A Mongrel's Curse (Breed Matters Book 1)

by Paul C. Middleton

  Oh, right, you're probably wondering what the difference is. The Succubi and Erinyes are offshoots of the Furies. One group gained Grace, the other got Damnation. They can still curse, but they mostly give heaven's reward or hell's punishment to appropriate people.

  Yes, you pervert, through sex.

  "I'll tell you what Gran. You help me with this client or not, I'll look little Issy up and try and convince her to train in self-defense with me at least. I won't make her, but I'll at least give her the option." That was bullshit. I would make her. If a hunter wasn't carefully prepared when he killed a Fury his life just became a living hell. None of 'em could stop giving off a Death Curse when they died. She didn't want to curse? I could understand that. But to really fulfill that wish she needed to be able to defend herself.

  She looked up at me and said "You'd really do that? I thought you wanted nothing to do with us." Typical Grandma. There were three reasons I kept my distance.

  "It's not that Gran. It's that I've got enemies of my own. I don't want you guys to have to move because of a fuck up on my part, okay? Hell, you're practically the only relatives I have that will talk to me without wanting something." I said, voice gentle again. The other major reason was that all of them gave me such disappointed looks when I visited because I hadn't cursed anyone.

  "I must come visit you some time then."

  "My rules still stand." No curses, no poison, and fold the damned wings.

  "Of course." There was a glint in her eyes. Damn. She had something in mind that didn't, quite, cross the line.

  Oh well. Maybe it was the time I at least tried to get to know her better. She'd shown me a part of herself I'd never expected, so perhaps I'd misjudged her as much as she'd misjudged me.

  Then she gasped and, with a hint of greed in her voice said "Are those for me? Rakshasa teeth? You shouldn't have. They're perfect!" she said, picking them up and handling them. "You are helping the family business after all." She looked at me with a mischievous smile on her face. Then she went over to the hot water urn and made a fresh pot of tea. Maybe I hadn't misjudged her that much.

  "So this is the person who is cursed is it?" She said, pouring the tea into three mugs. That was when I took one up and tasted it. Ordinary tea, this time. "Sit, sit, both of you." She lifted her own mug and drank, and I nodded to Fidelma, who sat and drank the tea. I sat down, but Gran stayed standing. She walked around Fidelma, humming a soft, minor-scale song. It was one way to cast spells, but one I never got the knack of.

  "Well, you have a bit of a pickle, don't you? Two curses, a blessing and the nastiest has hijacked the other two. All inherited. I'll see what I can do, but there's something about that curse..." She paused and got some tools out. Salt, a horseshoe, a small hammer, a knife, a black gemstone to collect this curse and three candles as a focus.

  She placed the gem at Fidelma's feet and made a salt circle around her chair. Then she put the candles around the circle and lit them, chanting in what sounded like Greek. I tried to follow it, but couldn't understand the dialect. Sitting there for about ten minutes while nothing much happened, I was beginning to get bored when a black mist started seeping from Fidelma's body and going into the gem. Once it stopped leaving her body, Gran hit the horseshoe with the hammer. Three things happened. The horseshoe broke, the gem shattered, and the mist reformed and returned to Fidelma's body.

  Motherfucker. I'd never seen Gran fail to lift a Fury's curse. Looking at Gran, she had a disgusted frown on her face.

  "I hate it when they are all powerful and mixed like that. I thought something was odd about the curse that hijacked the others. It's close to a Fury's curse, you were right there, but it's got some Grace adding to it."

  I closed my eyes and counted slowly to ten. Then to twenty. No, I just couldn't hold it in. "What fucking right do those holier than thou arseholes have to put a craptacular GENERATIONAL curse on a family! They were supposed to have ended and been broken a millennium ago, by Treaty. Those hypocritical, deceptive, manipulative, lying, brown nosing, little foreskins. Cursing innocent child after innocent child for who knows how long."

  Fidelma's eyes widened. Gran Alecto turned to her and said wistfully "If only he'd put that passion into cursing someone. The creativity and passion when he gets riled are fantastic."

