Page 15 of The Curse

Chapter Five

A newspapermagicallyappeared in front of me with a loud thump as it smacked against the table. Alastair slid into the booth across from me and said, “Did you have something to do with that, Nico?” He pointed to the front page of the paper he’d dropped.

I looked down at the paper, gasped in surprise, and jerked it up. The front page held a picture of Annabella Buchanan. She’d committed suicide late yesterday afternoon by walking off a pier. Unable to swim, she’d drowned before anyone could rescue her. Annabella’s face gazed up at me, a huge smile on her face. The picture had been taken at a recent museum function, and she looked so fucking happy, just like she had yesterday at the beginning of my job interview. Exactly three hours after I’d left the museum, she’d ended her own life. Fuck, I damned well knew who was responsible for that shit.

Looking up at Alastair, I asked in disbelief, “You think I killed her?”

He shook his head wildly, like I was crazy. “No, I don’t think you killed her, Nico,” he answered quickly. “We both know who killed her and it wasn’t her own fucking self. It was Morgan. The question was, did you have anything to do with it?” he explained. “Something had to have happened at that museum between you and old Bella that made Morgan feel threatened. What was it? She’s way too old for you, but did you and Bella do the dirty dance in a broom closet or something as equally…gross?”

I rolled my eyes. “She was old enough to be my mother, Stair,” I countered, shortening his name. It was getting really difficult to call him Alastair when we were in heated conversations. “There definitely wasn’t any broom closet action going on, but Morgan was pissed because Bella had hired me, thus bringing me to Salem.”

“Stair,” he said thoughtfully, trying the nickname on his tongue. “I like it. Most folks try for Al…which I don’t like. Stair will work fine for me. Now, back to Annabella and Morgan,” he said, leaning in closer to me. “So, the heartless Goodheart got pissed at Bella for bringing a Bailey on board, eh? I bet she nearly shit her panties when she looked up and saw you in her museum.”

“Nah, no shitting of the panties,” I said with a laugh. “It was more like she wanted me dead. Graveyard dead.”

“I’ve been thinking, I bet Morgan’s behind the curse. Not Corbin. Corbin was in love with Nico. Even though Nico’s committing suicide destroyed him, he wouldn’t have cursed Nico’s family. He loved him too much.”

“It’s definitely Morgan behind the curse,” I agreed. “I had some dreams last night. I’ve got to tell you about them. It was some really scary shit, but it opened my eyes to what I’m up against. Before we go there, though, I need to ask you a question about Bella.”

“Yeah?”

“Did she have a granddaughter, by any chance?”

“Yep. She has a daughter named Megan and Megan has a little girl named Paige. Why?”

“Something strange happened after I left the museum yesterday. I was on the sidewalk, writhing in agony because Morgan had hit me with something after I flipped her off, when I noticed a little girl standing in the middle of the road. A car was rolling straight toward her, and nobody was doing anything about it. I managed to get to her and use my body to block her from getting hit. When I woke up, people were standing all around me, amazed that I’d survived, but there was no little girl. They all swore no little girl had ever been there and that it was just me and the car. Was she making me see things? Hallucinations or something?”

Stair’s eyes widened. “You saved Paige’s life?”

“No, you aren’t listening,” I countered. “There wasn’t a little girl there. Not really. I was the only one who saw her. I think Morgan was making me see things that weren’t real to maybe get me to throw my body in front of the car, hoping I’d die? Who the fuck knows? She’s crazy, right?”

“She isn’t crazy, Nico, she’s evil. There’s a difference.” He sat back in the booth and rubbed his chin. “I don’t think she was making you hallucinate with the child. My guess is she masked the little girl’s presence from everybody else. If she was mad at Bella for bringing you to Salem, killing Paige would have been a good and proper punishment, Morgan style.”

“She would have honestly killed a child to punish one of her employees? That seems a bit drastic, even for the most evil bitch to walk this earth.” When his brows shot upward, I said, “Yeah, had some dreams or visions about her last night. Learned some things. She’s a fucking evil bitch.”

“Trust me, Nico, you’re preaching to the choir. I know what Morgan’s capable of. Bella wasn’t just one of her employees, though. She was a member of her coven. Apparently, bringing you to Salem was a super huge ‘no-no’ and Bella paid with her life. Don’t go shedding any tears, though. She wasn’t a good person either, Nico. None of the Salem coven witches are. She might have seemed nice, but if she had a heart, Morgan would have gotten rid of her years ago.”

They called our number for food, so we got up and grabbed the goodies. When we were seated again, Stair said, “If you saved Megan’s daughter, that’s kind of a game changer, Nico. Megan is a witch in her coven, and now she owes you. Witches are required to pay their debts. This is something we could use in your favor.”

“Uh…yeah, that sounds creepy. You make it sound like I only saved her life to cash in a favor. That’s not how it happened. I didn’t know who she was or, more importantly,whatshe was. All I saw was a little girl about to get hurt.”

“Doesn’t matter, Megan owes you. Put it in your back pocket for now, but always remember that you have it. You never know when you might need a witch’s help.”

“You’re a witch, aren’t you?” I asked quietly, feeling incredibly stupid for saying it out loud. When he gave me an affirmative nod, I said, “I need a witch’s help, and since you’re the only witch I know, it looks like it’s gonna have to be you. Can you help a guy out?”

“Only if it’s something I want to do. Officially, I don’t owe you anything,” he said with a laugh. “So, what’s this favor? Need a love potion brewed?” he teased.

“Haha. No, I need you to take me to the graves of Corbin and Nicodemus,” I told him.

“Why do you want to do that?” he asked with a frown. “What do you hope to find there?”

Shaking my head, I answered, “I don’t have a clue, Stair. All I know is that I’m having weird dreams. I’m seeing things happen. I’ve seen all my male relatives die. With everyone except Nicodemus, I’m watching it happen, like a voyeur. When Nicodemus is involved, I’m seeing things through his eyes.”

I sure as hell was doing more than seeing things through the eyes of Nicodemus. I was feeling lots of things, too. Things like Corbin’s hands all over my body, Corbin’s lips on mine, or Corbin’s cock in my ass. Things like that. Yeah, I was feeling all those things and enjoying them too.

His teeth nibbled at his bottom lip as he pondered what I’d said. “Are you thinking reincarnation?”

“I’m not thinking anything, Stair. I haven’t got a clue. I’m too clueless to even try and make an educated guess as to what is going on. I can only go on what I’m experiencing. Trust me, none of this shit is making sense to me. Hell, I didn’t believe in witchcraft until yesterday!”

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