This Curse: (The Grace Allen Series Book 2 ) (18 page)

I smiled. “Alright you hairy little spitfire, but
only if you’re absolutely sure.” I looked deep into her eyes, waiting for doubt
to reveal itself. When none did, I backed off.

“Open the door.” She placed her hands on my shoulders
and spun me around. She kept one steadying hand on my arm as I reached for the
knob. 

It turned easily. “Well, that wasn’t so ba…” My feet
were jerked from the floor and my arms flew backward like twigs as a vacuum of
screaming wind sucked me into the cavernous room beyond the innocent looking
door. 

I was screaming when I opened my eyes. “Holy, hell!”
I croaked, as I tried to force my body to move. I managed to lean a little on
my elbow when a screech flew from my mouth. My body rose off of the ground then
I was slammed hard into the cold, solid surface of a wall. A painful grunt
echoed off the wall beside me, letting me know that Jamie had suffered the same
fate.

I opened my eyes and winced at the throbbing pain
flooding my head. “Whoever is responsible for this shit had better guard their
nut sack!” I seethed, feeling my little Yoda feet dangle in mid air.

“Hush!” Jamie gasped. She was twisting and struggled
against the wall. “You’ll only make it worse.” she warned.

We were trapped against the wall, held in place by
demon magic. The kind I was so afraid to chip away at. I could free us as far
as I could tell. I just didn’t know who was watching. I looked around the room
and felt my anger war with my mounting fear.

The room was awash in blue light. A huge rounded
glass tank burbled and bubbled in the center of the floor and inside looking
horrible was Seth. I gasped. His skin was pruned and puffy looking like a
specimen in a jar.

This wasn’t good. I wanted to send out a thought to
him, to wake him or make him move but then thought better of it. He appeared to
be unconscious and from the stillness of his body, I could only assume that he
wasn’t faking it.

Someone had interrupted our telepathy, someone with a
lot of power and if that someone was still listening I would be wise to keep
silent. I looked at Seth. His poor body was so waterlogged and limp. Obviously,
that creature must have had an idea that Seth was speaking to an outsider. The
only question was, did they know it was me?

I was pissed. We’d come so far, only to be caught so
close to our goal. No way was I going to just hang here like a piece of ugly
art. I looked around the room. No one seemed to be around. My anger was winning
out over my good sense and I looked at Jamie, prepared to warn her of her
sudden fall. I wanted out of here, and if using my magic could accomplish that,
then we were so out of here.

I froze. The look on her face was one of sheer panic.
“Please, don’t? Just trust me on this,” she begged, frightened.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I whispered.

“She is trying to get you to shut your wretched,
wrinkled mouth, mongrel,” Lucian rounded a set of tall cabinets and smirked at
us. “What have we here?” he slowly approached. “A couple of bent little
witches? We were told to keep a look out for you. It seems you never showed up
at the council hearing.
Someone is quite curious about that
.” He folded
his arms and looked at us with disgust. “I personally couldn’t care less. You
are like smelly little roaches, and I have things to do.”

I tried to hide my smile at his ignorance.
So far,
so good

 “Please, let us go, we just got lost is all.” Jamie
was a really horrible liar and I cringed, waiting for Lucian to react to the
obvious falsehood, but all he did was curl his lip and snap his fingers.

At the sound, Lydia came running to his side. She
looked a little haggard, like her skin didn’t quite fit. It sagged oddly at the
corners of her eyes, her lips looked like wax. She was falling apart. I
shuddered.

“You need me, baby?” she slid up his body and Jamie
flinched. Oh great!
This could fall apart real quick.

“I need no one, my dear.” Lucian ran his hand down
her hair. The action was tender, but the look in his brown eyes chilled me. As
if he could’ve just as easily snapped her neck. The look of disgust was back as
he gazed at us again. “Inform him. It appears we have the wretched creatures.”
At Lydia’s confused expression he sighed, “The witches you lack whit! He
demanded we inform him the moment they were found.” and with that, he turned on
his heel and left the room.

