Cursed by Destiny (WG 3) (17 page)

A wereox who had also laughed stood and moseyed over to Bren. “Oh, yeah?” Like a moron, he poked Bren in the chest. “What are
you
going to do about it?”

Bren smashed our beer bucket right in the guy’s face. “The same thing I did to your mother.”

The werehyena launched herself at Shayna. I caught her in midair and used her momentum to slam her against the wall. She broke a beer sign into about a thousand pieces with her back and landed with a loud thump on our table. Taran loomed over her. “Not laughing now, are you, bitch?”

Weres
brawled. A lot. As a result, a law had been established years ago for such behavior. So long as no one died and humans didn’t become aware, the North American Were Council was fine with the occasional smackdown.

Shayna merged the utensils at our table and transformed them into two long ninja staffs. She let out probably the saddest excuse for a wolf howl I’d ever heard and attacked. Bren broke out laughing for some reason and just missed getting hit with a barstool. Taran scrambled out of the booth and jolted anyone she could with lightning. I took on a werekangaroo. His blows came fast and he kicked with both feet simultaneously. I missed most of his shots. He wasn’t as lucky.

The wereox gained consciousness and charged toward Emme. She held out her small hand. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you take another step . . .”

The wereox stopped midstampede and smiled. “You’re cute. How ’bout some head?”

Like the rapid fire from a machine gun, Emme slammed about a dozen beer mugs into the ox’s groin. She frowned at him. “
Jerk
.”

There was some high-pitched screaming near the bathrooms where a woman dragged poor Danny away by his hair. I knocked out the kangaroo with a kick to the face and chased after them. I raced down the hall to the restrooms only to be intercepted by a wereyak barreling out of the men’s room.

We grappled. Stupid move on my part—his human form was stronger than mine. I fell through the ladies’ room door with him and
shifted
through the floor before his weight could squash me. I surfaced with an uppercut to his jaw. His head snapped back and he staggered into the sink. When his face met mine, he froze. Slowly, he peered over my shoulder. The anger twisting his face melted into horror and his olive skin paled to green.

My body shivered liked I’d been dumped naked on an icy tundra. Something wicked had appeared. Behind me. All the hair on the back of my neck shriveled into my skin. A sharp pungent smell burned my nose and made my stomach pang with the urge to vomit. I’d smelled that baneful odor once before.

Demon.

Not demon children. Demon children were a hybrid of demon and human blood. This . . .
this
was the straight-from-hell kind that didn’t belong on earth. I turned slowly toward the scent, even though every part of me screamed to run. My tigress surprised me with a roar that vibrated in my throat; my human side very much wanted to cry and hide under the nearest bed.

On the windowsill sat something resembling a toad, only sickly white with gray spots and a fat humanoid head. Bright pink eyes blinked back at me. Its body was only about the size of a loaf of bread, but it didn’t need to be bigger to scare me.

The wereyak backed away, crossing himself, the aroma of his fear mixing with mine. “Holy
shit
,” he whispered. He slammed into the doorjamb in his haste to scramble away, leaving me alone with this
thing
.

The brawl continued in the dining area, but the bathroom turned hauntingly quiet. The demon opened his mouth and extended his thick gray tongue, tasting the air and possibly me.

I ripped the condom dispenser off the wall and smashed him with it. The first few blows felt as if I’d hit a wet balloon filled with water. I pounded him with more force until I heard a
splat.
The room filled with more of that horrible scent, propelling me to strike harder and harder.

My hands slicked with my blood against the warping metal.
Die, die, just die!
I jumped when Danny placed his hand on my shoulder. Still, I continued to pulverize what remained.

“Oh, my God. Celia, stop—
Celia!
”

“De-de-de.” I was so terrified I couldn’t bring myself to say the word, so I hit harder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll get rid of it.”

I dropped the twisted metal dispenser on top of it. My feet automatically scurried away as Danny moved it aside. We both gagged at the smell. It looked like someone had poured bubbling white slime on the floor. Chunks of flesh floated on top, swirling together as if attempting to rejoin.
Five minutes.
Aric had once told me that only the strongest demons could leave hell. And five minutes was usually their curfew. My body convulsed with terror. It had at least three minutes left.

