Cursed (Demon Kissed #2) (17 page)

I doubled over, trying to get enough
air to speak. Eric reached us and looked relieved to see me. He
grinned, “You can’t keep it no matter how much you beg. Dragons are
not pets, Ivy.” He laughed.

I sucked in air, still too tired to
speak, and punched him in the arm. “You jerk,” I laughed, still
panting. “I thought those birds were going to kill me, then I ran
straight into that dragon. How did you know it didn’t like
light?”

He shrugged, “Most creatures down here
don’t. I was too stunned to try and use it at the Pool before. Not
to mention that it’s not that discreet. It’s like waiving the
Martis flag down here. It’s possible that others will know we’re
here now. Blasting Martis powers around down here isn’t exactly
inconspicuous.” He sighed and looked at me. “I thought we might not
see you again. I screwed up at the Pool of Lost Souls. I thought I
saw…”

“
It’s all right. There was
no way to know,” I said looking away from him.

“
But you must have seen
Collin, right?” I nodded. He stepped in front of me, forcing me to
look up at him. “But, you didn’t walk into the water. I did. I
never expected to see her again. It was like being sucker-punched
in the worst way possible. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. It
was just Lydia…and me. I would have been trapped there if you
didn’t step in.” He smiled weakly at me. It was a humble smile. It
must have been weird for a warrior to be saved by me. Eric was the
one who trained me, and knew first-hand that my mad fighting skills
were non-existent. I just got lucky. A lot.

“
Don’t even go there,” I
smiled, walking past him. Humble hero; that was an oxymoron. I was
glad to see him again. And that he and Shannon were together. It
bothered me a little bit that they didn’t wait for me, but with
those demon birds flying around, a dragon, and God knew what
else—it made sense that they didn’t wait. “I’m just glad to see you
guys again. What happened? Where did you guys go? I started to
think you turned back.”

His eyebrow shot up. “No, we didn’t
turn back. Shannon dragged me away from the Pool. She left me to
recover and then ran back to get you. Then those birds came and
separated us. I couldn’t find Shannon or you. So, I kept walking.
The paths were twisting and I had no idea if I was even going the
right way.”

Shannon continued, “Same here. When I
went back for you, those stupid birds dive-bombed me. I never got
to you. I had to run. And when I ran back for Eric, he was gone.
After I ditched the evil birds, something was herding me. I
couldn’t see it, but I could hear it above me. Once in a while when
I didn’t know which way to go there was an ominous black mass on
one of the paths… so I chose the other one.”

Eric was nodding, “Me too. That dragon
was trailing us, pushing us back together.”

“
So he could eat us all at
once,” Shannon said, shivering. “Did you see the claws on that
thing?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I saw them.” A
grackle screech startled me into motion. “We need to keep moving.
Stopping makes the evil things down here think we’re a
buffet.”

Shannon walked quickly ahead. “I hate
those birds,” she said as she quickened her pace. I hung back a few
steps, walking behind her with Eric. He was quieter than usual and
had his hands shoved in his pockets.

Lines creased his forehead as he
looked at the ground. His voice was soft, “Ivy, I’m sorry…
”

I cut him off. There was no need for
apologies. I saved him. He saved me. Besides, long apologies made
me uncomfortable. “Eric, it’s fine. We’re all alive, and we found
each other again. That’s all that matters.” I smiled at
him.

His golden eyes slid to my face. They
looked plagued with pain. There was no trace of a smile, no hint of
the lightness that was usually so transparently Eric. His voice was
a whisper so Shannon couldn’t hear. “I feel like I’ve just relived
the worst day of my life. Losing her once was bad enough. Ivy, I
don’t know how you’re still standing. You’ve had more than enough
shocks today too, but you keep going.”

I looked at him puzzled, “Eric, what
choice do I have? Give up and die? That’s not really a
choice.”

