Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (71 page)

“Let’s just give him a few minutes,” I
told her.

I took a second to glance around the parking lot in the hopes we
hadn’t caught too much attention. A large crowd had formed.
Shit.
People had their phones out. They were taking pictures and video. It disgusted me—that they would find entertainment in someone else’s misfortune. How would they feel if our places were reversed?

I glared at all of them, ready to chase them off.

Taking a deep breath, I tore my eyes away from those who cared so little about other’s privacy.

My eyes settled on Ashton’s. Zoey wouldn’t let him by, and in her anger, she was able to keep him back. With every step he took forward, she would shove him back two. She was strong, but I knew Ashton was too. He was choosing not to fight back. His eyes
were on me.

Sirens blared in the distance. Great, someone called for help
that we didn’t need. Oliver’s body was fine, though I imagined the looky-loos couldn’t understand why.

I rose, telling Kiera to stay with “Oliver.” Slowly, I made my way to Zoey. I touched her arm, letting her know I was there. Mid-rant, she went silent, her eyes widening, her focus turning to me. I stopped in front of Ashton, my eyes meeting those of the offspring of my own mother’s angel, and Zane’s cousin.

“Why?” I asked.

“I know what they’re doing, Laney. It’s a trap.”

My eyes narrowed, taking in every inch of him. His black eye had yellowed, but he had a new bruise on his face, and he wasn’t dressed in the usual Aston attire. There was no fancy shirt, just a tee. No expensive jeans, just running pants. And regular shoes—running shoes actually, not the usual expensive shoes he normally wore. His hair wasn’t styled with an entire bottle of gel. It was messy, and free of product…

This
wasn’t the usual Ashton. This was the Ashton I had spent the night with. The Ashton who had been sweet and honest. The Ashton who’d had a chance at more with me.

This
was the version of Ashton only I had seen.

My eyes settled on his. “And this is your way of protecting me?” I questioned. I felt angry and confused. I wanted to punch him, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to believe that he had never meant me any harm.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I glared at him, waiting to hear his response.

The sirens were getting closer.

“I tried to the other night. I tried to stop this, but I can’t, Laney. I can’t protect you anymore.” Ashton actually sounded distressed. His eyes were even glistening.

I felt my forehead scrunch as I looked at him. “Protect me?” I questioned. Ashton, protect me? No, I needed protection from Ashton.

“Come with me, Laney,” he said, reaching for my hand.

Zoey slapped his hand away.
While they glared at each other, my attention shifted.

A hand was suddenly gripping my upper arm. “Don’t do this,” Carter whispered.

He’d seen him too. Just past Ashton’s car sat Oscar. He was on a motorcycle, and his eyes were on me.

Zoey and Ashton stopped staring each other down, their eyes
following my stare.

Ashton’s head whipped back around to me. “Don’t do it, Laney. I’m begging you. You won’t come back.”

My attention returned to Ashton. He was truly upset, which meant this was exactly what I had to do if I was to get Oliver back.

“I have to,” I said, my voice sounding so far away.

An ambulance pulled in behind Zoey’s car. The others turned their attention to it. Had “Oliver’s” hand not been gripping my arm, I would’ve gotten away without any protest, but he wouldn’t let go.

“No,” he whispered, desperation in his tone. “Don’t do this. Please,” Carter pleaded.

Everyone eyes were on me again as I turned to Carter. Facing him, I took both of his hands. Stretching up on my toes, I pressed my lips to his for a moment. Dropping back down, I looked into the eyes of my boyfriend, knowing Carter was staring back at me.

“Find me,” I whispered.

I dropped his hands, and without looking at the others, I turned and started walking away.

Carter
stood there in Oliver’s body, watching me go. I knew this only because Ashton grabbed my arm, and I glanced back at him, seeing “Oliver” taking a step forward.

“Don’t, Laney,” Ashton pleaded. “What do I have to do to stop you?”

I shook my head and removed his hand from my arm. “You can’t, Ashton. Deep down, you know this is true.”

With my back to my friends, I made my way to Oscar. I took several deep breaths before stopping just out of his reach.

