This Curse: (The Grace Allen Series Book 2 ) (5 page)

Feeling worse with every passing second, I stripped
and stood under the hot spray.

Seth was wrong. He had my blood and appeared to be
immune to almost all of my powers. I couldn’t touch him or force him into
anything, but he had no idea how much I was holding back. The secrets I kept
closely guarded. Like my true, form so drastically different from even a few
weeks ago. I kept changing, evolving. The only person who knew what I suffered
was my dearest friend, Lucian.

When I first changed over, he had witnessed my true
form. It wasn’t such a big deal then. The change was new to both of us and I
was happy to finally be in control. It was only after we had come home that the
implications of what my true form could do hit me. I felt so drastically
different that I instantly began hiding behind glamour. Lucian was exposed to
my earliest form and I’d be damned If I was ever going to show him what I had
ultimately become. I could only imagine how he would react to the final
version. He knew I was scared and he never once pressed me.

I slid to the floor while the dual jets pounded their
heated therapy all over my body. I let the last of my glamour slip away. The
tension and stress of holding it was washed down the drain along with the
water. I was exhausted. The water began to cool and I stepped out onto the
fluffy bath mat. It always felt good to wrap my glowing skin into my favorite
oversized terrycloth robe. Without any glamour, my hair had a life of its own.
It never stayed wet, the shining, metallic locks always flowing and tumbling as
if writhing with too much life. I felt like a Vegas version of Medusa. I could
never begin to explain how bizarre I always felt looking the way I do in a
common bathrobe. Like spying Wonder Woman reading a magazine on the toilet. To
imagine such a fantastic being doing the everyday mundane was way too surreal.
To live it was worse. I left the bathroom, not once glancing into the mirror.

I made a cup of tea and curled up onto the couch that
was once my Grandma’s. I loved it. The familiar feeling of family always filled
me with warmth. Music, soft and gentle helped further ease my senses. The
beautiful melody of Chopin’s Polonaise in B- flat lulled me, until I felt my
eyes begin to close. 

The house shook. I jerked awake, sending my teacup
spinning onto the floor with a crash. My senses on high alert, I ran. With a
thought I was dressed and in full glamour. The door shook, windows rattled and
the air seemed charged with an eerie, otherworldly energy. This was no mere
windstorm! I fought the urge to panic. It was as if something was trying to rip
the house apart. I stood by the nearest window and peered out.

The night was still, not a leaf stirred on any of the
trees. The porch swing sat calmly, not a creak, as if the world outside were
frozen. I sharpened my senses, opening my mind to scan the darkness between the
trees.

I sensed him a second before he stepped out of the
darkness. This man was spooky. Dark thoughts tumbled in his head, violence,
lust, and a hunger for power.

 I turned and leaned my back against the curtains,
sighing as the promise of rest fled. I turned, glancing out the window again to
get a better look at my potential attacker. He was tall and muscular, like a
typical thug should be. He had black hair slicked into one of those faux-hawks.
At first it looked like he was wearing a long sleeved shirt with some crazy
designs on it, yet now I could see that he was in fact shirtless and covered in
tattoos. His jeans were shredded and looked to be about a hundred years old and
his muddy feet were bare. 

“Damn it! What the hell now?” I muttered as I steeled
my resolve. I wasn’t scared, because, lets face it; I was pretty hard to kill.
I just really wanted some peace.

The trees cast long shadows in the light of the full
moon as I stepped from the warmth of my house.

He stepped from the shadows and slowly approached.
The feral look in his eyes told me that he had a little something extra going
on. I felt my mind touch his and I shook my head at my rapidly dissolving
rules. Entering minds was such an invasion but I found I could do it with
little harm to my conscious. From the cocktail waitress earlier this evening to
this grungy looking murdering psycho, I figured mind reading was just a means
to an end. The day I start reading minds automatically without a second thought
was the day I needed to shut myself away from humanity all together.

