Cursed (Demon Kissed #2) (9 page)

Before I found Al, I was redirected by
two more Martis guards. They were dressed in blue, and they had the
insignia of the court stitched onto the left breast of their
uniform. I wasn’t certain what their role was, but I knew it was
different than my normal guard because of their uniforms. They
weren’t just guards. My dual escort dropped back allowing the new
Martis to move in closer.

They rerouted me through the building,
refusing to answer my questions. Eventually, we neared the lower
chambers of the villa and I knew that they were ushering me to the
hearing.

I continued to speak to them, though
they didn’t reply. “What do they want me for? Is Eric all
right?”

Why wouldn’t he be all right? He
couldn’t lie, well not totally, and we sealed the portal together.
Case closed.

So why all the guards? And where was
everybody?

A bead of sweat rolled down my spine
making me shiver. This was bad. My finger nervously rubbed my ruby
ring to abate my tension. There would be no coming back once I
left.

The guards walked me along the
corridors to the courtrooms. We passed ogling Martis who weren’t
important enough to get inside the court room where Eric was
waiting. I’d been in the room several times, and it was equally
intimidating every time. The court room was white travertine stone,
like the rest of the building. Ornately decorated bleached oak
dividers encircled the center of the room. The person being
questioned sat alone in the center of the floor. That was where
Eric sat now. Behind the dividers sat rows upon rows of Martis.
They were divided into three sections, each according to his or her
specialty—Polomotis, Seyer, and Dyconisis. The eldest and most
influential members sat in the first row with their Martis marks
exposed. Guards flanked every entrance and exit in the room. They
wore the same insignia and uniform as that of my new Martis
guards.

The court felt cold, and unforgiving.
Not sitting next to a judge or lawyer made the person testifying
feel isolated. Maybe that was the intent. If you put someone on the
stand, and made them feel utterly alone, and outnumbered by row
upon row of immortals…well, it’s intimidating even if you are
innocent. I can’t even imagine how the guilty must feel.

How do you have a guilty Martis
anyway? It’s not like they can totally lie. And they pretty much do
what they are told. They’re like a bunch of lemmings in that way.
Martis glared at me as I was escorted into the back of the room. I
glared back. The guards stopped me before I could enter the small
circle where Eric sat. They didn’t stop his testimony to get me.
I’d walked in while it was still going on.

Eric sat on a small white chair with
an expression on his face that I’d never seen before. His brow was
pinched tight, and his fingers were balled into fists on his lap.
He sat at the edge of his seat like a metal pole was strapped to
his spine. His amber eyes were blazing as he stared at the Martis
who was questioning him—Julia.

“
Answer the question,
Eric. Did you or did you not see Ivy Taylor perform a demon kiss on
a Valefar to revive him?” Julia’s jaw locked as she gripped the oak
partition in front of her.

Eric sounded like he could barely
restrain himself, “Yes.”

“
And did you or did you
not have the opportunity to destroy both Ivy Taylor and this
Valefar?” Julia was leaning forward now, her eyes narrowing. The
room was utterly silent.

Eric’s jaw tightened. For a brief
second his eyes flicked to mine, and then stared at Julia. “Yes.”
The gasps in the courtroom were so loud that it took a few minutes
for Julia to restore order.

Another Martis sitting next to Julia
spoke out. His voice resonated through the remnants of shocked
whispers, “Then answer, boy. Why did you betray your own kind and
let her live?”

At that second I understood what was
happening. They didn’t call Eric back for his testimony; they
called him back to condemn him—for sparing my life. They were
asking him about a different night; a night that happened so fast
that I wasn’t sure what happened at all. They were questioning Eric
about the evening that I saved Collin. I never would have said I
gave him a demon kiss. A demon kiss rips the victim’s soul out of
their body through a kiss. No, that wasn’t what happened at
all.

