The Cursed (The Unearthly) (22 page)

I saw the whites of her eyes flash
—
saw true fear in them. Lila didn’t want to die. The thought terrified her. “I already have a place of honor in hell,” she said, her voice wavering.

I cocked my head at her. “Are you sure?”

This time I smelled rather than saw her fear. “I’ll see you there, Proserpine,” she promised.

“No, you won’t.” In one smooth stroke I slit her throat. “And my name is Gabrielle.”

Chapter 30

When I turned
back to the castle, Andre stood at the entrance, watching me. My dark sentinel. He must’ve witnessed Lila’s execution.

We stared at each other across the expanse of land, and then we were moving. I held my side as I ran, though the injury had mostly sealed up. My legs pumped furiously, and my weakened body screamed at me to rest. I promised it I would once I was back in my soulmate’s arms.

We met somewhere in the middle. Andre lifted me in his arms, crushing me to him. I ignored the sharp stabs of pain that came along with his embrace. Instead I cupped his face and kissed him.

Our lips moved over one another’s as though it were our last. I welcomed the warm sweep of his tongue as it invaded my mouth. There was a time this evening where I hadn’t been sure I’d ever get this again. I rubbed my hands over his cheeks, smiling a little at the feel of stubble.

He groaned into my mouth and reluctantly pulled away. “I can’t live without you, soulmate,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine.

“That’s funny, because apparently I can’t die without you,” I said.

I’d officially become one of those girls. The gross romantics. Screw it, I’d earned the right to be disgustingly cute with my scary vampire.

“I’m glad to hear it soulmate,” Andre said, smiling. “So, so glad to hear it.”

“
Well, my winter
break wasn’t totally a bust,” Oliver said, entering Andre’s place behind us. “I got to shoot some foo’s and help save the day.”

“Yeah,” I said, glanced behind me at him, “well one of those
foo’s
just happened to be me. Still haven’t forgiven you for that.”

“Geez, I said I was sorry!” Oliver said. “I was trying to stop that trollop from escaping.”

That trollop I’d killed. I swallowed at the memory. In response, Andre’s arm tightened around my waist.

“Next time, Oliver,” I said, “do us all a favor and aim.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Maybe my hands had a mind of their own. Maybe they wanted me to take out the more annoying of the two lusty women in the room.”

Andre growled low in his throat.

“Oh, you do
not
get to get annoyed, Andre,” I said. “You were the one who gave him the gun.”

Andre gave me an innocent look, as if to say,
Who moi?

“That look doesn’t work when you’re covered in blood,” I said.

Oliver glanced between the two of us. “Are you guys
finally
going to do the deed? ’Cause if you are, then Caleb and I should probably leave, lest you two destroy another house.”

I glanced at Caleb. After waking up in a nearby town
—
right where the devil said he would be
—
Caleb had called in to the Politia. He’d been responsible for their arrival.

Since we met up with him at a Politia station, he’d been quiet. My guess was that he was suffering from some form of survivor’s guilt.

“If you really must know, fairy, I’m planning on feeding Gabrielle,” Andre said, giving me an intense look. “What happens after that is none of your damn business
—
unless, of course, you’re interested in donating some blood to help her cause?”

Oliver cringed. “Um,
pass
.”

We stopped in the entryway, and Andre turned to Oliver and Caleb. “Then we’ll see you tomorrow evening.”

The two guys got the hint and headed off towards their rooms. Not that they needed any extra prodding. It was late, and by late I meant early in the morning.

I raised my eyebrows at Andre as he whisked me down the hall. “
We
won’t be seeing them until tomorrow evening?” I asked, when we entered Andre’s kitchen.

He set me on the counter, his hips pressed between my legs. His eyes looked haunted. “I’m worried that my blood may have sped along your transition. If it has, you’ll probably have to start sleeping during the day.”

I frowned. “I don’t feel any different.”

