This Curse

FIVE



The house shook. I jerked awake, sending my teacup spinning onto the floor with a crash. My senses on high alert, I ran. With a thought I was dressed and in full glamour. The door shook, windows rattled and the air seemed charged with an eerie, otherworldly energy. This was no mere windstorm! I fought the urge to panic. It was as if something was trying to rip the house apart. I stood by the nearest window and peered out.

The night was still, not a leaf stirred on any of the trees. The porch swing sat calmly, not a creak, as if the world outside were frozen. I sharpened my senses, opening my mind to scan the darkness between the trees.

I sensed him a second before he stepped out of the darkness. This man was spooky. Dark thoughts tumbled in his head, violence, lust, and a hunger for power.

I turned and leaned my back against the curtains, sighing as the promise of rest fled. I turned, glancing out the window again to get a better look at my potential attacker. He was tall and muscular, like a typical thug should be. He had black hair slicked into one of those faux-hawks. At first it looked like he was wearing a long sleeved shirt with some crazy designs on it, yet now I could see that he was in fact shirtless and covered in tattoos. His jeans were shredded and looked to be about a hundred years old and his muddy feet were bare.

“Damn it! What the hell now?” I muttered as I steeled my resolve. I wasn’t scared, because, lets face it; I was pretty hard to kill. I just really wanted some peace.

The trees cast long shadows in the light of the full moon as I stepped from the warmth of my house.

He stepped from the shadows and slowly approached. The feral look in his eyes told me that he had a little something extra going on. I felt my mind touch his and I shook my head at my rapidly dissolving rules. Entering minds was such an invasion but I found I could do it with little harm to my conscious. From the cocktail waitress earlier this evening to this grungy looking murdering psycho, I figured mind reading was just a means to an end. The day I start reading minds automatically without a second thought was the day I needed to shut myself away from humanity all together.

I closed my eyes touched his thoughts. He was a scout and I had just showed him all he needed to know. I was home and according to his assessment, I was alone and helpless. Yeah, he wished. Violence bubbled to the surface of his mind and a sickening smile spread across his filthy face. He took a step closer to my house as a huge wave of muscular, unwashed bodies broke through the trees and bushy sage. I sighed, resolved to the fact that I was about to have a very bad night. Then, recognition dawned.

Well, shit.

Patrick’s pack had come to call.

My limbs tensed as adrenaline flowed through my veins. I scanned their faces, only recognizing a few here and there from the club. They were all filthy as if they’d rolled and tumbled through the desert instead of walked upright like men.

They stood their ground and I shivered as a thought occurred to me. How did a bunch of wolves cause my house to shake the way it had? The thought barely had time to form a moment before Voltaire appeared out of thin air in front of me. Oh Lovely.

“Madea, I see you wear a false face.” Voltaire’s ugly shriveled eyes rolled inside his hideous face, taking in my glamour. “Tell me, are you so unsightly? I truly hope this is not the case, for that would surely upset my plan.”

I frowned at him, my teeth grinding in my mouth as I tried to process his words. Voltaire has a voice that could make a mortal’s ears bleed. He is a full-fledged demon straight from Hell. Yep, and he is every bit as scary as you would think. When I first met him, I almost passed out from the sound of his voice alone. His ability to strip you down and examine every cell is a frightening reality and an even worse feeling. He could sense my glamour and that meant that he was able to use his powers on me. I was really not okay with that.

“Voltaire,” I began, “how horrible to see you. Complimentary as always I see.” I focused my energy on covering my true self. I still had a lot to learn about my own abilities and Voltaire always made me extremely edgy.

I stepped off of my porch onto the gravel-covered ground. My fear safely tucked away behind my severely curled lip. “What business do you have here? Or are you just out walking the dogs?” I nodded toward the filthy pack of unwashed muscle lining my drive. Christian stepped away from the pack and snarled at me. I smiled sweetly at him. His eyes were a strange yellow color and he had spittle on his chin. I guess insulting a pack of werewolves wasn’t the brightest idea. I was immortal, which was a blessing and a curse. If these wolves decided to attack and I was ripped to shreds, would those pieces of me continue? Yeah, it was something to think about for sure.

“I have come to settle a few things. For instance, I see you no longer wear the ring, yet I sense power rolling off of you in waves. All the legends spoke of a lengthy transformation. I wonder?” he stepped closer to me. I followed his movements carefully. “How many of our legends are so inaccurate? I bet if we sliced you open, we’d find all sorts of fun answers.” He smiled and rubbed his hands together as several yips and howls resonated from the pack.