I closed my eyes touched his thoughts. He was a scout
and I had just showed him all he needed to know. I was home and according to
his assessment, I was alone and helpless.
Yeah, he wished.
Violence
bubbled to the surface of his mind and a sickening smile spread across his
filthy face. He took a step closer to my house as a huge wave of muscular, unwashed
bodies broke through the trees and bushy sage. I sighed, resolved to the fact
that I was about to have a very bad night. Then, recognition dawned.

Well, shit.
 

Patrick’s pack had come to call.

My limbs tensed as adrenaline flowed through my
veins. I scanned their faces, only recognizing a few here and there from the
club. They were all filthy as if they’d rolled and tumbled through the desert
instead of walked upright like men.

They stood their ground and I shivered as a thought
occurred to me.
How did a bunch of wolves cause my house to shake the way it
had?
The thought barely had time to form a moment before Voltaire appeared
out of thin air in front of me.
Oh
Lovely.

“Madea, I see you wear a false face.” Voltaire’s ugly
shriveled eyes rolled inside his hideous face, taking in my glamour. “Tell me,
are you so unsightly? I truly hope this is not the case, for that would surely
upset my plan.”

I frowned at him, my teeth grinding in my mouth as I
tried to process his words. Voltaire has a voice that could make a mortal’s
ears bleed. He is a full-fledged demon straight from Hell. Yep, and he is every
bit as scary as you would think. When I first met him, I almost passed out from
the sound of his voice alone. His ability to strip you down and examine every
cell is a frightening reality and an even worse feeling. He could sense my
glamour and that meant that he was able to use his powers on me. I was really
not okay with that.

“Voltaire,” I began, “how horrible to see you.
Complimentary as always I see.” I focused my energy on covering my true self. I
still had a lot to learn about my own abilities and Voltaire always made me
extremely edgy.

I stepped off of my porch onto the gravel-covered
ground. My fear safely tucked away behind my severely curled lip. “What
business do you have here? Or are you just out walking the dogs?” I nodded
toward the filthy pack of unwashed muscle lining my drive. Christian stepped
away from the pack and snarled at me. I smiled sweetly at him. His eyes were a
strange yellow color and he had spittle on his chin. I guess insulting a pack
of werewolves wasn’t the brightest idea. I was immortal, which was a blessing
and a curse. If these wolves decided to attack and I was ripped to shreds,
would those pieces of me continue? Yeah, it was something to think about for
sure.

“I have come to settle a few things. For instance, I
see you no longer wear the ring, yet I sense power rolling off of you in waves.
All the legends spoke of a lengthy transformation. I wonder?” he stepped closer
to me. I followed his movements carefully. “How many of our legends are so
inaccurate? I bet if we sliced you open, we’d find all sorts of fun answers.”
He smiled and rubbed his hands together as several yips and howls resonated
from the pack.

I shuddered and bit back a small twinge of fear. Of
course, I would never let it get that far. I didn’t want to hurt these men. At
least not yet. I needed to know their motives first. I couldn’t fight them if I
knew they were here only because they were following orders. They had to have a
pure intent to do harm. Voltaire on the other hand, I couldn’t care less what
his intent was. I just wanted him dead in a big way. The only problem with that
idea was how to achieve it. Believe me I’ve tried to get into his head, but his
mind is a steel vault.

I spotted Dillon shuffling forward a bit. His eyes
were huge and oddly shaped. It didn’t take any special powers to understand
that he was ready to shift.

I turned my attention back to Voltaire. “You said a
few
things; so far all you have discovered is that I no longer need the ring. Why
drag an entire pack out here just to verify that? Sorry, V but I get the
impression that you have a few more things up your sleeve.” I folded my arms
and yawned dramatically. “If that’s the case, can you get on with it? I’m a bit
sleepy.”

“You mock me?” He seemed to grow larger. His sallow
old man façade shrunk and shriveled into a horrible mask of decay. I felt my
eyes grow large with shock and revulsion as chunks of skin began to slide off
Voltaire’s putrid face.

Patrick’s pack swelled in numbers. Filthy bodies
crowded closer to my home. The sickening smell of sweat and Voltaire’s rotting
flesh played havoc with my composure. I knew I was in trouble and thanks to
Patrick; a lot of these men were going to die.

