dark soul.

  “Hang on,” I said through the tears. “Please, just hang on.”

  I glanced around, not knowing what to do. Even if we could get out of here, past all the Wolves between us and escape, Elian was losing too much blood. He was fading too quickly.

  Panic rushed through me, terrible thoughts about a life without Elian, which became immediately apparent as no life at all. As I sat staring at him, watching the blood leak through the fingers I had pressed to his neck, a loud crash sounded from the foyer below. Mangeras Wolves had broken through the barricade.

  Snapping out of the stupor of dread that had befallen me, I told Elian to keep pressure on the wound to his neck, scooped up the revolvers I’d dropped earlier, and holstered them. Then I was back at his side, lifting him into my arms, thankful that one of the abilities of my kind was super strength.

  His eyes began to flutter, and I knew that time was against us. Footsteps and shouts sounded on the stairs, and the door to the room burst open as I kicked open the doors of the balcony and stepped out into the cold night.

  Anton’s room was on the second floor, so it was a good leap from the balcony to the ground, but I knew I could manage. I was strong and I was tough, and come hell or high water, I would carry my love to safety. He needed only hold on until we get there.

  I told him as much, and received only a low grown in response.

  I listened to the slowing of his heartbeat, my own heart breaking as each interval between pulses grew fractionally longer. Just hold on, I begged any Gods who were listening. Please, just hold on.

  I leapt and braced for impact, but at that moment, a large shape appeared in the sky, so massive that it blotted out the moonlight and stars. It took me a moment to realize what it was, and while I was expecting to hit the ground, large talons instead latched onto my shoulders, digging in and holding tight. I managed to keep my hold on Elian, and with several beats of her mighty wings, Mila, who was still in Griffon form, lifted us into the air.

  “Quickly, Mila!” I shouted over the rushing of the wind. “He’s dying!”

  The words were terrible in my mouth, rebounding in my head, and yet, true, nonetheless.

  Up and up and up. Mila carried us away from the havoc we’d wrought, the angry Wolves gathering below and howling their rage up at the moon. I had no mind for them. All I could think about was Elian, whose breathing grew ever shallower in my arms as the lifeblood leaked out of him.

  All I could think about was the very real and immediate possibility of losing him, and my cold heart had never felt so thawed.

  Everything that happened next I remember in flashes of images, rushes of emotions, and snatches of moments.

  It seemed to take forever to reach the rendezvous point we’d decided upon earlier, which was just a small barn on the countryside that had been abandoned for some time. Taking Elian back to our house directly would have taken too long, required time he did not have, and that was with Mila flying as fast as her wings could carry us.

  When we reached the barn, Devon and Kyra were waiting for us, and from the looks on their faces upon seeing Eli, I knew that I wasn’t overreacting. His injury was bad, his state dire.

  I hopped off Mila’s back and Devon took him into his arms, carrying him swiftly into the barn, where the two had a fire already going
. It felt good to be out of the frigid air, but seeing Eli’s condition in the glow of the flames was even more devastating. His normally perfect light brown skin was pallid, and his eyes had not opened for the last five minutes of the flight, nor were they open now.

  Kyra began to work her magic immediately, sealing the wound in his neck with a spell, the skin weaving together and the bleeding finally abating.

  “Will he live?” I asked her, and was shocked at the steady sound of my own voice. It was not an accurate reflection of how I was feeling inside.

  Kyra’s mouth pressed into a thin line as violet magic swirled around her fingertips, seeping into Elian’s chest, doing whatever it could. She did not answer the question directly, and this was answer enough.

  I found an old blanket in the hayloft and draped it over Eli’s legs, needing to do something other than stand around. Then I kneeled beside him, brushing my fingertips over his forehead, breathing a sigh of relief when I found the pulse in his neck was still present, if faint. I sent up a silent prayer, knowing that I had no right to ask for such mercy, but doing so, anyway.

  Eli’s eyes fluttered as Kyra finished working her magic and sat back on her heels. When I looked at her with pleading eyes, she placed a firm hand on my shoulder.

  “We’ll see,” she said.

  I nodded, hating this answer and knowing that she was only being honest. Healing magic was not the same as other magic, Kyra had explained to me one time when we were younger, and I’d injured myself pretty badly by jumping out of a tree. Sorcerers could perform a variety of spells with a myriad of functions, but healing was a specialized practice, and many magic users went their whole lives without ever learning the art. Since the use of magic always took something from the user, healing required a certain amount of compassion and understanding, along with the desire to sacrifice something of oneself in the name of benefiting another.