Winter's Pack (The Cursed Book 2)

by Lou Grimes

  She sighed, and then simply slipped the necklace into her pocket. It was a part of her as much as her father not being there was a part of her.

  They finished their food and started moseying around the beach courtyard. They would stop at vendor tents and acquire items like flowers, pastries, and produce.

  Too much happiness. Too much liking each other for Louvette to stomach. As she watched, her stomach grew more sour. The need to puke increased as she witnessed more and more of this noxiousness.

  All the things she had done without a father and only with a strong mother at her side flashed before her eyes. Everything Arsen had to teach her about the Lupine world that Declan should have flitted across her mind. All of it collided together to create the person Louvette was today.

  Her throat was so parched when she swallowed; it ached for liquid. The sun shining high in the sky didn’t help either because the hottest part of the day had come.

  After having finally had enough, Louvette stood up stiffly and started walking down the street. She didn’t glance back, though she wanted to more than anything. The sight of them was teetering on her self-control like Jenga. The wrong move could send it all crashing to the ground in a fiery blaze of glory paired with some 80’s rock band music.

  The car that had brought her here had been a local ride service that had long since disappeared. In truth, she had no thoughts about going to the hotel, either.

  Her walk was a clear-the-mind sort of walk. It was slow and lacking direction at first. The one direction it did have was away from Declan Blackwood.

  The shock of it ebbed as she walked. Eventually, the fresh air calmed her down enough to think rationally. She remembered she had a trip to make up to Cara, so she started getting her bearings of where the actual hotel was. The drive hadn’t taken more than twenty minutes. It had still been relatively close when Louvette had taken off walking after seeing Declan and his girlfriend.

  More locals than tourists were on the street she was on when her mind cleared up. She had ended up in a rougher part of the city than where she had started.

  Louvette dug into her pocket for her phone to use the GPS to find her way back. Not one single bar was displayed on her screen. She returned the now-useless paperweight back into her pocket. It hadn’t worked since she landed in Mexico.

  Finding a few street signs that were in Spanish, she tried to translate them applying the Spanish she had learned in her required school classes. However, her teacher had once pointed out there were many types of Spanish slang; the language they learned in class was much more proper. Louvette was unsure exactly how literal her translations even were.

  The last option she had was to ask for directions. A lone female tourist asking for directions would be a pick without much debate for thieves, or at least they would think so. Finally, she came across a tourist couple and asked them for directions. They happily gave them to her, and they all went their separate ways.

  As Louvette walked back to the hotel to snap Cara out of her trance, the feeling of being watched took hold of her. She glanced back into the crowd for the person with a staring problem, but found none.

  Testing the air for a scent she recognized, the one thing she could rule out from her limited experience was that a rogue or Lupine wasn’t following her. That left every other monster or fairy tale in the book for her to worry about.

  Picking up speed, she started weaving through the tourists, attempting to lose her tail. Louvette neared a large alleyway and made the split-second decision to run through it. Many of the ones she had passed had come out on the street on the other side. She flipped her coin, and then hoped for the best.

  Turning the corner of the alley, Louvette immediately saw her flip had flopped because the alley was a dead end.

  She stared at the buildings, wondering if she could scale them to escape the alley. Nothing was reachable. Again, she was trapped. Her wolf snarled on the inside, challenging her stalker.

  A drain hissed eerily from steam. Turning around, a wall of steam had flowed into the air.

  Louvette stilled as a shadowy body appeared in the mist. The mist cleared to reveal three women. One was so old her hair had blued and she was covered in wrinkles. Another was about Louvette’s mother’s age. The last was a little older than herself, with mousy brown hair and tan skin. Their clothes were vastly different, but they all wore a large pendant necklace of a deep maroon color that was almost impossible.

  The energy crackled inside those dark red necklaces in such a way that Louvette knew they were blood witches.

  “Did we just stumble across a she-wolf?” the oldest asked the other two.

  “Imagine what blood spells we could perform using your blood,” the middle said greedily.

  “Don’t get so far ahead of yourself now. You’ve got to get my blood first,” taunted Louvette, unable to stop herself.

  “Are you lost, little wolf?” the oldest woman’s voice cackled.

  “I’m not, but you are,” Louvette said, not desiring to let any fear show in her voice. Fear of if something happened to her, she had no idea if Cara would snap out of her trance on her own. Guilt at leaving things the way they were between her and Arsen. She really did love him, she thought sadly. He’d never know.

  “I can only imagine the amount of power running through your blood,” said the older one.

  A dark flame of fire formed in the old crone’s hand. It was odd in comparison to Arsen’s fire. Arsen’s had been natural but this flame was far from natural. The color wasn’t one nature could achieve on its own for the deep blood color she had created. The blood magic had warped it too much for it to take shape.

  Louvette didn’t even hesitate when she pushed her mind into the older woman’s mind. If she got control of her mind, she could knock the younger ones off balance enough to take them out.

  A black iron gate stood before her with blood red gems that protected the fence similar to barbed wire. Wisps of smoke wrapped around her gate and throughout the sky in her mind. Only these were everywhere. Louvette reached her fingertips forward to push the gate open and a thousand shards of blood gems descended upon her.

