This Curse: (The Grace Allen Series Book 2 ) (14 page)

Patrick dropped like a stone.

I pushed more and more of my power into him. I was
furious; tears flooded my eyes and ran freely down my face as Lucian’s face
crept into my mind. What the hell was happening? I sucked back a sob and pushed
more pain into the man writhing at my feet. My life was in turmoil and my
Lucian was lost to me. This man was to blame, he wasn’t alone, but it would
have been his body that forced its way into mine. This man would have made me a
slave and a blood whore.

I smiled and it felt cold. He gagged and rolled on
the floor. Pain was too good for him. I knelt next to him and hovering my hands
over him, I slowly pulled his beast in agonizing slowness from his wretched
body. Just enough to let him know what I could do.

He wanted death. His beast was strong and I gave it
free will. I stood and watched as he rolled on the floor, tearing his clothing
to shreds with disfigured hands. I watched as he slapped and clawed at the
ground, his hands popping and snapping with wet, cracking sounds. His skin
turned red, warping and bulging unnaturally as his wolf beat at him from the
inside. Sweat poured off of his heated skin and foam began to build at the
corners of his mouth. 

“I am beyond you, Patrick.” My voice was flat. I put
my foot on his shoulder. He bucked and twisted in agony and I pushed him onto
his back. “Now be a good doggie,” I met his anguished eyes, “
play dead
.”
And with that, I turned and strolled slowly away my tears drying on my cheeks.

He screamed my name and I cringed. He deserved to
suffer, but something in me made me stop. I looked over my shoulder.

“Please,” he groaned. The sound was distorted as he
tried to form the word through too many teeth.

Fuck!
My
chest hurt. This was wrong
.

I turned. Muting my glamour, once more I allowed his
beast to withdraw. I walked back to him as he fought to catch his breath. “You
said something?” I ground out.

He rolled onto his side coughing and spitting sticky
foam from his mouth. He took several minutes to catch his breath and then he
spoke. “We…we have a woman,” he stammered. “She’s … she was one of us, but they
changed her. I don’t know how, but they took her wolf.” He moaned and rolled
onto his back again. I just stood there until he began to speak again. “She was
only part wolf.” He continued, “It was an attack and she changed. She never
wanted it, so we let them take her.” He tried to get to his knees and swayed.
“I didn’t think he could do it. Hell, I didn’t think he had it in him.” He
finally got to his knees and rubbed his hand down his face.

“What the hell are you taking about? The blonde
woman, who
is
she Patrick? What were you doing with her?” I knelt down;
careful to keep my power nestled deep inside me.

“Lydia. It was Lydia’s idea to use her. She wanted a
female to test her spells on. To test your blood on.” He took several deep
breaths. “They learned a lot from her. Voltaire and Lydia. They used your blood
to test his magic.”

I froze.

“Lydia
and
Voltaire
?” I looked him in
the face, “Where was Lucian?”

“He didn’t sign on until later. We needed a warlock.
Something about the earth and purity I don’t know, it sounded like bullshit.”
He coughed again and I folded my arms in irritation. “They needed a pure
warlock and that’s when Lucian stepped in.” Patrick struggled to his feet.

“They needed a
pure
warlock?” I leaned in.
“They needed someone connected to the earth and everything pure?” I walked a
circle around him. Then I spun and stared at his pathetic face. “They needed
someone
good
?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Patrick bent down, his
hands on his knees, he snorted, bringing up something horrid and then spat it
on the floor.

My heart rate speed up and I turned away. “Lydia and
Lucian work together now?” I asked, turning back around to study his
expression.

Patrick straightened, confusion wrinkling his brow,
“Of course. Lydia isn’t a witch.”

All the tiny hairs on my body stood at attention
sending a tickle of dread along the surface of my skin. Patrick’s words slammed
into me.
Of course!
I thought, as another piece of the puzzle snapped
neatly into place.

