Art of Death, page 16
part #1 of Curse Breakers Series
Using my Death Lines as a sort of fishing reel, I pulled them tight, encouraging my ghoul to come to me so it might cross paths with Adam. But splitting my attentions became increasingly hard. My breathing deepened, and my head started to pound. Gritting my teeth, I encouraged the ghoul faster.
Ahead of the body, Adam walked toward it. He slowed at seeing my ghoul, his smile off-putting, but I ignored it.
“Attack,” I whispered across my lines. The ghoul reacted instantly, charging Adam, who dodged, ducked, and tried to avoid. “Fuck.”
“Rowan, whatever you’re doing, you need to stop,” Indigo murmured.
“No.” My voice came out crude and wrong, but I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t. Something wet streamed over my lips. Ignoring it, I fought to get my ghoul to move again. Adam’s Death Lines sprouted outward, the cords slashing at mine. My control wavered, and I tapped into the reserves of my power, the stuff I hadn’t really explored.
My power surged upward again, my Death Lines strengthening.
“Well done, but you’re untrained and raw.” Adam grabbed the ghoul, forcing it backward. “Listen carefully, Rowan Hayes. Oh yes, I recognize your power.”
A look of pure, unadulterated lust crossed his features. A snarl crossed my lips, reflecting on my ghoul. Adam laughed.
“You’re giving too much of yourself to the ghoul. Make sure you break that connection soon, Rowan. You may find the consequences quite dire, and I’d hate to lose you before I get my hands on you,” Adam taunted.
My lines became crossed, barbs digging deep into the skin of my ghoul. Pulling back seemed impossible, and I realized that Adam had somehow used his own Death Lines to keep mine trapped. I hadn’t even heard of such magic. While I didn’t consider our magic as dark like most Mystics did, we did have dark magic, just like everyone else.
“Master Alastair promised me your body. Can you imagine how powerful a child we’ll produce? I’ll be coming for you soon, dear Rowan. Do make sure you don’t get yourself killed,” Adam whispered to the ghoul where my conscious mind had become trapped.
Adam walked away then, a smug smile pulling at his lips. Cold fear trickled down my spine, my head spinning as more of my consciousness clung to the ghoul, Adam’s Death Lines still trapping mine. I had underestimated his power and overestimated my own.
A distant voice called me. I tried to latch onto it, but the harder I tried, the more my consciousness got sucked inside of the ghoul. My muscles were stiff with rigor mortis. Blood had stopped pumping in my heart long before. My lungs had collapsed.
“Rowan.” Warmth brushed my ear where my name was whispered.
That voice. I knew that voice. It wasn’t here with this body.
“Don’t leave me, Ro.”
A feather-light touch shocked life back into my lips. Next, a brief touch on my ribs, a caress against my hip. Sensations this body could no longer feel, but another could.
“Feel me. Feel your body here,” the voice told me.
Those whispered words. How could I feel when I was dead? But I hadn’t died. This body had. This body that didn’t belong to me.
“Rowan, come back to me.” The voice begged me now.
The voice drew closer, easier to understand. I recognized it. Indigo.
Taking in a breath, I released the power that clung inside of me, the violent wave that kept me trapped. It flushed out of my body, the barbs that had kept me prisoner slipping away. My fingers tingled with feeling; my heart pumped painfully in my chest. Air left my lungs in a swoosh before I pulled more back in.
“Rowan?”
My eyes fluttered open for a second before I blacked out.
****
“She’ll come around, but you need to sleep, Indigo.”
“You felt it. It was like all of her power left her body. You don’t know what that could do to a necromancer.”
“No, and neither do you. We should’ve called Nix in.”
A growl answered. I breathed in deeply, trying to encourage my eyelids to open. A heaviness had taken over my limbs, a feeling I was starting to recognize. My magic flared under my skin, growing again, the fire being stoked with every second I regained consciousness. The men surrounding me became quiet.
“Rowan?”
“Shhh. You’re being loud, and I want sleep.”
“Yeah, she’s definitely feeling better,” Indigo said with a smile in his voice.