Danny took a small tube of water from his back pocket and poured a few drops on the leftovers. The drops sizzled. Sparks of blue exploded and engulfed the slime in a magical mini wave, cleansing the floor and purifying the air.

My body relaxed slightly from breathing in the sudden freshness. “Holy water?” I stammered after a few moments of silence.

Danny shook his head. Dry blood caked his lips and several contusions covered his face. “It’s water from the lake. The magic in Tahoe is mostly pure. I’ve been trying to analyze it at the lab.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just had a feeling it would help.”

I gripped the edge of the sink, unable to stay upright on my weak legs. “What if the water hadn’t worked?”

Danny smiled a true, genuine Danny-ish smile. “The power of good keeps demons from staying on earth. Even if the water failed to have any effect, that thing wouldn’t have lasted long against your light.”

CHAPTER 14

“You know, this really isn’t necessary,” I said to Hank.

He jogged alongside me, huffing and puffing like a two-pack-a-day smoker. “Celia, the Tribe is getting desperate to off you if they’re sending demons your way. Pardon the fuck out of the master for trying to protect you.” He spat on the asphalt. “Do you think I want to run? It’s idiotic. I don’t understand why you do it.”

“It’s not idiotic. It helps my stamina and calms my tigress.”

“So does sex—and it’s much more pleasurable. I don’t understand why you keep denying the master.”

Vampires were all about overindulging themselves—whether with money, sex, or feedings. How could I have possibly reasoned with such selfish beings?

People driving in the opposite direction gawked at us. It was a clear forty-degree day. I wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, but they weren’t staring at my pitiful disguise. Nor were they stunned stupid by the gorgeous guy in the ridiculous seventies jogging suit running next to me. They stared at my security team, courtesy of my guardian angel master vampire.

Long gone were the days I raced along the lake trails by myself. Now every time I ran it was between two town cars full of combat-ready vampires. That was bad. The helicopter hovering above us? Much worse. Everyone in the Tahoe City area probably thought some eccentric billionaire was out for a stroll.

Hank grew impatient. “Well, are you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

His expression told me he’d like to use my eyeballs to play Ping-Pong. “Why you don’t bed the master? It’s not like you’re some shy virgin or something. That idiot Liam told me you and the pureblood were always getting it on.”

My face flushed and I picked up my pace. “Hank, I am
so
not having this conversation with you.”

He ignored me. “Not having sex is just unnatural, even for a weird-ass chick like you.”

“Hank, you’re really starting to piss me off.”

“Just admit it—you want to have sex.”

“I don’t have to admit anything. And if you open your trap one more time, you’re going to be sorry.”

Again, he ignored me. “The master is reasonable. He’ll probably allow his ears to be scratched during your lovemaking, if that’s the sort of shit that turns you on.”

As my speed increased, the cars in front and behind us accelerated. “Hank, don’t bring Aric into this—you know nothing about him or our love life.”

“What love life? You have nothing with that mutt. Look, I’m not trying to pressure you, but the others and I have a pool going. The pot’s getting high and I don’t want to lose.”

“You’re betting on whether Misha and I are going to do it!” The revelation only made me run faster.

“Not whether you’ll do it—
when
. Edith and Liz are already out twenty grand. You have to please the master by Valentine’s Day or else I’m out fifty.”

“You’re such an asshole, Hank. I can’t believe you’d bet on me.”

“I wouldn’t have if I’d known how difficult you’d be. Shit, Celia. I knew you were stubborn, but this is bad even for you.”

Hank was now wheezing. Vampires were fast, but not designed to race for such long distances. We’d hit the ten-mile mark before I really began to sweat. I pushed faster. Hank tried desperately to catch me and lost his concentration. He slid on some gravel and took a dive. There was a loud grunt when the car behind us ran over him.
Serves him right.

Tim stuck his shaved head out of the car in front of us. “Damn it, Celia—slow the hell down. The humans are going to suspect something.”

I don’t think so, Tim.
I went up the next side road at the last minute. The car ahead kept going, but the car behind me made a sharp turn and tried to follow. They were keeping up pretty well until I
shifted
underground and turned up in someone’s backyard.

