Cursed: A Supernatural Thriller (Legend Hunters Book 4)

by JL Terra

  “I know it doesn’t sit right with you, but that’s just how it is. She’s the only one who can do it.”

  He had seen the alternative before. Guardians who thought they could take on the job themselves so the chosen one would not have to carry the burden. But a life of war could never defeat evil. Only peace had the ability to do that, an innocent. Many of the chosen ones he’d met had suffered horrifically in their youth. Likely Bella had as well. Despite anything they might’ve done as a means of survival, at the core they were innocent. Victims of the world and all the evil that humanity committed against humanity. Only that purity inside them was strong enough to defeat the high lord and put an end to his stain.

  Mei left the room.

  He watched her leave, aware that his boss studied him intently. Ben just had a quiet way about him. Poisoned by evil for so long, he understood how it thought. Now he had so much peace and humility, it was hard to be around the guy while comprehending the depth of his own depravity. Even if Malachi had long since broken away from his brethren, those desires and temptations were still inside him. He might want to believe that he was good, or even better than them at least. But he knew the truth. He deserved the very same judgment that was to be brought down upon them.

  The sword.

  It was enough that he was tasked with offering grace to them, the way that grace had been given to him. But he did not expect redemption. That was not for those of his kind; those who knew the truth. Despite full knowledge, he had walked away. Redemption was a gift given to those for whom atonement had been made. The best he could hope for was favor. Not because of anything he had done. This work on earth was only because it was the right thing to do, not because he would receive anything in recompense for doing it.

  “What else do you have to tell everyone?”

  Malachi wasn’t exactly sure he was planning on telling anyone the rest of it. However, he had made a pact never to lie to Ben.

  So he pulled out the rusty dagger from the back of his belt. “I found this at the house. It belongs to him.”

  “The high lord?” Ben came over and held out his hand.

  Malachi placed the blade on his palm. “It also belongs to me.”

  “You know this high lord?” Before Malachi could answer, Ben said, “I suppose, in a way, they are all your brethren. Is there something different about this one?”

  Malachi didn’t want to, but he nodded. “He is my blood brother, and the worst of them all.”

  “How many of you are left in the world?”

  “No one has ever asked me that before. I believe that he and I are the only ones left.”

  “And so you joined up with my team, which just happens to include the guardian from this generation.”

  “I didn’t know Mei was a guardian when I found you guys.”

  “I believe it was I who found you.” A small, reassuring smile curled Ben’s lips. “Little did I know what I was in for.”

  Malachi winced. “I’m sorry this involves Mei. I know she doesn’t need this when she’s trying to help people and she wants to get out of the operating game.”

  Ben frowned. “She told you that?”

  “All her work at the community center? She said it was because she wanted to help people and not be someone who caused them pain. Maybe that was all her own reasoning, but it’s now become clear that a higher power guided her there in the first place. To find Bella.”

  Eventually, she would have put it together—likely when the sword’s true purpose was revealed to her. In finding the book, they had jumped the gun on that. Especially given that they’d used a computer program to translate the text.

  He could honestly say that’d never happened before. Everything about this was unprecedented.

  Then again, Mei was like no one he had ever found before.

  “What are you plans?”

  “The team should help Mei get Bella ready for this. Some of the girls in the past years didn’t even want to touch the sword, but Bella has faced down enemies before. She wasn’t afraid to stand up to those armed men and throw the drugs at one of them. That took guts. She’s strong enough for this. Otherwise, she would not have been chosen.”

  “The high lord is hunting her.”

  Malachi nodded. “All those redhead girls who have died already were hunted by him. Remy, Bella, and Mei are all in great danger. At least until Mei figures out how to summon the sword and use it. Which isn’t going to happen if I am around.”

  “Because it doesn’t appear when you’re there?”

  “I can be in the general area, but not close to Mei. It reacts to my blood.” He looked down at his hands. “Long ago I used magic on the sword to hide my presence from it. Eventually, the chosen one will be able to counteract what I did.”

  And that would be when she was to take his life as well.

  He had resigned himself to the reality of judgment. So many people in the world thought they didn’t have to suffer the consequences of their actions. Either in this life, or the next. They simply believed that what was happening in the present was the only thing that mattered.

  Malachi had seen everything. He wasn’t going to live his life in denial.

  “So how do we find this brother of yours?” Ben asked. “He’ll know now that we have been in his mansion. If I was him, I would move the entire operation somewhere else. Pull up stakes and relocate to another place to carry on with the activities.. Do you know where to find him?”

  “I don’t have any magical way to do that.” Just a blood bond he didn’t want to utilize if he didn’t have to. “But I can find out where else he operates from. Then I’ll pass the information to you guys so you can make sure his drug operation doesn’t go any further than this. No more people need to be hurt by the product.”

  “It’s really blood that they’re taking?”

  Malachi nodded. “A combination, probably mixed with some other things. Cut with a few substances that provide a buzz so the consumer doesn’t quite know what’s happening to them. It leaves them suggestible so the high lord can get them to do his work. That’s how so many redheads were killed.”

