Cursed (33 page)

“Do you feel nothing being here with me
now?”

He smiled looking at me through his eyelashes
making my nerves quiver and my breath suck in, “You seem to be the
exception to the rule.”

He leaned in to kiss me, which I wanted but I
shook my head, “Your dad raped and killed my mom. I can’t do this
right now. I need some more answers from you.”

He looked dejectedly at me, “Aimee I couldn’t
tell you the truth you understand what I’m saying don’t you?”

I shook my head; “If you had been honest with me
from the start when you realized I could see you none of this would
have happened.”

He nodded, “I know but I fell in love Aimee, I
wont bother you ever again.” He leaned in and kissed me and like a
puff of smoke was gone.

I didn’t know what to do, I hadn’t wanted him to
go, had I?

I didn’t want to be alone again. I pulled my
legs up and waited to die. I hadn’t eaten, I hadn’t drank, I knew
at some point I would die and it would end.

I was sad about my mom but I knew he must be
hurting more than me.

His own dad killed the mom of the woman he
loved, was I woman yet?

I shrugged assuming if you had to ask you were
still a girl.

I curled into a ball and fell asleep again until
I heard the bushes rustle behind me waking me up. I wondered if it
was his dad coming for his turn with me.

“I am so sorry Aimee.”

Aleks sat beside me pulling me into him. He
slipped his huge black fleece off and pulled it over my head. I
didn’t realize I was so cold until the warmth from his jacket
seeped into my skin.

I shivered closing my eyes. I had gotten to the
place of insanity. I wasn’t certain any of it was real anymore. I
was thinking either side effect of drug or I was dead or it was the
long assumed brain tumor.

“Where are we going to go?” I asked knowing that
I couldn’t go back to my place and I couldn’t stay one more day at
the beach without murdering an entire village out of boredom.

He frowned, “You can’t go anywhere until you
change.”

I laughed bitterly, “I’m not changing Aleks, it
isn’t happening. I’m still me just a bit different. I’m the same as
I was when I was at Blake’s a week ago. Too bad Blake’s didn’t
really work out, I could use a shower.”

He nodded laughing, “Your body had to be healed
by Dorian’s blood before it can start to transform. You were on
your deathbed Dorian saved you as much as that disgusts me. Now
that you’re all healed up inside the change should start to take
place.”

I frowned at him, “Why do you hate him, beyond
the obvious winning personality traits I experienced?”

He shook his head, “I just don’t like demons
Aimee, pretty sure that sums that up. Anyway I want to get you
somewhere warm for the night.”

I smirked at him, “Okay. I smell.”

He laughed, it was still weak but he seemed to
be a little perkier.

I was pretty sure I was thinking of the same
thing as he was, hotel room.

Thinking about what had happened the other day
with Shane I changed my mind, “Uhh actually we should probably stay
out here. We can make a fire again.”

Aleks looked at me doubtfully, “What’s
wrong?”

I bit my lower lip and sighed feeling ashamed of
myself, “I saw Shane the other day. He came here and was so angry
with me. Blake had told him everything that’s happened so far.”

“Blake knows everything, everything including
me?” He didn’t sound impressed.

I knew my eyes answered for me as disappointment
filled his face. He raised his eyebrows at me, “Aimee I told you
these things in confidence.”

I shook my head, “Aleks you kept leaving me and
I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I just needed someone on
my team.”

He gripped my shoulders harshly, “I am always on
your team, I just know what kind of danger I bring with me
everywhere I go.”

I looked into his intensely blue eyes and
nodded.

“Shane was very angry about what happened
between us. He was cruel and I deserved every second of it. I dated
you both at the same time. I’m disgusting.”

Aleks chewed the side of his lower lip, “You
shouldn’t really be around him anyway. Firstly I don’t like it and
secondly you could hurt him.”

All I heard was him, I could hurt him.

I frowned, “I can’t hurt you?”

He laughed, “No. I am doomed to walk the earth
alone, nothing can hurt me. Do you honestly think I’ve never
attempted dying?”

I hadn’t ever thought about it, I assumed he
enjoyed his life of eternity doing whatever he wanted and
exploring.

