Lifted Curse (Curse Trilogy)

by C. M. Owens

  He sighs out before continuing with, “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen you suffer a physical reaction to the dreams. Have you ever done it before… with Brazen?”

  I shake my head, my eyes still concentrating on my skin’s lie as it shows me its perfectly sealed wounds - no marks left behind, the true scars hiding far beneath the surface.

  “Not with Brazen there, but a few times when he was on detail. It’s been a while since it was that vivid.”

  I feel him flinch, and then his hold tightens on me. I breathe in a fresh breath of air, begging it to free me from the suffocating force still bearing down on my throat, and then I close my eyes as I pretend to rest.

  “Sleep, baby.”

  I force a smile to barely turn up, and then I roll over to slide my body into his. I’ve already slept for several hours. It’s dark again. It won’t be long until I have to go face him. Until… I have to leave Hale behind.

  I feel the bed shift as Hale climbs free, and the light rapping on the door lets me know Clay has returned to speak with him in private. He closes the door behind him, and I hear the animated voices on the other side begin to strategize. I hear Brazen as well, along with our newest member, Symphony.

  “They’ve spotted men close to Selma scoping the place out. It looks like that is going to be his target.”

  Selma it is.

  I slip free from the covers before using my stealth to swish across the floor, unheard. I pull the clothes free from the bag, and I almost give myself away when I have to stifle a gasp.

  Seriously?

  I stare at the completely seductive ensemble meant to serve as a Halloween costume as opposed to an actual outfit. The binding red leather has intentionally placed slits all the way down the front of the pants, and the matching, red leather top is just barely going to cover my breasts.

  What the hell? Why would Gabe’s wife assume I would dress like this?

  Then it hits me. The last time I was there was directly after my savage when psycho and burned my clothes, leaving me with the new BDSM wardrobe I’ve since ditched. I roll my eyes with a blushing hue surfacing to the top of my cheeks, and then I huff while sliding into the form-fitting fabric.

  They were trying to respect my tastes, but it’s embarrassing to know this is how they think I dress. I suppose I should have explained why I looked like the poster-girl for the dominatrix club, but I failed to even think about it. Now I’ll pay the consequences by going after Ty looking like a sex-in-high-heel-boots sadistic gothic Barbie.

  The window is already open, and I swing it out more to gently rest it against the stone wall of the outside. I strap on my guns, the waist hugging holster hanging low on my hips, and then I strap on the small grenades Brazen made for me. I strap on every round of ammo I can find, though I may need none of it.

  I pray I can lose control and regain it, but if I become lost, I pray the savage cares for my child and Hale finds a way to put me down… for good once its born. He’ll be the only one capable - I just don’t know if he can do it. I wouldn’t be able to.

  I crouch on the windowsill, my knees bent and my rear resting on my heels, as I look below to make sure no one is in the courtyard. The men on the walls study the night air in front of them, not worrying about the death-pursuing girl on the ledge of insanity’s window behind them.

  I feel the air rush me as I drop, and my stomach slides up to try and touch my throat before I land to my feet with a slight jolt and a light thud. No one stirs or notices I’m around, and I blur to the wall. I slip through a small crack to climb up, the rock burrowing into my back as I press against to perch my feet on the small crevices.

  I finally leverage myself with enough force to launch myself to the top, and I flip over the wall before anyone even knows I’ve just broken out. I carefully avoid the spotlights shining all over the ground, and the wind blows in my hair as I run to the safe house Brazen offered to me for childbearing. I know there’s a garage full of cars waiting just beyond the ridge. I don’t have the key with me, but it’s not like I need it.

  The small, barely visible building is camouflaged just as he promised, but my vision has grown remarkably better these past few weeks.

  Just as I break the lock on the doors, my phone buzzes in the small pocket on my hip. I slide my finger over the screen to answer the number I’ve never seen, and the sound of a crying child greets me with panic.

  “Hello?” I prompt.

