Bound by Curses and Vows – By Samantha Shaye #2
Just what is this? Suhana thought.
She was surrounded by empty darkness. No matter the direction she reached toward, she only felt air.
Draupati…
Decimus’s voice was louder now, an echo surrounding her, encompassing her. Suhana wanted to turn and run, but she couldn’t. Something pulled her farther into the darkness, controlling her every move.
“Where are you?”
He never responded.
“Who are you?”
Again, no answer.
“Please, tell me. I am trying to understand …” Her voice echoed as the ground rumbled and shook.
Suddenly everything flashed white; her eyes opened.
Suhana was back in class, Brad shaking her.
“What happened?” She rubbed her head.
“You just … blanked out.” His face was drawn with concern.
“I can’t take it anymore.” Suhana ran her fingers through her hair. “These dreams have me losing sleep.”
Brad grabbed Suhana’s bag and helped her out of her seat. “Let’s get you some coffee and some decent food before your next class.”
“Class is over?” Suhana shook her head. How on earth did I miss a three-hour class? She had only been in that dream-like state for a few minutes.
“Uh … yeah.” Brad picked up her notebook, and his mouth dropped. “When did you start drawing?”
“When did I— What?” Suhana grabbed the notebook from him.
Clear as day, she’d drawn the man in her dreams. Decimus.
Only he wasn’t in a suit like he usually wore.
Instead, he was dressed as … She wasn’t quite sure.
He wore a white garment under a red shawl draped around his neck with an armor-like chest piece over them.
“Are these Roman clothes?” She handed the book back to her friend.
Brad scrutinized it, loose strands of his brown hair covering his right eye as he did so. “Could be Roman. Could be Greek. Why are you asking me? You’re the one who drew it.”
Suhana shook her head, taking another look. “I did not draw that. At least, I don’t remember drawing it.”
Decimus wandered the streets with no destination in mind. He could return home, but why? Nothing waited there for him but an empty bed and the candlelight that danced on the walls, mocking his loneliness. He wanted to go back to his time and his place.
He was lonely, isolated, devoid of so many things in this form, including hope. Well, there was one hope, one tiny silver lining, but he was sure that that would go away the minute he walked into the room on Judgment Day.
Decimus walked down the street, and he noticed a pier ahead. At least the water would give him some kind of solace; then he could make believe that he was back in his time on an isle with— No!
He didn’t want to remember that. That was why he was like this. If he could only get his hands on that relic . . . Calm down, Decimus … you’re never going to get your hands on it.
By the fence at the end of the pier, he looked down at the water.
It wasn’t crystal clear like the cerulean water he used to know, but better than nothing.
He lost himself in the small waves. He wanted to pick up a rock and throw it into the water so bad, but he couldn’t.
His hand would pass right through it. He started to remember the day he was condemned as this , but then he pressed it to the back of his mind.
The day he became a Silhouette was the day Decimus began to hate himself.
He was able to live with being a vampire, but a Silhouette …
They were the lowest of the low, condemned to a ghostly shape until they were judged.
Afterward, they could either go back to being a vampire or were erased from existence.
Every existence, from their human life to vampire.
Every good thing they had ever done would be erased.
True murderers—ones who had betrayed their kin, ones who had killed their families—were the ones turned into Silhouettes.
Decimus hadn’t done anything like that, so why he’d been turned was beyond him. He had so many enemies, it was possible it was all just a setup.
If only he could figure out a different way to get out of this insubstantial body before Judgment Day, which was an excruciating four months away.
“You are a hard man to find.”
His body went rigid when he heard the deep male voice behind him, a voice he hadn’t heard in ages. Few were able to enter his realm and only for a limited amount of time, usually to bring bad news.
“And yet, here you are.” Decimus would have rested his arms on the railing if his arms wouldn’t go right through it. “What do you want?”
Decimus knew he should have been ecstatic to see his best friend, but whenever he came around, it was never for anything good.
“You have awakened Draupati’s memories.”
Like he thought. Never anything good. If Balthazar could feel her memories awaken, then he was sure the Eyes could as well.
