The Curse Defiers (15 page)

“Don’t you fuckers even think about leaving,” I said through clenched teeth. I had no idea how to correctly wield a sword, but I held my arm close to my body, the blade pointed forward. If one of them rushed me, it would run into the blade. Their claws looked vicious, so I wanted to stay out of their reach. But thinking of the number of times I’d been clawed by demons only pissed me off more.

I was done taking crap from demons.

“We aren’t going anywhere. We haven’t completed our assignment,” the two men said as one.

“And what’s that?”

“To kill you.” They laughed, but the woman—whom I was beginning to suspect was in charge—remained silent.

“How did you know that I’d be back here tonight?”

“You are predictable,” one of the men answered in disgust.

“If that’s true, why do I get the feeling that what I did to your friend was totally
unpredictable
?”

The creatures didn’t answer. Instead, the injured old man bolted toward me with both arms raised, ready to claw me. I shoved the sword into his stomach, but he laughed and skimmed his claws across one of my shoulders.

Trying to ignore the burning pain of the wound, I leaned backward and jerked the blade out. But he continued to come toward me, his mouth open, his teeth ready to sink into my neck. Pulling my arm back so that the sword was next to my body and parallel to the floor, I threw my weight into it, impaling his heart with the weapon.

Surprise and fear flickered in his eyes before his body turned into flames and a cloud of smoke.

Two left.

But I was already out of breath, and I lost the advantage of surprise now that they realized I could kill them. The remaining two would be prepared to put up more of a fight.

I held the sword out to my side and leaned over, sucking in a deep breath. “Are you so sure you’re going to kill me now?” I sneered. But even as I said the words, I realized that their plan made no sense. The Raven Mocker I’d seen in Manteo had told me that I was a vessel who would either save or destroy the world. How could killing me now achieve that? The future was supposedly unchangeable, and the Raven Mocker had committed suicide to deliver her prediction . . .

“We will shred your abdomen and watch your intestines spill out onto the floor,” the man said, laughing.

“While that sounds fun, I think I’ll pass.”

“What’s going on, Ellie?” David asked, terror in his voice.

Crap, he couldn’t see or hear any of this.

“I’ve killed two and two are left. They’ve threatened to gut me. I took a rain check.”

“You’ve killed
two
?”

Before I could answer, both Raven Mockers attacked me at once, coming at me from opposite sides. I’d been lucky to take out the first two, but I was in real danger this time.

Tsagasi’s voice echoed in my head. “Listen to your power, witness to creation.”

I dove out of their path, away from David. One followed me, but the woman moved toward David and Allison. Tsagasi shot in front of the Raven Mocker, blocking her path with his body and a flash of light.

Grabbing the sword with both hands, I ran forward, sinking the blade deep into the chest of my attacker. The weapon hadn’t hit his heart, but I’d used so much strength that its blade was embedded almost to my fist. As I struggled to pull it out, I pressed my foot on his stomach and kicked, jerking my weapon free.

The Raven Mocker growled, swiping at me from the side, but I twisted in the opposite direction and spun in a circle. I used the momentum to move behind the creature and plunge the sword into its back, under its left shoulder blade. The demon screamed loud and long before bursting into flames and smoke.

I spun around to face the remaining demon. The old woman stood in the center of the room, watching me. “And then there was one.”

She’d had a chance to kill me from behind and hadn’t taken it. Why?

I cast a glance at the group huddled in the corner. David was still squatting in front of Allison, while Tsagasi stood in front of him, bathed in a soft yellow glow. The perpetual scowl on his face was deeper and made him look fierce.

“You’ve been lucky, Curse Keeper,” the elderly woman cooed. “My brothers and sister were careless, but I am not.”

“You just keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.”

She advanced as I took a step into the middle of the room. “You’re not supposed to have the power to kill us. You need the other Keeper.”

“Surprise,” I singsonged.

“It matters not. You will soon be in Popogusso. After you fulfill your role.”

Rather than answering, I just watched as the demon inched toward me. I moved closer and closer to the front door. If I could lure it outside, hopefully David would think to pour salt across the threshold.

“Where is your sharp-barbed tongue now, Curse Keeper?” she asked.

I ignored her, digging deep inside, trying to find the well of power that had faded along with my physical strength. I was desperately out of shape and it was now biting me in the ass. I could tell this Raven Mocker was smarter than the others, more patient. She’d wait all night for me to make a mistake. There would be no defeating her in a defensive maneuver. I’d have to take the offensive.

Power surged through me again, swelling and filling me, but I held back, waiting for her to show weakness.

