Page 157 of Cursed Lifeline

She’s almost there. Almost ready. I can feel it.

Her eyes fall to my blood-stained lips. Smiling into the side of her maimed neck, I whisper, “I choose you. Forty thousand,not with their quantity of love make up my sum.”

Arching my neck to the side, I offer us the final link I’ve recently discovered to breaking the curse.

She doesn’t hesitate and sinks her teeth in so fast that I yell out in pain. The sound reverberates off the concrete walls of the stadium and silences the crowd instantly. They watch in disbelief, in horror, as she drinks from me, sealing a fate that’s been stopped for centuries.

Greedily, she takes, and I start to fade quickly. Euphoric. High. A feeling damn near as good as when I’m buried deep inside her begins to vibrate through my entire body. Picking up her hand, I sink my teeth into her wrist and suck down hard.

“No!” Ember yells. “He knows.”

Esme’s will wasn’t the only thing needed to break the curse. I had to be willing as well. Willing to offer her a life I feared most.

Free will, though it makes evil possible, also holds the power to break every curse in the name of the only thing strong enough to stop every immoral, wicked, sinful thing in this world.

Love.

In life, in death, I vowed to love Esme the moment I laid eyes on her. The freedom to do so, whatever the outcome, was found the moment I embraced the inevitable and any future that could be ours.

“Stop them,” Ember screams.

But it’s too late. A change is starting to take over.

As she drinks from me, and I from her, the curse breaks.

It shatters into a million horrifying pieces that quickly engulf into an inferno only the powers of hell could inflict.

The fire rages as a lifeline surges through my veins and brings my soul back to life. The burning venom in my veins instantly turns into a cool antidote that quickly floods from my resurrected soul through hers, bonding us together and keeping her mortal. Esme instantly falls limp against my chest. Unbelieving what’s just happened, I wrap her in my arms as tears fall from our eyes. She sobs against me, and I whisper, “It’s all over, baby.”

Her head rises, she looks down at me startled. In the depths of her disbelieving stare I witness the magnitude of what I just felt.

My cheeks are flushed. My heart beats a pure rhythm. My once lost soul surges to life, reaches out and binds with hers.

I’ve been turned mortal.

“Now, I get to love you honorably,” I softly cry.

But before we can rest in the triumph of our win, Esme is pulled back by two guards, and I’m quickly hoisted to my feet in the center of the stadium.

“What have you done!” Ember demands as she tries to take the ring, but she’s quickly stopped as a slender arm grips her back and a blade is raised to her throat.

The room grows silent.

Viciously severing her head from her body, Evangeline seethes, “Go to hell and take your damned curse and blood oath with you.”

Evangeline pushes Ember’s lifeless form out of her arms and stares at Esme and me. She gives us a curt nod just before a billow of smoke implodes around the princess’s feet, and she suddenly vanishes from sight.

Looking down into Esme’s eyes, I pull her into my chest, and the world around us fades.

Purple and white wisteria hang majestically from the ceiling. Roses climb the pillars at our sides. They snake around them with ease as their smell threatens to deepen the spell we’re cast under.

Sparkling light dances around us, cascading us in a cover of verboten magic.

The room is empty, except for the two of us.

Her eyes sparkle as I pull her into my chest and kiss her lips. Her blood on my tongue mixes with mine on hers and she lets out a soft moan of pleasure before fisting my shirt and pulling me closer. Savoring Esme’s kiss, reluctant to pull away now that I can love her like I’ve always dreamed I could, music begins to gently fill the air. Its matrimonial tune pulls at the strings of our hearts as Esme pulls away and looks up into my eyes.

Grinning, I say, “You once asked me, if Hamlet loved Ophelia, why did he push her away?”

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