The Death Curse

Chapter 24: A Favor or Two

"I thought you said this would be painless," I said, as I eyeballed the long silver needle pinched between Silas's fingers.

"I said almost. Now put your hands together you two."

Michelle pressed her palm against mine, her fingertips poking out slightly above mine. Rhys and Silas had untied her for the spell and she was being strangely compliant. But I supposed she didn't have a choice.

I stared at her trying to rekindle the angry I had when we went to her house in Seattle, or the disgust I felt when I thought she had killed someone to free herself of the curse. But all I felt was a pity. She was a jerk and selfish but that didn't mean she deserved this. She already spent thirty years living in a way that I only last three weeks. And now she was signing on for a lifetime.

Or was she. A memory flashed in my mind.

"Wait!" I tried to jerk my hand away but Michelle's fingers laced between mine and held me firmly in her grasp, her eyes were hard with determination.

A second later Silas thrust the needle through the back of my hand, piercing all the way through it into Michelle's. I screamed in pain while he began chanting words I couldn't understand and a voice further in the room shouted in protest.

Silas stepped behind Michelle and withdrew a knife from his pocket. I screamed again when he slid the blade across her throat, a line of red blossoming in its wake. Michelle's grip on my hand went slack as she fell to the floor.

Silas scoffed at me. "Calm down. She'll be back."

The words were of no comfort. I knew she wouldn't be. Michelle told us when confronted her in Seattle that she had a protection spell put on her so that she would die if we transferred the curse back to her. I had forgotten until just a moment before Silas started the spell but...

I glanced at Rhys and immediately knew he didn't forget. "Is the curse gone?" I asked him, my voice shaky. Michelle also said that the curse wouldn't transfer when she died but maybe that was a bluff.

Rhys reached out to grip my forearm, perhaps to feel for the curse or maybe to comfort me, and nodded.

I expected to feel some relief but there were too many other emotions stirring in me, weighing me down.

"I can't believe you are questioning my abilities," Silas said, sounding annoyed. He threw his hands in the air. "Whatever. I'll call on you when I need that favor, Emrys Fahy but for now, you and your friends can get the hell out."

"Wait," I said turning my gaze back to Silas and shoved down the whirlwind of emotions to deal with later. "I have one more deal to make with you."

Silas cocked an eyebrow at me. "Don't you think you should quit while you're ahead?"

"No."

"Layla," Rhys said my name full of caution.

I ignored him. "I want you to pay off Rhys's debt to his parents."

"Layla," Rhys repeated more sternly.

"And what would I get in return?" Silas asked, looking intrigued.

"This." I pulled Vivian's ring from my pocket and held it up to him.

Silas frowned. "A ring?" His voice came out in a bored tone that I didn't buy for a second.

"Yes. And you can cut the act, I already know you want it. Your flunkies tried to kill us for it."

"Who's Vivian?" Silas asked, throwing me a curveball.

"What?"

"Before you said that you knew I was here alone because Vivian told you so. Who is Vivian?" He pressed.