The Curse Keepers Collection (62 page)

“How long, Collin?”

“A couple of weeks.”

A couple of weeks
. Why did it shock me? “And you came in planning to break the curse?”

His jaw worked and his shoulders stiffened. “Yes.”

He’d already told me that, of course, but I still didn’t get it. “Why? You were the one who took it seriously. You were so pissed that I didn’t remember anything. You said I didn’t deserve to be a Keeper. You were all about the commitment and responsibility . . . I mean, you have a goddamned mark tattooed on your chest. Why did you do it?”

His features hardened, but he still didn’t look at me. “The fucking curse destroyed my family. I just wanted it to end.”

“You really think it’s over? You’ve opened up one huge can of worms. And you destroyed
my
family in the process. Was that what you wanted? To get even?”

“No.” He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll admit that I didn’t give a lot of thought to how it would affect you before we met.”

“That’s obvious.”

He turned to me. “But when I took you to Marino and you started crying in the truck, I realized I actually cared about what happened to you. And that night . . . when I put the henna tattoo on you, I realized I was in trouble.”

“
You
were in trouble? Are you fucking kidding me?”

He grabbed my left hand. I tried to pull back, but he held firm. “We may have bound our souls together outside of Morehead City, but I lost my heart to you that night.”

I jerked my hand out of his. “You fucking liar.”

Hurt flashed through his eyes. “I’ve never been this honest with anyone, Ellie. Ever.”

I shook my head in disgust. “You wouldn’t know honesty if it bit you in the ass. You used me, tricked me, screwed me, and then screwed me over. Tell me what I’m missing here.”

His eyes narrowed. “You know we can’t hide our feelings from each other when our marks touch.” His left hand grabbed my right wrist. “We can touch them together now, and you’ll know I’m not lying.”

I tried to jerk my hand from his grasp, but his fingers tightened around mine. “No! You know what happens when we touch.” Which was exactly why I was sure he was pushing the matter. Pressing our marks together is what got me here in the first place.

“Ellie,” he whispered, his right hand reaching for mine now. “We’re meant to be together.
You know it
. Let me show you how much you mean to me.”

“No!” I jerked my wrist hard, panicked. “If you do this, I will hate you forever.”

He glanced into my face and his mouth dropped open in shock. “You really are afraid of me.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I finally pulled my hand from his grasp. “You killed my father! People I cared about died because of you. No, you didn’t personally do it, but you purposely freed the things that did. And now they’re after
me
, Collin. They’re appearing in the flesh and coming to my door each night. The dead birds they left on my front porch before? That’s
nothing
compared to the mutilated animals they’re leaving for me now. They killed my neighbor’s dog.”

“Why would you think they killed your neighbor’s dog?”

“Because as Police Officer Tom Helmsworth pointed out, normal animals don’t rip open a dog’s guts and eat its heart.”

His confidence fell away. “If you just wait it out, the spiritual world will stabilize and we’ll all be able to live together as one. This is the way it’s meant to be.”

“You truly believe that?” I asked, incredulous.

His face hardened. “I have to.”

“Well, bull fucking shit. I don’t have to believe that. In fact, I don’t. Those motherfuckers won’t stop until they’ve tortured me for eons.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“They come to me in my dreams.”

That got his attention. “What are you talking about?”

“The animals come every night begging me to help them, and each night one of the escaped spirits visits me in my dreams and tells me that Okeus is waiting for me to be ready.”

“Be ready for what?”

“To kill me? To suck my Manitou? How the hell would I know!”

“Is your henna tattoo still on your back?”

“It’s fading.”

He looked panicked. “You need a new one.”

I didn’t answer. That much was obvious.

“I know you’re reluctant to get a permanent mark. Let me give you another henna one.”

I snorted. “Are you kidding me? I trusted you before, and you painted Okeus’s mark on my back.”

“Ellie,” he grabbed my hand again. “If you willingly choose Okeus, you’ll save yourself.”

“And I’ll condemn my soul to hell. No thank you.”

“He’ll provide you riches greater than you ever imagined.”

“So where the hell are your riches, Collin?”

He paused. “You heard Okeus. I lost my reward because I helped you.” He reached for my face. “Doesn’t that prove how much I care?”

“Are you serious? You found out
after
you helped me. You didn’t give that up for me.” I smacked his hand away and sagged against the passenger door. “Besides, I don’t think that would work anyway. The curse is based on duality. The sea and the land. Ahone and Okeus. Good and evil. You can’t have one without the other. You’ve chosen Okeus and Ahone has chosen me.”

“So why haven’t you put his mark on your skin?”

“Because I don’t know what it is. Do you?”

He closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, he looked me in the eyes. “I don’t know either.”

Anger surged through my veins. “You liar.”

He reached for me, but I backed away. “I swear to you, Ellie. I don’t know.”

“
How could you possibly know Okeus’s but not Ahone’s?
”

He scrubbed both hands over his short, dark hair. “I don’t know. It wasn’t passed down. We pledged ourselves to Okeus so that we’d be protected from his wrath when he was freed.” He grabbed my left hand before I could snatch it back. “I put Okeus’s mark on your back for the same reason.” He pulled me closer, but I resisted. “Please don’t be so stubborn. If you pledge yourself to him now, you’ll be safe.”

