Cursed Fae (Dark Thirst Series Book 1)

by Sarah Tobias

  A sharp snap of a twig had me turning my head. My honed vision made out the shadow of a human figure coming forward.

  “Not safe…” I mumbled to whoever drew near. Maybe it was the cop’s partner. Or another fae. Or the owner of the voice that wanted me dead. Either way, I was in no position to fight, or panic, or keep the dark flame at bay.

  The person came out from the trees, the moonlight hitting his face, his strong form trembling, shaking.

  Derek.

  I sighed, expelling one last, painful breath as the angry voice faded, and I pushed up on my arms.

  “There, Derek,” I said. “I did what you wanted. I-I hurt someone else. Are you happy, now?”

  Even as tears watered my eyes, my body streaked with fire, and I swore Derek spotted the subtle glow lighting my skin from within.

  From a person’s soul.

  “No,” Derek said at last, his voice shaking. “That’s not what I wanted, Emily. Or expected.”

  “Why not?” My tone was as tremulous as his, even as newfound strength coated my bones. “You’re a fae, for crying out loud. You’ve obviously seen—and been responsible for—a good amount of blood and gore during the centuries. My kill can’t possibly have driven fear into your shriveled, evil heart. If you even have one. And I did it. I killed. Or … something in me did. Derek, there’s another part of me that comes alive, and I can’t stop it, it won’t—”

  Derek shook his head and clutched his hands in front of him. “I can’t touch you. Emily, I’m afraid to come near you.”

  “Why…? You’re teaching me, aren’t you? You’re the only one who can explain what’s going on inside me.” I touched my chest. “And why I need human souls. I—I don’t think I’m fae, Derek. There’s something else living in my head…”

  Derek took a deep breath. And then another. “You’re mistaken. You didn’t consume that human’s soul.”

  As if losing his balance, Derek took a shaking step back.

  Realization struck my very core. “Derek, why are you afraid of me?”

  “Emily…” he started, but stopped. Derek seemed to muster up resolve, because he spat the rest of the words out in a rush, leaving him breathless and quaking.

  “Emily, you devoured the fae’s.”

  Chapter 21

  I stared at the spot Derek had just vacated. He’d vanished without a trace. “Derek?”

  I spun around, yelling, “Derek, come back! I’m not going to kill you!”

  My cries hit empty air.

  Derek was long gone, using that handy fae trait of deft, silent movement and disappearing. I hoped he’d return; he’d just created a thousand more questions.

  I’m eating fae souls, not humans…

  I focused forward, not really seeing, but thinking hard.

  Was it a soul I ingested? But faes didn’t live like humans. Yet, their life-force, whatever it was, did cause them to exist, at least until death by the Hunter.

  Or me…

  I started to walk with no need to push branches out of the way, nor did I stumble over loose roots. My body just knew. Grace and stealth were like a second skin as I strode through the deserted park, the night wind raising goosebumps on my flesh.

  Could the Hunter and I be on the same side? Was I part of this Tryne and didn’t know it? I killed fae, just like they did.

  I froze mid-stride as a thought slammed into me: could I be the Hunter every fae was so afraid of?

  Maybe. Oh, maybe. I wanted nothing more than to be on the good side of things, the human side.

  But with that thought came the remembrance of what I had to do in order to destroy a fae. I ran my tongue along my upper teeth, but felt only the smooth ridges of good dentistry. Not a sharp fang to be found.

  Could I really be the source of such ugly death, yet still be considered good?

  Sighing, I turned west out of the park, smoothing my shirt that had become all twisted up in the struggle. I realized belatedly that I’d left my jacket at Asher’s. I scanned my front, searching for fae or human remnants, but any evidence of the attack was gone.

  I had to admit, never having to deal with any gory mess afterwards was an upside to this whole debacle. Any passerby would assume I’d either gotten lost or taken a late-night stroll in the park.

  Without a jacket, like an idiot.

  And if I ran into a patrol car that became suspicious or worried about a nineteen-year-old walking alone at night, I could always persuade the cops otherwise.