That night was a flood of images
forever burned behind my eyes. Eric’s face contorted with rage when
he saw me emerge with Collin. He thought I was bound to Collin. He
thought I turned Valefar. Eric’s sword swung and slashed through
Collin. There was so much blood. Collin’s limp body lay in my lap,
as I cradled him in my arms. Tears blurred my vision. And before I
knew what happened, I kissed him. I gave him my blood…my tainted
angel blood. But that wasn’t the craziest thing I’d done. No, I did
something more insane.

And that was what the Martis found
out. That was why they were enraged. Someone told them that I’d
saved Collin. Someone had told them that my kiss with Collin worked
like a demon kiss in reverse. Instead of stealing Collin’s soul, I
gave him a piece of mine—a piece big enough for him to
live.

I saved a Valefar. And not just any
Valefar. The leader of the Valefar—Collin Smith.

And Eric…he did nothing to stop it,
which was equally shocking since he was the golden boy of the
Martis warriors. Martis came from all over the world to learn from
him. There was no one better than him. But, he let this
happen.

My eyes widened, and I felt myself
leaning towards him. Why did he let that happen? I never realized
what he did. There was a second when I was vulnerable, but Eric
didn’t strike. He sliced through Collin, but hesitated when it came
to me. I always thought that the dark mist that swirled around
Collin and I had protected me. Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe Eric
faltered.

My opinion of him shattered. I had no
idea what to think. Eric hated Valefar. He detested everything
about them, and I was half Valefar. But he saved me. He spared me
when he thought I was a full Valefar? What the hell? Why would he
do that? Did he really do that?

Stunned, I stood there with my mouth
hanging open. I had no idea what I thought of Eric at that moment,
but I wanted him to stop speaking. He was damning himself. His kind
wouldn’t forgive his actions.

Not for this. It appeared to be beyond
an accident. Sparing me was beyond a colossal failure.

It was mutiny.

Before I realized I was moving, a
strong hand clamped down on both my shoulders. I looked back at the
guards, and they shook their heads indicating for me to remain
where I was.

Eric swallowed hard. A vein on the
side of his face was throbbing, and his temples shined with sweat.
He unclenched his jaw and spoke calmly and evenly, not apologizing,
“I cannot say.”

Julia shot up from her seat enraged.
“You can say! And you will! Why didn’t you kill them? You had the
Prophecy One in your grasp and she was vulnerable. She proved she
can create more of her kind, and you did nothing! Nothing! A new
Martis stood at your side, waiting to attack, but you did nothing!
Eric, you were our most trusted warrior. You pursued the Prophecy
One for almost two millennia. You did exactly as commanded; found
her, befriended her, but when the chance came to destroy her, you
failed. Answer for your misconduct, or we will answer for
you.”

The sound of silence filled the air.
No one breathed. Everything felt surreal, passing slower than time
allowed. Mixed emotions flooded my chest. I had no idea that he
pretended to be my friend. I thought he cared about me the same way
Shannon had before we ended up on opposite sides. As if he could
hear my thoughts he turned his head toward me. His golden gaze
softened, and there were words in his eyes that he could not
speak.

Not here. Not now.

The Martis grew impatient with his
lack of response. Julia screeched at him, but he said nothing. The
Martis guards that surrounded the room were rigid, waiting for
something that I didn’t see coming. When Eric refused to answer and
Julia was done berating him, another Martis spoke.

This man was older, his voice softer,
but no less powerful, “Eric, if you will not defend yourself we
have no choice but to find you guilty…of treason.” The old man
looked at Eric with concern.

Behind him sat Al, and several rows
back sat Shannon. Shannon’s face revealed raw terror as the guard
behind Eric moved slowly toward him, holding silver chains. Her
green eyes were wide when she caught sight of me. It looked like
she was caught in a silent scream.

Eric didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He
remained on the chair, with his jaw locked tight. The guards pulled
his wrists behind his back and bound them with the silver chain.
Eric’s brazen gaze did not falter. He stared at Julia.