Lydia watched him go longing in her eyes. I would
have felt sorry for her and her pathetic one-sided affection if it weren’t for
the fact that she was a lying whore of a demon who needed to be taken out as
soon as possible. 

Lydia eyed us “You two don’t look like much.” She
squinted, examining us like bugs under glass. “How’d you do it? No witch can
charm the halls.” I felt like she was speaking another language.
Charm the
halls?
What the hell was she talking about?

She shook her head and folded her arms across her
chest. “Oh, come on, everyone knows that only Lucifer can move about the halls
freely. You go where you’re told. So, spill it. How’d you do it?” she watched
us. I began to squirm. Shit, I had no idea that they knew what I had done. I
didn’t try to charm the halls. I only wanted to get us out of the hall we were
in
and closer to
Seth
.

I was a total trouble magnet!

She snorted. “Well, you two little maggots will
squeal soon enough. No one hides secrets from
him
.” She watched us for
several minutes, and then apparently satisfied that we weren’t going anywhere,
she turned and left the room, slamming the door loudly behind her.

“What the
fuck
?” Jamie sobbed, her head
falling back to connect with the wall. “I think I know who they’re talking
about, now. God Gracie, we are so dead,” she sounded defeated.

“It doesn’t matter, besides, we have no time to worry
about that, and we have to get out of here.” I closed my eyes and with a
thought, we were both back on the ground. “Let’s grab Seth and get out of here.”

The huge tank was made of some super thick glass and
a whole lot of metal. We searched for a button or a release lever that would
empty him out somehow.

“Can’t you just use your magic?” Jamie whispered.

“This tank is spelled. I’ve been trying to untwist it
since I spotted our fine-looking friend here.” I moved along the large control
board, reading each button and lever. “There has got to be a release here
somewhere.” I mumbled to myself in frustration.

“Maybe this is it?” Jamie jumped and pointed to a
large, blue button shining high on the rim of the tank. “This could be it, you
think?”

“Or it could be an alarm or a super fast way to make
a latte,” I observed with a frown, “but it’s worth a shot.” I looked around for
something to crawl on when something else caught my eye. “Wait, hang on.” I
picked up a large metal rod and tested its weight.

“You don’t really believe that your yoda-like muscles
will be able to break that huge tank do you?” She cocked her hip, folding her
arms she scowled at me.

“No,” I sighed in thought, “but if I juice this rod
up with some power to amplify the strike, as well as throw some of my Madea
mojo at it, that could be enough to do the job.”

“Good thinking. It’s a lot better than pushing the
wrong button.” She shrugged and I sighed. This would be a real crappy time to
fail her.

“Okay, here goes everything!” I lifted the rod and
twisted back as far as I cold go. Pushing my will into the rod, I swung at the
glass with all I had.

The huge tank splintered, then in one huge rush of
water, it burst and I gasped as water and thick chunks of glass washed over me.
My small body was no match for the huge hunks of glass that bombarded me.
Searing pain sliced through my leg and the sound of a bone snapping sent me to
the ground in agony. I slid in the wave of water, trying to gain my footing
through the pain just as Seth’s big floppy body came crashing down upon mine. I
struggled to move; Jamie’s tiny screams filled the air as water filled my
lungs. The light in the room began to dim and I drifted away in a fog of
confusion and ultimately a frightened resolve.

“Your ineptitude is equaled only by your arrogance,
fool.”

The voice was deep and melodious, despite the insults
being tossed about; the sound was oddly soothing. I tried to move, pain
radiated from the break in my little leg and I flinched, sucking in a quick
breath.

“You’re awake? Oh, man, I thought you were dead!”
Jamie’s whisper was almost too soft for me to hear.