  My eyes flared at the thought. Power coursed through me, and I wanted to use it.

  Kill more fae? I thought, giddy with the idea that it wasn’t human souls sustaining me.

  Yet, I had to consider that, despite the wonderful realization of slaying evil fae, I still had no idea what I did with the human soul.

  The dark flame grew stronger, yet the humanity in me still remained. But for how long? I felt the evil like a second soul, its movements mirroring mine, but its intentions weren’t my own. It was only a matter of time before its purpose was made clear.

  Unless I figured it out first. Stopped it.

  I would find a way to save human souls while eradicating fae from this world. I’d find a way to save my own soul. I just had to.

  Emily Chaucer.

  Fae executioner.

  Human savior.

  I could only hope.

  * * *

  Derek deserted me.

  After three days with no sign of him, I was forced to come to terms with myself on my own.

  Derek had told me not to focus on heaven and hell, or good and evil. That wasn’t what he was, what they were. Fae simply lived and thrived for centuries.

  “We are creatures,” Derek explained during one of his lessons before he wimped out on me. “We’ve evolved, much like humans, but at an accelerated rate. We’ve made a home in our realm, but we come to this plane to survive. We’re not cursed souls walking among the living.”

  And yet, I felt the black luck of a fae’s curse on my soul. During the nights, when I tried to sleep, the dream would catch up to me, the mist parting as I made out the shape of the caved-in woman sinking into the tiles of the floor and the shadow of the man standing over her.

  His image was sharper than it had ever been, though I could only make out the side of his face, his jaw cut like glass, his hair black as coal and flowing back from his face. But I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t shift myself in front of him and figure out who he was.

  All I saw was her. Crumbled, alone, haunted.

  And him, vibrating with wanting but unable to move forward or take her in his arms.

  I woke up trembling, my face wet with tears. It was yet another puzzle to try and solve.

  I was getting so, so sick of these jigsaw pieces.

  “Damn it, Derek, where have you gone?” I said on the morning of the third day, my face in my hands as I sat up in bed, sunlight filtering through and dappling my blush-pink comforter. I stared down at my bedding, thinking, Pink isn’t a color that belongs in my world anymore.

  I threw the comforter off and glided out of bed. I remained strong and felt good. The hunger had abated, for now.

  I managed to avoid Macy all weekend, unwilling and unable to see her without possibly bursting into tears and begging for her help. I always talked myself out of calling her, because I couldn’t involve Macy and put her life in danger or her soul at risk.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid my aunt the same way, so I did the next best thing: any time those uncomfortable questions arose in her voice when she called, I’d enthusiastically convince her I was bored and normal. Aunt Sandy had no idea how I looked or anything about my inhuman movements—she remembered me as the same old Emily, whom she already rescued from darkness twelve years ago. It worked. My aunt chatted as if nothing were awry and it was just another day of waking up to sunshine.

  It only made me feel more alone.

  “So how’s life in the big c
ity?” she asked last night. Then, after a quiet pause, “You ready to come home yet, honey?”

  With my phone nestled between my ear and shoulder, I cleaned my small studio apartment, my energy crackling in all directions. “Not yet. You know I love it here.”

  “Yes but … your voice. You sound different, sweetie. Tired.”

  “’’Cause I’m cleaning,” I said, pretending to sound out of breath. “Nothing’s wrong, promise.”

  I grabbed the Windex and headed to my sad, sagging blinds, more gray these days than white. I’d never had the energy to attack the furry black dust balls that had nestled into them before, but tonight, I faced them with purpose.

  “Is it a boy? Some dumb fool playing games with you?”

  I let out a choked laugh. “No, no boy in my life.”

  I cocked one leg on the windowsill, using both arms to spray and wipe while still cramming the phone into my ear with my shoulder. “I told you. Cleaning.”

  “Now that’s an outright lie. You don’t clean. Tidy, maybe. Throw a comforter over your bed to hide a pile of clothes, yes. Never clean.”

