CURSED 1

CURSED

We woke up around noon and I tried talking her out of it several times.

Mostly, she didn’t want to talk about it. We got something to eat, and mostly I

couldn’t eat. How can you eat, knowing the person sitting across from you, a

The person you had come to care about deeply was going to die in just a matter of

hours? We talked a lot, and I got to know her even more. Every time I take

about her upcoming birthday, she shushed me with a haunting smile. All in all, it

It was an extremely odd day.

Finally, it was about 10:30 at night.

“You’d better leave, Josiah. They’ll be picking me up at any minute to take

me over to Savoy Ranch.”

I walked over to her and hugged her tight. I hugged her the way I would have

hugged my mom and my sister on the day they got into their car accident. Have I

Somehow knew their fate ahead of time. I knew Lena’s fate if she did not come.

with me. I looked down at her and kissed her on the lips.

“Lena, whatever happens, please know that I care about you. That I always

will.”

“I know, Josiah,” she leaned in and held me tightly and then let go. “You

better go.”

I left Lena’s house feeling sick and disoriented. I needed to control something.

in my life. Everything important was spiraling in circles, just out of my reach.

What the hell was I going to do?

One thing I knew I could do was go to the hospital and try to see where they

moved Tommy’s body. Was there a morgue in the hospital basement, like in the

movies? It was a grim thought, thinking about my closest friend in the world’s

lifeless body, stuck in a freezer, waiting for autopsy, burial, closure. It was all I

had to grip on at that moment while I waited for Lena to be sick and twisted

demise. She seemed perfectly happy to go to it. I was aghast at her decision.

So, I went to the hospital in search of my other best friend, the dead one. I

needed to find out where they had placed Tommy’s body. After all, I still needed

to make funeral arrangements.

The eeriness of pulling into the hospital in Tommy’s car wasn’t lost on me. I

shuddered slightly and felt sick again. I went straight to the front and asked them.

about the deceased. They sent me to the morgue in the basement, just like I

visualized before I went there. After going through a bunch of doors and two

different security guards, I found a pleasant-looking lady wearing horns-

rimmed glasses sitting behind a desk. She seemed to be waiting for me.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

The room was cold. I shivered. I said, “My friend died in this hospital a few

days ago, and I needed to make funeral arrangements.”

I knew a thing or two about hospitals and death, since I had lost my whole

family. I knew hospitals kept bodies until family members could make

arrangements for a proper burial.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, and to her credit, she sounded legitimate.

sorry. “What’s his name?”

“Tommy Jensen.”

She paused and stared at me. “You’re the family of Tommy Jensen?”

“Yes, more or less.”

“You need to go back upstairs and speak to Human Resources.”

“Why?” I said. “I was told to come down here. What happened?”

“I can’t get into it, young man. You’ll need to speak to a hospital

administrator.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Do you have Tommy or not?”

She stared at me and, amazingly, I saw that her hands were shaking. What the

What was going on? I forced myself to calm down, even though I felt my heart

racing.

“Please, what’s going on? Tell me.”

She looked over my shoulder and then behind her. We were alone. “I’ve been

I worked in this hospital for over twenty years, and I’ve never seen what I saw

with your friend.”

Now my heart figuratively froze in my chest, but I could feel an actual chill

tighten my breathing. “What are you talking about?”

“I shouldn’t be telling you this. In fact, I was told specifically never to

mention again what I saw.”

I was suddenly finding it extremely difficult to breathe.

“But you’re here now, and...you have a right to know.” She took off her

glasses and started shaking her head. “Screw my bosses. Sometimes, you just

have to do the right thing.”

“Please,” I said. My voice sounded strangled to my own ears.

“Three days ago, I got this body sent down to me. He’s all scratched up and

has bite marks all over it. I think this poor young man is a mess. Anyway, I

do what I normally do to prep the body for autopsy.”

She paused again, and I found myself leaning over her desk, supporting my

weight.

“So, I began to wash some of his wounds. But the weirdest thing happened. I

would wash a wound, and the body would heat up, and the wound would...heal.

right before me. I called a couple of my colleagues over and we started cleaning.

all of his wounds. Two hours after he was pronounced dead, his pulse returned.”

“What?!” I yelled. I couldn’t help myself. The words just burst from my

mouth.

“Quiet down. Please. So listen, we are all freaking out because we have a

A freaking miracle on the table. My colleagues and I leave the room to find the

doctors...” Her voice trailed off.

It was all I could do not grab her by her damn uniform and shake the story out

of her.

“What happened to Tommy?” I said sternly.

She hesitated and then said, “When we came back...he was gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” I asked.

“His body was gone. We had everyone searching, but he was nowhere to be.

found.”

I felt my knees buckle. I leaned on her desk, almost falling on it.

Tommy was... alive?

“Why, why didn’t anyone call me?”

“This is out of my hands; you’ll have to talk to someone upstairs. I already

told you too much.”

“So, no one saw him leave? Not even the security?”

She shook her head.

