Curses, Fates & Soul Mates

by et al Kristie Cook

  “Monroe,” a male voice said in my head.

  Lilith roared, one fist lifted into the air.

  “No!” she screamed, her finger pointed at Marcas. “This one is mine. You understand me? Mine! And she is mine by right. As a king of Hell, you know that.”

  Marcas’ head lifted, his gaze going to his mother.

  “Then release the ones who owe you nothing. The seer and the black-haired witch.”

  I took deep breaths through my nose, my side hurting so badly, I began to wonder if I’d broken a rib. My fingers dug into the damp soil.

  Lilith’s head rose. “The seer. He can go, but the others die.”

  The she-Demon’s voice filled my head, and I rolled onto my back, my hands going over my ears as I screamed. It wasn’t a natural scream. I knew it before it even exited my mouth. It was a desperate one, the kind you find yourself wanting to scream in the middle of a nightmare right before you freeze. Only I didn’t freeze, I screamed, and I fought, my side on fire as I dug my fingers and toes into the ground.

  Her voice entered my head again, and I sobbed as I found myself getting onto my knees, my body propelling itself forward slowly. And I fought, digging my toes and fingers into the ground with each forward creep until the pads of my fingers began to bleed, and my toes began to cramp.

  And still her words persisted. Awful, horrible words.

  “Stop this!” I heard Dayton yell.

  Lilith laughed. I was getting really, really sick of her laugh.

  “Your lover here may not have told you, dear, but he can’t stop me. When a Demon is summoned, sacrifices must be met.”

  “Luther!” Dayton begged.

  Nothing. No sound. No protests.

  My gaze went to Luther’s as I crawled, his steady, confident face completely unreadable. But his eyes, they said so many things he was never willing to say.

  “Whatever you do,” he’d told me at Henry’s house. “Fight like hell.”

  I was fighting! Couldn’t they all see that? I fought even as I crawled, my fingers so raw now, they’d gone numb.

  And still I crawled until I was in the center of the clearing, my eyes locked on Eta’s athame. I reached for it, sobs racking my body.

  “Please,” I said, my gaze going to NeeCee where she was tied to the tree. NeeCee shook her head, her eyes wide as my hand closed over the athame’s handle.

  I sobbed.

  I sobbed, and I cursed.

  I cursed Eta. I cursed myself. I cursed Lilith, and I cursed everyone in the clearing for not saving me. Once more, my eyes went to Luther. He said he’d fight his mother, so why didn’t he?

  A million thoughts bombarded me, like a broken image from a damaged reel of old film. Even as I stood, even as I began to open the brown bags at my feet, I wanted to laugh. Even my thoughts were like old black and white movies. Lucas’ voice was in my head. “Your family sold a soul to Lilith by summoning her. Whatever soul she pleases. It means that by helping you, all of us are breaking the rules. It means that right now, as much as we all hate to admit it, Luther is your best chance.”

  I stood. There was no need to cleanse the circle. Nothing positive was going to happen here, so I marched instead, drawing a circle in the soil with the tip of Eta’s athame.

  Bernice whimpered against her gag, and my vision blurred once more with tears.

  To the middle of the Circle, I moved, plunging the athame into the ground as I lifted the four pouches.

  Out of one brown bag, I lifted two bound feathers.

  Again, my body moved, lowering the feathers into one quarter of the Circle. Air. The feathers represented air.

  “Oh, Monroe,” Dayton breathed.

  I barely heard her over Lilith’s whispered demands.

  “Please,” I begged.

  Lilith laughed.

  Lucas’ words echoed. “It means that right now, as much as we all hate to admit it, Luther is your best chance.”

  Luther.

  I looked up again, my eyes finding his as my body moved once more to the Circle’s center. Another bag. In this one, rock salt. Earth. The salt represented Earth.

  Another quarter of the Circle, the salt sprinkled, my body once more in the center. And all Luther did was stare, his face still unreadable. The heat of tears against my cheeks was getting old.

  I closed my eyes. What was the point in looking when my body wasn’t even my own any more. Another bag. A bowl.

