The Living Curse: Book One of The Living Curse series (4 page)

“Marked stones?” she questioned, seeming to fear the answer.

“They’ll protect you, like my mark protects me.  They’re just until we get you one of your own.” she said carefully.  She saw her friend’s expression tighten at the mention of receiving her mark.  She knew that her friend was still uncertain.

“Why don’t we do it tonight.” she said as a statement, not a question.  These words shocked Nameh, as her friend had been doing more often than made her comfortable lately.

“Mira, are you sure you still want to?  A lot comes with the
Shask…” she trailed off.

“I know, I’ve read the books.  They bring pain, and the oaths you must take first bind you to the Vine’s teachings forever.” she paused.  “But they also protect
you, they allow you to protect other people too.  My parents wanted me to protect people.”

Nameh
was silent for a moment; her friend’s eyes had slid to the floor, focusing on an unseen object.  “Your parents wanted you to be a Guardian, and you’ve done that.  You owe them nothing else; do this only if it’s what you want.”

Mira’s face was pensive for a moment, as if she were remembering her childhood and her parents.  “You know I’ve always wanted magic.  I’m ready.” she said sternly.

The bravery her friend possessed sometimes surprised her.  Almost proudly, she placed her hand on her shoulder and said, “After the battle then” and turned to leave.  Mira followed her back through the corridors.  She saw her friend flinch from the corner of her eye as they entered the large room.  There were hundreds of people, and she was worried that they would be questioned on why they were armed at this hour, clearly not headed for class.

“Relax,” she whispered in an amused tone, “did you think that I would just waltz through the front door without a shield?”  She heard her friend make a small noise of surprise behind her.

“You mean they can’t see us?  You used magic?” she seemed impressed and excited, but still unfamiliar with her friend freely using spells.

“Actually, I borrowed Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.” she said sarcastically, “Of course I used magic.”  After her flippant comment, Mira was silent as they weaved through the crowd of people to the doors.  They waited for someone to exit, and tailed them closely, not wanting anyone to witness phantom doors opening by
themselves.

When they stepped into the quiet street, the cold air hit her in a wave, erasing her feeling of being trapped like sand carried by the wind.  The pair leaned against the brick wall
that was the front of the school, lost in thought.  Finally, Nameh broke the silence, “So, what’ll it be?  You’re the ‘guest’, so it’s your choice.  Are you in the mood for vampires?  Werewolves, maybe, or faeries?” her tone was playful, but her question was serious.

“Why don’t we start off with something that doesn’t run the risk of either of us becoming cursed.” she said in an equally light tone.

“A wise choice, I suppose.  In the Brooklyn area, that leaves” she ticked them off on her fingers, “faeries, pixies, dryads, and nymphs.” she paused, “But those are hardly worth a fight.  Then there are harpies, hobgoblins, and blackdragons.”

“You
would
know every creature available to kill in Brooklyn.  But I hardly thought you’d consider a hobgoblin a good fight.” she said, almost disappointed in her friend.

             
“One hobgoblin, no.  But you never find just one hobgoblin, you get a whole drove of them.” she said, that hungry smile spreading across her usually innocent face.  Mira laughed at her eagerness, and wrinkled her forehead with thought.

             
“I think I’m in the mood for a dragon.” she said finally.

             
“If only we could pick a restaurant this quickly,” she joked, “that usually takes us at least fifteen minutes.”  She led the way down into the subway tunnels, where they jumped the turnstile and boarded the nearly empty train, being careful not to bump any passengers that couldn’t see them.  As they sat on the rumbling train, Nameh turned to her friend, “You’re in luck, I just happen to know where a blackdragon nest is.”

             
“Of course you do.” she said, trying to sound less disapproving than she was.

             
“I just hope no one has cleaned it out yet.” she said, “any found in the city are fair game because they’re
all
vicious.” she said with a smile.  She saw the playfully judgmental look that her friend shot her, and retorted, “What, I can’t be happy that they’re fair game?” she said with a shrug.

             
“It’s just that most people don’t smile like that after they’ve said, ‘they’re all vicious’.” she said.

             
“I’m not most people.” she answered definitively.

             
“Did you think that I’ve just noticed this?” she said, raising her eyebrows.  The two girls laughed, then fell silent.  A few moments passed, and Mira turned to look at her, “God, I just realized how crazy this really is.” she said with a smile that told her she didn’t mind that much.

             
“Like I tell you all the time,” she said, “how many experiences would you not have if it weren’t for me?” she said with a grin.

             
“A lot, probably as many as the number of scars that I wouldn’t have.”  Nameh’s eyes came to rest on an advertisement pasted on the wall of the subway.  It described an upcoming movie, one that she would likely never see.  Vampires and werewolves stood facing off from either corner in a standoff of sorts.  She always laughed at human interpretation of what they thought to be fiction.  The vampires and werewolves had stopped feuding hundreds of years ago, and now cooperated quite often.  They mixed within the ranks of the Vine, the Guardians, and even the Guild.

             
The train screeched to a halt, and the doors slid open; they stepped off the train and onto the platform.  The station was run down, like most in this neighborhood.  The brick walls were crumbling, taking colorful graffiti with them, and foul smells emanated from all sides.  They hurried up the steps, not wanting to waste any more time; it was already well after sunset.  They walked along the sidewalk, and Nameh could feel the excitement that must have glimmered in her own eyes.  She stopped in front of a condemned apartment building.  The stone of the building was a dull gray, and most of the windows were boarded up.  She circled it until she found a low window that had been smashed in; cobwebs were now the only barrier into the dilapidated lobby.

