Cursed (Demon Kissed #2) (2 page)

Julia and Eric left for Rome a couple
of weeks ago. They had to report the Long Island battle to the
Martis. Way too many Valefar and Martis had invaded my life. Back
then, I had no idea why. Now I knew exactly why—both forces were
converging on the point of the final battle. It wasn’t a
coincidence at all. It was me, pure and simple. The Valefar needed
my power to free Kreturus and the Martis wanted me dead. Before I
had any idea what I was, both sides were hunting me. Eric’s sole
mission for the past two-thousand years was to find and kill
me.

I heard that the Martis took Eric’s
testimony and banished him to some remote location for his
disobedience. Julia was the only one who knew his whereabouts. It
seemed they wanted to make sure I didn’t go looking for him. But, I
couldn’t. The knowledge that he was involved in my sister’s death
ignited something within me. It burned in my bones, and made me
insane with rage if I thought about it too long. I pushed the
thought away, and stared out the little oval window. The topsides
of fluffy white clouds passed beneath the jumbo jet. I leaned my
head against the glass.

Shannon spoke to the back of my head.
She had wanted to tell me something since they closed the plane
door. “The Tribunal wants me to testify as soon as we get there.
Once I do that, I can help you search the library for the stuff
you’re looking for.”

I nodded, waiting for more. But, she
said nothing else.

She pulled her feet up onto her little
coach class seat, and wrapped her arms around her legs. The
passengers around us were sleeping. “You wanna talk?”

No. I didn’t want to talk. Instead, I
shrugged, and said, “There’s nothing to say.” I turned back toward
the window. Hollowness consumed me. I hadn’t spoken of Collin or my
mother to anyone. I couldn’t. It was too horrible.

“
There’s lots to say,” she
replied. “You just don’t want to.” I didn’t turn to look at her. I
wasn’t having this conversation in an airplane, but Shannon didn’t
drop it. “Do you love him?”

Turning slowly, I felt my jaw open
slightly in surprise. Why would she ask me that? It was like
stabbing me in the heart. Of course I loved him. I finally said, “I
don’t want to talk about it.”

She tilted her head back, examining
the overhead storage bin above her as she spoke. “You used to say
there was no such thing as love. Remember that?” I nodded. I
believed that whole-heartedly until rather recently. “We both said
that. True love was the stuff they stuck in fairytales and
myths.”

“
It is,” I replied. And I
still believed for the most part that it was. True love doesn’t
have happy endings. Case in point; I’m on a plane and Collin is in
Hell.

“
Then, why won’t you say
that you love him?” she asked. “Ivy, he gave his life for you. He
took your place in Hell. Even if you don’t know how you feel, it’s
clear that he didn’t want to be just friends.”

Tears were welling up behind my eyes.
She picked the worst thing to possibly talk about. I had to cut her
off before I started saying things that I didn’t want to share. Our
relationship wasn’t like it had been before I was turned into the
Prophecy One. I couldn’t tell her everything anymore. Loving Collin
wasn’t just a personal issue; it also had deadly ramifications. He
was the anchor that was luring me toward the Valefar side of the
war, whether I liked it or not. And I knew that Shannon didn’t like
that at all. Refusing to discuss it, I said, “It doesn’t matter now
anyway. I’m here. He isn’t.”

Shannon was quiet for a moment. I
could feel her eyes on the side of my face, but I wouldn’t look at
her. She didn’t have to know everything about me. The truth was
simple. The idea of loving Collin scared me to death. I’d rather go
to Hell, than admit that I loved him. To anyone. Myself included.
There’s something eternal about love and once it starts, it doesn’t
stop. There is no controlling it—love does what it wants when it
wants. That was dangerous enough without the prophecy.

The flight attendant asked us if we
needed anything, snapping me out of my thoughts. I grabbed a
blanket and Shannon requested a Coke.

After she cracked open the can,
Shannon started telling me about the Martis villa in Rome. “After I
testify before the Tribunal, I can help you look through the
archives. We can figure something out. And that’s the best place to
look.”

