The witchs curse, p.5
The Witch's Curse, page 5
I pushed the tear away, refusing to let my sorrow take me again. It wasn’t hard to do. All it took was opening the door to the bedroom, where my mate was frozen in his sleep. The whore still next to him, her hand resting on his back.
It took no effort at all to raise the sword over her frozen, sleeping form and bring it down, severing her head from her body. Who needed a silver dagger when you had the power to freeze?
I pulled the note I’d written for him out of my pocket and laid it on the side table near his bed. The bed where we should have created our many babies.
I stood over him, staring down at the face that I still loved so much. I felt the crack in my heart, the one I had been using to inflame my anger. I felt my body begin to crumble as I fell to the floor.
My sister, though, knew me well. She was right there, ready to catch me. I let her lead me out the door and back to the wagons. We waited as the women came back victorious.
We stopped at every human village we passed and looked for their vampire overlords. Everywhere we found a female, someone went inside and dispatched them.
The older witch who lost her daughter greedily took out the female vampire who had taken her daughter’s place. She said she didn’t regret not killing the male who killed her daughter. She wanted him to suffer the loss just as she had.
Once home. I waited next to my dreamwalker, both of us sitting under a tree in the center of our village.
“The job is done. You may release your spell, your highness.” She told me tiredly.
I nodded once. “Unfreeze.”
Chapter Five
Conrad
I awoke with a start in the middle of the night, my heart aching once again. It hadn’t stopped for days. I knew the reason. And it was all my fault.
I should have tried harder to get to her, to protect my mate. I failed. And now I’d broken her heart. Her dear, sweet, heart. I knew she would never forgive me.
I tried to follow her, I planned to chase her all the way home if I had too. But with a blink of an eye, both witches and their horses were gone. I didn’t understand at first. Then I remembered something she had told me, about her and Carolyn stealing sweets from the kitchen. She would hold her sister’s hand and freeze the room, only, the whole world would freeze.
The only thing that made sense was that she froze me. Who knew how long ago that had been? I wouldn’t blame her if she kept us frozen until she was home. I could sniff her out. I could go to the waterfall and then follow her scent from there.
But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.
I needed to give her space. Space to calm down so she would listen. In the meantime, I needed to find a way to get rid of Yolanda and to protect us from her.
Right before I fell asleep, I decided to suck it up and speak to my father. I needed his wise guidance on this. I should have sought his help to begin with.
I rolled over in the bed, pushing Yolanda’s hand off my back in disgust. I had hardly touched her in days, much to her dismay. She kept trying. But I couldn’t do it. I never should have in the first place. I only wanted my mate.
It wasn’t easy, but I almost made it back to sleep. Until I heard the first scream.
And then another.
And another.
Soon, the whole village was screaming. Only, they were all men and boys screaming. Not one single female voice was rising into the air. Why?
I jumped out of bed, preparing to go find out what happened. I was confused how Yolanda could sleep through it all.
“Yolanda. Yolanda! Wake up!” I cursed under my breath as I walked over to her side of the bed and nudged her shoulder.
I jumped with a scream of my own as her head rolled off the bed.
“What the hell?”
I pulled the curtain on the window, bringing in the moonlight so I could have perfect eyesight. I could see decently enough in the dark, but some things needed to not have shadows. I walked to my side of the bed and opened the other.
I stood back in shock at the blood all over my bed. I looked down and saw it on my side. I turned, trying to get a look at my back. I couldn’t see any signs of a splatter. Only the pooling. And it was still wet. As though it had just happened.
How could that be? There was not scent trail of someone having been there besides us.
How did I sleep through this?
I looked around the room frantically, desperate for some answer. My eyes found nothing as it went over it the first time. The next time, I spotted something small. I picked up the paper off the side table and stared at it, unable to make the words sink into my brain.
No. This didn’t make sense. Angela couldn’t do this. She wouldn’t. She was too pure. Too sweet.
I staggard backward a few steps, a hand over my chest as though a dagger had just been shoved through me. My back hit the wall, and I slid down, tears falling down my face.
What had I done?
This had to be some kind of nightmare.
The sun was breaking through the windows when I heard my front door open from a distance.
“Conrad? My Lord?”
I didn’t bother answering him. I just sat there in my frozen silence. Why didn’t she just kill me and leave the rest alone?
“My Lord?” Lucas choked on the question as he took in the sight of Yolanda on the bed. He then looked down at me and squatted down.
“I’m so sorry, my Lord. The same thing has happened all over town. All the women are dead. Nobody knows why.”
“I do.” I croaked. “Because of me. Because I didn’t protect her. I betrayed her.”
Lucas, my best friend since he came to work in the castle five years ago, sat on the floor next to me. “Who, my Lord? Yolanda?”
I shook my head and handed him the note. “My mate. I met my fated mate and I betrayed her.”
Lucas read the note out loud, he never was one to keep his thoughts inside his head. It always made me laugh in the past. Not this time.
