Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (32 page)

Avery tried to move, but she couldn’t
because her legs appeared to be tied to the chair’s legs by invisible ropes, and her bound hands were stuck to her thighs. Being unable to move seemed to freak Avery out even more. She got this crazed and panicked look in her eyes, and she started screaming terrible, horrified shrieks.

Melody dropped her hand and turned. Facing us, she said, “There.” Her cheery smile returned but had a creepy effect with the flicker of candlelight.

Melody then crossed the room to the table and set to work with the contents sitting upon it, dropping items into the smoking bowl.

Avery continued to
screech.

I watched closely as Melody worked. In the flicker of the candlelight,
she dumped the contents of strange little bottles into the bowl. The smoke got thicker. I pressed myself closer to Oliver, pressing my back against his chest as I stood in front of him. His arms slipped around me and held me tight.

Trying to prevent myself from freaking out w
hile watching Melody, I took in her attire. She was dressed as if it were spring. It wasn’t. It was cold out, not freezing, but definitely sweatshirt weather, maybe even cool enough for a light jacket. But Melody was wearing a long, thin, multi-patterned hobo skirt, beaded sandals, and a fitted top that had no sleeves. Her attire made me wonder if demons ran warmer than regular people—she was a quarter demon, after all—or if she was just going along with the whole hippie theme that was going on in the poop brown house.

Melody was also very pretty. Elegant like Amber, even. Since Melody was associated with Brookehaven, I wondered if they knew each other.

Melody was still working with the contents of her bowl, when Avery suddenly quieted. Her screeches came to a stop. Her focus fell on Oliver and me standing at the beaded entryway.

When Avery’s crazed eyes met mine, I pressed myself against Oliver even more, causing him to take a step back. She looked fully demented, like seriously crazy, but there were some other factors making me even more uneasy. Avery had dyed her hair. It was now very close to the same color as mine, which was disturbing in itself, but she was pale and thin
—way thinner than usual. Her eyes looked almost sunken into her skull. The smeared mass amounts of makeup did not help. The flickering candlelight only added to her creepiness.

“You are not the only one she has a connection to,” Felix said from where he stood
near the back door. “Your brother has returned, and he has paid her several visits.”

Avery started laughing, demonically, which may have been a rude comparison considering Melody was part demon. Anyway, her maniacal laughter seemed to be triggered by the news of Oscar’s return to “Treeville.” As if this news wasn’t enough to send a chill down my spine, her laughter definitely did.

With my back still to his chest, Oliver’s arms tightened around me and held me closer.

“Does she even know what’s going on?” I asked Felix. I wondered if Avery had gone crazy from blood loss just as I had.

He shrugged, his beefy arms folded over his broad chest. He seemed like he really didn’t give a crap. He leaned his back against the wall and kept an eye on Avery.

A few minutes later there was a light tapping at the
back door. Felix opened it, letting in two more girls. They were introduced as Autumn and Summer. They were sisters, and witches, and they had come to help Melody.

The sisters set to work assisting Melody, then one of them instructed Oliver to take a seat at the table. He insisted on having me beside him. Summer and Autumn looked to Melody
and she nodded, telling them that it was okay. I didn’t care if it was okay or not, I wasn’t leaving his side.

Once we were seated at the table, Felix moved Avery, still laughing madly, and her chair out of the circle and to the opposite side of the round table from us. Melody stood at the table just between Avery
and us.

“Are you ready to begin?” Melody asked, her voice calm.

Oliver nodded ever so slightly, his eyes fixed on the crazy girl sitting across from us. He squeezed my hand.

The first thing Melody did was drop a lit match into the smoking bowl. It sparked. I jumped. Oliver’s fingers tightened on mine.

With her eyes closed, Melody began reciting some sort of incantation.

Felix was suddenly close by, standing a couple of feet behind Avery, who was still manically laughing, tossing her head back and everything. Super-possessed-creepy-like.

The other two witches were walking the room with something held high in their hands. It looked like they were holding bunched-up newspaper tied with string. It was smoking, not on fire, just smoking. They were also murmuring some sort of spell or something. The room was getting stuffy with all the smoke, and it was taking on a whole new smell. Not necessarily a good one, either.

The flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows on the walls. My skin felt like it was crawling, and the back of my hand was burning like crazy,
which it had been for some time. But I didn’t scratch at it because Oliver’s fingers were still tight on mine, and mine on his.

Avery suddenly fell silent. Her head dropped forward
like she had passed out, but her body was still magically attached to the chair.

The sister witches looked our way, but they continued walking around the room, spreading their smoke through the air.

Felix took a step forward. Melody, still quietly reciting her spell, her eyes closed, lifted a hand to tell Felix to keep his distance.

“But it’s true,” Avery whispered wickedly.

Chills ran up my spine, and she slowly lifted her head and her crazed blue eyes locked onto Oliver. Beside me, I felt him lean away from the table as far as his chair would allow without actually moving it.

“He made love to me, Laney. It was beautiful and we created life.”

Pure hot rage pulsed through me, and in my mind, I jumped across the table and took her out. But instead, I dug my nails into the back of Oliver’s hand. He winced.

Melody’s chanting grew louder, but Avery only began cackling.

“He’s mine now, and no one,
NO ONE
, can keep him from me!” Avery shrieked.

It was seriously like she was possessed. Not that I had personal experience with such things, but
I’d seen enough scary movies to know the signs. Because as we all know the movies are always spot on. More sarcasm for ya there.

