This Curse: (The Grace Allen Series Book 2 ) (21 page)

“Don't you ever do anything like that again!” He
appeared in front of me a moment later, perfectly dry and none the worse for
wear.

“Oh, you are such a baby.” I laughed and ran past
him. “Come on Big Bad, where to next?”

He stopped and looked at me for a long while as I
bounced around on my feet and laughed at him.

“You are nothing like Mariee,” he said, moving passed
me.

“Well la-di-da for Mariee!” I mumbled as I ran to
catch up.

The ground rumbled with the sound of thundering
hooves. The horses were near. Screams filled the air as dozens of Madea ran
from their huts, scattering dust in filthy clouds as they fled to a larger
stone building at the top of the hill. Mariee ran from hut to hut, yelling
orders and yanking her people to their feet. Man was hunting them and they
still wouldn’t strike them down with magic or use it to save themselves. 

I was trembling all over as the first soldier rounded
the huts at a maniacal clip. He wore gold armor. His stallion was enormous,
white, and frothing with exhaustion. He flew past us so quickly I almost didn’t
catch the glint of blonde hair that escaped his helmet. 

I turned.
“You?”

He shrugged and grabbed my arm transporting us
directly into the middle of the chaos. We were inside the stone building.
Panicked murmurs filled the room as Mariee tried to gather her people close.
The building rocked and shuddered as the men fought to break their way in. I
watched in horror as they set the outer wall on fire and began to ram the stone
structure with massive logs.

Fear gripped me and I spun, burying my face in the
coarse fabric of Lucifer’s tunic. Screams echoed off the walls as the building
shook and rumbled. I closed my eyes and grabbed the fabric of his tunic in my
fists. The horror around me couldn’t be stopped and it couldn’t be changed. I
felt helpless. I looked up. He was smiling down at me and I jerked back in
horror at what I was doing.

“Please?” I heard Lucifer’s voice cry out and I spun
to see Lucifer from the past stride past us, falling to one knee in front of
Mariee.

“Please, my lady! I will protect you,” he pleaded, “I
promise you will leave this place alive!”

She looked at him, tears filled her eyes, and she
quickly wiped them away. “You have deceived me. I should never have given you
my love. You will never have my soul; you will never be my mate.”

Lucifer visibly sank with her words. Clearly, that
was a big deal. I had no idea what it meant.

Lucifer stood gesturing wildly, “These men will kill
you when you refuse them!” he snarled, “Do you wish to see your sisters cut
down? Raped and ravaged?”

She looked at him, her eyes flashing with anger; “You
will not speak to me of these things when it has become clear to me that you
are the engineer of our fate! You poisoned my mind with lies, but now the veil
of my love has been lifted! Now I know. You lied to buy my love and for a time
you succeeded, for my heart had truly been yours. But you cannot love, so you
could not accept all the gifts I have to give. My heart was once yours for the
taking but your darkness could not see.”

She stood and walked to the center of the room. The rest
of her people formed a tight circle around her as Lucifer was pushed out of the
way. She turned her back to him and began chanting, her melodious voice rising
above the sounds of the battering rams outside. The Madea joined in and I felt
my blood race. Dizziness swept over me as their song continued.

Mariee lifted her arms and her voice rang out. I
swayed, losing my balance I reached out blindly. A firm hand wrapped around my
arm, steadying me. I was ready to scream, I couldn’t believe that I was witnessing
this. I was here!

While still in my cloud of wonder, Lucifer from the
past pushed and shoved his way to the center of the multitude. He gripped
Mariee’s arms and spun her violently, screaming into her face. It was useless,
I watched in stunned silence as the look of pure panic washed over his face. He
pleaded with her, all the while, she chanted, her eyes unseeing. He dropped his
hands to his sides and then the chanting stopped.

The Madea were gone.

Lucifer fell to his knees and roared with rage.