 “I’ve got my eye on you, mutt.” I warned him and
then I flashed from the room.

The house was dark but I could sense that it wasn’t
empty. I scanned it again with my mind.
No threats
. I opened the door
slowly.

She was there. Her battered body was lying in a heap
on the floor of my entryway.
What the hell?

I knelt down. Reaching out, I nudged her. Her sharp
intake of air startled me and I floundered and fell backwards onto my ass. She
shot up like a puppet on strings.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” I yelled
without thinking.

She snorted and threw her hand over her mouth.

She was laughing?

“Are you insane?” I asked, stumbling to my feet.

She cocked her head and started laughing again. “I
can’t help it,” she started, “I always laugh when I’m nervous and you have to
admit,” she let out another snort, “it
was
pretty funny, you falling on
your butt like that.” I leveled a look at her and she straightened, holding out
her hand. “Um, you must be Grace.” She stated and I waved her hand away.

“What the hell were you doing sleeping on the floor?
And where is Seth?” I glanced around the room, expecting to see him appear at
any moment.

“I think he fell, I’m so sorry.” She looked miserable
all of a sudden.

“He
fell
?” I yelled. “What the hell does that
mean?” I took off and ran throughout the house calling his name. When no answer
came, I stopped in front of her again.

“Tell me what happened. How are you even here?” I
shook her. She was so frail that I dropped my hands and pulled away quickly. I
looked at her again and then felt like a total ass. I knew she had suffered for
a long time and appeared to be half starved and battered. I sighed, “Look, Seth
is strong as hell. I’m pretty sure he can handle a few wolves.” I tried to
project confidence, but I wasn’t all that sure, that Seth was indeed all right
but this woman looked horrible. “Before you start with the story, do you want
to eat something? Maybe get cleaned up?”

Her relief was visible. Moisture flooded her eyes and
her lip curled up in a miserable looking smile.

I cringed, “Hold on there, Blondie,” I held up my
hands. “It’s okay. No one can hurt you here, you’re safe.” I took her bony hand
and led her to the table as slow and gently as I could. Her hand was so
delicate I was afraid that it would just disintegrate in my grip.

She sat and watched as I prepared her a few things to
eat. I wasn’t sure what her stomach could handle so I kept it pretty mild;
buttered eggs, oatmeal with bananas, rice pudding, toast and the rest of a
roasted chicken that I had in the refrigerator from a few nights ago.

She ate almost every drop, tearing into the food with
her bare hands. I was stunned as I watched her gorge. God, those bastards must
have really starved her.

She finished, leaving only a small piece of toast and
the bananas. She drank two cups of green tea and almost all of my milk.

“Thanks Grace. Um, Can I take a shower?” she asked
sheepishly.

I stood, resolved to the fact that taking care of her
came first. “Sure, let me show you to one of the guest rooms.”

She followed closely behind as I led her through the
house. Once I reached the hallway, she paused. I turned, frowning. “Is
something wrong?” I asked.

“No…
well
. It’s just that no one has treated me
like a person in so long that I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.” She
pushed her tangled hair from her face and sniffed. He fingers were long and
very pale. She was as tall as I was but painfully thin. She looked like the
poster child for urban malnutrition.

“You
are
a person. I don’t care if that person
has something extra or not, are we clear?” I folded my arms and shook my head.
“I know you’ve suffered, but hopefully you will learn to trust me.” I moved to
go then turned back to face her again. “Do you have anyone? Family, I mean?”

She looked down and shook her head. “I had a brother,
but I lost him long ago. My parents died when I was born.” She looked up; a
sparkle of tears lit the corner of her eye. “I have no one. Nothing.” Her
shoulders slumped, as the truth seemed to hit her for the first time.

“Well,” I sighed, knowing she wasn’t a threat or a
criminal. “Welcome home then.” I smiled and took her hand, “Now let’s get you
to the shower. Your funk is starting to stink up the hall.” I winked at her and
opened the door to my largest guestroom.

