Page 38 of Outlaw Witch

“Wanna tell me when you started with the signs of the curse and fill me in a little on what they are? And then you can tell me about what you’ve already tried and I can see if I can replicate it.”

As I speak, I’m realizing quite how strange this is. I’m nobody he knows. A stranger that’s turned up on his front door and is claiming to be able to do the same incredibly rare magic as him. The fact he’s trusting me at all is a little nuts.

Or maybe it shows how desperate he is.

How desperate they all are.

Fabian clears his throat and glances at me before nodding and taking a deep breath. It’s like he’s psyching himself up to share the details and I brace myself.

“I first realized something was up about three months back. I started getting these bouts of feeling really lethargic, you know? There was no reason for it, but I just felt like I could lie down in the street and take a nap. I figured it was probably nothing, and I was coming down with a cold or something. But then my magic started acting weird.”

“Weird how?”

“Some days it was boosted so strong it almost scared me and then other days it was nothing but a trickle. I wasn’t able to rely on it, which was worrying since I was trying to help Sebastian by giving him my blood. But that was starting to get too risky. You know how it is, since our magic is in our blood, it meant that any problems with my magic meant there was likely to be something up with my blood, too.” He hesitates and then rolls his sleeves up. “It wasn’t until I got these weird markings that I headed to the med center and told the guys about what was happening. It took another week before our med bay confirmed that it was a blood curse.”

Zeph lets out a little disgruntled rumble, like this displeases him, but he doesn’t say a word.

“What were the markings?” I ask, wondering if it’s the appropriate time to mention that I’ve never seen anyone with a blood curse before.

Fabian swallows hard and continues to roll up his sleeves, not meeting my eyes as he turns his wrists over and shows me the undersides of his arms.

I have to stifle a gasp when I see the thick black veins just underneath his tanned skin. They’repulsingand angry-looking and like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

“Is it the same all over the rest of your body?” I ask.

“He’s not gonna strip off for you, doll,” Zeph snipes and I don’t bother to look at him, instead flipping him the bird, which causes Fabian to chuckle.

“It’s like this everywhere,” Fabian says. “Started with my chest and it worked its way through the rest of me. It’s right down to my calves now.”

Shit. That doesn’t sound good.

I keep my expression blank, although I can tell that he’s already aware that things are progressively getting worse. I don’t think any of us want to know what happens once it reaches his toes.

Nodding to myself, I keep going with this whole interrogation thing I’ve got going. Maybe I should be taking notes, but I’m not sure I need to. The details of this are going to stick in my head for a long time to come.

“I’ve not been able to use my magic in the past month. It’s just too damn volatile,” he continues. “The main thing, though, is the sleep issue. I have these vivid dreams and nightmares and it feels like I’m wide awake. I can have entire conversations, entire days going by with people that don’t exist. I wind up confused a lot.”

If I hadn’t already agreed to help him, this right here would have convinced me. He meets my eyes for a moment and they’re bleeding vulnerability as he lays himself bare in front of a total stranger.

“And what about the things that you’ve already tried?”

Fabian shoots me a little smile. “I’ve tried draining it until I nearly passed out.

Zeph snorts. “He did actually pass out. We found him on the floor in the bathroom and it looked like there’d been a massacre.”

Fabian shrugs off his comment with another chagrined smile. “Anyway, the marks came back just as strong. Then I tried a bunch of potions that I read online were supposed to help. That did nothing. I even tried a purification ritual.”

“Naked. With his pasty ass hanging out on the roof for anyone to see,” Zeph grumbles.

“It’s not like you had to stick around to watch,” Fabian teases back and I can’t hide the smile that breaks out over my face.

“Okay, so potions, a ritual, blood draining,” I list them all out. “Anything else?”

“I tried asking the vamps for help, but that didn’t go so well. I’m not exactly their favorite person at the moment,” he says, and I make a mental note to ask why.

Right now, though, I think it’s important to get a closer look at this blood curse.

Taking a deep breath and bracing myself once again, I look Fabian in the eye.

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