Invisible (The Curse of Avalon Book 1)

by Sariah Skye

  Mathias beamed, and set down his glass to go retrieve something from the fridge. He returned, setting down a single layer, chocolate cheesecake in front of me.

  “Oh baby…” I muttered, gazing at the confection. “This may be the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship.”

  Bash didn’t come to dinner with the rest of us; he sat—I assumed—holed up in his room, fawning over his computer or whatever it was hot, computer nerd, bike-loving kinda bad-boys did.

  The four of us remaining chatted and goofed around over our wine and salads…and goofed a little more as the second bottle came out. I was surprised that for a bunch of burly, supernatural males—they were a bunch of lightweights. Now, I wouldn’t call myself an alcoholic, but I could drink half a bottle of wine and not even get a buzz (tequila on the other hand; that was another thing). So, it was really amusing seeing the three of them open up, and get louder and more boisterous. It wasn’t long before Trystan and Xander disappeared to their bedrooms—wherever they were—leaving only Mathias and me. And Sierra, but she was indifferent to the alcohol (mostly because she wasn’t having any).

  “Have you decided what you are going to do, Ava?” he asked, shakily bringing the glass to his perfect, full, kissable lips. We’d moved from the kitchen back to the sofa, opting to sit on opposite sides of the supple leather. I snorted quietly, his speech faintly slurred as he spoke.

  “For a former Roman badass, you sure can’t hold your liquor!” I said, with a giggle.

  He grinned widely. “It’s true, we don’t drink often. We really don’t have reason,” he said, with a playful look.

  His sexy, smoldering gaze sent my heart a-flutter. Feeling anxious, I let out a little cough. I wasn’t used to the attention from one gorgeous man—let alone four. And while I liked it, it made me a little uneasy.

  “You think that in Rome you’dve drunk enough wine to build up a huge tolerance,” I mused, holding out my glass in front of me, swirling the liquid gently around and around.

  Mathias took a long swig, draining his glass before leaning over the coffee table, and setting it down with a light clink. He uneasily ran his hands through his brown hair and sighed.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something that…” I trailed off, when he reached over and patted my knee.

  “No, Ava. It’s okay. I don’t talk about it often. It was a long time ago, and some things I’ve blocked out.” Mathias tucked his long legs up to his thick chest, and wrapped his arms around his knees. “Well, we drank a lot in Rome, but I refused to partake in it.”

  I lifted a brow. “Why? I mean, obviously I wasn’t there but…wasn’t it pretty…harsh? Wouldn’t a little celebration make you feel better?”

  Mathias let out a long sigh before turning to me, his eyes glossed over with a look of severity. “I grew up as a slave. I never knew my father; I assumed he was one of the slave-owners. They regularly forced the female slaves to sleep with them often; my mother was no exception.”

  My mouth sets in a firm line. “I’m…sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say, “sorry” didn’t feel like enough.

  Mathias glanced up, smiling wryly. “It was normal back then. I don’t remember her well anyway; I was pulled away from her at a very young age to service one of the children of a senator. He was a nasty, selfish prick. But, most of them were then. As I aged, I was allowed to work in the quarries part time, gathering stones for their precious homes and buildings. It wasn’t long before one of the pit foreman recognized my abnormal strength and speed. And even though at the time, the gladiator games were in the process of being outlawed, I was chosen to train for them.” Mathias expression was pained, and obviously faraway as he stared out of the front window, mindlessly watching the lightning dart about the clouds. The rain still poured in sheets, the wind pelting the raindrops against the window in an erratic song.

  I sat silently, sipping the cabernet slowly, giving him his time to finish the story.

  He breathed in heavily, before speaking. “I was undefeated for almost two years. I was forced into thousands of matches. I’m surprised I’m not in the history books, though I suspect it’s because my master bet a lot of his fortune on the fight I lost, finally. But didn’t really lose; it was fixed. That was shortly after I was approached by the witch who offered me a way out. I welcomed it. As long as it didn’t involve violence or killing…I was in. I didn’t care what it was.” He shook his head slowly, his mind deep in thought before he turned to me, the shine of a lone tear in one of his eyes. “I’m not a killer, Ava. I can’t even eat meat any longer, now that I have the choice. I feel guilty swatting mosquitos even. But, I was forced to. And if not kill, then hurt, or maim. It was…” He sighed deeply.

