The Curse - Book 1 (Completed)

Chapter 9: The Two Hunters

​Sophia turns calmly and, lifting her hand, shuts the big gate with a loud bang.

How in hell did she do that? The gate is fifty feet away! ​"Chris!" Victoria whispers, "What's going on?"

​He takes her elbow, his eyes never leaving Sophia's. "It'll be fine," he reassuringly says.

​She watches Sophie intensely and cannot help but tremble seeing a subtle sly smile playing on her lips.

​Suddenly, the entrance door opens. Breathless, they watch a tall dark-haired man step out on the doorstep. He is dressed all in black, too. Every muscle in Victoria's body contracts. Her eyes search Chris', but he doesn't stop staring at the scary man.

​Leeroy is looking at him, too. Then he gazes at Victoria and his lips contort in a vicious smile.
​He slowly puts his hands into pants pockets and simply says, "Well, well...who would've thought..."

​Then something strange happens. All too quickly for Victoria to realize, the man shuts his eyes and his face becomes a pained grimace, his eyes blackened glass. Victoria screams, and Chris protectively pushes her behind him in a nanosecond. He throws his fist at the man, but Leeroy is barely affected. Instead, he laughs.

​"You never change, do you?" he says and reaches out his arms. For a moment, Victoria thinks he wants to shake hands, but then an unfathomable force pushes them away from him, high in the sky and then abruptly ceases, so that they fall harshly to the ground.

​Christopher moans as sharp pain surges from his knees all the way to his brain, waking all of his nerve endings to an unpleasant morning. He is unable to move. Victoria squirms on the ground, somewhere between consciousness and coma. Everything around her is blurry and she feels like she is floating on air, apart from the pain in her body that reminds her of the grave injuries she suffers from falling to the ground.

Am I dreaming? she thinks. This can't be happening. This isn't real. It can't be real.

​Finally, she manages to regain clear vision and depicts Leeroy approaching them. His casual walk is petrifying. It tells them he is in charge. That they cannot run away. He has all the time in the world and he will enjoy slaughtering his pray. She lets a desperate gasp, and shuts her eyes, waiting for death to come.

​But Chris, instead of staring at Leeroy, glances at Sophia. He frowns. She seems at unease. Why is she anxious? he thinks. She is the one who called the man to come.

In this moment, he realizes his sister and he weren't chasing Sophia. They were the ones being chased.

And now they've carelessly walked into a trap.

Suddenly, a sharp pang of guilt runs through his veins and he knows he can't let his sister die like this. Not because of him.

​It takes him all the strength he has to kneel up. But he does. And, not aware of what he is doing, he raises his hand in front of him so as to stop the man from hurting them. A guard waiting for a quarterback to strike. But the hit never comes. He gazes up and sees Leeroy trying to make another step forward, but unable to do so. He furrows his eyebrow and slowly stands up. He doesn't lower his hand, afraid that if he does, Leeroy will attack. Instead, he grabs Victoria's under her armpit with his other hand and pulls her up to her feet.
​"What happened?" Victoria gasps. "What's going on, Chris?"

​Chris doesn't reply. Instead, he makes a few steps backwards and drags Victoria with him. He still keeps his hand raised in front of him, as a shield. He is uncertain of what he is doing, but too afraid to stop. "I don't know," he whispers, "but we should run for the gate..."

​Victoria's eyes go slowly from Leeroy to Sophia and she notices her eyes are shut, and her head is leaned backwards, so she is facing the sky. Her arms are slightly apart from her body, as if she was doing an invocation. Is it her doing this?