He leaned forward on his bike, his arms folded over the tank, resting there while he watched every move I made.

I said nothing. I just waited.

Without even his usual wicked smile, he straightened and dropped his foot from where it had been resting on the foot peg.

“You want my brother back?” he asked.

Shit, he knows.
Without a word, I nodded.

Oscar held out his hand
, and I took it, swallowing hard and fighting back tears.

He held my hand while I climbed onto the back of his bike. He placed my hand on his waist, encouraging me to hold on
, and I wrapped my other arm around his waist as he lifted my feet and put them on the pegs. He was so much thinner than his brother, boney, actually. Even in my distress, I wondered if they had always been this different.

I hugged him tight as he started his bike and took off. I pressed the side of my face against his back and watched as the paramedics loaded themselves back into the ambulance. Then I watched my friends fade away
while they stared after me.

Carter will find me. He has to
…

The lady from the ambulance was finally giving up trying to treat me. I’d flashed her my ID, told her to contact Felix Alexander, and then turned my back on her.

I had no idea if that was the appropriate thing to do or not. I didn’t care. I was watching Laney ride away on the back of Oscar’s bike
, and I was trying to focus on what I was supposed to do next—on what Felix told me to do once Laney was taken. My brain felt scrambled.

“What
’s happening?” Kiera asked.

I could feel her fear and confusion. Hers and Zoey’s.

“Oliver?” Zoey questioned when I didn’t respond.

It took me a minute to realize Zoey was talking to me, but Ashton’s eyes met mine, pulling my attention away from the girls. Ashton knew I wasn’t Oliver.

“Valiant effort, old friend,” I said to him. He was nuts to think he could swoop in and try to save Laney now. If that’s even what he’d been trying to do. “But too little, too late,” the anger was dripping from my words.

“I know where she’s going,” he replied. His eyes had narrowed on mine.

“What’s preventing you from telling me?”

“The same thing that’s preventing her boyfriend from telling her who she really is.”

Holy shit…
Ashton was under a magical contract. “What can you tell me?”

“That if you find my dad, you’ll find her. And my sister.”

Super, a family activity. “That easy, huh?” The sarcasm was evident.

I pulled Oliver’s phone from my pocket. I was surprised it wasn’t totally broken, like non-functioning. You know, from being hit by a
fucking car, driven by my
ex
friend. But nope, Oliver bought pretty sturdy shit. Just the screen was shattered, and that was from him stomping on it.

“I never wanted to be a part of this, just so you know,” Ashton said as if this confession would help his case. “I did what I could to protect her. It’s out of my hands now.”

Like he’d ever truly protected her.

“And that makes it okay?”
I seethed.

I took a deep breath to refocus. I could feel the pull. She was getting farther away.

“None of this is okay, Car—,” he stopped himself when I glared at him. “I’ve never been okay with this shit. I’d moved on. This was not my choice to get back into it.”

“Then whose was it?” I snapped, while also wondering what the fuck he really meant.

“I think you know.”

“Really, I don’t. There are too many twisted fuckers like you out there to narrow it down.”

I turned away and called Felix. “Oscar’s taken her,” I said when he answered.

While Felix relayed my info and then began talking to who I assumed was Ambrose, I rolled my shoulders, waiting for the pain of being hit by a car
to wear off. I needed to feed too. With being so focused on Laney, and all the other bullshit, I’d forgotten.

I eyed Kiera, and then Zoey. Zoey smelled better, more appetizing. I wondered if she’d let me… What the fuck was I thinking!

“Carter,” Felix said on the other end of the line. I don’t think it was his first attempt to get my attention.

“Yeah?” I seriously needed to eat.

“Can you feel her?”

“Yeah,” I said, the tug was getting stronger.

“I want you to wait thirty minutes, then get in the car and follow where the pull takes you.”

“‘K,” I said. Thirty minutes was a long freakin’ time, but it was enough time for me to run home and eat. I’d be able to focus better if I was fed.

I ended the call and turned toward Zoey and Kiera. They’d followed me when I’d walked toward the Challenger and made my call to Felix.

