“No. Looking at you is…I was trying to avoid…never mind. It doesn’t matter.”
His response only piqued my curiosity. I had assumed that the dark room was because he didn’t want me to see him, but perhaps it had been the other way around. “Is it because you and I were once…” I swallowed the words I’d meant to say.
“I loved you,” he said.
“And now?”
“It’s complicated,” he replied.
“No kidding.” I held my hands out toward the fire to soak in a little more heat. It was the middle of the day, but it was also still February.
He glanced at me, frowning. “These days, love is something people see in movies or on television, a fantasy concocted by the media they try to mimic. Their version is fleeting and cheap.”
“Not true. My parents love each other. They’ve been together for forty years.”
“Because they likely have a unique connection—a rarity that goes beyond today’s definition of love.”
“What about you and me?” Obviously I didn’t love him. I barely knew the guy. Or…I did and—never mind. I had no fucking clue what was going on.
“You and I have a connection, too. Only ours was forged in a moment of torment and pain.”
“Care to elaborate?” I said.
“It’s simple. Your father was a powerful man, and he cursed me to roam the earth, living his pain of having to kill you. You are also very powerful and didn’t want that, so your soul won’t rest until you’ve released me from your father’s curse. Which is why you must kill me—you’re the only one who can free my soul.”
I cringed.
“Don’t look so shocked,” he said.
“I think you’re misinterpreting my lack of enthusiasm. And you’re mistaken if you think I’m going to kill you.”
“You have no choice, Theodora. It’s your fate. And you want to be free of your vow just as much as you want to free me.”
“Fuck you. I won’t kill you.”
“Sooner or later, I will not be able to hold back. That rage you saw out there—that violent man—he’s inside me. And looking at you only aggravates him. Eventually, he’ll break free again, and when he does, he’ll try to kill you. You will have no choice but to defend yourself and end me.”
I understood now what he was saying, nevertheless… “There has to be another way.”
He gave me a look that made me want to crawl inside a hole and die. “What?” I snapped back.
“You think I haven’t tried?”
“How the hell should I know? Not like I’ve had time to think through every piece of this.”
“My brother and I have attempted to break the curse many times—nothing works. Not even dying. And, by the way, the part where I’m dead, disembodied, no way to feel anything other than suffering and pain, that’s no picnic. You have to do this for me, Theodora. You are just as powerful as your father was, which means you are capable of ending this pain. And you must do it now. Before I lose control and try to hurt you.”
I understood what he was saying. I truly did. Seize the moment. But I could not do what he asked. I wasn’t capable of murdering someone. I just wasn’t.
“I’m sorry, but we’re just going to have to wait until you ‘lose control,’ because I’m not about to take a knife and slit your throat or run you over with my car or whatever the hell you imagined I’d be doing to you.”
Mack shook his head at the floor. “If I get to you first, then all this starts over again. You’ll be reborn, and I will have to sate my urges.”
I stared at him, trying to grasp what he was saying. He didn’t mean that…that… “You go around killing people?”
“I’m very good at it.”
I wanted to vomit. I didn’t remember my father, this Kan man, but what a jackass. What was he thinking when he’d cursed Mack?
“Great. You’re a serial killer.”
“No. Never that. But there is always killing to be done in this world, Theodora. For my brother, for powerful people, for pride and country.”
I just…I just… “This is too much.” I stared at him in complete wonder. And awe. And then the lust kicked in.
One corner of his mouth curled into a wide smile.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. You gave me that same look the second time we met.”
“I wish I could remember,” I said.
“Perhaps you simply don’t wish to. Not a surprise, frankly.”
I was in no position to speculate. “Tell me what you remember. I want to know everything.” What I really wanted to know was how to save him. And the devil was always in the details.
“If I tell you, will you do what I’ve asked?” he said.
I couldn’t lie, so I danced around the question. “It might increase your odds of persuading me.”
He shook his head. “Stubborn. You are always so stubborn.”
~~~
MACK