  “Araya. Help us. They’re coming. They’re coming!” the boy cries, and instantly the flash of a child’s image pops through my head as I think back to my time at Hilbrook. The boy I told to call me if he needed me for anything has held me to my word. My stomach plummets to the ground. Hilbrook is five hours from here if I drive like Hale, and I don’t know what he means, they’re coming.

  “Who’s coming? Rex, what does that mean?” I urge while flinging the doors open and hopping into the first car I see.

  “The new ones. The hybrids with superpowers and black hearts. They’ll kill us all, and they want you to see it. They want you, Araya. Don’t let them take you or your baby.”

  I feel like I just fell into a pit of lava and then got dropped into an icy pond when those words travel from his lips.

  “Rex, how do you know about my baby?”

  “It’s my gift. I can see now. I can see them coming,” he says in a trembling whisper.

  “I’m on my way to you, Rex. Tell your captain they’re coming, and then get to the tunnels. Run. Don’t look back. Take the others and get out of there now,” I softly command, and I can almost feel him nodding, forgetting I’m on the phone. “Okay?”

  “Okay, Araya. Hurry, please… hurry.”

  I hang up while shaking my head in disbelief. His powers are showing too early in life. If Ty finds him, he’ll study him. He’ll use Rex as a science experiment so he too can have the gift of sight. If Rex is strong enough to see the future that plainly so young, he’ll be stronger later in life. If Ty gets him… he’ll kill him studying him.

  Shit. We’re so stupid.

  We should have changed our damn security codes to the national registries. Ty had access to them all. He never wanted to go to Selma, not yet. He has access to our gifted registry, and Rex’s gift would have just been announced considering he didn’t have it the last time I was there. That’s why he’s going to Hilbrook. If he has the gift of foresight, we’ll never beat him. He’ll see our every move before we make it. If he touches Rex the way he did me, I may destroy the whole damn compound and everyone in it.

  The taste of dust mingling with a deathly silence spreads the heated panic over my body. The compound looks quiet, deserted, and I’m starting to worry I’ve come too late. It took four hours instead of five, but that car will never drive again after the beating it endured. I had to use my gift just to push it forward the last three miles.

  The compound has lights on, but just barely. There’s not the slightest stirring inside to show evidence of life - no voices, no shuffling of feet, and no worried breaths tainting the air the breeze carries to me.

  I worry Ty has realized Rex has seen him coming. A tugging at my gut makes me worry he was ready for them to run to the tunnels. Then I hear the distant roar of vicious engines being abused as they rush toward me. I steady my heartbeat while pulling up my invincibility. I’ll have to be prepared for energy guns. I’ll have to watch every angle they could attack from to make sure they never get close enough to strike me until I go crazy savage. I pray I don’t have to.

  “Unbelievable,” Ty’s voice sounds out from behind me with an ominous laugh in the back of his throat.

  I whip around, gun drawn, and I aim directly at his forehead.

  “Well, Araya. I suppose you’re not as bright as I’ve credited you for being all these years. I fear I’ve placed you far too high on a pedestal you didn’t deserve to be atop.”

  “Actually, Ty, I think you’ve been far too dismissive of me actually,” I counter with a touch of e
erie dangling from my own lips.

  “Hmm… That’s cute, Araya.”

  The humming of the vehicles near as the ground vibrates beneath me, and I know it’s about to be war whether I want it to be or not.

  “You can’t have him, Ty. He’s a forgotten child who has had to endure far too much as it is.”

  He starts laughing almost wildly while shaking his head. He walks around without fear in front of me as his hands cross casually behind his back.

  “That, my dear, is why I’ve given you too much credit. You think I’m here for the child, when really, I’m here for you.” My eyes widen a little as his smile turns up more, reaching his eyes. “You see, I knew he’d call you, and given the fact you’re nothing less than a self-proclaimed savior of the forgotten, you’d come… alone. You wouldn’t risk the men you love, the woman you stole from me, your sister and her lover, or the man you’ve deemed your best friend for centuries. I had to draw you out somehow, and here you are falling into my lap.”

  Bastard.

  “That’s not a very nice thought, Araya,” he says with a darker grin as his eyes cloud over to a black hue.