“
No, it’s not,” he agreed.
And we began walking again. I didn’t turn around to watch the
silver forest shrink into the distance. I could feel the dragon’s
eyes still following me, waiting for another chance to rip me to
shreds.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Shannon walked in front, leading the
way through the winding Underworld. It appeared to stretch on
forever. We were back to trekking over rocky rust-colored terrain.
The bond was weak, but it still pulled me forward. The weakness of
it worried me. Did that mean that Collin was worse? I didn’t want
to think of what it would mean if the bond totally
disappeared.

Eric broke the thought when he finally
spoke. “I never told you about her. I figured the past was the
past, why talk about it? But seeing her again made it feel like it
just happened.” I looked over at him. He stared straight ahead as
he spoke, with his golden eyes fixated on the ground in front of
us. “I was glad I was turned Martis. It was the only way to kill
the bastards who stole her from me. I was born in the ancient world
and things were different. I spent my childhood by the sea, along a
trade route in the Mediterranean. I remember seeing the traders
that sustained my tiny town. They brought the things we needed and
traded on their way to the major ports. We were literally lodged
between two huge cities, well, huge for then.” He smiled. “I liked
my village and my life. I didn’t have much, but I loved what I
had.

“
Then odd things started
happening. No one noticed at first. We thought a girl ran off and
eloped, or a young man had hopes of being a trader and left the
village behind. But, it wasn’t true. With each passing day another
person disappeared, and it was as if they never existed at all.
They simply vanished. The attacks were becoming more widespread and
more frequent.” He smiled softly, “Lydia was a strong woman for a
sixteen-year-old. Her hair looked like black silk. And her eyes…Her
dark eyes were perfect. She rarely said anything about her fears,
but with another villager snatched in the night even the strongest
people were terrified. Myself included.

“
We didn’t know what evil
could attack and disappear without a sound. Some thought it was
evil spirits, while others thought it was raiders. Our village
didn’t have gates or walls to keep enemies out. Before then, there
was no need. We were a small town on the coast of a Mediterranean
trade route. Ships stopped to rest, traded, and were on their way.
That was how we survived. But soon, every stranger was a
suspect—every trader a possible demon. And, the attacks were not
like the ones we’d seen in the past. There might have been a fight
over land, or something that made sense. These didn’t. Those being
abducted had nothing in common—not status, appearance, or family.
The evil struck at random, when we least expected. And without a
body left behind, there was no evidence as to what happened.” He
took a deep breath to steady his voice. The horribly vacant
expression in his eyes hid a tremendous amount of pain buried
beneath his calm façade.

Eric glanced at me out of the corner
of his eye and continued, “After a while it was obvious that we
were being attacked. People moved through the streets cautiously,
and there was an unnatural silence that fell over us. We went on
with the daily routine of things, and did what had to be done. But
no one stayed out after dusk.

“
I remember sitting with
Lydia, as she rested her head on my shoulder. We looked out across
the water. The sunlight glistened on the surface like precious
stones. After everything that happened, that’s still the memory
that stands out the most. It was the last time we were together.
Our wedding was four days away, and we thought we’d have a lifetime
together. But things didn’t work out that way. I had no idea how
much I would lose before sunrise the next day.

I slid my fingers along her bare arms,
enjoying the smoothness of her skin.” He laughed, “That was risqué
then. It thrilled me to push the line just a little bit. Ivy, I
couldn’t wait to be married, and have her as my wife. To hold her
every night, and make sure she was safe. To provide for her and
start our family. Lydia was my life. Everything. And I lost her. I
lost everything in one careless act.” Eric’s feet slowed so much
that he was barely moving.

I touched his shoulder gently, “Eric,
you don’t have to talk about this.”

“
It’s not like that, Ivy.
It’s more like how did I get here? I’m walking through Hell with
you and Shannon. The Martis condemned me to die. I’m a traitor to
my own kind. Meanwhile, my entire life has passed and I have no
idea how I got here. It started that night with Lydia. It stems
back to her death. I’m here with you now, because of what happened
then.” He shrugged. “You have a right to know who I am. I screwed
up. The last woman I swore to protect died in front of me, and I
was powerless to help her. Then seeing her again…My God, Ivy, it
feels like I’m reliving the same nightmare. How can I possibly
protect you? I’m out numbered and out matched, just like I was
then.”