“Because of your betrayal, your kingdom will wither and die. Your females are gone, and you will have no more. The curse will be broken when the hidden vampire prince accepts his witch mate and humbles himself to her.”
Lucas read it over and over again, mumbling to himself.
“I don’t understand, Conrad. Was your mate a witch?”
I nodded. “Yes, and she had the power to freeze time.” I gave him a look and he cursed.
“We need to tell your father. Now.” He practically pulled me off that floor and threw my pants at me.
Numbly, I slipped them on.
I barely made it through the front door of the castle before Dom ran to me and held on as he sobbed uncontrollably. It wasn’t until I saw my father sitting much like I had been on the floor, that it really hit home.
All the women had been killed... including my mother.
“Yolanda?” He croaked from the floor when he saw me.
I shook my head. He sighed and his head sank down.
“I don’t understand. Every woman was beheaded sometime in the night. Not one man woke up. Even the ones that were awake and sitting in the same room as them, have no idea how it happened. One minute, the woman was laughing, and the next... I don’t understand how this is possible. Why?”
“I... I... do.” My voice shook and croaked. I didn’t care if I sounded weak. “It’s because I made a mistake. A very grave mistake. I have been trying to fix it. I swear. Just last night I had finally decided to come to you for help. But it looks like I was too late. If I had known this was even possible, I never would have given Yolanda what she wanted.”
My father slowly pushed himself up and walked over to me. “What happened? What did you do?” There was a low threatening growl in his voice.
“I met my fated mate in the southern territories when I was last there last week. I went for a walk in the forest, and there she was, like an angel swimming in the water.”
My father shook his head. “I don’t understand what this has to do with anything.”
“I planned to tell you when I got back. I wanted to bring her home with me, but she had to make sure her people were cared for first. Yolanda smelled my scent change before I could get to you. She threatened to find Angela and kill her if I did not give her what she wanted. I had a few days. I thought I had time to figure it out. But when I didn’t show up, Angela came to find me, worried something had happened.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“She found Yolanda in my bed with me. I tried to chase after her, but she just disappeared. I decided to give her space before I hunted her down, giving her time to cool down. I didn’t know this was even possible. I didn’t know she would take her pain out on others. I swear father. I thought I was doing the right thing!”
He thought carefully, before shaking his head slowly, dismissing me. “No vampire is fast enough to kill all the women in one night, without alerting anyone. Awake or asleep.”
“Angela isn’t a vampire, father. She’s a witch. And she can freeze time. That’s how she disappeared on me. I think the male mates survived because they were frozen. Their mate bond was unable to kill them with their mate. When I woke up from the screaming, I saw this on my side table.”
I waved to Lucas, and he handed my father the note.
My father’s face paled as he collapsed onto a chair. “What have you done?”
“I’m sorry, father. I truly am.”
“Get out.” It was barely a whisper, something Lucas probably didn’t even hear. But he might as well have yelled it in my face.
“Father, please!” I stepped toward him only to be stopped by his growl.
“Guards!”
I stepped back in shock when the others came in, confused as to what was going on.
“Conrad is banished from the lands. He is no longer my son.”
“Father, please! Let me try to fix this.”
He laughed darkly. “There is no fixing this Conrad. Your mother is dead, all the women are dead. And if I am reading this right, we will never have another female vampire again! Who is going to carry on our bloodlines? Humans? They rarely survive as it is.”
“Where am I to go, father?”
“I don’t care. Live among the Nightwalkers, live in a cave. I don’t care. But if you hang around long enough, the others will kill you for what you have done. Now begone!”
The guards walked toward me, angry because they were already catching on to what happened.
“I’m sorry, father. I will fix this. I promise. If it is the last thing I do, I will lift this curse.”
I turned and ran out of the house. I stuck to the forests, and off the main trails. I ran until I reached the border to the witch territory. I kept running, until I hit a wall made of air. I hit it with such force that I flew back six feet and landed on my butt.
“What the hell?”
I stood up and walked slower, my hand out in front of me. Sure enough, my hand hit a wall. I walked to the left, dragging my hand along, trying to find an opening. No matter how far I walked, or which way I turned, the wall would not let me pass.
“She didn’t believe me, but I knew you would come.”
My head snapped up at the voice. It took a second, but soon I placed the girl with blonde hair.
“Carolyn? Where is Angela? I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
Carolyn lifted a hand to silence me and shook her head.
“It’s a little late for apologies, don’t you think?”
“Please, Carolyn. Let me pass. Let me see my mate.” My legs started bending, the need to beg her on my knees, if I must, growing stronger.
Carolyn took one step forward and snarled at me. “It is too late for that now! Because of you I lost my sister!”
I stepped back and gasped in shock. “No.” I shook my head, that couldn’t be true. I rubbed my chest, remembering the sharp pain from earlier. No, that wasn’t it. I refused to believe it. “Surely I would have felt it if she died. Surely she would have taken me with her.”
