Corpse Curses

by Jen Ponce

  The lust.

  I hadn’t known what it was then. I was too little. Now that I looked back, though, I knew. It was fucking weird.

  There’d been power too, so much of it. And then it went away. The circle didn’t collapse, it exploded. Grandmother had screamed at me. “You killed him!” and then Mama and Daddy were there. More things shouted, more accusations tossed and then I didn’t see my grandmother for years, not until I was in my late teens.

  Not until Mama died.

  “Ma’am?”

  I turned to see one of grandmother’s servants standing nearby.

  “Your grandmother is waiting for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  The witch nodded and disappeared into the doorway beyond.

  “Korrinthe,” Grandmother said, already seated at the table when I walked into the dining room. Fresh flowers sat in vases at either end of the table. Three elaborate table settings, a multitude of unnecessary silverware, and three empty glasses waiting to be filled.

  “Grandmother. Who else is coming?”

  She just smiled beatifically.

  Grumbling, I sat, already missing my apartment, Poppy, and our plastic plates from the dollar store down the block.

  One of grandmother’s servants walked in and set salad in front of her, then me, then for the mysterious guest. I didn’t have to wonder who it was for long. One of Grandmother’s servants answered the door when the bell rang and soon Adam Windhaven walked in, looking calm, handsome, and collected. He even smiled at me, a good smile, one without any tension in it.

  I knew mine had tension in it. Hell, I wasn’t sure the expression on my face could have been called a smile at all.

  “Adam, so good of you to come.”

  “Of course, Minerva, my pleasure. Korri.”

  I reminded myself I wanted the fucking crystal around his damned neck and forced my lips to curve upward.

  What the fuck was he doing here and why had he agreed to come? Especially after the way I’d left him? Maybe Grandmother hadn’t told him I’d be here, but he hadn’t looked surprised to see me. Maybe he was one of those guys who liked it when women fucked around with them. Yeah, I could almost see it about him. ‘Choke me, Mommy.’

  “Korrinthe,” Grandmother said reproachfully.

  “Yeah?”

  Her lips thinned into a disapproving line. “Adam asked you a question.”

  “And?”

  “Korrinthe!”

  “It’s all right, Minerva. Your granddaughter has strong opinions about me and I’m afraid to say that some of them aren’t wrong.”

  Color me surprised. Wait. No, don’t. He was playing a game, I would bet on it. Act all contrite to get me to lower my guard and then stab me with a sharpened stake. It was what I’d do.

  The crystal I wore warmed. In confirmation? In warning? We really should have worked out a system of communication.

  “What did you say to him, Korrinthe?”

  “The truth,” I said and stabbed some fancy greens with my fork. Not the salad fork, either. I was such a rebel.

  “She told me that magi weren’t any more special than anything else in our world. She said that the only reason we were in the position we were in was because of money.”

  My grandmother had her eyes shut as if even the sight of me made her slightly ill.

  I didn’t say a word, just chewed aggressively, eyes on Adam, wondering what the Hell his game was.

  “And after I got over my anger with her, I realized she was right. At least partially.”

  Partially. I snorted.

  He used his salad fork to take a bite while grandmother gathered her thoughts.

  “Korrinthe was raised in the Witch’s District. As a result, she gained some … questionable ideas about the way the world works. I must apologize—”

  “Please don’t, Grandmother. Don’t apologize for me when I’ve done nothing wrong. The things I believe about the way this society works, how the witches are treated, those things are based on personal experience and observation. I’ve talked with people who’ve been hurt by Keepers. Who’ve been railroaded into obscene sentences by Lodge members and other magi. Who’ve been fired from jobs because they’re witches. Mocked, bashed, hurt. Sexually assaulted. Killed. Murdered. And it’s covered up by the Lodge.”

  “Korrinthe! That’s enough.”

  I stood, the chair screeching on the marble. “I’m not hungry.” I left them to gasp at each other and went upstairs, locking the door and spelling it for good measure to keep my grandmother from thinking she had any right to barge in.