             
She leapt through the window, and landed gracefully with a soft noise on the other side.  She reached through to grab Mira’s hand, and lifted her up behind her.  She pressed her finger to her lips to indicate silence.  They ascended the creaking stairs to the landing above.  The building was poorly lit, and she drew her sword to light their way.  Clearly having never seen her enchant the sword before, Mira had a look of wonder on her face.  Nameh smiled at her friend’s excitement, and continued through the dark.  They passed rooms with faded red paint and gray numbers on the doors, some missing.  The last door on the right had been torn from its hinges, and was nowhere to be seen. 

             
She turned to her friend, wearing a grave face, to indicate that something was wrong.  The door had always been absent, as she recalled, but noises were coming from the large room ahead, which should have been silent.  Blackdragons didn’t communicate with each other verbally, and were usually alone anyway.  The only noises they made were their shrieks in battle.  She willed magic into her sword, and it grew in length, only furthering her friend’s surprise.  Mira drew her sword as well, the one she had given her, she noticed with pride.

             
Cautiously, she crept forward into the room, holding the shield she spun tightly around them.  Her eyes focused in the dark on the biggest Blackdragon she had ever seen.  Before it stood a boy with his back to them, dressed similarly to the two girls.  He wore pants and a tunic of brown leather, bound by a thick belt which held a dagger and the sheath to the sword he was holding.  The sword and the boy’s pale skin were smeared with the thick, black blood of magical creatures.  He swung the gleaming sword, and forged a cut in the thick skin of the creature’s leg.

             
She dropped the shield from them, and made a move to run at the dragon.  Mira caught her shoulder, and whispered harshly, “What are you doing?”  She turned to see the look in her friend’s eyes, and answered her with that same hungry smile.

             
“We came here for a fight, didn’t we?”  Her friend shot her the ‘You’re crazy’ look, and then followed her.  As they ran at the dragon, she could see its pure black eyes, and talons as long as her forearm.  Its lips were pulled back in anger, revealing rows of needle-like teeth, and glossy, black scales covered its entire body.

             
Nameh lunged first, and caught the creature, which hadn’t yet seen her, across its chest, but not deep enough to reach its heart.  Blood spilled from the cut, and ran down the monster’s body, creating a stain even darker than the dragon itself.  Its eyes erupted with rage, and it let out a horrific cry.  It lunged at her with speed that was uncommon for a being of its size, but Nameh was faster.  She darted to the left of its claws, but was left with a long cut down her upper arm.  The blood dripped down her fair skin, humanly red, not the black of monsters.  She smirked as her Shask burned to begin healing the cut. 

             
As the dragon had attacked her, both Mira and the boy had flown at the beast.  The boy’s sword traced down the dragon’s back, drawing blood that ran to the floor like a ghastly, black river.  Mira’s blade had come down on the monster where its shoulder met its neck, delivering a crushing blow.  Pride welled inside of Nameh at her friend’s expert swing, and her excitement grew as she remembered how hard blackdragons were to kill with their leathery skin.

             
She drew the first of her daggers, it’s hilt laced with silver and black, and threw it at the dragon, it swung around in time to dodge the knife, and ran at her a second time.  The dagger hit the wall behind it, and clattered to the floor.  As it charged, she leapt into the air, brandishing her glowing sword.  Just as the creature’s fearsome teeth came within striking distance, she plunged the sword into its neck, the teeth only grazing her leg.  She landed behind the monster just in time to see Mira’s dagger sink into its heart.  Its claws swung, as if desperately trying to hold on to life as it fell to the ground, the life leaving its dark, beady eyes. 

             
All three of the warriors stood, chests heaving and blood flowing, watching the last breath of the monster.  Nameh had only the cut on her arm, and the few, small cuts on her leg from its teeth.  Mira, she could see, had a bad cut across her collar bone, and a shallow cut just below her eye, which was dripping crimson.  She looked as though she were crying blood.  The boy, standing on the other side of the fallen dragon, was covered mostly in its blood, but had three parallel, deep gashes down the back of his arm. 
The talons were hell
, she thought.

             
It wasn’t until then that she realized how badly her mark was burning.  It hadn’t subsided, as usual, when the dragon died.  It was a different burning, though, not like the pain she felt when magical creatures were near; it was almost a longing.  The boy spoke first, running his fingertips through his short, golden hair.

             
“That was a good one.  It’s so hard to find decent dragons, these days.  They just don’t make them like they used to.” he said, with lightness in his voice that comforted the other two.  As she turned to face him, she saw how his striking blue eyes sparkled against his pale skin at his joking comment.  There was something familiar about his face; she had seen him before, but she couldn’t remember where.  She had excellent memory, and it frustrated her that she couldn’t remember.  As his eyes met hers for the first time, his face betrayed a flicker of surprise: he had recognized her. 

             
“That’s the biggest blackdragon that I’ve ever seen.” she admitted, studying his face for hints to why he knew her.  Cautiously, she disguised her recognition of his slip.  She glanced at Mira’s face, but it showed no sign that she had any idea who the boy was.  Her friend cut in, breaking the short silence that had elapsed while Nameh and the boy studied each other.

             
“Nice sword work.” she said, with a small nervous laugh.  The boy turned toward her and laughed.

             
“Yeah, thanks.  That was a good dagger throw.” he responded.  No formalities could be heard in his voice, only genuine feeling.  Another silence floated among them uncomfortably, like a thick fog.  Finally, Nameh decided that it was time to have her question answered.

             
“Do I…do I know you?” she asked, not regretting how forward her question must have sounded to him.  A boyish smirk passed over his features, and the twinkle came, again, to his eyes.

             
“Well, neither of us is supposed to be here.” he said, plainly trying to confuse her.  “Actually, none of us are supposed to be here.  But somehow, I’m not surprised.” he said matter-of-factly, tilting his chin slightly upward.