CURSED 1

I LOVE YOU CHRIS

I stared, stunned. But I didn’t know what to do. But suddenly—amazingly—I

wasn’t weak anymore. In fact, I felt incredibly strong. But they were still so far away.

below. What could I do? Still, my body felt suddenly indestructible, stronger

than I had ever felt before. I had never taken steroids, but I imagined this is what

They felt like—times ten.

I stood up. I felt ten feet tall. I looked down...and without thinking, I jumped.

And I didn’t just jump. I dove headfirst, as if from a high diving board. As I

fell, I stretched my hands and felt the wind thunder over me. I knew I was going

to die. I had to die. What was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking. It had almost been

instinct to jump. But an instinct bore from what? But it didn’t matter. I had

jumped. I had just done it without thinking twice.

Too late now. Too late to even care.

But what a way to go!

I plummeted down. The wind whipped my clothes and hair crazily. My body

felt unbelievably strong. I almost felt as if I could fly. Probably everyone who

Jumps thinks this. Perhaps this is the last thought all jumpers have before they hit

bottom:

That they could fly.

But I did feel as if I could fly. In fact, I was suddenly certain I could fly. Of

Of course, I was certain. I had no other hope to hang onto. I was about to get dashed

across the rocky bottom and who wouldn’t wish they could fly?

And that’s when something amazing happens.

I stopped picking up speed. In fact, it felt almost as if I was slowing down.

Maybe that was part of death, too. Everything slows down, right before I

hit bottom.

But I didn’t hit bottom. In fact, I was slowing down even more.

What the hell?

I looked at my arms, and that’s when I received the shock of my life. My

arms weren’t arms. My arms were wings. Beautiful white wings. I instinctively

angled my arms—or wings—and I swooped up, just missing the ground and the

shocked faces below. I made my way up into the sky again. I yelled out, and an

An eagle-like screech echoed along the canyon walls.

Somehow, I had transitioned. Somehow, I had turned into...the white eagle.

Lena!

I looked down, and my eyesight was amazing. I could see all the details.

below. Lena was still in Atticai’s arms. Her head was forward. He was fastened

to her neck like a goddamn sucker fish. He was drinking deeply, his throat

working, swallowing her life force. A deep bruise had formed around her neck.

where he was sucking her blood, sucking and sucking...

I angled my wings, tucked them in, and dove down.

I shot through the night, going faster than I had ever gone in my life. It was

exhilarating. Atticai never saw me coming. Someone—Wyatt, I think—shouted

to his vampire leader, but it was too late.

I slammed hard into Atticai, piercing his neck with my great, hooked beak.

The force of the impact was great. Atticai was thrown to the side, spinning.

through the air. My beak, I saw, had gone to one side of his neck and out the

other. Just as Yari had said to do.

Atticai rolled across the dirt, and I rolled with him, tucking in my wings. We

were still deeply attached. Finally, we stopped and he opened his mouth,

gasping. His terrified, confused eyes fell on me. And they widened even more as

He realized what he was seeing...a white eagle. His mouth worked. Blood poured

out of his nose and mouth, dripping over my own beak.

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, unable to find his voice.

I considered killing him. I considered watching the bastard die, but he had

spared me once—although it had been a half-assed gesture. Still, I decided to

return the favor.

Except, I didn’t know how to transition back. What was I supposed to do?

And suddenly, within seconds, I found myself—my normal self—lying next to a

bleeding Atticai. Apparently, just wanting to transition back was all that was

necessary to switch back and forth.

“You...” gasped Atticai, holding his neck and sitting up. “You were the one in

the visions. I didn’t know. How could I have known? You were the Chosen

One.” Atticai coughed, and more blood dribbled down his chin. “I was the evil. I

was evil in the dream.”

Atticai closed his eyes and then just disappeared. On a night, when I had

found myself turned into a white eagle, seeing a man disappear in front of me,

really freaked me out. But I didn’t have time to worry about it. Next on the list

would be to save Yari; that is, if I wasn’t too late.

I scrambled to my feet, and discovered I was still wearing the same clothes I

had been. Okay, now that was a neat trick.

Focus, Josiah. Find Yari.

But I didn’t have far to go, or much to worry about. She was standing with

Wyatt and Hector, all three of whom were staring at me, open-mouthed. Yari

stood still, staring at me as if she had seen a ghost. And that’s saying something.

about a girl who was already extremely pale-faced and was a supernatural being.

herself.

“You’re the one, Josiah. You’re the Chosen One. I can’t believe it.”

“Never mind that, we need to help Lena.” I turned and spotted her lying on

the ground. Blood dribbled from her neck, soaking into the dirt around her. I ran

to her side and picked her up. She didn’t look as if she was breathing.

