The Curse Defiers (31 page)

The man’s mouth twitched. “Admittedly, it was lost. But then Steven told us a couple of weeks ago that you had recovered it.”

“He found out from Myra.”

He smirked. “Once we knew you had possession of the ring, we could finally achieve our goal.”

“To harness the demons to do your will.”

Jeremiah nodded. “We will be performing a great public service.”

I shook my head. “I don’t get it. Why do you need both Collin and me for that?”

“We need you to show us the gate.”

I glanced at Collin and gave a slight shake of my head. There was no way I was going to help them. Especially since they planned to kill me anyway.

“But Miriam said you didn’t know about the curse.”

“Curse?” He paused. “We’ve never known anything about a curse. But we’ve known for centuries about the spear and the ring that have power over the demons and gods. And the prophecy has been passed on that the girl who could use the ring would be a descendant of Jonathon Dare, the man who commissioned the Croatan conjurer to bless the objects at the gate to hell.”

My mouth dropped open. “How did you know?”

“The letter.” He smiled. “The one we sent to the Wilson Library in Chapel Hill several months ago.” He took a step forward. “We’ve watched your family since we stumbled upon the letter. We acquired the ring and the spear in the seventeen hundreds after one of your ancestors became careless with the ring. So we held the weapons for safekeeping and began to accumulate additional weapons that would help us to manage the demons. All in preparation for tonight.”

“So we show you the gate, the ring brings all the demons to the yard, and you trap them . . . how?” Their plan didn’t make sense. The letter in the library said the ring would seal the gate. From the sounds of it, that was the last thing the Guardians wanted to do.

He hesitated.

So they planned to control the demons with the sword. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out, but Jeremiah seemed uncomfortable with how much I’d already deduced. But what about the spear? “Okay, then tell me why you need my blood.”

Jeremiah’s mouth gaped and he sputtered, “How . . .”

I glanced at the table. “It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

He swallowed and seemed to regain his confidence. “For the Great One. She has helped us set this in motion, and we have agreed to give you to her in exchange for her assistance.”

“Why?”

“The Great One has taken the form of her latest victim, but it comes with limitations. The Great One says your blood will let her stay in one body. She will choose your likeness as an homage.”

My blood turned icy and I gaped at Collin. His eyes were wild with fear.

How were we going to get out of this? Why hadn’t Tsagasi shown up yet?

“Come, Ellie,” the man said, beckoning me again.

“I want the ring.”

“All in good time.”

“I want the ring
now
.” My voice bellowed louder than I anticipated, but I had another resource. These nut jobs might be human, but I suspected they weren’t immune to my power as a witness to creation. If only I could figure out how to use it to save us.

He grinned. “Bring me the ring.”

A shorter figure stepped forward and placed the ring in the leader’s open palm. She looked up with a smirk. Miriam.

Hot anger burned away my fear, and I welcomed it. “I told you I’d make you pay for taking David,” I said, surprised to hear how cold my voice was. “I meant it.”

A flicker of fear flashed in her eyes. “No need for incivility, Elinor,” Miriam murmured.

“Yes, let’s keep this all nice and polite. I hope the Great One brought a
napkin
.”

Jeremiah released a hearty laugh. “You
are
entertaining.”

Miriam shot him a frown of disapproval.

Rebuked, he lowered his chin and then lifted the ring between his thumb and index finger. I held out my left palm and he placed it in the center. As I pulled my hand back, I waited for the singing. Wasn’t the ring supposed to sing?

I put the ring on my left middle finger and still nothing. I hoped it was because I held it in my left hand.

“It is time, Ellie.”

This wasn’t the order things were supposed to take. Weren’t we supposed to show them the gate first? But even if I agreed to do that, David was tied to the tree. What would happen if we opened it while he was still tied there? Could we take the risk?

“We need to show you the gate,” said Collin, his voice loud and authoritative. And it was obvious to me that he was thinking the same thing I was.

“The Great One believes she only needs the ring. She has opened our eyes since she sought us out a month ago. She wants to help us enslave the wicked spirits, and she has the knowledge and tactics to make our dream a reality at last. You, Mr. Dailey, are here as insurance if something happens to Ms. Lancaster.”

“But Ellie needs to be alive for me to show it to you. I can’t do it alone.” I was amazed how much Collin’s voice sounded detached and in control.

