Witch (Cursed book 4) Read online

  She nodded, "Of course, you can. Your room is always going to be your room."

  He felt defeated as he rose and stalked off to his bedroom. The hunger in his stomach and everywhere else was painful, but he couldn’t help but hate the choices he'd made.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Ophelia

  The darkness of the shadows scared her. She felt them tickle inside of her. She sat perfectly still, but they moved inside like snakes writhing around in her belly.

  She felt movement in the room and glanced up at Oliver in the doorway.

  He looked worried.

  "Are they inside of you?"

  She frowned, "Who?"

  "The shadows."

  She nodded.

  He bent and pulled a small dagger from his boot. He walked to her and knelt on the floor in front of her.

  "I have to get them out."

  She watched as he took her hand in his. It looked tiny compared to his hands. He poked her finger on the tip. He put it up to his mouth and kissed the prick. He pricked his finger and pressed their bloody fingertips together.

  Light filled the spot with incredible warmth.

  The warmth ran up her fingers and into her hand. Soon her entire arm was tingling with warmth. She looked at his blue eyes, expecting to see love or kindness, but his face was filled with regret. She watched as the light shot through her body as if lighting her veins up with yellow glow sticks. The warmth touched every inch of her. She opened her mouth and a light beam shot from it.

  An agonizing pain stabbed into her stomach. She doubled over in pain. The light and dark had a war inside of her. She felt the sweat start to build on her brow.

  "Just give it a minute."

  She looked up at Oliver. His beautiful face was covered in anger. She assumed it was directed at her.

  She screamed as the pain blacked her vision. She could hear herself screaming but the sound got quieter.

  xxxx

  Cold shivers woke her. Her face hurt. The cold stone pressed against her face; it was painful against her eyebrow. She put her hands on the cold floor and pushed until she was sitting upright. She felt the gurgle of her stomach. She heaved once.

  "Here." She felt his hands on her back as the empty garbage pail was put in front of her face. Her stomach retched. The most bizarre thing happened when she threw up. Black goo came out. The feeling of it against her lips made her retch more.

  "Let it out."

  Her stomach was completely hardened as she gripped the pail. She almost screamed as the black goo shot from her lips.

  She coughed, spattering it against the stark-white pail.

  She looked up, "What is it?"

  "The part of you that died."

  She frowned, "What?" She coughed again. Dark-red blood filled her mouth.

  "The shadow kills some of you off when it gets inside. It kills the light and the good. It's like a cancer. You've let it in too many times now."

  She shivered.

  He got up and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

  "Are you full of shadows too?"

  He looked pinched for a moment, "Sort of."

  "Can you get it out?"

  He shook his head, "Mine is different than yours. Mine is more like pieces of my soul."

  "What happens if you die?"

  "I will cease to exist. I have let the dark kill enough of my soul that I if I die, I will just vanish."

  "God can't help you?"

  He laughed, "He probably could but he won't. I made my choice."

  She nodded, "Like my father?"

  He nodded, rubbing her back, "Your father doesn’t have an ounce of love or light inside of him. He is completely dead inside now."

  "Did he ever love my mother?"

  Oliver looked like he was about to smile, but he stopped himself. He shook his head, "He has loved power, always."

  Ophelia looked at the garbage pail, "Why did you choose his side?"

  "I didn’t believe they deserved what they had."

  She frowned.

  "The humans. I thought they were nothing. So weak and pathetic. I didn’t understand why we were trying to save them, when we could use them."

  She pushed herself up and lifted the pail. He reached for it, but she moved it out of his grip, "Uh no. I don’t want you to see this. It's nasty."

  He stood up in front of her. She noticed his body's heat and shivered again.

  "I have to take it, Ophelia. I have no choice. You have to get rid of it a certain way."

  She held the bucket and shook her head, "No."

  He laughed, "Yes." He reached a long arm behind her and took the pail of goo from her firm grip.

  He took it and walked out. She felt sick and disgusting. Her finger tingled where he had rubbed their fingers together like blood brothers would.

