The Cursed Dragon

by Rachal M. Roberts

  “.....forcing you, forgive me.” She really didn’t want to look at him after that.

  He smiled and shrugged it off, as if to imply her desirous feelings hadn’t been noticed. “The magical blood that flows in our veins is raw, untamed power. We aren’t slaves to it but you may have been feeling that way since you have forgotten about it.”

  Kalara had to change the uncomfortable topic of control and desire “Then why do you cast verbal spells if we have such powerful blood?”

  Ravanan seemingly didn’t mind moving on and answered “Verbal spells are even more powerful and have greater range than our auras. We can craft a spell for any purpose while the aura only carries out our dominant feelings; it is more primal than scholarly and.....”

  He caught her eye, signaling he hadn’t moved on after all. He was reluctant to continue but knew he must “......auras can be a detriment if not controlled because every being around you will know your thoughts. Being near you has caused my blood to work harder to resist your newly awakened magic and siren call. I knew I’d be powerless against you when I cast those spells – and I’m not mad about it – but it was the only way I could think of to bring you to this point. There was no way around deadening my magic, but it’s over now and I’m glad to have it back.”

  Kalara was incredibly embarrassed after hearing that. “You mean to tell me this whole time you knew what I was thinking?!”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you let it go on? Why not say something?” Kalara frantically tried to hide her embarrassment with a shocked smile and gathered the black robe tightly around her to cover any exposed parts. He must have known she had been staring at him and wanting to touch him. He had known her lusty thoughts all along – every time he morphed. He knew how she felt exposed in that robe. He had to have also known about her manipulative plot to discover the truth, and he let her do it.

  She shook her head and rubbed her forehead, “You’re toying with me.”

  “I was observing you and your intentions.” he explained “Only your feelings are sent out, nothing specific – like names, but it only takes one thought to give me sufficient warning. And why not listen to free thoughts? How could I not?”

  “But they were my private thoughts! If I had wanted you to know them I would have told you.” Kalara was reeling.

  Ever the composed wizard Ravanan kept his voice even and with light-hearted reason “You did tell me – or have you already forgotten? Your thoughts are chaotic. I’ve felt no danger from you and I have no desire to act on your thoughts.”

  Kalara’s embarrassment changed to a defensive resolve. “Now that I can command my blood, I’ll block them from you.”

  “I hope you can.” Ravanan was ready to place bets on the outcome. “Until then, I’ll keep listening for any threat towards me.” His sly smile became frosted with the icy edge she’d noticed earlier. “I don’t trust you, Kalara of Kynasteryx Ravyx. Something is amiss and I will figure it out.”

  “If you don’t trust me then why did you continue to kiss me once your magic came back and it could defend you again? Why not resist and pull away?” Kalara knew she had him that time. “Admit it, you feel the same as I do.”

  Ravanan wished she wouldn’t have brought that kiss up and paused to find a good answer “I thought I would take a payment for helping you find your magic.”

  “By kissing me? You don’t even like me! You’ve threatened to kill me. I would think biting my arm off would be a better payment.”

  “Are you offering it?” He smirked and began walking away.

  “Fine! Leave! It’s obvious how you really feel.” Kalara haughtily remarked.

  Ravanan turned on a point “Since I know you can’t read my hidden thoughts I’ll tell you what they are. That kiss was a moment of weakness, nothing more. I won’t let it happen again.”

  Kalara was annoyed, somehow he was getting out of her trap. But also annoyed he wouldn’t be kissing her again. “It didn’t feel like a weak moment to me! There was something between us before wasn’t there? There is something you’re not saying.”

  His reply was honey-sweet, “What can I say? Your morph spell is really good. Your natural beauty as a dragon translates perfectly to the human form. I admit that I have always admired you – you are enchanting. I just couldn’t help myself; especially when you were the one who started it.”

  Then Ravanan vanished before her eyes. Shortly after that, Kalara heard a splash in the distance and the battlefield in Black Blade Lair got a little cooler.