Andre’s lips thinned, and he placed an ear to my chest. “Your heart beats twice as slowly as it did last night.”

My lips parted in surprise.

Andre lifted his head and his lips skimmed my neck. Goosebumps rose along my skin.

“The smells of your skin are now much fainter
—
all but the scent of siren, which won’t fade.”

I tunneled my fingers through his hair, and tilted his head back to face me. “Please tell me that my body no longer has to die before I become a vampire.”

Andre’s eyes searched mine, and in them I saw remorse.

“Damnit,” I whispered, my brows pulling together. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“The truth,” he said, “is that I don’t know. When it comes to you, all the rules that govern the supernatural world get thrown out the window.”

He clasped the sides of my face, his touch feather light. “
Are
you okay, soulmate?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I feel better.”

He gave his head a shake. “I mean emotionally. A lot happened to you this evening.”

He didn’t know the half of it. I hadn’t had a chance to tell him how the devil had kissed me, that he’d declared we were married, that he’d been a hair’s breadth away from binding me to hell. I’d managed to spurn him again, which could not have made the king of darkness my biggest fan. Nope, I’d place lots of money that if he ever got the chance to touch me again, he’d make sure I knew exactly what hell felt like.

The sound of footsteps saved me from responding.

“Sir.” One of Andre’s men entered the kitchen, clearing his throat when he saw the two of us together.

Andre turned to face him. “What is it, Reginald?”

“The Elders waited for your attendance this evening. They asked me to pass along the warning that the next time you’ll be charged with a misdemeanor for failing to appear in court.”

Andre waved him off. “Let them know that I was indisposed, and that I will have to take off the next several days as well.”

Without batting an eyelash, Reginald nodded and left the room.

I gave Andre a disbelieving look. “So vampire Elders kidnap me the first time they catch wind that I’m in the area, but you can just say you’re indisposed, and they’ll back off?”

Andre arched an eyebrow. “I’m the king of vampires,” he said, as if that explained everything.

He moved away from me and walked over to his fridge, grabbed something from inside it. My breath caught when I saw what he held in his hand. Blood.

Andre came back over to where I was perched on his counter. “Here,” he said, placing the bag in my hand and closing my fingers around it.

I grimaced at the thing in my hands. It was cold. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“I was thinking we could play Hot Potato with it,” Andre said. The side of his mouth quirked. The bastard was trying not to laugh.

I gave Andre a slitty-eyed look. “How do you even know what that game is?”

“Amazingly soulmate,” he said, “I have learned a thing or two during my time on earth. Now do me a favor and at least give the blood a try. It even has a little straw so that my baby vampire doesn’t have to get her fangs dirty,” he said pointing to the top of the bag.

“Ha-ha
—
you’re not funny.”

He gave me a look that said he disagreed. “I want you to drink it.”

“Andre, no.” Ew. As if I hadn’t seen
—
and drank
—
enough blood tonight.

He brought the bag to my mouth. “
Please
,” he said, his eyes smoldering.

My hand trembled from exhaustion. I could do this. I’d shanked a bitch, dodged the devil, and survived death three times over. I was a badass.

Except when it came to blood.

“Let the record show that I’m only doing this because you asked nicely,” I said. “See how far good manners go?”

Andre’s lips twitched again. “I am amazed that in all my seven hundred years I hadn’t discovered this asking-for-permission thing,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and letting his fingers run down my jaw. “It seems to be especially effective with the ladies.”

“Hardy-har-har,” I said, but I melted under his gaze.

He gave the blood bag a meaningful glance.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop stalling.” I brought the plastic straw to my lips and, drawing together my courage, I took a pull. As soon as the thick liquid hit my tongue, I grimaced … at the temperature, not the taste. I also might’ve been little disgusted that the source of the blood was a plastic bag and not a big hunk of man.

This was so messed up.

In spite of my distaste, I didn’t stop drinking until the bag was gone. Andre took it from me and gave me another. I felt like a kid drinking Capri Sun, sitting there on the kitchen counter, sucking my drink through a straw.

