Cursed-epub (15 page)

Carmella let out a low moan. Spinning to face Dianta, Carmella called her and her mother every bad thing she could think of in Portuguese at the top of her lungs. Dianta launched herself from the chair, her fake nails curled like claws, but Branco placed a hand on her arm, and she sat back down, fuming.

The room felt wrong, cold, as if Carmella were standing in a freezer. Her breath didn't fog the air, so she assumed it must be something she felt with her soul. “Sean, why is it so cold in here?” Carmella whispered as Branco and Sean studied each other.

Tilting his head in her direction, Sean said, “The souls of the men they killed here are trapped in this room. Branco is using them for power. Until they are released, they are in a state of eternal torment. You're feeling their pain.”

Carmella suppressed a shudder and tightened her hand on the knife.

“So, you're the Chosen of Maponus,” Branco drawled out. “I expected someone more … scary.”

“And you're the Chosen of Guaricana. I expected someone less cheesy,” Sean said with a merry smile.

Branco's teeth came together with an audible snap. “How dare you insult me! My god will flay the flesh from your pasty back. He will—”

“Yeah, yeah, big and scary, I get it.” Sean crossed his arms. “Tell me, why isn't your god here right now, Branco? Surely he feels your distress. Why isn't he helping you?” Sean asked as he leaned on his sword.

Branco stiffened. “He's always with me.” A snide and cruel smile came over his face. “He usually likes men, but your little woman Monica inspired him with her screams.”

Sean's shoulders tightened even as he kept his tone casual. “Really? Where is Monica?”

“Oh, I'm afraid we played too rough with her.” Dianta smirked at Carmella. She leaned over and ran a finger down Tian's unresponsive body, licking his blood from her fake nail. “Her corpse is somewhere on the floor around here.” She made a negligent wave with her hand toward the pile of bodies in the corner. Sorrow filled Carmella at the sight of Monica’s slender form covered in blood, tossed aside like a broken doll.

Kell screamed and fired at them, but his bullets hit some kind of invisible shield and melted into red-hot puddles of metal on the floor. The pitch of the music increased, and Carmella huddled to the floor as her nose began to bleed. Sean and Kell struggled to remain upright as blood dripped from their noses.

Dianta laughed and clapped her hands while Branco just smiled. Carmella watched in horrified fascination, unable to move as her blood began to pool beneath her face.

Sean groaned. “Kell, shoot the speakers.”

Sweat broke out on the other man’s face, his breathing labored as he fought to speak. “Fuck…can’t move. So strong.”

“Pray,” Sean managed to choke out past the blood now pouring down his face.

Kell's arm wavered then firmed, and he shot at two black speakers in the corners of the room. The chanting stopped, and Carmella slid in her own blood as she tried to stand. Her hand trembled as she wiped her blood off her lip and chin with the edge of her shirt.

Carmella felt as though she was having a waking dream. The bodies hanging on the walls no longer seemed real as she glared Dianta. A whisper of power, warm as the desert winds, moved through her mind. She knew how to get through the shield, and her heart demanded retribution for the pain Dianta had caused. Placing a hand on Sean's arm, she leaned and whispered into his ear, “I can get the shield down. Can you handle Branco while I deal with Dianta?”

Sean studied her intently, his slate-blue eyes searching hers. He nodded and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Beside them Kell spat blood onto the floor and tried to wipe it out of his beard.

“Oh, please,” Dianta complained. “Is that why the succubus was kicked out? Did you go after Sean like a bitch in heat?” She gave Carmella a leer and made an obscene tongue gesture that reminded Carmella of a thirsty lizard.

Bes moved Carmella’s body, overtaking her control and leaving her as an observer of her body’s actions. Unlike the possession of the succubus, Carmella was fully aware of what was going on. She trusted Bes completely and relinquished total control. Not taking her eyes off Dianta, Carmella walked to the edge of the shield. She could feel its energy humming off her skin, cold and full of hurt. She knelt down to the floor and watched her hand wet itself with the blood there.

Sean and Kell stood behind her as she held her hand up and began to trace hieroglyphs onto the invisible barrier, bloody symbols appearing to float in the air.

Dianta surged out of her chair and stood behind Branco's mock throne. “What is she doing!” she screeched.

