Cursed by Fate

by Renee Shearer

  “Bloody Hell! She blocked me, how is this possible? There is no way. Only another Light Mage can block me…but she didn’t use any magic like that. Hell, I have no idea what type of magic that was. I thought only Fae could do that, but she isn’t Fae. Not to mention she partially shifted and only Alpha’s can do that…but what the hell was she...she had scales…red scales...I know I saw them…” Starting to pace, Easton trailed off into unintelligible mutters.

  “I’m going around to see if I can spot her car, maybe we can follow her!” Mateo darted off with Gray right behind him. They got to the corner just as her car rounded the bend and took off like the hounds of hell were chasing her. There was nothing Gray could do but stand there and watch Ari drive away into the night.

  Turing to meet the others as they came up behind them he asked, “What the hell do we do now?”

  “We bring this one in and interrogate him. Although, I’m pretty sure he is not the guy we want. Then we need to find the girl who was assaulted and see if she was there for any other reason. But it’s probably a safe bet to say the guy we want for the Fae drugs is long gone by now. We can meet back at the house to regroup and come up with a plan to find Ari. We definitely need to talk to her. Roman and Jay, take this scum to headquarters and book him. Gray, Mateo, you’re with me. East head back to the house and see if you can figure out what type of magic she used or how to trace her. We’ll also see if we can’t get her address out of the manager just in case you can’t.” Aiden spouted off instructions while once again running his hands through his hair and blowing out a breath. This case was hitting hard for the boss. His younger sister had gotten in way over her head with drugs before she died from them, and Aiden was out for blood.

  Suddenly, Gray’s fox surged to the surface calling out. Mate. Inhaling sharply, Gray shook his head telling his fox, No fucking way that’s possible man. She’s not a shifter. Now simmer down-- we got work to do. But his fox refused to retreat and just kept calling Mate, getting louder each time, until Gray growled at him to shut the hell up. Catching the eye of everyone, he just shook his head and strolled back to the club. He didn’t want to tell them just yet. He had a feeling everything was going to change.

  Three

  Ariana

  Sighing in relief for the second time that night, she shut her apartment door. Kicking off her shoes, Ariana headed into the living room and smiled a genuine smile for the first time that night upon seeing Avery, her six-year-old, sleeping on the floor next to her two-year-old sister Zoey. Jessica, the babysitter and her friend, was quietly watching a movie.

  Jessica stretched her arms and back, glancing at the clock as Ari plopped herself down on the couch. “You’re home early, everything alright?”

  “Yes, just don’t feel great. Rick sent me home.” She lied. Truth was, after whatever the hell that was in the alley, she made a lame excuse to Rick saying one of her kids was sick and she needed to get home right away.

  “Sorry to hear that. Do you want me to stay and put them in bed?”

  Looking over, she smiled softly and spoke in a firm but gentle voice. “No, that’s okay. I want to do it. I don’t get to do it often enough.” Taking out her wallet, she gave Jessica her normal pay. “You go on home and get some sleep. Thanks for watching them.”

  “You don’t have to give me the full amount Ari. Hell, I wish you wouldn’t even pay me! You know I don’t need it.” Jessica tried handing it back.

  “No, no it’s fine.” Ari waved it away.

  It wasn’t Jess’s fault how her night went down. Jess was a college student. Granted, the classes were online and she had a job, but Ariana still felt Jess needed the money no matter how hard she protested. It was one of the reasons she worked so well as a baby sitter for her girls. Even if her job did run late from time to time, Ariana still had no clue exactly what Jess did. She had tried to get the knowledge out of her when they first met to no avail. Jess was tight-lipped about it. All she would say was that she was in security. She didn’t have any parents or help for college and all the other bills that came with adulthood, so Ariana paid her more than what she would with a different babysitter.

  “Okay. Well, I’ll see you tonight unless you’re still not feeling well and decide to stay home. Just let me know okay?” Jess told her as she stood and stretched again.