His angered cries filled the cavernous room as he
screamed out his fury. Then I heard it. A tiny sound that should have been much
too small to hear; a sound, like a bell, it rang out clear and true. I stared
in stunned silence as the ring that had changed my life bounced onto the stone
floor then rolled to a stop at Lucifer’s feet.

I held my breath, watching as he picked it up.
Memories flooded my mind. Finding the ring in the gutter, selling it, only to
have it come back to me courtesy of Seth. Only then, the shit head had used it
to kidnap me and my friends. On top of that, he used it to force my feelings
for him, or should I say for his
body
to the surface. God, thanks to
that ring, I’d had sex with Seth more ways than were legal.
Why was I saving
him, again?

I shook myself out of my walk down memory lane and
watched Lucifer examine the ring. Then he stood, holding the ring in his palm.
I frowned, wondering what he was thinking and then he looked up and stared
directly into my eyes.

I felt the blood drain from my face as his eyes bored
into mine.

I turned to look at Lucifer from my time. He was
watching his past self stare intently at me. Then he smiled and looked at me as
well, a kind of euphoric joy filled his eyes, and I began to shake. Lucifer
from the past smiled at me as well and then the ring disappeared from his hand.

We were sucked from the room, tossed hard onto the
floor of a filthy lab in Hell.

“Well now, that was enlightening.” He stood up;
dusting his clothing off he frowned at a small tear in his shirt. “I must say
that after so much time, my memory is getting spotty.” He chuckled at himself
as if he were just another old man dealing with the hassles of growing old, not
a sinfully seductive fallen angel with the body of a god.

I struggled to stand, taming my hair and skin with my
everyday glamour. I glared at The Devil, daring him to strip it away again.

Ignoring me, he rubbed his hands together. “So, they
empowered the ring and sent it on its way where it hid for centuries waiting
for you,” He looked at me, “My Mariee.”

 “Oh, hold on, pal” I held up my hands, “I’m not
Mariee. I’m Grace. Remember?” I turned in a circle, noticing that everyone was
still as they had been before we left.

“Are you so certain? Mariee is part of you. And now,
all the beauty and integrity that was hers is yours, along with much more
strength and fire. You were meant to be mine.”

“Don’t you learn?” I screeched. “You can’t mean what
you’re saying. You said so before that you didn’t want that type of
relationship. If I fell for you, I’d be a lost soul. Hello, that would defeat
your purpose a little, I think!”

He smiled. “No, you silly woman. You see, I fully
intend to fall in love with you first.”

I goggled at him. I couldn’t even process his words.
“Have you gone mad? Evil has crept into your brain and dissolved it.”

“You must agree to stay. If you stay with me; if you
surround me with your light, your pure Madea soul, then I could start to fall
in love.”

I looked at him and frowned. “You really don’t expect
me to give in, do you?” I walked over to Lucian and picked up his limp hand.
“You are so far gone that any concept of love is impossible for you. The fact
that you even want it is baffling.” I pulled a sticky clump of Lucian’s hair
from his cheek; his skin was red where the hair had been stuck. I sucked in the
air from my nose and slowly began to pick the bits of dried blood off of his
face; gently sweeping the flaking bits away, all the while trying to hold back
my tears.

“You could teach me.” I saw his booted feet, as he
stood close. “I see it now, as inexplicable as it is, I can see it. Maybe one
day, with your help I could come to understand it.”

“You killed my friends.” I sniffed as my efforts to
staunch the flow of tears failed. They broke free in a flood, blurring my
vision. I could barely make out the figure of Seth across the room or even
Jamie, still lying nude on the floor. This was a horror I never could have
imagined. “You know nothing.” I hissed. “Helping someone with no chance of repayment
or recognition is beyond you! Doing what is right is
not
what you do.
You are evil personified.” I sobbed. “You promised to fix them.” Miserable and
defeated I fell onto Lucian’s cold chest. I let my tears flow freely as I
hugged his still form. His chest was cold and empty. I had lost him. The devil
had played a game that none of us would win.

“Gracie?”

“Yeah?” I sniffed, froze, and then sat up slowly.

“Gracie, babe, are you alright?”