“Ellie, what’s going on?” David shouted, but I ignored him.

I heard Tsagasi’s low voice in the back of the room, and I hoped he was filling David in on what was happening.

“I’m going to kill your pet.” The Raven Mocker gave me a wicked grin.

David?
Panic raced through me, but I forced myself to remain calm even though the Raven Mocker stood between us. She could have meant Tsagasi for all I knew. I couldn’t let anything happen to either one of them.

She spun around and kicked Tsagasi with the side of her foot, throwing him across the room. His body hit the wall and slid down it with a sickening thud.

I was too terrified for David’s safety to even stop to check on my little protector. David couldn’t even see the Raven Mocker, so he had zero chance of defending himself.

“David, she’s right in front of you! Jump to your side!”

The Raven Mocker leaped for him, her claws extended.

He dove to his left, but she kicked him, sending him flying into the wall beside Tsagasi. He landed three feet from Allison, clutching his stomach with a groan.

A metallic taste coated my tongue as fear sent my heart rate skyrocketing. I couldn’t give in to my panic. “You want to fight defenseless humans who can’t even see you? Come fight me.”

Laughing, the Raven Mocker rushed me with her hand raised. She was faster than the others, and I had no hope of killing her yet. I knew I would be lucky just to defend myself. Her arm slashed toward my chest as she cackled, sounding every bit as crazy as she looked. I swung the sword as hard as I could, the blade connecting with her biceps and slicing diagonally through muscle until bone stopped my swing. The thick black blood splattered on my shirt and droplets landed on my face. I resisted the urge to wipe it off as nausea roiled in my stomach.

She pulled herself free and lunged at me time and time again, ignoring the blood that poured from her arm. It was easy to see her goal—wear me down as I kept swinging the sword to defend myself. My arms ached from the unaccustomed activity, and my swings and thrusts became sloppy and wild.

“You are full of surprises tonight,” she said, looking thoughtful. “You are stronger than we thought. You are almost ready.” Suddenly she twisted to the side and kicked my stomach and shoved me backward, using enough force that I landed on the sofa. Then she spun around until she was standing directly between David and Allison.

“I’ve seen enough.” An evil smile spread across her face, her sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “But
someone
must die.”

Then she turned toward David and thrust her hand at his chest.

“
David!
”
I screamed.

But at the last moment, her body pivoted and her hand plunged into Allison’s chest instead.

Allison’s eyes widened in surprise before she screamed in pain and terror.

The Raven Mocker’s arm rotated as her mouth twisted into a wicked smile, her hand still buried deep inside the other woman’s body.

Allison gave one last scream and then fell limp as the Raven Mocker pulled her heart from her chest. The creature spun around and held the organ in front of her, smiling.

“It’s a pity. If you had not seen me this night I would have gotten many years from this one.”

Then her mouth opened wider than I would have thought possible as she lifted Allison’s heart above her head, then brought it to her mouth, taking a huge bite. Blood squirted all over her face and body. She grinned as I gasped in shock and disgust, stumbling backward as she took another bite.

Fury rose inside me as I leaped for her, thrusting toward her chest with the sword, but she just laughed and turned into a flame that shot into the air and out the window.

And the Raven Mockers above the house released their haunting screams of triumph.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

“What happened, Ellie?” David shouted, crawling over to Allison and feeling for her pulse.

“It took her heart.” Black dots danced in front of my eyes and I felt like I was going to pass out, but there wasn’t time for that. “Tsagasi!” I ran over to the little figure that was still slumped against the wall.

His eyes were closed, but he cracked them open when I leaned over him.

I dropped to my knees beside him. “Are you okay?”

He climbed to his feet, tilting his head back and forth, the bones popping. “Fucking Raven Mockers. Nasty sons of bitches.”

I closed my eyes, trying to keep control. I was about to lose it. “I failed.”

“No,” Tsagasi said in a hard voice. “You never accessed your power as a witness to creation until tonight, and yet you still killed three of them.”

“They killed Allison.” My voice broke as I crawled across the floor toward David.

Allison’s head lay in his lap, and he looked up at me with tears on his face. “She’s dead, Ellie. She’s really dead.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I started to cry. “I tried to save her. I promise.” I had failed both of them. I might have tapped into my power as the witness of creation, but what good was it if I couldn’t even save people?

I relived those last moments in my head, remembering how terrified I had been when I was sure the Raven Mocker was going to kill David. “It almost killed you.” I threw my arms around his neck, clinging to him. “She almost killed you.”

“What are you talking about?” His voice was emotionless.