The helicopter circled above me, searching. I giggled when the vamps started swearing. I continued to
shift
and kept to the shadows beneath the trees. Danny had convinced me demons—the real ones—couldn’t appear so close to the lake. It made sense, given that the only ones I’d seen had been far from Tahoe’s power. I continued to move. It wouldn’t take long for the vamps to pick up my scent, and in the meantime I wanted a moment away from the annoyingly undead.

I finally appeared on a high hill that overlooked Tahoe and dropped down to a small patch of beach. The aroma of its magic brought me a sense of calm and assured me I was protected. My tigress purred and relaxed, allowing me to stretch before taking a seat on a large rock. I peered out at the water. Hank was right. I did want to make love, but it wasn’t with his master.
I miss you, Aric.

Aric and I always went to bed fully dressed, though it never lasted. Before meeting him, I used to be highly protective of my personal space. But once we were together, physical distance failed to exist between us. I always woke with his arms around me. Sometimes I faced him; other times my back was to him; there were also days when he lay on top of me—exactly where he’d fallen asleep. Regardless of the position, it always felt right. I’d only ever known true peace in his arms.

With Barbara having moved on to the next pureblood she could sink her fangs into, I’d begun to fantasize more and more about making love to Aric. When I’d last spoke to Liam, he told me my encounter with the demon had pushed Aric to his breaking point and that he’d gone berserk trying to hunt down the Tribe in order to keep me safe. My touch, my presence, my body could soothe him and humanize his wolf again. I had no doubt.

The problem remained, though: sex wouldn’t extinguish Aric’s pack obligations or make the Tribe go away. It would calm his beast temporarily, yes, but our human sides would ultimately suffer. The kiss we’d shared at Shayna and Koda’s wedding stemmed from longing and the desperation to be with each other. It hadn’t solved anything. And it hurt so much afterward when we parted. If we made love, it would only reopen those horrible wounds from our first breakup. So then what?

The fluttering of wings interrupted my thoughts. A beautiful snow white owl landed on the low limb of the nearest tree. My tigress woke up. She probably wondered why this nocturnal bird had taken to flight during the day.

It stared at me. Its head tilted at an inquisitive angle, its round yellow eyes unblinking. A breeze blew softly, allowing me to catch the owl’s aroma. It smelled of feathers, dry leaves, and pine trees. There was also the vaguest hint of something else. I took a deep breath, trying to figure it out.
Hmm, is it . . . copper?

The owl flapped its broad wings and landed on a withered log next to me. The smell of copper intensified, quite subtle but unmistakable. My tigress didn’t like the bird so close and grew uneasy. I concentrated on blocking its spirit in case it continued to advance. It turned its head toward me and opened its beak.

“
Celia Wird
,”
it said in a demonic voice.

The cocking of guns snapped me out of my shock. I dove off the side of the cliff as a stream of bullets littered the sky. I
shifted
to break my fall and surfaced behind a large boulder, where I poked my head around. The owl flew around at an unholy speed, dodging the spray of bullets from the snipers in the helicopter. It flew toward the horizon, continuing to chant, “
Celia Wird. Celia Wird. Celia Wird,”
until it disappeared into the sun.

The helicopter didn’t follow, veering back. Misha’s vampires had found me. Hank paced at the cliff’s edge swearing like a maniac. Tim also yelled, his fingers gripping his bald head. “Mother’s ass, what the hell are we going to tell the master?”

Another vamp appeared and looked out over the cliff. He shrugged. “The truth. You killed Celia.”

There was a disturbing gurgling sound as Tim grabbed the vamp by the throat. The vamp foamed at the mouth when Tim tightened his grip and shook him. “I did not! That crazy bitch jumped off the cliff.”

I stepped into view. “The crazy bitch jumped because you jackasses fired at me!”

Tim dropped the vamp down the side of the hill. He rolled with flailing limbs as more vamps rushed to the edge. They were all initially shocked to see me still alive, then relieved, and finally royally pissed off. In a flash, both Tim and Hank were in my face. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Tim hollered. “Do you have any idea what the master would have done to us if Drago killed you?”