CURSED 1

SORRY

In Monterey, we stopped at a quaint bed and breakfast. I got us a room that

only had one small window. Before the trip, I had packed the same duct tape that

Yari had used to tape my own curtains shut. Yari and I proceeded to tape shut

the curtain to this window, as well. We even duct-taped the blinds themselves, so

that no light whatsoever could peek through come morning.

I was exhausted. In hindsight, I probably should have had the vampire be the

one to do the driving through the entire night. Anyway, I got a room for three.

nights, so that we could figure out our next move. Even though, it wasn’t

morning—in fact, morning was still a few hours away—Yari hit the sheets hard,

crashing immediately. Dead to the world, so to speak. And for all I knew, she

was.

I lit a couple of candles that I had brought and then I sat on the leather-back

chair that was directly in front of the bed. Although Yari and I had been intimate

Previously, at the party in Victorville, I felt I needed an invitation before lying

next to her on this day.

So, I sat there and watched her sleep as the sun moved across the sky, which I

I only knew what was happening from my wristwatch. I thought that I had read

somewhere that vampires didn’t sleep, that they died all over again, and then

were reborn come sundown. Well, say that to this softly snoring girl. She sure as

hell sounded asleep to me.

I was exhausted, but was too weird to sleep. I didn’t want to put on the TV

because the noise and light might bother her. So instead, I just stared. I sat there

and looked at her in the candlelight. Her auburn hair flowed down her back like

a red waterfall. Her body was long and athletic. She looked like a female

superhero, something out of a comic book. And, like a heroine, she had saved

my life. I didn’t know why, but she seemed always to be there for me.

I thought about everything, trying to wrap my brain around this vampire.

business. Had Tommy seriously been a werewolf all this time? The more I

thought about it, the more it was adding up. Tommy had come out of nowhere.

He had no family. He had an erratic temper that he seemed always to be trying to

Keep in check. True, he had disappeared for a few days, and, no, I had never seen

any actual proof that he was in the Reserves. I just took him for his word. Who

wouldn’t?

In fact, oddly—or perhaps hysterically—he even hated high-pitched noises.

My eyes were growing heavy, and I dozed off. Sometime later, I felt a hand

guiding me to bed. I cracked my eyes open and saw Yari pulling down the

covers. She unbuckled my belt and slid my pants off like a mother putting a son

to bed. Still wearing my boxers and T-shirt, she guided me into bed and tucked

me in. She was sweet and gentle and kind in every movement she made. She

slipped under the covers next to me, her body surprisingly warm.

“Aren’t vampires supposed to be cold?” I asked.

“I’m not a vampire,” she said patiently.

I nodded once. “You’re a man.”

“There’s a big difference.”

“Of course,” I said, and grinned.

I turned and faced her. “I don’t know what to do. Where do I go from here?”

“Don’t think about it, Josiah. Not right now. Tonight, just close your eyes.”

I could feel her breath on my face. I leaned in and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

I slept for a long time. It felt like years. I opened my eyes and saw that Yari

had opened the single window because it was now dark outside. The clock on

the nightstand was at 8:42 p.m. Wow, I had slept for fifteen hours. I sat up. The

A showerhead blasted the echoing tiles with water in the connecting bathroom.

Considering that I had been out for the past fifteen hours, I needed to use the

facilities.

Duty called. I eased open the bathroom door and could see Yari’s silhouette.

through the steamy glass shower door.

“Josiah, is that you?” Yari called out over the water.

“Of course it is. Who else could it be?”

“Who knows? Maybe the maid. I’m not sure how familiar the staff are at this

bed and breakfast.”

I did my business. Luckily, she couldn’t hear it above the drone of the rushing

water. When done, I started walking out the door. “Where are you going?”

“Outside. To give you some privacy.”

“Aren’t you dirty? Do you need a shower?”

“Yeah, I’ll take one when you’re done.”

“There’s plenty of room in here.”

I paused. “Seriously?”

“If you’re shy, I understand.”

“I’m not that shy.”

“Well, you better hurry up. I would hate to use up all the hot water.”

Oh, she was good. I looked at her silhouette one more time. That’s all I

needed to see. My boxers and T-shirt were off in seconds. I walked over to the

sliding glass shower door. I took a deep breath, as if I was about to enter a

swimming pool. I pulled open the glass door. I looked in, and Yari faced me.