  “Of course.” After walking her to the door, Ariana shut and locked it up tight with the two deadbolts and chain lock. Making her way back into the living room, she debated on moving the girls knowing they would more than likely wake up and not go back to sleep. Ultimately, her desire to snuggle them won out and she started with Zoey. Picking her up, Ariana cradled her close for a few seconds before moving down the hallway to Zoey’s room. Laying her down and brushing her soft red curls from her sweet cherub face, she just gazed at one of the two most precious things in her life.

  The only good things to come from my pain and suffering.

  She sat on the edge of her bed just watching her baby girl sleep for a few minutes. Admiring the way her long lashes laid against her chubby cheeks and her little pink cupid bow’s mouth pursed slightly in her sleep, she kissed Zoey on the forehead gently. Ariana headed back down the hallway to get Avery and bring her to her room.

  Picking up Avery proved a challenge as she usually woke up, but this time Ariana was lucky. Avery stayed fast asleep, curling into Ariana’s arms and sighing contentedly. Chuckling softly, she placed Avery on the bottom of her bunk bed and tucked her in. Ariana quickly made another trip to the living room for Avery’s monkey she always slept with. Ariana gently laid him by Avery’s head, and Avery rolled over and snuggled him saying sleepily, “I love you Momma.”

  Smiling, Ariana kissed Avery’s cheek and said softly in her ear, “Love you more, Munchkin. Sweet dreams.”

  Leaving and going into her bathroom, Ariana decided to take a quick shower before heading to bed. She was exhausted but knew she couldn’t go to sleep before washing the club smell off her. Since it always took a while for the water to heat up in the ancient pipes of her fourth-floor apartment, she put some music on from her phone with the volume turned on low. She brushed her teeth and washed off her makeup to kill time. Finally seeing the steam rising from the shower, Ariana stripped down. She threw her clothes into her already overflowing hamper and got under the spray. Trying to relax her muscles, she kept her mind firmly on the music, singing softly to Shatter Me.

  Sighing, she turned around, placing her hands on the wall and hanging her head in the water as it sliced over her back. It was almost too hot, but she didn’t care. Suddenly, the scene from the alley slammed into her brain, making her watch it all over again. From the first creep shifting into that huge wolf to the other two guys shifting as well. One she didn’t recognize, but the blond… Oh My God! He was a massive white tiger with brown stripes and those same ice blue eyes that seemed to look deep into her soul. He had briefly glanced at her after his change, almost as if he were reassuring himself that she was ok, then lunged for the brown wolf. The other one had changed in the blink of an eye to an enormous black wolf with a white patch on his front, but she couldn’t make out what shape it was.

  What the hell?

  She knew there were other species of supernatural out there. At least, she hoped they were still around since her kind hadn’t been seen in over five hundred years. She had never come across one, so she had just assumed they had all died out. Without her family line balancing the forces of good and evil one. She scoffed as she remembered her grandmother’s rants. Her father Malcom had her grandmother committed after Ariana’s first attack. Her grandmother Rose had always told stories about how Ariana’s great grandmother and mother died because of some curse. But the rants had gotten worse after Ariana’s attack, to the point where her grandmother was considered a danger.

  Well that certainly wasn’t the case. Maybe Grandma Rose wasn’t so crazy after all.

  But who’s to say the guys at the bar were the good guys? The Dark could
have beaten back the Light. That was a more likely scenario considering all the bad shit that happened in her life.

  But then why did they come to my rescue? Why am I even worrying about this? The likelihood of seeing those guys again was slim to none.

  Her water turning cold, she turned it off, hearing the comforting clunk of the pipes shutting down. With a towel wrapped around her, she sat on her queen-size canopy bed to brush her hair. Ariana once again smiled a genuine smile as she looked around at her room. Fleece sheets in a red and black rose design adorned her bed. Directly across stood her scarred dresser overflowing with thrift store finds with her little twenty-two-inch TV placed on top. She had painted the walls a light grey with the accent wall behind her dresser in the same red and black rose pattern as her bedspread. It wasn’t much, and it might have been second hand, but it was hers. She had worked her ass off since she was fifteen to get to where she was.

