Cursed by Destiny

by Cecy Robson

  My phone rang all morning. My sisters left several messages, claiming their calls were just to say hi. I knew better. Eventually I just shut it off and prayed the Tribe would invade Tahoe City so I could have something to kill. Around dinnertime, there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, a tremendous brown wolf tackled me to the floor. The wolf slobbered all over my face. “Bren, get the hell off me.” He didn’t move; he just wagged his tail and bombarded me with sloppy kisses. I adjusted my hips and tossed him across the kitchen floor and into my living room. I wiped my face with the sleeve of my nightshirt. He grinned at me with his giant fangs. When he bounded to my side, I knelt down and patted his head. “What are you doing here?”

  Liam and Danny raced in; my sisters stumbled in behind them. Everyone babbled in loud, excited, breathless voices all at once. I couldn’t hear or understand a thing. Especially once Liam pulled me to him and spun me in the air, howling like a crazed beast.

  I pressed my hands into Liam’s chest until he put me down. Everyone stared at me, smiling, their cheeks flushed with excitement. “Aric couldn’t go through with it,” Liam said.

  I gawked at him, unsure I’d heard correctly. It felt as if my brain had abandoned my skull and my body was hovering above the wood floor.

  He grabbed my shoulders and shook me lightly. “Did you hear me, Celia? Aric didn’t marry Barbara. He bailed at the last minute.”

  I clasped my hands over my mouth. “Oh, my God,” I whispered. “What happened?”

  Liam wore a navy suit and red tie, but his brown eyes shimmered with the excitement of a three-year-old and his blond hair spiked out of control. “Well, we knew all hell was going to break loose when Aric showed up at the civil ceremony dressed in the jeans and T-shirt he’d obviously slept in and lookin’ ready to maul. Barbara ignored him and said her vows like there was no way he’d ever have the stones to back out.” He chuckled. “Aric couldn’t or wouldn’t say shit. Barbara threw a major fit and called Anara. Anara ripped Aric a new asshole over the phone and ordered him to marry Barbara. Aric flat-out refused and hung up on him. Well, then the shit hit the fan. Barbara marched up to Miss Eliza and told her she’s been throwing herself at Aric and since he’s failed to respond she must have birthed the gayest wolf on the planet.”

  My lids peeled back and I had to grip the counter to keep from falling over. “What happened after that?” Good Lord. I could barely spit the words out.

  “You’re going to love this. Miss Eliza was all calm. She smiled real sweet like and said, ‘That’s so strange, dear. I don’t recall Aric ever having problems showing Celia affection.’”

  Oh, snap!

  My heart pounded in my chest. I couldn’t believe it. I was almost out of my mind with joy. I tried to hide my brimming tears. Liam stopped me by clasping my hands. “I think Aric was able to resist Anara because he doesn’t want to be with anyone . . . unless it’s you.”

  The tears leaking from my eyes earned me a much-needed hug from Emme. “Thanks, Liam. I needed to hear that.” I wiped my cheeks. “Where is Aric? I have to call him.”

  “You can’t do that, Celia,” Liam answered.

  I nodded. “You’re right. I don’t want to get him into more trouble with Anara.”

  “Oh, no—I don’t mean you shouldn’t. I mean you can’t. Barbara smashed his phone into his face and broke it.” We all gasped. “Anyway, Aric went wolf and took off. We don’t know where he is.” He shrugged. “I’m supposed to help the Warriors search for him. The Elders are worried he’s gone off the deep end and they want us to find him before he eats a mailman or something.” He bent to kiss Emme before jogging off.

  My sisters threw their arms around me, thankfully shielding me from Bren’s naked form. He yanked on the jeans Danny tossed him. Taran shoved me into my bedroom. “Get dressed, Ceel. We’re taking you to Hairy Bastard’s to celebrate.”

  • • •

  Hairy Bastard’s was the premier steakhouse in Carson City, famous for booze, big servings, and catering to weres.

  “There’s that vamp tramp, Celia Wird,” some werehyena said in a barely audible whisper.

