Broken Cursed Boys

by Kailin Gow

  The students nodded as they wiped blood off from various wounds.

  “I realize that this battle was a bit unexpected,” the dean went on. “You were all rushed here without warning, without preparation and without a game plan. Despite all that, you all fought bravely and selflessly. While there were moments when I was busy slaying a few demons myself, I did take the time to look out at the battlefield and watch you. I am impressed, and I am proud.”

  Though tired and many of them in pain, the students smiled and listened eagerly to every word she said.

  “Scheduled tests were set for the beginning of next week; tests of your abilities. Needless to say, those tests will be cancelled. Today was the best test I could ever offer you and you all passed with flying colors. Congratulations to all of you.”

  The student slayers cheered and patted each other on the back.

  “I can see that some of you have been seriously injured. This is not the time for false bravado. If you are slightly injured, go to Hector who will tend to the minor cuts and scrapes. But if you are more seriously hurt, please come to me.”

  A few students limped and hobbled their way to her.

  “I would also like to let you all know that I will call ahead to the Academy and ensure that you are all treated to a magnificent feast when you return. An all-you-can-eat buffet will await you and you deserve it.”

  Again, the students cheered, even the seriously injured ones.

  John stepped forward. “Before we finish here, I would like to ask every able-bodied student to go around the area looking for any other injured slayers who may not have been able to make it back on their own.”

  A dozen students nodded and headed off to look for the injured.

  “And what about you?” John said, coming to Lux. “Are you hurt?”

  She looked up at him. “Maybe my pride a bit.”

  He smiled as he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. We were all taken in by that clown.”

  “Yeah,” Lux said. “So I’ve been told.”

  “John,” Dr. Good called out. “We’re going to head to the hospital with these three.”

  Lux followed her father as he headed to Dr. Good’s car. “What do you have?”

  “Lonnie seems to have a broken leg, Dawn has a few cracked ribs and Gerry has a pretty deep laceration across the shoulder,” Dr. Good said.

  Lux looked into the back seat of the huge and elegant car and saw the young woman with her leg at a strange angle. Brave and stoic, the woman didn’t cry or complain. She simply waited quietly to be taken to the hospital. Beside her, an older woman had a wide bandage wrapped tightly around her waist and next to her a very young man with a blood-soaked bandage across his shoulder.

  “I want to come along,” Lux said. “I want to do whatever I can to help. None of this would have happened if I’d seen through Professor Romeo’s ploy earlier.”

  “You’re not the only one who didn’t see through his ploy,” Dr. Good said. “He’s clearly good at playing this game. He must be a senior succubus who’s been through this type of game before. He had us all fooled. With little to no resistance, he was able to get a position at the Academy and he easily charmed everyone. And I do mean everyone. As for you,” she said with an understanding smile. “You were vulnerable, and he knew it. You were an easy prey.”

  “Still,” Lux said with determination. “I still want to come along. Please.”

  “She can ride with us,” Lucas said as he came up to them. “We have one place left in the car.”

  Lux turned her pleading eyes to Dean Good. “Please,” she said. “Besides, I came out here with Romeo. I don’t have a ride. I’m stranded out here,” she added with a grin.

  “I can take you home,” John said.

  Lux glared at him.

  “Or, maybe not,” he added.

  “Please, let me do this,” Lux said.

  Dean Good smiled. “Okay. Fine. Ride with Sully and Lucas and we’ll meet up at the hospital.

  “There are no other injuries,” Hector said as he met up with them. “I’m going to head straight to the Academy and fill up on that all-you-can-eat buffet.”

  John’s eyes lit up. “If we have no other patients, that sounds pretty good to me.” He turned to Lux. “I’m proud of you, kid. It was a tough one and you pulled through.”

  “Indeed,” Dean Good said. “I’m proud of all my students.”

  “You look beat, Mom,” Sully said, putting his hand to her shoulder.

  “It’s been a long day,” she admitted. “This isn’t really the day I’d planned on when I woke up this morning.”