“What happened?” I rolled over gingerly, careful to
keep my leg as still as possible. The break didn’t look bad, but as far as I
knew, I was one good sneeze away from it shoving through my skin. The damp
floor was cold and made my bones ache. I looked around, “Did they just kick us
into a corner?” We weren’t shackled or restrained in any way.

“No, I think they’re trying to figure out what
happened, how Lucian must have messed up. They think the tank just burst,
injuring you, and scaring me. So far they still believe we’re just a couple of
witches.”

I looked at the men as they spoke. Lucian stood with
his arms folded as always, but this time, his head was lowered. One foot rested
on the edge of a table leg, his heel bounced up and down rapidly. He looked
nervous.

The other man was taller. His shoulders were broader,
more defined than Lucian’s and his blonde hair was much lighter, almost white.
Cut close to the man’s head, it looked almost military. I could see the tips of
a tattoo poking out of the collar of his shirt. His back was facing us and I
found myself wishing hard that he would turn around.

The blonde man’s shoulders stiffened and he stopped
speaking. I realized my mistake, sucking in a shocked gasp. What did I just do?
I might as well have called out to him. Panic flooded me as he slowly turned to
look at us. I flinched, trying desperately to look away. It was impossible. His
eyes found and held mine.

A frown drew his brows together. It did nothing to
mar his exquisite beauty. He stepped forward slowly, his face a puzzle of
wonder.

I watched him move, a strange heat filled my body as
if an ancient part of my soul had just awoken.
He was somehow familiar to me
.
My heart began to hammer in my chest and my breathing sped up as he came
closer.

I was frozen with fear. I
knew
… I knew who
this creature was.

“No…” I felt the blood drain from my face.

 “
Lucifer
,” it was sound on breath but it
might as well have been a shout.

Jamie gasped, staring at the man in horror, she
sputtered. “Lucif...” and then thankfully, she fainted dead away. 

I struggled to pull her limp body close to mine, it
was the only thing I could think of to do and I felt a bit better when she was
firmly pressed against my side.

He
was
still approaching almost too slowly now, Lucian following a fair distance
behind.

I shrank back as he drew closer, yet I was still
unable to look away. This was the Big Bad! Beelzebub. This was the angel cast
out of Heaven. He was the ultimate evil,
and he was looking at me!

“You are nothing that you seem, are you, little imp?”
he spoke, his voice reached out like a living thing, caressing me, tempting me
to answer.
‘Open up. Trust’
it soothed. I was transfixed, mesmerized by
the movement of his perfectly sculpted lips. I jerked my eyes from his mouth,
shaking my head I focused on his knees.

“Tell me, little one. What are you in truth?” He
knelt down, leveling his face with mine. “Your power pushed me.” He looked down
and frowned as if realizing the significance of that for the first time.
Standing, he glared at me. “You compelled
me
?” He turned to Lucian and
then back to look at me again. He smiled and I watched in horror as
understanding filled his eyes. I stared spellbound and watched him as if I was
floating in a sort of numb state of stupidity. He looked at Lucian again and
then started to laugh.

I was unable to move. I watched his hands rise up
.
Man, tattoos peeked out of his shirt cuffs? Yum, so sexy.
I shook my head,
alarmed at my thoughts.
Fuck! Something was
so
wrong! He was the
ultimate seducer. I was being seduced and he wasn’t even trying!
I
watched his long fingers as they glowed with power.

Power
?

Oh no.

A bolt of crackling power shot from his hands,
hitting me square in the face. Pain entered every cell of my blood and I shot
backward. I screamed as my skin sizzled with blistering heat. The power shot
off of my skin and onto Jamie. My glamour boiled and then melted from my Madea
flesh. My hair erupted from the confines of the tiny cloak, which now lay
shredded on the floor at my feet. I had been thoroughly stripped of all shards
of my glamour and my skin glowed with the power of the Madea. Panicked, I
sucked in my breath and searched for Jamie. I was strong, thanks to my power,
but Jamie was still human. She may be a witch, but she was mortal.