Cursed (Book 1, The Watchers; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (23 page)

“Not anymore she’s
not,” Tara said before I could answer the question.  “She’s free if you want to
dance with her.”

I glared at Tara.  I felt like she was pimping me out.

“Would you like to
dance?” he asked holding his arm out to me.

For the next
thirty minutes, I think I danced with over five different guys who I had never
met before in my life.  They all seemed nice enough but I couldn’t help
watching the entrance, hoping to see Brand again.

And then it
happened.

I was standing by
Tara and Simon when I saw him make his entrance into the ball.

He was dressed in
a black tuxedo with a whiter than white shirt and black bow tie.  I thought I
would melt on the spot he looked so gorgeous.  Every girl at the dance was
watching him. 

“You have got to
be kidding me,” I heard Tara say beside me.  “Who’s that hoochy mama he’s
with?”

I’d been focused so
much on Brand I hadn’t seen Izzi standing by his side in a dress that left me
speechless.  It was a black and white skin tight dress with cut outs in places
that seemed inappropriate and a slit up the side that left little to the
imagination.  In fact the whole dress seemed inappropriate for a college
dance.  All the girls were looking at Brand and all the guys were now focused
on Izzi.  Who could blame them?  She looked like she might spill out of the
dress at any moment.

When I looked back
at Brand, he was staring straight at me.  I couldn’t read the expression on his
face at all.  It was like he was made out of stone.  I saw his jaw muscles
tighten but that was it.  I turned my back to him no longer able to look at him
and Izzi together.

“Would you like to
dance?” a familiar voice said behind me.

When I turned back
around, Will was standing there in a black tux and slim black tie with his hand
held out to me.  I wordlessly accepted his offer by placing my hand into his.

As we swayed to
the music, Will said, “You look beautiful tonight, Lilly.”

“Thanks.  I think
it’s the dress more than anything.”

“No, it just
enhances the beauty you’ve always had.”

I didn’t know what
to say to that. 

“You didn’t come
with a date?” I asked him.

“No,” he smiled
down at me.  “I wanted to dance with the prettiest girl here.  I thought she
was already spoken for but luckily I was wrong.”

“Don’t let Tara hear you say that.  She’s supposed to be my date.”

“Well, I’ll have
to thank her for bringing you.  I was waiting for my chance to dance with you. 
You seem to have a lot of would be suitors here tonight.”

“I don’t know any
of them.  If you asked me, I couldn’t tell you what their names were.”

I saw Brand and
Izzi dancing in my periphery vision and turned my head away slightly, a
movement noticed by Will.

“Would you like to
get away from here?” he asked me.

I silently nodded
and let him lead me off the dance floor.  We left the field and ended up
walking in the rose garden by the Common’s.

“What happened
between you and Brand, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“He left me.  Said
he didn’t want to see me anymore and that I needed to leave him alone.”  Saying
the words out loud opened a fresh wound in my heart.  I stopped walking and put
my hands up to my face to hide my tears.  Will took me in his arms and let me
cry silently on his shoulder.

“Oh, Lilly, don’t
cry.  No man is worth you crying over.”

I thought this an
odd statement coming from someone I had cried over for the past two years. 
Strange how things worked out, that my first love would be comforting me about
losing the second love of my life.  A love I was waiting to declare that very
night.  What a perfect setting this would have been for me and Brand to share
our first kiss in.  A full moon with music playing in the background amongst a
garden of rose petals.  The image of what could have been made me cry even
harder.

Will cupped my
tear stained face in his hands and kissed me on the forehead and then on my
cheeks.  He looked into my eyes as if asking permission to continue.  All I
could think of was, why not?  It was obvious Brand had moved on.  Why couldn’t
I move just as quickly?  Leave his empty promises behind and try to find the
love I had for Will again.  Hadn’t Will said he had always loved me?  What was
wrong with trying to find happiness in his arms?

Will started to
lower lips to mine. 

No.  This wasn’t
right.  Brand might not love me anymore but I hadn’t stopped loving him.  I
couldn’t stand here and pretend that I had.

