Page 38 of Cursed Lifeline (Eternal Love)

Thirty Seven

Talon

Song: Immortals | Fall Out Boy

As I push Celeste 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.

But before I can react to the vile intentions running through his mind, Ember looks down on us and says in a sultry voice, “Talon, it’s been a long time.”

Celeste casts me a disgusted look, and I tighten my grip on her wrists. She’s smart this time not to open her mouth and assume she knows what she’s talking about. But just so there is nothing between us but the truth, my mouth finds its way to her ear, and I whisper, “I’ve never slept with her if that’s what you’re thinking. Though she’s begged me to, I won’t deny that.”

I’ve met with Ember recently in secret to extract information for the coven, but I never crossed the line the witch is suggesting.

Her shoulders stiffen. “Got it,” she snaps bitterly. “No feeling. No emotion.” Glancing at me with disdain she says, “Heaven help the girl who actually does bring your heart back to life.”

Speechless, I stare into her eyes as a foreign feeling washes over me. I forget to breathe. Forget to blink. My mind draws blank, numb, as if everything ever said to me before is erased from memory, and my life restarts with that one damn sentence.

“Talon,” Ember bites out, growing impatient. “Have you finally come to accept my offer?”

I look up at her and debate answering yes. Even though I can’t stomach the idea of lying with Ember, I’d do it to keep Celeste out of harm's way. She eyes Celeste with hostility and leans back in her seat.

“I’m not in the mood to share,” Ember suggests, before taunting with a mischievous grin. “But, if you want her to watch, I’ll let her. For a price.”

Ember unfolds her legs and spreads them wide. The slit of her dress reveals she’s not wearing undergarments. Celeste averts her stare, and I curse under my breath. Ember is beautiful. No one would deny it. Her ebony hair, emerald eyes, large breasts, small waist, thick thighs, and large ass are any man’s dream. But I’ve never been swayed by superficial means. If I had, I would’ve gotten over the woman I lost a long time ago by burying my cock in many willing women who were more than happy to try to satisfy my needs over the years.

No, it takes more than what meets the eye to make me look twice. It takes a connection that defies all rational logic. A miraculous bond that’ll tie me to one person for eternity.

My hands begin to shake as I hold Celeste hostage, and I realize she may be my missing link.

“Shame,” Ember taunts, folding her legs and putting away her tricks for the moment. “The thought of a slayer watching actually turned me on.”

Worried Ember knows the curveball we’re attempting to throw her way, I say, “I’ll fuck you, Ember,” Celeste stiffens. The witch smiles like she’s just been handed the prize of the century. “But first, I’ve come on coven business.”

Celeste stops breathing. If I’m not mistaken, her hands tremble under my touch. It pains me to continue, but if we’re supposed to find out the cure to the curse, I have to play the part.

Clearing my throat, I say, “I brought you the slayer for a price.”

Laughing, Ember says, “And what am I supposed to do with a slayer?” She eyes the woman in my grasp with disgust. “At least if she were a man, I might have use for her.”

Celeste struggles against my grasp, wanting me to release her so she can unleash her fury on Ember for being assumed less than her male counterparts. But as more of Drusilla’s secrets have been revealed over the last couple of years, I also learned the power Ember is said to have, and I won’t let Celeste anywhere near her deathly clutches. Not as long as I have breath in my lungs.

“She can take you to Esme,” I reveal.

Ember perks up in her seat, eyeing the slayer differently now, and says, “What do you want in return?”

“The cure to the curse,” I shrug.

Ember laughs. “Try again.”

I lie like I’ve been told to and say, “Felix knows Esme’s end is near again; it’s inevitable. He’s agreed to let you have her. When you come for her, he won’t put up a fight. He only wants to find the cure so that when she’s killed this time, he can be released from their bond and pursue more pleasurable matters that haven’t denied him their bed for over a century.”

Ember grins. Leaning forward she says, “Nice try, but Felix would only give up Esme over his dead body.”

From just beyond Ember’s throne, the scuffing of heels, and clatter of voices draws near. Shadows emerge and draw closer like a portentous plague. Tossed out into the light, Felix and Esme stumble down a few steps on either side of the throne. Unleashed from the guards' hold, Felix takes off towards Esme, but he’s quickly held in place by Ember’s powers as she forces a shield between the two lovers.