A confused mass of thoughts slid
through my mind. Was he comparing me to Lydia? Why would he do
that? Even with the circumstances as they were, I didn’t see what
he saw. But Eric was acting like he was ready to crack, and it
stemmed back to Lydia. I didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to know
what happened to her or what he saw. This was the side of Eric that
he kept hidden, neatly packed away beneath pressed shirts, and
creased jeans. I don’t know if it was stupidity or curiosity, but I
asked anyway, “What happened to her?”

He pressed his lips together. I was
uncertain if he was going to answer, but eventually he did. “I was
mortal and weak. Those last few nights I watched her family’s home
without sleeping. I felt like if I watched, then I could do
something if the time came. But when the time came, there was
nothing I could do. I wasn’t strong enough. In the end it didn’t
matter that I was there at all.” His eyes stayed fixed on the
ground as we walked. He shoved his hands in his pockets as his face
took on a completely vacant stare. “A man appeared that last night.
He walked into her house like he owned it, and emerged moments
later cradling a limp body in his arms. Dark hair fell over his
arms from the lifeless form, and I knew it was her—Lydia. I ran out
at him with a blade in my hand. He laughed at me, brushing off my
stab wounds like they were flea bites. I realized that he wasn’t
going to stop, and I couldn’t let him go. I attacked again, jumping
onto his back and dragging the blade across his throat. He should
have crumpled to the ground covered in blood. Her body should have
fallen from his arms. But, it didn’t. Instead, he turned and
grabbed me by the neck and dragged me with them. Lydia was still
breathing, but she didn’t look right. At first I thought she’d
passed out, but that wasn’t it.

“
The man met up with a
friend, at which point I was knocked out. When I came to, the only
sound I could hear was Lydia’s scream tearing from her throat. She
was still alive and fighting, but it was no use. There were two of
them. She tried to run, but they caught her, laughing like it was a
game. They used her body,” he swallowed hard as his face contorted
into sheer hatred, “and when they were done, they drank her soul.
That was the first time I saw a Valefar. The first time I witnessed
a demon kiss. And it was done to my…” he didn’t finish.

“
How’d you survive?” I
asked. “You weren’t Martis yet, right?”

Eric shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. I
didn’t know anything about any of this. I thought they were demons.
After they killed Lydia they came at me. They untied me, and beat
me. I lost consciousness a few times. It was like a cat playing
with a mouse. I got smacked around for their amusement, and when
they got bored they’d end it. At that point rage flooded me. I
wanted them to die. I wanted to hurt them until every last drop of
sanity left their bodies in an agonizing scream. But, I didn’t get
the chance. An old woman came across us. She acted like the two
Valefar like they were nothing, and chased them off. After that,
she took me in, healed my wounds, and my mark appeared a few days
later.” Eric’s rigid stance suddenly deflated and his shoulders
slumped. The lines of hatred that twisted his face had washed away,
as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

“
It was Al, wasn’t it?” I
asked. What other crazy old woman would it be?

He nodded. “She healed me, told me
what I’d become—a Martis. She trained me. It took every shred of
patience that I had not to chase after the Valefar who killed
Lydia, until I was certain I could destroy them. When I found them
later, Ivy…” he paused looking at me out of the corner of his eye,
“I couldn’t punish them enough for what they did to her. Tormenting
them wasn’t enough. It didn’t heal anything inside of me. Instead,
it just ripped everything open again. Al said that I’d have an
innate need to kill Valefar, but with those two, I
resisted—tormenting them, keeping them alive until they begged for
death. I learned to control my Martis urges long ago, but the
damage the Valefar did—I didn’t heal. I couldn’t get past it.
There’s never been another woman, not in all this time. And seeing
her. Here. My God. For a moment, I thought she was a Valefar. I
didn’t know how I’d…” he stopped and turned to me, just then
realizing what he was about to say. He still harbored an enormous
amount of disgust and hatred toward the Valefar, but at least now I
knew why. “Ivy, I’m so sorry. I meant that I thought I’d already
seen the worst that could have possibly happened to her. I thought
I knew the worst of what happened to her, but…”