I pulled away and
took a step back from Will.

“I’m sorry,” I
said, shaking my head.  “I can’t.” 

When I looked at
the terrace behind Will, I saw Brand standing beside the table where we had
shared our first lunch, watching me with a hooded expression.

I turned as fast
as I could and ran away.  I heard Will yell my name but I didn’t care. 

On the way home,
it didn’t take me long to realize I was still wearing high heel shoes.  My
ankle turned as I ran across the street.  I took the shoes off as quickly as I
could and kept running.  I didn’t plan to stop until I was back in my
apartment.  It was only half a mile away.  Surely I could make it that far on
my own.

About half way
back home, I had to stop running.  The cold concrete of the side walk against
my bare feet made me wish I had worn the flat shoes and not the high heels to
the dance.   I didn’t like walking home alone but didn’t have much of a choice
now.  I’d left my phone at the apartment so I couldn’t call Tara to come pick
me up.  Anyway, by the time she made it out of the dance to where I was I would
be home.

The streets were
silent that evening.  Most everyone on campus had either gone home for the
weekend or were at the dance.  The only sound was the hum of the street lights
lining the sidewalks.  There was only one place where I wouldn’t have much
lighting, the parking lot behind the maintenance building.  I would have to
cross the pitch black asphalt to get on the street my apartment was on.

I was half way
across the parking lot when I stepped on a piece of glass.  I stopped and tried
to feel around for it in what little light there was coming from the two side
streets.  I could feel the slick wetness of blood on my fingers as I pulled out
the shard and threw it to the ground.  I had almost made it across the parking
lot to my street when I saw a man standing underneath one of the street lamps
staring at me.

To say he was
oddly dressed would be an understatement.  He wore a black coat but it looked
like it was made completely out of feathers.  He had long dark hair which was
combed into a ponytail that lay across his shoulder.  His skin looked pale in
the dim light of the street lamp.  I couldn’t see his eyes but I could feel
them on me. I didn’t want to go past him so I turned around.

From the corner of
the maintenance building I heard something growl.  It was like a dog’s growl
but different, almost like it had a human quality to it.  When I heard it the
second time, I turned back around.  I would either have to pass the stranger or
face what ever animal was making the strange growling noise.  I changed my
trajectory so that I wouldn’t have to pass the man directly but cross the
street below where he stood.  I averted my eyes and tried not to look at him,
walking as quickly as I could.  When I reached the sidewalk to my street, I
felt a hand grab my elbow.

Startled, I
stopped walking and looked beside me to see the man I had been trying to
avoid.  He reminded me of one of those men you see on the covers of romance
novels.  He wore a black cloak made from midnight black feathers.  He was
shirtless and wearing tight black leather pants and boots with silver buckles
on the sides.  

“Hello, Lilly.” 
His voice had a deep resonant quality, like it was coming from deep inside his
chest.

I yanked my elbow
out of hand and backed away.

“What do you want?”

Even I could hear
the fear in my voice.  I was sure he noticed it.

He looked down at
the hand I had pulled the piece of glass out with.  It was still wet with blood
because I didn’t want to ruin my dress by using it like a towel.  I continued
to slowly back away but it was useless.  He disappeared and reappeared right in
front of me, like he had teleported or something.

“I see you’ve cut
yourself.”  Before I knew it he had my blood stained hand in his grasp.  He
brought my hand up to his face and closed his eyes inhaling the blood there
like a sommelier would a glass of wine.

“Interesting.” He
breathed letting my hand go.  “You have some powerful enemies, Lilly.”

“I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”  Was he related to Michelle in some way?  If he was, I
could well see why she was a complete loon.  Maybe he was here to seek
retribution.

“Listen, I didn’t
ask for Michelle to try to kill me.”

“Michelle?” His
dark eyebrows furrowed in consternation.  “Who might that be?”

“You’re not a
relative of hers?”

“No.”

“Who are you then
and how do you know my name?”