  "Err... You guys know what that means, but I don't." Fidelma said.

  "It means that an Angel of Reward cursed your ancestor. And he's right. They broke the treaty in making the curse generational. Even generational blessings are considered a bit much these days. Both Demons and Angels agreed that the sins of the Father shouldn't be passed down to the child. It was making it too easy for Devils to influence too many people. So both Succubi and Erinyes were banned from anything stronger than a lifelong curse unless it was their Death Curse." Gran Alecto explained.

  "That is NO death curse, Gran. You know that as well as I do!" I looked at her, challengingly.

  "No, it's not. If it were, the mist would have taken the form of an Erinyes and returned to her." She pointed her finger at Fidelma as she spoke. Then she looked down regretfully at the broken gem. At least she wasn't mad at me.

  "I'll get weregild out of the church after I break this one, Gran." I grated. "Or I'll hunt down their precious Heavenly leg openers one by one. Harder to recruit 'heroes' if some of the rewards disappear."

  "Well, at least you have an excellent sense of Vengeance. I thought my blood must have been too watered down. But you must capture the angel alive to break the curse. Remember that." She rummaged around in her desk for a form I'd never seen before. She sat down, got out a fountain pen, and wrote a missive, blotting each line as she wrote. Then she took out a nib on a stick, slammed it into the back of her non-writing hand. She signed the form in blood. Not that unusual in the supernatural world.

  Fidelma gasped. I looked at her and said "Signed in blood is taken literally for some contracts. If I ever marry, for instance, I'll have to sign in blood. Otherwise, it won't be considered serious."

  Gran Alecto folded it up and put it in an envelope, then thinking again, scribbled a note on a scrap of paper. She stood up and walked up to me. I stood and was shocked when she grabbed me and gave me a strong hug. "I'm so proud of you. Not only have you shown me that family matters to you, but you've shown great creativity and a well-developed sense of vengeance. I have hope one day you might make me happy." That was as close to praise as I'd likely get from her.

  I looked at the note and saw it had an address written on it. "When you're done, take that letter to the nearest Catholic Archbishop. He'll put you in contact with the appropriate person, or if he doesn't, you can hunt down those failures and have MY Vengeance as your shield."

  That was a fascinating offer. Gran felt personally affronted by this. With her vengeance as my shield, even an Erinyes death curse wouldn't affect me. Damn.

  I put the envelope in my leather coat and kept the note in my hand. It was Issy's address. "I'll stop by Isolde's house before I leave town, Gran. Hopefully, she comes with me." She'd go with me if I had to drag her kicking and screaming. "Maybe she'll see a way to re-direct her talents. She'd make a decent Curse-Breaker with the right training, and it'll keep her safe."

  Gran scowled at that but then slowly nodded her head. Then nodded it more vigorously. "Yes." A smile crossed her face. I didn't like the smile, but let it go. I was on better terms with her than I'd ever been. I didn't want to spoil that.

  I don't often really want to know what Gran's thinking. Although maybe I should.

  Chapter 8

  When we pulled up to Isolde's house. I knew she was home, since on my way out Dan had mentioned it.

  Fidelma had started gasping in breaths shortly before we pulled up. First stage Elf-bane poisoning. I made sure we were well clear before I pulled over, so I double-checked by opening the door and sniffing.

  No smoke. No elf-bane.

  "Drink this," I said to Fidelma as I handed her the ariathela "It's a counter-agent to
elf-bane. Anyone purchasing elf-bane has to buy at least four doses of this. The local elves somehow got that law passed, and as long as a law doesn't inconvenience her, Gran complies." I paused, considering. "You should stay in the car. Issy seemed nice but sweet and very timid as a child. I'm gonna be a bad enough shock, but she always liked the tat so I have a chance."

  I took off my coat, and thinking about it, my shirt. If I had to change, the jeans were the easier to get the tiger form out of. When I went straight to my animal form, clothes didn't shred like in all those books. They do for some, though, so I shouldn't criticize.

  Issy had never been scared of my tiger form. She'd love petting it and playing chase games.

