This Curse

FOUR



I appeared behind one of the tall trees that lined the long path leading to my new house. It was very inconspicuous, a modest three bedroom ranch style in a fairly quiet area just outside of Reno. I had a decent amount of land. It was just enough to keep my neighbors safe, but not so much as to leave me completely alienated. The fortune I inherited from Ann when she left this world for her new life was safely ensconced in the bank. She insisted that I spend it, but it made me feel better to have a big fat cushion.

The cool nighttime air felt amazing on my heated skin. I needed to walk. My nerves were shot. I mean, what the hell was that all about? Cripes, that didn’t go a bit like I’d planned. I just wanted to make my point, take a stand. But no, I have to go and sex up the first werewolf I met. And, he kissed me. Wow what a kiss. My toes were still curled.

As I neared my house, I let the Jamaican glamour go. Replacing it with my everyday face, the only one the world was allowed to see. It felt good to be my old self, even though it was a lie.

“There is a taint of dog around you, Sweet. It stinks,” a dark god stepped out from the shadow of a huge willow. His long hair was loose, silky tendrils blowing lightly in the wind, sweeping and coiling around his powerful body. Silver eyes caught the moonlight in a face that could make angels weep. Pure masculine power caged in the perfect form of a Master Vampire.

“Seth, what do you want?” I sighed. “I’m tired. It’s been a shitty night.” I stopped walking. I didn’t want to lead him to my house. I knew there was a nice fluffy bed in there and I really didn’t want to have to battle my crazy pheromones again. Things could get complicated.

He watched me as if reading my mind. “You know what I need. Don’t make me take, Grace, it’s so barbaric.” He said. His beauty made my heart squeeze but his words doused any budding tender feelings. I stood, watching his silvery eyes mock me with their reality. My blood, the blood of a Madea, pure and straight from the source gave him strength he could never have imagined.

I felt the memory tickle the back of my mind and I sighed to myself as I looked at the large man. We were at a magical stalemate; but he could still overpower me with sheer brute strength; which is exactly what he would do if I denied him.

A small drink was all he ever wanted. I could even give him a wrist if I chose, but he would not lose my blood. I couldn’t blame him, and I could even understand, but he never just drank and left. He would stay and seduce. He would work his tricks and play with every weakness I had, and Lord help me, when it came to him there were still far too many.

It was nearly impossible to resist him, but I knew that if we were to come together again I might drop my glamour. I couldn’t chance it. Especially after the way Patrick reacted tonight. My God, I can’t even imagine what my true form would do when presented to a man like Seth, a veritable god in the world of men. It was way too risky.

Thank goodness, that after weeks of allowing him to drink from my wrist, I finally grew a brain and placed my blood in bags. It was my personal mission to keep this man away from my body. He held an attraction that was definitely hazardous to my health.

It had taken days to fill enough of the bags with my blood, once I figured out how to do it. Part of me wanted to use my power to just get the job over with quickly, but seeing my silvery blood inside those little baggies made me feel so incredibly alien that I forced myself to trudge through every step of the job.

I shook my head and smiled to myself as I gazed at his beautiful face. Man was he going to be pissed!

“Relax Seth, I have no intention of refusing you, I‘m just tired, like I said.” I began walking again, this time toward a small detached garage I recently had built near the back of my property. “Just give me a minute.” I twisted my long hair into a knot at my neck as his tension and hunger beat at my back. I unlocked the door and left it open, then I reached over and flicked on the lights to reveal two large stainless steel refrigerators, a microwave on a single counter and a small table and chair which sat alone in a corner.

I opened one of the refrigerator doors. Inside were rows and rows of small bags filled with my silvery blood. The second refrigerator was filled identical to the first. I grabbed a bag and tossed it into the microwave, then turned to toss him the keys. “Here, this should keep you sated for a few weeks at least. There are three keys. Two are on that ring and the third will stay with me. I’ll fill the fridge when I think you are running too low. Consider this your personal take-out restaurant, you’re welcome and goodnight.” I turned to go as his cool hand closed around my arm. I tensed for a fight, “God, Seth, what more do you want from me? What else do you need?”

“You surprise me sweet, Grace, but I do tire of your foolishness. You know I must sate my thirst from your body. I need your warmth, your breath. The feelings I get when I touch you.” He took the bag from the microwave then turned and ran his finger along my jaw. “This is an insult.” He tossed it onto the table, “I am sad that you went through all of this trouble,” he leaned in, smelling my hair, “but it will never do.”

I pushed him away. “I’m sorry Seth, but it will have to do. You don’t need any of those things. The blood is enough. Your wish to seduce and claim me will never come true. I can’t have you always demanding, coaxing. I don’t want you. Don’t you see? Even if I wanted to be with you, it could never happen.”

“I see, more than you know.” He pulled me close to his body. “You still want me to be the enemy. You cannot abide the feelings you have for me, so you wish to be rid of my presence. Grace, you are a fool. We are the same, you and I. There is more than lust between us. Forget your power, your value to others. None of that matters now.”

“Who do you think you’re fooling?” I whirled away, jerking out of his grip. “You have no idea what I’ve become! You think you’ve seen my face? You think what you see now is what you’re getting when you ask to have me? You are not my equal. I am stranger than even you could imagine.” I could feel moisture tickling my eyes, threatening to spill over. “You will never have me again. The woman who let you use her body so long ago is dead.” My voice rose and I pressed my hands onto my chest. “Only this creature remains. So please, do as I ask. Leave me alone.” I felt the sob spring free and I turned abruptly, flashing out of the shed and instantly landing onto the cool tile floor of my bathroom. I started the shower as my tears spilled.

Feeling worse with every passing second, I stripped and stood under the hot spray.

Seth was wrong. He had my blood and appeared to be immune to almost all of my powers. I couldn’t touch him or force him into anything, but he had no idea how much I was holding back. The secrets I kept closely guarded. Like my true, form so drastically different from even a few weeks ago. I kept changing, evolving. The only person who knew what I suffered was my dearest friend, Lucian.

When I first changed over, he had witnessed my true form. It wasn’t such a big deal then. The change was new to both of us and I was happy to finally be in control. It was only after we had come home that the implications of what my true form could do hit me. I felt so drastically different that I instantly began hiding behind glamour. Lucian was exposed to my earliest form and I’d be damned If I was ever going to show him what I had ultimately become. I could only imagine how he would react to the final version. He knew I was scared and he never once pressed me.

I slid to the floor while the dual jets pounded their heated therapy all over my body. I let the last of my glamour slip away. The tension and stress of holding it was washed down the drain along with the water. I was exhausted. The water began to cool and I stepped out onto the fluffy bath mat. It always felt good to wrap my glowing skin into my favorite oversized terrycloth robe. Without any glamour, my hair had a life of its own. It never stayed wet, the shining, metallic locks always flowing and tumbling as if writhing with too much life. I felt like a Vegas version of Medusa. I could never begin to explain how bizarre I always felt looking the way I do in a common bathrobe. Like spying Wonder Woman reading a magazine on the toilet. To imagine such a fantastic being doing the everyday mundane was way too surreal. To live it was worse. I left the bathroom, not once glancing into the mirror.

I made a cup of tea and curled up onto the couch that was once my Grandma’s. I loved it. The familiar feeling of family always filled me with warmth. Music, soft and gentle helped further ease my senses. The beautiful melody of Chopin’s Polonaise in B- flat lulled me, until I felt my eyes begin to close.