Ashton was hanging back, getting closer to his car. The dent
in the hood of his car was slightly gratifying, but I still didn’t understand why he needed to hit me. I wondered if it was part of the “game” he and his family were playing.

“I’ve gotta go,” I said, focusing on the girls. The pull toward Laney was getting harder to resist.

Without thinking, I kissed Kiera. Just a quick peck on the lips like usual when we parted ways.

Shit!

Her eyes were super wide. So, trying to cover my ass, and thinking like a total idiot, or not at all, I kissed Zoey, too.

Then, without a word, I turned and hurried to the car and jumped inside. I’d just kissed my fiancée and her friend with Oliver’s lips. That should be interesting to explain later. But not
at the moment. There was no time for that.

I backed out of the space and hauled ass to the apartment.

Once inside, I got into Oliver’s private blood stash and downed a couple of bottles while sitting there on his and Laney’s bedroom floor.

When thirty minutes was up, I was on my feet and out the door.

On my way down the stairs, I got a text from Felix.

Go now!

I was out of there.

The connection Oliver’s body had with Laney’s told me exactly which direction to go. And I went. Fast.

“Perhaps we should test a few of these items on you, first,” Mr. Weslin said, his evil gray eyes on me.

“Ooh, can I try, daddy?” Avery jumped to her feet, eager to inflict pain upon me (Carter).

My eyes, wide with fright, shot from Mr. Weslin to Avery.

He smiled at his daughter, encouraging her to choose a torture item from the case. I watched in horror as they discussed each item and what it would do to a regular vampire, the two of them very curious what it would do to Carter’s body. I didn’t want to find out.

I was aware that Mr. Weslin was one of the Fallen. After what had happened between Avery and me, my suspicions of the Weslin family had been confirmed.

Consuming Avery’s blood triggered a terrible reaction, which, when mixed with witchcraft and the addictive agent my food source had been laced with, an agent Avery had also been ingesting, it made for a dangerous combination. A combination that had almost taken Laney from me.

I still
couldn’t figure out why Avery had done it. Why she had put herself in such danger to get me away from Laney, if that was even been her goal. None of it made sense to me.

Just like vampires and angels, nephilim and vampires rarely mix
ed. So naturally, Ashton’s fascination with Laney still baffled me. As a nephilim, he had to know what she was. He had to know about Carter, as well. I truly didn’t understand the Weslins’ game.

Avery stood. She had a bottle of dried hellebore in her hands. I knew what it was, I could smell it. I also knew that if she somehow got enough of it into Carter’s system, his body would die. Painfully. End of story.

“I know what this does to vampires,” she crooned, smiling sickly-sweet as she stepped closer to me. “What will it do to a hybrid like you?”

“Avery,” Mr. Weslin
warned. My eyes darted to his face as he rose. “Don’t tease, just give him some.”

“Okay, daddy,” she said, a little too cheerfully. She
beamed at him.

These people were twisted.

There was a duffle bag beside the stairs. I’d noticed it when I was first brought into this hole. Avery moved to the bag and crouched beside it, pulling out a bottled water. She dumped some of the hellebore into the water and replaced the cap. She shook the bottle as she rose.

Oh, god.

“Where is my granddaughter?” a male voice shouted, coming from the other side of the shelving.

The voice
drew the attention of every person (creature) in the room, including me.

Granddaughter?
Was the man speaking of Avery? Was there another Weslin? A grandfather, maybe? No, that couldn’t be. Avery’s father wasn’t from our world. His family was elsewhere, right?

There was a commotion coming from the other side of the shelving. A door slammed. There must have been another room…

This place wasn’t connected to the tunnels, was it? Was this area connected to the portions that had been collapsed and barricaded from the tunnels that the coven used? Were we in the portions that led outside of town?

No… But it made too much sense
…

How could we have missed this one? I racked my brain, desperate to recall which members of the coven had been sent to check and secure the tunnels after the first attack. Names flew through my mind, but I was too stressed, I
couldn’t pinpoint anything.

Avery was in front of me, not seeming bothered by the voice that had been cut off by the door slamming.

Was it another captive? Was I not the only one being held against my will?