I could feel Oliver tense beside me, his hand gripping mine even tighter. At that same moment, Melody opened her eyes and looked to the other girls who had stopped with their incantation. Melody’s green eyes moved to Felix. I was certain they were having a private conversation with their minds.

Avery’s stare left Oliver and moved to me, her wicked laughter fading. “I will have him.
Again
,” her voice was straight up evil.

This time, I
didn’t just fantasize about taking her out, I actually did it. I knocked her and her chair over before Oliver yanked me back across the table.

I was certain
he’d hesitated at first, giving me that split second of satisfaction to knock her on her ass. Unfortunately, she didn’t fall on her ass since she was magically glued to a chair, but she did fall to her side and crack her head on the floor. That was as much satisfaction as I would be getting, and it had felt pretty damn good.

Felix took his time righting Avery and her chair, but she had quieted down, so that was a bonus.

Unfortunately, my burst of rage had caused most of the items on the table to fall and spill, including the candle. Wax had spilled over the crystal ball and the mat with the symbols on it. I apologized profusely. I felt horrible for losing my temper and for the mess I had caused. I did not feel bad for bitch-slapping Avery across the face, no matter how badly my hand stung.

Melody just smiled at me as I apologized over and over. She waved it off, telling me there was nothing to worry about
. She then set to work with her bowls, bottles, and candle once again.

Once Melody finished placing all of her items back in their places and relighting her candle, she said, “We need to take a different approach.” She looked from us to Felix. “I will need blood from the two of them.”

As you can imagine, this alarmed me, and I voiced my concern. I argued with both Felix and Melody and even the other two witches who also voiced their opinions that it was the only way.

“Only way?” I questioned, and rather loudly.

“Delaney, there is something more at work here,” Felix said.

Before I could question what more could be involved, Oliver said, “I’ll do it.”

I turned to him, an expression of disbelief on my face.

His deep, beautiful eyes met mine. “It’s the only way,” he said to me. I caught the hint of desperation in his voice.

I clamped my mouth shut. Mostly because the words that wanted to come out had something to do with me knowing of another way, which ended with a world free of Avery.

Melody quickly set to work. She got another bowl, and a rather unsettling-looking dagger that she pulled pretty much from out of nowhere. The dagger look
ed old and not clean. Melody then took both items to Avery who was suddenly looking like a frightened rabbit.

Felix stood behind Avery’s chair and held her arms in place, which was an odd thing to do because no matter how much Avery squirmed, she was magically glued to that seat.

However, Avery continued to scream and squirm as Melody sliced a good-sized gash down Avery’s forearm.

As I stared, watching Avery’s blood run into Melody’s bowl,
I wondered why Avery hadn’t been gagged. I imagined others could hear her…unless no one could hear anything coming from inside the house. Perhaps there was some sort of spell that prevented sound from escaping. At that thought, I clung tighter to Oliver, just about wrapping myself around his arm.

I was thankful Felix was there. Just in case.

Avery’s head was hanging low and she was sobbing. Blood was running down her arm and dripping to the floor in large droplets. Felix released his grip on her. She didn’t move, she just stared down at her arm and cried.

Melody came back to the table with her bowl of Avery’s blood. I could see that the bowl contained a good amount of blood. I wondered if the smell of it affected Oliver at all. He had once been addicted to her after all, and
Felix had said that those magical properties involved at that time were back.

I watched
Oliver as Melody got closer with the bowl. He only looked nervous.

As Melody came toward Oliver with her dagger in hand, he pulled up his sleeve and set his arm on the table in front of us.

“No!” I said, putting myself in the way. “You are
not
using that same knife on him.”

Melody blinked at me
in surprise.

I turned to Oliver. “You do it. Bite yourself or something, but you are not using that tainted blade.”

Realizing neither of us wanted Avery’s dirty blood anywhere near him, Oliver nodded to me. He raised his wrist to his lips, his fangs already down. I wondered why. Fear? Avery’s blood? Thoughts of me? I didn’t vocalize my question. Instead, I watched, transfixed as Oliver bit into his own flesh and let his blood run into the bowl with Avery’s. He had to do this two times because he healed so quickly, but I didn’t care how many times it took, there was no way I was letting something with Avery’s blood on it anywhere near him.

Once she was satisfied with the amount of blood Oliver had given her,
Melody placed the bowl that now contained a mixture of Avery and Oliver’s blood on the table in front of her. She began adding liquids from the strange little bottles that were on the table. She also added a few other items.

As she straightened and wiped her hands on her skirt, the other two witches resumed their chanting and went about circling the room with their smoking bundles in their hands.

Felix walked away from the still sobbing Avery and propped himself against the wall near the back door again.

Melody lit another match and dropped it into the bowl. It
didn’t spark this time, instead it lit with a large flame that died down fairly quickly.

Melody began with her incantation
, and Oliver squeezed my hand.

After only a few seconds, Avery screamed at the top of her lungs. I’m pretty sure it scared the hell out of everyone in the room.

I jumped. Oliver jumped. The witch sisters jumped and spun toward us. Even Felix quickly moved away from the wall and came toward the table.

Melody was the only one who stayed calm, finishing her spell or whatever the hell it was that she was doing.

Then, as Avery continued to scream like someone was attempting to kill her, Melody’s eyes snapped open and she looked to Oliver and me. “Go!” she shouted.

Oliver stood so fast, he knocked his chair to the floor behind him. He stumbled over
it as he backed away from the table, pulling me with him by my hand.

As soon as we were both on our feet, we bolted through the beaded curtain, down the hall, out the front door, and straight to the car. Thankfully it was still in one piece.