The Curse Begins

by Abby James

  “It seems the big bad vampire that everyone says is extremely dangerous is afraid of my finger.”

  Luca snarled and flashed away. Flashed I say because he turned into a blur of black and was gone from in front of me. That was easy, but disappointing. If only the hottest guy I had ever come across didn’t treat me like a leper.

  I was yanked around the middle by a vice grip, so sudden I got half a squeak out before I was yanked off my feet losing my scrolls and cookies. Everything around me shifted and swirled forming one confusing flurry. My lungs compressed until I was gasping breaths and feeling dizzy. I must have had vertigo because I wasn’t even sure if I was upside down or the right way up. That’s when my stomach churned and rumbled and threatened to race up my throat.

  I was on the verge of losing my breakfast when I landed hard on my ass. Images coalesced back into focus, but my head still spun in circles. Thank god I was already on the ground.

  When my head cleared, I glanced around. The mid morning sun baked the top of my head, but also the black roof tiles, their warmth passing up through my palms and my ass.

  “You brought me to the roof,” I shouted in indignation to Luca’s back.

  He looked out over the grounds of Darkwells, sprawling in manicured glory below us. He kept his back to me and his mouth closed.

  I pushed to my feet, staggered to the side because it turned out my spinning head had not ground to a complete stop, then righted myself and walked over to him. I kept a good few feet back as I didn’t trust my unsteadiness from tipping me over, and I doubted Luca would catch me.

  “You wish to play, little girl. Then we will play. Although I warn you, you will not like my games.”

  There was enough poison in those words to kill a room full of vipers. Unfortunately my ears were attuned to the subtle under current of masculinity in his voice, and so I heard the rich tones of male more than I heard the threat.

  “Tell me why you are afraid of my touch?”

  He turned around to face me. Took the few steps he needed to bring himself close to me. “I like to know what I face first before I engage.”

  “I too would like to know what the hell is going on with me.”

  We did a face off. Maybe he wanted to intimidate me by staring at me the way he was, and it worked, a smidgeon, but I was so fully aware of him, his proximity, the shear size of him, towering over me as he was, the absolute mouth watering scrumminess of him, I forgot that I was meant to be afraid. Instead my skin prickled and tingled with the idea of one touch. Amy’s warnings of how lethal he was vanished into his eyes, deep down into the dark amber.

  “The differing factions have a distinct smell.”

  Wow, no one mentioned that before.

  “What do I smell like?”

  “You smell human.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Normally I would say you have no ability. But that is not true, is it?”

  I took a step backward so I could catch my breath. Standing this close to Luca was like being made to hold my breath underwater. He was suffocating in his intensity.

  “I wouldn’t know, I don’t have your nose.”

  “But you do have your feelings. Tell me, what did it feel like when I touched you?”

  He was fishing too close to my pond. “Like you were holding my arm too tight.”

  He closed his eyes and exhaled. I waited to see what color would dominate in his eyes when he opened them. Sure enough the blood red had flared. Did I need to keep him at such a distance? He seemed closer to the truth than anyone else. And I desperately wanted to know who I was?

  “It was like someone had given me some glasses that made the world come alive. I saw things I would normally not see. The clarity was unreal. I also heard stuff that is impossible to hear, smelt things that no human could possibly smell.”

  He backed away from me, distancing himself, treating me like a leper again.

  “You know what is going on don’t you?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Is that a lie?”

  “I’ve no reason to lie.”

  “And I have no smell?”

  “You have a smell that is beyond human.”

  “I thought you said—”

  “But it is not constant. Just now when I came upon you in the larder you had the distinct smell of one of those nasty creatures that lives within the fae realm.”

  Oh shit, Merlin. I couldn’t confess for Ms Lane’s sake.

  “You don’t have to lie. I heard the two of you talking.”

  Mental note: vampires do have amazing hearing

  “Maybe that’s why I smelt of him.”

  “No, it’s different. It’s not a smell that lives on the surface of your skin. The smell of an ability comes from deep within because that is where the power originates.”

  “Wait, so you’re saying the shright’s magical abilities were coming from within me?”

  “And yesterday after I touched you, you smelt different too.”

  “Like what?”

  “You smelt like me.”

  13

  Ms Lane wasn’t here. I glanced down at my scribe to see I was over half an hour late for my session with her. No surprises she wasn’t around. Did that mean I would be raking pebbles or counting clover seeds?

  “Merlin,” I whispered at the base of the tree. He wasn’t here either, or maybe he was sulking and refused to acknowledge me, especially when he saw I no longer carried his pastries.

  I looked at my scribe again. The rest of my afternoon was blank, lucky or I’d be doubly marked for being late. I did know Amy had practical classes for the rest of the afternoon, and since supes were encouraged to sit in on sessions offered to different factions, in hope it would foster a greater understanding of the differences between them, which in turn would nurture acceptance of those difference and hence unity, I would go down to the arena and watch.

  I was getting familiar with the way the scribe worked. It was handy, though annoying, the way admin personal or anyone from faculty could hijack your device to send you personal messages or update your timetable without prior warning. It would also be handy if you could chat with your friends or scroll through social media, but it was for timetable and locational purposes only.