I nodded. We’d gone over this with Al
in New York. The Martis had archives dating back to the beginning
of time. If I was going to learn anything about Kreturus, it would
be there. I just wasn’t certain what I was looking for. I didn’t
expect them to keep documents on how to kill the ancient demon,
especially since they didn’t kill him themselves.

Why did they trap him, anyway? It
would have been better if they killed Kreturus. Then we wouldn’t be
frantic worrying that he was trying to bust out of his hole in the
ground—that’s assuming he’s still stuck. Al thought that Kreturus
was no longer bound in the pit that the Martis trapped him in
millennia ago. There were several reasons she was skeptical. And
the demon was smart enough not to announce his escape if he was
able to roam the Underworld. The rest of the Martis were walking
around thinking they just had to handle the Valefar, not even
thinking that their master was loose again. They could be in for a
rude surprise.

Finally, I turned back towards my
friend. Or frienemy. Or whatever she was, and decided to talk about
things that were safe. “Tell me about the Tribunal,” I said. “Is it
a single person, a panel, or what?”

I leaned back in my seat and looked at
her. For the first time I noticed the weary appearance of her eyes.
Maybe she took all this stuff harder than I thought. There was a
burden on her that I didn’t notice before. Her normal lighthearted
banter and carefree mannerisms were slothified. I was so wrapped up
in my own grief that I hadn’t noticed.

She smiled, sipped her Coke, and then
said, “The Tribunal is a bunch of people. It’s kind of like the
Supreme Court in that they all get a say. Select Martis of each
division are given a vote. They listen to testimony, and consider
the words of their fellow Martis—but they are not bound to anyone
or anything. They are the highest level of judges amongst
us.

“
The Tribunal only comes
together when something is majorly screwy. Like this. Overturning a
prophecy is major stuff. Al wants them to uncondemn you. Until they
do, you have to worry about a Martis stabbing a silver blade in
your back.” She threw her head back and chugged more
Coke.

“
So, that’s what they
started? A hearing to see if I’m not evil?” I bristled.

“
Nah,” she said. “It’s
more than that. It’s to see if they misunderstood the prophecy, and
what their place in it was for all these years. Several very weird
things happened. You being tainted in the first place and surviving
a demon kiss was odd. Then, a Valefar protected you. That was
unheard of. I know you and Eric hate each other right now, but you
two worked together to close the portal. It looks like the Valefar
and Martis are working together.” She arched an eyebrow at me.
“That would be super weird.”

“
Only if the people
involved were truly Valefar. I’m not. I have a soul. And, so does
Collin. That was why his actions were so erratic. Why would they
think anything else?”

Some things seemed so obvious to me,
but when it came to convincing the Martis of that it was difficult.
I thought Eric was going to kill me when he found out that I was
tainted with demon blood. Their vengeance borders on insane. Eric
knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t some evil, demon-aspiring
wanna-be, but he couldn’t see past my demon blood. That’s all any
of them focus on—blood. And mine’s the wrong kind.

She shrugged. “They need proof. That’s
why they want my testimony. They’ll want yours too.”

What? She never said anything about
having to address the Tribunal. I was supposed to tag along and
research Kreturus, not waste time defending myself. I bristled and
opened my mouth to speak, but she talked over me. “Ivy, you were
there. You’re the main person who can defend your actions. You
really want someone else to do it?”

Suddenly I didn’t think Shannon had
been entirely truthful. Friggin Martis. They always did what they
thought was best and filled you in later. I was sitting on a plane
with her because she said come. If she extended the same amount of
trust to me that I gave her, I would have heard of her intentions
much earlier.

CHAPTER THREE

The flight took too long. I hated
being stuck in a ton of tin hurling through the sky, but it was a
necessary evil. Shannon didn’t know I could efanotate, so I had to
take the plane. We were fairly quiet the rest of the flight. When
the plane finally landed in Rome, I felt a little better. Shannon
and I grabbed our stuff, and walked off the aircraft with the rest
of the passengers. As we left the gate and headed towards the
baggage claim I noticed a few people. They didn’t stick out because
they failed to blend in. No, they blended with the crowds
perfectly. Everything from their traveling clothes, to carry-on
bags, to the travel-swept look said they were passengers from my
flight. But, something was off about them. They hung back in the
crowd, blending in flawlessly. I wouldn’t have noticed them at all,
except that I’d stopped abruptly when I fumbled my purse. It
slipped out of my grasp, and toppled over my hands, landing on the
floor. I ducked to grab it before a shoe kicked my bag away.
Between hundreds of legs, I saw them.

