Cursed (Demon Kissed #2) (8 page)

His amber eyes settled on my face.
“No. I didn’t take her life. I wasn’t the hand that physically
killed her. But I should have protected her. You were right. She
was a tourist, and didn’t deserve what happened to her. I’m sorry
Ivy.” He glanced down at his hands, as he folded his fingers
together.

I was quiet for a moment. He didn’t
say what happened to her. He released me from that pain. But I
couldn’t let it go. “Eric, did you see her die?”

He gazed up at me. “Please don’t ask
me to tell you.” His face was melancholy, as he looked me in the
eye. “It won’t help you. You won’t heal this time. Not if you know
the whole story.”

He verbalized the thought that
frightened me the most. It wasn’t until recently that I even
realized that I wanted to live. Before that, things were in a
painful survival mode. How would I manage the pain this time,
especially if it was worse?

Maybe I should have just believed him,
and left it alone. I blinked hard, looking away. That was when I
saw Casey returning with a stack of books that threatened to knock
her over. Martis were freakishly strong, but it was still an odd
sight. The corner of my mouth tugged up at the display. She looked
cartoonish, as she wobbled slowly towards us.

I pushed my hair out of my face and
looked at Eric. “I believe you. I won’t ask. Not now.” I don’t know
what expression was on my face, only that Eric made an unexpected
response. His eyes darted away, before turning to Casey. I felt
like he was hiding something, and he was. It just wasn’t what I
thought.

CHAPTER TEN

Shannon caught up with me
a few hours later, and was startled to find me sitting with Eric.
“I thought you were gonna kill him earlier. How are you guys
sitting here like nothing ever happened?” Her hands were on her
hips and she was smiling. She looked up, noticing the guards
advancing, “Um, she didn’t move. And she didn’t say
kill
—I did. Geeze.” She
pulled out a chair and sat on the other side of me.

I smiled weakly at her, closing the
book that I was reading. “What can I say? We made up.” That wasn’t
the whole truth, but it was close enough. Eric was easy to trust,
but I knew something wasn’t right. It would be foolish to blindly
trust him. No, I couldn’t rely on anyone anymore. Things would
never be so simple again.

Shannon leaned forward, glancing
between the two of us, waiting for more of an explanation. There
really wasn’t more of an explanation that I wanted to share. I
didn’t want to know everything that Eric knew. It was more pain,
and I wasn’t in a position to handle it—not right now. I would ask
him eventually. But right now, I had to salvage what was left of my
loved ones. Collin was still alive. I’d seen it in my
visions.

“
So,” she said to Eric,
“when are you supposed to testify? Again.”

Eric looked up at her. “Tonight.” His
amber eyes shifted to me. “Ivy, this isn’t good. I already told
them that you sealed the portal. They wouldn’t have called me back
over something minor. Julia was irate when I left.”

“
Maybe you left something
out?” I shrugged, feeling irritated with the whole thing. “Maybe
it’s nothing Eric.” Even as the words left my mouth, I knew they
weren’t true.

Shannon said, “Oh, it’s not nothing.
Something has them in a huff. There are Martis darting everywhere
this morning. No, I think Eric’s right. Something’s wrong. It seems
like they already made some sort of decision.”

“
Let’s hope not,” Eric
said as he stood. “I’ll catch up with you after the testimony. In
the meantime stay out of trouble.” His brow was pinched together as
his eyes fell to the floor. He walked away leaving Shannon and me
alone with the ancient tomes.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Flustered, I flicked another page.
“There is nothing in here!” I slammed the book shut and Casey gave
me a warning glance. A sigh left my throat, as I dropped my head
onto the massive open book in front of me.

I’d been reading for hours. The
sunlight had turned golden as the end of the day was nearing.
Eric’s hearing was in a few short hours and I still hadn’t found
what I was looking for. I don’t know what I expected, but I was
hoping it was something that indicated a door or passage that had
superstitions associated with it. It would be something that was
part truth and part folklore to scare people away. It had to be.
That was the way they did things thousands of years ago. Since
Kreturus was sealed in so long ago, it made sense that the stories
and folklore of the day would point towards something. The entrance
was sealed after he was conquered. But, there was nothing
here.

I looked up and saw Shannon walking
towards me. Her chair scraped the floor as she pulled it out to sit
down. “Hey,” she said looking at my pile of books. “Find anything
useful?” I shook my head. Shannon glanced down at the books and
then back up at my face. I wasn’t lying, but I guessed she
suspected that I’d never stopped looking for a way to get Collin
back. She didn’t mention it. Instead she said, “I’m worried about
Eric. I think I’m going to see if Al can get me into his hearing. I
think he might be in trouble.”

I nodded my head, “If anyone can get
you in, it’ll be Al.” Weariness was making me less cautious than I
should have been. “And you should go. I have the same feeling. I
keep trying to tell myself that it’s nothing, and that I can leave
whenever I want, but…I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like
if I leave, I might never come back. And it has something to do
with Eric, but I don’t know what.” My voice trailed off. The dread
that had been bubbling in my stomach as the sun set was tenfold
what it had been the entire time I was there. It was like my body
knew what I was in for, even if my brain didn’t want to admit it,
yet.

Shannon’s eyebrow arched and a wicked
smile spread across her lips, “You can leave?” I flinched at my
stupid mistake. I didn’t mean to tell anyone that. Oops. I was more
out of it than I thought. Her green eyes stared at me in disbelief,
“Then why are you still here?”

I rested my head in my hand and looked
up at her. “This is the only place to find the information I need,
Shannon. But, now that they dragged Eric back…I don’t know. I can’t
leave. Not yet. There is something here that I’m supposed to see.”
I gave her a lopsided smile.

