The Trouble With Curses

by Anara Bella

  With devastating sensuousness, he kissed her with such thoroughness, it was a wonder she didn’t end up a pile of goo on the floor.

  “Sweet dreams.”

  Oh yeah, she’d be dreaming for sure, but she doubted her dreams would be all that sweet. More like sweaty and raunchy.

  An exquisite shiver zipped down her spine.

  Yep, she was definitely in for a night of sweet, sweaty, wet dreams.

  ***

  “So, did he kiss you?”

  Selena rolled her eyes at Anne’s prying question. How on earth did the woman know? “When would he have kissed me? I left the bar without him, remember?”

  “I’m not blind, or stupid. I saw him leave the bar right after you. He had a pretty determined look on his face too. I’m sure he followed you home.”

  What was the use? “You’re right, he followed me home.”

  Anne whooped in glee. “I knew it! So…did he kiss you?”

  She couldn’t resist teasing her friend. “Define kiss.”

  Anne squealed. “He did kiss you. Okay, I want details. Was it good? Did he use tongue? Any groping involved?”

  The rapid-fire questions had Selena laughing at her enthusiasm. “Yes. To all of the above.”

  Anne’s wistful sigh spoke volumes. “Sounds like fun.”

  “I gather things didn’t get to that point with you and Robert.”

  “No. But we’re going to see each other again tomorrow night.”

  Selena heaved a sigh of relief. Anne had been pining for Robert ever since they’d broken up, and even though she’d pretended to want to meet someone new, even going so far as to start dating again, the fact was she still loved Robert. “That’s great news.”

  “Yes, it is. When do you see Rafe again?”

  “How do you know I’m going to?”

  “I saw the way he looked at you, and he’s not the type to give up easily.”

  Wasn’t that the truth. “He’s taking me to dinner on Friday.”

  “Oooh, this is serious. A real date.”

  Selena laughed again at her friend’s eagerness. “Yeah, that’s what he said.”

  “Whatever else you do, just keep an open mind. And give the guy half a chance, would ya?”

  “To be honest, I’m already having second thoughts. If I had his number, I would have called and cancelled already.”

  Anne’s voice exuded exasperation. “Maybe that’s why he didn’t give it to you.”

  Thinking back to their little tête-à-tête in the hallway, Selena wrinkled her nose. “You could be right.”

  “Promise me something else?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Seriously think about sleeping with the guy. You desperately need to get laid.”

  Chapter Six

  “What’s the goofy grin for?”

  Damn. Rafe thought he’d managed to banish the stupid thing from his face by the time he got to the office. Obviously not. “I do not have a goofy grin.”

  Larke laughed. “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

  “Very funny. Maybe you should worry less about me, and start worrying more about yourself. Have you checked to see what’s wrong with your vamp radar?”

  Her gaze clashed with his. “You can’t be saying there was no vampire again last night.”

  Rafe couldn’t believe he had the same bad news to tell her two hunts in a row. He leaned a hip against her desk. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Larke’s brow furrowed, her mouth pursed. Her entire face was a picture of confusion and disbelief. “But that’s not possible. You must have missed him.”

  Thinking back to how he’d left the bar to make sure Selena got home, he supposed it was possible. “Maybe.”

  Larke leaned back in her chair and glared at him. “What happened?”

  “I had to leave for about an hour.”

  She snapped forward again. “What?”

  “What was I supposed to do? She’d passed out. I couldn’t let her walk home alone in a weakened state like that.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she leaned towards him. “Now the picture becomes clearer. So, who’s this mysterious ‘she’?”

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “No one you know.”

  She got up and walked over to him. “You know, Rafe, no one would like to see you find someone more than me, but people’s lives are at stake here. You know how serious this is. If you don’t catch the vamp, he goes out and kills people.”

  Anger and guilt warred within him. “You think I don’t know that?”

  “Normally, I’d say you do. But you let this woman distract you from your target, and now a vamp is out there looking for his next victim because of it.”

  Her voice wobbled making him feel terrible, but it wasn’t his fault. “I’m telling you he wasn’t there. Something’s wrong with your visions because I’ve never had this much trouble finding a target. The problem’s with you, not me.”

  Larke pinched the bridge of her nose and then speared him with a look. “I can’t believe this is happening. How’s this even possible?”

  “I don’t know, but something’s definitely wrong and I don’t see how it could be me. I have too many indicators. Even if my sense of smell is off, I’d spot the evil in their eyes. It has to be your visions.”

  Temper flared in Larke’s eyes. “Well, I can’t see how it could be my visions. I’m still getting them and they’ve been especially vivid. This doesn’t make any sense.”

  No, it didn’t, but arguing wasn’t going to get them anywhere. “Sis, we hunt vampires, creatures most people don’t even believe exist. How much sense does that make?”

  He watched as his pathetic effort to diffuse their argument hit home. After a moment, a half-hearted smile crossed Larke’s face, she nodded, then took a deep breath. “Okay, so what do we do? Passing the buck isn’t getting us anywhere.”