  I walked up to the front door and knocked. There was no answer. So I knocked again. Still no response.

  "Isolde, I know you're there. It's your cousin, Thal. Come on, open the door. I'm not going away until we talk. Come on. I'm not here to lecture you."

  "Go 'way" a quiet answer came from the door. "I don't believe you. Thal never visits town."

  "Okay, baby cuz, tell you what. I'll prove it to you. In about a minute I won't be able to talk to you for about half an hour. But you'll hear me scratching on the door."

  I decided to take the pants off anyways. And the underwear. I folded them neatly, placed them on the doorstep, and changed. Then I scratched at the door. After about four minutes, when I was about to look for another way in, the door cracked open. Her young face poked through, puffy from crying. Her broken wing was still hanging loose. I winced. That should have been set, but either Isolde was stubborn about it like only the truly shy could be, or Gran had forbidden it. Either way, that was one thing I was gonna fix as soon as I changed back.

  Then I thought about it a bit more. Okay, we weren't kid cousins playing together anymore. I'd change, get dressed, then st the broken wing.

  I nuzzled her cheek and got a sobbing laugh out of her. The ute door opened then closed. Then I heard a thump, some cursing, followed by the door opening and shutting again. I figured that Isolde was such a sight that Fidelma's heart had melted, and she'd gone to come over and help her. Gran's attempt at dispelling the curse would have brought it back full force.

  That was a real nasty curse.

  I kept nuzzling and licking Isolde's face until I got a laughing giggle out of her. Then I yawned, stretching my jaw to its full 120 degrees open state and nudged it open. There was a couch in the front room so I got on my hind legs, and 'roo hopped over to it. The giggle continued, and she padded over on bare feet to the couch and cuddled up to me. For about the next twenty minutes I snuggled into her hugs, remembering some of the few happy memories of my childhood.

  She'd been the only one who took my age at face value. From when she was six she'd been told by my mum that I was eleven and had just nodded and accepted it. And played with me and treated me as an eleven-year-old, something even my parents had difficulty doing. One reason I'd left home when I was sixteen had been them treating me like I should move out. Like I was old enough to and had been for years. I hadn't really been but it seemed easier on everyone if I just left.

  Skills and intelligence-wise? Sure.

  Size and looks? Yup.

  Emotionally? Hell no.

  It was one reason I kept far from my family. Seeing my cousin like this, remembering the good times we'd shared, made me regret all of the time we had missed. Maybe if I'd have been around more often, I could have prevented this whole mess. Then again maybe not. I could and would help her now, even if she didn't want it. I was now happy I'd gotten the dual cab ute. It made it tight for my equipment in the utility's bed sometimes, but I'd be able to take her with us and show her that some of her abilities could be good.

  I could feel the slight tingles that meant I'd be able to change again soon. Leaving my clothes on when changing forms was possible, but a pain. If the only reason to do so was 'modesty' I avoided it. Once you figured out how to change while dressed, the garments somehow got folded into your alternative form. You could tell that they were there because they interfered with how you felt things against your skin, just like clothes do when you wear them in human form.

  They also interfere with half the fun of changing forms, okay? If I need to explain it more, I guess you just don't get it.

  So I walked up to my pants, grabbed them in my jaws and went into the bathroom. When I walked out, I had pants and was... well as myself as I ever am.

  "I'm glad I didn't open the door to that face," Isolde whispered, averting her eyes.

  "Hey, baby cuz, it's still me. I might be a little harder-hearted than you 'member but I'm still the 'Taz' you chased around 'til we both dropped. There's always space in my life for you. But I'm gonna ask my client to come in before we do anything else and have you put the basic counter-curse on her, 'kay?"

  She scowled and looked at the ground. "You're trying to drag me into cursing and such. Just like Gran. Just like Mum and Dad and all the aunts and uncles. Even most of the other cousins. I'd hoped you wouldn't." I could almost hear the sobs coming forth.

  "Now why would I do that when I still ain't cursed anyone? Hum? Look at me cuz, you'll know I'm telling the truth."