  Putting on her favorite pajamas, a short and a camisole top combo, she slid under her covers and settled in after making sure her phone was charged and the alarm set for six-thirty. She sighed happily. It wasn’t very often she was able to go to bed a little after one in the morning. Hell, she was usually still at work for at least another hour. Yawning so wide it cracked her jaw, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  The dream always started the same. Ariana knew she was dreaming but couldn’t fight it as she stood chained behind an altar like a sacrifice.

  Ignoring the altar as it always gave her the creeps, she scanned her surroundings again searching for anything different. The stone walls damp with moisture and darkened over time created a pattern of dark and light stone. It curled all around her, forming a domed ceiling at the top. Chains with shackles attached to the ends, much like the ones she was trapped in, jutted out of the walls at intervals just high enough that someone would have to stand on the tips of their toes to relieve the pressure on their arms. Hers were longer, allowing her to rest flat footed with her arms suspended above her head. Ariana shivered. She swore she could hear the cries and screams of prisoner’s past. Torches attached to the walls every few feet bringing much needed light to the room. What the torches couldn’t reach the windows that were on either side of the room would have lit up the rest, if it weren’t for the snowstorm that howled outside and whistling through the openings. It blew snow onto the floor where it swirled around in mini tornados. The stone walls seamlessly merged with the floor that was inlaid with some sort of design she couldn’t see from where she stood. She didn’t even try to struggle to be free of her chains, it was no use.

  Seeing nothing that might have changed in the room, Ariana reluctantly dragged her gaze to the altar. The screeching wind never reached it; it never blew the candle flames around. That was the creepy part to her. The flames should have been dancing in the wind, struggling to stay lit, yet they weren’t. They never moved. Smoke lazily curled toward the domed ceiling from three red candles; two were stationed on either side of the bottom in the corners, and the third was positioned at the very center of the top, creating a triangle of sorts. A heavy stone bowl sat empty in the very center of the altar. Situated around the bowl were piles of what she thought were ingredients for a spell placed at the North, South, East, and West directions. Directly beneath the bowl was a stack of what looked to be chicken bones, and on the left side sat a heavy twine of rope. Directly above the bowl was something she couldn’t place, but it reminded her of dried red chili peppers. To the right was a jug of oil surrounded by twigs.

  Ariana startled when she heard the soft scrape of footsteps. This was new. Usually she just stood in the eerie room fighting shivers of apprehension until she woke up. It had never progressed this far. She couldn’t explain why this sudden progression terrified her. Ariana’s heart pounded against her ribcage. Her jaw fell open when she saw the stunning raven-haired woman who walked into the room. Hair like the blackest of nights hung down in a silken curtain to her waist, curling softly at the ends. A flowing dress of midnight blue was cinched at her small waist, showing off her hourglass figure. As the woman glided closer, Ariana noticed her skin was clear and smooth like a porcelain doll, and her eyes were a deep green, the kind of green the grass turns after a good long rain. The woman couldn’t have been much older than her.

  Ariana’s skin felt like a thousand spiders scuttled across it. Her breath was coming in short pants as her heart rate sped up even more.

  The woman rounded the altar to stand slightly in front of and to the left of Ariana, not blocking her view at all, but ignoring her. Never once did the woman glance in her direction. It was almost as if she couldn’t even see her; like she wasn’t there. Maybe she wasn’t. Looking closer at the woman’s dress, Ariana suddenly had an epiphany… she was seeing the past! She had to be! Ariana’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. Her imagination wasn’t good enough to make up a raven-haired beauty such as this one, and in that type of dress no less.