Branco stood and held his cane in one scarred hand. “Somehow, that bitch is going to break the shield.”

Carmella continued to draw symbols as Sean hummed behind her, adding strength to her spell with his own magic. Rage was moving through her body, the pure, clean anger of the righteous. Dianta must pay, not only for giving Carmella to the succubus but also for the deaths of all of these people just to further her own ego-driven plans. As she finished, her eyes locked onto Dianta, and she mouthed, “You're mine.”

Dianta squeaked and teetered back on her ridiculous platform heels. Smearing her hands with Tian's blood, Dianta brought them together and began to chant. Branco didn't even look at Carmella, instead walking off the dais and keeping his gaze locked on Sean. Obviously, he didn't think she was a threat. Stupid man.

The control of her body returned in a rush, but she still sensed Bes’s divine power moving through her. Words whispered into her mind, images of what she must do if she wanted to save Tian. Gathering her resolve, she said in a trembling voice, “Once the shield goes down, Kell, you need to free Tian and get him out of here. Sean, keep Branco off me long enough to do what I need to do.”

“But you aren’t…” Kell protested, his voice dying off as he looked into Carmella's gaze and his eyes grew wide with wonder. Whatever he saw there seemed to reassure him and he actually smiled. His shoulders snapped back, and he said in a calm voice, “Okay.”

The shield let out a hum that made her teeth vibrate, and Carmella's head whipped back as her body absorbed the shock of the shield falling. The hieroglyphs melted off the air and back into the puddle of blood on the floor.

Branco jerked a long rapier out of his cane and held it in front of his body. “You'll never walk out of here, Sean. I'll use your skull as a toilet,” he snarled as he sliced through the air fast enough to make the blade sing.

“You know what one of the worst parts of being Chosen is?” Sean quipped with a smirk as he held his sword before him. “I have to listen to all these melodramatic speeches about how my death is coming blah blah blah. Yet here I still stand.”

Branco rushed him, and Sean swung his sword to meet his attack. Steel clashing rang off the walls, and Sean grunted with surprise beneath Branco's powerful onslaught.

“Did you really think I would fight fair? I have the power of all that torture, all those deaths flowing through my body.” Branco laughed in Sean's face as they tested each other.

“Yeah, well, you don't have the power of breath mints, buddy,” Sean said in a low growling voice. He shifted his weight and ducked behind Branco.

Carmella turned her attention, ignoring everything now but the woman in front of her. Dianta was busy chanting a spell as Carmella approached. The words made her skin crawl. Dianta glared and smiled vindictively, her bright pink lipstick smeared across her teeth. With a scream, Dianta flung something at Carmella, and she easily dodged it. Time slowed down, and her body sped up, allowing her to see the green ball of energy well before it reached her. The energy hit the floor behind her and began to bubble and hiss in the decayed blood.

“Dianta Havel Mendez, daughter of Shyla Estrella Mendez, I come for you,” Carmella said in a low voice that carried across the room louder than a scream.

The clash of blades of the two men fighting stopped, and Kell looked over from releasing Tian's hand. Whatever Kell saw convinced him to move quicker. He grew pale, and his hands trembled as he undid the bindings.

Dianta yelled out, “You and what army, bitch? You're nothing. No one. And you can't hurt me. I’m a favorite of Guaricana.” She backed away and held her hands up, but there was no energy left in her to hurl.

Shaking her head, Carmella stopped at the foot of the dais and stared at Dianta with a small, malicious smile. “I am the answer to a thousand whispered prayers. I am the righteous vengeance, and I am the hand of my god.”

Dianta shrank back against the wall as Carmella closed on her. She stopped an arm’s distance away, watching with disinterest as one of Dianta's false eyelashes came unglued and hung from her lid like a dead moth.

“Death is too quick for you. We want you to suffer,” Carmella crooned as she stroked the hand holding the knife down Dianta's cheek. “What is inside will come out, and you will live an eternity of suffer with everyone able to see the filth that is your soul. You will pray for death a million times over but it will be denied to you until you’ve suffered ten times as much as your victims.”

Dianta screamed in agony and tried to hit Carmella, who knocked her hand aside with a bone-breaking crunch. Dianta crumpled to the floor in a pile of fishnet and chains, sobbing and holding her shattered hand.