  The patrons were famous for hating vampires and, apparently, anyone associated with them. I ignored her and slipped into our booth. Bren and Danny kept their sights on her, but it was Shayna who spoke up. “Don’t talk about my sister that way!”

  We angled our heads slowly toward Shayna. “You heard her?” Bren asked.

  Shayna continued to narrow her eyes. “Well, duh—she said it loud and clear.” Usually such a response fell under Taran’s list of personality traits.

  “No, she didn’t, Shayna.” I took a sniff to see whether I could detect any underlying lupine aroma. I couldn’t sense anything. She was still Shayna, but something about her had changed. “It looks like Koda gave you more than just healing abilities.”

  Shayna placed both palms on the table. “Dude! Are you serious?”

  Taran shut her compact closed. “What the hell’s going on?”

  We told Taran and Emme what happened and they began to question Shayna on other new abilities she might have noticed. Shayna jumped in her seat, her pixie face beaming. “I am a lot hungrier now. And Koda did say I’m more aggressive . . . um, in certain situations.”

  Bren danced his eyebrows. “Do you mean in bed, Shayna?”

  Shayna laughed despite her pink cheeks. “Yeah, but he doesn’t seem to mind.”

  “You were also aggressive in how you responded to that werehyena,” Danny said. “It’s not like you to snap at someone—you’re usually the one who keeps the peace.”

  Worry erased her building excitement. “You don’t think I’ll get all—” She raised her hands, pretending to have claws, and bared her teeth. “Grrrr!”

  The wolves and I laughed. She was about as vicious as a newborn chinchilla. Danny covered her hand. “Your werewolf tendencies and your human ones are probably just trying to adjust to each other. You may have a shorter fuse—similar to younger wolves—but I don’t expect you’ll become volatile.”

  The waitress brought over a bucket of Coronas. Bren handed me one and grabbed one for himself. “And you’re probably more hot-headed considering the were equivalent of Cujo passed you his essence.”

  Shayna giggled. “Oh, my puppy’s just a big love.”

  Bren stopped in the middle of dividing up the remaining beers. “Your puppy scares people shitless.”

  The rest of us agreed in a collective shudder. Shayna laughed and squirmed excitedly in her seat. “Do you think I’ll change soon?”

  Bren wiped his scruffy beer after chugging his beer. “Nah. If you were going to, you would have following the first full moon.”

  Shayna pouted—she would have loved a tail and some fur. Emme leaned forward. “But, Shayna, what you have is so incredible. Your sense of hearing is heightened. You can heal. You can scent—”

  “You’re a freak,” the werehyena chimed in.

  Her comment caused the group of weres at her table to erupt with laughter. My tigress stretched inside me in anticipation of a fight. Taran cracked her knuckles and flashed them an evil smile. We waited for their next move. Bren wasn’t so patient. He was probably one of the greatest friends I’ve ever had. He was funny, loyal, and affectionate—he also didn’t take any shit. He stood, towering above us, and trained his eyes at the werehyena. “You know what? You’re really starting to piss me off.”

  A wereox who had also laughed stood and moseyed over to Bren. “Oh, yeah?” Like a moron, he poked Bren in the chest. “What are you going to do about it?”

  Bren smashed our beer bucket right in the guy’s face. “The same thing I did to your mother.”

  The werehyena launched herself at Shayna. I caught her in midair and used her momentum to slam her against the wall. She broke a beer sign into about a thousand pieces with her back and landed with a loud th
ump on our table. Taran loomed over her. “Not laughing now, are you, bitch?”

  Weres brawled. A lot. As a result, a law had been established years ago for such behavior. So long as no one died and humans didn’t become aware, the North American Were Council was fine with the occasional smackdown.

  Shayna merged the utensils at our table and transformed them into two long ninja staffs. She let out probably the saddest excuse for a wolf howl I’d ever heard and attacked. Bren broke out laughing for some reason and just missed getting hit with a barstool. Taran scrambled out of the booth and jolted anyone she could with lightning. I took on a werekangaroo. His blows came fast and he kicked with both feet simultaneously. I missed most of his shots. He wasn’t as lucky.