Aleks looked at me and rolled his eyes, “It’s
not like in the movies Aimee, I don’t have a mansion somewhere with
all kinds of international money and friends in all the right
places. I am alone almost all of the time except for the odd demon
or other mythical being. Anyway did you hurt Shane?”

I nodded flinching at the disappointment in his
eyes, “It was an accident, I grabbed him to try to make him listen
and my hands pulled from him like they were sucking on him. I
looked at him and he was still, like a zombie and I was filling up
with ecstasy. I let go and he left. He seemed dizzy and weird
afterward.”

He smirked at me, “You're got lucky, your
abilities haven’t set in yet. Until you learn to control that you
might want to refrain from touching anyone.”

He looked at me through his lashes, “Except me
of course.”

I smiled at him knowing I probably wouldn't be
able to touch him, not while Shane was alive. That gave us any
where from sixty to eighty years to work out what we were to each
other. It made me smile disgustedly.

We walked back up the beach to where I had built
my fire initially and I watched as he made the new fire. He was
much faster at it than I was and within a very short amount of time
we were sitting by a very warm fire. I felt the damp and the cold
but I didn’t hurt or ache the way I would have before kissing
Dorian.

I needed to see my dad before Blake decided to
continue his witch hunt and tell my sister. I needed to see my
sister too. I didn’t want Blake filling their heads with all sorts
of truth without me explaining. I hadn’t chosen this path because I
had some death wish. I looked at Aleks and recalled how it had only
been a few weeks since I was ready to die to be with him.

Now if I could have my way I would end
everything between us just to have all of them back again. The fact
I wasn’t graduating was bothering me beyond belief. I knew I could
get my Dogwood Diploma instantly just with a few phone calls, all
of my finals had been in January and really the last classes were
labs and advanced placements that meant I could do them all over
again in university. They would have counted for credits if I’d
finished them.

I missed my guild on World Of Warcraft and I
missed just chilling eating a bowl of cereal with my dad watching
the discovery channel. From the inside and safety of my home I had
wished for excitement and adventure before my mom had died. There I
sat on a real life adventure and instead of having fun I was very
ready to turn in my hiking boots for flip-flops and boredom. I
wanted regular, I wanted Giselle’s million text messages about hot
doctors and where she was ever going to get a tattoo nice enough to
hide her scars but that she would want to still have when she was
old, like thirty-five and shit. I couldn’t make myself get past the
fact my happiness had been the price of Aleks. I knew it wasn’t all
his fault but I still saw him as the catalyst that had brought me
to that moment.

“You’re not in love with me Aimee are you?” He
asked looking me in the eye, almost demanding an answer.

I was amazed at how easily he had read my face
forgetting that he had spent months memorizing everything I did. I
shook my head, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything any more.”

He nodded standing up and walking to where I
sat. He did look sexy in the firelight, I had to give him that.

He stood in front of me, “I will wait as long as
you need to figure things out. I’ve waited over six hundred years
for you. Everyday I died being forced to live without love. You’ve
taught me to love again and given me a renewed sense of hope.” In
the darkness his blue eyes stood out even more, like they sparkled.
He knelt in front of me in the sand to be face to face with me. He
brushed my hair from my face on either side, his warm hands sending
chills up my spine. I watched his eyes for a moment until suddenly
they burned with a hatred frightening me. His face twitched as he
spoke to the side of my head, “What are you doing here?”

I realized he was speaking behind my head. I was
off my driftwood being pulled roughly to the far side of the fire
and placed behind him before I could register what was going
on.

“Son, I just wanted to see you. I’ve missed you
all these years.” I looked through the rigid arms holding me in
place to see a naked man. He was in his forties if I had to guess.
He was very large as Aleks was, he looked like Aleks. His eyes were
the same white blue. I knew him instantly.

“You’ve missed me by running from me every time.
I have spent six centuries cleaning up your messes.” Aleks’s voice
was a deep growl. I had no actual idea of what he was capable of
until that moment. He had always seemed like a friendly gentle
giant with me but this was not the same man. At that moment he
scared me even though he was protecting me.

