Cursed (Demon Kissed #2) (22 page)

It was as if he knew the power he held
over me was fading. His voice sounded more demanding this time,
“Kiss me, Ivy.” He knotted his hands in my hair, but I didn’t move.
Where was the bond? The bond never went away. It would be there
until one of us died. If this were Collin, I’d feel him. The bond
would be telling me things.

Reaching out, I tried to
brush his mind,
Collin. Say something to
me. Speak to me the way that only you can.

I waited but there was no reply. No
bond. The boy laying on top of me wasn’t Collin. He couldn’t be.
The fog that clouded my brain lifted. Suddenly I could think again.
I could feel things besides lust. Anger surged through me. An
imposter—the Lorren—had nearly trapped me here. I would have been a
golden flower, trapped in this Godforsaken place forever! My jaw
locked as rage spilled through my veins, flooding every part of
me.

I spit in his face, “Get off of me. I
know who you are.” White-hot heat pooled in my fingertips. Collin
sat up looking horrified.

“
I can’t let you leave. I
have to hold you here…don’t!” But I did. Whatever made my eyes rim
and my hair turn to violet flames didn’t agree with the Lorren. The
false Collin fizzled like water on a hot skillet, and I was
alone.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

I felt totally drained after my
encounter with the Lorren. It played me perfectly. If I’d been
weaker, if my mind accepted the fake Collin easier, I’d be another
decoration in the golden tomb. It made me question everything I
saw. Things shouldn’t be taken for granted down here. It was too
dangerous. Maybe that wasn’t even the exit. It was possible that
the rust-colored light at the end of the tunnel wasn’t even real,
or if it was, it just a manifestation that the Lorren concocted to
screw with me. Or maybe this screwed up maze was a circle, and was
going to dump me out back at the beginning. I decided not to think
about it. I’d have to deal with things as they came. At least I
didn’t have to worry about the Lorren attacking me again for a
while. I had the feeling that it left, not that it was gone. It was
unclear to me what had caused it to retreat. Rimming violet eyes
and flaming hair never did anything before. I should have asked
Eric if the Valefar made the Lorren, or if the Martis stuck it
here. Then I’d have a better idea of how to kill it.

Brushing myself off, I stood and
straightened my shirt, assessing myself. It seemed like I was okay.
I just felt like an emotional train wreck. Things couldn’t possibly
get worse from this point. The Lorren almost cast me in gold, Eric
and Shannon were lost or killed and turned into golden lilies, and
I was alone again. Of course it would show me Collin. I knew it
walking in, but it still messed with me horribly. Seeing him in
front of me, even his likeness, was crushing. He was close. And I
was getting closer. I just had to get out of this hole of gold and
sapphires and find him. My hand glided over my waistband where the
Guardian’s tooth was concealed. The shard had torn a small hole in
my black shirt. The deadly silver tip poked through the fabric. It
needed to be covered. For all I knew, it could kill me. I already
knew the tooth would kill Valefar and Martis. Since I was a
combination of the two, this tooth was likely one of the only
things that could kill me completely. I’d accidentally overheard
Eric’s discussion with Julia back when he was the Seeker, and it
reminded me of what they’d said about me. For some reason my
combined powers made me extra hard to kill. They had devised a way
to permanently get rid of me. And I was standing in it. That seemed
like an awfully big coincidence. If I hadn’t been following the
bond, I wouldn’t have believed that was all it was.

Now, to cover the tip of the tooth. If
I got sliced with Celestial Silver or Brimstone, I’d heal. But the
sapphire serum inside was another story. The best thing to do was
to cover it somehow. But, how? It’s not like there was the
Underworld Gift Shoppee where I could buy a holster. Glancing
around, I looked down and watched the sapphires glittering under my
feet. “No, it couldn’t be that simple,” I said to myself. Bending
down, I used the tooth to pop up one of the smaller dark blue
stones. I held the rock in the palm of my hand and rolled it
around. Then, I pressed the shard’s poisoned tip into the rock. It
melted into the stone like it was putty. The sapphire was like a
sparkly pen cap. I removed the blue stone from the tooth and looked
at the silver tooth.

