Page 74 of Blood Bonds

“You… you made them…fall in love with me?”I stammered through my pain. Through my anguish. Her malevolent laughter cutting through me like a knife.

“See, that’s what made you so perfect. You were so desperate to be loved, it was so simple. Such an easy soul to manipulate.”

My anger grew and I took a menacing step toward her, my fists clenched at my sides ready to lay one on her. So sick of being used. So tired of being the punching bag.

No more!

In fact, it was the first time she looked slightly panicked, quickly lifting her hands up before telling me,

“I can remove it.”

This stopped me.

“Remove it!” I snapped with tears in my eyes at the thought. The foolish thought of never seeing them again. Of ending this painful and foolish charade. I had been nothing but a fucking puppet! We all had, but I would soon discover that I would be the only one who would ever know that they had been forced to the stage.

“I will but it will come at a price.”

I gritted my teeth before realizing what this truly was…blackmail.Which was when I said,

“Fuck you!” Then I turned on my heel and left.

However, I didn’t get far because she ran after me, stopping me in my tracks when she told me,

“It will never stop, Vanessa!”

I clenched my jaw, hating that she even knew my name.

“Then I will leave,” I forced out, knowing that I would. I would pack a bag, board a Greyhound bus and disappear.

“You can’t… the curse won’t let you,” she told me, causing my whole body to tense.

“What do you mean?!” I asked, fear of a different kind now taking hold.

“Haven’t you wondered why you keep finding them? You seek them out, you can’t help it. It’s part of the curse, just as they are unable to keep hold of you. Just like the way they are unable to stop themselves from loving you.” I sucked in a sharp and painful breath at that, closing my eyes after tearing my face away from the cruelty in her eyes. Then I forced myself to ask,

“It was never real?”

“It was only real for you,” she replied, and she might as well just stab me in the fucking heart! Confirming my biggest fears all this time. It had never been real. Their feelings for me were nothing but a curse. A spell cast on them both, making them feel things that weren’t real. No wonder they were so invested in me,they couldn’t fucking help it.

“Look, if you don’t believe me, look at the type of woman Victor normally goes for, now tell me… do they look anything like you?” she asked, tapping away on her phone and holding it up for me to see picture after picture of all the tall, skinny brunettes latched on to his arm.

Each single one of them, the complete opposite of me.

I felt like crumbling right then and there. The urge to burst into tears was so strong, I nearly ran out of there crying in agony. The only thing that made me stay was my determination to end this. To end this once and for all.

“Break the curse,”I demanded, my fists shaking at my sides.

“I intend to but first I want you to steal something for me.”

My mouth dropped open before I snapped incredulously,

“And how the fuck am I to do that?!”

“I think you know how.” She gave me a pointed look, as if knowing what the three of us had been doing all this time.

Last night flashed in my mind and replayed in an entirely different way.A shameful, painful way.

“And if I do, what then?”

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