  “I don’t think either of us is passing the buck, but something’s off and we need to figure out what it is, pronto.”

  Larke sighed. “Agreed. I guess the best place to start is for me to go talk to Dad. He knows the Archives better than any of us. Maybe he’ll have some ideas.”

  ***

  After a long night of surveilling some stupid asshole who was cheating on his wife, Rafe wasn’t in a particularly good mood. He stomped back to the office the next day to write up his report and found Larke sitting at her desk looking more than a little worried.

  When Rafe had taken over as slayer, their father had taken on the role of studying the Slayer Archives, imparting whatever knowledge he could to any out-of-the-ordinary situations that arose. Like the one they were dealing with now.

  Based on Larke’s expression, things must not have gone too well. “What did he say?”

  She pursed her lips. “Nothing good.”

  “Could you be more specific?”

  “We checked with the Seer’s Crystals. There’s nothing wrong with my visions, Rafe. The problem has to be with you.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me. I told you.”

  She watched him closely as if hoping she could divine what the problem was just by looking at him. “When was the last time you sensed a vamp?”

  Rafe stopped and thought. “It wasn’t all that long ago. A week or two at the most.”

  “And when was the last time I had two strong visions in a row without them being true?”

  “Well…never.”

  “Exactly.”

  Shit. Was there something wrong with him?

  Larke came over and laid her hand on his arm. “I think you’d better go see Dad and talk to him too.”

  Bloody hell. Just what he needed. Rubbing his forehead, he noted with mounting irritation that he hadn’t even seen his father yet and he could already feel the stress lines creasing his brow. Thanks to the old man, he was no doubt going to be prematurely wrinkled.

  Larke’s soothing voice broke into his thoughts. “This might be serious, Rafe. You need to get past y
our issues with Dad and talk to him about this.”

  Issues. What a sanitary word. He almost laughed. Their issues, if you could call them that, weren’t anything that could be talked out or changed. They would never go away, no matter what anyone did. They weren’t even anyone’s fault. It was just the way it was.

  Regardless of his feelings, Larke was right. If there was something wrong with him or his abilities, they needed to find out right away and deal with it. “Okay, I’ll go.”

  “Right now?”

  “Yeah.”

  She nodded with a strange combination of relief and worry etched on her delicate features, making him wonder what exactly their father had said to her.

  “Then you’d better hurry. Dad’s waiting for you.”

  Rafe scowled and turned to leave. “I hate it when you two already know I’m going to give in.”

  Thirty minutes later, he pulled into the driveway of the old family estate just outside city limits. The Hunter family had lived here for over a century and it was expected that when his parents died he would carry on the family tradition and live here too.

  Traditions. What a pain in the ass. He didn’t want to carry on anything, but he knew he would. He’d been well trained. And whatever else his father might think of him, he knew that in the end Rafe would do the expected thing. No matter how much he didn’t want to.

  The only thing Rafe had continued to balk at was getting married and having kids to continue the family line. Not because he didn’t want to settle down, but because he hadn’t found anyone he wanted to settle down with.

  The problem was, his younger brother, Tristan, was off seeking his own path and Larke was still grieving. Not able to count on the others, all his father could focus on was the fact that it was up to Rafe to continue the slayer line. A real bone of contention between them.

  He cruised up to the house, admiring, as he always did, the ancient oaks lining both sides of the drive, standing as if sentinels of a long-ago time.

  Despite the swirling montage of feelings surging through him—ranging from nostalgia to resentment—Rafe still managed to love the old place. Memories, both good and bad, passed through his consciousness. Riding his bike down this very drive. Flying a kite for the first time in this yard.

  His childhood, for the most part, had been good, mundane even. Sprinkled with what were probably your typical garden-variety disagreements with parents due to personality differences, discipline and plain old growing up.

  Except for one thing. The tiny detail of being raised to be the next slayer. Not to mention everything that went with it. Responsibility. Duty. Tradition.

  There was that word again.

  Why couldn’t he have been born into a normal family with a normal heritage and normal traditions to pass down? Your typical things, like whether to have goose or turkey for Christmas? Or whether to open presents Christmas Eve or Day?

  He parked the car, and his parents were there to greet him before he reached the door.

  “Rafe, honey, it’s so good to see you. You don’t come round near enough.”

  Was the ability to instill guilt a gene all mothers carried? He gave her a hug. “Hello, Mother. You’re looking beautiful as ever.” She smiled up at him and latched onto his arm to walk him in.

  “Son, I’m glad you came.”

  He nodded at his father. The man hadn’t aged in years, and still had the same military-like bearing and strength he remembered as a child. “Sir.”

  “Larke told us all about what’s been going on.”

  “Yeah, she said the Crystals gave her the all clear. I guess that leaves me. Didn’t the Crystals indicate anything about me one way or the other?”

  His father led the way to the study. “Larke asked but it was inconclusive.”

  “What do you think that means?”

  His father stopped and looked directly at him. “It must mean something but I don’t know what. I’ve been looking up anything that might apply here, but there’s not much to go on.”

