CURSED 1

THIS IS THE END

My truck bounded onto the rocks at the Flatlands, where I soon skidded to a

halt.

There was a small party going on out there, maybe about twenty guys total.

But they were scattered around, more casual than the other night. I jumped out of

my truck and looked around for Attica. Everyone stared at me. I stalked toward

them. There, he was. The tall goon was standing by himself near a bonfire.

“Josiah,” he said, and turned to face me. The firelight highlighted his gaunt

feature. His striking nose, his small eyes. He said, “You might want to watch

your every move from this point on.”

“Why? You going to claim I’m a werewolf and kill me, too?”

Atticism's dark eyes, reflecting the firelight, focused on mine. “Josiah, you will

turn around and leave.”

“Are you seriously trying to mind-control me? You’re not a Jedi knight and

I’m certainly not a Storm Trooper.”

I continued forward. Atticai, amazingly, seemed a little confused. Did he

honestly think he could mind-control me? The depths of his delusion were

unfathomable. I cracked my neck by turning it until it sounded like popcorn.

exploded. Attica was going to get the beating of her life. I said, “Did you kill?

Tommy, Atticai?”

He didn’t answer me.

I kept moving, stalking through the low grass of the clearing. “Did you kill?

my best f*****g friend, you worthless piece of s**t?”

Attica snapped her fingers. Suddenly, those people who were scattered

, throughout the Flatlands they turned silently and left, getting into their various

vehicles and leaving. I stopped in my tracks and watched them leave, one after

another. All because Atticai snapped his fingers. Seriously, what the hell? Only

Wyatt and about five others were left. The five guys walked over to the bonfire,

which now separates Attica and separates

“Only a lot are left?” Attica asked Wyatt. Wyatt nodded. Atticai seemed

pleased. “Josiah, what exactly are you intending to do here all by yourself?”

I got into a fighter’s position. That should have been answer enough for them.

“You seriously think you’re going to be able to fight all of us? We all saw

What could anyone do to you? I’d say you don’t have much of a chance.”

“I don’t want to fight anyone, Attica. Just you, you disillusioned vampire

fuck.”

“A disillusioned vampire f**k is it?” Attic repeated, laughing. “Wow, I have

been called a lot of strange things over the last three hundred years, but that is

one of the most amusing.”

“Three hundred years, my ass.”

“I’m glad you’re not a believer, Josiah, because that just might be what saves

your life.”

“Because the supposed Troat will spare me?”

“Ah. So you know about the Troat. Your furry-face friend, Tommy, either let

you in on his secret, or you’ve been talking to someone else. And since Ari

knows better than to do that. Well, that means you must have been talking to

Lena. Alone, no doubt.”

Attica ran at me in a millisecond. He open-hand punched me with more force.

than I had ever felt in life. I flew backwards about ten feet.

“Did you put your grimy Andrea's hands on her?” Attica yelled at me as I

rolled on the sharp rocks. Man, that was painful.

I got to my feet. “I haven’t touched Lena.” Attica stared at me like a crazed

animal. I didn’t know what to do. Attica was the strongest human being I had.

ever felt strike me. I stared at his position. I needed him to run at me again. If

He did, I could drop my body to the left and use his momentum against him. It

was a classic move, one that would allow me to get a good choke hold.

Attica came at me again. Fast—hell, perhaps even faster than last time. But I

was ready for him this time. Or, at least, as ready as I could be. He was reckless.

cocky, confident, and I used that against him.

As he raised his fist, no doubt to deliver a hell of a killer blow, I dropped,

caught his arm and flipped him. In a practiced motion, I rolled with him, getting

My other arm was around his neck, in a perfect choke hold.

Fuck this piece of s**t.

I locked in tight and hard. He kicked, struggling, fighting, gasping. I felt

spilled over my forearm. Blood. Good. I squeezed even harder.

“Transition!” Wyatt yelled frantically.

Atticai was weakening. Did vampires need air? I didn’t know, and I didn’t

care. Attica should have been out by now. Hell, he should have been dead by

now, but he was still fighting me, still struggling.

And that’s when something mind-boggling happened.

