Page 8 of Cursed Beasts

I went into detail about what we had on the docket for the next few weeks. He actually asked questions on a few of them, a little more interested than he has ever been. During the entire drive we went over everything, even how I scheduled and where I kept all my digital and handwritten files. He took the calendar, looking over it while I looked at our destination.

We pulled up to a huge iron gate that opened automatically for us. At first, you couldn’t see anything until the darkness pulled away like a curtain, showing the outline of what looked like a house that was still covered in shadows. You could only see the front steps of the house that had two fire-powered lamps on either side of it.

The car stopped in front of the steps, with three figures standing at the top of the stairs. I felt a shiver of awareness course through my body, almost like this was all familiar.

The driver opened my father’s door, letting him out first as I scooted over, taking his hand to help me get out. I grabbed my tote, looking at the house that was really too big to be a home. It was dark, grungy, with dead vines along the wall giving it an even creepier feel. The figures seemed to have gone into the home.

I followed my father inside the house, taking in the home’s state. It looked like they hadn’t updated it since… ever. Everything looked dark and dingy, giving me the creeps. I felt that any moment a ghost was going to pop out.

We walked into a dining room that looked like they used it for large parties. On the edge of the long table, a cauldron sat with smoke coming out of it. It looked like the hard part had been taken care of.

“Belladonna.” I looked to see the three figures off to the side of the table.

They were huge. All of them had to be six-four or taller. One of them had long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was the biggest out of all of them. His beard was trimmed close to his face, framing a gorgeous set of lips. The scowl on his face just made him that much more alluring, but his eyes were yellow like a cat or even a wolf. They were hypnotic, and I found myself drawn to him, fighting an urge to walk up to him.

The second man I saw was almost as big, maybe an inch shorter, with shorter black hair that came to his ears pushed away from his face. His eyes were hypnotizing, each a different color, one more vibrant than the other. His face was passive but held a hint of curiosity.

The last guy was the same size as the previous one. He had blonde hair that was disheveled like he had been running his hands through it. He looked younger than the other two, with a playful smirk on his face.

Holy shit, these men were hot.

“Zev,” my father responded, with a nod.

The long-haired man stepped forward to the cauldron. My father turned, motioning me over closer to him. I walked closer, feeling like I was being scrutinized by the three men who had varying degrees of curiosity on their faces but Zev, the man standing in front of me, looked like he was angry.

“Hand, Katarina,” my father snapped at me.

He pulled on my hand, jerking it over the cauldron, slicing across my palm, making me hiss at the pain. A few drops of blood fell into the cauldron, turning the water and smoke violet. He scrutinized me for a moment before he pushed me away roughly, making me stumble. He proceeded to do the same to his own hand, while I stood dumbfounded as I watched what was going on.

The cauldron sparked when his blood hit the surface.

“Father, what—” he silenced me with a glare.

Each of the men came forward to do the same thing. When the blonde put his blood in, I felt a rush of power flow through me, then a weight settled onto me. The weight of the magic made me look at them. Time suspended for a moment, and it felt like everything was right in the world. I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

“One year, Katarina. Break their spell and then you can come home.” My father spoke, but I was still lassoed into the magic brewing between the four of us. Slowly, the hold disappeared.

“One year, Katarina,” he said again, turning around to walk away.

“Excuse me?” I asked, still looking at the men before I had to tear my gaze away from them. I followed my father, thinking I heard him say I was going to stay here for a year.

I exited the house behind my father, seeing luggage sitting outside of the car. I knew for sure one of them was mine, but the trunk was unfamiliar.

“Father, what is going on?” I asked, following him down the steps.

“You have a year, Katarina. Figure it out or is that too hard for you, too?” he snapped as he kept walking.

I grabbed his arm when he turned around, he shoved off my hold to grab my wrist with a tight grip. It felt like he could break it with a flick of his wrist.

“Leaving me somewhere, telling me to figure it out without any context whatsoever is bullshit,” I snapped back, pulling my arm away.

“I guess it’s just one more thing to be disappointed by you.” The driver opened the door and my father slid in.

I laughed. “Setting me up for failure only shows me you never cared if I succeeded or failed.”

“Your lack of magic is already your biggest failure, I can’t be too disappointed in you anymore,” he sneered at me.

“Says the man who made me, it seems like you are also flawed father. You made me like this,” I said, before the driver closed the door.

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