  Oh no. He can read minds. No. No. That can’t be.

  “It is. It’s amazing how very unprepared you were for me this whole time, huh?” he laughs out. “That means as long as you’re there and I’m here, I can hear everything you’re going to do before you do it. It has been you who has been far too dismissive of me, Araya.”

  The cars behind us skid to a halt, and I hear the wind rushing behind their abrupt stops. Ty smirks while holding his hand up toward the new hybrid army - all of them sleek, eyes glossy, and completely under his control - just like Symphony.

  “Go find the boy. I’ll handle Araya. By now they’ve taken the tunnels to the city,” Ty says without falter.

  My gut sinks. I can’t let them do this.

  “You have no choice, Araya.”

  “Yes I do,” I growl, and then my bullets start firing before I even realize I’ve pulled the trigger the first time.

  No one fires back, and the bullets bounce off everyone. There’s not a graze, a dent, or a single drop of blood. They stand unfazed by my hailing parade of bullets, and no one feels it necessary to fire back.

  Laughter erupts again - most prominently from Ty - and they all cast their smug grins toward my astonished face. Full savage. They’re full savage. In control savage… like…

  “That’s right, Araya. We’re in control of our savages, unlike you. That power, that wonderfully merciless force stays reigned in our bodies, giving us the ability to do so much more damage. We’re stronger, faster, smarter, and far more gifted than you could ever be.”

  “They’re puppets, Ty. Puppets. That’s all they will ever be because of you and your damn blood control. Do you have any idea what will happen if you keep this up? Eventually they’ll destroy everything. The power you’ve gifted them with is too much for them, and they’ll destroy the world you once fought to save. Think of all the innocent. You used to be on the same crusade as me, Ty. It’s not possible you’ve strayed that far.”

  “I haven’t!” he screams. “I haven’t strayed at all, Araya. You have. You think kissing the scrapes and cuts makes it all better? It doesn’t! The scars we can’t bear on the surface hide under the skin, reminding us how incomplete we really are. They did this. They will pay. And you, dear, will be my queen.”

  “Like hell I will.”

  “Oh you don’t have a choice. If you break someone’s toy, it’s only proper you replace it. You broke my girl, took her from me, and severed our connection. I need a new queen for my empire, and your child will become mine. There’s no telling what power it will possess.”

  Oh no. My baby. He knows about my baby.

  “Of course I know. It’s amazing how inclined my hearing has become. There are two heartbeats exuding from your tantalizing body. I have to confess, motherhood is very becoming on you.”

  Fear strikes, and I can’t hide it from this mind-reading son of a bitch. His lips twitch up in a smile as my confidence dissolves in front of his eyes. Suddenly I feel a strike launching into the core of the mass, and I look up to see the revolving lights from the cavalry I never called in.

  My moment of weakness flees the moment my instincts to protect kick back in, and I summon the strength from my body to bring forth the controlled savage I know won’t be strong enough to stop Ty. I can’t go full three, lose control, and keep our people safe though.

  Please don’t be Hale and Brazen.

  I feel the strength burning from within as it boils the blood in my veins. My eyes burn as the violet glows inside them, and Ty’s menacing smirk blossoms all the more when he sees the challenge he has been waiting for.

  “I’m glad you did that. Your savage blood is the only blood I can enslave,” he chirps without hesitation, and suddenly he lunges at me full speed, my eyes seeing nothing but a blur of colors mingling in the dark.

  I feel him connect with my body before I can push him away, and then I feel the jabbing of the needle strong enough to penetrate my invincible flesh against all possibilities. I scream as the excruciating burn floods through me, burning me, forcing me to convulse and scream all the louder as he takes a step back.

  “Electric pulses on the tip of a uranium dipped needle. Clever huh?” he chuckles. “Don’t worry. The pain is temporary. Don’t fight it. It’ll hurt less if you just give into the burn.”

  I scream as the tears scald my cheeks, and then I feel gravity shifting beneath me, leaving me swirling in a painful sea of confusion as my love for Hale and Brazen dissipates. My violet eyes stare over at the man I love… Ty.