  “Then why don’t you get on with John and Hector and head back to the Academy. Join them at that great buffet you’ve organized.”

  “I’ll head back to school right after I bring these kids to the hospital.”

  “I’ll bring them, Mom,” Sully said. “I’ll take your car, I can follow Lucas and we’ll make sure all the injured slayers are tended to. Then we’ll meet you at school.”

  Lux was touched to see Sully acting so responsibly and thoughtful. It was positively endearing to see him take such good care of his mother.

  “That’s very nice of you, Sully,” Dean Good said, “but I need to be there with these students.”

  “Mom, you need to be with the other students who fought and who are heading back to the Academy as we speak. Go congratulate them and celebrate this victory with them. Lucas and I can handle this.”

  Dean Good smiled lovingly at her son and gently patted his cheek. “Look at you, acting all grown up.”

  He took her hand in his and smiled. “I am grown up, Mom.”

  “Fine,” she conceded. “Go ahead. Make sure they are all…”

  “Yes, Mom. I’ll make sure they are all tended to.”

  “And…”

  “Mom.”

  “Okay.” Dean Good turned to follow John back to his car. “I’ll see you later,” she called over her shoulder. “Call me if there’s anything.”

  “Yes, Mom.” Sully turned to Lux. “Want to ride with me? There’s a place left up front.”

  Lux looked at Lucas and back to Sully. She hated being forced to choose between them. But then she realized that Sully had asked her to join him, while Lucas had not.

  Chapter 3

  “Nice car,” Lux said as they pulled out onto the road behind Lucas.

  Sully grinned and patted the steering wheel of the Gold Cadillac Escalade. “Mom does enjoy her creature comforts.”

  Lux glanced back at their three injured passengers. “Sure is comfortable. We’ve been on the road all of two minutes and they’re all asleep back there.”

  Sully looked in the rearview mirror and smiled. “This car can purr anyone to sleep.” He drove down the winding desert roads that led to town. “You know, I didn’t want to say anything about this in front of anyone, but…”

  Lux looked at him. “What is it?”

  “I know you feel guilty about Romeo and all that, but you really shouldn’t.”

  Taking in his words, Lux looked straight ahead at the endless road. How could she not feel guilty? She was the one Romeo had come after. If anyone should have seen what he was up to it was her.

  “I was there the very first night you met him at the nightclub, remember?” Sully went on. “I should have pushed him away from you. I should’ve protected you.” He shook his head with regret. “I was too polite, too soft. I should’ve never let him cut into our dance. And even if we didn’t really know each other that well, I should have told him that you were my girl.”

  “I don’t really think there’s much you could have done to stop him, Sully,” Lux said. “Remember, he wasn’t just some guy out to hook up with a girl. He’s a succubus and he was on a mission.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “I don’t know if he followed us to that club or if it was just a fluke, but either way, I had my classes with him. No matter what, I w
ould have ended up spending time with him in one capacity or another. He was my professor.”

  “But, Lux. If I’d known about him, I would have had him removed from the school. Damn it. I’m the one who hired most of the professors and instructors at the Academy. And while I didn’t hire Romeo, I could have looked into having him fired.”

  They finally left the dusty desert roads and climbed onto the blacktop that would lead them into town.

  “Who hired him?” Lux said.

  Sully hesitated. “Mom did.” He shook his head slightly then looked at Lux. “She was charmed by him, too. So, you see, he even managed to fool a wise and worldly woman like the dean of the Academy. He had her convinced that he was one of us.”

  “Do you mean that he posed as a slayer?” Lux said.

  “Yeah. All the instructors and professors at the Academy are slayers.”

  Lux looked out the window at the numerous buildings that flew by as they sped down the boulevard. She couldn’t help but go over everything Romeo had done. “He sure put a lot of thought into concocting such an elaborate plan.”

  “And you were his prize,” Sully said. “He joined the Academy a few weeks before you arrived. He was already a slayer.”