The naked man stood proud of his physique, I
managed to avoid letting my eyes fall below his face but it was a
struggle.

He held his arms out as if in peace, “Son I just
thought that maybe you would want to bury the hatchet, besides I
haven’t met your young lady yet. You’re being rude Aleksander.”

His dad maintained most of the Norwegian accent,
more than likely because he spent most of his time alone.

I felt Aleks’s grip tighten on me, his muscles
were flexed in his back and arms. “She is none of your concern dad.
This is between you and I.” His dad looked as if he were starting
to get upset as his body shook in a way I’d only ever seen in a
person having a seizure but his eyes were fixed on me and he licked
his lips. His stare was beyond menacing. Instantly we were moving.
I closed my eyes but we stopped as suddenly as we had started, I
was standing outside Shane’s house. Aleks faced me looking down at
me, “I need to do this Aimee, I’m so sorry but I’ve waited for over
six hundred years to be able to stop him.”

I nodded, “Kill him for me too.”

He bent and pressed his lips to mine firmly.
There was no messing around with flirty kissing, just a solid kiss
and then the warm air filled space around me. He was gone and I was
alone again. I turned to look at Shane’s huge house and knew I
wasn’t welcome there. I wanted to go home but I was terrified Blake
had been to my dad already. My poor dad, I wished I had just been
honest with him from the beginning. I walked around the side of
Shane’s house and sat on the deck. His windows were closed and he
was inside watching TV. I could hear the TV just faintly from the
kitchen window that was wide open. I imagined I was in there
watching it with him, snuggled into him and warm.

Instead I sat on the hard deck and waited for
Aleks to come back, which was unlikely, as I knew his dad would
either kill him or run away. I was completely alone again but this
time something was different, my skin had started to burn and my
vision had started to blur. I hugged myself tightly as the stomach
ach started again but this time it was intense. I moaned, I
couldn’t help myself. I got up for fear Shane would hear me and
started to walk toward the stalker woods. My legs crumpled along
the way taking me down on the grass. I heard a scream and should
have been scared but I hurt too much to worry about that girl. I
crawled along the grass feeling the sweat poor off of me. I heard
the scream again it was starting to annoy me that the girl wouldn’t
shut up.
“Aimee, Aimee is that you? Aimee oh my god.” I heard Shane’s voice
in the background but I tried to crawl away from him, I needed to
keep him safe. I felt the black coming to take me, Shane’s worried
face and mouth moving was the last thing I saw. I couldn’t hear
anything over the girl screaming.

Chapter Sixteen - WHEN IS
ANYTHING EVER ENOUGH

I heard noises, it sounded like someone talking,
there were a few of them, a guy and a girl. I didn’t know where I
was but I was worried Shane was with me. I was so worried I would
hurt him. My body felt as if someone had taken a tiny blade and cut
every inch of my body and then dripped orange juice on it. I stung
on the bottoms of my feet even. I figured the towns’ folks had
heard I was a monster and had come with pitchforks to claim me at
Shane’s house. I could hear them arguing but I didn’t know what
they were saying. I tried to ignore the immense amounts of pain my
brain was coping with and turned off my emotional body. I listened,
as my sister, Blake, Shane and someone I didn’t know argued. It was
a woman’s voice, I assumed it was Shane’s mom or Blake’s.

“She’s changing, just like she said she would.”
Shane’s voice sounded like it was defending me.

“No she’s sick we need to get her to a mental
institute, the drugs have done something very bad to her, I think
she has drug induced schizophrenia.” Blake spoke so cold still. I
couldn’t believe he hated me that much to want to commit me.

I heard a growl almost, “Blake you try to take
her.” Shane was defending me, bliss and guilt rotated inside of me,
taking turns on what I was feeling.

“Boys, seriously. I think we need to think about
the fact it’s Aimee, boring lame Aimee. She would never do this on
purpose. She hates life, exciting things and would never worry my
dad like this. This is not the norm for her, she is sick. She needs
a hospital, not the nutter one either Blake, I cant believe you
said that.” My sister tried to help, I tried not to be
offended.