Cursed

Chapter 21: One Step Back

Sleep didn't come that night. On a positive note, it meant the nightmares stayed out. On the other hand, it also meant my mind had time to repeat every horrible scene from the past few days. With tossing and turning, I tried to at least find a comfortable position, but it didn't come. Even listening to the peaceful sounds of the forest didn't give me some rest.

 
The monster disappearing into ash flashed before my eyes. I turned to my right. The creature's sharp smell filled the room, making my nostrils flare. I turned to my left. The grains of the wooden bedroom wall reminded me of its claw marks left behind on one of the trees right outside of Holt. Turning to my back, my hands combed through my loose hair sprawled around me. A groan escaped me. Its burning yellow eyes looked at me every time I closed my eyes. Had I truly felt a connection to that creature or had it simply been my imagination? Why would I even imagine something like that?

The clicking of a door scared the gory images away. Within the time to exhale, I sat up straight in bed, my hand wrapped around one of the knives I stole from the dinner table earlier that day.

Featherlight steps, almost too soft to be heard, made their way through the hall. No other sounds followed. Until another door opened with a creak. A small gasp and a foot that ended up on a groaning plank echoed in the otherwise silent house.

Curiosity made me walk towards the door. With a similar carefulness as the person on the other side of the door, I made my way through the small bedroom. I did a better job at keeping silent.

"-scared me." A hushed female voice croaked. 

"I thought you said 'we'," Heather's high pitched voice whispered. "Haven't you learned anything from your break-up with Jason?"

A silence stretched out. For a second I wondered if they were still there.

"I said sorry." The low timbre of Kate's voice reached my heart and gripped its claws in it. My bare hand reached for the empty wall as I felt my body sway. "I have to figure this thing out, and I won't risk the pack's safety by letting any of you near anything that has remotely anything to do with death."

"It's a noble thing to say, but all you do is leave them behind once again."

The princess sighed. "I'm not like all of you, I'm not made to stay in one place. That's why it would never work between me and Jason. Even though I loved him with all of my heart."

My nails dug into the wood, and my jaw clenched. 

"You can't go alone." Heather stated, her voice still a mere whisper.

"I'll be fine. Those corpse lovers might be a weird bunch, but I've dealt with worse."

They shifted. "It's not that. You can't leave the Hunter behind."

Clothes rustled, another little creak in the floor echoed through the hall. They moved, both of them, closer to my room. My lips pressed into a thin line and I held my breath. 

"Why not? She's not my kind."

"Maybe not, but she is magically linked to you." A silence settled for a heavy moment. "I felt it before, but yesterday I saw it. Clearly. You can't ignore this, Kate. Spells like that are cruel. The longer you ignore them, the harder they will scream. The link will find ways to get you together, one way or another. The more you resist, the more damage you will do to both yourselves and others around you." My heart turned cold. A dooming dread slipped its way inside of me. Was this real? "It's not something you can ignore, Kate. Haven't you felt anything for her?"

"Stop with this nonsense!" She whisper-shouted. "I don't feel any kind of attraction towards the Hunter. She is my enemy! An enemy that my father finds is a bigger threat than these killings." Someone sighed. "She can't be anything to me," another silence. "Because he sent the Royal Squad behind her. She will be dead by the end of the week."