So much for me being a badass. This was totally ruining my image.

Once I’d finished a third bag, Andre declared I’d gotten enough color back to stop drinking.

“Don’t you need to feed as well?” I asked him as he threw away the discarded blood bags.

“Once I know you’re okay, I will.”

“But you lost a lot of blood.” Even now I eyed his bloody arms.

He came back over to me, a teasing smile tugging the corners of his lips. “Soulmate, I’ve fared far worse. I promise I’ll take care of myself, but for now, let me worry about you.” Andre didn’t say it, but I could swear he was all sorts of pleased that I’d shown concern for his vampy needs.

He leaned in and placed his ear against my chest. When he pulled away his expression was grim.

“It’s not speeding up, is it?” I asked.

“No.”

I placed a hand to my heart. “But I can feel you here,” I said, a happy smile drawing the corners of my lips up. It vanished when I remembered my time with the devil. “I couldn’t when I was with
him
.”

Andre’s face looked pained. “I couldn’t feel you for a while either.” He placed his hand over mine. “Did he … hurt you?”

I pursed my lips and chewed the inside of my mouth. “Not in the way you think. He kissed me and tried to do more, but it never happened.”

Andre’s hands gripped the marble countertops on either side of me, and I heard the rock groan.

“He kept insisting we were married,” I whispered.

Andre’s nostrils flared. “Not yet you’re not.”

“Why did I live?” I asked, searching his eyes.

Andre shook his head. “I don’t know Gabrielle. The connection between us was gone. Severed. I swear you were dead. Perhaps the knife missed your heart? Perhaps the other fates interceded from afar? For all we know, it could’ve been divine intervention.”

My head snapped up at that. “Does the big guy upstairs even do that sort of thing?” I asked, remembering my thoughts in those critical moments before I left the devil’s presence.

Andre gave me a long look. “All the damn time.”

Like Andre warned
, I got sleepy as soon as the sky began to lighten. By then he’d fed, and we’d both washed off the remnants of our night from hell.

He took my hand. “If you want, you can sleep with me.”

I glanced up at him. Was that vulnerability in Andre’s voice?

“Is it … going to be weird?” I asked.

Andre ran a hand along the back of his neck. He was being bashful
—
bashful
! “It might take some getting used to,” he admitted. “When I sleep, I don’t move at all
—
not even a heartbeat or a breath of air. It can be disconcerting.”

As disconcerting as the evening we just had? I think not.

“I’d like that,” I said, smiling shyly.

Andre flashed me a heart-stopping grin, and I realized that I’d managed to say just the right thing.

I was alive, with my soulmate, and back in the world of the living. Perhaps I wasn’t so cursed after all.

Chapter 31

Oh I was
cursed all right.

I looked around me. I was back in the woods outside Bran Castle, barefoot and in that same stupid white gown.

“Dang it all, I thought I’d at least get a single night’s sleep before having to see this hellhole again.” And I do mean hellhole literally.

“You can never escape me.” The devil’s voice came from behind me.

I stifled my shriek and closed my eyes. My stomach clenched painfully and my hands began to shake. Fear pumped through my veins and my skin felt like it wanted to shed itself from my body. Anything to get away from the being at my back.

I couldn’t say whether it was the devil or me that had changed, but we were back to our former relationship.

“It’s both of us,” he said, his voice calm and even. I wouldn’t have thought him upset at all, except that I could feel the waves of malice rolling off of him.

I open my eyes and turned to face him. My hair stood on end. He watched me with barely contained rage simmering in his eyes.

“You broke your promise,” he said.

“Yeah, well now you know how it feels to get tricked. Not very nice, is it?”

He moved faster than I could follow, grabbing my neck and shoving me against a nearby tree. “You need to learn your place. Trying to teach me a lesson will only earn you lots and lots of pain. And to my ears your cries will be sweeter than your music, siren.”