  The wereox gained consciousness and charged toward Emme. She held out her small hand. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you take another step . . .”

  The wereox stopped midstampede and smiled. “You’re cute. How ’bout some head?”

  Like the rapid fire from a machine gun, Emme slammed about a dozen beer mugs into the ox’s groin. She frowned at him. “Jerk.”

  There was some high-pitched screaming near the bathrooms where a woman dragged poor Danny away by his hair. I knocked out the kangaroo with a kick to the face and chased after them. I raced down the hall to the restrooms only to be intercepted by a wereyak barreling out of the men’s room.

  We grappled. Stupid move on my part—his human form was stronger than mine. I fell through the ladies’ room door with him and shifted through the floor before his weight could squash me. I surfaced with an uppercut to his jaw. His head snapped back and he staggered into the sink. When his face met mine, he froze. Slowly, he peered over my shoulder. The anger twisting his face melted into horror and his olive skin paled to green.

  My body shivered liked I’d been dumped naked on an icy tundra. Something wicked had appeared. Behind me. All the hair on the back of my neck shriveled into my skin. A sharp pungent smell burned my nose and made my stomach pang with the urge to vomit. I’d smelled that baneful odor once before.

  Demon.

  Not demon children. Demon children were a hybrid of demon and human blood. This . . . this was the straight-from-hell kind that didn’t belong on earth. I turned slowly toward the scent, even though every part of me screamed to run. My tigress surprised me with a roar that vibrated in my throat; my human side very much wanted to cry and hide under the nearest bed.

  On the windowsill sat something resembling a toad, only sickly white with gray spots and a fat humanoid head. Bright pink eyes blinked back at me. Its body was only about the size of a loaf of bread, but it didn’t need to be bigger to scare me.

  The wereyak backed away, crossing himself, the aroma of his fear mixing with mine. “Holy shit,” he whispered. He slammed into the doorjamb in his haste to scramble away, leaving me alone with this thing.

  The brawl continued in the dining area, but the bathroom turned hauntingly quiet. The demon opened his mouth and extended his thick gray tongue, tasting the air and possibly me.

  I ripped the condom dispenser off the wall and smashed him with it. The first few blows felt as if I’d hit a wet balloon filled with water. I pounded him with more force until I heard a splat. The room filled with more of that horrible scent, propelling me to strike harder and harder.

  My hands slicked with my blood against the warping metal. Die, die, just die! I jumped when Danny placed his hand on my shoulder. Still, I continued to pulverize what remained.

  “Oh, my God. Celia, stop—Celia!”

  “De-de-de.” I was so terrified I couldn’t bring myself to say the word, so I hit harder.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll get rid of it.”

  I dropped the twisted metal dispenser on top of it. My feet automatically scurried away as Danny moved it aside. We both gagged at the smell. It looked like someone had poured bubbling white slime on the floor. Chunks of flesh floated on top, swirling together as if attempting to rejoin. Five minutes. Aric had once told me that only the strongest demons could leave hell. And five minutes was usually their curfew. My body convulsed with terror. It had at least three minutes left.

  Danny took a small tube of water from his back pocket and poured a few drops on the leftovers. The drops sizzled. Sparks of blue exploded and engulfed the slime in a magical mini wave, cleansing the floor and purifying the air.

  My body relaxed slightly from breathing in the sudden freshness. “Holy water?” I stammered after a few moments of silence.

  Danny shook his head. Dry blood caked his lips and several contusions covered his face. “It’s water from the lake. The magic in Tahoe is mostly pure. I’ve been trying to analyze it at the lab.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just had a feeling it would help.”

  I gripped the edge of the sink, unable to stay upright on my weak legs. “What if the water hadn’t worked?”

  Danny smiled a true, genuine Danny-ish smile. “The power of good keeps demons from staying on earth. Even if the water failed to have any effect, that thing wouldn’t have lasted long against your light.”

  CHAPTER 14

  “You know, this really isn’t necessary,” I said to Hank.