  Louvette was thrown from the witch’s mind. Her legs almost folded out underneath her. The vein in her temple was pounding from the mind beating Louvette had just received. It was over before she knew it.

  The crone’s lips twisted into a sneer. Louvette had a small sense of satisfaction that the witches’ fire ball had faded.

  “Watch out for the amateur mind digger,” the crow cackled to the other two.

  “Do you need an ice pack?” the middle-aged witch asked mockingly.

  “For what? I thought you were a mosquito,” Louvette shot back.

  “I’ll make it hurt this time,” the witch hissed. The flame exploded once more as it twisted above her hand. The flame’s consistency was that of blood, curling around as if it were a dense liquid.

  Louvette imagined blood fire would burn worse, too. She didn’t feel like finding out. Readying herself to spring upon the witches as a wolf, she crouched slightly in place, not desiring to be noticed. If she was faster than them, maybe they couldn’t use magic on her before she got their throats.

  “Stop. Leave her alone,” a voice shouted from the opening of the alley. Louvette’s head tilted a miniscule amount to keep everyone within her eyesight.

  A young woman with long braided straw blonde hair stood behind them. Her green eyes were flashing and so were her hands as blue-white magic twisted around them, flowing from her glowing veins.

  “No, this is our blood sacrifice. Find your own,” the oldest one snapped.

  “It’s against the law of the Covenant to perform a blood sacrifice these days,” the new one pointed out.

  “Why do you always have to be an interfering snitch witch, Ophelia?” the youngest asked in a snapping manner.

  “Because causing you pain gives me joy, Lindi. I will rat you out to our Coven Mother so fast you won’t even have time
to blink,” Ophelia said.

  “You won’t always be around to protect them, you jumped-up brat,” the middle aged woman said, but they retreated in the smoke again as if they were some cheap magicians at a magic show, dropping a smoke ball. It was a bit disappointing. Louvette had expected them to teleport or do something grander to disappear.

  Part of the magic dissipated, but the rest crawled back into the remaining woman’s veins. The way it traveled was similar to the wolfsbane that had gone through her grandfather’s own heart in her dreams.

  For a second, there was silence. Louvette couldn’t hold back anymore.

  “What do you want, witch?” Louvette asked, bracing herself for an attack. She didn’t have any idea why the dirty blonde witch had scared off the others. She wondered if it was more of a dominance stand so she’d have the opportunity to kill Louvette herself. It wasn’t going to be an easy goal to attain, Louvette would make sure of that.

  Part of her wondered about using her Gift again, but with her luck, the witch would be a world class mind manipulator. Chances were it would only get Louvette into more trouble. Her conscious mind might not survive another blow like that. Getting knocked out was not on her agenda for the night.

  “I’m sorry about them. My name’s Ophelia. I know that yours is Louvette and your friend that you left at the hotel is Cara,” the young woman said to break the thick air. Louvette narrowed her eyes, untrusting.

  “Sorry? How do you know all of that?” Louvette asked, confused. Louvette started to wonder if the witch was alone. They seemed to travel in packs in the same way as the Lupine.

  “I’ve followed you since you two landed,” Ophelia answered.

  “Why?” Louvette asked.

  “I need you to trust me. I’m going to tell you stuff that is about to rock your world,” Ophelia said.

  “I don’t have to do anything. I don’t even know you. And you’re a witch,” Louvette said.

  “I’m not here to harm you in any way, I want to help you,” Ophelia interjected.

  “Prove to me you’re not evil,” Louvette ordered, once again a statement she knew she would regret like the last time.

  “Here is your proof, little wolf,” the witch said, stepping forward. She placed her fingertips on Louvette’s temples.

  Louvette saw a white iron gate tightly braided with electric blue magic. The grass surrounding the gate was manicured down to every single blade of grass. There was only grass. Nothing else defined the area. No flowers or overgrown weeds. The gate threw itself open for her to come through. She stepped through easily enough. Louvette was weary of it all. At any moment, this mind might consume her. The gate vanished from behind her. The road before her fell away. The sensation took her breath away.

  The present twisted out of existence. There was no floor, no alleyway, no witches, and no magic. There was nothing. A past memory was born anew. The white started smoking. Black and white flooded everything.

  Louvette did a mental jaw drop at the change. This was so similar to her own Gift. The differences were Louvette’s had color, but this one was black and white.

  “Why isn’t there color?” she asked before she could stop herself.

  “There’s no color because this isn’t my memory. This memory has been passed down to educate young witches for generations since those dark blood witches Cursed the world. The one thing that will have color is magic,” Ophelia said.

  “Cursed the world? I thought it was just us less-than-half-breed witches who were Cursed,” Louvette said.

  “So, if you’ve seen another memory, then that means your Gift lies more in the mind than anything else, am I correct?” Ophelia asked.

  “Yes. Why was your magic blue and white earlier if you’re a blood witch?” Louvette asked, tapping into all the civility she could muster, but she wasn’t going to offer up anymore. She needed that to be the last trick up her sleeve.

  “Magic is learned. Not all witches are blood witches, but they can be if they like. Most are not, and use only natural magic,” Ophelia answered.

