Cursed (Book # 3 of Hunted)

Lorelei

I stared after him, an uncomfortable feeling twisting in my chest. I stood there silently for a minute before reaching back and trying to re-hook my bra through my dress. I fidgeted with the clasp for several seconds before giving a loud sigh of frustration.

Zane walked over to me and touched my hands moving them away from my back. With tender fingers he slipped the sleeves of the dress off my shoulders, pushing the stretchy fabric down far enough to reach my bra which he reclasped. I shrugged the sleeves back on and turned to face him.

"Why do I feel like I've done something wrong?" I asked. He took my face in both of his hands and tilted my face up to look at him.

"You haven't," he replied leaning down to kiss me sweetly on the lips. He took my hand in his and we left the room, slowly descending the stairs. I was busy thinking...about the look of wounded shock on Keegan's face...the blinding lucidity in Zane's eyes like he saw me more clearly now than he did before the curse was broken. And his question...Did I want to do this? I loved Zane more than anything, but still I wasn't sure. What was sex even like with a vampire? They had no heartbeat. How did they get it—"

Zane suddenly let out a muffled laugh. I looked at him. He had his free hand clapped over his mouth. My face suddenly flamed bright red. Once again, I had forgotten he could read my mind.

"D-do you want me to explain how it works now or would you rather it be a s-surprise?" he asked barely able to contain his amusement. I looked away from him blushing fiercely and mumbled something under my breath.

"I seem to remember you getting pretty good at shielding your thoughts while you had me...him..." He trailed off and stared straight ahead for a few seconds. He then shook his head and continued, "Chained up in your basement." I released his hand and curled my arm around his hugging it tight.

"There's nothing in my head that I don't want you to know," I murmured, and he jerked to a stop three steps from the first floor. He looked down at me and asked, "Really?" His voice sounded strange. I glanced up at him, his eyes were glassy as if with tears. I was temporarily stunned by the tone of his voice and the expression on his face. He looked as if I had just got down on one knee and asked him to spend the rest of his life with me.

After a minute, I shrugged and replied, "Sure. I mean some of the things I think are embarrassing or dumb, but I don't want to keep any secrets from you." He watched me for a long time before silently extricating his arm from mine and reaching out to take my face in his hands.

"Close your eyes," he said, and his voice sounded unbearably soft. I paused for a moment, then did as he said. His thumbs came to rest gently upon my eyelids, and I felt him lean close. His forehead met mine and suddenly his voice was echoing in my head, words jumbled together in a strangely musical chorus.

"Lorelei"                                                                                             "You mean the world to me"

                                                        "Lorelei"

"I love you"                                                                     "Thank you"

                             "Never leave me"                                         "I'll love you until the end of time"

"I'm so grateful"                                             "I don't deserve her"

                                              "I'll never leave you"

"Lorelei"                                                                                                                  "Lorelei"

                             "Lorelei"                                                                      "Lorelei"

                                                                           "Lorelei"

He pulled away from me and the music in my head tapered off. I looked up into his eyes still glistening with the threat of tears. What color he had concentrated in his cheeks.

"I...I don't want to keep any secrets from you either," he said almost embarrassedly. A wide smile broke across my face but before I could speak a dull pain shot through the front of my skull. I stumbled away from him grabbing onto the bannister to steady myself.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I looked at him and said, "Nothing. Just a h—" The pain shot through my head again, this time worse. There was a roaring in my ears and white fog condensed before my eyes.

"Lori!" Zane's voice sounded muffled and far-away. I felt myself falling. The pain focused into a point like a laser and a picture flickered across the whiteness clouding my vision. It was Keegan sitting at a grand piano. On top of the piano was an ashtray and a bottle of scotch. A cigarette smoldered in the ashtray. There was a short, crystal glass half filled with liquor.

The whooshing in my ears faded only to be replaced by a loud, discordant song being banged out on the piano. I saw Keegan's hands, long fingers like spider legs smashing the keys with barely repressed rage. I saw his face, his jaw set, his thin lips pressed together so tightly they were nearly gone and...tears...tears tinged pink with blood streaming freely down his cheeks. It wasn't anger being forced onto the piano...it was sadness.

"Lori!" Zane's voice sounded slowly coming back into focus. "Lori, are you alright?" I felt his hands on my shoulders, their firm grip was grounding. The smoke before my eyes gradually cleared and I saw his face, his eyes wide with panic. I found myself on the floor, the first step of the staircase digging into my back. I blinked away the last of the fog and slowly sat up.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked and the concern in his voice made my heart soar. I grabbed onto his arms and he helped me up.

"What happened?" he repeated.

"I had a vision," I replied. He took a step back and said, "They hit you that hard? Whenever Vera had one her eyes would just go white and she'd stare off into space for a minute."

"Well this one was strong and you know one of these days you're going to have to tell me how you knew my grandmother," I said and I could swear I saw a hint of pink accumulate in his face before he turned away.

"So, what did you see?" he asked, and I opened my mouth to answer before falling silent. For some reason it didn't feel like something I should share.

"You...you couldn't see it in my mind?" I inquired. He shook his head and answered, "No. I lost you for a second, like a fuzzy radio station." Huh, that was strange.

"Did you see the future or the past?" he asked, and I replied, "The fu—" Suddenly the sound of piano began drifting through the foyer. It was soft and sad, not like what I heard in my vision. Zane abruptly straightened and tilted his head as if listening.

"Fiadh's Requiem," he murmured. I looked at him with a creased brow. I was about to ask when the song picked up, becoming wild. It moved from wild to violent and Zane squeezed his eyes shut as if in pain. I felt frozen. It was the song from my vision! I turned and began sprinting across the foyer.