My whole body trembled under his hand, my muscles seizing up only to spasm at random intervals. I clawed at the hand squeezing my neck.

“Because you are my consort, I will give you this warning: I promised that I’d betray every one of your secrets to those who’d wish you harm. And I will make good on that promise.”

The clause of our earlier agreement suddenly made a whole lot of sense.

“Ah,” he said, watching my reaction, “you finally get it. You will end up at my side one way or another. Did you really think that I’d let you go so easily?”

No, but I still thought I’d pulled off my grand escape.

“You, my little bird, have quite a few unsavory secrets, and tomorrow, they will be in the hands of those who’d wish you ill.”

I swallowed. I had the kind of secrets that could get me killed, which was exactly what the devil wanted.

“How would you know my secrets and my enemies?”

He arched an eyebrow. “Is someone worried?”

“No.”
Yes.
I lifted my chin. “Twice you’ve tried to kidnap me and force me into hell, and twice you’ve failed,” I said. “What makes you think a little negative publicity will bring me back to you?”

A slow, sinful smile spread across the devil’s face, and I knew
—
I
knew
—
I was doomed from that expression alone. “I did better this time didn’t I? Making you believe I was a gentleman. Maybe next time you
will
believe me. Maybe next time I’ll mean it, too.”

I eyed the monster in front of me. The devil was talking in riddles. Riddles that made me realize that I couldn’t understand a creature as complex as him.

The devil’s grip on my neck relaxed, and then he let me go.

I staggered away from him, shivers racking up down my body.

“Consort.”

My body went rigid at his tone. I threw a glance over my shoulder.

The devil assessed me with a nefarious twinkle in his eye. “The apocalypse is coming, and you’re a key player in it. Enjoy your final days as a mortal. Once they’re over, you’re mine.”

I was in
Andre’s jet when the news hit.

I’d stretched out along one of the couches, my head in Andre’s lap, and I attempted to read a book while Andre played with my hair. My eyes
might
have fluttered shut once or twice, and I
might
have let out a contented sigh each time Andre’s hand strayed from my hair to caress my cheek.

Since last night we’d been like this
—
constantly touching. Whether it was a product of Andre’s blood running through my veins, our strengthening bond, or the fact that I nearly died, we’d come to some sort of understanding that we couldn’t live
—
or die
—
without one another.

“How many times have you reread the sentence you’re on?” Andre whispered. I could hear the smile in his voice. The punk knew what he was doing to me.

I closed the book and tried to swat him with it. He caught it and plucked it from my hands.

His face replaced the lines of text as he leaned over me. “I think you must’ve come back from the dead a little bit wickeder. The Gabrielle I knew never would’ve tried to bludgeon me with a book.”

Just as I sat up and narrowed my eyes at him, he pulled out a small present from the bag sitting on his other side. “Now that I’ve got your attention, I wanted to give you your very late Christmas present.”

My eyes widened. I glanced down at the gift, and then back up at Andre. “But I don’t have a gift for you.”

Andre cupped my chin and drew my face forward. “Then it’s a good thing your presence is gift enough.”

“You always have the perfect line, don’t you?” I accused.

He flashed me a wolfish grinned. “It’s one of the perks of living as long as I have.” He let my chin go and handed me the box.

I stared down at it.

“Open it,” he encouraged.

I hesitantly slid a finger beneath the edge of the wrapping paper and began to tear through it. Under the wrapping was a thin cardboard box. I flashed Andre a curious look before I opened the lid.

Inside was a plane ticket to … “Los Angeles?” I asked, glancing up.

“To visit your mother for spring break.”

“But how will I explain this to her?” I asked.

Andre smiled. “Leanne’s your cover. As far as your mother’s concerned, her family is paying for you, her, and Oliver to visit California for spring break. I did mention that she and Oliver will be joining you, didn’t I?”

A slow smile spread across my face, even as my eyebrows pinched together. “How could you have possibly known … ?”