“The Raven Mocker was reaching for your chest, but then she swerved at the last second and took Allison’s heart instead.” My last words choked on a sob.

“
How could they kill her?
” His voice rose. “It doesn’t make any sense! Raven Mockers only take a victim’s heart after they’re dead.”

“I know what I saw, David. Allison was alive when she pulled out her heart.” I looked around the trashed room, battling my rising hysteria. “What are we going to do?”

“We have to call the police.”

I couldn’t believe the police hadn’t shown up already. I’d heard Allison’s screams from the front yard when I pulled into the driveway. “How are we going to explain this?”

He shook his head, his jaw set in determination, but he looked dazed and in shock. “I don’t know, but we can’t just run off, Ellie.”

I knew he was right, and if we were in Manteo, I would have felt better about the whole thing, especially since Tom knew there was something supernatural going on there. But the police here didn’t know anything about me, and David’s reputation could be on the line. I climbed to my feet and tugged his arm. “You have to go.”

He looked up at me, his eyes wide with bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re her ex-boyfriend. You’ll be a suspect.” I continued to pull his arm, but he resisted.

“Are you crazy?” he asked in dismay. “I can’t just leave. And I won’t be a suspect, Ellie. She just died. There’s no sign of trauma, no blood.”

“What do you mean ‘no blood’? Her body is covered in claw marks! There’s a giant hole in her chest!”

“There’s nothing there, Ellie!”

“The wounds are magical.” When I looked down, Tsagasi was standing next to me, staring at Allison’s body. “Only those who belong in the spirit world can see them.”

“So you can?” I asked.

“Yes.”

David sucked in a deep breath and released it. His eyes looked vacant. “There’s no reason to worry. There’s no sign of foul play. Just like with the other victims in Manteo.” His voice broke. “I’ll call the police.”

“You and the police might not see the blood, but there’s no hiding the fact that her heart is missing. And this room is trashed, David. You have to leave.”

Tsagasi turned to David. “The Curse Keeper is right. You must go.”

He shook his head. “How am I supposed to
leave
? I can’t do that.”

“She’s already gone,” Tsagasi said. “There’s nothing more you can do for her.”

I pulled on his arm again, crying. “David. Please.”

“What about you, Ellie?” David asked, pulling out of my grasp. “Do you really think I’m just going to leave you here?”

“You both will leave,” Tsagasi said.

“There are too many things tying us to what happened,” I said. “David needs to go home, and I’ll clean everything up.”

Tsagasi crossed his arms with a scowl, his feet shoulder-width apart. “I may have been locked in Popogusso for hundreds of years, but I’m capable of cleaning this up.”

I wavered. I didn’t want to send David home alone, but I wasn’t sure I could trust Tsagasi either.

The small man stepped closer to me, lowering his voice. “You cannot leave him alone. The Raven Mockers might return for him. He is a target now.”

The image of the Raven Mocker reaching for David’s chest filled my head. He was right. “David, let’s go.”

His body stiffened in anger. “You’re just going to trust him? What if he’s evil, Ellie? What if he’s setting you up?”

“He helped me, David. He helped me kill the Raven Mockers. He was the one who told me they would be here. He was the one who told me which sword to use.”

“But it wasn’t enough, was it?” he asked bitterly. “He didn’t save Allison.”

I was the one who had failed to save her, but I wasn’t sure bringing that up would be a good idea. Still, the guilt was overwhelming and my shoulders sank under the weight of it.

“You can’t save them all,” Tsagasi said, looking up into my eyes. “This battle has only just begun. There will be many deaths on both sides. But each time you must move forward, not back.”

David cradled his ex-girlfriend’s head in his lap, his body shaking as he fought tears. His grief was my undoing, and not because I felt jealous or threatened. I knew he still cared for her. He just hadn’t loved her enough to commit his life to her. I couldn’t expect him to get up and brush off his hands and pretend this meant nothing.

I couldn’t help but wonder how I would have reacted if David had died and not Allison. Or Collin. I wouldn’t have been able to leave without looking back. I couldn’t expect any different from him.

I gently removed David’s hands from Allison and guided her head to the floor, trying not to look at her poor body. I couldn’t believe he couldn’t see the torture she had been through. The poor victims in Manteo must have suffered for hours. Why hadn’t I seen their wounds in the photos? “I need my phone,” I muttered, digging for it in my pocket.

“Who are you calling?” David asked.

I hadn’t considered calling anyone other than the police. But then a thought popped into my head, an unshakeable one. I needed to tell Collin. Just not yet.