  I punched in the name arena and the map wrote itself across the screen with footprints walking in the direction I needed to head. I followed the footprints out Ms Lane’s door and down the hall.

  Looking down at the screen, meant I wasn’t looking where I was going until two pairs of high heeled sandals, both exactly the same, appeared in front of me. I followed the sandals up to the wearers; the Elert sisters.

  “Mila, right?” I pointed to the brunette with her hair swept back in a big pink clip. Pink heart shaped earrings dangled from her ears.

  She rolled some gum around in her mouth, flashing expensive dentistry in the form of perfect white teeth, like really white teeth, glow in the dark white.

  “We just want to give you a friendly warning,” she said before she shifted her gum to the other cheek.

  “We figured you needed a few lessons, since no-one seems kind enough to teach you.”

  Mila stepped forward forcing her sister back, maybe she was the leader of the two. She jabbed at my chest. “Certain areas are out of bounds.”

  Her sister leaned in, “because they belong to us.”

  “Is this uniformly known through the school, or are these boundaries especially for me?”

  I looked at Elert sister number two. “And your name is?”

  “None of your fucking business.”

  She too had gum, which she now decided to chew. Her earrings were also hearts but blue. Apart from the divergent of earring color the two were dressed identical, tiny little navy skirts and white blouses, first two buttons undone so you could see they had coordinated their bra color too.

  “Keep your hands off Emrol,” Mila said.

  “Better still don’t even look at him,”
her sister added.

  “And if he talks to me?”

  “As if he would. An empath, really, why would he bother?” Mila said.

  “I must say that’s going to be hard considering we live in the same house.”

  Both of them turned pink. They stared at me through narrowed eyes. There really was some truth in what researchers said about the twin connection.

  “We wouldn’t want an accident to happen, now would we Pen?” Mila said, looking at her sister.

  Mental note: find out the ability of the Marcel sisters.

  “I’ve never made any attempt to speak to Emrol. So if you want the two of us apart you will have to talk to him.”

  Both gasped in unison and looked at each other. It was like watching a well choreographed act. They chuckled.

  “She’s insinuating he would wish to have anything to do with her,” Pen said.

  “Talk about full of herself,” Mila said.

  This was wasting my time. “Neither of you two have to worry. I’m not interested in Emrol or any of the other fae, so you can scuttle back to your corners.”

  I went to move past them, but Pen grabbed my hand and yanked me around. A sharp shot of something weird zapped through me, cold as ice, freezing up my veins as it ran. Then just as fast as it had entered it shot down my arm again and out through the exact spot where she still held on to me. Her beautiful brunette hair turned gray.

  “Listen, bitch, I’m going to spell it out for you real clear—”

  “Oh god, Pen,” Mila shrieked.

  Pen turned to her sister, a frustrated frown marring her beautiful face.

  “Your hair.”

  Pen looked at her locks tumbling down over her shoulder to see the lusciousness of her once thick brunette hair was now limp and gray. She nearly blew my ears with her shriek. Pen turned to lightning and streaked off down the hall, her hands covering her head, which didn’t help given how much hair she had. Students stopped to stare as she howled past, clipping along in her high heels with her sister running after her.

  I ducked my head and kept walking, disappearing into the crowd of students. What the hell was that? I could only imagine the gray hair was meant for me, but whatever she had done backfired. Which had to make the Elert sisters one of the casters, such as witches, sorceresses or mages, and I would have to ask Amy what the difference was between the three. Going up against someone that could do spells wasn’t something I looked forward to. Actually, I wouldn’t relish going up against anyone in this place.

  And I was sure what Pen had tried to do was banned at Darkwells. Magic practiced against another supe hardly seemed like something that would foster bonds.

  The scribe wanted to lead me through the labyrinth interior of the castle and out the back entrance, but I preferred the outdoors where the sun shone and few people were about, so I shoved the scribe in my pocket and headed for the first set of doors I found. An ugly gargoyle peered down at me from over the doors. I stopped and looked up at him from underneath. His hooked beak curled down in a big arc to his chest. Ugly critter. Thank god he’d not joined his marble statued friend and came alive.

  There was something sinister about his eyes. Rather than marble, the gargoyle was fashioned from limestone, which gave the statue a rough mottled look. No smooth white marble for this critter, its eyes where textured and darkened in one with a stain making it look like an iris. I let go of the handle and moved to the side. I swear the stain moved with me to the far side of the eyeball, which couldn’t be possible, could it? A shiver raced up my spine, so I pushed open the door and hurried out in case the thing jumped off the wall and speared me with its beak.

  I had a walk to get to the arena, but this was the first time I’d gotten the chance to walk through the amazing grounds. A lush creeper covered this side of the castle, running from the front to the back, which meant a lot of wall as the castle was huge, bigger than I had thought now that I was walking the distance.

  As I neared the back end of the castle, the arena came into view, not too dissimilar to the gladiatorial ring in Rome, or what I had seen of it from the Internet. Looking like it had been carved out of one giant block of stone, all entrances where framed by huge arched pillars, and just like inside the halls of the castle, in front of each pillar was a statue of something grotesque and mythical. Since the castle was dated, it made sense the arena would be built to similar style. Hopefully that didn’t mean any sport was similarly related to the ancient arena of Rome.