  Aimee walked in looking feisty, "Have you seen Sam?"

  Ophelia watched Oliver leave and shook her head.

  "He told me what you had to do."

  Ophelia looked at the steely-grey eyes of the death dealer and nodded. She didn’t want to talk about it.

  Aimee looked sad, "Is there any way it could have backfired a little?"

  "Why?"

  "Giselle attacked him and he smelled like sex on a stick."

  Ophelia snorted, "Gross image there, man. I don’t know. I've never done any of this shit before. He asked, I did. I can't seem to say no to him."

  Aimee chewed her lip, "Come with me. I think I know where he would hide from Giselle."

  Ophelia took her hand and instantly they were standing in the hallway outside Sam's room.

  Ophelia could smell it in the air, "He's here."

  Aimee flashed a grin, "That's the worst he's ever been. Normally he's just tempting. This is nuts."

  Ophelia looked at her and shook her head, "Let me go in alone. You look like you might eat him."

  Aimee squirmed a little, "I might."

  Ophelia knocked lightly and opened the door a crack, "Sam?"

  "Lydia came running down the hall, "NOOOOOO."

  The sound became part of the background noise. Ophelia saw and heard nothing, beyond the heart beating in his chest. She took a step toward him. His dark eyes flickered when they saw her.

  Sam smiled at her, his eyes grew. He whispered, "Shit."

  She nodded and closed the door.

  Sam flashed against her, pinning the door shut. His mouth was on hers instantly. She was pulling her own shirt off as he was stripping his jeans off. They flashed and he was on top of her between her legs. His body slid against hers as his tongue licked up her throat.

  His huge hands pulled at her skin, kneading her as if he was trying to meld them.

  She moaned.

  A cold rush of air burst between them, and she was standing in the hallway at Giselle's in her underwear and tank top with one sock on. She looked at Aimee who was wide-eyed next to her.

  "What the fuck?" she asked breathlessly.

  Aimee burst out laughing as Ophelia burst into tears.

  "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." Aimee held her hands at her lips.

  Ophelia sank onto the floor to sob into her hands. She felt like a piece of her heart was missing suddenly.

  His fingers bit into her arm and she was standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Cold wind whipped her dark hair around her face.

  She turned to see Sam standing beside her.

  His dark eyes were filled with passion, "I've got to admit something."

  She looked at him, "I know. Witches are more sensitive to sirens and angels. Dorian makes me want to touch him and I would run away with Oliver tomorrow. You—well you make me feel like I found the other half of my soul.

  He took a step closer, "It's not real."

  She reached out for his bare chest and ran her fingernails down his torso softly, "It feels real."

  He nodded and took another step closer, "I want it to be real."

  She gulped and let his arms fold around
her, "What about Hanna?"

  He shook his head, "I can't make myself love her."

  He lowered his lips on hers and gently brushed against them.

  "I don't think I can stop myself."

  "Then don’t."

  He scooped her up in his arms and knelt on the mossy cliff. His hands made fire wherever they touched. He ran them along her stomach and hips and down her thighs. She shivered as the cold wind chased his fingers along her skin. He bent his face and kissed her arm. He slid her tank top down her shoulder. His kisses moved along after the fabric, wherever it left he kissed.

  Slow-burning warmth started to burn in her stomach. She moaned as the cold wind whipped across her naked breast. His mouth chased away the wind with his warm breath landing on her bare nipple. She cried out as he flicked her nipple with his hot tongue. She felt herself melting into him. His hands caressed as his mouth sucked and kissed its way down her breasts and onto her stomach. He trailed along her naval.

  She closed her eyes and let the excitement and pleasure build inside of her. She ached for him.

  "I want to love you for real, Ophelia."

  She realized what he said and moaned, "This is wrong."

  "Yes, yes it is." He murmured into her neck. He slipped his fingers under the waist of her panties. He slid his fingers inside and traced the waistband along her stomach. She moaned his name.

  He kissed her cheek and then the corner of her lips. She turned her face to press her lips against his, but he had pulled back, "Sam."