We weren’t best friends anymore. We
never would be. The demon blood that tainted me, although it was by
accident, separated us. We were cast forever in opposite sides of
the same war.

She returned the grin, “Should have
known. I’ll come find you after the hearing and fill you in.” I
nodded as she walked out of the gleaming room.

Desperation flooded me. I don’t know
how I knew, but my time here was running out. I had to find the
entrance to Hell and I had to find it now. Tears welt up behind my
eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. I couldn’t utterly fail so
early in my task. I was tired of feeling like an idiot. It seemed I
was the last to know, the last to figure things out, and that
usually lined up perfectly with being the victim. Feelings of
inadequacy filled my chest. They were so drenched in sorrow that I
could hardly stand it. I was a freak. A failure. Collin had been
trapped down there this whole time, because of me. Why did I let
him do it? Why didn’t I see what was happening in front of me? Damn
it! I had to do this. I had to find the entrance. This was my last
chance, and I knew it.

I pushed aside the book I was reading
and opened another. I had already thumbed through this one. It was
filled with ancient drawings of the catacombs. It showed drawings
of the tombs in fine lines and vibrant colors the way they were
thousands of years ago. Although the drawings were beautiful, they
held no information that I could use.

My fingers traced over the ornate
decoration above an arcosolium. The arcosolium was a grave that was
typically owned by the wealthy. It rested in a very large carved
niche in the wall. The tomb had a fresco painted on top to seal it
depicting an ancient angel watching over a woman. Sometimes the
families painted an image of the deceased or a religious symbol on
the grave. The painting was a form of ancient headstone. It allowed
the mourners to visit her grave, and be reminded of her
life.

I flipped the page. It showed several
different Roman catacombs. The frescos were bright as they had once
been long ago. The colors were more saturated and nothing was
cracked or faded, as they were now. I leaned my head in my hand as
I looked at another painting. This one was a simple depiction of
Mary. It was one of the oldest surviving paintings in Christian
history, and it was in one of the oldest known Roman catacombs—the
Catacomb of Pricilla.

The Martis protected the tombs, and
they were particularly fond of this old catacomb. I flipped in the
book looking for it. There were few words, and fewer paintings at
this early grave. The Catacomb of Pricilla wasn’t the largest, and
it didn’t house as many saints and popes. With its location so far
out of the way, it wasn’t a major tourist attraction like the
larger catacombs either. But the Catacomb of Pricilla was on the
outskirts of Rome and one of the oldest tombs in the vast
underground city of graves. My finger tapped the page. I looked at
the crude paintings. They were much less elaborate than the
others.

That was when I saw it.

My heart hammered in my chest, as my
finger lingered on the piece of information I was looking for. A
weird mixture of joy and disbelief flooded my body. This was it. It
had to be, but it wasn’t what I’d expected. That was the reason I
hadn’t seen it before. The entrance to Hell was indicated with a
simple red mark. It was arched over an ancient tomb. Angels flanked
the red symbol holding flaming swords in their hands. The two
angels faced one another, with their billowy white sleeves
extending toward the other. Their swords crossed and formed an X
made of orange flames.

I stared at it, hardly believing that
I had finally found it. This had to be it. It had to be. The early
Martis marked the tomb with the red Valefar scar. It was a symbol
that every Martis knew. This message was a depiction, a painting.
It was a warning to keep the Martis away. Shortly after the time
this catacomb was used as a burial ground, people had hidden in
there to avoid persecution. Martis may have used it for similar
purposes.

It made sense that there would be a
warning, a reminder to stay away. The consequences of stumbling
into the Underworld weren’t good. Over time the Martis forgot about
this portal, and the Valefar never knew it was even there. When the
Martis left the area of the Underworld that they’d won, they posted
a guard inside this entrance to ensure that our two worlds remained
separate. The Underworld housed the demons, Valefar, the dead, and
other creatures of the night. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I
knew there was one person trapped down there who didn’t
belong—Collin.

Relief flooded my body as a satisfied
smile crept across my face. I couldn’t help it. The smile lit me
from within. The anger and hostility that had been building inside
of me for weeks was wiped out. I wanted to dance and sing at the
top of my lungs that I’d found it. I’d found it. And what that
meant. There was a way to get to Collin. There was a way for me to
travel into the Underworld and save him. And when I found him…the
memory of his arms around me flooded me. I couldn’t wait. Not
another second. When I stood and swirled suddenly, I bumped into
Casey who was standing over my shoulder.

I sucked in a shocked gasp and scolded
her without thinking. “Oww! Crap Casey! You really shouldn’t do
that!” My hand clutched my heart as I tried to steady
myself.

She smiled at me, “I’m sorry. I
thought you heard me.” She looked down at the open book. “Are you
finished with these?”

I nodded, and closed the books hoping
she didn’t see exactly what I’d been looking at. She didn’t act
like she had. I thought about asking her because she would have to
answer with the truth, but then I saw the time. It was seven
o’clock. Eric’s hearing just started.

Instead, I said, “Thank you. I’ll see
you again tomorrow,” knowing full well that I wouldn’t.

CHAPTER TWELVE

I hoped that I could find Al quickly
to confirm what I thought about the abandoned Martis entrance to
the Underworld. The catacombs were massive, sprawling under a large
section of Rome, and if I was wrong, if I picked the wrong
location, there were too many tombs to randomly pick another and
hope I was right. To make my escape, it was important to have the
correct grave picked the first time.

The gleaming hallways were illuminated
by flickering lamplights, as the sun was swallowed by the horizon.
My guard followed behind me, saying nothing about my change in
mood. The hallways were deserted, which was odd for this time of
day, but I suspected that the Martis were all trying to hear Eric’s
testimony. There was tension in the air, and it only worsened as
the evening progressed.