  I kept my eyes shut. I knew this bowl. It was the same one Eta had used to represent water. And as I lowered this into yet another of the Circle’s quarters, I felt my heart grow cold.

  “No!”

  This time when I felt my body start to return to the center of the Circle, I threw myself on the ground, my fingers once more in the soil.

  “Oh no, Monroe! You can’t stop now,” Lilith’s gleeful voice said in my head. My arms and legs shook, and I screamed again. I screamed until my throat was raw and my voice was hoarse.

  Lilith laughed.

  “Please!” I heard Dayton beg.

  No one else said anything.

  And as my body was dragged by Lilith’s power once more to the center of the Circle, more thoughts plagued me. “It means that right now, as much as we all hate to admit it, Luther is your best chance,” Lucas had said.

  My hands closed over the final brown bag.

  “Tell my son this is a war even he can’t win. Thorns are only good if they come attached to a rose,” Lilith’s voice echoed.

  In my palm, there fell a fire opal. It wasn’t a flame, but the jewel represented the element of fire all the same. Fire. Luther. “Tell my son this is a war even he can’t win. Thorns are only good if they come attached to a rose.” The fire opal fell to the final quarter of the Circle.

  For the last time, I returned to the center, my hand going to the athame’s black handle. My fingers wrapped around it, and I pulled it from the soil.

  There was screaming and when I looked up, I saw that Bernice had come untied, her body dragged by some invisible force toward the Circle, lifting so it would leave the Circle’s boundary untouched before she landed at my feet.

  A tear caught on the edge of my chin before dripping onto NeeCee’s upturned head. The athame lifted.

  “No, Monroe!” NeeCee begged. “Please.”

  Lilith’s commands ran furiously through my head. And with them, other words. Luther is your best chance. Thorns are only good if they come attached to a rose. Luther. Thorne.

  My eyes widened, and my head lifted, my gaze going one final time to the Demon at the edge of the forest. Luther. Thorne.

  My mouth began to move, repeating the same chant Eta had once said long ago. I held the athame steady, the blade gleaming in the moonlight. Eta. My heart broke all over again, and I looked down at NeeCee.

  Bernice’s eyes were swollen, her nose red as I chanted, and I kept my gaze on hers as the athame lowered. I lifted my hand, running the blade across my palm. Blood fell to the ground.

  And in that final moment, I made a choice. I made a choice that would change my life forever.

  I looked up, and with every bit of strength I had left in me, I fought Lilith’s commands, a cold sweat breaking out along my skin as I summoned the only other Demon I knew.

  “Thorne!”

  CHAPTER 25

  I often daydream in black and white. Everything just looks prettier with no color. Cleaner, more glamorous. I used to think this made me an optimist, envisioning life as I wanted it be rather than what it is. Now, I wonder if it just makes me afraid to face reality. I need to quit running away from my life and face it.

  ~Monroe’s Totally Wicked Book of Shadows~

  I collapsed, my body falling on top of NeeCee’s even as Lilith roared.

  The energy in the Circle changed, and the pain in my head vanished. I tried lifting my head, and failed.

  “Monroe,” a voice said.

  NeeCee sat up beneath me, her hand going to my chin, and she lifted my face. Acr
oss from us in the Circle was Luther, his eyes blood red, a soft smile on his face. It was the kindest expression I’d ever seen on him, and I sagged again.

  “What have you done?” NeeCee whispered.

  Lilith screamed.

  Luther laughed. “Seems the Ayers have a new Demon consort,” he said. “Get out of my Circle, Mother.”

  There were other voices then. Dayton’s and Marcas.

  And images.

  Blurred images.

  “Monroe,” NeeCee whispered.

  A cool hand touched my forehead. Someone shook me. Blackness.

  And then ... air. I was being lifted, one strong arm under my head and another under my legs. My eyes opened, and Luther filled my vision.

  His head lowered. “You did good, Monroe.”

  He pulled me into him, and I didn’t fight him, my head going to his chest, my fist gripping his t-shirt.

  “Why didn’t you help me?” I asked weakly.

  Luther’s grip on me tightened. “Because this time, Monroe, you had to help yourself.”

