Page 8 of Born Chaos

She was a curse weaver. I’m holding the ability to weave curses in my hand.

It’s hard to grasp what that really means. My mother was basically a witch. And it seems impossible that curses can be real. But I’ve seen the evidence.

I can’t die. My mother cursed me with that when I was only hours old. She did it to save my life.

She cursed my father that he couldn’t find her, to protect him.

And if the stories are to be believed, vampires wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for a curse. Vampirism was the curse given to a man who messed with nature with the selfish desire for immortality and strength.

Malcolm told me that curse weavers are exceptionally rare. Neither he nor Sigrid has ever known one. And Archer killed her.

But only Sebastian and I know this secret. Markus Lontoc still lives. Sebastian told the Night Council that he killed Markus because of how dangerous the man is. He certainly is dangerous. But the truth is that Sebastian kidnapped Markus and is holding him prisoner. His reason? Just in case something detrimental happens to me. Markus is Sebastian’s back up plan if I do something so reckless, I die.

What my fiancé doesn’t know, is that I’ve already died three times since he’s known me.

I can’t die.

But it’s a great comfort. Chicago is dangerous. Life as a vampire is dangerous. I don’t know who I’d become if Sebastian were to die. I’d lose my mind. I know I’d go dark. Really dark.

So, really, it’s me who needs that back up plan.

But Markus isn’t just good for keeping Sebastian alive.

He can resurrect anyone from the dead. No matter how long they’ve been dead, from my understanding, so long as he has their bones.

I pull out the chair at my desk and sink down into it. Opening my laptop, I pull up a web browser.

I haven’t been back to Kansas since the day I turned eighteen. The state is a black mark of pain and uncertainty. I’ve never even considered going back.

But just last week, I got a call from the police department. I’d inquired about where she’d been buried, and they finally got back to me.

Peace Grove Cemetery. They didn’t know where she was buried. They told me there would be no headstone.

But I’d cross that bridge when I arrived at it.

I look at flights. My hometown is almost dead center between the Kansas City airport and the Denver one. And then it’s a four-hour drive from there. I was always in the middle of Nowheresville, USA. The two-hour flight there is the easiest part of the trip.

I’m going to need a few days to look for her remains. And knowing Markus is locked up as a prisoner, puts a sense of urgency in me.

I need to go to Kansas, and I need to go soon.

I’ll tell Sebastian that Elena and I are taking a girl’s trip. A sort of early, early bachelorette party. I know Elena will back me up, but I’d rather not have to tell her either. Even Elena has her limits. I can tell her that I’m going to look for my mother’s remains, but that would involve telling her Markus is still alive. Hell, I could even tell Sebastian I just want to bring her back.

But until I actually find her remains… This feels too personal. Sebastian might know pain in a way most don’t, but he doesn’t know what it was like to grow up without a fatherora mother. To have never even seen her face.

So I’ll figure out an excuse. I’ll figure out a story.

I book flights to the Kansas City airport for a month from now.

I sit back and rub my fingers into my temples. I can’t get headaches anymore as a vampire, but this is… stressful. I feel like I’m balancing too many spinning plates on ten-foot-tall poles, and eventually, one or more of them are going to crash down and shatter at my feet.

I get up and cross to the fridge. I’ve never been one to drink alcohol much at all, but suddenly I understand the urge to drink when you’re stressed. Only my source of relief is in the form of human blood.

But standing at the fridge, looking at all those bags of cold, old blood, my stomach turns.

It’s literally been months since I fed off a live person. I kind of forget sometimes that I’m actually a vampire.

The thought of drinking that donor blood right now makes my fangs lengthen, and infuriation turns my eyes red.

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