  What period was this? Fourteenth or fifteenth century? At that thought, dread curled up in her stomach, like a snake coiling in on itself.

  She watched carefully as the woman pulled out a knife and a small bundle of hair tied with a light green ribbon from the inside of her dress. The knife was about eight inches in length, the steel waving slightly and looked to be wickedly sharp. A pentagram attached to the top of the hilt with jewels of sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond encasing the bottom half. The middle of the hilt was clear of designs and wrapped in black leather. An athame! The correct term for a Mage’s knife seared across her mind like a comet’s tail blazing through the night sky. She didn’t like where this was going. She needed to wake up and fast.

  With unhurried movements, the woman picked up the athame and sliced her palm. She started to speak in a low, lilting voice that had just a small rasp to it.

  As Ariana listened to the words, ice started to form in her veins. She couldn’t catch her breath.

  By the Power of three times three,

  This spell bound around shall be.

  No harm may return on me.

  As I will, so mote it be.

  The woman dripped her blood into the stone bowl, and it seemed as if the stone greedily soaked it up. Ariana shivered. How the hell did that happen? It’s fucking stone! Stone does not soak up anything! Ariana’s eye’s widened further. She tugged on the chains, trying to escape. It was no use. They wouldn’t budge. She had no choice but to watch as the woman picked up the pile of chicken bones, easily crushing them into dust with her hands.

  The woman began to speak again in that low, lilting tone. The voice should have been soothing; instead the words spoken filled Ariana’s heart with trepidation.

  Bones of anger, Bones of dust,

  Full of fury, my revenge is just.

  Next, the woman tossed in the hair. Ariana could see a pale white ribbon of smoke start to rise from the bowl. Her heart was slamming against her rib cage, like it wanted to break out.

  Take thine enemy, bring her pain.

  Never again shall an All-Seeing-Eye reign.

  Spirits heed my call,

  The All-Seeing-Eye line will fall!

  The woman sprinkled the dried red peppers over the hair and bones, turning the pale white smoke to a pale red that started to drift up faster. Ariana desperately tried to wake herself up. This was all too much. She didn’t want to see how this ended! She yelled out to the woman to stop, but the woman continued, picking up the rope and tying knots into it.

  With these knots I seal this Hex.

  No magic shall rest under her breast.

  Knots of anger, Knots of Hate,

  Tragedy binds you to your Fate!

  Throwing the knotted rope into the bowl, the woman gathered up the dead twigs and tossed them on top. She picked up the oil, drizzling it over everything in the bowl.

  Death wrap thine enemy in your embrace,

  Before she loses her youthful face.

  My revenge now will have its day,

  When
thine enemy starts to fray.

  Then she took a long thin wooden stick, lighting it with one of the candles. The smoke became thicker, no longer pale and drifting, but an angry, swirling deep indigo.

  Spirits bring your aid to me,

  As I will, so mote it be!

  Shouting the last part, she threw the flaming stick into the bowl. Everything went up in a roaring tower of flames; even the candle wicks stretched up halfway to the ceiling. As quickly as the flames started, they stopped. Ariana’s eyes caught on the only thing that seemed to matter.

  The once red candles where now pitch black and had what looked to be runes etched into the sides.

  That coiling snake of dread in Ariana’s stomach suddenly struck with such pain and agony that she cried out. Bowing her head, her arms nearly wrenched out of their sockets, the shackles digging into her wrists as she tried to wrap them around her middle.

  From somewhere that had to be miles away as there was no one else in the room, and in no way should Ariana have been able to hear it, came a high keening wail that assaulted her ears. The earth trembled under her feet, making her head snap back and hit the wall as the woman in front of her spun around with her arms raised up towards the ceiling, laughing in glee. Her eyes, as she stopped and looked directly at Ariana for the first time, were full of madness.

  “You will die like the rest!” she screeched. “None shall break my curse! You are ALL forever doomed!”