  Sensing the despair, I slid closer to him, and placed my hand over his. “I’m sorry, Mathias. That…I can’t imagine.”

  He looked up, smiling appreciatively. “You know, the last time a girl held my hand—just held—was…” a wide smile spread across his face.

  “What?” I prompted.

  Just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. “Nothing. Just another slave girl. A very long time ago. Before the curse, probably the only woman I ever loved. Or thought I did,” he added wryly.

  “How did you get cursed?” I questioned carefully. I knew from my brief conversations with the other guys, it was somewhat of a sore subject.

  Mathias scrubbed a hand over his face. “Well, I was drunk—another ‘celebration’ for defeating another House's top fighter. Of course, I would—I was supernaturally blessed. I don’t even know why, or how. It was one fight where I was required to put him to death. He was…” Mathias’ eyes flitted across the room, as if avoiding me.

  I could sense the despair off him in waves. Huge, crashing waves that thrashed at my heart. Against all my instincts, I reached for his hand, and pressed it in between mine; my fingertips grazing his knuckles. He sucked in a tense breath, and released it before offering me a thankful smile. Thankful for, what, exactly? The sudden glint in his eye led me to believe something…more.

  “I’m sorry; it obviously hurts. You don’t have to go on,” I said softly.

  He squeezed my hands firmly; I noticed how large his was compared to mine. The power in his grasp was literally indicative of his true supernatural self, from the firm grip, powerful arms, and those biceps…

  My eyes trailed upward and to his expansive, sculpted chest. He wore a white t-shirt that did very little to hide his chiseled body. Honestly, I didn’t normally go for the buff types. Muscular usually meant strict diet, hours at the gym, piles of supplements and, in my experiences, a lot of ego. You’d be quickly turned on by their beautiful bodies, and instantly turned off by their minds. We didn’t mesh. Perhaps it was because I also didn’t have a perfect body, so it was intimidating.

  But Mathias—all of these boys really—were sculpted works of art in their own right; Mathias was the most massive of them all. Like a sexy Hulk, that didn’t turn green or grunt a lot.

  Mathias blushed under the weight of my stare, and I chuckled. “I’m sorry, I was just…umm…admiring the view?” I nearly slapped my forehead at my forwardness.

  He cocked a brow. “And here I thought you were beginning to have eyes for Xander, not me.”

  “I—” I opened my mouth to protest, but his laughter stopped my words. I punched him lightly in the carved bicep. “Stop that, fucker!”

  Mathias laughed louder, and I joined in before his smile fell again. “Ava, you really should know everything. You should be aware of this world. The beauties—the horrors.” He paused thoughtfully, the silence heavy between us. “The reason I don’t drink much is because, that’s when I was cursed. The witch that approached me—I thought she was just another beautiful woman; a spectator vying for attention. And…” His lower lip caught between his teeth as his eyes pensively searched my face. “I am ashamed of this, but… sex was something I sought after; it helped me forget the horrors. In my dreams, to this night
I still see blood everywhere. Cracking of bones, the sickening sound of sliced flesh…” A shudder chased down Mathias neck, as he shifted position on the sofa.

  I cringed. “Still?”

  “Still. Almost two millennia later, and I still remember the taste of their blood on my lips…the awful smell of iron and filth. I can’t ever forget it. So, when a beautiful woman would come to me later, smelling of roses and wine, so soft—such a contrast from the harsh metal and bone I was used to, I couldn’t resist. I’d forget for a while. Forget that I was a gladiator, forget I was a killer. A murderer.” His lip curled resentfully at the word “murderer”.

  “You’re not a murderer. You’re a survivor,” I told him.

