Cursed (34 page)

“Shane I think Alise is right, she needs a
doctor. She seems very sick.” The mystery woman spoke softly trying
to reason.

“No she stays here. If we take her to a hospital
they’re going to think its what he thinks it is. There is no way
I’m doing that to her.” Shane was defiant.

“She didn’t choose you man. Your defending some
other dudes girl.” Blake’s words cut like a knife.

“I chose her Blake.” Shane’s words cut deeper. I
wanted to scream I was so frustrated. “You’re her best friend, you
should have too. I want you two the fuck out of my house.” Shane’s
voice wasn’t in a negotiating tone.

“Shane she is my sister. I’ll go get my dad and
he’ll come get her.” My sister tried to threaten him.

“Yeah you really think involving your dad is the
way to help Aimee. If you really want to hurt your dad like that
Alise go ahead, you’re more selfish than I thought. Neither of you
is thinking what’s best for Aimee. What if she does change into
something, what if she did drink demon blood? The doctors will lock
her away and poke and prod her.” Shane was my only salvation at
this point.

The pain was too brutal again, I moaned in
agony.

Suddenly Shane was beside me with his mom
looking down on me from behind him.

He knelt beside me, I was on a couch in his
sunroom, the make out room. This was where it all started and this
was where it was all ending.

“Aimee can you hear me?” Shane spoke softly.

My eyes flickered open and shut, “Yeah.” I
croaked.

“Aimee I’m so sorry.” To say he looked worried
was not strong enough.

I tried to make a smile on my lips, “No I am the
one who is sorry Shane. I love you Shane and I want you to have
this. I meant it, every word.” I reached into my fleece pocket and
pulled out the crumpled letter.

“I chose you Shane I always chose you.”

He took it from me and bent down to kiss my
forehead.

I realized then and there that when faced with
losing either guy in my life it was Shane that was killing me. I
could live without Aleks but there was no way I could live without
Shane.

The pain grew in intensity again making me
scream, I realized it had been me in the yard screaming.

Shane held me, he held me tightly until I pushed
him away, “My skin sucks the life out of you. You can’t touch me
Shane I’m becoming something evil.” My voice was almost gone
now.

“I’ll take my chances.” He wrapped me in a
blanket and held me. He wiped my face with something cold. It felt
refreshing.

“She’s burning up Shane. Maybe a hospital?” His
mom spoke softly.

“No.” His responses had not improved.

I felt myself black out again lost in a space
and time that didn’t matter. I floated in a black sea of
emptiness.

I woke to someone laughing, I knew the voice.
“Aimee, Aimee, Aimee, whatever will we do with you?” It was an evil
voice, it mocked my pain, “You foolish girl Aimee. You should have
stayed with me. It’s taken me a week to find you. Days you’ve
suffered needlessly.”

I felt a finger roughly open my eye. I was on
the couch in the sunroom still, I recognized the pictures of Shane
hanging over the fireplace. My eyes focused to see Dorian’s smiling
face. I would have been afraid but at this point I just wanted
death.

“Aimee are you ready to end this?” He asked
grinning his best evil villain grin. I nodded.

He held his finger over my mouth opening it as I
watched his black blood drip into my face from his other hand. I
tried not to swallow but he forced so much in my mouth I felt like
I was drowning. The warm liquid slid down my throat like the slug
it had looked like.

He picked me up and carried me to the back door.
I looked around the house to see no one there. Where had Shane
gone?

I blacked out again as I felt Dorian jump off
the back deck and land in the grass with a thud.

I felt my face move, I felt cold air. I was
outside again. I didn’t really hurt anymore. I sensed I wasn’t
alone but I heard nothing. I opened one eye cautiously to see
Dorian bent over me, he was smiling.

“Why good morning, had a good sleep I assume.”
He stood up offering me his hand. I took his hand feeling
completely disoriented. I was in the forest again, not near the
beach. There was no salt in the air, just the cool dampness of the
woods. I looked around me seeing nothing but Dorian standing in the
woods looking at me expectantly.

“Am I dead?” I asked wondering if he had ended
my life with his black goo.

He laughed, “Yes you are and yet you’re
not.”