The satellite flight phone next to Andre rang, interrupting my question. Andre winked at me, grinning, and I caught a flash of fang.

He grabbed the phone and brought it to his ear. “Andre,” he answered.

I stared at the tickets. I’d finally get to see my mother. Somehow, Andre had known I’d been missing her like crazy. And he’d even included my friends in the gift.

As soon as the thought of my friends crossed my mind, I wondered if Oliver had already made it back to Peel Academy via ley line. Instantaneous travel was more appealing to him than flying in a private jet.

My thoughts drifted to Caleb. He was probably still tying up loose ends with the Romanian division of the Politia. I should’ve been there too, but I’d allowed Andre to bribe me out of the country early. Between getting kidnapped
—
twice
—
gagged, stabbed, shot, and nearly beheaded, I’d reached my physical and emotional limit. And that wasn’t even counting my terrifying visit with the devil. Romania had officially lived up to all the spooky stories I’d read about.

Next to me, Andre’s body froze, drawing my attention back to the present.

“This is a joke, right?” Andre said.

“Not a joke. Check the news.”

Andre cursed. “Will do. Thanks for the heads up.”

I sat up as Andre set the phone back in its cradle. “What’s going on?” I asked, trying not to sound too interested.

A muscle in Andre’s jaw feathered. “There’s been a leak.”

“A leak?” I repeated.

In response, Andre got up and grabbed his laptop. Sitting back down next to me, he opened it up and logged onto the supernatural community’s news site.

When the front page loaded, I covered my mouth. On it was a spread, and yours truly was the top story.

Gabrielle Fiori: The Long-Awaited Anti-Christ

Anti-Christ. My eyes wouldn’t stop returning back to that word. Crap, could it actually be true?

Stories like this one had run periodically in the past two months, but they’d been so sensationalized that they were discredited almost immediately. But this … this was a front-page story on
the
site for supernatural news. That kind of attention only came when the news was credible.

I leaned over Andre’s shoulder and skimmed the story. It went on for pages, citing sources, pointing to evidence the community already had on me and discussing some ancient artifacts that accurately prophesized my fate. Some oracle had foreseen this whole shebang a long time ago. The prophecy had been scribed onto an ostrich egg in Teoian, the lost language of the gods. A month ago, cryptologists finished decoding the dead language, and shortly thereafter, researchers deciphered the ostrich egg prophecy.

How convenient.

Of course other mysterious artifacts had begun showing up over the last couple of months that validated the Teoian inscription. And if that wasn’t enough, seers, psychometrics, and witches had been called in to shed light on the prophecy. Each one independently came to the same conclusion: Gabrielle Fiori was fated to marry the devil and bring hell on earth.

“Fuuuuuuuck,” I drawled out.

At the end of the article were links to some related stories: “Gabrielle Fiori Soulmates with Andre de Leon: How the King of Vampires is Aiding the Devil”; “Gabrielle Fiori Prophesized to Lead the Vampire Genocide”; “Has Gabrielle Already Married the King of the Underworld?”.

Only now did my dream from last night come flooding back. I rubbed my eyes. The devil really had divulged all of my unsavory secrets. And right now Andre and I were only staring at the secrets themselves. Who knew how many enemies were out there right now learning about them and readying to use them against me.

Andre let out a disgusted sound and cast aside the laptop. He stood and began to pace, rubbing his jaw.

I nervously twisted the ring he gave me round and round my finger. “Andre, there’s something you should know.”

He stopped to stare at me, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

“When I visited the devil, I made a deal with him.”

“
Gabrielle
.”

I winced at Andre’s tone. “I know, I know. But at the time it was either make a deal with him or do
the deed
.”

Andre’s mouth thinned, reminding me that he still knew very little about what happened to me last night.

“So I made a deal with him, … and then I reneged on it.”

The muscle in Andre’s jaw was ticking like crazy, but he stayed silent.