Her body was perfect. The wispy shower steam did little to hide her curves. I

tried not to stare, but the truth is, I haven’t seen that many women naked before.

—and the ones I had seen naked were nowhere near Yari’s jaw-dropping

Perfection.

Oh, my God.

Her skin was milky white. Her body is as curvy and hard and smooth as

anything I had ever seen. Her wet hair hung over her shoulder, and she put a

long-fingered hand on one hip.

“You getting an eyeful, mister?”

So much for not staring.

“Uh, sorry,” I said. At least, that’s what I think I said. Honestly, I wasn’t sure.

if I had any control of my mouth or my voice at that moment. My hormones

were somewhere in orbit at the moment.

“Come over here, silly. I’m not lying about the hot water getting used up.

This is a private bed and breakfast, not a Sheraton.”

I stepped into the hot shower, and she backed up underneath the shower head.

The water flowed over her, accentuating her curves. I went straight to her like a

moth to the flame, and into the epicenter of the water flow.

At first, the hot water shocked me and then it felt incredible. Yari turned my

body around and began lathering my back and shoulders with a bar of soap. As

She did so, she gently massaged my skin and muscles. Oh, dear Lord. She next

guided my head so that the water sprayed directly onto my scalp, and then

poured some shampoo into my hair. Now she was massaging my scalp, and I

think I died and went to heaven. I tried to turn around, but she stopped me.

“Hold on,” she said. “I have to wash out the shampoo.” She rinsed my hair

thoroughly. I relished the feeling of her gentle fingers on my scalp. I couldn’t

take all this sensuality much longer. My passion was burning, and I was going to

explode.

I turned around and switched spots with her so that now she was underneath

the flow of water. I ran my fingers through her thick, black hair and pulled her

toward me. She came willingly. I kissed her passionately, and soon we were

pressed up against the side wall, kissing hungrily. I had never kissed any woman

in my life with this great intention. I wanted her to know how much I

appreciated her and wanted her. Needed her. I pulled back and looked at her.

intensely. Then I leaned in and kissed her again and again. It was the first time I

had ever felt in complete control in her presence. Everything up to now, she had

dictated. I sensed that releasing control was somehow turning her on—more so

than I had ever seen before in my life.

Stumbling and slipping, I led her out of the shower and into the bedroom. I

threw her on the bed softly and proceeded to kiss every square inch of her body.

I was in the midst of kissing her belly button when she reached me and

grabbed my buttocks and pressed me up against her. Then she wrapped her arms.

around me and just held me close.

I looked down at her, gasping. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Josiah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Josiah, I...”

“You what?”

“Josiah, I...”

“You what?” I was anticipating her saying that she loved me, which would

have floored me. To be honest, I wanted her to say it. So, I pressed again.

“What? Please tell me.”

“Josiah, I... have to kill you.”

“What?!” I jumped off of her.

“I know I have to do it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Josiah, the Triat led me to you. I never understood why. I thought it was

because it would have something to do with Tommy. But I think the Triat led me

to you because you were going to ultimately mess up the prophecy.”

“The prophecy? What the f**k are you talking about?”

“The Children of the Night’s prophecy.”

I got up and put my jeans back on. Having someone tell you they are going

to kill you sort of dampened the mood. “Sure, of course. That makes a

tremendous amount of sense. Look, I was about to make love to you, and now

I’m seriously thinking I have to stick an entirely different kind of stake in you.

Start talking fast, or tonight’s about to get real ugly.”

I glanced around. I didn’t have a stake. Would a toothbrush do?

God, listen to me. I’m going nuts.

“Atticai, Hector, Wyatt, and I were all given the same prophetic dream. The

The four of us didn’t meet by chance. The Triat brought us together through dreams.”

“This just gets better and better. What was the dream?”

“The four of us were given the same vision in our dreams. This was fifteen

years ago. We all had the same dream to meet on April 18, 1995, at midnight.

We were to meet and form a clan called Children of the Night.”

“So you’ve known Atticai for almost seventeen years now?”

“Not quite. In the mid-1800s, Atticai and I were in a giant clan in the east.

coast. So, I met him first during the Civil War.”