“Then I’m out. I’m supposed to be rolling tonight. Good luck,” Cornelius called out.
Footsteps disappeared in the distance. I tried to lift my eyelids once more, but my eyes felt grainy, and it burned to open them. Closing them again on instinct, I waited before I tried again.
“How are you feeling, Ro?”
“Like I made some terrible decisions, and none of them were all that fun,” I groaned.
Indigo grunted as if he had also been recalling the memory I had been referring to. I snorted, remembering that night. Abel, Indigo, and I had stolen alcohol and decided to be like all those human kids we had seen on TV shows. But Indigo processed alcohol differently than us. He hadn’t woken up with a raging hangover and holes in his memory.
“I miss him. I know it’s been only a couple days, a week at most, but we’ve never been apart this long.”
Indigo stood up and nudged me over then joined me on the bed, lying next to me.
“We kept in contact—you know—while I was away. Not being in contact with you killed me, but Abel got me through most of my hard days. Your brother is a great male. We’ll get him back.”
Indigo grabbed my hand and held it tight. I had to take solace in his words because losing Abel would be unacceptable. I trusted Indigo. At least, I trusted him with Abel’s life. Anything else, I still needed work on.
“Will you ever tell me why you left me without a word but kept in contact with Abel?”
“When it’s time, I will.”
****
Indigo informed me that I had slept through the entire day, but I still felt exhausted when I woke up like the ache in my muscles dragged me down and held me prisoner. The rest of the night, Indigo and I did something I couldn’t really condone—he insisted we relax. It had been nearly impossible because I couldn’t fully relax. Part of me couldn’t let the thought go that another night would pass by and we weren’t out doing anything.
But the morning had been a rude awakening. As much training as I had received in my childhood, it wouldn’t help me with this power that sparked in my blood. It swirled inside of me like an angry beast, demanding to get out and be used again. And a very quiet part of me that I didn’t want to admit existed wanted to use that power again.
And then there was an even bigger part of me that feared what my powers could do. Transfusion had been a power that people only whispered about, rumors at best. By slipping my consciousness into another’s body, I had proved it wasn’t. But I also learned how dangerous it could be. And the magic Adam used had been unknown to me. My parents warned us of the dark side of our magic, but they never mentioned anything quite like that.
I wished they had taught us—at least then I could be able to protect myself from it—but power was addicting and dangerous. I had seen that unadulterated lust in Adam’s eyes. He wanted the sort of power I possessed; I could see it.
“Indigo.” He hadn’t left my side since he’d climbed into bed with me. I needed the comfort of a friend because my thoughts kept returning to being stuck inside of the ghoul’s body. That state of death, but also knowing I was still alive. A shiver went up my spine at the memory, the feeling it evoked.
I had become aware of my body. My blood felt sluggish in my veins, my joints cramped and seemingly impossible to move. Echoes of death in the ghoul’s body kept running through me. Having Indigo near helped keep those thoughts at bay. I worried about waking up feeling as I had inside the ghoul’s body; if I had some warmth wrapped around me, hopefully it would help.
“What’s up, Ro?”
“Thank you. For staying with me.”
“I’d never leave you.”
The bitter, angry part of me whispered, But you did. Putting a cap on those nasty thoughts, I rolled over, looking over the transformation my ex-best friend’s body had taken. He had lived life without me, and I had done the same. We were different people from the day he left until now. Maybe this new him wouldn’t leave me.
“Will you just hold me until I fall asleep? I haven’t been able to get warm since I woke up.”
Chapter 21
Indigo’s warmth slipped away, waking me from my light slumber. The sleep I had found had been light but peaceful. I didn’t think my body required much more, but the thought of being alone sparked an unnecessary and silly fear inside of me. I rolled over, stretching out, my muscles finally feeling back to normal. My power levels had also gone back to normal… or normal for what they were now.
“Where you off to?” I asked.
“I gotta meet Cornelius.”
I started to climb out of the bed. Indigo watched my every movement.