I glanced at the table, my heart racing. Had I gambled wrong when I put the ring on my left hand?

The two men who’d grabbed me earlier took hold of my arms and dragged me to the makeshift altar, then lifted me onto the table in a sitting position.

“Ellie,” Jeremiah said. “If you’d please cooperate and lie down.”

If this wasn’t so dire, I’d laugh. So polite
. Ellie, please lie down so we can slaughter you
. But they probably expected me to put up a huge fuss. They probably got off on it.

This was a huge gamble. Probably a stupid one, but David had told me to trust my instincts and every part of me screamed this was the right thing to do. “I’ll lie down and I’ll let you perform your sacrifice—”

“No!” David shouted.

“—but all I ask is two things. That you don’t tie me down, and that you allow me to meet the Great One.”

“We’ll try the first. The second has already been arranged.”

A million butterflies with razors for wings flapped furiously in my stomach. My thumb rubbed the band on the backside of my finger.

“Ellie!” Collin shouted. “What the fuck are you doing?”

I turned to him and stared into his eyes for a long second. “Collin, I’m going to need you soon. To help me finish my sacrifice.”

His eyes hardened. “Okay.”

He understood. I resisted the impulse to cry with relief. “I have one more request. I want to see the great Sword of Galahad.”

The man’s voice thinned. “Have no fear, you will see it in a few moments. But I’m curious: Why are you being so cooperative?”

“I’ve seen what the demons are capable of. I was born and raised to protect humanity. I’ve proven myself incapable of protecting it on my own. If this will ultimately stop their ravaging, then I willingly make this sacrifice.”

“You have proven wise and selfless. We will sing our praise of the martyr who was willing to give herself so others might live. It is good.”

The group murmured as one. “It is good.”

Goose bumps broke out across my arms.

“Ellie!” David shouted, his arms jerking the ropes so hard it looked as if he was going to dislocate his shoulders. “
Stop!
”

My heart raced and I fought my impulse to suck in deep lungfuls of air as I lay down on the table. I’d never been more scared in my life, but I had to keep control. I had to get out of this and save David.

“Great One, she is ready.”

The air stilled as a small figure in a blood-red robe broke through the white-robed Guardians, a golden sword in hand. The hooded figure moved gracefully toward us, stopping at the edge of the makeshift altar. She held the sword parallel to my body with one hand, the other reaching for her hood and pulling it down.

Myra smiled down at me. “Hello, Ellie.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-S
IX

“Myra?” My shock was too great to hide. “
Why?
” I wailed, struggling to sit up and confront her. But I’d broken the rules and the two men were quickly at my side, tying my hands to the legs of the table. I bucked and fought. This wasn’t going according to the skimpy plan I’d scrambled together at the last minute.

Grunts and moans came from Collin’s direction and I saw three bodies lying on the ground. As I watched, he struck another, ramming the sword into the figure’s abdomen. White-clad figures rushed toward him, pulling out knives as they ran.

Where were my bodyguards? This was officially an emergency, and I needed them now more than ever. “
Tsagasi
,” I called out. “
I need you.
Save David and Collin.”

Myra had been momentarily distracted by Collin’s attempt to free me, but now she turned her attention back to me. Her fingers touched my cheek and trailed down to my neck, lightly pressing my pulse point. “I’ve wanted your blood for weeks, but I had to wait until the time was right. Until your power was strong and you were ready.”

Weeks?
Jeremiah had said the Great One had assumed the image of her latest victim.

Did that mean Myra was dead?

Oh, God
.

My grief was suffocating and too heavy to bear. This was one loss too many. I lay still as Myra’s copy murmured words over my body and then lifted the sword over me. So she had been using the Raven Mockers over the past several weeks to test my strength. Would she kill me the same way I’d killed her pets? Would she run the blade through my heart? Could Collin bring me back from that?

Instead, she grabbed my arm and ran the tip of the blade down my forearm, pressing it deep. I expected pain, but there was nothing, only blissful numbness as Myra, the woman who’d held me when I was frightened and wiped my tears, the woman who knew my greatest fears and greatest triumphs, bent over and began to lap up my blood.

“
Ellie!
” David screamed.

Tears slipped out of my eyes and down my cheeks, drenching my hair. I’d failed her too.

Maybe I deserved to die.

I saw a flash and heard shouting close to the tree. A tiny streak shot toward David. Tsagasi and his warriors were saving him.