“Want a drink of water?” she asked, as if I
hadn’t seen that she had added the hellebore to the bottle.

As Avery was unscrewing the cap to the water bottle and coming closer to me, my brother
burst through the door at the top of the steps. I had never been happier to see him. Sadly, he had Laney with him, and my happiness died. There was absolutely nothing I could do to keep her safe.

“Here she is,” Oscar announced as the two of them came down the steps. He was holding her hand. She wasn’t protesting. She was…holding his back. Panic ensued. What was happening? I could smell her blood. Why? What had he done to her? I struggled against the chains that held me.

“Get out of here!” I shouted.

Dropping Oscar’s hand at the bottom step,
Laney rushed toward me, shoving Avery as she reached me.

Avery stumbled back. The water in
her hands would kill Laney. Did she know this? Did Avery know what Laney was?

Avery eyed Laney as her dad caught her and prevented her from falling.

I was helpless. Terrified. Would my brother protect Laney? Would he protect her when I couldn’t?

My Magical Power

Oscar pulled the motorcycle to a stop alongside an orchard. We were out toward Lilly’s, but I didn’t know how close. When he turned off the motorcycle, I released my grip on him and scrambled off the back of the bike.

Unfortunately, my legs were shaking so badly I had to hold myself up against the bike. It was not the time to focus on the fact it was my first motorcycle ride, and I had
not
liked it. I’m sure the driver had something to do with this fact, and the fact there had been no helmets involved, which I was pretty sure was illegal. Not that Oscar and legal ever ran in the same sentence.

Argh! Focus!

I straightened. “Where is he?” I questioned.

“He’s in there,” Oscar said, nodding toward the trees.

It was growing dark. The orchard had a sinister look about it, and it appeared darker and spookier with all the nearly bare trees.

I turned my attention back to Oscar as I rubbed the back of my bandaged hand on the leg of my jeans. It
was bugging me more than usual. I was startled to find Oscar had moved closer, and that he was leering at me.

I suddenly feared I
’d chosen the wrong person. Should I have gone with Ashton? Was he who would’ve taken me to Oliver? Was Oscar just dragging me out to the middle of nowhere so he could kill me? Taking me from Oliver like Oliver had taken Julz from him?

“I’m hungry,” he whispered, dropping his head so his eyes were level with mine.

Shit.

I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. I had no choice but to allow this to happen. I tried to mentally prepare myself.

He stepped closer and his arms snaked around me, pulling my body against his.

I shivered. I hated the way Oscar made me feel.

I could feel his cool breath on my neck. I closed my eyes as he tucked the stray hairs that had fallen from my ponytail behind my ear. His fangs sank into my neck a moment later. I cringed and made a small, pained noise. I took a deep breath, my nostrils filling with the unfavorable smell of Oscar mixed with the winter air.

A breeze blew through the orchard,
and those stray hairs quickly found their way from behind my ear and brushed across my forehead.

Oscar jerked away and shoved me. I stumbled back, catching my balance before falling on my butt.

He spit my blood out onto the dirt at the edge of the orchard. His sapphire-blue eyes met mine. There was a look of disgust on his face.

“My brother runs through your veins,” he hissed. “Your blood repulses me.”

Yay! Another bonding bonus!

“Do not be too excited.” His eyes narrowed on mine.

I took a step back. Clearly, he had caught my happy vibe emotion and was not happy about it.

“It will not stop me from draining you.”

Happy vibe gone.

“Let’s go. Your mate has made me a promise. I’ll help you get him out of here, but you have to promise that he will follow through. Okay?”

I had no idea what I was agreeing too. I really didn’t care just as long as I got Oliver back. I nodded.

“Good,” he said, taking my hand and leading me into the darkness of the
overgrown orchard.

I could tell blood was trickling down my neck. I considered asking Oscar to stop it, to heal his bite on my neck
with his saliva, but I decided against it as he glared over his shoulder at me for a quick moment. I had no clue what that was about. Instead, I pressed the hood of my sweatshirt to my neck in hopes of stopping the bleeding myself while he tugged me along through the walnut covered orchard.