“How can you be certain?”
The man reached into his pocket, handed Decimus a folded piece of paper, and took a deep breath. Clear as day was a drawing of him in Roman garb, the likes of which he had only worn on his wedding day.
“I’ll come back later to finish this conversation.” His friend interrupted his thoughts only for a moment. “I know you’ll need time to let that sink in.”
Before Decimus could utter a word, the man was gone.
“Where the hell have you been? I have been waiting out here for thirty minutes! No way was the line to the men’s room that long!”
Brad shrugged. “You’re right. The line to the women’s bathroom was, and you know I can’t resist flirting with the prettiest thing that walks by.” He flashed her a smile, displaying his dimples.
“You know, I have little patience for your antics today. I am losing my mind over this dream guy!” She ran her fingers through her now-tousled hair.
“Doesn’t your religion say something about reincarnation?” Brad stuffed his face full of a meatball.
Suhana gave him a droll stare. “This is definitely not that.”
Brad shrugged and wiped sauce off his face. “Then how else would you describe it? You drew the man perfectly, for God’s sake!”
Suhana shook her head. It was true that Hindus believed in reincarnation and marriage for seven generations.
Sure, the idea was beautiful that in every birth, she would find her soulmate and marry him for the next seven generations.
But things like that didn’t really happen, did they?
Then again, vampires and werewolves existed, so why not this, too?
Her mother and grandmother told stories of their ancestors who had been reincarnated long ago. Yet why was it so hard for Suhana to believe something like that could happen to her?
Probably because she refused to even think of marrying, let alone love someone. She saw the way her mother treated her father. Like he was nothing more than a wallet, catering to her every whim. But still, what Brad was saying wasn’t implausible, between religious beliefs and stories of the gods.
Suhana took a bite of her shrimp parmesan. “Okay. Let’s say what you’re saying is true. What could I possibly do with this information? All I have is a face and a name. Decimus. It’s not like I can shout it from the rooftops, and he’ll come running.”
Her friend slurped the rest of his spaghetti and wiped his face with a napkin.
“We do have search engines, you know.”
Suhana rolled her eyes. “A name like Decimus is going to turn up thousands of results, probably from ancient Rome or Greece. Which will fuel your theory, but I still won’t buy it.”
“And why not?” Brad leaned back in his seat and flagged a waiter. “Think of the picture you drew.”
Suhana finished the last of her food, leaned in, and narrowed her gaze at her best friend. “Why do you seem more interested in pursuing this than I am?”
Brad shrugged and sipped his drink. “Nothing exciting ever happens around here. This is the first man of yours I’ve been interested in since your first boyfriend.”
“One: he is not my ‘man.’ Two: you promised you would never bring up Yogesh again.”
Brad busted out laughing, and Suhana really hoped he would stop because all the attention had shifted to them. “No offense, but the guy quoted Bollywood movies every time he spoke to you. It was hilarious!”
Suhana shook her head. Her first boyfriend had been less than a boyfriend and more of a match her parents had thought of pursuing when she turned eighteen.
She had been a freshman in college, and they’d thought it would be a good idea to start considering her marriage, especially because arranged marriages take time to find the perfect match.
Yogesh was her father’s friend’s son, and he had been studying to be a teacher.
Suhana had expected him to be in a different field, like business, or a doctor—a lawyer, even.
So, she respected the fact that her parents’ views were the same as her own: as long as he was well-educated or had an honest profession, there was little she would refuse.
Not once did she think her partner would only have conversations using lines from Bollywood movies.
Suhana had to admit it’d been romantic at first. Yogesh sent cute texts from her favorite films, but then it got weird. He literally tried to have exact conversations from films! And when she didn’t answer with the next line, he got upset. That was not the life she wanted for herself.
But this wasn’t either.
She couldn’t pursue a man she had only seen in dreams. Could she?
Decimus paced in a fitful rage unbecoming of himself. Never had he been so angry, so undecided. When he’d been a general in the Roman army, he would not have thought twice about marching up to Draupati and telling her the truth.