  “Have any other slayer’s ever lost their abilities?”

  His father shook his head. “There’s no record of it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Have you noticed any decrease in your strength and agility?”

  Rafe walked over to the mini fridge in the corner and grabbed himself a bottle of water. “Nope. And my night vision is still excellent.”

  “So, the only thing that might be affected is your actual ability to sense a vampire.”

  Rafe took a welcome swig of cold water. “Don’t you think I’d be able to tell if something was off?”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “That’s helpful. Aside from being within range of a vampire, is there any way to test this out?”

  “There’s just one thing I can think of, although it’s never been done before that I know of.”

  Rafe sat across from his parents. “And what would that be?”

  “The Seer’s Crystals.”

  Rafe jumped back up as if he’d sat on a tack and started pacing. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I know it’s risky, but I’ve been thinking about this and I’m reasonably certain it’d be safe enough.”

  Risky. Talk about an understatement. “You’re reasonably certain? Well, hell. That’s not good enough for me.”

  In typical Hunter fashion, his father was all about the slaying. Nothing else mattered except tradition and doing your duty, and if something interfered with that, then it had to be fixed. No matter what. And pronto.

  His mother came over to him and stopped his pacing. “Your father and I have been talking this through, and the wording of the text could be interpreted to mean the slayer as well as the visionary.”

  “I thought you at least would be more cautious, Mother. That’s an awfully big chance you two are willing to take with my life.”

  “We’re not taking this lightly, Rafe. Not at all. We wouldn’t let you do it if we didn’t think your father’s theory was sound.”

  His father nodded in agreement. “The text says, ‘Only those with gift of sight, can see the clearness of the light. Be not one to gander deep, lest loved ones will ye leave to weep.’”

  “Yeah, I know what it says. You warned me often enough when I was growing up that only Larke could use the Crystals. Even as a curious youngster I wasn’t stupid enough to take a chance with my life, so I always kept my distance.”

  “You were always such a good boy.”

  His father’s bark of laughter startled them both. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same son, Eloise?”

  She waved her hand in his direction. “Stop that. You know very well Rafe got into trouble just to goad you.”

  Rafe marveled at his mother’s perception. “The text states that only the one with gift of sight can use the Crystals. That’s definitely not me. No visions are lurking anywhere in my head.”

  He watched his father who was now in full professor mode. “But think about it. You have a different kind of sight. You can ‘see’ vampires. Not everyone has that ability. Only slayers. So you do have a gift of sight as well. It’s just different than Larke’s.”

  He couldn’t fault his father’s logic, but still… “That’s pretty shaky reasoning. Has any other slayer ever tried this?”

  “Not that I know of for certain, but when Larke used the Crystals to see if there was something off with her visions, I had her ask if the slayer could use them too.”

  Startled, Rafe watched his father. “And the Crystals indicated I could?”

  His mother started fidgeting. “Not quite a direct answer, but they definitely gave a positive sign.”

  “I see.”

  This was an unexpected turn of events. After avoiding the Crystals his entire life, it would be pretty damned funny if he had just as much right to use them as Larke did.

  His mother prodded his father. “Tell him the rest, Etienne.”

  “After Larke left I remembered something I’d read a long time ago. I
t never registered before because I was always so positive using the Crystals was restricted to the first-born daughters and thus the visionaries in the family. But I got to thinking, why doesn’t the text use gender? It doesn’t say ‘she’, it says ‘those’, which could refer to male or female and as we all know, the first-born daughters are always the visionaries and the first-born sons are always the slayers, so why the ambiguous reference? While I was pondering that, something else came back to mind.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Over a hundred years ago, our family line almost came to an end. During that generation, the family only had one son. There was no daughter who could help the slayer find vampires with her visions, or by consulting the Crystals for him.”

  “That made his job a lot harder, but I don’t see how it applies here.”

  “All indications in the family history show he was just as prolific with finding and killing vampires as any other slayer has been. Without being able to rely on visions to help him, how would he have accomplished that?”

  Okay, that was interesting. “You think he might have used the Crystals to help him find vamps?”

  “It’s the only logical conclusion.”

  “He may simply have been an exceptional slayer.”

  “Maybe, but the more I reason on this, the more I don’t feel that’s the case. I think he used those Crystals to help him find his quarry.”

  Rafe got up. He needed time to mull this over. It wasn’t that easy to toss aside a lifetime of viewing things a certain way. “This is all very interesting and may very well be true, but I don’t think I’m ready to risk my life on it just yet. If Larke gets another vision and I don’t find the vamp, then I’ll consider it.”

  His parents stood too. “Just don’t leave it any longer than that, son. Every time you fail, more people die.”

  “I know. But if I die trying to use the Crystals, that will only leave you with Tristan to take my place. Do we really want to risk that?”

  ***

  Rafe headed straight back to the office, hoping to run everything past Larke.

  No wonder she’d looked so concerned before he left. She was worried about this cockamamie idea their father had of him trying to use the Crystals.