Page 15 of Cursed to Be Mine
Reigns
Insufferably
Upon
Shadows
Smirking, I start to walk past him – being the ‘better man,’ something that is sure to piss him off.
But just as I reach him, I can’t help myself.
Clasping him on the shoulder, I turn my head towards his. “You know…not all of us are as weak as you are, Vay-vay.”
My grin widens as I take another step, but it’s quickly lost as I stagger face-first into a wall. Blood punches up from my lungs and splays across the green paint as agony rips up my spine.
“Not all of us rely solely on magic, dumbass,” he mocks as he steps past me. The urge to crumble to the floor is beat back only by the refusal to give him that victory. Biting back a groan from the force of his punch, I glare at his back even as a smile tugs at my lips. My six other brothers and I all constantly take the piss out of his lack of magic, but when it comes to a fight, Varius can hold his own against werewolves and vampires just as well as the rest of us. Granted, he cheats by using spelled items like those damn rings of strength he always wears.
But still, for one whose ascension never came –that time of magical puberty where vampires gain theability to phase (teleport), werewolves gain control over their shift, witches gain the ability to cast spells, and all our bodies start to heal themselves, albeit at different rates– Varius isn’t a total waste of space.
Spitting more blood past my lips, I straighten, then wipe at my mouth. By the time I take a step forward, my blood is gone, having seeped into the bones of this house, keeping it fed with our power.
I walk down the hall and into the rustic kitchen of Mother’s home. Where humans converse and greet guests in the living room, witches prefer to use the ‘original spellroom,’ where potions were once mixed beside cakes.
My seven brothers are sprawled out around the place as Mother stands in front of the S-shaped counter facing them. Varius, Talon, Leno, and the twins sit around the large table.
Talon is a capo in Shadow Domain, running our legit side of things, our hotels and landscaping businesses, as well as our Floridian network of drugs. He has his ‘talons’ in everything and got his nickname from Maddox when we were kids.
Sitting beside him is Leno with his pet familiar Krypto. Having lost his eyesight due to a brawl with a werewolf when he was younger, he rarely goes anywhere without his seeing eye dog, a dog that can literallyseefor him. Krypto sits at Leno’s feet, getting his head scratched. He’s a mutt with beautiful red fur and a curly tail, but it’s his ears I love the most. They’re massive and point up high.
Across from Talon and Leno are the twins Enoch and Ezriel. The double Es, Batman and Robin, the Shining Burns – all names Maddox has bestowed on them over the years. They’re telekinetic, and theirmagic nearly doubles when they’re together.
Maddox and Rudy, the two youngest, perch on the stools at the rich wooden counter. It curves twice, dividing the cooking area from the table, unnatural knots twisted in its grain, power humming from them like a soft lullaby.
Rudy is the cleaner of the Family. Any time we commit a crime, he goes and cleans up the place. He likes to dance while he does it –an all around bucketful of sunshine– but out of everyone here, he’s also the darkest given his magic twists one’s fears into reality. Thank the gods, he’s not as shitty as Maddox, who would definitely terrorize the lot of us.
Settling between my brothers at the counter, I rib Maddox out of my way. He shoves me back, his magic seeking the bruises on my soul. Blood rises in my throat, and Mom leans over to smack him. My youngest brother tries to shy away, but she lands a blow across the back of his head.
“Hey!” he says, raising his hands to fix his ‘stylish’ mess of black hair. He makes me want to ruffle it up again, but he’s quick to lash out. My magic has already given me a beating, and I want to be well enough to go out hunting werewolves tonight.
Mother pins Maddox with her green eyes as she pulls on an apron patterned with black cats riding brooms. “Don’t think that just because you’re twenty-two now,” she says, tying a knot behind her, “that you’re too old for a spanking.” Then she turns her gaze to Varius as he leans back in his chair at the head of the table. “And you. Stop treating me like I’m frail. I’ll be a thousand and still have the strength to shove you back up my womb.”
“Ew, Mom!” Talon, son number six, shouts as hecovers his ears.
I groan along with the rest of my seven brothers, the images suddenly assaulting me ones I never wished to see.
“Oh please,” she says as she grabs seven onions from a bottom drawer. “I’ve seen the porn you all watch.”
“Mom!”
She cackles, taking delight in our pain. Her eyes land on someone behind me, and I turn my head to see it’s Talon. Chills rush down my spine as my ears burn and I tense in anticipation of whatever ungodsly horrors Mom’s about to release.
“I was okay with you watching werewolves fuck each other in both their forms, T,” she says, “but watching them shit in each other’s mouths first? That’s just –”
“I don’t watch that!” he sputters as he jumps to his feet, knocking his chair onto the floor. It skitters across the wooden planks before banging against the light-blue wall.
“I think thee protests too much.” Maddox grins as he elbows me, lighter this time.
“And you,” Mom says, turning to him as she places the onions on the zebrano counter.