Did the poisoned tip touch the Lorren?
Is that why I regained my powers? Did the sapphire serum in the
tooth lessen the Lorren’s mental hold on me? Something changed,
allowing me to free myself, but I wasn’t sure what. Intoxication
doesn’t even begin to describe what the Lorren did to me. Losing
control over my body like that scared me. Lust had never burned
inside me that way before. Whenever it popped up, I tried to squash
it back down. The thought of being totally out of control with some
guy didn’t sound appealing, but back there—when I thought he was
Collin—it sounded perfect.

“
Stop thinking about it,”
I scolded myself. I slid the gemstone cover back onto the point of
the Guardian’s tooth, and put it away. The little stone pressed
into me, but it wasn’t so uncomfortable that I’d move the weapon.
It needed to remain hidden. It might be the only thing I had that
could kill Kreturus.

I started walking towards the light
that was shining at the end of the tunnel. I couldn’t see anything
to confirm that it was the end of the tunnel, but I had to go look.
If it was the beginning again, I don’t know what I’d do. That was
the worst thing I could imagine. I couldn’t go through this again.
At least having Eric and Shannon there for a while before helped.
Now, I was on my own.

The golden flowers thinned as I
walked. I promised myself right then and there that I wouldn’t
freak out no matter what was at the end of this tunnel. Falling
apart wasn’t an option. The pep talk I gave myself did absolutely
nothing for what lay in wait at the end of the Lorren.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

My feet pounded the golden floor as I
ran toward him screaming his name. Eric’s body was steaming with
white vapors that drifted upward from open sores all over his body.
He lay on his back, unmoving, less than three feet from the end of
the Lorren. The exit was right in front of him. It was right in
front of me.

“
NO!” I screamed, as I
crashed to the ground next to him. “Eric!” My arms wrapped around
his body, and I pulled his head into my lap. Frantic fingers
touched his face trying to assess the damage. There was so much.
Sobs lodged in my throat. I couldn’t breathe.

His golden eyes looked up at me.
Recognition was slow. “Ivy,” he breathed. “Don’t touch me. Deadly.”
His back arched in pain as an ear piercing cry erupted from his
throat. I didn’t let go. I didn’t back away completely horrified,
although I was. His skin was melting, being eaten away by something
I couldn’t see. The worst parts were on his arms and chest.
Sections of flesh were eaten away past the muscle, and down to the
whites of his bone.

I held his face, trying to call him
back to me. “Eric. Eric. Listen to me. What happened? Tell me what
did this?” His flesh was burning away like a smoldering flame
devouring a dried out leaf. The smell of burnt flesh filled the
air.

Eric kept trying to speak, ignoring my
question, “Don’t. Put me down. It’ll kill you.”

Frantically, I asked, “What? What’ll
kill me? What did this?”

His face contorted with pain. His
voice was changing, and becoming more garbled. The acid that was
eating his flesh was inside his throat, destroying his voice.
Killing him from within. “Brimstone. Dust. She…” he trailed
off.

Brimstone?

Horror washed over my face. Brimstone
was the only thing that could kill Martis. Eric’s body was covered
in it. But, the dust was so fine I couldn’t even see it. Oh my God!
He’d breathed it in, too! It was destroying him in every possible
way at the same time. Tears welled up in my eyes. I knew the
Brimstone wouldn’t affect me. My demon blood protected me from it.
Apryl’s necklace had a Brimstone disc that constantly touched my
skin. I was immune. Eric was not.

I hushed him, “It’s all right. It
won’t hurt me. I’ll stay with you. I won’t leave you here like
this.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t help it. Eric was my
anchor. I didn’t understand him very well, but he’d helped me more
than words could say. And, now I was holding him in my lap while he
died, helpless to do anything about it.