  Why had I come? Why had I left Hell’s Mudroom? I needed to go back. This wasn’t me; this place wasn’t me. I knew I needed that damned amulet but fuck, I couldn’t play the game. Not like that, not for the time it would take to win his trust. I didn’t like the man, couldn’t stand what he was about at all.

  “I’m sorry, Malphas,” I told the crystal. “We’ll have to do it the hard way.” I liked the hard way better anyway. Adam wouldn’t, but who the fuck cared what he thought?

  The knock came sooner than I expected. “What?”

  “Can I talk with you?”

  Adam, not Grandmother. Interesting. She’d sent him up in her stead. Cunning bitch. I dismissed the spell and unlocked the door. “I’d think you’d be tired of hearing me dis you.”

  He chuckled and walked in, looking around the room in open curiosity. “This house is beautiful. The details in the woodwork are just spectacular.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Someone, several someones, had put a shit-ton of time into the intricate carvings in the wood along the ceiling and baseboards. This wasn’t the cookie-cutter cement rectangle Poppy and I called home. Grandmother’s house was a work of art, and one woman lived here. It was ridiculous and proved my point about the extreme difference between the way the magi lived and witches like my father.

  “What do you want?” I asked, unwilling to wax poetic about a place that could have housed many people but held only one rich, bitter old woman.

  “To apologize.”

  I curled my lip. Right. “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I want to get to know you, Korri, and I’m afraid the circumstances of my birth are going to keep that from happening.”

  I worked hard on not rolling my eyes. “Why do you want to get to know me? What’s the point? I’m not going to change my mind about what I think of the magi. Not for anyone.”

  “Not even if I prove that we’re not all bad?”

  You are all bad, I thought. I could tell that by their medallions. “Do you think that’s something you could do?”

  “Of course. If you gave me the opportunity.”

  I didn’t want to, didn’t want to get close to the ass, but damn it, Malphas deserved to be reunited with the other piece of himself. If that meant I had to spend some time with this guy …

  The crystal warmed.

  I didn’t need to spend a lot of time. All I had to do was grab that crystal and break it. Then Malphas could kill him, go to Hell and change his name.

  I eyed Adam. Could I get him to attempt to fuck me here? I could end this right now, though I suppose Grandmother would have a cow if I killed someone in her guest bedroom.

  It used to be my room when I was a little girl.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “How would you prove you aren’t all bad?”

  “I did say we.” He had his hands in his pockets, expensive pants, expensive loafers. Everything about him screamed affluence. He fit here and I did not. It didn’t matter that I’d been born here, that I’d been raised here for six years, or that I’d lived here for a while after Mama died. This place would never feel like home and I would never fit in.

  Adam did.

  I arched a brow.

  “Time. For one. Can you give me time to show you we’re not all bad? Your grandmother told me she wants you to be part of the Lodge. She wants you to have a better life than the one your mother had.”
He raised his hands when I started to snarl at him. “Her words. Perhaps mine too. I’ve never lived in the Witch’s District, but I know life there can be … harsh. It’s not that way every place you know.”

  “Then why is it this way here? What makes Bolger so hostile to witches?”

  “The uprising, of course,” he said without even thinking about it.

  “Witches died trying to make their world better for themselves and their children. The magi killed them for it. And you think that’s why Bolger subjugates witches? Because they dared try to make things better?” My voice, along with my temper, was rising, but I couldn’t seem to stop it. How did this man make me so angry so fast so easily? It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous.

  He opened his mouth to agree, but then managed to tamp down on whatever excuse or inane argument he’d planned to use and instead nodded. “Maybe so.”

  Maybe so. Bastard.

  The crystal warmed and I grumbled at Malphas, then forced myself to say, “It isn’t every magus who would listen to the other side.” The words rang false in my head and I wanted to scream at him instead of placating him.

