Blood Cursed (20 page)

23

Metal sliced the air, screeching, and Famine’s cruel caress ripped away.

But it wasn’t a relief. Only more torment.

I howled, helpless, tension crippling my body with vicious need. My nerve endings screamed jagged, whipped to insatiable hunger by Famine’s tricks. Even airflow tortured me, the sensation both too much and nowhere near enough. I wanted pain, burning, flaying, anything to alleviate this awful cramp that shook me rigid. My body pleaded for release, and the loss of Famine’s touch was unbearable.

I forced my eyes open. Tears smeared my glasses, and all I saw was an angry scarlet blur.

But I didn’t need to see to smell roses.

Crazy laughter choked me, and more tears spilled, washing my eyes clearer. Diamond hovered, a shimmering glass glory on a sparkled crimson pillar of rage. His shining hair scattered the light like jewels. He’d dressed for the occasion, tight black rubber hugging his body, his bare arms glittering in fairy sweat. His glasses flashed golden, fury searing through like flame. A razorcut blade dripped green blood in his hand.

I shivered, hope and dread fighting icy battles down my spine. I didn’t want him here, not with my worst nightmares painting lurid pictures in the air like a sick green horror movie. I didn’t want him to see. I wanted to plead with Famine to keep tormenting me, make me shatter, let me rest at last.

Famine hissed, wet blue wings shining, and my desperate longing splashed his mouth scarlet. “Come for a taste, prettyfae?”

Diamond didn’t waste time with words. He just arced his blade and dived headlong at Famine’s face.

Famine swooped upward, claws raking. The scything blade missed, ruffling his indigorich hair. Diamond somersaulted, rosy wings flashing, and snapped backwards for a reattack. Famine jerked back, black blood splashing from a fresh gouge on his arm.

I wriggled in my chains, the cruel iron a welcome pain. They were both so fast, so beautiful, locked in vicious midair battle like angry angels. I longed to dive in screeching, warble in delight as my muscles stretched. Slice that blade across my skin and feel the hot blood flow. Grab Famine’s head, smash it into the bricks until the rotten wormshit stopped sneering.

Famine lunged with razor teeth at Diamond’s throat. Diamond leapt backwards and slashed. A hank of Famine’s inky hair fell. Swift as a bluebellied snake, Famine latched onto Diamond’s wrist, and he jammed his foot against the wall and pulled.

Bone crunched. Diamond lurched off balance, hissing, and the blade tumbled from his hand to clatter against the wall.

My breath squashed hard. Oops.

Diamond’s wings crunched into the bricks, and Famine struck in a blue blur. I gritted my teeth, waiting for blood.

But Famine didn’t tear his throat out. He just yanked Diamond’s head around by the hair and stared into his eyes.

I yelled, fear spilling cold green moisture down my body. “No! Diamond, don’t look—”

But he already had, and as I watched helpless, his fury-golden eyes melted scarlet.

Famine grinned and panted, his jewel-pierced chest heaving. “Too slow, shithead. Story of your life. You can’t protect them, can you? God knows you’re no good for anything else, but you can’t even do that.”

“Shut it, psychofae. Just let Ember free.” Diamond spat, splashing Famine’s chin. But he couldn’t move. Trapped, pinned immovable by Famine’s spiteful spells. And his winedark remorse flooded the air, rippling from his heart like a dead bloodstain.

Poisoned claws slashed at my soul. Not him as well. I could accept my own death, even if it made me thrash and rage at the stupidity of it all. But I didn’t want Diamond dead because of me.

Famine sniffed the rich purple flood. “Mmm. I adore self-loathing. It’s my favorite, after fear. Did you see Ember’s? Nice, wasn’t it? But a pretty boy like you? What’s there to loathe? You treat your body like a whore. All you’ve got to give, is that it?”

“Save it, clever-ass.” Diamond swiped sharpglass claws, defiance glowing golden in his translucent veins. But the air rippled thicker, bloodier, all that secret emotion ripping free.