  She opened her eyes, "What?"

  He looked angry, "Sam."

  "Okay."

  "You called me Oliver."

  She shook her head, "I didn’t."

  He nodded, "I heard you crystal clear."

  He slid on top of her and pressed himself against her, "Ophelia, I want you but not if you don’t want me."

  She swallowed and licked her lips, "I do."

  He kissed her cheek, "Do you want Oliver?"

  She pressed her lips together and knit her eyebrows together, "Well, it's just that. You know. He uhm. He's like you and all you guys mess with me. Like I said, Dorian and Oliver and you. Sometimes I even feel like that about Lucas."

  He nodded, "But you can tell the difference between me and them, right?"

  She nodded. His weight on top of her was starting to hurt her back.

  He was pinning her to the ground.

  She struggled a little, "Oliver, I want to go home."

  He pushed her into the ground again, "IT'S SAM!"

  She flinched, "I know. You're scaring me. Sam get off."

  He pressed her into the grass, "I want you to want me, Ophelia."

  She shook her head as tears started to flow from her cheeks, "Please, not like this Sam."

  His fingers bit into her wrists. She felt his erection pressing into her pelvic bone through his jeans. She felt the darkness coming to her as she panicked.

  "WHY DON'T YOU WANT ME? WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME THE MOST?"

  "Sam."

  The voice she heard was like angels singing. Sam was knocked off of her, and then in a flash of color, she was alone lying on the cliffs with the wind whipping around her.

  She felt relief and the agony of the distance. She sat upright and pulled her knees into her chest. She shook her head, trying to remove the look in his eyes. He had looked insane. She looked around at the shadows she had called to her. They slithered around the ground like baby snakes.

  They surrounded her like a wreath of shadows in the moss. The wetness of the moss soaked into the bum of her panties. She rocked back and forth. She knew why her mother would have called the magic of the garden. The helpless feeling of being pinned underneath of another person was enough to destroy a person.

  Her attraction and want of him didn't fade or diminish, even slightly. She wanted him more as the distance between them grew.

  She looked around for Oliver. She had heard his voice. The ocean was grey and wild below her, and above the sky was filled with angry-looking clouds.

  "Ophelia."

  She flinched at the sound of her name to see Hanna and Aimee standing beside her. Hanna's cheeks were soaked in tears.

  Ophelia covered her face in shame. Her magic had made a monster out of the sweetest man alive. Sam wouldn’t hurt her and she knew it. She had destroyed the pure love he had felt for Hanna and broken both of their hearts. Not to mention, the happy couple she had destroyed the night before.

  "I've got her."

  She looked to her left to see Oliver standing across from Aimee. She sat in the middle of them.

  Hanna came and knelt on the ground next to her, "Sam sent me a text. He sent a message saying what he did. He can't face you."

  Ophelia felt her eyes fill with tears, "I did this."

  Aimee snarled, "He did this." Ophelia looked at Oliver, where Aimee pointed.

  "He told Sam how to fix it."

  Hanna nodded, "Don’t trust him, Ophelia. We can get them back without him."

  She watched his eyes sparkle with fear and trepidation. She put a hand out to Hanna, "I want to go home."

  Aimee reached for them and she was in the bathroom at Giselle's, standing in front of the massive soaker tub.

  Aimee was already filling it with water. She looked at Hanna and smiled, "I can do it."

  Hanna nodded. Her lower lip trembled, "Okay. Ready in an hour?"

  Aimee nodded. Hanna walked from the bathroom.

  Ophelia felt for Sam but he was nowhere close.

  She pulled her underwear and tank off and stepped into the huge tub. Aimee sat on the toilet across from her, "I don’t have to tell you what this has done to him."

  Ophelia shook her head, "I know why Lydia told me not to meddle. She told me not to do magic."