  “I want to listen. I know we can suck. And I know that’s an understatement. And my father would not approve of me saying that or anything else. He wouldn’t approve of you.” He had an easy, handsome smile, the kind that could seduce a woman out of her panties if she wasn’t careful.

  “Good.”

  His eyebrows rose. “You aren’t like anyone I’ve known. You have all this, you come from a powerful family and yet you ally yourself with witches.”

  “My daddy is a witch.” And why the fuck did I have to keep reminding him of that? “What do you know about the raids?”

  “I’m sorry?” He tried to pull off the not-knowing thing, but he knew.

  I crossed my arms.

  He sighed. “If I talk about them, if word gets out I leaked—”

  “You’re a coward. A privileged coward. I don’t need time to know you’re a bastard.” I grabbed up my jacket and my keys. I shouldn’t have come with Grandmother. I shouldn’t have listened to her. I should have stayed and helped get as many people to safety as I could. Damn it, sometimes I was so fucking stupid.

  “Where are you going? You can’t go back there, you’ll get hurt.”

  “Good. Maybe I deserve to get hurt for leaving my people behind.” I got up into his face and said, “Maybe you deserve to get hurt because of what you do, who you are.” I reached up and curled my fingers around his medallion. “What would you be without your daddy’s money? Without your … power?”

  His face tightened. “You don’t want to break that.”

  “Or what? It just holds power, right? Nothing more than that?”

  A muscle jumped in his jaw. “You know, don’t you?”

  28

  “Know what?” I asked innocently. I could feel the power coming off the crystal around Adam’s neck and I yearned to release Malphas so he could be free and whole.

  He put his hand on mine and slowly eased my fingers off his medallion. “Where did you go after you left my house, Korri?”

  I arched a brow. “Home.”

  “Not to your apartment in the Witch’s District.”

  My crystal heated. Definitely a warning this time. “Checking up on me, Adam?”

  “I was worried about you. It’s getting dangerous for magi. I suppose you heard about Kyle?”

  He’s just fishing, I told myself. But the question sent a frisson of worry up my spine, nonetheless. “I did.”

  He studied me intently, searching, I supposed for any hint that I might have had anything to do with his death. “Where did you go?”

  “Are you wondering if I killed Kyle, Adam? Are you asking me if I murdered a magus?”

  “Did you?”

  I reached out and ripped his medallion off his neck. When he grabbed for it, I twisted, holding it out of his reach.

  His face paled. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Break it, as well you know.” He stalked toward me and I tossed it hard to the ground. He shouted, the crystal busted, and Malphas, the other piece of him, appeared. Adam stumbled away from the demon who now advanced on him, his shout cut off by Malphas’s hand at his throat.

  “Don’t kill him,” I said. “Not him, not now. Please.”

  Malphas turned to stare and I wondered if this part of him knew who I was. Did he?

  With a twitch of his fingers, he tossed me across the room. I slammed against the wall and his power held me there while he turned back to Adam …

  … who shouted a word of power. It sent Malphas stumbling back a step. Two. It loosened his hold on me enough so that I could scrape my finger hard enough against the wire on my own medallion to draw blood. I rubbed it across the crystal and then Malphas—my Malphas—exploded into the room. He whirled up the other piece of himself and disappeared with a pop of sound.

  Adam fell to his knees, hand at his throat, gasping.

  I peeled myself off the wall as Grandmother took up pounding on my door. “Korrinthe! Are you all right? I heard shouting. I felt—”

  “Fine, Grandmother,” I called, eyes on Adam. “I tripped and fell.” I waited for him to contradict me, but he stayed silent.

  “Really, Korrinthe. Really.” I knew she stood there, hovering, listening, but after a few long moments, I heard her footsteps retreating down the hall.

  I squatted down next to Adam. “Aren’t there laws against demonology, Adam? Especially for the Grand High Fucking Exorcist.”

  His nostrils flared and he dropped his hand from his throat revealing vivid bruises shaped like fingers. “Why did you break it? That’s been in my family …” He stopped himself. “Fuck.”