“And did all the other males die with their mates?”
I shook my head again, no. No!
“Search your cold heart, Conrad. Do you feel her now? Do you feel any piece of my sister?”
I huffed, the emptiness preparing to overwhelm me. Carolyn nodded like I answered her question.
“Go, enjoy the freedom you wanted. Without your fated mate, Conrad.”
She spun, creating a small circle in the dirt. I tried to call her back, but she ignored me. I dropped to my knees and stayed there until the sun and moon both passed through their daily cycles.
A month after my banishment, I set myself up in a small cave that I used to camp in with my father. I was there for a week, before I heard a familiar voice.
“I had a feeling you would find your way here eventually. I’ve been coming out every few days, just to check.”
I smirked and looked at the dirt I was drawing in with a stick.
“It’s good to see you, Lucas. How are you?”
He dropped down next to me with a depressed sigh. “I’ve been better. And you?”
“I’ve been better.”
“I take it you tried to talk to her?”
I nodded.
“And?”
“I’m sitting alone in a cave, depressed. You tell me how it went?”
He gave a sardonic chuckle and turned to lean against the cave wall. “I’m guessing you ran into that invisible wall they have around their lands now.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Did you think the others weren’t going to try and retaliate? Every woman is dead. The witches left the human and witch mates alive. There had been hope that the ones who were pregnant when the curse hit would give birth to girls, but alas, none of them did. The human died in the process. The witch not long after.”
I groaned and buried my head in my hands. “What do I do now?”
“Well, the way I figure it. You bide your time. You hide out with the Nightwalkers until the heat dies down with the royals. An opportunity will present itself.”
“That could be centuries.”
“Yep. So, I guess it’s a good thing that I will be by your side.”
I scoffed. “You never wanted this life, Lucas.” I had offered more than once before.
He shook his head. “Nope, but I’ll take it. You need someone to help you. Someone who knows the real you.”
I licked my lips. “You would do that for me?”
“Psh. Who says it’s just for you? Immortal life full of women and money. What’s not to love?”
I chuckled. “Do you want to do this now, or wait a few days?”
He shrugged. “I have no reason to wait. Might as well do it now.” He scratched his jaw. “How exactly does this work?”
“It’s simple. You feed from me, then I feed from you.”
He nodded once, then pushed himself to a standing position. “Alright, where?”
I waved for him to follow me deeper into the cave. “I must warn you though. Vampire blood heightens many feelings. You are going to want to do things you may not have wanted before.”
“What do you mean?” Lucas asked, somewhat warily now.
I could have told him, possibly even turned him off the idea, but I was being selfish. I was lonely. Lucas was my best friend; even closer than the few vampire ones I had had. He was also the only person who hadn’t cut me out of their life.
I winked at him instead. “You’ll see. Just act on what you feel at the time. That is one of the joys of being a vampire. No more morals and judgements to worry about. You, my friend, are about to enter a world of self-gratification.”
We both laughed. Ironically, I would have given it all up to spend an eternity gratifying my mate. I would have given her everything. I thought I was.
I directed him to sit against one of the cave walls. I kneeled in front of him and punctured my wrist with my teeth. I pushed the memories of doing this with my mate aside and focused on the present.
Lucas apprehensively took my wrist and placed it against his mouth. I could have done it for him, but this was his choice to make. It was his last chance to change his mind.
He didn’t.
Within the first few drops, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. I laughed a minute later when he reached down and pulled himself out of his pants. He whimpered, trying to take care of his own issues.
“Would you like some help, my friend?”
His suction on my wrist lessened but did not stop. There was both wariness and desire burning in them.
“As I said, my blood is going to affect you. There is no shame in having a need. As long as it gets taken care of, what does it matter where, or who, did it?”
He was still wary, so I reached my other hand down and grabbed him. His head fell against the wall and his suction sped up again. I began to move my hand back when his problem finished, but he grabbed it and put it back. I laughed and obliged. He always had been a bit of a lady’s man in the village. Although I may have just made that worse.
When his eyes had a low glow, and I was feeling weak from the blood loss, I took both my hands back. I didn’t even wait to seal my own arm before I leaned in and bit his neck.
I guess I should have warned him about the effect of that too.
Lucas was a quick study though. His hand found me with no issues, pushing my pants down in the process. It had been some time since I had both fed and let someone take care of my needs. It was a good thing he had fed first, I might have accidentally killed him.
I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. I hadn’t eaten in over a month. Not since I bonded with my mate.
Nobody appealed to me. I held no desire to feed from anyone else.
I drank until his body began to shake uncontrollably beneath me, the sign that he was going through the change. Then I drank a little more, until I could taste my own blood coming back to me.
I sealed his neck and rocked back to my heels. When his eyes met mine, the whites of his eyes were glowing. He gave me a tired smile, and I spotted four teeth that were now slightly pointed and sharp.