“You may call me
Malcolm,” he said bowing to me at the waist with a flourish of his hands like a
knight before his lady.

“What do you want
with me?”

“Well, Lilly, I’m
not one to beat around the bush so I’ll just come out and say it.  I was sent
here to kill you.”

That was all I
needed to hear.  I made to dart across the street to get away from him but he
was faster than me.  A million times faster.  He was standing in front of me
before I knew it.

“Not just yet,” he
chided.

It didn’t really
look like I had any choice. 

“What are you
waiting for?” I asked, standing up to him while I could.  There wasn’t any way
for me to win.  No where for me to hide.

He grinned at my
bravado.

“There’s something
about you that’s different.  Your blood,” he said looking down at my hand.  “It
doesn’t have the usual bouquet of most humans.”

“Sorry it doesn’t
meet your standards,” I was surprised by the courage I found to stand up to him
considering what he had just confided to me.  “What were you going to do? 
Drink it?”

“Yes, I was
actually.”

I stood there
completely silenced by his words, unable to think of a way to escape.

Malcolm stared at
me like he was trying to figure something out about me.  “I’m not sure why he
wants you dead so badly.  You seem harmless enough.”

“Who do you keep
talking about?  Who wants me dead?”

He smiled. 
“That’s not something I can tell you, dearest Lilly.  He wouldn’t like me
talking about him with you.”

“What are you
going to do with me then?”  I could feel my body start to shake.

“Nothing, that
would harm you.  I promise,” he said holding his hands out to the side as if
showing me he had nothing up his sleeves.  “You’re far too rare a creature to
simply destroy.”

He slowly started
to step back away from me.  He snapped his fingers in the direction of the
maintenance building.  I heard what sounded like claws run across the asphalt. 
Before I knew it, a creature I couldn’t have made up in my wildest nightmare
stood beside Malcolm.  It was taller than Malcolm by two feet with white patchy
hair like a mangy dog and a face resembling a greyhound with tall pointy ears. 
It reminded me of pictures I had seen of the Egyptian god Anubis in my world
civilization class except this creature was albino white instead of black.

The creature
looked at me with curious eyes and I heard him whine but it wasn’t like a sound
out of pain, more out of yearning.  I got the distinct feeling he wanted to
come closer to me.  Malcolm put a comforting hand on the creature’s arm.

“Sebastian and I
will leave you now.  But you may see us again one day.  Oh, and tell Brand I’m
sorry I missed him the other day when he came looking for me.  He’ll have to do
better than that.”

They both silently
disappeared into thin air.

I ran as fast as I
could back to the apartment and picked up the phone Brand had given me.  I
found his cell phone number quickly and called him.

Izzi answered the
phone.

“Hello?” I could
tell she was laughing.  Music was playing in the background.

“I need to speak
with Brand.”

“Oh, hon.  He’s a
little busy right now,” she said, with a lilting laugh.

“Get him on the
phone right now!”  I screamed so hard I hurt my own ears.

“Like I said,
Lilly,” a hard edge came into the other woman’s voice.  “He’s
busy
right
now.”

I took a deep
breath and tried to regain some sort of control over my hysteria.

“Fine.  Tell him
Malcolm sends his regard.”

I hung up the
phone.

I had expected
Brand to call me back but instead I heard him yelling my name and banging on my
front door like a maniac.

As soon as I
unlocked the door, Brand rushed into the living room. 

“Where is he?” he
asked running from room to room before I could even answer.

I don’t know if I
was still in shock from my encounter with Malcom or if it was because I was so
close to Brand again, but I couldn’t do anything but stand there like an idiot
and stare at him mutely.  After he saw there wasn’t anyone but me in the
apartment, he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, like I was the most
precious thing in the world.

“Did he hurt you?”
he asked looking down at me, worried.  His eyes fell to the blood on my hands. 
“Where did he bite you?”

I shook my head. 
“He didn’t bite me.  I cut my foot on a piece of glass walking home.”

A confused look
crossed Brand’s face.

“He didn’t even
try?” he asked bewildered.