I was about to break yet another rule and strike out
at the group in masse when a mud covered Range Rover screeched wildly into my
driveway, kicking up a choking cloud of rocks and dirt. The door was thrown
open and Lucian jumped out at a run, his hair flying behind him in a tangled
mass. He was shirtless and his feet were bare. Faded jeans hugged his firm
thighs as he ran. I had only a moment to appreciate the view before all hell
broke loose.

Voltaire spun toward Lucian as I ran from the porch.
Lucian’s arms were extended toward Voltaire while he screamed at him in Latin.
It was some sort of spell, freezing Voltaire in place like a satanic mime. It
was impressive and took me completely by surprise. My mind was spinning as
chaos erupted around us.

Patrick’s pack began to scream and holler as one by
one they each fell to the ground in a heap of fluid and cracking bone. The
change was awe-inspiring and also a bit disgusting. It sounded like a thousand
carrots being snapped in half. Clothing ripped as well as flesh. Jaws
elongated, splitting human lips to shreds. It was a train wreck; I couldn’t
look away. There was no magical cloud to disguise the shift, no shield to save
my mind from the horror and pain.

The screaming and moaning died down as the wolves
appeared. They were beautiful. My feet were rooted to the spot as I gazed in
wonder at the magnificent animals. I could hear Lucian yelling at me and then I
felt a violent jerk as he forced me from my daze into a run beside him.

“Why are we running?” I asked somewhat dreamily. “I
won’t get hurt; I can take care of myself.” My voice shook as we picked up
speed, Lucian all but dragging me along side him.

“We have to lead those bastards away from your house!
Jesus, Grace! What the hell do they want?
A whole pack
? Why would they
show up at your door? I thought only Voltaire was here. I was prepared for
that!”

I could hear the wolves close behind us. “How could
you have prepared?” I was getting a bad feeling. My mind was picking up speed
and I knew that whatever Lucian was about to say was going to piss me off.

“I was scrying.”

Yep.
I was
pissed. “Damn it Lucian!” I stopped abruptly, freezing the area around us in a
flash of anger. I didn’t mean to do it, but somehow my subconscious took over
and made something happen that was most helpful. I hated to upset the balance,
but it seemed I was doing it more and more easily now that I had decided to
reconcile with myself.

“Scrying? Bullshit! You mean
spying
!”

“No, Grace. I was merely showing a friend of mine how
to do it. It was just natural for me to hone in on you. When I saw Voltaire, I
went nuts. I know he’s a big time player in the Council and you and I both know
your powers work differently with him.”

My breath caught and I yelled, “You showed me to a
friend
?
What if I was doing something private? What if my glamour was down? Man I could
kill
you.” I wanted to storm off in a huff, but that would leave Lucian
literally to the wolves, so I just glared.

“I didn’t let her see the image. I wouldn’t do that
to you, Grace. Honestly.”

“Her?” I screeched.
Who was this ‘her’ person
?

“Oh, um.” He looked sheepish, “Lydia, she’s my new
apprentice.” He stood taller and I was suddenly struck with a whole new horror.
Lucian was half dressed and working with a woman? My heart sank and all
thoughts of danger and wolves and nasty rotting demons fled, replaced with the
image of my beautiful Lucian in bed with some faceless woman who I knew didn’t
deserve him.

Oblivious to my inner turmoil, Lucian continued.
“Grace, we need to get these wolves away from here. Can you just zap them
someplace else? Lydia has no real magic yet, she can’t defend herself.” He
looked truly scared.

“She’s
here
?” I shouted. “Why the hell would
you bring her here?” I felt my anger rise at his foolishness. “Fine Lucian, you
go protect the little lady, I’ll take care of the wolves. And the answer to
your question is no. I can’t just
zap
them someplace, or rather I
won’t
.
Never mind my eight million discussions about balance, but where do you suggest
I send a pack of angry, hungry werewolves?” I shouted louder, “I’m not perfect
and I make mistakes everyday. I won’t unleash them anywhere else. Someone could
get killed.” I was so angry and upset at him that I was having a hard time
focusing on the much more important issue at hand. I took a deep breath and let
it out slowly.