We
didn’t walk for all that long before coming to some rundown hut that sat hidden amongst the trees in the orchard. Oscar took me inside the shack. I wondered if it was the same place Ashton had wanted to take me a few nights earlier. If so, why?

Inside, I discovered the hut was bare except for a water cooler and a couple of folding chairs. The water cooler was full of blood.
Gross.
But no Oliver.

“Where is he?” I questioned.

Without responding to me, Oscar pulled me closer to the cooler. Panic raced through me. Had Oscar killed “Carter” and…

“That’s not him, is it?” I squeaked as my voice failed me.

Oscar looked at me funny, and then he looked to the cooler. He laughed and shook his head.

“No, Laney, he’s not dead. Well, he wasn’t when I left.” He shrugged and then poured himself a cup of blood from the cooler.

Once he’d drained it, he crushed his little paper cup and tossed it into the wastebasket beside the cooler.

I was only slightly relieved that Carter/Oliver
wasn’t part of the contents of the cooler. However, all of this was freaking insane! And my hand was burning again. Oscar was holding it, so I couldn’t scratch it.

He moved to the center of the room, tugging me along with him. Then he crouched and lifted a door in the floor. He led me down some steps into a room under the orchard.

There were several others in the room, but I paid them no attention as I searched for one specific face. I was relieved when I found Oliver still alive in Carter’s body. However, I wasn’t happy that he was chained to a wall by his ankles and wrists.

At the foot of the stairs I let go of Oscar’s hand
, and rushing to “Carter,” I didn’t even realize Avery was there until she was right in front of me. I shoved her. Hard. Stupid bitch.

“Carter’s” wrists were bleeding where some old-style shackles were holding his arms up. Thankfully, the cuffs at his ankles
were over his jeans. His face was also bleeding. Or had been. A streak of dried blood was crusted across his cheek, making his black eye and split lip stand out even more.

“Oh my god. You’re okay
, I said in a rush” I stretched up on my toes and kissed his lips, realizing too late that they were Carter’s lips. As I pulled my mouth from his, his eyes were wide on mine.

Shit.

“
Tsk, tsk, tsk
.” I heard the sound and spun around. “This is an interesting turn of events,” Tobin Weslin said.

Although I knew it was a possibility, it still surprised me to see Ashton and Avery’s dad there. But I was also relieved that it was him and not my grandfather. Although curious, I was pretty sure I
didn’t want to encounter that man.

I stood in front of Carter’s body, shielding it with my own.

Oscar was behind Mr. Weslin. He looked very…curious, with his arms folded and his index finger tapping against his lips, as if he were studying the scene. I wondered if he’d just led me to my doom.

“What the hell do you want?” I snapped at Mr. Weslin.

My eyes darted around as the others in the room began moving and coming toward us. There were quite a few of them, probably close to twenty, at least. A variety of characters too, and mostly men. Men that looked worn and desperate. There was no way for me to get out of there on my own.

As Tobin Weslin spoke, my eyes darted back to his gray
ones. Avery was right beside him, a wicked smile in place. “I bet your vampire won’t be very happy when he finds out you carry a torch for this mess.” Tobin said, gesturing toward Carter’s body.

I looked to Oscar who had moved and was casually leaning against a beam near the foot of the stairs. He gave me a very quick shake of his head. They didn’t know. They thought Carter was really Carter.

“I’ll take her vamp off her hands for her,” Avery said. She smirked at me.

I felt my temper flare. I focused on Avery and considered going after her. I looked her up and down, wondering why she was grasping a water bottle with dirty water in it.

While I looked her over, I noticed she was surprisingly dressed down, for Avery. She was wearing jeans, a thin, low-cut sweater, and some flats. She had on a ton of makeup. So much in fact, she was clown-like. I feared Carter might be frightened by her when he arrived. And I was hoping he and Felix would do so soon…

“You will do no such thing,” her father scolded. “Those vampires will do nothing but get you killed. Believe me. I know.” His eyes returned to mine. I glared at him. “Step away from the mutt, Delaney. We’ll end him while we wait for your vampire to arrive. Consider it a favor to you, practice for us.”