  “Does that mean that there are slayers who are succubus or beautiful beings?”

  Sully nodded. “And I think that he’s only one of them. I suspect there are a few more at the Academy. I know that a lot of them came out to the portal today, but I’m sure there are more left at the Academy. Romeo must have had help to pull this off.” He turned to her as he stopped behind Lucas at a red light. “You know, I think they would even slay their own just to make it look good, just to prove they were real slayers.”

  “How many more of them do you think there are?” Lux said.

  “I have no idea. Five. Fifteen. Twenty-five.”

  “But you think there are more and they’re at the Academy?”

  “I’m sure of it,” Sully said. “I can feel it.”

  Lux nodded and looked down the street. “I trust you. I think you have good instincts.”

  “You do?” Sully said, surprised.

  “Sure,” she said with a smile as she looked at him. “I saw you out there today. You’re really good.”

  “You mean slaying?”

  “Yeah. I was really impressed.”

  “You sound surprised. I have been doing this for a long time you know.”

  “I know, but seeing you in action… well, I really thought you did a great job. I saw you when that gang of demons jumped you all at the same time, and you didn’t even break a sweat slaying them one after another.”

  “Wow. You know, coming from you… Wow, that means a lot. The undefeatable Lux thinks I have good instincts. Doesn’t that beat all?”

  “Undefeatable Lux? Is that what you guys call me?”

  Sully laughed as the light turned green and he followed behind Lucas. “Didn’t you know? It’s what everyone who knows about your legendary reputation calls you. You’re famous and you don’t even know it.”

  Lux knew there were rumors out there about her, but not to this level.

  “Even Lucas idolized you for a while. He wanted to have the same reputation you had.”

  “Lucas,” Lux whispered, remembering the heated and passionate kiss they’d shared. She looked ahead at his car, knowing he was right there, he, too, acting so responsibly and mature. Her heart warmed at the thought of him. “He is quite a guy, isn’t he?”

  Sully looked over to catch her rubbing her index finger over her lip. “You think? Lucas? He’s such a lousy bore,” Sully argued. He gestured to the car ahead of them with a grimace. “Look at how he drives. We’re rushing to the hospital and he hasn’t even hit fifty miles an hour. You’d think we were in a funeral procession.”

  “Sully, look at all the traffic around us. He couldn’t go fifty even if he wanted to.”

  “Yeah, but I know him. He wouldn’t go fifty if his life depended on it. I’m telling you; he’s a real bore.”

  “No, he’s not,” Lux said. “He can really be quite warm and… well, passionate.”

  “Ha!” Sully let out. “Passionate? My brother? Now I know you must be mistaken.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Well, then let me tell you. If you think his kisses are hot, you’ve not been kissed by a real man. I am the hotter and way sexier of the Goods.”

  “Oh, heavens,” Lux said. “I know you like competing against your brother, but this is ridiculous.”

  “This isn’t a simple matter of competing with my brother. This isn’t just sibling rivalry. This is all about a man wanting a woman. From the very first moment I saw you, I knew I liked you. I knew I wanted you.”

  At another red light, he stopped the car again and turned to face her. “When I saw you being pulled down into that portal by Romeo, I thought my life would end. My heart stopped and all that mattered was stopping Romeo from taking you away. All that mattered was getting you back.”

  Lux smiled and wanted to tell him how touched she was by his words, but the light changed and they pulled into the emergency entrance to the hospital.

  “Hey, guys,” she called back to their sleeping passengers. “We’re here.”

  Groggy, two of them woke up, but the young man with the gash on his shoulder remained asleep. Sully stopped the car at the door behind Lucas and got out, rushing back to the young man.

  “I’ll get Gerry and bring him in,” Sully said.

  “I’m going to go inside to find a wheelchair,” Lux said as she got out. She hurried inside and quickly returned with a wheelchair for the girl with the broken leg.

  As she helped Lonnie into the chair, Lux looked up at Dawn, the woman with the cracked ribs. “Wait here. I’ll bring out another wheelchair.”