  “And yet the police have no idea who took them out.”

  “No one has ever gone after them to this extent.”

  There had to be a reason why that was.

  Was this high lord the last one on earth?

  Malachi continued, “He must know we’re close, otherwise he wouldn’t go to this much trouble. Maybe he’s even tracking me.”

  Malachi stared at the dagger. It could be that his brother was even now using their blood bond to see through Malachi’s eyes and figure out where they were.

  There was only one way to find out.

  He snatched the dagger off the coffee table where Ben had placed it. With a heavy swipe, he cut a line across his palm. Before the wound could heal itself, he squeezed his fingers into a fist and dripped the blood down the length of the blade.

  It bubbled and burned, giving off a nasty rust smell.

  Ben took a sniff and wrinkled his nose.

  Malachi held the blade handle in his other hand and waited.

  His vision shimmered, and he saw a room full of people all gyrating to the loud boom of music rattling his eardrums. The high lord crossed one leg over the other and took a sip of his drink. Fresh blood. He went to replace the glass on the table. His grip faltered, but he managed to keep from dropping the glass on the floor.

  “I know you can see me.” The voice echoed in Malachi’s head. “Soon you will find me, and then I will remind you of your promise.”

  Malachi was shoved forcefully from the high lord’s consciousness, back into the room with Ben.

  “Whoa, you okay?”

  Malachi squeezed the bridge of his nose. Already the cut on his palm had closed.

  “What was that? What happened?”

  “He knows it’s me. And he knows I can’t kill him.” Malachi sighed.

  “Why can’t you kill him?”
r />   “Because I promised I wouldn’t.”

  Chapter 16

  Mei set her fork on her empty plate. She’d eaten a huge piece of lasagna, probably more than she should have. But in their line of work, it paid to fuel up just in case the next meal was delayed for any reason.

  She looked around the table. Remy and Shadrach spoke quietly, their heads bent over Remy’s tablet. Her mom asked Bella about school subjects she liked, and her dad studied them all with that look he’d been wearing for hours now. Keeping a finger on the pulse of the team and how they were handling things emotionally—the family he had built here. A mixture of fatherly concern and pride.

  When she caught her dad’s gaze, he gave her a warm smile. In the beginning, it had occurred to her that the only reason she was hired could be because he felt obligated to the baby he had found in an alley in Shanghai—her. Whether that was true or not, she didn’t know, but since then, she’d more than proven herself capable of doing this job.

  But being a guardian? Mei fingered her water glass. She wasn’t exactly sure about training Bella up and sending her into dangerous situations. Mei was better suited to facing the danger alone than risking someone else—especially a child. A mentorship might have been exactly how their relationship had started, but it didn’t have to play into Mei’s other job the same way.

  Remy sighed and sat back. Beside her, Shadrach said, “We’ll find him.”

  Mei asked, “No luck?”

  “This is impossible. The high lord and his club are nowhere to be found.” Remy shook her head. “It’s like he doesn’t even exist. Even a basic map search for the house where Bella was found shows nothing. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle.”

  Mei didn’t like that there were no leads, although, Remy had solved other mysteries with far less information than she had right now. Still, this operation needed to be taken down, and pronto. Not only to stop a dangerous drug from flooding the streets, but no one needed crazed people with white hair and under the influence of drugs running around trying to kill others. Even if the high was something spectacular.

  The high lord could build himself an army.

  It was impossible to police people’s behavior, but it was possible to destroy this substance and whoever was making it. Make it unavailable by getting it off the streets in the first place.

  “Any other ideas for how to find him?” Taya asked.

  “Bella, do you know where we can find Ricardo’s boss? Maybe even just the phone number that your brother uses to communicate with him?” Mei thought for a second. “Or maybe you can recall anything said about him by the men who took you to the house?”

  The teen shook her head. “What if I went back in? I could wear a wire like on TV. Or can’t you guys clone Ricardo’s phone, or something?”

  Everything in Mei rebelled again at the idea of putting Bella in danger. She was going to end up being one of those guardians who tried to solve the problem themselves, so the chosen one wouldn’t have to face the danger. Even if she thought Bella was ready to face down a dark evil, Mei would never be okay letting go and allowing her to risk her own life.

  Remy said, “As much as I would love to do that, your brother has a phone I can’t access.”

  “He said it was specially made. It’s supposed to be unhackable.” Bella frowned, as though trying to remember something. “He’s had it about a year. No one else is allowed to touch it, not even his most trusted friends.”

  Remy grabbed her tablet and turned it on. “That actually helps.”

  The teen sat a little straighter in her chair. Mei smiled while Taya reached over and patted her hand.

  “We could do some surveillance on Ricardo, see if he leads us to the high lord.” Mei couldn’t help but think about the man she had seen in Malachi’s memories.

  Then there was Malachi himself, who had taken off before dinner was even served. Because he needed some “space.” Whatever that meant. She didn’t want to think about him right now anyway. If he wasn’t going to participate and help them, she didn’t need to waste emotion on him. Not now. Not when people she cared about were in legitimate danger.