Carmella turned her back on Dianta and watched Kell hustle Tian out the door as gently as he could. The floor made a disgusting sucking sound as her shoes lifted across it, sticking to the tacky blood. From behind her came a long and hoarse scream as the curse began to give Dianta what she deserved. Carmella smiled and kept walking.

“Sean, we have to go,” Carmella urged in a quiet voice, the ringing of swords blending in perfectly with its tone. She placed her hands over her ears, but kept her eyes open.

Sean lips moved as he sang, and even though Carmella couldn't hear it, she felt it in the pit of her stomach. The sensation was akin to sitting at the top of a roller coaster just about to make its decent.

Branco clutched his head and dropped to his knees while he shrieked in agony.

Sean sang, and Branco's hands trembled. His eyes rolled back to show only their whites, and his tongue swelled fat and purple, protruding past his lips. He slumped over, clawing at his throat, as dead as the men chained to the walls.

Carmella took a deep breath and smiled. With Bes using her, it was impossible to be upset. This was nothing compared to what the god had seen in his existence, and if he wasn't bothered, neither was Carmella.

“I will see you outside, my harmony.” Sean placed a kiss on her cheek and hurried out the door.

Looking around the room, Carmella felt only pity and sadness. The souls of the men were still trapped here, being used as fuel for Guaricana's worshipers. She couldn't bring them back to life, but she could bring them peace.

Holy fire,
Bes's voice whispered in her mind. It rang with the roar of a lion, the clashing of swords, and the gentle voice of a father.

Carmella looked around for Dianta, but she was gone. A trapdoor behind the dais stood open, leading into a dark tunnel. She must have escaped while Sean killed Branco. Carmella felt a moment of fear, but it was quickly swept away by the divine.

Unfamiliar words began to fall from her lips, heavy as stones and filled with power. The bodies of the dead men chained to the walls shivered as blue flames spread from their centers and licked up the walls. In her mind, her soul, she felt their grateful sighs as the spirits left their prison.

The fire didn't touch her, but it followed like a loyal dog as she made her way up the stairs and out of the bar. Her every step brought cleansing destruction.

Sean waited for her in the golden afternoon sunlight. He grabbed her into his arms as soon as she appeared. They both moved away from the doorway as it filled with smoke and blue flames. Running down the alley, they jumped into the waiting SUV. Kell drove them through the heavy traffic while Carmella sat on Sean's lap. Tian, laid out across the backseat, didn't make a sound.

Kell drove them into a park and stopped the SUV in an empty corner of the lot. Carmella yanked the door open and rushed to the backdoor. The wet ruin of Tian's back glistened in the sunlight with his small, short breaths. Carmella cried out and stroked his hair that was stiff with dried blood.

Sean took her hand away and replaced it with his own. “My god has some pretty neat tricks, too.” She stepped back and let Kell hug her while they watched.

With the afternoon sunlight burning on their backs, Sean began to sing a gentle song. It was as soft as water running over stone, as soothing as a lullaby. Tian's back shimmered, and before Carmella's astonished eyes, it began to heal itself. Muscle knit over bone. Skin grew over exposed nerves.

Tian gave a mighty gasp and slumped back down onto the seat in a natural sleep. Kell closed the doors and hopped into the front seat with his cell phone glued to his ear.

Sean took Carmella into his arms and held her against the side of the SUV, smelling her hair. She held him close and rubbed her face against his shirt. The musky scent of his sweat mixed with the traces of his cologne. Her world had been turned upside down, but this perfect moment in Sean's arms brought her peace like she had never known.

His voice rumbled against her ear. “I promised to tell you what my harmony meant, didn't I?”

“Yes, you did.” Carmella smiled, pulling back to look at Sean. He fitted so well in her arms.

“It means,” he gave her a thorough kiss that filled her senses with joy, “that your soul is the perfect harmony for the melody of mine. We are meant to be together, our lives the perfect song.” Too overcome by emotions for words, Carmella buried her hands in Sean's thick hair and pulled him in for a kiss that left them both pressed against each other, wanting more. With a reluctant sigh, Sean said, “We need to get going. I healed Tian, but he needs somewhere safe to sleep. Surrounded by love.”

Carmella nodded and let out a deep breath. Bes's grace slipped away, but Sean's love filled the empty place it left behind perfectly.