Suddenly, I was holding nothing. Suddenly, where had Attica just been?

Struggling for air, a battered bird flew away. It was a black raven.

I didn’t have time to react. Everything was happening so fast. Dreams happen

fast, too, or slow.

Before I could fully comprehend that Attica seemed to have turned into a

giant raven, Wyatt, slammed into me hard from the side, tackling me to the

ground. The impact rocked me, rattling my brain and teeth. It was all I could do.

to focus my eyes before Wyatt unleashed a ferocious pummeling. His fists

moving faster than I could react. I must have taken ten or fifteen full shots of the

face before he finally let up. I’ve been hit before, and I’ve been hit hard. No way

? Was this fucker going to take me down? The moment he let up, I bucked hard. He

lost his balance and now I was scrambling to my feet.

The world spun. Blood gushed from multiple cuts around my eyes and

forehead. I needed just a moment to get my bearings, to clear my head, and then

That fucker Wyatt was next.

He continued backing off. Good, I caught my breath. My eyes and head

cleared slowly. Wyatt was strong as hell, too, and his punches had done some

damage. And that’s when the battered raven flew back, alighting on the ground.

next to Wyatt.

A moment later, the raven began to spread out, to elongate. I was sure my

My head was still spinning. Perhaps my eyes hadn’t fully adjusted. I watched as each

wing and spindly leg continued to stretch and reform and fill out. Perhaps ten

Seconds later, the wounded raven was Attica.

My mouth dropped open. Blood spilled from my mouth, and there was an

excellent opportunity. Wyatt had knocked loose a tooth. Still, none of that

concerned me. All that concerned me was that I was convinced I was losing my

mind.

Attica straightened out his neck and spit out some blood of his own. “You

can close your mouth, Josiah. It’s all true. Everything you might have heard.

And you nearly killed me, too, which was an unfortunate move for you, bro. Too

bad, too...I liked you. ”

Now I was certain I was dreaming. I mean, c’mon. Yes, that made a lot of

sense. Perfect sense. It made the only sense. I was dreaming, and Tommy was

still alive, and Attica most certainly didn’t just turn into a raven—and then back

again.

I stood before the four of them, too stunned to speak, waiting to wake up,

willing myself to wake up. So far, my tortured brain has felt it necessary to continue

this bizarre dream.

Attica and her four friends circled me. Dream or not, for the first time in my

life, I felt fear. I powered through it.

“Face me one at a time, you vampire f***s. Or not, I don’t give a s**t. Just do

something. You’re certainly not getting any prettier.”

Famous last words. All five ran at me. Worse, all five turned into fucking

black birds at the same time. One minute they were on their feet running, and the

Next, there were black missiles hurling at me. Missiles with claws and beaks

and little beady eyes.

Okay, Josiah, you can wake up now!

No such luck. The first bird dive-bombed in my face. I threw myself into the

ground, ducking. Now they were all on me, squawking and clawing and pecking.

At first I thought they were trying to eat me alive. They weren’t. They were

gripping me, hooking their talons into anything they could grab: my jeans, my

shirt, my flesh. Amazingly, I found myself lifting up off the ground.

Oh, sweet Jesus.

I looked down, and I was flying. Cold wind rushed over me, whipping my

hair crazily. They flew me higher and higher. I assumed they were just going to

drop me, and that was it for me. I said some prayers and just waited.

But they didn’t drop me, and as best as I could tell—since it’s hard to get

your bearings when you’re flying over treetops at night—we seemed to fly in a

massive circle. The Flatlands appeared below, a massive clearing in the high

forest. The ravens somehow worked as one, and soon we were dropping

together. Moments later, I felt the ground beneath me, and I had never felt so

relieved in all my life. The massive ravens released their hold on me, and I

tentatively found my feet. My knees shook.

I wasn’t out of the woods yet, no pun intended. The ravens weren’t normal

sized. These suckers were big, and now I know why. Want to know surreal?

How about being stared at by five enormous, shiny black ravens?

Suddenly, Attica and the others transitioned back into their human selves. Or

vampire selves. Or whatever the hell they were. One moment, the five ravens

somberly regarded me, and next, the five men stood ten feet away, stretching

their arms.