I shuddered and bit back a small twinge of fear. Of course, I would never let it get that far. I didn’t want to hurt these men. At least not yet. I needed to know their motives first. I couldn’t fight them if I knew they were here only because they were following orders. They had to have a pure intent to do harm. Voltaire on the other hand, I couldn’t care less what his intent was. I just wanted him dead in a big way. The only problem with that idea was how to achieve it. Believe me I’ve tried to get into his head, but his mind is a steel vault.

I spotted Dillon shuffling forward a bit. His eyes were huge and oddly shaped. It didn’t take any special powers to understand that he was ready to shift.

I turned my attention back to Voltaire. “You said a few things; so far all you have discovered is that I no longer need the ring. Why drag an entire pack out here just to verify that? Sorry, V but I get the impression that you have a few more things up your sleeve.” I folded my arms and yawned dramatically. “If that’s the case, can you get on with it? I’m a bit sleepy.”

“You mock me?” He seemed to grow larger. His sallow old man façade shrunk and shriveled into a horrible mask of decay. I felt my eyes grow large with shock and revulsion as chunks of skin began to slide off Voltaire’s putrid face.

Patrick’s pack swelled in numbers. Filthy bodies crowded closer to my home. The sickening smell of sweat and Voltaire’s rotting flesh played havoc with my composure. I knew I was in trouble and thanks to Patrick; a lot of these men were going to die.

I was about to break yet another rule and strike out at the group in masse when a mud covered Range Rover screeched wildly into my driveway, kicking up a choking cloud of rocks and dirt. The door was thrown open and Lucian jumped out at a run, his hair flying behind him in a tangled mass. He was shirtless and his feet were bare. Faded jeans hugged his firm thighs as he ran. I had only a moment to appreciate the view before all hell broke loose.

Voltaire spun toward Lucian as I ran from the porch. Lucian’s arms were extended toward Voltaire while he screamed at him in Latin. It was some sort of spell, freezing Voltaire in place like a satanic mime. It was impressive and took me completely by surprise. My mind was spinning as chaos erupted around us.

Patrick’s pack began to scream and holler as one by one they each fell to the ground in a heap of fluid and cracking bone. The change was awe-inspiring and also a bit disgusting. It sounded like a thousand carrots being snapped in half. Clothing ripped as well as flesh. Jaws elongated, splitting human lips to shreds. It was a train wreck; I couldn’t look away. There was no magical cloud to disguise the shift, no shield to save my mind from the horror and pain.

The screaming and moaning died down as the wolves appeared. They were beautiful. My feet were rooted to the spot as I gazed in wonder at the magnificent animals. I could hear Lucian yelling at me and then I felt a violent jerk as he forced me from my daze into a run beside him.

“Why are we running?” I asked somewhat dreamily. “I won’t get hurt; I can take care of myself.” My voice shook as we picked up speed, Lucian all but dragging me along side him.

“We have to lead those bastards away from your house! Jesus, Grace! What the hell do they want? A whole pack? Why would they show up at your door? I thought only Voltaire was here. I was prepared for that!”

I could hear the wolves close behind us. “How could you have prepared?” I was getting a bad feeling. My mind was picking up speed and I knew that whatever Lucian was about to say was going to piss me off.

“I was scrying.”

Yep. I was pissed. “Damn it Lucian!” I stopped abruptly, freezing the area around us in a flash of anger. I didn’t mean to do it, but somehow my subconscious took over and made something happen that was most helpful. I hated to upset the balance, but it seemed I was doing it more and more easily now that I had decided to reconcile with myself.

“Scrying? Bullshit! You mean spying!”

“No, Grace. I was merely showing a friend of mine how to do it. It was just natural for me to hone in on you. When I saw Voltaire, I went nuts. I know he’s a big time player in the Council and you and I both know your powers work differently with him.”

My breath caught and I yelled, “You showed me to a friend? What if I was doing something private? What if my glamour was down? Man I could kill you.” I wanted to storm off in a huff, but that would leave Lucian literally to the wolves, so I just glared.

“I didn’t let her see the image. I wouldn’t do that to you, Grace. Honestly.”

“Her?” I screeched. Who was this ‘her’ person?

“Oh, um.” He looked sheepish, “Lydia, she’s my new apprentice.” He stood taller and I was suddenly struck with a whole new horror. Lucian was half dressed and working with a woman? My heart sank and all thoughts of danger and wolves and nasty rotting demons fled, replaced with the image of my beautiful Lucian in bed with some faceless woman who I knew didn’t deserve him.

Oblivious to my inner turmoil, Lucian continued. “Grace, we need to get these wolves away from here. Can you just zap them someplace else? Lydia has no real magic yet, she can’t defend herself.” He looked truly scared.