This was a slow death. The Brimstone
spread over his body, sending out runners like mold and then
growing into the flesh and dissolving it. When the Brimstone
finished devouring the flesh, it ate down to the bone. His eyes
closed after a while and he lay shuddering in pain in my lap. He
kept trying to say something, but I couldn’t understand him. The
Brimstone dust had devoured his vocal cords.

His face was one of the only places
the deadly dust had yet to spread. Eric’s eyes pleaded with me,
remaining locked on my face. His breaths were slight, but his
golden eyes didn’t waver. I spoke softly to him, “I’d do anything
to stop this. Eric, I don’t know what to do.”

Well, that wasn’t true. One thing
crossed my mind. It was the only thing that would save him, but the
cost was too high. I could give him a demon kiss and turn him
Valefar. But, Eric would rather die. But looking into his eyes, I
wasn’t so certain any more. His body had gone still. Too many
muscles were torn, dissolved away from bone for him to move. The
pain was etched across his face as the microscopic spears of
Brimstone dust shot blackened lines up his neck.

His eyes remained locked on my face,
pleading. But pleading for what? What if he only wanted to tell me
something? What if he wanted to die, but I turned him into a
Valefar? It might not even work. I’d never given anyone a demon
kiss. I didn’t know if I could even make someone into a Valefar. My
blood was tainted with angel blood. It might not work. Then what?
What would he be then? Oh my God! There wasn’t enough time, and his
eyes! The pain, the remorse, the pleading! Maybe he wanted me
to.

I asked, “You want me to, don’t you?
Eric, I can’t do it. I’m not a full Valefar. It may not even work.”
I knew he was running out of time. He blinked slowly at me. His eye
lids were so heavy that he couldn’t keep them open. He was slipping
away. His life was about to end in failure. The things he’d told me
about the night Lydia died and how he failed her rushed to the
front of my mind. He was leaving behind a legacy of failure, his
own kind thought he was a traitor, and he died in Hell following
the girl that he was trying to help. Me! No, this can’t happen. He
couldn’t die. This was my fault! He wouldn’t have been labeled a
traitor if it weren’t for me. I didn’t know what to do. Eric
blinked one final time, and did not reopen his eyes. The shallow
pants that filled his chest ceased and his body lay utterly
still.

“
Awh, shit. Eric!” Panic
shot through my trembling arms. There was no other choice. Let him
die, or kiss him. Decide! I pressed my eyes closed and leaned in,
hoping this was what he wanted. My lips connected with Eric’s.
There was no time to be gentle. I’d waited too long. I should have
asked him while he could speak. But, that look on his face was
telling me he didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to leave yet.
There was a way to keep him alive, but he’d hate me for
it.

Especially if I misunderstood the plea
on his face.

I kissed him fiercely, pressing his
lips to mine. When my tongue darted between his lips I could taste
the sulfuric residue from the Brimstone in his mouth. I didn’t
stop. Something inside me awakened. Something dark and powerful. I
wanted him. It burned inside of me like nothing I’d ever known. I
deepened the kiss until I felt it, something warm and light—his
soul. I didn’t need souls to maintain my strength the way Valefar
did. I didn’t need to devour humans to stay alive. I didn’t need to
trap and kill Martis to survive, but here I was destroying the
little life that remained in Eric.

His soul slid free and floated into my
mouth. I nearly choked on how smooth and sweet it tasted. All of
Eric’s essence, his entire spirit was gone. I held a limp body in
my arms. Dropping him quickly, I sliced the flesh across his Martis
mark with my comb, and then ripped open my thumb. Blood flowed from
my wound. I squeezed my thumb, getting as much blood as I could to
fill the scar I’d placed on Eric’s forehead. The marred skin
greedily absorbed the scarlet liquid, wanting more than I’d given.
I cut my palm wide open, and held it to his face. His wound soaked
it in quickly. When I took my palm away, Eric lay still, neither
moving or breathing. I spoke nonsense to him softly, telling him
everything would be all right. Maybe it was more to myself. This
had to work. It had to. I could do other Valefar things. I half
hoped he would sit up and smile at me. But if he did, he’d want to
kill me. To save his life, I’d made him the very thing he
despised.