  She raised her head and looked at me. Then she grabbed my wrist and bit the hand. Fuck that hurt.

  "What was that for?"

  "I haven't cursed anyone. I need to taste your blood to tell what you are asking," she said and then licked the small amount of blood her bite had drawn and closed her eyes. I shuddered. I'd always been able to tell. From the age of five at least. And it was more than a little disturbing for my cousin (my baby cousin) to do something that, in some circles, was an overtly sexual act.

  "I was never told that," I muttered.

  She was out of it for a while, deep in the trance that divination, rather than magical sight, required. I went to the car and pulled the things I needed from one of the lock boxes. Grabbing one of my pain potions before remembering that all winged supes, whatever the type, felt pain from the wings no matter you tried, I put it back and grabbed one of the healing poultices. This one would kill a normal human on contact. Also a Were or a Vamp, for that matter, 'cause the major component was Were blood.

  Cuz Issy wasn't a human. I frowned, but Fidelma might be human enough.

  "Fidelma, why don't ya go in and sit on one of the couches. I'm gonna try to fix Isolde's wing, but I can't guarantee some of the stuff I use won't hurt you if you touch it okay? She'll do the counter-curse on you," I hope, "so it should be safe to travel again afterward. Oh and she's a bit shy, so try and be gentle with her." I said.

  "Okay," Fidelma said. She sounded down. I really hoped we could solve the curse quickly. Then I realized that she seemed more down than that and remembered yesterday.

  I looked at her. "Fidelma, this is my baby cousin. She's in most of my very few happy memories from my childhood. I'd die for her, sure, but she's family, the only good family I have. I need to help her if I can, but I think of her as a sister."

  Fidelma gave me a searching look and a wan smile. "It's just you're the only good thing that's happened in my life in a decade. I don't know where we are heading, but I don't want to miss the journey."

  "Go on. I really don't want you around this stuff. It's... not good for humans. I'm not a hundred percent sure it will help Isolde, but I have to try." I sighed. "You had many joyful memories, growing up, I'm sure. With who you lived around they probably seem commonplace. I didn't grow up that way."

  Fidelma's wan smile was replaced by a thoughtful look as she headed to the house.

  Collecting an impressive group of poultices, leak-proof bandages, plaster bandages, distilled water and splints, I headed to the house. I'd set bones before, just never wing bones. I was a little nervous but forged ahead and laid everything out carefully. Isolde was still in the trance. I waited patiently as did Fidelma. At least she understood trances well enough to know you didn't interrupt someone while they were in one.

  So we waited. I
kept thinking about how, even if Issy didn't want me to, I would beat the shit out of whoever attacked her. She hadn't deserved this. It would be understandable if she'd cursed someone who hadn't deserved it outside of a contract, maybe. But she hadn't cursed anyone. Ever.

  Fuckers.

  Isolde broke out of her trance about half an hour later. She shook herself and looked at me with wide eyes. "Why? Why did you become this, this hunter of things like yourself? I know you didn't curse anyone, but you've become a killer. The things I saw that you've done..."

  "Are easy to do if it means survival. I now try to help people who need it. I really..."

  She looked like she was going to slap me. I could feel the uncertainty coming from her. Shit. I'd hoped that Fidelma's transmitting of joy would have made this easier. That over curse was not a nice thing... although it might have, accidentally, made Isolde immune to projective empathy. That would probably, on balance, be useful. Or she was naturally immune to it, but that seemed unlikely. Gran had protections against that kind of effect. I scratched my head thinking back on the morning activities. Dan should have been affected, though. A puzzle for another day.

  Besides, I really wasn't the same person who Issy remembered. "How could you do those things? Some of those you killed weren't evil, they were youngsters. They were just acting within their nature."

  "Like the adolescent Yowies? That's an easy one. In nature, without human farming around, fewer Yowies would reach adulthood than do now. If I didn't hunt them, they'd strip the countryside bare within a decade, including of humans. And then they'd either have to eat each other or their own young causing a population crash that might even lead to extinction. Especially if they wiped out key native species in their food supply."

  She frowned at me then said, "And you charge so much because?"