“The Civil War?”

“Yes, Josiah.”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“Josiah, I was born October 18

th, 1673.”

“You need to give me a moment here. You are over three hundred years old?”

“I look pretty good, huh?”

“I’ll say. Okay, so you and Atticai were in some giant Mani vampire clan.

During the Civil War? Just saying that out loud makes me think I’m crazy.”

“You’re not crazy, Josiah.”

“Says the girl who calls herself a vampire. Go on.”

“Not a vampire. A Mani.”

“Somehow, that sounds even crazier. Anyway, go on.”

“Atticai was the head of our clan. There was a man named Krull who didn’t

like the way Atticai ran things. Believe it or not, Atticai is not about death and

destruction. He defends and protects the will of the Triat, but ultimately, he is a

mediator.”

“Sure, he seemed real peaceful when he kicked half the rattlesnakes in

California on my ass.”

“I can see how you would think that, but the will of the Triat is what makes

him a killer. Many, such as Krull, are the real killers. Such many are the reasons.

why we often get referred to as vampires—and why so many Tandra—humans

—have died over the years.” She paused and sat back on the bed.

God, I still wanted her. Did she just say she was going to have to kill me?

Even that statement didn’t kill my desire for Yari.

She went on, “Krull and others like him want Tandra to discover our

world because then they have a license to kill. Atticai knew that’s what Krull

and those who followed him were doing. Atticai put a stop to this, until Krull’s

Legions rose up against Atticai’s clan, and Atticai—and many others—were forced

to flee.”

She paused and studied me a moment longer. Her eyes were so damn hard to

read. “Josiah, there is a whole world of Mani out there that wants to destroy everything.

Tandra.”

“Where do werewolves—the Carni—come into it?” I discreetly moved over

to my bag, where I had packed a pocketknife. I wasn’t going down without a

fight. Even if I had to fight a female vampire.

Yari said, “The Carni are their own species and are equally protected by the

Triat, although they have their own set of rules. The Carni have not as many

rules to live by and are in constant opposition to the Triat.”

“Why doesn’t the Triat just have them killed off?”

“It doesn’t work that way. The Triat works through us and the only way the

Carni will be destroyed by the Mani.”

“Okay, that’s pretty heavy.”

“And that’s where the Children of the Night come in. For hundreds of years,

There was a prophecy. A man that will be so powerful, so pure, that he will

restore order to the orderless. It is said that he will bring beauty back to us all, so

that we can live in peace.”

I nodded, not really understanding. Not wanting to, either. Because if I

understood, then I would have to accept things.

Yari continued, “After Atticai, Hector, and Wyatt, and I all received our

visions, we were told to form a four-person clan, or a cell. Once done, the next

will be revealed to us in further dreams.”

“And was it?”

“Yes.”

I nodded, guessing this part. “You dreamed of Atticai being the Chosen One.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps. There is no face to the Chosen One. At least, not

yet.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. “Why do you think it’s Atticai?”

“It makes sense. He fights for humans—well, for the most part—and he’s a

Mani.”

Yari continued studying me, then finally said, “Unfortunately, there’s nothing

pure and beautiful about Atticai.”

“So you don’t think it’s him?”

“It does not matter what I think, Josiah. I am an extremely small fish in a

A much bigger pond. Anyway, most people think it’s going to be Atticai. Already

He is prepping to harvest a virgin on her twentieth birthday. When he does so, he

will, according to legend, transform into the white eagle.”

“White eagle?”

“As you know now, all male mani transition into ravens and the Mani

women into hawks. The Chosen One, however, will transition into white

eagle.”

“Err, what exactly do you mean by harvest?”

“A Mani will drain all the life-blood of a Tandra—or Carni, for that matter.”

“Yeah, Atticai’s a real saint,” I said sarcastically, shaking my head. “So

who’s this virgin that Atticai’s supposedly going to harvest?”

Yari was quiet.

I pressed. “There are not too many virginal twenty-year-olds out there. Is he

going to pluck a nun from a nunnery?”

“No. Our dreams were acutely specific about who the virgin is supposed to be.”

Confused, I looked at Yari and then it hit me. Everything is now made perfect,

twisted sense.

The virgin was Lena.

TO BE CONTINUED....