Page 11 of Cursed by Death

It felt like a violation just thinking about it.

There were people crawling all over the place and the longer I stood there looking over the place the more people were glancing in my direction.

I was drawing unnecessary attention to myself and that was not what I needed to be doing at the moment. Or, likely, ever.

I pulled the hood up over my head, covering up my long, dark red hair.

Most places it would probably make me look suspicious. Here it only served to help me fit in amongst everyone else.

I took a deep breath and started to make my way through the crowds of people.

Chapter 6

There was a food truck serving dishes full of some kind of cooked meat and the plates were being handed out by a person dressed as a clown straight out of a horror movie. He was the absolute, creepiest, clown I had ever seen in my whole entire life.

The gruesome smile painted on his face was black and his clown suit appeared to be splattered in large splotches of blood.

The people waiting in line for food all looked like blue-collar guys dressed in jeans, work boots, a hoodie or a t-shirt, and they were all sporting a beard.

I didn’t know what kind of meat that clown was serving. I wouldn’t even be tying it if I was starving.

No fucking thank you.

I had a feeling all of the guys in line were shifters of some kind.

Even if it wouldn’t be rude to ask I would never be brazen enough to actually ask. There were some things one might actually be better off not knowing and I thought this just might be one of them.

I was, however, very curious as to where all of their females were.

A man who’d just received a plate full of meat from the clown locked eyes with me and then immediately lit with interest. My heart rate sped up and I hurriedly walked away and past the food truck.

I didn’t know why I’d had that particular reaction to the man but I really needed to get a hold of my emotions for the remainder of my time spent down here. The last thing I needed was someone picking up on my emotional distress and using it against me.

It was bad enough that I was probably one of the only few humans down here. Probably one of the only ones who had willingly walked down here of my own violation and hadn’t been seduced or manipulated into it. There were trinkets and strange things hanging all around the tents. The tents themselves appeared to be made up of various pieces of clothing, sheets, and blankets that had been stitched together. The makeshift flaps were all pulled wide open and curiosity got the better of me. I couldn’t help but look inside as I walked passed.

They were filled with lit candles and various women. They all were dressed in dark clothing and were covered in tattoos, even so far as to having some on their faces.

If I had to guess, given by what their tattoos appeared to be, I’d say they were witches or something of the like. Definitely magical.

As I walked past their tents every single person inside turned to stare at me. Not with curiosity but with a deep knowledge that made me incredibly uncomfortable.

It gave me the fucking creeps and also almost made me turn around and run for the exit. I did no such thing because I was determined and I knew if I left now I would just come back at another time.

So far, I hadn’t passed any of the people I had been looking for.

I hadn’t really allowed myself to hope to get to see my boys. Hope could be a very ugly thing and it could easily crush your dreams and smash your heart into tiny jagged little pieces.

I hadn’t allowed anyone into my heart except for Thomas since my time in Harmond House, and even then, it had only been just the twins.

I could feel eyes on me to the point the fine hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. I glanced over my shoulder to find the shifter I had accidentally made contact with standing directly behind me.

He must have sat his plate full of meat down somewhere because his hands were empty now. He held them up in front of himself in a show of surrender and likely also because he wanted me to see he was unarmed.

I almost laughed at him. I could just as easily hold up my hands to show him just how empty they were at the moment but I was the very opposite of being unarmed.

Empty hands did not mean an empty threat.

I turned around to face him head on and my hands ached to reach for my knives. I absolutely would not pull out a weapon here in the middle of these people unless my life was in mortal danger. I needed to stay off the radar for as long as possible.

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