Alfred, Caleum, and Silas watch from the top of her dais. Silas eyes Celeste, wondering if she’s all right. She gives her watcher a curt nod. A jealous tug pulls at my heart for the connection the two have. One I will never be able to emulate.

“Do you think of him too when you reach between your thighs at night,” I whisper harshly into Celeste’s ear as I hold Silas’s stare.

“Go to hell,” Celeste snaps back under her breath.

“Already there,” I growl shoving Celeste a step forward and releasing her from my grasp. She rubs at her wrists and eyes me furiously as she spins around to meet my stare.

“You won’t get the ritual you seek,” Felix warns Ember. “Not without the pixie who…”

“The pixie who played all of you so very well,” Ember says as Evangeline is tossed into the mix.

Manhandled by none other than Viktor, the fae princess is forcibly shoved into the room from a dark alcove on my right.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath.

Celeste’s eyes widen and nervously lock on mine.

“I won’t do it,” the princess says. Attempting to back away, she turns around and runs straight into Viktor’s firm chest. “I refuse. The ritual would not only kill her but…”

“Killing her is the goal,” Ember sighs, growing irritated. “She must die so my mate can be brought back to life.”

“But, you don’t understand, the ritual will…”

“Give me what I always wanted,” Ember insists through clenched teeth. “Now, stop stalling and do as you’re told.”

Viktor forces Evangeline towards the center of the room between Felix and Esme.

“Please, you have to listen,” the princess cries. “Once you bring someone back to life, there is no guarantee they will return the same.”

“Like me?” Esme asks.

“No,” Evangeline shakes her head and timidly walks towards Esme, begging her to understand. “Your blessing through the loophole is natural birth through an unfortunate demise. What she is asking for, what she wants me to do, would resurrect someone from the dead. There is no telling what they would come back like.”

“I don’t care what he comes back like. I just want him back,” Ember demands, standing from her throne.

She eyes Viktor with a commanding gleam. He forces Evangeline another step toward Esme. Felix charges him from the side. Grabbing hold of Viktor’s shoulder, he violently flings him against the nearest wall.

“One more step, and I’ll fucking slaughter you,” Felix rages. “Not murder. Not kill. Butcher, into tiny pieces that no one, not even the fae princess can put back together again.”

“He doesn’t answer to you,” Ember firmly states seconds before Viktor reaches up and clutches Felix’s throat in a death grip. “He answers to me. Has for over a century.”

Felix struggles for air as Esme cries for help. Quickly stepping forward, I attempt to pull Viktor off Felix when a stake is thrown from my right. It burns as it grazes my arm before falling to our feet. Looking up, I catch Evangeline’s startled stare as she whispers, “Sorry, bad aim.”

Celeste glances up at Esme, and the first slayer cries to the second, “I have no weapon. They took them from me.”

Rolling her eyes, Celeste looks at the stake lying a couple of steps away and sighs, “If you want something done right, I guess you have to do it yourself.”

Cartwheeling into a back handstand, Celeste kneels and grabs the weapon. Charging towards us, I step out of the way to give her better aim for Viktor just as Felix’s brother releases him and draws Celeste into his hold. Yanking her head to the side, Viktor’s bloodshot eyes find mine as his canines elongate and he sinks his teeth into her neck.

“No!” I yell out as Viktor quickly starts draining Celeste’s life.

Charging the pair, he viciously releases Celeste. Her lifeless form falls to the ground just as I tackle Viktor to the floor. Ember’s hysterical laughter echoes through the room as I unleash a violent fury on Viktor. Tears blur my vision as I punch his face until he’s lying in a puddle of blood. Before I can kill the bastard for what he’s done, I’m suddenly pulled off him by Evangeline.

“Talon,” she warns. “She’s not dead. Not yet.”

Wiping a fallen tear from my face, I stare up at the princess, and ask, “What do you mean?”

“You have the power to save her,” she says.

“No,” Felix warns as I glance back at Celeste now writhing in pain in Silas’s arms.

