Page 311 of The Curse Trilogy

“Araya!” Brazen screams while charging toward me, and I turn around too late to see a grenade that has fallen beside us.

I try to use my gift, but suddenly I’m struck by the excruciating waves of energy as a coil strikes my side. I scream out, unable to dislodge it, and I throw my body over Clay’s when I know there’s no other hope.

My eyes tighten as I wait for the explosion I don’t have time to escape. I hear the deafening boom shake my eardrums as I struggle to keep Clay covered with my body that isn’t invincible. I feel a few shards rip threw my skin, but the blast isn’t as bad as it should have been because I’m still alive.

I turn around to a wavering surface. The ground seems to be moving after my close proximity to the blast I never felt the full force of. The unrelenting bullets continue to fire at us, and Brazen launches three grenades simultaneously at the men showing us no mercy.

The ground explodes from its dormant place as I look around to see what deflected the grenade. Clay grips me as the last of his wounds close up, and he jerks my face back front.

“Look at me. Look only at me,” he demands.

“What?” I panic, and I rip free to see what he’s desperately trying to shield me from.

Brazen’s arms wrap around me as my eyes fall upon the sight that makes sends a chill so deep, a ghost’s breath would seem warm. Nicholas is lying motionless after taking the blast for me. He saved me.

“No!” I scream.

Tears ravage my eyes as I dive over to start pouring blood into his mouth. My sobs can be heard over Hale’s explosions fending off the monstrous herds pounding toward us. I can tell he has reached stage three when the whole hillside is leveled, but all I can focus on is the man I never got the chance to know while the blood does nothing to bring him back.

“Araya, he’s-”

“No. No he’s not,” I sob wildly, interrupting Brazen, and Clay kneels beside me as other United soldiers rush out to shield us and fire into the mass coming toward us. “My blood. Clay, my blood healed Hale. He was dead. It can save him. Make it work,” I plead.

“Araya, you know I can’t. He’s your father. Blood can’t heal blood. You know that.”

“Please. Use your gift. Manipulate my blood. Please save him,” I plead again.

He shakes his head, and then I feel my blood rolling free from the wounds I’ve suffered. Brazen’s mouth drops open as the blood swirls through the air, lighting up and coming to life, and then it surges into the mouth of my father.

Clay’s eyes shut as he concentrates, trying to manipulate the properties of my blood, but nothing is happening. Tears pour more from my eyes as Clay’s eyes open with nothing but remorse.

“I’m sorry, Araya… I can’t get it to work,” he numbly mumbles, and I sob louder as Brazen pulls me into his arms.

I feel the dull aching inside me before the burning takes over. Nicholas isn’t moving, breathing, or even trying to heal. I feel sick and furious at once, and I start trembling as I gingerly push Brazen away from me. I feel the purple burning through the blue, and I see the terror in Brazen’s face just before I see it in Clay’s.

“You might want to run now,” my eerie tone slithers out as I slowly stand to my feet.

Brazen stumbles backwards before yelling to everyone, “Get the fuck out, now!”

“You too,” I murmur while staring at Clay, and I feel my body heating up as I step out into the middle of the blazing bullets.

They rattle off me one by one as I continue to stalk out into the center, and suddenly everything freezes in the air with barely any exerted energy. The metal shreds into pieces with another flick of my wrist, and the men begin dropping to the ground when I force their bodies to fold inward.

They can’t even catch a breath long enough to scream as their bodies fold under my exuding pressure. I see Hale still fending off the masses, and I smirk as I hold my hand up to raise the tanks, men, and all their puny weapons into the air. More screams erupt as the floodgates of my power open and spiral out of control. I fist my hand and several of the tanks crunch as though they’re a wadded up pieces of paper.

Everything lifts into the air as the earth beneath our feet shakes, and the skies open like a phase five storm. The winds slap against me as the pathetic attackers beg for the mercy they couldn’t show my father, and the thudding of the heartbeats carrying their meaningless blood suddenly stops as I crush all the life out of them while spiraling their corpses through the air.

Hale stalks toward me, and a devious smirk emerges from me as he reaches me. I drop the dead to the ground, and the chaos my power has left is delicious as the few remaining try to retreat. They collapse almost immediately as I crack my neck to the side, and suddenly I feel his delectable lips against mine as he jerks me to his incredible body. My storm, my phase five suctioning piece of beauty opens up stronger, the red lightening crashing, and it picks up the remnants of the graveyard, leaving only the man who sacrificed his life for me.

Hale’s lips bring me away from the fight - away from reality. He’s my hybrid, my love. He’s all I need… no one else.

No words need to be spoken. No breaths need to be taken. It’s just us in our kingdom of destruction right now, and it feels so fucking good.

He devours me as the United flees, and I feel like chasing after the son of a bitch that started this all.

Ty.

That fucking coward. I’ll kill him. I’ll shred him, and I’ll leave him in shambles when I find him.