  My breath is taken, stopped along with the beat of my heart as his eyes catch mine. The draw of his pull, his beauty, his wonder suck me in as I stand to my feet and move toward him without reservation. His eyes alight and dancing, he reaches out his hand to ask for mine. I take it without hesitation, and I feel the bonding power between our touch stealing the rest of the air from my lungs as his lips lean over to touch mine.

  The swirls of static electricity charge the forbidden kiss I never knew how badly I wanted, and he grips the back of my head while pulling me in to make the divine touch all the stronger. Our tangled lips and rasp breaths bring the heat stronger, closer, and the kiss erupts to be almost uncontrollable as he squeezes my entire body.

  “You’re mine,” he breathes. “Finally mine.”

  “I’m yours,” I promise involuntarily.

  I need him, I’m devoted, and I have to keep him safe. I turn to face the masses, and I realize the new savage hybrids are facing the old savage hybrids. I’ve never seen the gifted fleet in person. I’ve never seen them all savage.

  It’s so beautiful. The powers escape their fingertips to collide with the powers of the others, and the firework sparks meet in the middle as the counter strikes rise up to accept the full brunt of the force. It’s so amazing, breathtaking actually.

  Ty’s hand tightens on mine, and he leans over to whisper into my ear with his heavenly breath invading my nose.

  “Show them how it’s done, my queen.”

  I smile affectionately while stepping up to the gifted fleet facing the new army of men, and I smirk before giving a small wink. The bodies fly through the air as if they’ve been hit by a storm - my storm. They flip backwards as the crashing force of the new hybrid’s powers rain down on them.

  I smile heavenly while walking back up, and then I hear screams… my name I think.

  “Araya! No!”

  I turn to see a face that almost seems familiar, but I can’t actually place it. The dark hair, chiseled face and perfect hybrid blues shine even in the dark as he runs toward me. Who is he?

  “Araya, stop,” he pleads, but why would I stop?

  He doesn’t know me, so how does he know my name?

  “Kill him,” Ty commands, and I turn to oblige his request as the hybrid blues widen in disbelief.

  “Hale, go. Sh
e’s not herself right now. He’s got her! She’ll kill you,” a full blood screams from behind the crowd. “Get back. We have to pull back.”

  “No, Brazen. I can’t leave her,” the man he called Hale says.

  I flick my wrist, and they both go sailing into the danger zone being ravaged by the gifts of my king’s army. I hear the screams erupting from all over, but one scream stands out.

  “Clay, you have to save her. You have to remove his blood from hers,” the full blood screams to a man clutching the hand of a dark-haired beauty, her eyes holding scars I don’t understand.

  My teeth grind as if something is wrong, but I quickly dismiss the odd feeling as I stalk toward the trespassers attacking our men, hindering my king’s mission. They don’t realize what a wonderful world this will soon be. They don’t understand us, and they’ll kill us for being stronger.

  “You’ve got more power than you know,” Ty whispers.

  I smile before I feel my power exuding from me, lifting the armored vehicles high into the sky, and the clouds overhead begin swirling. I feel weaker for some reason though. I should feel stronger right now with my king by my side, but something is missing. Something is wrong.

  “Araya, kill them,” my king demands. “They’ll try to kill us if you don’t.”

  I know I have to, so why won’t my hands work for me? Why am I finding it so hard to drop the vehicles armored with uranium explosives? It could all be over in seconds if I could just release the flaming balls of fury the hunks of metal would become in an explosion.

  “Araya, please don’t, baby,” the man called Hale screams.

  Why does his face haunt me? Why does he seem so familiar when I didn’t even know his name moments ago? Why do I hear concern, heartbreak, and desire all at once coming from his smooth voice through the crackles of his emotion? Why is his face etched with concern and dread while streaked with tears?

  “It’s because he’s afraid of dying, my queen. His gift is one of trickery. You have to destroy him before he gets inside your head,” Ty says to answer the inner questions plaguing me right now.