Myra grunted her frustration and untied my restraints, lifting my arm higher so she didn’t have to bend at an awkward angle. The blade had dug deep and I was losing blood at an alarming rate. If I was going to use the ring to save David and Collin, I needed to do it soon.

I bent my left arm, pulled it back, and smashed my elbow into the demon’s nose. She cried out in pain as I reached over to my right hand, the fingers pulling off the ring and enclosing it in my fist, the band exactly in the middle of the circle and square.

An eerie sound filled the air, alternating between harmony and discord. It grew louder and louder, with an ear-piercing hum. The white-clad figures dropped to their knees and covered their ears, releasing shrieks of their own.

Myra’s eyes burned bright red and anger contorted her face. She dropped her hands from her bloody nose and reached for my right hand, but I clenched my fist tight. She used her demon strength to try and tear my fingers away from the ring. I resisted, but I’d already lost a lot of blood. Again. I was weakening fast.

Digging deep inside myself, I tapped into my power as a witness to creation and focused all of it on my hand.

The music grew louder and faster. The notes filled my head, and I was spinning and spinning until I was transported to the field where I’d seen Daddy and Okeus. The sky was the same gray and the field was dead and trampled, only this time there were two thrones on opposite sides. Okeus sat on one side in a dark suit, his hair slightly mussed in a sexy way. Ahone sat on the other. His clothes looked like something straight out of a Bible adaptation. His long white hair and beard added to the look.

“You must choose, Ellie,” Okeus said, rapping his impatience with his fingers on the wooden chair. “It is time.”

I turned slowly, from Okeus to Ahone. “No persuasive speech from you, Ahone?” I asked.

“I do what is best for my children,” was his reply.

I was so fucking tired of gods and their bullshit answers. I wanted some real information.

I looked into Ahone’s eyes. “The ring. What does it do? Does it seal the gate? Why does the Great One want it?”

Okeus snorted derisively. “
The Great One
.” There was obviously no love lost between Okeus and his offspring.

Ahone sighed. “The purpose of the ring was to give you an advantage over Okeus’s children. So you can defeat them on your own without the other Keeper. No more. No less. It was designed for you and you alone.”

He sounded convincing, but I had a feeling he wasn’t telling me everything. “But it’s not doing any harm to the Great One right now beyond pissing her off. Am I doing something wrong?”

A smile spread across Ahone’s face, the first I’d ever seen from him. “Choose me and I’ll give you the answer.” He shifted in his seat. “Besides, you’ve already chosen. You wear my symbol on your back. This is a mere formality to appease my brother.”

Why would I expect direct answers from a god? Everything came at a price. “So I make my choice and that’s it? You’ll both leave me alone?”

Okeus stood but didn’t stray from his throne. “Ellie, you know there’s really no choice here. Come with me now and I will save the men you love, who are fighting for their lives right now—who are fighting to save
you
.”

But it wasn’t that simple. I knew I could never give Okeus what he wanted.

“I make my choice and you will honor it?” I repeated. I wanted confirmation before I played my hand. I turned to look at Ahone. “I want you both to agree to leave me unharmed if you aren’t my choice.”

“I will honor it for one year,” Okeus said, his voice cold. He knew I was up to something. “Ahone,” he called past me. “Do you accept this amendment?”

“I do.”

Freaking gods. But that meant I’d have a year before I had to deal with them again. “Agreed.”

“Enough of the drama, witness to creation. Tell us your choice.”

I lifted my chin. “Neither. I choose neither of you.”

Okeus shot toward me at lightning speed and wrapped his hand around my throat, squeezing so tight that black dots filled my vision. “
You refuse me?
”

“Let her go.” Ahone stood behind me. “You agreed, my brother. And you agreed to leave her unharmed. You must honor your agreement.”

Okeus gave one last squeeze and threw me to the ground, where I landed in a crumpled heap. “You will have your year, and then I will take what is
mine
.”

And just like that, I was back on the altar. Myra had given up on trying to pry the ring from my hand and had resumed her meal. Her eyes rolled back in her head in pleasure as she licked my arm. “Yes, the power is incredible. I will be invincible now.”

The power made it better for her apparently.

The contents in my stomach roiled and I swallowed to keep from throwing up. I pushed what was left of my energy into my wrist and focused on breaking free. The rope smoldered and then burst into a small flame, singeing my skin before it fell off.