The old Martis sighed in resignation,
“Eric, you’ve left us no choice. You have broken our code of honor
and abandoned your quest before completion. You did the unthinkable
and allowed a powerful Valefar to regain life, by failing to kill
your target. Your defiance makes us think that you are under the
influence of another.” His eyes cut to me, and then back to Eric.
“Because you will not counter these claims, we have no choice but
to sentence you as traitor. You are hereby stripped of your title
and rank. Celestial silver made you one of us, now it will take you
away.” The man’s face was grim, as he turned away from Eric. It was
as if he were too horrified to watch.

The guard, who restrained Eric,
stepped in front of him. Eric didn’t move. He didn’t plead, flinch
or try to run. He sat rigidly; intent on taking whatever they were
going to dish out. The guard tore open the front of Eric’s white
shirt, and ripped his Celestial Sliver necklace away. They took his
only means to protect himself against the Valefar. Now there was no
way to kill his enemies or hide his Martis mark.

The guard touched the small silver X
pendant on Eric’s necklace to his mark. The silver glowed blue
before changing into a sword, Eric’s sword. The guard turned, and
walked toward the elder Martis with the sword lying across his open
palms. He was saying something that didn’t make sense to me, as
some Martis handed him something. Were they speaking
Latin?

The guard moved carefully, as if he
were handling poison. The room was eerily silent. It wasn’t until
the guard turned around again that I realized what he’d done. The
gleaming silver sword was covered in a black substance that clung
to the blade. My heart jumped into my throat. It couldn’t be. But
it was.

Brimstone. They coated the entire
blade with the lethal black substance.

Paralyzed, I stood there watching. I
didn’t know what was happening. There was no way they were going to
do what I thought they were going to do. They wouldn’t kill their
own kind, would they? Suddenly, I wasn’t too certain. Some of the
Martis looked shocked, while others were outraged. But, Eric’s face
didn’t waiver. He didn’t beg, speak, or cry out. Surely he’d say
something if he was in mortal danger.

Disbelief was making me stupid. The
guard continued to move towards Eric. Eric continued to remain
silent. If he spoke, and said why he didn’t kill me that night,
there was no way that this would happen. The elder Martis made that
clear. But Eric said nothing. Why was he doing this?

Everything else happened in a matter
of seconds, utterly horrifying seconds. The Martis guard turned. He
held Eric’s sword above his head for the entire court to see,
careful not to touch the blade, turning slowly to each side of the
room and then back to Eric. The entire assembly was on the edge of
their seats. Al was vigorously pulling at the man sitting next to
Julia, spewing off angry words in his ear. But, he only shook his
head. Shannon was sitting rigid with a look of horror frozen across
her face.

The sword. The fear. The guard. The
guard was delivering the punishment. My eyes widened as I accepted
the reality of the Martis penalty for treason.

Death.

This was an execution. My mouth
dropped open in horror. I couldn’t swallow. My body wouldn’t move.
Every sound in the room faded away. I stared at Eric in disbelief.
He knew. He knew his actions that night were guilty of treason, an
offense punishable by death—but he did it anyway. He let me live.
Me and my rancid demon blood filled body. Me. The abomination. Me.
His prey for centuries.

My eyebrows pinched
together as trembling worked its way up my tense muscles. It was
then that Eric finally looked at me. His expression softened, as he
mouthed,
I’m sorry
. His golden eyes remained locked with mine. They revealed
unspoken sorrow that I would have never listened to had he tried to
put it into words.

That did it. I couldn’t stand it
anymore. I couldn’t wait here! Not another second. No way. I don’t
know what Eric’s angle was, or if he even had one, but at that
moment I felt utter hatred flame through me. But, this time it
wasn’t directed at Eric. It was directed at everyone else—the
Martis. They were the ones who were sentencing him to death. And,
it was because of me. They thought I deserved to die. Eric didn’t.
He spared me. I couldn’t watch whatever they were going to do to
him. I couldn’t tolerate it. This was unjust. It wasn’t right. Eric
saw something in me that they didn’t. His logic didn’t always make
sense to me, but this was wrong.