Chapter 2 #2
And I swore, just for the briefest flicker of an instant, that his eyes changed color, turning a dark red that encapsulated even the white.
Then the world spun out of focus. Agony, from my head to my tailbone as I hit the wall with the force of a semi-truck sliding on ice. I opened my mouth to scream, but the air left my lungs. Hudson let out a strangled gasp as I fell to my knees, clutching my chest.
“Shit!” Hudson cried, darting forward and kneeling in front of me with his hands on my shoulders. “Fuck! I’m so sorry, Em! I didn’t—are you okay?”
A choking sound left my throat with an attempted inhale. I managed a nod. “I’ll—be fine. Just need—a minute.”
Hudson plopped his ass back onto the asphalt, curling his fists into his hair with wide eyes. He really hadn’t meant to do that. I’d deserved it, but something about him losing control brought me a strange comfort.
I’d been scared of Hudson. Me. A fucking werewolf.
My bite came at nine years old, so I’d had years to grow accustomed to being what I was. It was a random occurrence. I’d stayed out playing in the woods too late one evening. Most people didn’t believe the stories anymore.
As I grew older and Hudson came into my life, the supernatural and all its secrets became our favorite shared pastime.
Something only he and I understood and appreciated.
Ty knew, but he could never really wrap his head around everything properly.
He just kind of accepted us as we were and kept his mouth shut for fear of a fucking exorcism from his father.
But I’d read up on witches. I’d wanted to know everything about Hudson. His family. His power.
Once upon a time, every supernatural being, or paranorms as we called them, knew—you didn’t fuck with witches.
And you certainly did not fuck with a Garland.
Finally able to breathe, I clambered to my feet. Hudson was still on the ground, staring at the asphalt between his legs. I offered a hand to help him up, glancing at his forearm where I’d seen that gash. “Your cut’s gone.”
“Huh?” He took my hand reluctantly, following my eyes as he stood before backing right up to the wall. “What cut?”
“Never mind.” I shook my head with a chuckle as I leaned back against the brick, thumping my chest with a fist. “Got your telekinetic abilities at last, huh?” He’d always wondered if he would. He wanted to be a superhero growing up. It was adorable.
“Apparently,” he muttered, refusing to look me in the eye.
Assessing him for a moment, I caught a whiff of that fear again, amplified beyond what it had been while dancing. “Hud… was that…”
“First time.” He bobbed his head. “Grams is gone, so… guess everything in me is sort of… waking up.”
He fumbled in his pocket, withdrawing another cigarette. Placing it between his lips, he pointed a finger at the tip, and it began to burn.
I fucking hated how cool that was.
A few moments passed where we said nothing. I could tell he was processing, the way his head drifted to the side while his eyes scanned the dark horizon.
“He didn’t follow me,” I finally muttered.
Hudson blew out a mouthful of smoke. “Kinda figured. Couldn’t storm out against daddy’s wishes and run red lights.”
His bitter edge brought me a smile I wasn’t proud of. “You know he’s gonna be waiting for you at home.”
Taking another drag, Hudson rolled his eyes. When he exhaled, he said, “I didn’t break my promise… just so you know.”
“Promise…” I muttered, searching his face. Finally, he turned, locking eyes with me. And then it clicked. The reason he thought I was chasing him down in the first place. “You… you kept looking?”
Pain flashed behind his eyes, and he nodded. “Found it, actually.”
My eyes went wide, and my entire body buzzed. I couldn’t breathe again.
The only promise Hudson had ever made me—to help break my curse. To help me become human.
“You what?” My stomach jumped into my throat as I pushed off the wall toward him. I reached out and—
He flinched.
When he turned back to me with a heavy swallow, unshed tears glittered in his eyes.
“Hud-Hudson…” I stammered, my hope flickering out, shattering like the bulbs in that church as he’d made his escape. “What…”
Hudson dropped his cigarette to the ground.
He reached up to the collar of his t-shirt with both hands.
With a sharp tug, the fabric tore down his chest, stopping just above his stomach.
The silver chain around his neck glinted in the fluorescent alley lights as he leaned closer, staring deep into my eyes.
He tapped below his left collarbone, right where black ink adorned his skin with an inverted trigram. “Rip it out.”
Suddenly, my stomach felt like it was going to fall right out of my ass. I backed away from him in horror. “W-What?”
Hudson sucked his bottom lip between his teeth with a sharp sniffle.
“That’s how you break your curse, Em. I’m the last motherfucking Cursekeeper.
My family created the goddamn thing.” He placed his hand over his chest, his jaw trembling.
“If you want to be human again… the only way… is to rip out my heart—and eat it.”
On a night when a werewolf’s blood felt like fire in his veins, mine turned to solid ice.
“N-No…” I was going to be sick. This was sick. I fell back against the wall. He had to be joking. It was just more of that asshole mask he’d crafted to protect himself. A lie. “You’re… no, that’s…”
The beer I’d drunk back in the bar came up. As did my lunch, followed by every drop of liquid left in my digestive system as I hunched over in that dirty little alley, clutching my knees to keep upright.
Hudson let out a heavy sigh over the splashes hitting the asphalt, muttering under his breath, “I doubt I taste that bad. Jesus.”
“Shut…” I groaned, spitting acid from my lips, “shut the fuck up. That’s not…” Heaving a breath, I looked up at him, positively fuming. “That is not fucking funny, Hudson.”
With a shrug, he crossed his arms over his torn shirt, glancing off to the stars again.
Everything suddenly made sense. Why he’d run from me when I had shown up at Grams’ memorial. Why he’d been dodging me since he got to town. Why he’d ghosted me years ago.
Tears clouded my vision. I stood, seething at him and heaving shallow breaths. “You… seriously thought I would do that? That I could do that? That’s basically blood magic, Hudson, sacrificing yourself that way.”
“So?” With another shrug, his features etched over with pain. “It’d be the last magic I ever did, anyway.”
“What the hell happened to you?” I could feel the tears start to break free.
I knew Tyler had messed him up. I knew how bad he was hurting after losing Grams, but I thought he at least knew that I would never knowingly harm him.
“Did you really get that lost? Did things get so bad that you forgot there are people who actually give a shit about you?”
Hudson cast a glance my way before staring off again, his lower lip trembling and his voice shaky. “We are the bad things, Em.”