My lungs swelled, painful. I didn’t want to hear this. It was none of my business. Diamond was so self-assured. To see his heart flayed open was more than I could bear. I thrashed in my chains, furious. “Let him go, you brute.”

But Famine ignored me. He inhaled deep, sucking in Diamond’s colors, and his wings quivered alive with stolen rose pink. “Give it up, Diamond. You’re empty anyway. All those careless affairs, and you couldn’t keep the one woman you really wanted.”

Diamond lunged, held back by invisible magical bonds across his chest that pressed bright welts into his shining skin. “You’re full of shit. Just let her down.”

A dark blue laugh, sparkled with golden lust. “You don’t care about any of them, do you? You pretend to be so protective but it’s all about your ego. You need them to adore you. You’re so fucking focused on yourself that you
bored
the love of your life into drinking from a vampire.”

Rage rippled white as Diamond snarled, but he couldn’t escape, and the ripe red blood of his hatred spilled faster, pooling on the floor.

Famine grabbed Diamond’s jewel-studded hair, yanking his head back. “You hurt her, didn’t you? Broke her pretty face with your fist because she wouldn’t play your self-serving game. You fucking animal. You lie, you trick, you flirt to get attention, but you’re dogshit wrapped in a pretty bow. You’ve got nothing a decent woman would want. And now you can’t even keep this one.”

“Don’t believe him. It’s all just tricks!” But I couldn’t get free. I couldn’t make Famine stop.

Famine smirked. “Your Ember’s tasting every lick of this. She knows how empty and hateful you are. She’ll die, Diamond, right in front of you, and there’s not a damn thing you can do.”

Diamond gnashed his teeth, straining to break free. But Famine’s spell held fast, and that thick scarlet flood kept on coming. My tongue tingled with the taste of it, honey nectar like desire. Mmm. I swallowed, and my throat sighed in warm delight as Diamond’s viscous loathing slipped down, caressing, so filling and warm … .

Horror scorched my bones. I was eating him, ripe and ravenous like a beast.

But his emotion sparkled on my tongue, hot scarlet rivers splashing over my chin. Desire savaged my whiptaut body all over again. I wanted to swallow, drink him in, suck his essence down until this cursed hunger stripping my nerves raw was sated at last.

I yelled, flame roaring in my bones. God, I was hungry. Famished. Ravenous for sensation and release and flesh on shuddering flesh. Frantic, I tried to focus, but nothing worked. I throbbed inside, longing for pain, punishment, the desperate relief of a touch. Cruel, kind, I didn’t care. This was what Famine did. Reduced everything to evil, selfish hunger. Made greedy beasts of us all.

I raked my lips with hungry teeth, and yelled as the blood burst. I thrashed my head until my hair sprang loose. Sharp wire nipped at my ears, but the evil pink glasses wouldn’t come off. I couldn’t stop the horrible visions, heartliquid staining the air, mental rape in Technicolor 3D.

Against the wall, Diamond struggled in his magical trap. His face shone, sweat and tears, and as I wriggled and kicked to free myself, his agonized golden gaze fixed on mine.

Fairyspelled emotion punched me, and my breath sucked out, and I
saw
.

I saw, deep into his slinky secret places, so warm and strange and beautiful. And I knew Famine was wrong.

Colors rushed, a telescoping tunnel of truth and mirrors, Diamond’s secret heart ripped open to view by the vicious clash of two relentless glassfae talents.

Famine was wrong. Diamond’s heart wasn’t broken. There it shone, bold and fairycurious and lustful for life. But it hid, bruised, afraid of its own courage. Afraid of what would happen if he let it loose. Like me.

Understanding flashed firebright, and a sob caught my throat. All that contempt, so cutting and cold? It was directed at himself. Whoever she was, this girl of his, he’d hurt her, and he hated it. Whatever passed between them, it’d crippled him.

He wasn’t playing with my affection. He just didn’t think I’d ever care. Just assumed I’d walk away once I was done with him. Like she did.

He’d given me everything he knew how to share, and I’d thrown it back at him because it wasn’t enough. Inside, he felt as worthless as I did, and I’d as much as told him it was true.