  “The witches used to consort with demons. And then Hecate was killed. The balance shifted. Magi became oh so very powerful.” I flicked his knee, those thousand-dollar pants. “You said it was because magi were superior. You sat there in your fancy, expensive house that your father’s money bought and you told me you were better than witches because of some sort of genetic superiority when in reality, you fucks were enslaving demons and letting them do all your dirty work.”

  “No. No, that’s not … this was just me. My … mistake.”

  “Don’t lie to me. That demon is out there. The one you enslaved? It’s free, Adam. I’m pretty sure it’s going to want revenge.”

  His eyes glittered, the first emotion besides fear he’d felt since I’d broken the crystal. “It won’t get the chance.”

  I smiled. “Go on thinking that.”

  His hand snapped out and he gripped my arm, hard. “Did you kill Kyle?”

  I jerked my arm free. “Do I look like someone who could kill a man?”

  “You talked to it like you knew it,” he whispered. “The demon.”

  “Obviously I didn’t. It threw me across the room.” And it hurt. I would be complaining to Malphas later. “Here’s the deal, Adam. You’re going to tell me what you know about this raid and you’re going to stop it. Then I won’t tell the world that the magi are enslaving demons to stay in power.”

  “You don’t know what you’ve started.” It wasn’t a threat. Oh, it could have been, but I knew it wasn’t. There was fear there again, a deeper fear than anything I’d yet heard from him.

  “What are you afraid of?”

  He didn’t answer, just pushed himself to his feet. I did the same. He wouldn’t look at me as he said, “Kyle’s father is pushing for the raid. He thinks the witch whose family was condemned for demon summoning wants revenge. He wants her. Wants to make a spectacle out of punishing her. There isn’t a lot I can do to stop it except …”

  Poppy. Fuck. I’d completely screwed up. I’d let the blood lust get the better of me and I’d screwed up. She was in danger because of me. “Except what?” I snapped.

  “Turn over the witch Kyle’s father wants punished.”

  “No.” The word came out so forcefully, it caught his a
ttention.

  “You know her. You do, don’t you?” Understanding dawned over his face. “You’re protecting her. You didn’t kill Kyle, but you know who did.”

  This was getting worse with every damned word. “I don’t know anything about his death. But I do know she didn’t kill him. I don’t give a fuck what you have to do but get them to call off the raid. You hear me? If anyone in Hell’s Mudroom gets hurt, I’m telling the world you had a demon hanging around your neck.” I shoved him toward the door, then opened it so I could force him through. “Go. Get it done or you’ll be the one being made a spectacle of when they execute you for dabbling in demons.”

  I shut the door in his face and then leaned against it. Almost immediately, Lux appeared and another demon, the female I’d released during our orgy of killing at the bar. “He’s free,” I said by way of hello, touching the crystal to make sure Lux understood.

  His eyes glowed approvingly, but he didn’t come any closer. Why?

  I turned my attention to the female, taking in her curving horns, her tail, her pale red skin, the scales that looked almost like tattoos. She was beautiful, if alien-looking, her smile filled with sharp teeth. “Who are you?”

  “Baphomet, at your service. Thank you, witch, for freeing me.” She studied me the way one might study a map, all intensity and focus.

  “You’re welcome.” When she continued to stare and Lux continued not to move, I pushed away from the door. “Why are you here?” My eyes were on Lux. I wanted him to tell me what was wrong, why he wasn’t touching me, but it was the female who answered.

  “I wanted him to bring me so I could find out why he finds you so fascinating. Why you smell so good.”

  That again. “Perhaps it’s the blood on my hands.” Perhaps it was the dark side of me calling to them. I didn’t know. Maybe I’d been touched by that demon when I was six and the scent lingered. Maybe I just had kick-ass pheromones that only worked on demons. Who knew? “I have to go back to Hell’s Mudroom now. I need to save Poppy.” I took a breath that hitched with emotion. “Can you help?” I asked Lux again, but again it was the female who said, “Of course we can. Lux? Can you do the honor?”