Page 108 of Cursed Lifeline

“If it means saving her life, I’d let her go,” Alfred seethes before looking at me and insisting, “Too bad you aren’t willing to do the same for Esme.”

Felix’s shoulders stiffen.

“Maybe if you were, we’d have gotten off this cursed merry-go-round centuries ago. Instead, it looks as if we’re doomed to repeat your same stupid mistakes.”

Instantly, Felix shoves Alfred up against the boulder with so much force his head hits the rock, his eyes roll back, and blood trickles quickly down his neck. My cousin fights back as I attempt to step between the two testosterone-fueled fools, and Caelum says, “Uh, guys, we have a problem.”

“You and your fucking problems,” Felix growls, releasing his hold on Alfred and turning Caelum and Silas’s way.

Our eyes catch the fearful watcher’s gaze and quickly align with their view above our heads. Two guards peer down at us smiling.

“Well,” the one on the right says to the left. “Looks like Celeste isn’t the only present we’ll take to her Highness tonight.”

Felix, Alfred, and Caelum draw their swords. Silas pulls a pistol from his side. Cocking the barrel, he aims it at the guard as several undead step out of the shadows.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the guard sneers down at us before Caelum and Alfred are quickly disarmed, and Felix is unwillingly coerced to drop his weapon as well.

His eyes fill with fear as they meet mine and Silas steps forward. Pistol still aimed at the guards, the watcher of few words says, “My trainee was unwillingly detained by a rogue vampire named Talon. Rules of the council state any trainee who has not fully graduated to the level of slayer must be returned to her watcher.”

The guard’s laugh matches the men surrounding us.

“The new laws of the council are not enforced here,” the man above us grins. “But just for entertainment purposes, I’ll let you bring your demands to Her Highness.”

Rough-handed, we’re forced to a trail beside the boulder. Silas walks ahead of us, and confidently holds his head high as he approaches Ember’s estate. Alfred and Caelum are violently forced to follow. My steps grow heavy as Felix stands by my side and we close the distance between freedom and persecution.

My only regret in this life as I look over my shoulder, catch Felix's nervous eyes, and am then pushed through the entrance of hell is that if we fail to discover the key to breaking the curse before it’s too late, I never told him I loved him.

If I die tonight, it’s a fact that’ll inevitably haunt me as my cursed soul hangs in purgatory until we’re fortunate enough to meet again.

Thirty Seven

Talon

Song: Immortals | Fall Out Boy

As I pushCeleste forward into Ember’s throne room, her heels dig into the ground, and she comes to an abrupt halt.

“I changed my mind,” she mutters with a shaky breath. “I don’t think I can…”

“You can trust me,” I whisper against the curve of her neck. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Only because you want to keep me for yourself to play with when you feel like it,” she seethes, digging her claws in with her heels and refusing to move.

“Play?” I nip at her ear.

Against her will, a purr escapes her lips.

“Careful, kitten,” I warn. “You keep making sounds like that and I won’t be able to think straight.”

“Good,” she sasses, “maybe then we would stand a chance at winning whatever sick game we’ve somehow found ourselves in the middle of.”

For her outburst, I bite the side of her neck lightly. Canines retracted, the bite doesn’t draw blood, only brings it to the surface. Sucking away the sting, another purr of ecstasy falls from my kitten’s lips, and I groan with need, loving the way she’s so responsive to my touch.

“Hmmm,” I taunt, as the thought to flee leaves her, and she becomes putty in my hands. “Maybe I will keep you to play with when I please. From the sounds of it, you’d find as much pleasure in it as I undoubtedly would.”

She tosses me an angry glare as I force her forward toward Ember’s dais.

The ruler of the estate finishes talking to a short, hunchbacked, timid man who quickly scurries off. Glancing back at us over his shoulder, his lustful gaze falls on Celeste. He licks his grotesque lips, imagining things that make me want to rip out his heart and force him to watch as it pulses its last damned beat.

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