Ignoring the pain, I dropped the ring and reached for the Sword of Galahad, which lay across my stomach and legs. When I wrapped my hand around the hilt, a new surge of power shot through me, catching me by surprise. I rolled away from Myra—who’d been so intent on drinking my blood she hadn’t noticed I was escaping—and off the table.

Surprise flickered in her eyes when she realized we were now separated by the table. “You are mine,” she hissed, crouching down.

A sharp point pressed against my neck and I glanced over at Miriam. “The Great One isn’t finished with you yet,” she said, her expression smug. Grabbing my upper arm, she tried to push me toward the table.

I had nothing to lose at this point other than opportunity to make at least one person pay for what they’d done. “Maybe not, but I’m finished with you.” In one move, I dropped out of range of her knife and grabbed her arm, shoving it behind her back.

“Enough!” Myra shouted and jumped over the table with a squatted hop, landing in front of Miriam. She reached forward and ripped out half the woman’s throat, then pulled the body from my grasp and dropped it to the ground.

I froze with shock for a moment and only started to step back when the demon rushed toward me with superhuman speed. I jabbed with the sword, amazed by how it felt like an extension of my arm, lightweight and effortless to hold.

“I will finish you, Curse Keeper.” A low growl rumbled from Myra’s chest, and she looked more like a wild animal than my mother. But this woman wasn’t my mother, I reminded myself.

No, this was the creature that had
killed
my mother.

A white-hot rage flashed through my body and I went on the attack, determined to destroy the monster forever. But the demon jumped out of the way and surveyed the clearing, taking in the sight of the bloody white-robed bodies on the ground, and laughed. “We will meet again, Curse Keeper.” Then she took off running faster than humanly possible.

My adrenaline crashed and I collapsed to my knees on the grass, the sword still clutched tight in my grasp. I was dying
again
. Collin was still fighting off a small group of Guardians and I knew I should help him, but my blood was spilling freely from the three-inch gash on my arm. I knew I should drop the sword and put pressure on the wound, but my hand wouldn’t release it. It was like the mark on my hand was welded to the hilt of the sword.

My gaze swung to the tree and relief flooded through me when I saw that David had been untied. But he, Tsagasi, and my other protectors were nowhere to be seen.

The world swayed and I fell to my side, pissed that it would end like this, terrified by what I’d find in the blackness this time.

Collin was directly in my line of sight, and I watched him fight the white figures who now brandished swords of their own.

My protectors rushed from the other side and surrounded Collin. Letting the supernatural creatures take point, Collin fell back. After a moment his gaze landed on me, and the way his eyes widened told me a lot about my condition. He was by my side within seconds, trying to pull the sword from my right hand.

“Ellie, let go.” He sounded frantic. “We have to touch marks.”

“My hand won’t let go.” I laughed, but I knew it was my blood loss that was making me act like a drunk. “It’s the Sword of Galahad.”

“Fuck the Sword of Galahad.” His fingers dug deep, but mine still wouldn’t budge. “Ellie,” he pleaded. “Work with me here.”

“I’m trying. My mark won’t let go.” I rolled from my side onto my back. Though I was more tired than I could ever remember being, I forced my eyes to stay open, terrified of the darkness. It would come for me soon enough.

The stars overhead shined in pinpoints that burned bright before shrinking.

“She needs the one who guides the Curse Keeper,” I heard Tsagasi say.

“David!” Collin shouted as he stood and took several steps away.

The stars were swirling now, and I realized I was reliving the birth of the universe. The beginning of everything. And the end.
I
was the salvation and the destruction of the world.

“I am the alpha and the omega,” I whispered in awe.

“You’re a bloody pain in my arse,” David mumbled as he dropped to his knees next to me, his hand encompassing my right hand. He leaned over me, his battered face blocking out the stars. “Let go of the sword, Ellie.”

I stared up at him, his injuries only adding to my guilt. “They hurt you because of me. They killed Myra because of me. I hurt everyone I love. I can’t hurt them anymore. Soon there won’t be anyone left.”

“I’m too bloody stubborn to leave you alone, so don’t you dare leave me, you bloody fool. I need you, Ellie.” His voice cracked. “Let go of the sword.” His mouth lowered to mine and my fingers relaxed and the sword fell as I felt his love fuse with mine.