  He gave me a cynical smile. “If it were that simple.” He trailed his thumb on the soft spot of my hand mindlessly, and continued. “Anyway, this blonde woman—sort of the same color hair as yours. Soft like a cloud, golden like sun rays…” With his other hand, he carefully fingered a tendril of my hair, that had fallen from its bun trap on top of my head. “She promised me if she could perform a spell on me, I’d never have to kill again. Only a lifetime of making love. No one would be hurt. She’d offer me a little hovel outside of the city, all the food and drink I could ever need. I only needed to submit to her spell.” He sighed. “It was fairly easy. It didn’t feel like anything. I stood in a circle with her fellow witches—I couldn’t see any of them, they wore hooded cloaks—they chanted and danced about. There was mist, and a crackle of lightning, and that was it. I was cursed. We staged my death at my next battle—which wasn’t hard, because I couldn’t actually be killed, but she gave me a potion which would stop my heart for a time; just long enough to confirm I was dead, and that was it. My ‘body’ was tossed out with the refuse, and that was it. I was ‘free’.” He spat the word out bitterly.

  “Only…you weren’t free,” I suggested.

  He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t free. I was required to sleep with her ‘initiates’ to the coven. The first time was amazing, but after she was drained of all her energy and fell asleep for days—I figured that there was something wrong. I lost a good chunk of my strength and coordination after this curse. I can’t come down when I feel enraged properly, either. I only feel rejuvenated when I. Well…you know.”

  I nodded slowly. “What if you refused to sleep with them?”

  “She’d kill them. At least this way, they’d be alive—just, love lost.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I served her for around a hundred years. I don’t know what sort of witch she was—or what she got out of it. She aged slowly, obviously. I was finally able to lose her when King Arthur’s army invaded Rome along with many others—and the empire fell. That was my first taste of real freedom.”

  I laughed lightly. “King Arthur? You mean—he is real? That’s crazy!”

  “Oh yes, he’s very real. Very. Knights of the Round Table, Camelot—more or less, all true. Arthur’s army helped to dissolve the Roman Empire. Without him there’s a good chance we’d be sitting here, speaking Latin,” he said with a chuckle. “But, with his army brought different religions, and the witches went into hiding. Once revered members of society, anyone caught performing witchcraft was killed instantly.”

  “Still sort of happens now,” I retorted dryly, remembering some of the conversations my mother and I had about why she stopped practicing her witchcraft. Most people just didn’t understand, and thus didn’t approve.

  “It does,” Mathias agreed.

  “So, when did you meet Trystan?” I asked. “He was the first?”

  “Yes. I spent years hiding in the woods, hunting. Alone. I came across Trystan in the Highlands, after he’d been left for dead during a clan battle. If not cursed, his wounds would have definitely been fatal, even as a shifter. I found him recovering in a small cave. He was in bad shape,” Mathias said.

  “Well. I’m glad you’re all not alone anymore,” I said, smiling lazily.

  “Me too.” Mathias leaned against the sofa, still clutching my hand between his. He seemed to finally realize what he was doing, because suddenly, he dropped it, his expression indignant. “Jeez, I’m sorry. You barely know us, this is—”

  I winced, wounded, pulling my hand into my chest. “It’s fine. I’m a big girl. I’m tough. A little hand-holding means nothing, right?” A crack of thunder rumbled the windows. “Well, I suppose if there’s nothing else going on…I should go to bed.” I quickly stood, brushing the wrinkles out of my bunched-up sweats.

  “Ava,” Mathias said, as he began to follow me. “You still didn’t tell me what you plan to do?”

  I stopped, mid-storm off to turn towards him, hands on hips defiantly. “Mathias, I don’t know. I suppose I’ll go to bed, and think about it in the morning. Okay?” I snapped, and stormed off toward the bedroom across the floor where I’d be staying for the night. Mathias stalked after me briefly, but stopped when I closed the door behind me. For a split second I debated on opening the door and pleading that my outburst had nothing to do with him; at least not directly.

  It all had to do with my rotten, awful betraying heart. Because I was falling for him—and the others—hard and fast—and I didn’t want them to know.