His skin was golden and vibrant; his hair was clean
and free of blood. He looked warm and alive and his smile went all the way to
his eyes.

“
Oomph
” he fell to the ground as I tackled
him.

“Lucian!” My voice was so high I hurt my own ears.
“Oh my God, Lucian! You’re back! I pulled away and stared into his eyes. “Oh,
oh, say something!” I demanded, practically crawling into his lap.

“Um… I’m starving?” He laughed, and it sounded
confused and unsure.

“This is a fine thing.” Seth drawled from behind us
and I spun, jumping from Lucian’s lap, I threw my arms around Seth and squeezed
as tightly as I could.

“Ah, Sweet. What a tease you are. I suppose you are
pleased with yourself. Tell me, how did you do it?”

I spun around, realizing for the first time that we
were all alone. Lucifer had disappeared. “I don’t really know,” I confessed.
“I’d honestly lost all hope!”

“Am I still out of it? Grace, why the hell are you
hugging the vampire?” Lucian slowly got to his feet and stepped closer to Seth.
His chin was thrust forward as he eyed the vampire. I just beamed at them like
an idiot. I didn’t care if they rolled on the ground scratching each other’s
eyes out. They were alive and Lucian was himself again!

“Yolanda?” I heard Jamie’s small voice whisper from
the corner. I was so elated to hear her that I ran, ignoring Seth and Lucian’s
heated exchange. I knew it wouldn’t get too bad. Lucian was not Seth’s favorite
person, but he was fully aware that I would kill him if he hurt one hair on
Lucian’s head. The man had no idea what had happened. Seth knew that and had
better keep it in mind.

I conjured clothes for Jamie as I approached. The
poor thing was standing among her tattered cloak as naked as the day she was
born. She still looked so frail and sort of stumbled forward when the clothing
appeared on her body. What happened?” She tried to look around me and I stepped
into the path blocking her view. “I feel like I’ve been hit with a brick. Oh
man,” she whined and rubbed her head. “Where are the bad guys? What are we
going to do?”

I smiled at her and hugged her tight. “Prepare
yourself. Okay?” I warned unable to stifle my huge smile

“What now?” Her brows lowered and she eyed me warily.

“It’s okay, James. The Devil isn’t here.” At her
frown, I stepped to the side, allowing her to see past me. She cringed back;
clearly, she thought Lucian was still possessed. Then she slowly moved forward
and tilted her head to the side. Her eyes widened and tears filled her eyes,
spilling down her smiling face.

“Luc?” She whispered and Lucian’s head whipped
around.

He stood frozen for several seconds. “
Jamie
?”
His voice cracked and he took a step toward her. “My God, Jamie, is that really
you?” He walked slowly toward her. “How?” He looked at me then back at her, his
eyes filled with tears  “How is it that you’re alive?”

“It’s a long story, Lucian, we’ll tell you all about
it later, okay?” I laughed, sniffing back my own tears. I backed up, giving
them some room and ran into Seth as he came up behind me.

How long till your little golden boy realizes we’re
in Hell?
Seth’s smug voice filled my
mind.
How quickly will he crack do you think?

I elbowed him
. Let him have some time with his
sister and then we’ll tell him where we are, don’t be an ass.

HIS SISTER?
Seth
spun me around. “The demon had him torturing his
sister?”
Seth yelled.

“Oh, great, big mouth!” I shouted as Lucian turned
stunned eyes toward us. He was in the middle of a very long hug with Jamie and
he sort of bent her to the side as he turned to look at us.

“Someone had better start explaining!” He leveled a
look at all of us, “Where the hell are we anyway?” He had Jamie in a strong
armed hold and she was eating it up.

“Well, my ignorant friend,” Seth began, “We’re buried
neck deep in the burning inferno of Hell. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Damn it Seth, show some class!” I shoved him out of
the way. “He wasn’t himself, was he?” The last thing Lucian needed was a reason
to blame himself. I stepped further away from Seth and shook my head, annoyed.