Attica said, “You a believer now, Josiah?”

I was pretty shaken up. “I believe in something.” Actually, I believed in two

things above all else: either I had gone insane with grief over losing my friend,

or I was still dreaming.

“Now that you’re a believer, Josiah, we’re left with only a couple of choices.

You see, you now know way too much. You’re a risk to all of us. We would

Normally, we just kill you at this point.”

He said this aftereffect, as if he had done this very thing before, perhaps

dozens of times before. “Then why don’t you?” I said.

“Because even though you tried to kill me, I like you. I see your potential.

You’re the toughest Andrea I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something. Imagine

if you become a man. Imagine how powerful you’d be as a vampire.”

I wanted to laugh this off, but it was hard to laugh off five dudes who could

turn into ravens and take you on a nighttime flight high above the treetops.

“A vampire? And what kind of life would I have?”

Attica grinned. “A longer one than what you’ll have now. I’m giving you an

offer of a lifetime. A chance to live forever.”

I hadn’t realized he was giving me an offer. I knew what I wanted, and what I

didn’t want to be one of them. “Attica, I don’t want to be a Mani. Or a

vampire. Or a damn bird. I just want to be a regular person. You must remember

What was that like...being a regular person?”

I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but I think I was trying to buy some time. If

by some chance that this s**t was real, there was a very real chance that I might

not make it out of this clearing alive tonight. And I sure as hell didn’t want to go.

around sucking people’s blood for the rest of my unnatural life.

Listen to you. This is nuts.

Nuts or not, I had five guys surrounding me, five guys who had just taken me

on a flight from hell.

Attica was smiling again. For someone who had nearly been choked out of

existence by me, the tall fucker was sure pleased with himself. “A regular

person? Hell, that was back in the 1700s. Life was a little more boring back then,

Josiah. We didn’t have the internet or Xbox or Starbucks. The whole vampire

The gig was a pretty decent deal.”

Wyatt grinned. So did some of the others. Somewhere in the near distance, I

I could hear a strange rattling noise. I didn’t think it was my own teeth, or my

knocking knees. I felt fear, but I wasn’t afraid of Attica, or anyone. I just didn’t

I want to die. Not out here. And not by them.

I said, “So, if I say no, you guys will just kill me right here and now?”

“No, we won’t. The rattlesnakes will. You do hear them, don’t you? Coming

for you? I’ve summoned them. It’s a trick of mine. It’s one of the bag of tricks I

have in my arsenal, to summon the things that slither over this earth. Some of us

can just do it better than others.”

I could hear a rattling. I could hear lots of rattling. Hundreds of rattling

sounds rising in crescendo all around me, like maracas in the hands of the possessed

folk musicians. Okay, now my knees were knocking. Snakes? Hundreds of

them?

Oh, sweet, sweet Jesus.

“I just want you to know one thing, Josiah. I did not kill Tommy. His

The disgusting Carnie brothers did.”

“And why would they do that?”

“How would I know, Josiah? Maybe they mistook him for Kibble N’ Bits or

puppy chow. They’re filthy animals; that’s all I know.”

The rattling seemed to grow louder. Were there seriously rattlesnakes coming?

for me now? I looked around, scanning the darkness around me. I couldn’t see

anything, but I seemed to hear a whispering, the sound a slithering body makes

moving over the earth. Hundreds of slithering bodies. And then I smelled them,

the snakes. Snakes have a very distinctive smell when they are threatened,

something I learned in high school biology. I smelled the slight spunkiness in the

air—snake musk.

“Last chance, Josiah. Join me.” Attica reached out his hand to me. “Join me

and live.”

I looked at his proffered hand. The rattling was indeed getting closer. Good

God, this wasn’t happening. Attica might have liked me, but I hated him. He

could say what he wanted, but he was responsible, one way or another, for

Tommy’s death.

I shook my head. “I’d rather die out here.”

“So be it.”

Suddenly, the five vampires transitioned into ravens. They circled me in what

could have been a ceremonial farewell, and then flew off into the night.

TO CONTINUE....