I closed my eyes and listened, able to see the entire thing in my mind as he spoke.
Annmarie ran toward Rector’s home on the outskirts of town. Her heart raced, thundering so loud in her ears it drowned out the sounds of everything around her. Tears streaked her face. She tripped on a rock and fell to her knees, the hard, uneven ground unforgiving beneath her. She cried out in pain and clutched her protruding belly.
Forcing herself back onto her feet, she gathered her skirts and continued on. Only a few more feet before she reached safety. “Rector!” She pounded on his front door. “Rector, please!” Panicked, she glanced behind her. There was no sign of Sean.
“Annmarie?” Rector ushered her inside and closed the door, whispering words that would seal them in while keeping everyone else out. She let out a breath. “Tell me what is going on.”
Annmarie gasped for air, but she could not get any words to come out.
“Shh.” Rector took her face into his hands and wiped her tears. “Do not worry, my dove.”
She shook her head, her curls bouncing around her face. “He thinks this child is his.” She placed her hand on her stomach and stared up into Rector’s compassionate, green eyes. “We must go. Now. Tonight.” Annmarie took his hands and pleaded with him. “Sean does not know I am here. Now is the perfect time to flee.”
Rector led her through his small house and into the sitting room. Thankful for the warmth of the fire burning inside, Annmarie hugged herself.
“Sit.” He nodded at the armchair. When she sat, he handed her a teacup full of a clear, odorless liquid. “That will calm your spirit.”
She took a sip, the hot drink soothing her. The trembling in her hands stilled.
“We cannot leave yet, Annmarie.”
Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “Why not?” She set the cup on the round table situated beside her chair. “You said we would be together, Rector.”
“And we will, my love. I promise you that.” He kneeled before her and took her hands into his. “But your Sean is not what he seems. He’s a monster. A blood drinker. If we leave now, he will hunt us to the ends of the earth.”
With a huff of indignation, she yanked her hands from his and stood. “You expect me to believe I’m wed to a vampire? Sean may be a lot of things, but he is not a monster.”
“I have been watching him.” Rector rose to his feet. “And I am not a liar. My magic does not work on him the way it works on humans. I need more time to ensure our safety.”
“And what am I to do? Go back and pretend I am happy to be his wife?” She put her hands on her hips. “If you have had a change of heart, say so, Rector. Do not fill my mind with horrific stories.”
“My mind has not changed.” He gave a hard shake of his head. “But we must not be hasty. Sean will not harm you. Of this, I am positive.”
More tears pooled in her eyes as realization settled over her. “You are sending me away?”
“Only for a short time.” He put his hands on her shoulders and placed a kiss to her forehead. “You must do this, Annmarie. For us.” He rested his hand on her belly. “For our child. I will come for you tonight.”
Trent paused to take a breath, and I blinked several times, unable to wrap my mind around the story he was telling me.
“Wait… Rector knew Sean was a vampire?” I asked.
“Yes, and he attempted to use that to his advantage, but it backfired horribly.” Trent took my hand. “You doing okay?”
I was a bit chilly, but I didn’t want him to stop his story, so I nodded.
“Annmarie returned to Sean and pretended everything was fine. She attempted to verify what Rector had told her, but she wasn’t able to. Then, later that night as he’d promised, Rector showed up at Sean’s door.”
“Sean! Show yourself,” Rector bellowed from the front yard.
Annmarie’s heart leapt into her throat. What was he doing? Did he have a death wish? Confronting Sean was not part of the plan. She forced herself out of bed, gritting her teeth against the pain, and shuffled to the front room. Pulling back the curtain, she peered out the window.
Sean stepped onto the porch, the picture of confidence. “You have no business here, Zoya.”
“Show your real self, Halstead.” Rector took a few steps forward. “I know what you are.”
Annmarie’s breath caught, and she covered her mouth with her hand. No, Rector. Please. Don’t do this. But he continued to advance on Sean.