  The manicured gardens stopped at the castle grounds. Leaving me to walk the distance to the arena across bare gravel ground, conjuring an austere and unforgiving aura to the place.

  I entered by the biggest arch, slowing enough for a quick glimpse at the two statues guarding the doorway, upright beasts with chicken like feet, powerful hunches and broad chests. Their faces were dog like, jaws hanging, baring impressive looking fangs. By now I had the spooks with all these statues and hurried inside.

  I followed the sound of talking along the cold stone floor and out into the sandy covered arena. Amy’s class was in the center. Each had found a space for themselves and were busy performing the task they’d obviously been set of swirling sand from the arena up into the air.

  I moved across to the stone wall and lowered myself down to sit on the sand while I watched. I spotted Lorna first, and had to bite back a smile at the small pathetic spiral of sand that leaped up for a few short seconds before falling back to the ground. After a few attempts she banged her fists to her thighs, but was rescued by the teacher; a stout, short woman with a long black plait that reach down to her ass.

  A little farther on I spied Amy. I couldn’t help but feel a spark of pride at her vigorous swirl, which she had made spiral around her body up to her waist. Most of the class were not as adept as Amy. I shouldn’t find it funny, I know, but I had to hide my amusement behind my hand as I watched.

  Once Amy spied me she lost her concentration and her sand, which fell in a heap around her. She waved me over, so I rose hesitantly, not wanting to draw attention to myself, but headed over to her all the same, dodging her class mates that were trying so hard to get a decent spiral happening.

  “You finished for the day?”

  “I have despite having not really started.”

  “How does that work?”

  “I missed my lesson with Ms Lane.”

  “Oh god. Missed lessons will earn you a mark.”

  I felt confident once Ms Lane heard that Merlin had abducted me she wouldn’t tell Mrs Trouel, but I didn’t want to betray Ms Lane and tell Amy about Merlin.

  “I was delayed and by the time I reached her rooms, Ms lane wasn’t there.”

  “Delayed? What do you mean?”

  “I ran into a certain someone.”

  “Emrol?”

  “A certain dangerous someone.”

  “Oh shit, you mean Luca?”

  “He doesn’t seem that bad really.”

  She held up a finger, “Don’t, okay. Just don’t. Many a female has been stupid enough to think those vampires are kittens. They are anything but. I’ve seen some girls climb those stairs on the arms of a vamp, never to return.”

  “Are you exaggerating just a little?” I demonstrated how little with my thumb and forefinger.

  “No, I’m serious. They’re shipped off to St Gerrains.”

  “Don’t tell me, it’s a hospital for the mentally insane supe.”

  “Yep.”

  I laughed. “I was joking.”

  “It’s no joke. I didn’t warn you for a laugh.”

  “Vamps drink blood, right?”

  “In pop culture and in real life. They use blood donors.”

  “Other supes?”

  “And humans.”

  “How can that be if the human world is not supposed to know about our existence?”

  “The vampires trawl vamp clubs. ”

  “I’ve heard of those sorts of places.”

  “Funny thing is all
those humans that gather in these clubs, dressing as vampires, pretending to be vampires, have no idea that real vampires walk amongst them. Like the fae, the vamps can use mind control to make you do as they want—and that is another reason I tell you to stay away from Luca— not beguilement, although I’m sure they could make you fall in love with them if they wish. They lure the victim away so they can feed in private. Their saliva has hallucinogenic and healing properties, so the victim has no idea what is happening and their wounds heal afterward. The victim is none the wiser to being drained, although they may feel light headed for a while afterward.”

  “But doesn’t that create vampires?”

  “Only if you drink the vamps blood in return. Didn’t you read Bram Stoker’s Dracula?”

  “Just checking how close fiction is to fact.”

  “Don’t go letting a vamp suck your blood.”

  “As if I would. Why not?”

  “It’s like a drug. Sucked enough times and you’re hooked. I’ve seen victims with withdrawal symptoms. It’s the vamp’s way of making the victim return for more. Depending on the susceptibility of the person, sometimes only one bite is needed and you’re craving your next hit.”

  “And Darkwells let them prey on humans like that?”

  “How else are they going to get their meal?”

  “What about animals?”

  “Do you think a self respecting vamp would stoop to drinking the blood of an animal? According to one vamp it’s like us eating shit. They can do it in emergencies, say if they were stuck in the wilds with no humans in sight, but it’s not their preference.”

  “Amy, why aren’t you practicing?”

  The teacher appeared beside me, all four feet of her. I returned her warm smile.

  “And you are?” She held out her hand for a polite shake, but I stared at her hand like she was offering me a bloody heart. I flicked a look up at her, to catch her slight frown. I looked to Amy, who was also frowning at me. Luca’s words rattled through my head. I had smelt like shright magic when in the presence of a shright and vampire when in the presence of a vampire. Something was seriously wrong with me. Weird, sometimes even bad, things happened when people touched me.