I frowned at him, I hated him and his stupid
riddles. He was as bad as Aleks, he never answered any of my
questions.

“Where is Aleks?” I asked hoping he had at least
killed his dad.

Dorian waved a finger in front of my face, “No
one here to save you this time Aimee. You’re mine now, one my very
own.” He started to walk around me slowly in a circle as if
inspecting me. He looked like a wolf circling a bunny.

I didn’t feel like a bunny though, I felt
strong. I felt like I could kill him if I had to. I frowned
wondering how that thought had popped into my mind.

I squeezed my hands flexing them, I was strong.
I just knew it.

He grinned, “You can feel it cant you? You’re
reborn and brand new.”

I nodded, “What have you done to me?”

He looked innocently at me flashing his black
eyes, “I saved you Aimee. You would have been in the ground already
if not for me.” He stepped very close to my face, “Where is your
gratitude?” His face grew very wicked but he still smiled at
me.

He pressed his lips into mine forcefully, my
lips crushed into my teeth hurting me. I winced as he forced his
tongue in my mouth. I could taste a small amount of residue from
his blood in my mouth making me want to gag. I pushed him away from
me, he flew backwards slamming into a tree.

His evil smile grew, “There’s my girl. See how
easy it is to lose your cool. If I had been a human you would have
hurt me very badly if not killed me.” He taunted me.

He relished the moment I could see it in his
eyes. I looked down at my hands. I was very strong. I could never
lose it around my sister or Shane, no matter what. I held off
judgment on whether Blake was going to feel my full wrath or
not.

“Hungry?” He asked walking toward me softly.

I nodded, “I am hungry.” I couldn’t help but
admit it, I felt ravenous.

He stepped behind a tree and pulled a terrified
looking girl from behind the huge old cedar tree. She was tied up
with a gag in her mouth.

I was horrified as he brought her to me, she
walked looking frightened from me to him and back to me. Her soft
green eyes pleaded with me to save her. Her tear stained cheeks and
sniffling nose pained me but the terror in her eyes sickened me.
She spoke volume with her eyes, begging me to free her.

I wanted to, I wanted to untie her and run with
her as fast as I could to get her away from him but something about
her sweet face made me want to touch her. I felt compelled to let
my fingers just brush a little against her soft skin. She was my
age if not a little older. She had long blond hair like me but hers
was thinner and wispier than mine. She was very pretty which didn’t
seem to affect me, all I saw was the life inside of her, it
sparkled. I wanted some of that sweet life. She wore a white tee
shirt with pink jammie pants, I assumed Dorian had taken her from
her bed.

Everything in my body told me to save the girl.
Everything inside of me screamed to run away from her but there was
a small dominant part of me that told me to just brush against her
thin bare arm with just one finger. I wanted just one taste of her.
I couldn’t fight myself as I lifted my right hand, I touched the
soft fabric of her white cotton shirt, I could see her pink nipples
sticking out in the cool forest air through her thin t-shirt. I let
my hand fall to her bare arm, her skin jolted against mine.

She had been struggling until I touched her,
then she stood very still. I let my finger drag down her bicep
filling me up.

I pulled my hand away shutting off the
sensation.

She look dazed taking deep breaths. I let my
finger brush her warm skin again and as I touched her I felt the
sensation again, I was being filled up. I pulled away again. This
time a need filled me so strongly I felt my body act before my
brain could react. I grabbed both of her bare arms with my hands
and held her so tightly I was sure I would tear the arms right off
of her. I felt a light come down from the sky like a sunbeam as I
was filled completely.

There had been a void inside of me, a hole that
had needed filling. I had been unaware of it until I touched her. I
had mistaken it as hunger. I pulled every last little bit from her.
I felt her run out, I was still a little hungry so to speak. I
squeezed her thin arms hoping to get every last little drop.

As the connection faded and she was empty I let
go. She fell to the ground in a heap. I flexed my thin fingers,
stretching them. I felt so alive in that moment, like I was a
battery that had just been charged.
I looked at Dorian whose eyes sparkled with life as he watched me
experience it for the first time. He knew the feeling I was having
at that moment, it was ecstasy.

I looked down at the heap of girl on the ground,
“Is she okay?”