“Leave now or I will expose you for the monster you are,” Rector said.
Sean flung his head back and laughed. “You have no room to issue threats, witch. I could burn you before anyone would hear your screams.”
“I only want what is mine. Give it to me, and you can live in peace,” Rector said.
“You have nothing here.”
“Oh, but I do. Annmarie. The child. They are mine, and I want them. Now.” Rector raised his hands, shouted something she didn’t understand, and then the sky rumbled with thunder.
Her head spun, and she reached for the wall to steady herself. A sharp pain sliced across her stomach. “Ow,” she cried. Her nursemaid was by her side in an instant.
“Miss Halstead, whatever are you doing out of bed?” Simone gently clutched her arm. “You must rest. The baby is coming.”
Another stabbing pain doubled her over, and she had no choice but to allow herself to be escorted back to the birthing room Sean had insisted upon. “No.” Annmarie cried out in pain, clutching her stomach. “They will kill each other.”
Trent stopped talking, and I waited a moment. But he didn’t continue.
“What happened next?” I asked, enthralled.
“The details are a bit fuzzy. Rector’s arrival tipped Sean off to the illicit affair, and Sean went into a blind rage. One of the downfalls of heightened emotions.” He frowned. “He barely recalls the events, but he knows he remained outside with Rector for quite a while. With his magic, he was well-prepared for a fight against a vampire.”
“Enough of this foolishness,” Simone hollered from the porch. “Mister Halstead, your wife needs you. She has delivered.”
“Is she well?” Rector asked. “And what of the child?”
Simone straightened her shoulders and jutted her chin. “The child did not make it.”
“No!” Rector dropped to his knees with a pitiful wail.
Sean barged through the house and into Annmarie’s quarters. She sat up in bed, eyes wide. “Please, do not hurt me…” Tears clogged her voice. “I can explain.”
He towered over her, face twisted in rage. “Do you think you can betray me like this, Annmarie? You are my wife! And you have been out there letting that witch put his filthy hands on you.”
“I never meant to betray you, Sean.” She had to make him understand. Deep down, he was a kind, compassionate man. If she could speak to that part of him, she could explain and make this better.
“He will burn for this,” Sean hollered. His eyes were black as oil, lifeless and evil.
It was then that she knew for certain—Rector was right. She’d married a vampire. How could she have been so blind? “No. Please, Sean. Do not hurt him. This is not his fault. I will take full blame, just please let Rector go.”
“You would pay with your life to save your dirty witch?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I would die for him.”
“So be it.” With a snarl, he bared his fangs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
Eternal Curse
“OH MY GOD,” I WHISPERED. “HE killed her?”
Trent nodded solemnly. “It’s a decision he regrets.”
Shivering, I looped my arm through his and rested my head on his shoulder.
He took my hand, lacing our fingers, and placed a kiss to my forehead. “One that changed so many lives,” he said, then continued the story.
When Rector regained his senses, he was on his knees, hands tied behind his back. The metallic tang of blood coated his tongue, an
d he gagged. He forced his eyes open and immediately wished he hadn’t. Beside him lay Annmarie, two puncture wounds in her neck, her lifeless eyes staring at him.
“No,” he bellowed.
Sean approached, eyes blacker than the midnight sky, face contorted with his true form. Sean grabbed the back of Rector’s head and forced him to look at Annmarie. “See what you made me do? You tainted her body, her heart, and her mind. She paid with her life. You did this!”
Rector kept his face expressionless. Sean Halstead would pay for what he’d done. Lowering his head, Rector chanted, invoking the spirits of his ancestors, calling upon them to release their anger and hurt. He wanted their fury.
“Look at me when I am speaking to you.” Sean yanked Rector’s head back. “You stole what was mine, and now you will pay as she did.”
Rector continued to chant as he held Sean’s gaze. Each spoken word elevated his anger, increased the heartache in his chest. A gust of wind whipped through the town, stirring up a tornado of dust and dirt. Rector forced his eyes to remain open. The spirits were close. He could feel the change in the atmosphere. The temperature dropped considerably, and the air became thick.