  Aimee shook her head, "When I was changed at first. I murdered a girl in the woods outside my town. Dorian let me kill her. I thought she was a sweet, innocent girl." A tear escaped her dark-grey eye. She wiped it away and laughed at herself, "I knew nothing. She was a nanny to these kids and she hurt them on purpose. She was a bad woman. She would have become a serial killer possibly. Anyway, Dorian snatched her, let me murder her, and he let me believe she was an innocent. He did it to scare the shit out of me, so I wouldn’t murder anyone else. I would remember the look on her face and never let my powers get the best of me."

  "Have you ever again?"

  Aimee shook her head, "Nope. I've only killed what deserved death. Her face haunts me."

  Ophelia shivered, "The look in Sam's eyes, it was madness. He wasn’t himself. My magic has ruined him. He was a bright, beautiful person and I've ruined him."

  Aimee nodded, "You will never forget that pain, Ophelia. I swam all the way to Portland the morning I murdered her. I was terrified to be with my family. I crawled from the harbor and slept amongst the homeless and disgusting garbage of the city. Lydia found me one day. She sensed me. I was starving. She used magic to hold my hands at my sides and brought me home. She locked me in a room, and once a day, she would unlock the door and put a bad person inside. I would kill them and then she would take them out. She did it for two months, until I'd gotten to the point, I could talk again. Then she forced Dorian to help me get it under control. Aleks came every day to check on me. I killed sixty-one people in two months."

  Ophelia watched her relive the moments. Her face softened, "Every day I imagined what it would have been like if none of it had happened. What university I would go to and what city I would live in. What my husband would look like and my kids. I imagined the Christmas holidays and lazy summers. I imagined what the girl who I murdered would have done with her life."

  Her eyes flickered at Ophelia, "There is no fixing what we are, but there is learning to control it. Take the pain and make it the parameter that you never leave."

  "What am I going to do about Sam?"

  She shook her head, "We have to focus on the big stuff, Ophelia. I need to rescue my sister, you need yours, and we need to
stop your dad. We don’t have time to worry about that right now."

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Sam

  Shame and pain battled for the top spot in his heart. He was mortified at his actions. It was hazy. His siren side had taken over and nearly done something he would never be able to take back. He wanted nothing but to touch her and tell her he was sorry, but he knew she would be terrified of him.

  He paced his bedroom at Lydia's. He flashed instantly to Giselle's. He stood outside in the woods, looking at the windows.

  He felt the air stir and looked back at Oliver standing behind him.

  He lunged at him but Oliver pulled him in and hugged him. Sam felt the warmth of the embrace and collapsed. Heaving, crushing sobs shook his body.

  "I didn’t know, Sam. I didn’t know." Oliver chanted, holding him tight.

  Sam felt the energy and anger rush from him, as sorrow filled him up.

  He was lost in a sea of hopelessness. The emotions and loss caught up with him.

  Oliver pulled him to the ground and cradled him against his chest. Sam tried to ignore the shame he felt for crying in front of the man.

  "What are you guys doing here? Get off him."

  Aimee was on her knees shoving Oliver away and pulling Sam down into her embrace.

  "Sam, it's not your fault. She knows it's not. She knows." She whispered into his ear and ran her fingers through his hair.

  He felt himself stiffen against her, "Aims, I can't do this. I need to spend some time away from you guys. I can't do this." He looked at Oliver and nodded, "I know you didn’t know this would happen."

  Aimee stood up, looking defeated, "I love you, Sam."

  He felt the breakdown coming again, "I know. I love you too, Aims. I just need some space, okay?"

  She bit her lip and was gone in a whirl of the wind. Oliver smiled at him and followed Aimee out in a whirl of wind and color.

  He flashed home again before anyone else saw him.

  He collapsed onto his bed and waited for the darkness to take over.

  "Sam."

  He looked over at Annabelle sitting next to him on his bed.

  She looked at his face and ran a ghostly-cold hand across his cheeks, making him shiver.

  "I knew your momma, Sam. She is a good woman. She would be proud of the man yous become. I knew your daddy too. He was a good man. The things about his death that you knows, about miss Lorri. Theys true. She had a moment likes yous having now. She never meants it. She loved him like a brother. She ain’t never been the same since then."