“What do I do?” I yelled. “Someone tell me what to do!”

“There is only one thing you can do, Josiah,” said Yari.

“What? Tell me!”

Amazingly, the others didn’t seem to care what happened to Lena. Why

Should they? They were used to killing; they were used to death. What was one?

more dead Tandra to them?

“Tell me, or I’ll rip all of your f*****g hearts out!” I screamed.

“She is lost,” Yari said. “Unless....”

“Unless what?”

“Unless you choose to turn her.”

“What the devil are you talking about?”

“To save Lena, you will need to turn her into a Mani.”

“I don’t understand.”

Yari smiled gently at me. “You are one of us, Josiah. You have been bitten

three times by a man. It takes three bites to turn her.”

Through my scattered, crazed thoughts, I realized she was right. The first had

been when Wyatt bit me. The second had been when Yari sucked the poison out.

of me. And third had been Hector, up on the cliff. That’s why I was able to

transition.

“You need to help her become a man, or she’ll die. She has lost too much

blood.”

“But you just said three bites...”

“This will be her second bite.” Atticai was obviously the first one. Yari

walked over and lifted Lena’s wrist and bit down into it, drawing a small amount

of blood. Blood dribbled out, but certainly not as much as I would have thought,

until I remembered how much blood Atticai had surely consumed.

“Now, you Josiah,” said Yari gently. “But you need to get her conscious.”

“Why?”

“Perhaps she should have some say in the matter?”

“Of course.” God, I wasn’t thinking at all. Who could, under these

circumstances? But I did as I was told. I patted her face gently. “Lena, wake up.”

I repeated this a few more times until her eyelids fluttered and finally opened.

“Josiah?” she whispered.

I smiled down at her. She was still in my arms. “Yes. Lena, I need to

know...do you seriously want to become a mani?”

Lena smiled. “Of course, Josiah. That’s all I ever wanted.”

I looked at Yari. “Now what?”

“Bite her anywhere. Allow your new teeth to pierce her deep enough so that

Her blood flows into your mouth. Drink it and swallow. It won’t have to be

much. Just enough so that the bond is felt by the Troat.”

“Okay.”

I ran my tongue over my “new teeth,” pausing at the canines. My tongue

stopped and slid along the full length of them. They were as long as a mountain

lion’s incisors. Hell, longer.

“Hurry, Josiah,” said Lena.

I nodded, opened my mouth, leaned down, and sank those new teeth deep into

her neck, the opposite side where Atticai had feasted. Her blood tasted metallic.

and warm...and utterly delicious. I stopped, forcing myself to pull back. I

released my teeth and looked down at her. And before my very eyes, the two

Puncture wounds in her neck closed. As did the wounds on both of her wrists.

She looked up at me and smiled.

“You can set me down,” she said.

I did so, and she stood and rubbed her neck, and I could only stare in stunned.

silence. It was all so much to take in. I knew that at any moment, I would up

up from some long-ass dream, no doubt fueled by some highly illegal

hallucinogenic drug, slipped into me by some nefarious means. But for now, I was

awake. Wide awake. And I was a Mani.

“What happened to Atticai?” asked Lena, looking around. I knew then that

She had sincerely loved the tall bastard.

“Atticai is gone,” Yari said.

“Is he okay?”

Yari shook her head, and Lena covered her mouth. Finally, she said, “So the

prophecy wasn’t fulfilled?”

“Oh, it was fulfilled, just not by Atticai.”

“I don’t understand,” said Lena.

“Josiah is the Chosen One.”

She stared at me, and it was then that I also knew that she had strong feelings.

for me, too. Yari saw the look that passed between us, and didn’t like it, but she

didn’t say anything. I turned to Wyatt and Hector. Both were openly staring at

me, and both looked nervous as hell.

“Relax, guys.”

“We cool?” Wyatt asked. “I mean, no hard feelings about us, um, trying to

kill you and all?”

“Oh, I’ll be kicking your ass later, but for now, we’re cool.”

They both grinned, and we all stood there in silence. I wasn’t entirely sure.

what had just happened, but I knew more would be explained to me, much more.

But for now, there was only one thing I wanted to do. Well, two.

“Let’s get out of here, guys,” I said.

We all transitioned: Lena and Yari into beautiful red hawks, Hector and

Wyatt into black ravens, and myself into the great white eagle.

We flew, together, over the San Bernardino Mountains. I am now part of the

Children of the Night. I was now a Mani. I was now supposed to be their savior.

But two beautiful women, C.O.N. business, and even the suspicions of my new

Henchmen would have to wait.

My first order of business was to find Tommy..

TO CONTINUE....