It was one of my proudest achievements. The bed, a
modest queen size, was piled with fluffy white down comforters and huge square
pillows filled to bursting with fluffy feathers. Midway down the bed was just a
peek of the crisp white cotton sheets that wrapped invitingly around the plump
mattress. A velvety throw was the only splash of color, throwing a slightly
blue reflection onto the starkness of the pure white cloud it sat upon. The
wood floor boasted a dark blue rug and two plump chairs. They were arranged in
front of a huge bay window that looked out at the sprawling desert. A small
table sat between the chairs and on top of it, I had placed a selection of
books and a scented candle.

My guest sighed and stepped carefully inside. She
turned to me, “I can stay in
here
?”

“Yep.” I smiled and gently pushed her further into
the room. “The bathroom is across the room there,” I pointed to a narrow door.
“Towels and a robe are inside along with all the soap you could need. New
razors, toothbrush, and hairbrush are in the vanity. Take your time.” Then I
turned to her, “But don’t take too much time. I need to know what happened.”

She smiled at me and I closed the door. I took
several steps away from the door and was suddenly hit with an overwhelming
sense of dread. My mind screamed that I was missing something.

I took a huge breath, and tried to calm my mind. Her
story had better give me answers.

***

I sat and waited for a solid hour and thought about
all the possible things that could have gone wrong with Seth. Well, all right,
I didn’t sit. I paced, tried to contact Seth telepathically, and tried to leave
my body and search, but nothing worked.
Nothing!

“I’m sorry I took so long” I heard her speak behind
me. “The food didn’t sit well with me and I sorta got sick before my shower.”

“What?” I snapped, and then I stopped myself. “Shit,
I’m sorry.” I sighed and flopped on my couch. I closed my eyes and took a deep
breath. My worry over Seth’s whereabouts was making me crabby. “You got sick?”
I tried to convey concern. “Are you alright now?”

“Yeah, but I was able to keep most of what I ate.
Maybe next time I’ll eat a smaller amount.” She sat next to me. Her long hair
was clean and shining and her cheeks looked a little pinker. She was wearing
one of the outfits I had zapped into her room a dark blue Juicy tracksuit and
thick socks. It was hard to dress a complete stranger so I stuck with comfort
and elastic.

“You look good, how do you feel?” I asked.

“Better, but you don’t have to do that, I know you’re
anxious to hear what happened. You’ve been more than patient with me.”

I let out my breath and sat back. “I can’t reach him.
He’s gone. It’s like he’s been blinked out of existence.” I pulled my feet up
and wrapped my arms around my knees. I felt sick.
He had to be alive.

“It all happened so fast,” she began. “I was chained
to the wall in the dark. Everything felt so hopeless and then I felt
something.” She looked up. “I feel it now, sitting here with you.” She eyed me
and for the first time, I saw a spark of fire in her eyes. “It was
you
,
wasn’t it?”

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. “Just go on,
please.”

“Well,” she stared off as if seeing it unfold all
over again, “one moment I was alone and the next,
he
was there. At
first, he frightened me. He was so sleek and dark. Like some dangerous cat.
Then he knelt next to me and I knew he wasn’t there to hurt me. I felt goodness
in him. Which is crazy because I sensed vampire as well.” She looked at me,
“What
is
he Grace?”

“Irrelevant,” I frowned and waved my hand for her to
continue.

“Alright then. Anyway, he managed to free me and
collect the blood that was stolen. He must have sensed that they were coming because
all of a sudden he dropped the blood and grabbed me. One second I was standing
in the dark and the next I was laying on the floor in your house. He must have
gone back for the blood. I can only assume that Voltaire has him. He is very
powerful you know. I’ve seen his powers.” She looked at her hands. “I’ve felt
his power.” She looked over at me. “I’m sure he lives. Voltaire can block the
power from others, and so much more.”