  Chapter 6

  Jenniffer woke with a start and discovered she was in her own bed. She looked around wildly for Annette, remembering what the witch had done to her. Why wasn’t she blind, or in pain at least? She felt her eyes with her fingertips, they felt normal. She couldn’t remember anything after the glass shards were shoved into her eyes. How did she get home? How long had it been? How long does it take to heal holes in eyelids?

  She was grateful to be alive, that night could have gone so badly – she could be dead. But she was still breathing. She was never going near that bitch again. Who could she report her to? No one would listen to her. The police were no good and the elders wouldn’t believe her if she tried to tell them, not to mention all the other medicine men were scared of Annette – and for good reason. The young men of the tribe would defend Annette, even her own brother would fight for their wicked step-mother.

  She was going to be alright, she could see and she was free. Good riddance to the whole deal. She was glad Kalara was gone and glad to be done with serving Annette. She would forget about Todd also, he was trying to be just like Annette, he was her faithful lapdog and would tell her anything, she would have to stay away from both of them. She would get her own phone, mail Annette’s phone back to tribal headquarters, get a new email address, get a post office box, switch apartments and maybe even find a new job. She would change her name if she had to. She was done with them, the map might as well end at the east edge of Tulsa.

  Jenniffer stumbled out of bed and tripped on one of the cats, it howled and ran off. She went to the nearest mirror and gasped at what she saw. Her brown eyes were now an iridescent blueish-green like a peacock feather.

  Why would Annette change her eye color? Everything else seemed fine, her vision was still good, and she had all her digits. She stripped and closely looked over her whole body for any new scars or tattoos, nothing was different other than her eyes, her hair wasn’t cut – not even a few strands, all her fake nails were still on, and her toenails didn’t look clipped. Jenniffer even looked at her eyelashes and eyebrows for anything missing or odd. Annette didn’t take anything fresh from her that she could tell and Jenniffer knew that old body clippings didn’t work as well. Maybe Annette only wanted to punish her with pain and couldn’t bring herself to kill her stepchild – Annette was a healer after all, not a killer.

  Maybe after she passed out from the pain Annette had driven her home. It didn’t matter though, Annette had gone too far this time and she was done with all of it. No amount of motherly love could ever make Jenniffer forget about the dream catcher attack or the taste of aged sage-covered hearts. She wondered what animal the hearts had come from as she furiously brushed her teeth and tongue and gargled mouthwash three different times. She showered and scrubbed her skin raw, wanting to forget all about the horrors of last night.

  The next thing she did before breakfast was to haul out anything and everything that Annette might have touched, given to her, or made for her. She cut up the credit cards, even threw out her high school memories album Annette had made, and her purse (just in case Annette touched it the night before) – putting all the contents in a plastic bag until she could replace them. She took another shower before going out to trade her car off for one Annette had nothing to do with, she hated to get rid of the corvette, it was her dream car and worth a lot as a trade in but no car was worth her life. Jenniffer erased every trace of Annette and her brother Todd from her life.
She wanted to forget her entire life.

  Jenniffer had done all she was able to since it was a weekend. She spent Sunday afternoon making a list of what else she needed to do to hide from her step-mom, then settled down with a cheeseburger in front of the TV. The cats, Seven, Sasha, Ming, and Ludwig, took over the remainder of her dinner then cuddled up with her on the couch. The shadows in the room grew long, tempting her with sleep and the youngest kitty, Ludwig, was purring in her lap, enjoying the petting Jenniffer was giving. The sun lowered and its orange reflection from the giant windows of the car dealership bounced warmly into Jenniffer’s apartment.

  As the orange windows faded to black Seven hissed at her and ran off. She felt an odd sensation come over her, as if she wasn’t alone. The other cats were looking at her but not willing to leave their comfortable positions. Her hand kept petting Ludwig even though she tried to stop. She wanted to get up and make sure the door was locked but she couldn’t make her body respond. There were no out-of-the-ordinary sounds, but a presence was with her. She wanted to ask ‘Who is there?’ but she couldn’t make her mouth move, it didn’t work anymore. She felt paralyzed but yet she kept petting the cat. Her body had a mind of its own, she couldn’t even turn her head to look at the front door. Nobody could have come in, she would have heard them. Her heart sped up. What was happening to her? It had to have something to do with Annette, she was sure of it. Terror seized hold of her.