  My throat constricted, and I pulled away just long enough to look up at him one final time.

  “You knew all of this would happen? You knew I would summon you?” I asked.

  One corner of Luther’s lip lifted. “I know my mother well, Witch. I’m often accused of thinking like her. I didn’t know if you would summon me, but it was the only chance we had.” His head lowered, and he winked at me. “I had total confidence in you.”

  I fought the smile and lost, my cracked lips lifting. “And Marcas and Dayton?”

  Again Luther winked. “To witness it all. So that Lilith couldn’t claim your family still belonged to her. She wouldn’t have had much of a claim considering your aura is probably eat up with me now. But she has considerable power in Hell. It never hurts to play it safe.”

  My head went back to his chest. “Luther Craig playing it safe?” I mumbled into his shirt.

  I felt the rumble when he laughed all the way to the tips of my toes. Luther’s body heated, and my eyelids grew heavy. I yawned.

  A hand touched my hair. I tried looking up and couldn’t.

  “It’s okay, Roe,” Dayton’s voice said suddenly. “Just know I came, okay? Just know I came, and that I will always come.”

  I tried to answer her, but my lips wouldn’t move. My eyes felt glued shut.

  “Is she going to be okay?” another voice asked. It was NeeCee’s. She sounded scared.

  “She’s going to be fine,” Luther answered her.

  Now that it was all over, my body hurt. There was pain, lots of pain. Burning pain. Raw pain. And then ... sweet blackness.

  CHAPTER 26

  When I went to the river this morning, the water was churning angrily. There were no clouds in the sky, nothing to suggest a storm was coming, but there it was, an angry whirlpool. It looked like an evil eye staring up at me. It can only mean one thing. Something is coming.

  ~Monroe’s Totally Wicked Book of Shadows~

  When I woke next, I wasn’t in the Salem Woods any more, I wasn’t in Henry’s house. I wasn’t even in Salem. I was in the small bedroom in New Orleans, Louisiana I had shared with NeeCee before she’d done the power swap spell and before Luther had shown up. Before everything had gone to hell.

  The room was a mess. There were clothes everywhere. The white, restored armoire that sat in the corner was hanging open with mardi gras beads dangling off of it, and the sun from a nearby window shone onto a side table holding a bowl of what I hoped was chicken broth. There was the sound of traffic below along with clomping horses and shouting pedestrians.

  I tried sitting up and almost screamed.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” my aunt’s voice said, and I looked up to find Clara leaning against the open door, NeeCee peering under her arm. Belle stood over Clara’s shoulder.

  “You have a cracked rib, a concussion, and a million other little wounds that are going take quite a bit of time to heal,” Clara added.

  She moved into the room and Belle and NeeCee followed.

  I looked down at the bed. “How did I get here?” I asked.

  NeeCee moved the chicken broth to the floor and used the side table as a seat, scooting in close, her eyes bright.

  “You’ve been out for two days, Monroe. Luther flew you here. The rest of us followed.”

  I tried sitting up again. My side protested, and I grit my teeth as I pressed my hand against the bed. Belle rushed over, propping an extra pillow behind my back.

  I glanced at the door. “And where are they now? Luther and Lucas? Dayton and Marcas?”

  NeeCee patted my hand on the bed. “Dayton and Marcas went back to the Outer Levels of Hell. Dayton told me to tell you to remember Tahiti and Bahama Mama drinks? And she gave me this.” NeeCee handed me a pineapple flavored dumdum lollipop, and I grinned. Only Dayton. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this,” NeeCee added. “But you two are weird.”

  I laughed, and then regretted it, my hand going to my side.

  Belle looked down at me, her eyes serious. “Lucas and Luther left. They didn’t say where.”

  I looked past Bernice to the open window. A soft breeze was moving through it, lifting the corner of a purple scarf NeeCee thought looked cute hanging along the window’s frame.

  “And the grimoire?” I asked.

  It was Aunt Clara who answered me. “It’s safe. Back downstairs in the store.”

  My eyes moved to hers. “So you got the shop fixed then?”

  Clara laughed. “Mostly. It’s a work in progress.”

