Cursed

TWELVE

"You're not gonna fuck me against a tree, are you?" Mack questioned, brow raised. Kai chuckled and shook his head.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He sighed. "No, not yet. No, to start off with, I'm going to show you how much you appreciate life - even though you clearly don't know it." Kai grinned, tapping Mack on the nose with his finger to punctuate his sentence. He clasped her hand in him, dragging the confused, giggling girl into the middle of the wet yet empty road.

"Kai! You're going to get us killed some day!" Mack exclaimed, trying to tug her hand out his grip but laughing none the less.

"Not today, babe. Now, lie down." He demanded, a little sternly but his gaze still held that mischievous, playful glint.

"What?! That's crazy, a car could come any minute!" She almost shrieked.

"Don't be ridiculous, do you really think I'd put the best fuck of my life in that much danger? No way. So lie down and I promise, no cars with drive over you." Kai waved off, eyes pleading. "Please?" He added and Mack caved, rolling her eyes and muttering a fine before lowering herself to the wet tarmac and laying flat on her back - hair fanning out around her head and hands resting over her stomach.

"You gonna join me?" Mack called, lifting her head slightly to raise a brow at Kai. He grinned, plopping down beside her - shoulder to shoulder, mimicking her pose. He cleared his throat before talking.

"Isn't this exciting, the possibility of death any moment?" Kai said and Mack's eyes widened.

"You said-"

"Relax! I'm kidding. Now look at the stars." Kai decided and Mack stared intensely at the white spotted ebony sky, eyes darting around the shapes and patterns. "You see that one? The constellation over there?" Kai asked and Mack nodded, following his gaze, "that's the Gemini symbol. The symbol of my coven."

"Why Gemini? That seems a little..." Mack trailed off.

"Lame?" Kai supplied and Mack giggled.

"Yeah."

"I'm getting to it. So, in this coven of mine, we have this tradition. It involves twins and...merging." Kai sighed and Mack frowned, turning to look at Kai whose eyes were still trained upwards, almost as if he'd forgotten she was there and that he was simply talking to himself. "When the last born set of twins of the current Gemini leader turn 22, they merge. It's a magical ceremony where the strongest twin lives and the youngest dies."

"They kill their own members?" Mack gasped. Kai nodded.

"Yes, physically. They like to claim that the other lives on within their twin, that their personalities merge and it's like they're two in one. But I know the truth - it's murder. Cold blooded murder." Kai spat.

"You and Jo...?" Mack gasped and horror.

"No. Our younger siblings, Lucus and Olivia." Kai clarified and Mack let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "And I'm happy about it. I try to distance myself from the twins - I know I'll lose one of the someday and I couldn't get through it if I was attached to both." Kai admitted. "But we're luck, me and Jo. We don't have to go through that." Kai continued, pausing for a moment. "She's my best friend, you know." Kai said after a moment.

Mack turned to face Kai again, humming in acknowledgement.

"I don't know what I'd do without her, before you, she was the only true friend I'd ever had."

"How come?" Mack frowned.

"I'm sort of the...black sheep of the family. Because I don't have my own magic, but can rather steal it from others, I'm seen as dangerous, unpredictable. I've been singled out my whole life - cut off, locked up, beaten..." Kai trailed off.

"All the good people in life are fucked up one way or another." Mack smiled and Kai reciprocated it.

"I guess both our lives have gone to shit, huh?" Kai chuckled and Mack laughed.

"I guess so."

...
Kai stumbles through the front door, chucking his keys onto the small table before toeing off his shoes and kicking them against the wall.

"You're out late." Joshua's menacing voice chimes from the kitchen, the fact that Kai couldn't see the source making the whole ordeal a little more eery. Kai wandered into the kitchen, stopping dead in his track as he took in the sight of Joshua malevolently gripping his belt in his right hand, letting the rest lay flat over his left. Kai attempted to swallow the lump in his throat to no success.

"I- um, I was with Mack." Kai stuttered out, throat suddenly dryer than if he'd been roaming a desert.

"Mack? The werewolf girl?" Kai nodded solemnly. "I don't want you seeing her again."

"Why? It's not like you care for my well-being." Kai spat and Joshua sighed heavily.

"And you were doing so well. She brings out the bad in you, Malachi. Because of her, you've been stealing Jo's magic again-"

"How do you know that?" Kai's desperate eyes made Joshua's lips turn up into a sickening grin.

"Your sister is easily persuaded with minimal threat." Joshua smirked and Kai's eyes seemed to ignite.

"If you so much as lay a hand on her-"

"Oh be quiet, boy! I did no such thing! Unlike you, my daughter deserve the utmost respect and care throughout her life." Joshua sneered and Kai swallowed his words. "As I was saying, you've been stealing magic, and using it. You've been getting into fights, having sex and probably off taking drugs too! If it were up to me you'd be lock in your room, meals slid under the door and never seen again."

"But it is up to you." Kai commented and Joshua smiled knowingly.

"People start asking questions, Malachi. Then I have to lie, lie, lie." Joshua ranted, as if he was bored with the notion. "You will not be seeing her again."

"But-"

"And that's final." Joshua finished, tapping the belt against his hand maliciously. "Now, you know the drill, shirt off and down of your knees." Joshua smirked, standing from his place with a wicked look in his emotionless eyes.