  Her head bent down to watch as her left hand pressed Ludwig down into her lap at his shoulders so he couldn’t get away or swing his claws. Then her right hand firmly grabbed Ludwig’s head, causing her elbow to jut out high and away from her body. Jenniffer tried desperately to release him but she wasn’t able to. He was such a trusting cat. Jenniffer’s face belied the shock and horror of the moment when she began to twist her right hand. With a firm hold on his skull, her elbow came down, cranking smoothly until she felt maximum resistance. The final snap and popping of the neck bones made a terrible sound as her elbow locked down hard against her waist. Ludwig’s life was over. Jenniffer was horrified at what she’d done but she couldn’t cry about it. How was Annette able to keep her from crying when her very heart wanted to? She had never put much stock into Annette’s mystic shit but maybe she should have.

  Jenniffer was in a mental cage, unable to control her body. She carried the limp body into the kitchen to butcher it on a cutting board and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  Cat blood was all over her hands and the sink. Sasha and Ming sat nearby on the counter top, watching and hoping she would throw a scrap their way – but she did not. Her hands deftly worked, just like she had seen Annette do a hundred times with rabbits, armadillos, and chickens. She reserved the heart and stomach, putting them in a cereal bowl, chilling them in the fridge, everything else went to the trash can. Jenniffer was in utter disbelief of what Annette was doing. Did Todd know about this? How could he go along with it if he did?

  Jenniffer looked over at her kitchen clock and then went and took a shower. She was so thankful the other cats were spared, she wondered what Annette was thinking. She wanted to cry. How could Annette be so cruel to her? The body possession continued throughout her shower, as Jenniffer piled on the make-up, she heard her own voice speak up for the first time that night “Oh, Jenniffer, this is so much fun. I should have done this a long time ago, your body is so young and beautiful, its fun to dress it up. We can wear a lot of different colors with your new eyes.”

  Jenniffer grabbed her car keys and headed towards the parking lot. Annette stopped her body then and looked around for her car. It wasn’t there, the red corvette that Annette had bought for her wasn’t there. Annette used her voice to ask “Jenniffer, what have you done? Where is your car?”

  Jenniffer was hopeful, she was glad that Annette didn’t know what she’d done during the day, she wanted to laugh.

  But her joy was short-lived. Her head looked down and examined her keys, her fingers wrapped around the car keys, they were quite obvious because she’d left the dealership keyring on them. “Why would you trade your car? You are so stupid, that car was a collector’s dream and it was reliable, you’ll have problems with this new one, mark my words.” It was easy for Annette to locate the new car, a yellow sedan, by its dealership tag and soon Jenniffer’s body was hanging out at the red light district of Tulsa.

  It wasn’t long before she was picked up. Annette didn’t say much and let the guy have his way with Jenniffer’s body. The man was really smitten with Jenniffer’s eyes, Annette told him they were contacts. He was an older man of normal height and light features, his ego more than made up for any short comings he might have had. Annette made him very happy with Jenniffer’s body.

  Something odd happened when he climaxed, Jenniffer didn’t know exactly what it was, but it felt like a piece of his ego departed his body along with the normal fluid and she didn’t know where it went. He seemed aware something was gone because he was anxious to leave, yet he was subdued and a whole lot tamer, if not a little skittish. Physically speaking he was fine and would have many more nights of romance in his life, they would just be passionless until his testosterone levels built back up from zero.

  Jenniffer handled five men total and two of those were on the same ticket. The same weird toll was dished out to each of them as they finished, leaving them lesser men. She was literally beside herself, her body was sore and exhausted, she was mentally grieved and dismayed at what she’d been forced to do and no amount of money made it right in her opinion.

  She also figured if she was going to suffer torture of that magnitude she would gladly take money for it. There would have been more money from the work but Annette insisted the men pay with their house cat for a hefty discount if they owned one.