“One of his conditions was that if I broke my oath, he’d reveal all my secrets to those who’d wished me harm. As you can see, the devil made good on his promise.”

Andre’s face paled. “He revealed all your secrets?”

I nodded.

“And to those who’d use them against you?”

Well, to be honest, it looked like he revealed my secrets to the entire world, but I nodded anyway.

Andre cursed and grabbed the satellite phone once more. “I need to make some calls.”

I bit the inside of my lip and nodded. It was my turn to pace as Andre talked on the phone. I tried to not eavesdrop, but even still, phrases such as “devil’s consort,” “imminent death,” and “wanted for future crimes against humanity” kept drawing my attention back to Andre.

When Andre finally ended the last of his calls, he dragged a hand down his mouth.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The House of Keys, my coven, and several religious groups are all actively hunting you at the moment. They want you
—
dead or alive. You’ve also been placed on hit lists by the more unsavory groups
—
Satanists, practitioners of the dark arts, possessed humans
—
the list goes on and on.”

“More hit lists?” I croaked, my throat dry. Being on one was bad enough. Now I was on several?

Andre ran a hand through his hair. “The good guys want you gone, and the bad guys want to get credited with delivering you to the devil.”

In the supernatural world, good and evil never agreed upon anything. Not until I came along.

That sucked gigantic balls.

“We need to get off the grid,” Andre said.

“You mean … go into hiding?” No school, no Politia, no freedom. The idea that my remaining days might be spent in some heavily fortified safety house frightened me. I’d just gotten a big enough taste of death to know that I wanted to enjoy life while I still had it.

But I might not get a choice either way.

Andre’s eyes were pleading. “Please don’t fight me on this, Gabrielle. I
can’t
watch you die again. I won’t.”

I shook my head. “I’m not going to fight you. But … you’re coming with me?”

Andre crossed the room until he stood in front of me. “We’ve already been over this, soulmate. Where you go, I follow.”

I was going to be on the run, but Andre would be next to me the entire time.

“I need to go talk to the pilot about changing course.” Just as Andre spoke, the jet dipped.

Our eyes met. Perhaps this was the normal turbulence. Perhaps it wasn’t.

Andre went to the cockpit, and naturally, I followed, grabbing the wall as the plane dipped again.

“What’s going on?” Andre demanded.

“We’re being ordered to land the plane,” one of the pilots said.

“Who’s giving the orders?”

“The House of Keys.”

In front of me, Andre’s body went rigid. “You are not to land this jet,” he said.

“Mr. de Leon, these are executive orders. I will lose my license if I don’t.”

“And you’ll lose your life if you do.”

I heard the man’s delicate swallow, I could smell the sweat gathering on his neck as well as that of the copilot.

“Sir,” the pilot said, “their orders state that if we don’t land the plane, they’ll shoot us out of the sky.

I doubled back to look at the pilot. Did I just hear him correctly?

A long silence stretched on. “Fine,” Andre said, “land the plane.”

I rubbed my face. I was going to die in a matter of minutes.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the pilot said.

Andre wasn’t listening. He strode past me, heading to the back of the plane.

I walked over to the couch and sat down heavily, resting my head in my hands. “Why does everyone think that killing me is the answer?” I said to myself.

“Because they are idiots.” Andre walked back into the cabin holding two canvas backpacks. “Here,” he said, handing me one of them, “put this on.”

I took it from him and eyed it warily. Now that I took a closer look, there were way too many straps for this to be
just
a backpack. Which meant …

“Is this a parachute?” I asked, standing up. Dread pooled low in my stomach.

He wrapped his hands around my upper shoulders. “Do you trust me?”

“You want me to jump out of a plane,” I stated. Only people in the movies jumped out of planes. Well, them and adrenaline junkies. But this was not comparable to skydiving. Not when we were up higher, flying faster, and people were after us.

Andre gave me a firm shake. “Do you trust me?” he repeated.