“Shut up!” Sean shouted.
Rector chanted louder and louder until everything around him went silent. Sean seemed to have disappeared amidst the dirty storm. “Why have you summoned us, witch?” The voices were deep but hollow, the words almost an echo.
Rector bowed his head.
“There is much anger and vengeance in your blood. Tell us, whom do you seek to hurt?” The spirits slowly circled Rector.
“The man who put me here. He has stolen from me. The unthinkable. A child. My child. He must pay.”
“Yes,” they hissed with delight. “Killing him is much too easy, no? Ah, yes, suffering is much nicer, do you not agree?”
Rector gave a nod. He did not care so long as Sean was punished.
“Then so it shall be.” An icy cold hand rested on top of Rector’s head. “A lifetime of revenge is yours for the asking.”
“And what is the cost for such a gift?”
“Why, your soul, of course.”
“Do it.” Rector’s body jerked and convulsed as a stabbing pain shot through him, leaving his insides electrified, on fire. He screamed when his back arched sharply and involuntarily. He feared his body would snap in half, that he would not survive whatever was happening to him. Then, just as quickly as it started, it all stopped. Rector gasped for breath, realizing he was hyper-aware of everything around him.
“Curse him…” And with that, the spirits vanished in another cloud of dirt and dust.
Rector looked up at Sean, his mind alive and writhing with dark magic. “You took what I loved most, and I shall do the same. Year after year, for as long as there are Halstead vampires, you will never know love. For upon transformation, your women will go mad with bloodlust. And should you find a way around, immediate and certain death will rain down.”
Trent fell silent, and my jaw hung open. That was the worst, most heartbreaking story I’d ever heard. Tears pooled in my eyes.
“You’re cursed,” I said, stunned.
“Yes,” Trent said softly.
My mind was reeling. Then, as the implications of that answer settled heavily on me, I jerked away from him. “What does this mean, Trent? That you can never… That we can’t…?” I had no idea what I was trying to ask him. “Can a vampire and a human have a relationship? Is that even possible?”
“Anything’s possible.”
“But?” I knew there was more he wasn’t telling me.
“But it’s not common. My kind… vampires… we love a lot during our very long existences. Until we find our one. The one person we love more than anything else. Our soulmate. Then that’s it for us. We love them with our entire being. For eternity.” A ghost of a smile flitted across his face.
Eternity. My heart tripped over that word.
He sighed. “Because of our heightened emotions, losing the one we love is a pain we can never get past, so we don’t make it a habit of falling in love with humans. But sometimes…” He shook his head. “Even we can’t control who we love.”
My stomach dropped. Everything started to click into place all at once. Trent’s regret for kissing me. His desperation to make sure I didn’t get too close to Isach. Jax’s warning. My grip on his hand loosened, and I pulled away.
My ears rang, and my body flushed with warmth. I needed some air, a moment to breathe. I hopped off the tailgate and walked away from Trent. He didn’t try to stop me. If everything he said was true, then that meant only one thing…
He couldn’t love me.
I stopped and bent over, clutching my knees and forcing air into my lungs. If Trent fell in love with me, if I was his soulmate, I would eventually die, and he wouldn’t. He’d have to endure an eternity of heartbreak and loss. But was I his soulmate? Or was I just one of the many loves he’d encounter during his long existence. I bolted upright and spun around.
Trent was still in the same spot, head down, shoulders slumped.
“What happens if you try to change someone?” I asked, making my way back toward him.
Trent’s head snapped up and surprise colored his expression. “She goes mad. The bloodlust consumes her, and the only thing she wants is to kill. We then have no choice but to destroy her or keep her locked up.”
I gasped, my mind racing. “And… this has happened before?” Please say no, please say no.
“Yes.”
“To who?” I crossed my arms over my chest, hoping my posture was more confident than my tone.