I looked at the clock on the wall as the elevator closed. It read 11:30. Savoy

The ranch was ten minutes away. I thanked her and left.

I wasn’t sure how but I was going to save Lena, but I was going to. I also

wasn’t sure how I was going to find Tommy, but I was going to do that, too.

As I sat in Tommy’s Mustang, I wondered if Tommy had been back to the

house. I also wondered if he had tried to contact me. He must have. I had been so

caught up in all this crap, and I hadn’t been around to see him. Well, I still

needed to do one more thing and, to be honest, I had no idea if I would I do.

out of this alive.

We’ll find out soon enough, I thought.

I headed to the ranch. The ranch was tucked away in the canyon right before

You head up the highway towards the mountains. It’s a popular spot for hikers and

campers...and apparently, vampires.

Tommy and I used to train up there, which is how I have known about it since I was

not exactly the outdoorsy type. It was, admittedly, beautiful up there. Well,

Tonight there wasn’t going to be much beauty up there. Tonight was going to be

anything but beautiful.

The Mustang bounded around hairpin turns and straight cliffs, as I drove

wildly, recklessly. A few miles from the ranch, I turned off my lights. I wasn’t

sure how acute a vampire’s hearing was, but I didn’t want to announce my

arrival in a blaze of headlights, too. Using the moon as my sole source of

light, I followed the slightly glowing road all the way to the Ranch, the Mustang.

taking the tight turns like a race car.

As I rounded the final bend, at exactly 11:50 p.m., I saw a flickering glow.

toward the back of the ranch. A bonfire. Surrounding the fire were four black-

clad figures. No, there was a fifth, too. Someone dressed in a white gown. Lena.

It was now or never. I had no plan, other than to fight. Hell, that’s all I was.

Good for me anyway. I had a feeling that I was born for this moment. I may not be a

vampire, but I sure as hell knew how to defeat an opponent, dead or undead.

On a whim, I opened Tommy’s glove compartment and could hardly believe

My good luck. There was a long, rusty railroad spike inside. What he was doing

with it, I didn’t know, but I had my suspicions. The spike made for a perfect

stake. Granted, it wasn’t silver, but it would have to do.

I shoved the spike in my front pocket, took a deep breath, and stepped hard on

the gas. Tommy’s Mustang responded wonderfully. The tires spun, rumbling

loudly, no doubt kicking up lots of loose rocks and shredding rubber.

And I shot forward in the car like it was a rocket.

The pinpoint of fire that had been the bonfire grew rapidly in my windshield.

Soon the fire and all five figures filled the glass, and I turned the wheel hard,

tires screeching recklessly over loose dirt. Had the Mustang not been so low to

the ground, I might have flipped it. I jumped out of the car. Breathing hard, my

mind was on the railroad spike in my front pocket.

Atticai, mouth open and as tall and gaunt as ever, just stared at me. “You’re

alive?”

“Surprise, motherfucker!”

He nodded slightly and c****d his head. “I guess evil has arrived.”

“The only evil is you, Atticai.” I looked at Lena, and she looked scared. She

looked, if anything, as if she was having second thoughts about this, her

compliance with her own demise.

“Lena, you don’t want to do this,” I implored.

Wyatt stepped forward. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing, Josiah?

This isn’t about us. This isn’t even about Lena. This is about—”

“I know what this is about, Wyatt: killing Lena so that Atticai can become

some super vampire to defeat the Carni and the fallen Mani. Yada-yada. And

They all lived happily ever, except Lena.”

Atticai crossed his long arms over his narrow chest. “Oh my, I see someone

was given a lesson in Mani prophecy. And since it’s not the Reader’s Digest

version that we give to Lena, that can only mean....” He turned to another black-

clad figure, the smallest of the four. “Was he worth it, Yari?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Atticai,” she said.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, kid,” he said. “Don’t you think

that I know you’ve fallen for Josiah? Don’t you think that I know the only way?

Josiah’s even alive tonight. It is because you saved him from the snakes?”

“It’s not true, Atticai.”

“Oh, it is true, but what I don’t understand is how the Triat has allowed it to

happen?”

“You’re wrong, Atticai. He saved himself. He deserves your mercy.” Yari

was grasping at straws.

“My mercy? An Andrea who refused a chance to become a Mani deserves my

mercy? What the hell had got into you?”

“Please, Atticai, consider it.”

Wyatt snapped open his cell phone and looked at the glowing faceplate. “It’s

almost time,” he said.

Atticai nodded. “But first things first.”

He grabbed Lena. Although she didn’t make a sound, the confident girl I had

seen just hours before was long gone. She looked terrified. I wondered if Atticai

had her under some spell, the same type of spell he had placed on the snakes.

Wyatt and Hector stepped in front of them, forming a wall between them and

me. Atticai walked behind Lena and looked at his watch in his left hand. “Ten

seconds,” he said.

Lena looked terrified. I didn’t blame her. s**t, she was surrounded by

vampires, and her death was just seconds away. She suddenly began to struggle,

with the will to live with her strong and true.