I struggled to hold his gaze. “Diamond, stay with me. He’s tricking you. We can both get out. Don’t listen to him!”

Famine giggled, that seablue stone in his chest flashing lickspit with greed. He caressed Diamond’s cheek, and inkblue contempt smeared from his finger.

My veins rippled. Famine was emoting.

Just a smear, a tiny blue leak. But definite. Famine’s own colors, bleeding free.

My muscles twisted tighter, agonizing, but I didn’t care. Famine just gave himself away. He was as vulnerable as we in this weird pinkglass magictrap. Just a matter of pressing the right buttons.

And with a glassbright flash like crystal, I knew just what Famine was afraid of.

24

Lickerish delight salted my mouth, and I grinned, deathly, tension spilling bumps over my skin. “Go on, shithead. Kill me. I’m gonna run straight down to hell and tell Kane just what makes you tick.”

Famine giggled, but for a moment, his fingers halted in Diamond’s hair.

“I’ve figured out what you wanted, see. You and those other four idiots with your stupid gemstones? That vampire kid, glutting himself on blood. Crimson eating pretty boys to stay beautiful. And Jasper, well, he’d do anything to stay alive.” I inhaled, savoring Famine’s anticipation. “Immortality, right? You’re afraid to
die
.”

“Nonsense.” Famine laughed, but it clanged, false.

“You’re fucking terrified, and that’s why you’ve set up this little heartmunching safari down here, isn’t it? Because you know you’re going to hell. And in hell,
the hunger will never stop
.”

“Shut up.” Famine’s voice rang flat, not his usual delighted lilt. His deep blue wings leaked, fat indigo droplets splashing the floor.

“I know about hunger, Famine. It’s the same as loneliness, see? It’s this cold empty place inside you, and to fill it, you
consume
. You stuff yourself with sensation and oblivion and meaningless sex and more and worse and lower, until one day the empty place starts eating you.”

“Shut up!” Famine gripped Diamond’s throat, but Diamond just kept struggling. Famine gnashed his teeth, and the drip increased to a inky trickle, his wings bleeding pale.

That hot salty Famine-essence slicked my tongue, and I spat it out, triumphant. “It already ate all your friends, didn’t it? Does it feel good, to strip your lovers bare and drink them up? Everything you care about, consumed. And when you die, you’ll go to hell and you’ll be all alone screaming in a dark empty hole and every day the hunger will chew through your guts and munch on your heart but no one will
ever feed you again
.”

Dirty blue liquid splattered like paint, and Famine whirled in a spray of Diamond’s roseglass blood and dived for me.

I squealed, dodging in my chains for a hiding place I couldn’t reach. Glass shattered as Diamond’s invisible bonds broke, no magic to hold them now Famine had let go.

Famine crashed into me, teeth slashing for my belly. We hurtled backwards, my shackles ripping tight. His vile blue hatred clogged my mouth, sour and chilled like swampwater.

Diamond uncurled with a snap of bleeding wings. He dived for his sword with a crystalline crunch, folded long pink fingers around the hilt, and flung himself headlong.

I yelled. Famine was all over me. Diamond couldn’t run him through without stabbing me, too.

But bright bladework arced, whistling above my head. Diamond crashed into the wall behind me with a breakglass crunch. My wrist chains twanged like piano wire, and broke.

I crashed backwards on flailing wings. Famine tumbled on top of me, venting thick blue fury like vitriol. We thrashed in midair, colors spurting like evil fingerpaint as we fought to stay aloft. I gagged, his long hands squeezing at my throat.

Black stars twinkled before my eyes. I choked. My exhausted wings buckled. Blood and spit drowned me. He was too strong.

Famine giggled and dragged me up. I thrashed my legs, but my boots scrabbled just a few inches above the ground. “Wriggle, little girl. I like it that way.” And he licked his hot wet tongue up my neck and over my chin, searching for my mouth to suck my life away.

Diamond rolled, and the air lasered bright with magnetic fae directionality. He hurled his sword in a flashing steel curve.