“No one,” I said. “I need to take a picture.”

“You’re going to take her picture?” he asked incredulously, his eyes widening. “You want a
memento
?”

I opened up my camera app. “David, just trust me on this one.”

Thankfully, he didn’t try to stop me. Instead, he climbed to his feet and walked over to the sofa and sat down, cradling his head between his hands.

I centered the screen over her face and upper body. I could see the wounds on my screen, but when I snapped the photo, she looked like she was sleeping, which explained why I hadn’t seen any disfigurements in the photos Tom had shown me.

“Curse Keeper, you must leave,” Tsagasi said, his voice firm. “The longer you stay, the more danger you are in.”

“You mean of getting caught by the police?”

“The human police are by far your lowest concern.” He turned his focus to David. “The Raven Mocker was on a mission. It was obvious she didn’t intend to kill you, but she took pleasure in taunting you. She could come back to finish the job.” He tilted his head toward David.

I knew he was right, but it felt so wrong to leave her like this. Allison hadn’t liked me, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn that she’d done everything in her power to win David back tonight, but that didn’t mean she’d deserved to die. “Tsagasi, thank you.”

He nodded, looking solemn and serious. His ever-present scowl still puckered his face, but it had softened. For the first time I noticed a wound on the side of his head, black blood trickling down his cheek. He’d risked his life to help us. Why? But trying to reason it out was like pulling on a loose thread—everything just kept unraveling. My poor brain couldn’t handle another puzzle at the moment.

I grabbed David’s arm and pulled him toward the front door, stopping to peer outside to see if anyone was around. When it looked clear, I dragged him to the car and opened the passenger door, pushing him inside.

“We can’t just leave her like that, Ellie,” he said as I got in and started the car. But his voice sounded like it was drained of fight.

“Tsagasi will take care of her.”

He turned to me, the pain raw in his eyes. “Can you really trust him?”

“He has given me every reason to trust him in the little time that I’ve known him.”

“And how long has that been?” There was accusation in his voice. “Have you known about him for weeks without telling me?”

“No,” I said, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice. I deserved his questions. “I found him in your backyard after I left you with Allison.”

“Can you blame me for asking? You went to see Collin yesterday without telling me. And you avoided giving me any details about seeing Okeus so you could keep it secret. What happened when you were with Collin in the ocean, Ellie? When you were
touching marks
?” His voice was ugly. He knew what had happened, what I was refusing to say. “What other things don’t you want to tell me?”

“David, please. Let’s not do this right now.”

“Why not? Now seems like the
perfect
time, with my dead ex-girlfriend being ‘taken care of’ by your new friend.”

“No, you’re hurting.” I swallowed my tears. I deserved all of his accusations and more. And it would be easy for him to push me away in his anger, but I couldn’t let him do that. He needed me whether he wanted me or not. I had to be calm and strong for him, just like he usually was for me. “But you have every right to ask me if I kept him from you. I’ll admit that I’ve kept things from you while trying to protect you.”

“Even though you promised not to do that.” Bitterness laced his words. “You promised no secrets, Ellie. You
lied
to me.”

“Yes, I’ll admit that I’ve tried to protect you.
I love you, David.
I’ve put you through enough hell . . . I thought that I was doing you a favor if I could save you from some of it. But I was wrong, and I’m sorry for that.”

He shook his head and stared out the window, his shoulders trembling. “She didn’t deserve to die.”

“No, she didn’t. I’m so sorry.”

“
We
did this to her.” His voice was drenched in self-disgust. “We killed her.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer, mostly because I couldn’t deny his claim. There was a good chance that we were the cause of her death, one way or another.

“I keep seeing her thrashing on the ground, screaming and begging for me to help her.” His voice broke and he choked back a sob. “There wasn’t a bloody thing I could do about it. I brought those fuckers to her door and I couldn’t save her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What the hell am I doing with you, Ellie?”

I gasped, the pain of his words sinking deep into my heart. My throat burned and I couldn’t hold back my tears.

“I couldn’t help Allison. I can’t help you. What bloody good am I?”

“That’s not true, David! You help me more than you know. I need you.” I reached for his hand, but he shoved me away.

“No. You need Collin.” His words were hateful. “You went to Collin yesterday because you need
him
, Ellie. You spiritually and emotionally and
physically
need him. You don’t need me.”

I pulled into his driveway and turned off the car, sobbing.

“Every time you’re with him, you have to fight some primal need buried deep inside you. Why are you fighting it? Your soul is bound to him, Ellie. You should be with Collin. Not me.”