  “Don’t bother,” the brave and stoic woman said as she struggled to get out of the car. “I can make it in on my own.”

  Lux shot her and admiring glance and smiled.

  In front of them, at the door, Lucas glanced up at Lux as he helped his two injured passengers inside. She wanted to call out to him, but he hurried inside.

  She turned to Sully who, carrying him in his arms, brought Gerry inside and hurried to the triage nurse while Lux pushed the young girl in the wheelchair inside behind him.

  “I think he might have lost a lot of blood,” he said to the nurse.

  Though busy with another patient, she looked at the blood soaked bandaged and nodded. “Lay him on that gurney. I’ll be right with him.”

  “Where am I?” the young man said, opening his eyes.

  “You’re at the hospital, Gerry,” Sully said gently. “You’re going to be all right. Just relax.”

  “What else do you have here?” the triage nurse said looking at the others.

  “She has cracked ribs,” Sully said, pointing to the young woman who’d already sat on a seat outside the triage office. “And she has a broken leg. My brother there brought in a guy with a severed finger and a girl with a crushed hand.”

  The nurse looked at them with an odd expression on her face. “What the hell were you kids up to?” she muttered to herself then turned to finish with the patient she had with her. After she’d finished with him, she looked up to Sully. “The severed finger,” she said. “Did someone bring it?”

  “Brian,” Sully called out. “Did you bring your finger with you?”

  Brian nodded and with his good hand pulled a bloodied tissue from his pocket and held it up.

  “Great,” the nurse droned. “We need to get that thing on ice.”

  Sully brought the finger to the nurse who then turned to change the bandage of the young man while the others waited in the waiting room. Twenty minutes later, every injured slayer was being seen by a doctor.

  While Lucas went off to stay with Brian as he had his finger sewn back on, Sully pulled Lux out of the waiting room and into a quiet corridor.

  “I need to see you alone for a minute,” he said, his
voice thick with emotion. “I’ve put this off for too long and now it’s time that I stood up and went after what I want, too.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with such passion that she quickly found herself kissing him back.

  The adrenaline rush of the day, the stress and the fear all collided together to bring heightened emotion to the kiss, but all of that quickly faded, leaving them simply with the tender kiss between a man and a woman.

  “That was nice,” he said softly when he pulled away.

  She leaned into him, wanting more of his warmth and tenderness. “You’re showing me all the sides of you today, aren’t you?”

  He chuckled as he held her, his hand playing in her hair and soothingly rubbing her scalp.

  “When I first met you, I thought you were an immature buffoon,” she said, remembering those first weeks with him. “Today you showed me the fierce and competent warrior side and then turned around and showed me the thoughtful, caring and responsible side, and now…”

  He pulled back to look down at her. “And now…?”

  “And now you’re all gentle and tender. Is this just for show or is it the real Sullivan?”

  He shot her a crooked smile. “I’m not really that good at putting on a show. What you see is essentially who I really am, for better or for worse.”

  “I think I can handle that.”

  “Good.” He hugged her tight and groaned with desire. “Because I’m crazy about you, Lux. From the very first day, I’ve wanted you. And being with you at the house all this time and… damn. I’ve just wasted so much time. You’re right, you know. I am immature, or at least I was. I thought I was cool enough to get you to like me just based on that. I thought that being standoffish and aloof was cool. And I played the clown and thought I could just be silly. I tried it all, only to find that I could just be me and that would be okay. Maybe if I’d been more mature to begin with, if I’d been myself, Romeo would have never gotten to you.”

  “Forget about all that, Sully. That’s over now.”

  “Yeah,” he said in a husky whisper. “And I’m not going to waste any more time playing around. I want you, Lux. With all my heart, I want you.”

  He pulled her in for a tender and emotional kiss. His lips were soft yet pulling at her with urgency. Tears welled up in her eyes as the kiss intensified, not so much with passion, but with pure emotion.