  “Watch, little wolf,” she repeated, nodding to the finally fully constructed scene developing before her as if it was an old-timey black and white movie.

  Someone was darting through the shadows. The movement was similar to some kind of cat prowling the night. A master of the moonlight in its own sense, a second’s pause in the moonlight illuminated a high cheek of a woman.

  A twig snapped as a much less deft being trailed after the woman. If Louvette hadn’t known better, she might have thought a clumsy elephant shifter was tramping through the woods. However, a man chased after the sneaker in the night.

  The cat-like woman was an older woman similar to Ophelia who was sneaking through the bushes along with the less than deft black-haired man. The memories lack of color made them hard to decipher. At first, the couple might be considered two spontaneous lovers going for a frolic in the woods, but she knew better. Lovers rarely kept to the shadows as if it was a second skin.

  Louvette saw more people joining them, both women and men. Judging from their clothes, this was generations ago. The older woman herself was in a medieval dress and a belted waist.

  “We have to stop them,” Ophelia’s kin said to the group that had collected.

  “How, Phina? The blood moon has made the blood magic too strong,” another witch responded.

  “If their freedom isn’t worth fighting for, then what is?” Phina asked the crowd, grabbing the man’s hand and giving it a squeeze.

  “I’m with you. What’s the plan?” a black-haired man asked.

  “We are going to storm their circle and attempt to break it. When we break the circle, they will be too tired to do anything but slink off into the night like the Coven backstabbers they are,” Phina explained.

  “We can do this. The good magic is on our side.” One of the other witches bolstered the coven up more.

  “Are you ready? The moon is almost in position,” she asked.

  There was a chorus of agreement.

  “Be silent in your approach, lasses and lads,” she told them, and slipped off into the darkness.

  Louvette’s ghost followed her for a long time until they came to an immense clearing that had a hill in the center of it. The moon was high and emitting a dusty red color across the sky. There was no doubt how the blood moon got its name.

  Phina halted at the tree line. A large group of witches stood at the top of the hill in a circle, holding hands.

  It was evident who the leader was before she spoke. She had a darker tone of hair too. Her black dress flared out grandly as if she believed she was the queen in the tightest fitted corset Louvette had ever seen.

  “Tonight will be the last night in history witches are persecuted. No more sisters will be burned at the stake. We will rise up and take our rightful place above the humans and lesser supernatural beings,” the middle-aged woman announced to the circle.

  “Blood moons grant the witches the power to change the tide of the future. Take the magic-weak men and transform them into an army of shifter dragons. Here is the power of our strongest witches as a sacrifice,” the head witch called into the sky.

  The first line of magic sparked out of the head witch into the center of the circle.

  Magic the color of dried blood started gathering. It spread resembling poisonous tendrils, spurting out further and further. More chaotic magic flowed into a ball at first. After picking up speed, the magic twisted similar to an ugly tornado, warped. The color of the magic was the same blood red color as the moon.

  Wild and dark, the magic continued to fuel the supercell.

  The opposing forces held off, waiting for the right time.

  The witches began to sway as they were being drained. Their loss of power became evident.

  “Now,” Phina screamed.

  The good witches fired upon the circle.

  Magic twisted around Phina, giving her more Ophelia-like features. She hurled an arch of white-blue
magic at the circle.

  At first, the circle only rippled. Phina forced the arc of magic to become larger to attempt to break the circle.

  The first witch inside the circle dropped to her knees. Then, more followed one by one as their life force was sucked away.

  The head witch’s knees faltered and she tried to break out of her own circle. Still, she couldn’t. There was not a single drop of magic left in her that the Curse would not take. Some members of her circle attempted to free themselves as well, but nothing happened.

  They were aging right before Louvette’s own eyes. The woman who once seemed to be forty now looked sixty. A girl her own age looked to be now in her thirties. They aged until their bones crumbled and the tornado consumed their dust.

  The tornado of blood magic was now pushing against the walls of the circle, which was now shaking, attempting to contain the magic.

  “It’s not working. We aren’t strong enough to break the circle,” another witch screamed to Phina.

  “No, we can’t fail,” Phina shouted back. Phina had a look of total concentration on her face as she threw everything she had into breaking the circle.

  “Phina, no! Think about Ophina,” the black-haired man she had arrived with cried out.

  After her magic hit that circle, magic exploded everywhere. A mixture of dark and light magic was so thick Louvette couldn’t see before her. Everything was all smoke and ash. Magic smoke was a thousand times denser than regular smoke.

  The Curse had transformed into a ripple of rings.

  The Cursed rings went through Louvette’s ghostly figure so fast she hadn’t believed she had seen them. They went out into the world and created the Lupine and all the other shifters. They created her.

  Once the magic cleared, she was the one thing remaining. The witches in the circle were reduced to nothing more than ash.

  Louvette searched for Phina, only to find her body had been thrown back from the explosion in a fetal position. Her lover was at her side, weeping over the loss. Dark red magic was hovering all around him, but he didn’t notice from his suffering heart. The dark magic delved into his eyes, nose, and mouth. It darkened his veins in the same manner as wolfsbane, spreading like a toxic substance.