“You know I can’t, even if I wanted to.”

Agony covered his face. “Then you’re as good as dead.”

“And whose fault is that?”

He dropped his hold on me and looked out the windshield.

“I want the map.”

He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “What are you talking about?”

“The map we stole from Marino. You remember our field trip to Buxton? Marino’s men were at the Kill Devil Hills Pawnshop asking Oscar if he knows who I am and where they can find me.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“You have no idea how much I wish I was.”

He shook his head. “No. There’s no way. I told them you were from Greenville.”

“But I told him I had a guy in Kill Devil Hills when I was negotiating.”

He groaned.

“I’m surprised all the women you’ve screwed since you left me haven’t thrown him off.”

His face contorted with rage and he leaned toward me, his body shaking with anger. “Say what you like, Ellie, but the minute I joined my soul with yours, I
became
yours
. Completely. You’re the one who ran away. You’re the one who doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Can you blame me? You’re just a man whore who uses people to get what you want. You told me so yourself.”

“Goddamn it, Ellie. I tried to resist you. I tried not to sleep with you. You’re the one who taunted and tempted me. I’ve never put so much effort into not sleeping with a woman in my life.”

“Finally!” I shouted. “Your first truthful answer since I showed up here tonight.” His desire for me had been so evident when we joined our marks, yet guilt had kept him from following through until I drove him crazy enough to cross the line. “But you’re right. I coerced you into sleeping with me. I just didn’t realize what the consequences would be.” I laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Everyone who fucks up says that, huh?” I turned to him. “Isn’t that what you keep telling me? You didn’t mean to screw up my life?”

Hope filled his eyes. “Exactly!”

“And yet I’m stuck in this hell, and you get to live your life like nothing ever happened.”

His eyes glittered with rage. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You know what you mean to me. You’ve felt it, Ellie . . . and I’ve felt it with you. If you want to sit there and pretend it doesn’t exist, then go ahead and do it. But who’s the liar now?”

“What we have between us isn’t real, Collin!” I shouted, balling my fists. “What we have is hormones and magic. Nothing more and nothing less.”

“Not real?
Are you kidding me?
” I’d never seen him so angry. “This is the most real thing either us will
ever
experience, but if you want to throw it away out of pride and immaturity, go ahead. I’m done begging.” He opened his door and jumped out of the truck, grabbing his underwear off the ground and stepping into them. He glared at me as he pulled them over his hips. “You must love this. You think I’m a man whore, and I’m standing here groveling. I bet you’re eating this shit up.”

“Screw you, Collin!” I shouted. “Don’t you go and act like I’m the one who hurt you!”

“You think you’re the only one with feelings?”

“I don’t think you’ve ever felt a goddamned feeling in your life.” As soon as I said the words, I regretted them. They hung in the air, and I watched the last bits of hope and softness slide out of Collin’s body.

“Yeah, you’re right, Ellie.” He pulled up his jeans and fastened them, flashing me an ugly sneer. “You were just another fuck. I’ll admit that you were a good one, which is why I hated for things to end. I wasn’t bored with you yet, but if you want to move on first, I can live with it.”

I knew it wasn’t true, but his words ripped my heart to shreds.

He picked up my panties and lifted them to his face to smell them before tossing them at me with a leer. “I’m going to miss fucking you, but I might miss going down on you even more.”

My breath caught at his crassness. Never once in the time we’d been together had he ever talked to me this way. Not even in the beginning, when he’d been full of resentment. “Don’t be ugly, Collin.”

“Why not? Look at the way you’ve been acting.” He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. “Get out of my truck.”

Anger rushed through me. “Not until you give me the map.”

“I’m not giving you anything. Now get out of my truck.”

“No!”

He lunged across the seat and opened the passenger door, pushing me toward the opening.

I tried to grab hold of the dashboard, but my hands slipped. “You owe me that map, Collin. What the hell do you need it for? Why won’t you give it to me?”

An ugly look spread across his face. “I thought you would have figured me out by now, Ellie. I don’t need a reason to keep it. The fact that you want it is reason enough.” He gave me one last shove out the door.

The gravel poked my bare feet and I stumbled to remain upright as Collin slammed the door.

I gaped at him through the open window. “You’d let those monsters kill me?”

He tossed my T-shirt and panties out the window at me. “You know what you need to do to save yourself.” He started his truck and backed out, shooting gravel in every direction as I jumped out of the way.

I really was as good as dead.

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN

I watched his truck lights disappear, still dazed. Although I wasn’t sure what I expected, this definitely wasn’t it. I stood there in shock, wondering what I should do next. I had two choices: I could go home and cry into my pillow, or I could fight.

It wasn’t a question, really. I was going to fight. Too bad I still didn’t know how to do that.

Headlights appeared, rounding the curve behind me, and I realized I was standing on the side of the road in my skirt and bra, my T-shirt and panties in my hands and no shoes on my feet. Somehow I’d lost my flip-flops in Collin’s truck. The sun had set and I needed to get home. Standing out here like this, I was vulnerable in both the spiritual and the earthly worlds.

I jerked my T-shirt over my head as I gingerly walked across the gravel to Myra’s car. I’d left my purse and keys inside again since I hadn’t planned on falling asleep in his truck. And I sure hadn’t planned on anything else that had happened.