“As much as I want to bring you along, I can’t. This is official business. We’ll be back in a couple hours. There’s food in the fridge, and Netflix is queued up for you to use in the living room. I hate to stress this, but it would be best if you didn’t leave the apartment.”
Even though I understood why he wanted me to stay indoors, I wanted to rebel. I had been unprepared the night before, but I wouldn’t allow myself to get into that position again. At least not using my powers so stupidly. Of course, my anger had been the problem, and I wouldn’t be able to get a handle on that. Not for this, not when Abel was involved.
“I’ll stay in as long as I think I can without going insane.”
“That’s more than I figured you’d give, so okay. If you do leave, keep your phone on you, and call me if you think something’s wrong. I’ll come for you.” Indigo used to be this carefree kid with a hint of seriousness behind all his actions. It seemed so reversed now, mature Indigo standing at the forefront while that teasing personality lurked in the shadows.
I rolled my eyes and padded my way to the bathroom. Before I shut the door, I twisted around to face him. “I promise, Indigo. I won’t go anywhere unless I feel the absolute need to.” Because as much as I hated to admit it, I was a little out of my depth. Who knew how much more training Adam had with his powers. He seemed to have mastered them. A healthy dose of fear had been injected in my veins the night before, and I was going to heed it as long as possible.
“I’ll check in. I’m hoping we’ll be able to solve this situation before it gets too far out of hand.” Indigo seemed hesitant like he wanted to cross the room and properly say goodbye. I thought back to the couple times he’d kissed me to distract me. To when he brought me back to my body, his hands caressing. A shiver of desire licked up my spine.
Indigo’s eyes brightened before he turned his back on me and left the apartment. I smiled before I locked myself in the bathroom and took a long-overdue shower. As the water beat down on me and my body relaxed, I lost my grip on my tightly controlled powers. My dimmer went off, and suddenly I was surrounded by ghosts.
“Fuck.”
I covered myself, even knowing most of them probably weren’t sentient. It reminded me that Indigo’s place hadn’t been warded against any type of ghosts. At home, we had Toothless, our black cat, along with a variety of herbs. Basil, chamomile, clove, and dill had been my mom’s preferred plants. Wilson used gemstones in his apartment, mostly black tourmaline and onyx, since he wasn’t home enough to water the herbs.
After refocusing and controlling my dimmer, the echoes around me disappeared. I had made a grave mistake when I came out to Seattle bullheadedly. I didn’t bring any of my onyx protective beads. The only thing I had with me that could hold off ghosts were my Kodachi blades, but I needed to use those as a conduit for my powers, and by doing so, I rendered them useless against ghosts.
Sighing heavily, I finished my shower then worked on channeling my power to recognize active ghosts versus echoes. Echoes were either too old to hold their form anymore, or they had almost made peace with their deaths. Amping and dimming only proved to give me a headache, so I eventually allowed my magic to return to its resting level.
Not being able to detect whether a ghost was spying on me gave me the creeps, and even after I dressed, I couldn’t get comfortable in the apartment. I sat in the living room and tried to level myself up to the point that I could see most ghosts, but after the beating my powers took the previous night, it was harder and harder to maintain.
The longer I sat, the more anxious I got. I kept glancing over at the clock, wishing the time to move faster. If I could wait until Indigo and Cornelius got home, I could ask one of them to pick me up some fresh sage or basil, something I could use.
Bouncing my knee, I tried to focus on the sitcom I had turned on to ease my worries. It didn’t work. Standing, I took a lap around the living room, glancing outside. The streets were lit with streetlights, the sky clear. The night almost looked peaceful, not dangerous.
Across the street, a flash of movement caught my eye.
Balthazar took a step forward into a streetlight so I could see him clearly. He seemed to look right into Indigo’s window like he knew exactly where I stood. That certainly didn’t help my uneasiness. Even though I was pretty sure my parents had helped him locate me, I still didn’t like it.
My phone rang, and I gritted my teeth as I saw Balthazar put a phone to his ear.
“How did you get this number?”