  “And she’s scaring every construction worker working on the project with possible curses if they don’t finish within two weeks,” another voice said.

  I nearly jumped out of the bed.

  “Mom!”

  Marissa Jacobs smiled as she stepped into the room, her usual loose, bright purple dress swinging around her legs as she moved to my bed.

  She kneeled. “You think I’d let you heal alone? When you said you wanted to work with Clara’s Coven on your Demonic connection, I certainly wasn’t expecting this, Ellie.” She fingered the edge of my shirt covering a bandage around my ribs. “NeeCee and Belle filled us in on everything that happened.”

  My eyes met hers. “Then you know about the Ayers?”

  Mom nodded. Her gaze went to Clara’s. “Looks like there’s a lot about our family we need to learn, a lot about our family we should have already known. So many lives could have been saved.”

  I pushed myself up a little higher, wincing as I did. “But, Mom, it’s going to be fine. The Ayers aren’t being controlled by Lilith anymore.”

  Everyone looked at each other, their gazes grave.

  “What?” I asked.

  It was NeeCee who looked me in the eye. “But, Monroe, you still summoned a Demon. It wasn’t Lilith, but ...” She let her words trail off before looking away.

  I felt the muscles in my jaw tighten. Anger filled me.

  “You’re free now NeeCee. You’re free. The Hunter curse was all Lilith. Now that we’re not under her control. You’re free.”

  NeeCee leaned over, her eyes filling with tears.

  “But you?” she said.

  I shook my head, a small smile on my face. “It’s okay. It’s just a different kind of free.”

  Clara swiped at her cheeks before stomping a foot. “Okay, enough of all of that. We have work to do, and Monroe needs to rest.”

  NeeCee leaned over and hugged me lightly, and Belle squeezed my shoulder before they moved to the door.

  “Go,” Clara ordered, and she ushered them through before throwing me a smile, her gaze going to my mom’s before she finally left.

  Mom leaned over me, her hand finding mine on the blanket. “You did the right thing. It was the only thing you could have done in the moment. We’ll find a way to get you free.”

  I turned my hand over, my fingers entwining with hers, and squeezed.

  “Mom, really, it’s
going to be fine. I’m glad it happened.”

  Mom’s eyes widened.

  I smiled. “I’ve learned a lot about myself this past week, and surprisingly, I don’t hate it.”

  Mom looked away, taking a deep breath before her gaze returned to mine. “You need to rest,” she said. “Clara has a friend who’s a doctor. He came to see you here, and we gave you something for pain before taking you for an x-ray. He left a prescription for you.”

  She held up a bottle, and I waved it away. “I really don’t want it, Mom.”

  Mom gave me a look and opened the bottle before tapping a pill into her hand.

  “Take it,” she said. “For me, okay?”

  I searched her eyes before taking the pill and placing it on my tongue. She handed me a glass of water, and I swallowed it.

  “I’ll be downstairs if you need me,” Mom said.

  She stood and patted my hand one more time before moving to the door.

  “I’ll be fine, Mom,” I assured her.

  She smiled, a troubled look behind her eyes, and disappeared down the stairs.

  I stared back at the window, my eyes on the flying scarf, the traffic below making me drowsy.

  Honk, honk.

  Clomp, Clomp.

  And then nothing.

  * * *

  Something woke me, and when I opened my eyes, it was dark, the window still open, the sounds below quieter, less busy. I let my head roll to the side, my eyes moving to a round Mickey Mouse clock hanging on the wall that NeeCee claimed her mother had put in when she was a baby. I knew for a fact Bernice had bought it two years ago in a Disney store. The clock read 6 p.m.

  My body tingled, and I grinned.

  “Of course. Only you’d time your entrance on the sixth hour.”

  My head rolled back to the window. Just inside the room, his hand braced on the window’s frame stood Luther Craig, his gleaming eyes bright in the darkness, a leather trench coat brushing the floor, the moon behind his head.

  “I do like an entrance,” he said.

  He moved toward me, his gait confident, strong. My heart sped up.

  “Can you see inside my head again?” I asked.