  “What can I say, the city’s changing me.”

  My mouth tightened, not with effort of balancing on one leg, but with how close to the truth I was. “I’m a responsible, dust-free adult now, Aunt Sandy.”

  “Well, you’re still my baby niece. You come home whenever you need, okay? I’m in Cold Spring, not Antarctica. I miss your stubborn face.”

  I smiled, hopping down onto my wooden floorboards with ease, the blinds shining white behind me. “I know. I’ll come visit soon.”

  “Stay safe, honey. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  I had no idea when I’d see my aunt again, but it wouldn’t be when I’d just have to persuade her … or manipulate her into seeing a fake me.

  What lurked inside … it was no longer just a flickering, hot flame. It was a she, a being almost unto herself, and she would poke and prod me into paying attention to her, to let her out. What she was, what I was, I couldn't know.

  I also sensed when fae disappeared from this city, and they were poofing out methodically. My dark flame would ping in irritation with every fae eradicated, as if it should’ve belonged to her and not the Tryne.

  Speaking of the Tryne, I sensed them getting closer, but they couldn’t pinpoint me. Derek had said that fae were aware of each other, and they certainly were, nodding inconspicuously as they passed, lifting their lips up in quick acknowledgment of each other.

  I could no longer ignore my physical changes. My eyes, usually a deep blue, now housed a golden ring around my pupils. When my emotions ran high, the gold would expand, overtaking the blue. I wasn’t sure what my full transformation looked like when the dark flame took over. I could only feel my teeth expanding, my eyes changing, my cheekbones jutting out and elongating, my muscles swelling with strength. But I did understand that the gold ring, the flare of a snake’s yellow within my irises, belonged to her, my dark flame.

  She was making herself known.

  I slipped into denim jeans and a burgundy oversized blouse, where I left a few buttons undone at the top. Continual heat snaked off my body. The lighter the fabric I had on me, the better.

  I made my way into the kitchenette, bending down to pull open my mini-fridge and taking stock of its contents. Three eggs and a single grapefruit of questionable age. My stomach twisted. I hadn’t eaten a single thing for the past few days, and I wasn’t about to start.

  I slammed the fridge shut. My body wasn’t sustaining itself on human food anymore.

  I wandered to Cream of the Cup, deliberately dawdling. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle Macy when she showed up, and my thoughts were also heavily on Asher. I remembered falling into his arms and finally gaining comfort from a guy, a person whose scent was pure male. Someone other than my aunt and best friend. I recalled Asher’s warm breath on my cheek as he held on before lifting me up and away.

  I wasn’t sure how to handle Asher. My body responded to him in contrary ways, the electricity like a rush of hot water every time he was near, coupled with the lurch of spoiled meat. That repulsion was a warning, my mind and my dark flame becoming one as a single word floated to the surface: No.

  I wanted Asher. Yet my dark flame wanted nothing to do with him.

  That only made me want him more.

  Still, there was something about him and his twin. I would’ve sensed if one of them was the Hunter, wouldn’t I? If I could pick out fae from the crowds, it was reasonable to think I could spot the Hunter, my greatest threat. But neither of them gave me that rush of impending doom.

  Unless…

  I am the new Hunter. And they are my Tryne.

  Chapter 22

  I entered Cream, my internal walls up as I pretended to be another barista on a regular Monday morning. When Macy arrived to claim her morning sugar-free hot chocolate, I chatted with her as she assumed her position of leaning over the pick-up counter.

  Macy spent the weekend with Liz and Amanda, which I was a little perturbed by, but I didn’t comment. It was a ridiculous, selfish thought of mine I had to stifle, because she was giving off obvious vibes she was upset I’d deserted her this weekend, which I totally did. Macy was entitled to hang out with other friends and have fun.

  “I feel like fifty guys are gonna want to make out with you at Liz’s party,” Macy said, cutting through my thoughts.

  She nibbled on a muffin, swiping the whipped cream canister from my hands and topping her carb-bomb off, her sugar-free hot chocolate idling sadly in the corner.