  CHAPTER 14

  The bed and blankets were ridiculously comfortable, and with the rumbling thunderstorm outside, rain tapping gently on the windows, I should have slept easily. But in reality, I couldn’t sleep a wink.

  Sierra snored lazily from the spot beside the bed, on the floor. Clearly, she wasn’t having trouble sleeping. I chuckled to myself, hearing her growling lowly. I hoped she was dreaming something happy.

  Insomnia wasn’t anything new for me; however, the reason for it tonight was.

  I was in the house—the house in the middle of nowhere with four attractive men I was drawn to. Four of them that actually noticed me. And maybe they were even attracted to me, as unrealistic as it sounds after such a short time. Chemistry was just chemistry; you could have it in minutes with someone or not for years. But they all seemed to…hesitate. Reluctant to make a move. I wondered why?

  The first time I get guys to pay attention to me, and they’re probably bound by some “bro-code.” I sighed. I can’t say that I blame them. And, if I had to choose right now—I couldn’t.

  Mathias with his sexy seriousness. He could intimidate the hell out of you with just a single look, and make you crumble to sand with just one cock of his eyebrow.

  Xander, with his ridiculously hot smirk and his smooth moves: literally, and figuratively.

  Bash with his geeky bad-boy-ness, and the passion he had for his work.

  Finally, Trystan with his relaxed demeanor and easy ability to read everyone; he knew what you were thinking before you did, clearly.

  I wanted them all.

  Was that a bad thing? I chuckled out loud. No, no it’s not. I’m a fucking supernatural—apparently. Anything goes, right?

  So, if they weren’t going to try harder, I was going to give it a go. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by. Even now, knowing that I was some sort of supernatural thing, the thought of being with mere men just fell flat in my mind. What did being supernatural mean for me now? Did it mean I’d outlive my mother? Summer? Any boyfriend? Because if an incubus was immortal, and I was half incubus wouldn’t that make me live a really long time at least? Could I even date regular men now? I didn’t have a long string of boyfriends and flings, but I had had a handful of intense relationships; but we grew apart, after a time. For me, the intimacy always lacked, and it took its toll. They were never harsh splits when they ended, but a mutual agreement that it was over. And none of them took their time moving on, either.

  I grumbled to myself. Summer would know the right thing to say. I snorted, she’d probably say “Have them all.” I laughed at the thought, but the notion was intriguing. Very intriguing.

  I groaned, pulling the comforter over my head. Why was I even thinking of this? It was probably wishful thinking that they were al
l into me, anyway. Maybe none of them were, and they were all just being nice.

  “Ugh, Summer I really need your brain right now,” I said to no one in particular. Sierra sniffed, raising her head, my voice startling her out of her sleep. When she saw it was only me, she sniffed again, groaned, and fell back asleep. “Thanks, dog,” I muttered mirthfully. On the white nightstand, I reached over, rooting for my cell. I typed in a text to my friend.

  Summer! Talk to me before I do something stupid!

  Silence for a handful of moments before my phone chirped, indicating that she’d texted me back.

  Are you okay? Where are you?

  Feeling somewhat sheepish, I typed in my message. Um, long story, but I met up with those guys from the club the other night. We…I paused, not sure what to tell her. She was aware of my mysterious ability, more or less, but I don’t think she understood it. But she certainly wasn’t aware of things like incubi, and not something I wanted to get into by text message. We were hanging out, and it got too stormy to drive home so we went to hang out at their place.

  Even though driving to my place would have been closer, they just thought I’d be safer here from the Collectors…I’d leave that part out.

  Oh? Do I wanna know how this happened?

  I chuckled. Nope.

  So, what’s the issue? Three hot men? Do ‘em all.

  I laughed out loud. Four actually.

  The more, the merrier.

  I laughed again. You would say that.

  Yep, I would. Look, I’m out, can we chat later? As long as you’re okay.

  I’m okay. I just…not sure which one I like best.

  How about all of them? Just be you, and let them come to you. If they don’t all fall in love with you, they’re idiots.

  You’re pretty confident about that, huh?

  Yep.