I did the only thing I could think of. I removed the iron spike from my pocket.

and ran at them. Wyatt jumped up into the air, Karate Kid-like, and kicked me.

full in the face. Motherfucker, I hadn’t expected that. Not the face! Now I was

furious. Actually, I hadn’t expected him to be that fast.

On the ground, I snapped my head around and watched as Atticai opened his

mouth. Moonlight reflected off his elongated canines. He looked at me, smiled,

and bit into Lena’s neck.

I jumped up and summoned all my fighting instincts. This was, after all,

It's going to be the fight of my life. And Lena’s.

Wyatt came at me again. He tried the exact same move but I ducked beneath.

his kick, grabbed his leg and yanked him down to the ground. I punched him as

hard as I could in the face. The blow rocked him enough that I jumped up and

turned my attention to Hector, who was coming at me from the other direction.

He hit me hard, so hard that I flew backwards and into something solid. A tree

trunk. Air burst from my lungs as I sank to the ground. Good God, I felt as if I

had been hit by a car. Oh God, my back. Not yet healed from the baseball bat

injury, my back was on fire again.

And before I could fully clear my head and see through the bright lights that

had burst just behind my eyelids, two powerful ravens—Wyatt and Hector, I

assumed—grabbed me in their massive talons and flew me up into the air. Once

Again, I found myself dangling from flying creatures. Being lifted up above the

Treetops had a definite way of clearing one’s head. Far below, in a small glow of

fire, I could see three people standing. Atticai had his face pressed into Lena’s.

neck, and Yari stood nearby—on guard, I presumed.

This time I was certain they were going to drop me—and there wasn’t a damn

Think I could do about it. I had failed to save Lena; in fact, I couldn’t even save

myself.

But instead of immediately dropping me, they flew up, up. Now, Savoy

The ranch was far below. They were going to drop me from hundreds of feet up,

making damn well sure I was smashed to smithereens.

But they surprised me again. They circled back over a cliff’s edge, where they

promptly landed, dropping me. What the hell? Both transitioned back into Mani

and faced me. I knew then that they were both going to give me a thorough

beating first, just like the undead scum they were. Mani bullies, really. No doubt

They planned to drink from me first, too, and get a late-night snack squeezed in.

After all, why let a good meal go to waste? Only then would they toss me off the

cliff, dead and bloodless, to disappear in a broken heap of skin and bones.

Well, I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I charged forward, heaving my right hand at Hector’s face as hard as I could,

while simultaneously kicking Wyatt with my left leg. It was an advanced movement.

Not something they teach you in MMA, since you don’t fight two guys at once. I

had learned this one from Tommy. Anyway, the leverage I generated by hitting

Hector transferred through me and gave my kick an amazing amount of force, a

kick that landed square in the center of Wyatt’s chest. To my own surprise, the

Mani tumbled off the cliff. I had no doubt he would transition back into a raven.

before hitting bottom. I would have looked for myself but, Hector had already

jumped on top of me.

Good God, he was incredibly strong. Before I could grab the bastard, I felt his

My teeth sink deep into my neck. The pain was so intense, I dropped to my knees.

The bite had an odd effect. Almost immediately, it sapped my strength. I reached

weakly for Hector, my hand futilely slapping and grabbing at him. He sank his

teeth even deeper, tearing at my neck. Good God, I heard him drinking from my

neck, sucking on me like a monster.

Black encroached from the edges of my vision. I had been knocked out

enough to know that I was about to pass out. And that’s when someone—or

Something—tackled Hector off of me. Both bodies fell off the cliff. I shook my

head and grabbed my damaged neck. I crawled to the lip of the cliff and,

Bleeding and lightheaded, he looked down.

It had been Yari, once again saving me. I looked down and watched as both

Yari and Hector transitioned before reaching the ground. It was like watching

two dog-fighting WWII aircraft, tumbling and battling, wings tangled. Raven

and Hawk clawed at each other, all the way to the ground. Once on the ground,

both transformed back to their mani selves, and the fighting continued. Only this

time Wyatt joined in. Sweet Jesus, they were beating the crap out of Yari. Sure,

She got some punches in, but the two men were clearly stronger and more powerful.

than one.

Atticai was still sucking on Lena’s neck. Now I could see her fighting him,

struggling. If ever someone had made a poor decision—Well, she wasn’t the

only one who had made a poor decision. Who was currently sitting high atop a

cliff at night, only moments from two vampires returning and finishing their job?

And the one person who had saved me and had my back was currently being

pinned to the ground by Wyatt. From high above, I watched in horror Hector

removed something gleaming. Even from up here, I could see what it was.

A silver stake.

They were going to kill Yari. And Atticai was going to kill Lena, and any

A minute now they would return and kill me, too.

Good job, hero, I thought.

But there was nothing I could do. I was stuck up here. If I jumped, I would

surely die. There is no way I could survive that fall.

But as I looked down over the cliff, something amazing happened.

Simultaneously, both Yari and Lena yelled, “Josiah!”

That was all I needed to hear to know my fate.

TO CONTINUE....