  “I know you won’t tell me what you’re doing,” she said, “but you’re looking seriously gorge. I will figure out your secret, you know.”

  I tried to laugh, but it came out more like a wobbling bark. “We’ll see.”

  To my disappointment, Liz appeared beside Macy and threw her arm around Macy’s shoulders. “Enough about finding the coffee maker her coffee mate. My—I mean, Emily’s idea of a Dark Masquerade will be a hit.”

  I grabbed a damp dishcloth and bypassed Liz and Macy as I wove around the counter to wipe down tables. It was a slow afternoon, with only a few patrons scattered throughout. Unfortunately, it meant that neither Liz, Amanda or Macy would leave anytime soon. Amanda sat at a table nursing her third free refill of drip coffee.

  Macy nodded at Liz, but turned so she could still include me as I cleaned the empty tables. “It will be so great. I’m going in a huge ball gown with the face of a dead corpse.”

  I balked, my hand freezing in mid-air. “You want to go as a dead person in a dress?”

  “Well, yeah, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?” Macy said. “To wear our gowns like we normally would, but have crazy, scary masks?”

  Perhaps my idea wasn't the smartest, especially with all the real-life monsters prancing around. Halloween weekend was bad enough for humans. But this party would be like a candy store to the fae realm. They could come in their true forms and no one would be the wiser.

  Panic clawed inside me. I was such an idiot.

  “You know,” I said, “Now that I think of it, Hollywood sounds like an awesome theme.”

  Amanda shot me a dry look from the table she was sitting at, acting like it was such a pain for her to lift her coffee so I could wipe down the bleached wood. “I’m thinking not.”

  I sighed as I headed behind the counter. Then I brightened as soon as I remembered that I could compel them to change the theme.

  I leveled my shoulders, ready to lock eyes with any of them. Although I wasn’t sure of the logistics in compelling three people at once, I thought I could do it. Amanda was a good start.

  The dark flame stirred in me, quietly chastising. Don’t.

  I caught Amanda’s gaze over the pastry display, but felt no familiar burn. Liz and Macy weren’t noticing, distracted by Macy’s phone as they tried to figure out ideas for Liz’s costume. But Amanda regarded me like I had two heads. “Problem, Ems
?”

  I squinted, staring harder.

  There is danger here, the dark flame whispered.

  Feeling stupid, I lowered my eyes.

  I shouldn’t tempt fate in public with faes and humans milling around outside, any of them choosing to wander in at any second. I’d have to persuade Macy and the others later.

  “Sorry,” I said to Amanda. “I thought you had a piece of food on your face.”

  Amanda slapped a hand on her cheek, checking for crumbs.

  “You’re fine,” I amended as I bent down and fixed the lines of muffins. She stopped, glaring at me through the plexiglass.

  Thankfully, Macy made noises about getting to class. I wondered if she had any classes with Asher. It was already closing in on four, and I still hadn’t seen him. Danger or not, I wished he would’ve come in. I had a secret fantasy that he’d show up all concerned, wondering where I went when he entered the blue bedroom to check on his patient and I wasn’t there. He’d cross the shop’s threshold, pinning me with those spun silver eyes, maybe reaching up and stroking my cheek. I was so worried, Emily. Are you all right? Can I hold you against me again?

  “See ya, Ems!”

  I waved as the three of them departed, Amanda thoughtfully leaving her empty coffee cup on the table when she got up and left.

  The rest of the afternoon ended quickly, and I picked up my purse and ditched my apron downstairs, preparing to go to the abandoned gymnasium for a few hours before my shift at Butterfield started.

  Derek no longer showed up to our Secret Clubhouse, but I still went there every evening to focus my thoughts and powers.

  I also had a lot of fun getting there.

  Making my way to the edge of the East River overlooking the FDR highway, I paid little attention to my surroundings. The constant buzzing of fae energies felt like a flurry of mosquitoes nearby, and I shut it off for the time being, knowing there was little I could do about them right now. Not until I figured out how to save the human shell.