“I borrowed your phone, programmed mine into yours, and then called myself, deehire.”
“What do you want?” I snapped, pissed off that he’d managed to do all that without my knowledge.
“It would be best if you listened to your werewolf friend. Stay indoors tonight, deehire.” Balthazar spoke in a way that demanded to be listened to. Too bad he didn’t really know me—I didn’t do orders well. Indigo had asked me, encouraged me, to stay inside. But my skin began to crawl as my thoughts swirled with dangerous images.
“I’ll check on you just before dawn,” Balthazar said when I didn’t reply then hung up. The threat had been clear enough. He thought the vampires allied with the Quintano family would be out tonight. If that was the case, it meant the necromancing family would probably send out their ghosts.
“Fuck,” I whispered, pocketing my phone. Staying there without any form of protection from ghosts meant putting Indigo and Cornelius’s home in jeopardy. It seemed unfair to drag them into my mess. Indigo had invited himself along, but Cornelius didn’t sign up for this.
With my mind made up, I pulled out Indigo’s laptop, finding directions to the nearest herbal store. Any grocery store would do, but in a city like this, I figured an herb store might be closer. The fresher the produce the better, which was why my mom always planted her own. Plus, an herb store might be owned by a witch who would sell the type of gems I needed.
After finding one a couple miles away, I went to Indigo’s room and grabbed a sweater of his. I pulled it over my head, his scent and the warm fabric wrapping around me, cocooning me in a false sense of security. After pulling on my freshly washed pair of jeans, I strapped on my Kodachi blades under the bulky sweater.
I left the apartment armed with directions, my wallet, and my blades. I’d get something to protect the apartment from invisible spies. Even if I wasn’t there, it would still be a good idea for them to have some sort of protection.
The night air was unseasonably warm, and I regretted having to use the sweater as both an extra layer to hide my weapons and to disguise my scent. Hoofing it to the herb shop seemed like the best option. It’d save me money and wouldn’t draw any extra attention to myself. It was supposedly only a couple miles away, but instead of going the most direct route, I wandered to make it harder to trail me.
I couldn’t get this nervous energy out of my system. I wanted to get to the herb store and back to the apartment as fast as possible, but paranoia tickled the back of my head. Someone might be following me. Or waiting ahead of me. Thinking my erratic moves might draw more attention than I wanted, I heard a cab roar from behind me and waved it down.
Once inside, I gave the cabby the address and felt a weight lift off my shoulders. The herb shop was a small, little storefront nestled between two larger stores that seemed to overshadow it. The greenery flooded onto the sidewalk, and an “Open” sign flickered on and off. I paid the driver, and he sped off.
Inside the shop, a pierced, tattooed girl with a severe haircut manning the register gave me a strained smile. Her black hair had been shaved completely on one side, revealing complex ward tattoos that, to a human, would just look like a swirled design.
Ignoring her, I decided to get this task done as quickly as I could. Passing more greenery, I found dried sage bundled together and picked that up along with a basil plant. Finding the gemstones near the back of the store, I searched over them, trying to find the different gemstones I needed.
The door chime sounded up front, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Glancing over my shoulder, I couldn’t see who had walked in. Chalking up my reaction to overactive nerves, I picked up an onyx. The gemstone sat heavily in my palm, and my powers surfaced, trying to surge into the gem.
The purer the stone, the more my powers reacted to it. It would be a good addition to the basil and sage. Taking the gem, I went to the cashier to check out. She kept glancing over my shoulder, and I figured the other patron had finished their shopping as well.
It had been a sheer force of will that kept me from looking back. That feeling of being watched, or rather stalked, iced my veins. The cashier gave me a tight smile as she handed over my bag. When her fingers accidentally brushed over mine, a wave of exhaustion hit me. It came and went just as quickly. Shaking off the feeling, I grabbed my bag.
As I turned around, a wave of dizziness hit me, and I swayed. Once I straightened myself out, I made it a couple steps away from the counter. Leaving the store, I didn’t have another episode, thankfully. Perhaps I hadn’t been as rested as I thought.