  He jogged alongside me, huffing and puffing like a two-pack-a-day smoker. “Celia, the Tribe is getting desperate to off you if they’re sending demons your way. Pardon the fuck out of the master for trying to protect you.” He spat on the asphalt. “Do you think I want to run? It’s idiotic. I don’t understand why you do it.”

  “It’s not idiotic. It helps my stamina and calms my tigress.”

  “So does sex—and it’s much more pleasurable. I don’t understand why you keep denying the master.”

  Vampires were all about overindulging themselves—whether with money, sex, or feedings. How could I have possibly reasoned with such selfish beings?

  People driving in the opposite direction gawked at us. It was a clear forty-degree day. I wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, but they weren’t staring at my pitiful disguise. Nor were they stunned stupid by the gorgeous guy in the ridiculous seventies jogging suit running next to me. They stared at my security team, courtesy of my guardian angel master vampire.

  Long gone were the days I raced along the lake trails by myself. Now every time I ran it was between two town cars full of combat-ready vampires. That was bad. The helicopter hovering above us? Much worse. Everyone in the Tahoe City area probably thought some eccentric billionaire was out for a stroll.

  Hank grew impatient. “Well, are you going to tell me?”

  “Tell you what?”

  His expression told me he’d like to use my eyeballs to play Ping-Pong. “Why you don’t bed the master? It’s not like you’re some shy virgin or something. That idiot Liam told me you and the pureblood were always getting it on.”

  My face flushed and I picked up my pace. “Hank, I am so not having this conversation with you.”

  He ignored me. “Not having sex is just unnatural, even for a weird-ass chick like you.”

  “Hank, you’re really starting to piss me off.”

  “Just admit it—you want to have sex.”

  “I don’t have to admit anything. And if you open your trap one more time, you’re going to be sorry.”

  Again, he ignored me. “The master is reasonable. He’ll probably allow his ears to be scratched during your lovemaking, if that’s the sort of shit that turns you on.”

  As my speed increased, the cars in front and behind us accelerated. “Hank, don’t bring Aric into this—you know nothing about him or our love life.”

  “What love life? You have nothing with that mutt. Look, I’m not trying to pressure you, but the others and I have a pool going. The pot’s getting high and I don’t want to lose.”

  “You’re betting on whether Misha and I are going to do it!” The revelation only made me run faste
r.

  “Not whether you’ll do it—when. Edith and Liz are already out twenty grand. You have to please the master by Valentine’s Day or else I’m out fifty.”

  “You’re such an asshole, Hank. I can’t believe you’d bet on me.”

  “I wouldn’t have if I’d known how difficult you’d be. Shit, Celia. I knew you were stubborn, but this is bad even for you.”

  Hank was now wheezing. Vampires were fast, but not designed to race for such long distances. We’d hit the ten-mile mark before I really began to sweat. I pushed faster. Hank tried desperately to catch me and lost his concentration. He slid on some gravel and took a dive. There was a loud grunt when the car behind us ran over him. Serves him right.

  Tim stuck his shaved head out of the car in front of us. “Damn it, Celia—slow the hell down. The humans are going to suspect something.”

  I don’t think so, Tim. I went up the next side road at the last minute. The car ahead kept going, but the car behind me made a sharp turn and tried to follow. They were keeping up pretty well until I shifted underground and turned up in someone’s backyard.

  The helicopter circled above me, searching. I giggled when the vamps started swearing. I continued to shift and kept to the shadows beneath the trees. Danny had convinced me demons—the real ones—couldn’t appear so close to the lake. It made sense, given that the only ones I’d seen had been far from Tahoe’s power. I continued to move. It wouldn’t take long for the vamps to pick up my scent, and in the meantime I wanted a moment away from the annoyingly undead.

  I finally appeared on a high hill that overlooked Tahoe and dropped down to a small patch of beach. The aroma of its magic brought me a sense of calm and assured me I was protected. My tigress purred and relaxed, allowing me to stretch before taking a seat on a large rock. I peered out at the water. Hank was right. I did want to make love, but it wasn’t with his master. I miss you, Aric.