Trent jumped off the tailgate and cautiously approached me. “Her name was Hannah, and she’s the woman Jax loved.” An undercurrent of hurt rang in his tone, like there was a lot more he didn’t want to tell me. He reached for my hand, and I didn’t stop him
I nodded, although I wasn’t sure why—my mind was working too fast for me to keep up. “Wait. All of this happened before you and Jax were changed, right? So, why didn’t you two go mad?”
“Because Sean wasn’t changing us to be his soulmate.”
“Oh. Right. It only happens to your soulmate.”
“Yes.”
“What if someone else was to change your soulmate? Wouldn’t that bypass the curse?” I didn’t know why I was trying so hard to fix this—I didn’t want to be what Trent was. I rather enjoyed being human; it was my only guarantee that I’d see Mom again.
“It’s not that simple. The transformation process is… dangerous,” he said, his words calculated and controlled. “Besides, we already tried that. She didn’t survive the transformation.”
“Right. Of course.” I nodded as if this was all perfectly normal.
How was any of this possible? Vampires. Witches. Curses. It was too much to handle. Sweat trickled down my neck, and I closed my eyes against the sudden dizziness. In the next instant, I was seated on the tailgate, Trent sitting next to me.
He was once again so close we were touching. I liked having him that close, although I couldn’t help but think the only reason was because he was afraid I’d get up any second and leave him. He had a right to be worried because what other choice was there for us?
My head spun with so many questions, I had no idea how to make sense of any of it. “Marc knew about you? Isach, too?”
He nodded.
“Why haven’t they outed you?”
“They did.” He looked at me, his eyes a soft blue. “To you, remember?”
“Right.” I swallowed around the lump in my throat.
“They’re evil, Chloe. They like to play games, and the moment they realized you and I were becoming close, they started messing with you.” He took both of my hands and brought them to his mouth, then kissed each of them. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” My voice cracked, and my throat burned with the effort of holding back tears. My efforts were useless, though, and I pulled my hands from Trent’s so I c
ould wipe at my eyes.
“I don’t even know why they’re back in Keene Valley. They haven’t been here in over three decades.” His tone turned hard and angry. “Their lack of presence is one of the reasons we returned.”
“You track them?” I asked.
“Ever heard that saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer? We always know where they are, and we always try to steer clear of them. And they of us. There’s a reason they’re back now. We just haven’t figured out why.”
“Do you think…? Did they kill Rachel?”
“No. Rachel was most certainly killed by a vampire. So was Marc, which is why you need to stay away from Isach. He assumes it was us who killed Marc, and he’s going to be out for vengeance. The quickest way to get to me is to go through you.”
“Oh, God.” I squeezed my eyes closed against the onslaught of tears. “They’re going to kill me, aren’t they?” My voice rose in pitch, and I was moments away from full blown hysterics.
Death meant I’d get to see Mom again, but I was too young to die. I had so many things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see. I wanted to go to college and travel the world and fall hopelessly in love and get married.
“Chloe.” His voice was full of too much pain. “Please don’t cry.” He gently wiped my tears. “I will not let anything happen to you, okay? I promise you’ll be safe.”
I knew he meant that, and I would do what I could to help—like staying away from Isach. But that didn’t fix the bigger issue.
“You knew about this curse, and you still chose to become a vampire?” Why would he sentence himself to an eternity of loneliness?
“We didn’t know. Sean hadn’t had the chance to tell us, but that was why he’d refused to change us.”
“But then Jax forced him to.”
“Yes.” Trent moved to stand in front of me.
“I hate him for doing this to you. He had no right.” My voice was tight with anger. “He shouldn’t have taken that choice from you.”
Trent held my gaze. “I had a choice, Chloe. I could’ve stayed human, but then I would’ve lost my brother. I chose to give up my mortality so that he could live.”
Eternal Curse: (The Cursed Series, Book 1) Page 19