“
What is it?” Shannon
asked.

I snatched up my purse, and stood
slowly. The three had stopped moving, and they acted oddly, no
longer moving with the flow of the crowd. Each one of them stopped,
turned, or stooped nearly in unison. The movements were perfectly
coordinated, as if I shouldn’t have seen them at all. But, for some
reason I did. And as soon as I noticed them, I saw others like
them. Passengers who looked like they belonged, but something about
them was off. It was like they knew each other but weren’t
acknowledging it. I tilted my head towards them and spoke softly,
“We’re being followed.”

Shannon’s gaze cut across the crowd.
An unrecognizable expression crossed her eyes and vanished. She
pulled my arm and leaned in next to me. “It’s nothing. Keep
walking.”

Pulling my arm away, I said, “Shan.
Are they following us or not?”

She glanced over her shoulder, “They
must be moving towards the baggage claim. No big. Ignore them. I’m
watching. Nothing is gonna hurt us.” She flashed a smile at me and
pulled at my arm again. Her reassurance didn’t subdue my
apprehension, but we walked on anyway.

After grabbing our bags, she walked
away from the baggage claim saying, “A car should be waiting for us
out front. Come on.”

I didn’t move. She stopped and looked
back at me. I spoke softly, gesturing for her to come closer. When
she did, I said, “Something isn’t right. Look around you, Shan.
They’re everywhere.” And they were. Men and women stood around not
doing anything. They were not getting baggage, not waiting for
someone, not hugging people hello, not talking on their cell
phones, not looking like lost tourists…but they were clearly
waiting for something. And there were so many of them. We were
surrounded. They’d encircled us while Shannon grabbed the bags and
I got a luggage cart. Damn it! Who were they? Shannon’s eyes
scanned the crowd, but she said nothing. “Oh, geeze, Shan. Tell me
you see them?”

She nodded. “I see them.” Her voice
was faint. Something felt wrong. Wrong with her. Wrong with here.
She recognized the expression on my face. Her fingers shot out and
wrapped tightly around my arm. “Just walk Ivy. They don’t trust
you. If you run, God knows what’ll happen.”

“
Holy shit!” I screeched.
“You knew?” My brow pinched tightly as I shook off her grip and
stepped back. “They’re Martis, aren’t they?” When she didn’t
answer, I leaned in and spat the words inches from her face,
“Aren’t they. Damn it, Shannon! What did you do? What did you do!”
My fight or flight response reared up and I was having trouble
controlling it. Blood pumped through my body at a rapid speed. The
sound of my heartbeat echoed in my ears, as I watched them closing
in on me. When I tore my arm free from Shannon’s grip, the Martis
swarmed.

Shock slowed me down, making several
long seconds feel like minutes. Jaw hanging slack; I stared at
Shannon, unable to believe what she did. I was surrounded by
Martis. She led me straight to them. And, these Martis didn’t know
me. They didn’t fight with me, and watch me slashing down Valefar
after Valefar with rage. They didn’t see me close the portal to the
Underworld with Eric’s help. For all I knew, they were here to kill
me. I stared at Shannon in disbelief. Her green eyes were wide. Her
mouth opened offering an explanation that I didn’t wait around to
hear. The noise in the terminal faded until all I could hear was
the lub-dub of my heart.

My finger rubbed my ruby ring, as I
considered using my Valefar powers to get out of there. The Martis
didn’t know that I channeled my dark powers through the ruby stone
in my ring. They didn’t know that I had to because I wasn’t a full
Valefar. Collin never used a ruby to use his powers, but I had to.
Rubies could contain dark magic, and that was exactly what I did
with mine. I called the dark powers into the stone. The angel blood
that flowed through my veins wouldn’t allow the dark powers to flow
directly through me, so Collin taught me to channel them through
the red stone.