“She’s here?” I shouted. “Why the hell would you bring her here?” I felt my anger rise at his foolishness. “Fine Lucian, you go protect the little lady, I’ll take care of the wolves. And the answer to your question is no. I can’t just zap them someplace, or rather I won’t. Never mind my eight million discussions about balance, but where do you suggest I send a pack of angry, hungry werewolves?” I shouted louder, “I’m not perfect and I make mistakes everyday. I won’t unleash them anywhere else. Someone could get killed.” I was so angry and upset at him that I was having a hard time focusing on the much more important issue at hand. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Lucian, I want you to run the other way. Do you understand me? Don’t stop to check on me, just run.” I turned on my heel and strode away from him. “Hide behind that rise and once you hear them start to chase me, you move.” I hollered over my shoulder, pointing vaguely to a large hill covered with dried sage and jumbled tumbleweeds. “Believe me, they won’t follow you.” When he didn’t respond, I turned.

His arms were folded and he was frowning at me, “What are you going to do, Grace?” His voice was hushed and laced with annoyance.

“Really, Lucian?” I shook my head. “You’re the one who brought the woman into a dangerous situation. You were rushing here to fight Voltaire for cripes sake. What did you think was going to happen?” He looked at his hands as if meeting my eyes was too much. I didn’t care. He screwed up and I wasn’t above letting him know.

“Look, it was amazing how you froze Voltaire like that. But now because you chose to bring your helpless apprentice with you, I have to play chase with a bunch of jerk-off wolves. Stupid move, Lucian.” I sighed. “But thank you for helping.” He looked at me then and I tried to smile past my irritation. “Now go, and don’t worry about these a*sholes, they really can’t hurt me.” I turned my back again, ignoring his grumbles. He wanted to save the little hussy, okay, that was bitchy, the little lady. Then I wouldn’t let him down. No matter who he screwed, he was still my Lucian and I didn’t want to see him hurt.

With Lucian running fast the other way, I cleared my mind. What I was about to do was beyond dangerous and I sighed. Shoving all the warnings in my head aside, I dropped a portion of my glamour allowing my pheromones to run free. Energy rushed around me as I set the wolves free from their suspended animation.

I ran through the sage and boulders toward another large hill that rose up behind my property. The other side was open country for another five hundred acres. If I could make it there, then Lucian and Lydia would be safe. I could only hope that Lucian’s spell still held Voltaire.

I tossed a quick glance behind me. Damn, there must be at least fifty wolves behind me! I jumped into a dry creek bed and raced along its path.

They were fast and I knew that my pheromones were perfuming the air like crazy. They would follow me forever if their stamina let them. I had to tire them out. I slowed to a stop, turning to allow the wolves to close in. When they were about ten feet from me, I zapped myself onto the top of the small hill as far from the racing pack as I could safely go. They continued in the direction of my pheromones and I ran.

My mind was struggling to work it all out. I wondered what the hell the wolves were doing here in the first place. I couldn’t let them lose sight of me. The whole point was to get them away from my home and the innocent people there. Damn it. Voltaire was powerful enough to make this little house call on his own. Why would he want the wolves?

Cool air kissed my skin as I picked up speed. Howls and yips sounded distant behind me as my feet flew at an unnatural speed. I had to admit it was exhilarating. With my glamour reduced, even by such a small amount, I felt free.

The wolves were moving in closer and I slowed allowing them to catch up, closing the distance a moment before I zapped myself back to the top of the hill. They were slowing. I managed to zap myself back and forth another half a dozen times as I tried to puzzle out the reason for their presence.

I moved to the hill, reveling in the power of my pheromones. The scent had to be pretty strong to attract these beasts.

Wait, pheromones? I stumbled on the uneven ground and almost fell flat on my face. Balancing myself, I slowed my pace as all the pieces started to fall into place. My pheromones. My body was producing super charged pheromones and now thanks to Patrick, Voltaire was using that knowledge to his advantage. The wolves would be more than happy to run me to ground. It would mean more power for them. I let the reality of that sink in and I stopped in the middle of the clearing.

Holy shit!

Patrick said that I’d made it worse for myself. His reaction had been shocking. I knew he wasn’t attracted to me personally. No, the animal in him was attracted to the power in me. Like any creature in nature, he wanted the best mate he could get. And now it seemed my power had just made me lucky bachelorette number one. Shit!

But, wait a minute, what was in it for Voltaire?

I paced in the dirt, puzzling out my thoughts as the wolves closed in on me. I zapped onto the top of the hill again and looked over my shoulder toward the advancing pack. The answer was starring me in the face. Voltaire would use the wolves to kidnap me. He probably already had Lucian and Lydia. I felt overcome and began to run again. I could feel the blood in my body cool. “Oh. My. God! Not again!” I cried and then in a daze, I zapped myself to the top of the hill and right into the path of a huge black wolf. The air left my lungs as the massive animal smashed into my chest.