He shook his head, “No, she’s gone my dear. Try
to think of them as sheep. It gets easier.”

I blinked, I didn’t fully comprehend what was
being said. I knelt beside her and shook her. I could see the
places I had squeezed so hard on her thin arms. She moved like a
sleeping person when I shook her but she didn’t stir.

“You’ve drained her life from her Aimee, she is
a shell now. Her soul is free.” His voice was a whisper in the
silent forest.

I looked up at him feeling a tear form in my
eyes, “She’s dead. I killed her.”

He nodded, “It’s either feed off of them or die
yourself.”

I didn’t know what to say, I wanted to run. I
wanted to run away from her. She was proof I was a monster. I felt
the forest spinning around me as I looked for an escape or a
solution.

“What am I?” I panicked, I could feel my breath
getting out of control.

“You’re an immortal now Aimee. Every immortal
has a specific need. It’s how we survive. Vampires need blood,
lycanthropes need raw flesh, succubuses need human emotions, and we
need souls or rather the separation of the soul. We feed on the
tearing that occurs when the soul is set free.”

I frowned at him, “What are we?”

He smiled, “Death Deities, Sin Eater, Grim
Reaper, Black Angel of Death. You choose. Either way your touch
does tend to finalize everything in ones life.”

I shook my head, “Death Deities, no that’s a
myth. That’s mythology.”

I looked down at the dead girl and knew that
what he had said was true, I was what he had said. I looked at my
hands, long and slender but nothing about them looked out of the
ordinary. They were my moms' hands, I'd always loved that. I
shivered imagining my mom looking down on me comparing our hands,
hers had never been as dirty as mine were suddenly.

I dropped to my knees astonished at how much I
could hate myself, Dorian and Aleks all at once, “this is the fate
I chose instead of death, instead of my one single death I will now
survive by doling out death like I were god? Like I had any right
to choose for others? How could you not tell me? How could Aleks
not tell me?” My words felt as if they belonged to another, my
voice sounded too hollow to be mine.

Dorian ignored me looking at his cell phone as
if I were keeping him from something actually pressing besides the
death and burial of a girl. I knew that to him this was one useless
girl. I shuddered looking at her wondering if he had used his mind
tricks to do terrible things to her first.

I couldn’t reason with myself, I was death and
that was a fate I was going to have to find a way to work around.
“You've made me into Death, I'm death. Will I kill everything I
touch?”

He shook his head, “No, you have to learn to
shut it off and on. You have to learn to control it.” He kicked the
girl on the ground, not respecting her limp dead body, “This is
because you were too hungry, if you let it get too far your hunger
will take over. You will feed Aimee, we always feed.”

“Don’t touch her.” I shrieked at him and picked
the dead girl up off of the forest floor. I held her like she was
my sister, my kin. If she were my family I would want something
else for her beyond some disgusting demon kicking her corpse in the
woods. She was still warm in my hands, I didn’t know what to do
with her. I smelled in the air for the ocean and started to run
toward the smell of the salt. I had never seen a dead body before
let alone held one in my arms wanting to hug her and cry and tell
her everything would be okay even when it wouldn’t. It would never
be okay, I had taken her life.

I ran as fast as I could, which apparently was
pretty fast. I saw the ocean through the trees and ran down to the
beach looking both ways to ensure no one saw me dragging a dead
girl out into the open waters. I felt the cold ocean water hit me
like a refreshing wave, it didn’t hurt like it should have. I swam
out into the chuck holding her hand, I swam as hard as I could
until I reached a good distance from the beach. I was amazed at how
quickly I could swim. I let all of my breath out and grabbed the
dead girls hand. I sank like a stone down into the cool ocean
water.

The seawater didn’t bother my open eyes. I
watched seaweed and small fish pass by us as we sank into the dark.
When I reached the bottom of the sea floor I found a big rock. I
pinned her under the rock trying desperately not to think about
what I was doing. I left her there in her pink pajamas and white
t-shirt. I looked at the peaceful look on her face and felt
nauseous. I swam to the surface kicking with my legs as fiercely as
I could. When I broke the surface I breathed in relief to feel the
air in my lungs. No air in my lungs felt unnatural. I swam to shore
and crawled out of the ocean waves feeling defeated.