I flung my arm out, and the hilt smacked into my palm. My tendons spasmed tight. The sword held fast, and I stabbed upward with the last of my strength.

Flesh caught, and ripped. Burning blue blood seared my arm to the elbow. And Famine’s eyes flashed red hot with fury and pain. He jerked, stained green ichor spilling from his mouth onto my face, and fell on top of me.

I crashed to the ground. Famine’s weight crushed me. Blood and mindslime sloshed on the bricks, soaking my hair, griming my skin, thick and greasy and disgusting. Famine gurgled, ghastly, his face draining pale an inch from my eyes.

I shrieked and kicked, desperate to get the vile creature off me before I vomited. His hair fell in my face, pasting to my lips as it crackled dry. I shoved, palms slipping on brittle flesh, his salty stink covering me, soaking wet into my hair, up my nose, crawling over my tongue, down my throat … .

A shining pink hand grabbed his shoulder, and the body heaved off me.

Metal flashed, cutting my chains, and my ankles popped free.

I scrambled to my knees, aching. Famine lay there, fading, his hair crackling dry. Inkyblue liquid leaked out around him, a swelling pool of gore. His skin drained white. The sword wobbled upright, still caught beneath his skinny ribs, and in a fit of rage, I grabbed the hilt two-handed and shoved the blade home.

Famine choked, and his fiery albino eyes blanched white. His chest heaved one last time, and he fell limp, just an empty husk in a wet blue puddle. Dead.

My fingers cramped. I couldn’t let the blade go. Sweat ran itchy on my skin, and I longed to wash it off, a cool shower and a long sleep in safety. But I couldn’t relax. I couldn’t calm my racing pulse, the rasping breath burning my lungs, the shrieking tension his torture had wrought in my body.

An arm floated softly around my shoulders. I jerked, my nerves on a jagged edge. I’d almost forgotten Diamond was there, and now his rosefairy scent swelled deep in my veins, thrashing my blood to a panic-drenched mess.

“C’mon, angel. Let go. Gotta skip it.” His voice worked gentle but insistent under my skin.

I couldn’t face him. He’d seen everything. I shuddered. “No. There’s still … gotta get …” I couldn’t say it. I could only do.

I forced my arms to move. Ripped the blade from Famine’s bleeding white body. Dragged his crackling hair from his throat with my boot heel, and jammed the swordpoint into his flesh.

His skin sliced like paper, so easy. Blood spurted blue. I forced the point under the shining blue shard and twisted, and the gemstone popped out with a wet squelch.

The vile demongem shrieked as it clattered on the floor, blue-tinged white skin still ragged around the edges.

I had it. Gemstone number two. And I hoped the sick fuck already burned in hell.

Tremors racked me, sobs without the tears. The sword dropped from my fingers to clang on the blood-drenched bricks. My whisper cracked raw. “Can you … I can’t …”

Diamond scooped the bloody gemstone up and stuffed it in his pocket. He dug swiftly in Famine’s gorestained clothes and came up with a rusted key. In his gentle hands, my manacles clicked open, and he unfolded the tight metal from my wrists and ankles and dropped each horrid hinge to the floor. Then, he held out his hand for mine.

My face burned. I wanted to take it. I wanted to faint in his embrace, let him take care of me, carry me up the stairs and out into the burning summer air of freedom. Take me home, bathe me and put me to bed and caress me with his beautiful body until the terror was gone.

But I couldn’t. I didn’t dare. I was too raw, too exposed, and he’d seen everything. He’d seen the bleeding heart of my fear. If he touched me now, I might never escape.

“You okay?” Diamond brushed my hair back. His fingers lingered on my cheek, and his bright rosy aura made me ache. I was half-naked, bleeding, splashed in grime and gore, my muscles shaking with unbearable strain. He could soothe me. Release me. Make me better.

I tilted my head away.

He swallowed and let his hand drop.

Dumb, I pulled my dress straight. Fumbled the buttons into place. Dragged wet blue-stained hair from my eyes.

I didn’t let Diamond take my hand. I just averted my face and stumbled hot and aching for the door.