  Shadrach nodded. “I’d be up for that.”

  “Are you feeling any better after being zapped?”

  He winced but nodded again.

  “Maybe we should drive around the city until you feel some more of those magic barriers. Maybe that could tell us where he is.”

  Bella said, “I’m sorry, did you just say, ‘magic barrier?”

  “This guy knows a lot, and he’s a serious threat. We can get into the details later.”

  “You don’t need to shelter me. It just caught me off guard. It’s actually not the weirdest thing that’s happened to me lately, you know. I’ve been held in the basement of a drug distribution ring. And let’s not forget about this whole sword thing.” Mei grinned. “Welcome to my whole life.”

  “No offense, but I’m not sure I want to get that deep into it.” She glanced around. “I mean, even if I am this chosen one, do I actually have to accept it?”

  “My guess is that if you’re chosen, then you have the right to also choose back. Or not. It’s not as if you will be forced against your will or be something you don’t want to be. That wouldn’t be right.”

  “So I can walk away, even though I’m supposed to be the ‘one.’”

  Mei nodded. “But take it from me, it’s not as simple as you think to deny your calling in life. It may haunt you in ways you haven’t thought of, signing you up for a life of chasing dreams and never experiencing the fulfillment of a life well lived. But you don’t need to decide yet. We can figure it out later. The team can work on the drug operation and the high lord. I’m not sure you need to worry about the sword right now.”

  If they took care of the rest of it, then she didn’t even need to become the chosen one. And maybe that was a good thing. Bella would never have to be in any more danger than she already was. The team would do what they always did and clean up the mess that evil had made.

  After all, if this guy was kidnapping girls and killing redheads, then she wanted to take care of him herself.

  She stood and carried her plate to the sink. As she lowered it in, her palms began to burn.

  Mei spun back to the group. “What…?”

  Ben stood. “What is it?”

  Before she could answer, the sword appeared in her hands. “Something is happening. Be prepared, we might be under attack.”

  All of them pushed back from the table and stood. Taya moved in front of Bella in a protective gesture. Mei didn’t like that. After all, Taya was pregnant. That meant both Bella and Taya needed protection. This wasn’t good. There were far too many vulnerabilities in this room.

  “Ben.”

  He would know what she meant. The man tracked faster than she ever could, already calculating the threat and assessing the risk—making a plan so they had a few options for how to deal with this.

  He said, “Taya, take Bella to the bathroom and lock the door. Remy?”

  She tapped on her laptop keyboard. “The outer perimeter has been breached. There are at least six guys headed to the doors. Front and back.”

  “Armed?” Mei asked.

  Remy said, “I can’t tell. But I haven’t seen any guns.”

  Shadrach looked over her shoulder at the screen. “They all have knives.”

  “Great,” Mei muttered. She went to the window and looked out, but didn’t see anything. At least her mom and Bella would be safe. “The high lord must have found us.”

  “You think he sent these guys to take us out?” Ben asked. “Maybe he’s going to try and kidnap Bella so he can deal with the threat she presents before she even becomes an issue.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  The deaths of so many redheaded women would not be in vain. The team would work to make things right by saving the rest of the innocents targeted by evil.

  Shadrach nodded. “Agreed.”

  I
t didn’t take long for the first man to break a window. Another attempted to break down the front door.

  The team spread throughout the house, covering all the entrances.

  She called out to whoever was close enough to listen. “We could just call the police. Tell them someone’s breaking in and have them arrest these guys before they even get in the door.”

  Mostly she figured these guys were all hopped up on whatever substance the high lord was making that created white-haired beings with the traits of angelic descendants.. Or maybe they were angels, but bad ones. Which made them demons. She hadn’t quite been clear on that part.

  A loud voice called back, “There are fifteen of them now on surveillance. I’m putting in a call to 9-1-1 for police officers. Even if they aren’t prepared for what this is, we need more manpower.”

  Remy was right. Their team might be good, but the reality was that three—four, including Remy—could not take down fifteen.

  Mei crouched beside the couch in the living room, her alert eyes glued to the window. Outside, two shadows moved. A second later, a spine-tingling crash pierced her ears as a brick crashed through the window. Multiple men filled the open window frame, and one-by-one, flooded into the room. They were dressed in designer jeans and T-shirts, white sneakers. Their white hair was a stark contrast to their young, unlined faces—all early twenties, or late teens. College kids. Maybe even frat boys who had come to party with their new friends tonight, all partaking in the same drug without realizing they were putting their lives in this much danger.

  Mei and her friends couldn’t kill innocent kids who might have taken the drug with the idea they were just having a night of fun. Tragic that they still didn’t know the depths of their foolishness.

  They had no idea.

  She stood up. “Hey.” The sword was still in her hands. It was a gamble to give up a weapon, but she didn’t want to use lethal force with these guys. She discarded the sword and it disappeared before hitting the floor.