Felix attempts to make me listen to reason as Caelum rushes to Silas’s side, and Alfred backs away into a dark corner, looking green and woozy from the sight of blood.

“You can’t do this,” Felix demands as he holds me back. “Mother wouldn’t…”

“Mother’s not here,” I hiss, watching the woman who tempted my heart back to life struggle to take another breath. Glancing up at Esme, I furiously ask Felix, “You’re telling me if it were Esme, you wouldn’t do the same?”

“No,” Felix insists. “A damned existence is no life I want my love to live.”

“Funny,” Ember taunts as she rises from her seat. “Seeing as that’s the key to the curse.”

All eyes swing towards the evil witch standing divinely on her throne.

“ To thine own self be true ,” she says. “A curse is broken when your will is stronger than the desire to remain the same,”

Unable to focus on the meaning behind her words, Celeste’s next deathly gasp for air steals the breath from my lungs, and I rush to her side. Silas holds her away from me, and I have half a mind to rip his arm clean off, but out of respect for the man who trained the woman I suddenly fear I can’t live without, I cry, “Please, if I can save her, let me help.”

He glances up at Felix, then at Ember.

“Explain yourself,” Silas demands.

She rolls her eyes. “Since neither Felix nor Esme will ever have the courage to set each other free, I guess it’ll do more harm knowing the cure than withholding it. If it’s ever Esme’s will to be changed, and Felix chooses to change her, the curse will be broken.”

“Bullshit,” Felix shouts as Silas places Celeste gently in my arms. I look up at him with a thankful heart. He nods down at me, handing more than her body over to my safekeeping. He’s handed me her life. Her soul. Knowing so, my next breath lodges in my damned, unworthy chest.

“Don’t let me regret this,” he says sternly.

“No,” Felix demands, stomping to my side. “Don’t make her one of us. Don’t bring her into a life that…”

“I have no life if she dies,” I hiss out as deranged tears fall from my eyes. “I’ve walked the earth for three fucking centuries feeling dead inside, yet meeting her, she’s made me feel alive,” I cry as I look down and see Celeste’s eyes rolling shut.

Her breathing slows.

Her body’s trembling starts to subside.

I’m losing her.

She has no loophole like Esme.

She has no promise of a future.

A damned eternity is better than nothing, I decide, as I lay her gently in my lap, pull my dagger from my hip, and slice open my palm. Forcing her mouth open, I bring my hand to her mouth, but before it reaches her lips, Felix grips it harshly.

“She’ll never forgive you,” he warns. “This is against her will.”

“Is it,” I ask as I yank my hand free and hold it above her mouth. “Or is it against yours?”

Flexing my palm, my blood begins to drip and splashes promisingly against Celeste’s chest. Her eyes open wide, and hunger fills her stare. With her last ounce of strength, she yanks my hand to her mouth and starts to drink. As my blood steals her soul, her strength returns, and she bites into my palm, drawing more poison into her damned heart, which will turn her into the undead for eternity.

Ecstasy floods my veins. A euphoric high makes my vision blur. I close my eyes, embracing my choice, until Felix grabs my shoulders and pulls me away quickly.

“That’s enough,” he warns. “She’ll bleed you dry.”

My vision returns as a feral scream rings through the throne room.

Attempting to stand on shaky legs, Felix helps me to my feet as we all turn, and I yell, “Kitten, no!”

But no one, not even the undead, can stop a fledgling after they’ve just been born. Faster than any of us can mist, Celeste flashes to Esme’s side and holds her hostage in a tight grip. Ember’s sinister laugh rings through the room as she fades out of sight and a scene we’ve all desperately tried to prevent unfolds before us.

Trembling, shaking, unable to hold back her thirst, Celeste restrains Esme and pulls her head to the side. The slayer struggles against the fledgling’s vicious grip and cries out for Felix, who rushes forward.

“I’m sorry,” Celeste growls as she does the unthinkable and sinks her teeth into her first kill, completing the ritual needed to make her one of us.

Felix and the watchers rush the dais as I glance around the throne room in disbelief.

Evangeline is gone.

But even more mysterious is the fact that Viktor is missing, too.