  After stopping for fresh sage at the 24-hour grocery store, Jenniffer had three more cats with her when her body arrived at her apartment. Sasha and Ming were laying on the couch but Seven was still hiding somewhere.

  She took Ludwig’s stomach from the fridge and tossed it onto the kitchen floor. The five cats ran for it and the unlucky one who reached it first got to enjoy his last meal before donating his heart and stomach to Annette’s cause. Annette did this over and over again killing the one who ate the stomach, until all five cats were butchered with hearts reserved and a single stomach that actually held five other stomachs nested inside each other. There was just one more stomach to harvest....

  Jenniffer’s spirit cried even though her body couldn’t, as Annette walked through the apartment sweetly calling for Seven. “Here kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty. Seven, come on out. Where are you?” Of course Jenniffer knew where the cats always hid, but Annette didn’t, she hoped Annette couldn’t find him.

  Annette searched every room before kneeling down low to peer under the bed. She lifted the bed skirt and Seven lashed out, all claws and teeth, he growled feline profanities and hissed, his lightning fast right paw swept across Jenniffer’s face. Seven’s second strike caught her lip and his hooks-for-claws held onto her lip making a jagged tear. Any non-possessed human would have got the message and backed off, but not Jenniffer. Annette forced her to try to grab him. Despite the hurting pain of his stinging attack Jenniffer was proud of him. Her hand reached in and Seven clasped onto it, all fourteen of his back claws started tearing up her forearm.

  By the time she dragged Seven out from under the bed, her arm was shredded. Annette made Jenniffer press all her weight, which wasn’t much because she was so tall and thin, onto Seven’s back, pushing him to the carpet. She wanted to scream ‘FIGHT!’ but her voice was soft and slow “Good kitty, shhhhhhh. Calm down Seven, calm down.”

  Her right hand was petting his head and scratching him under his chin. Seven wasn’t calming down, his low growl was straight from hell. He lurched to bite her hand. Jenniffer wished she could show him it really wasn’t her being mean to him. She didn’t want his last thoughts to be that she had turned on him. She had cared for Seven sin
ce he was born, but that didn’t matter to him. He could tell something was wrong with her.

  He almost escaped but Jenniffer was able to hang onto his foot. She wanted to cry as she fiercely grabbed his fur. Seven swung around with twenty-one claws, it was ugly and so was the pain in Jenniffer’s body. Annette was pissed now and she yanked the cat, flinging him into the back of the bathroom, Jenniffer heard him hit the porcelain. She saw him dazed and try to stand, he shook his head, then Annette shut the bathroom door.

  Her burning cat scratches felt as though infection was trying to kill her, she wondered if Annette could feel the pain also. The ugly trip her body was on was wearing tremendously on Jenniffer’s mind. She wanted it to stop and knew that it wouldn’t. She was tired, powerless against the mad woman, and she was paying a hefty fine for losing Kalara, being forced to commit atrocities that surely damned her to hell.

  She hated them both, Kalara and Annette. Ever since Annette had found Kalara things had changed. Annette had definitely become meaner, her mind was always working and she hated being bothered, she was consumed with studying Kalara. It seemed to Jenniffer that Annette was envious of Kalara, wanting something from her that Kalara wasn’t able to give. Annette then sent the dazed Kalara off to live with her but never said why and Jenniffer was too afraid to ask her step-mom, not that she would get an answer if she did ask. Jenniffer wanted it all to be over. But as tired as Jenniffer’s body felt to her Annette still had work for it to do.

  She fetched the full cat stomach and pushed it under the door. After some time Seven ate it, she knew he would, that cat would eat anything – he might not keep whatever it was down, but he was greedy and gluttonous. Then Annette found the oven cleaner, Jenniffer’s hands worked the nozzle under the door and emptied the can into the small bathroom. After waiting for the fumes to drug the cat, she went in and snapped his neck like the rest of her cuddly pets.

  In the middle of the night, Annette, still possessing Jenniffer, loaded the car with the trash bags holding all the dead cats and a grocery bag of her newly harvested wicked ingredients then drove off into the night.