Vampire Cursed Read Online Free Page B

know she was there. “You know nothing about her.”
    “Ah, but I do. She’s a regular woman who wants to lead a normal life. Can you offer her that, Nathaniel? What can you give her beyond the cold walls of this castle?”
    He whirled, the fire at his back. “Her love would break the curse and set me free. I would not be trapped within the confines of these walls any longer.”
    The witch, her ivory-colored hair flowing past her waist, flew toward him, nails extended. She stopped short of his face, hovering in the air. “If you really believe that will happen, that a woman will fall in love with a vampire, you have lost all sense of reality. She’ll leave at first light if not before.”
    His hands curled into fists. “If that is her wish, I will not stop her.”
    The witch’s booted feet hit the floor, and she tipped her head to one side to study him. “Without love, you will never leave this castle.”
    “I’m aware of that.” Nathaniel put as much distance as possible between them. He wanted to demand that she leave, but the witch came and went as she pleased. Ordering her out would only entice her to stay even longer.
    “Hasn’t three hundred years been long enough, Nathaniel?” With speed born of black magic, she zoomed over to where he stood next to the bookcase. “You could make her stay.” She touched her palm to his shoulder. “Being a vampire does have its advantages. You have the gift of coercion. Why not use it to break the curse?”
    He snagged her wrist and flung her hand away like it was lethal. “Never. You took away my choices. I would never do the same to anyone else, especially Abigail.”
    “Oh,” she cooed. “Fancy yourself in love with her then?”
    Nathaniel didn’t respond. Maybe if he ignored her, she’d go away, but then, she would return. She always returned. That was, in his opinion, one of the worst parts of the curse.
    “You know, Nathaniel, you could always change your mind about me.”
    He shivered. The mere thought of being with her, touching her, kissing her as he had Abigail rendered him nauseous. “I did not want you then, and I do not want you now.” His gaze zeroed in on her angered face. “I’ve survived three hundred years trapped inside these walls, and I’d live another seven hundred never seeing the light of day before I touched you, Witch.”
    The witch tipped her head back and screeched, her long fingernails extending into razor thin talons. When she focused her gaze on Nathaniel again, her eyes were blood red. “If I could have killed you then, I would have. You deserved to die. Nothing has changed that.”
    “Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s miserable because of this curse.” The thought afforded him a small measure of comfort. “Do bank the fire before you leave.” He crossed the marble floor, making it to the door before the witch’s final words caught him.
    “I may have one more curse left in me, Nathaniel.”
    His hand froze on the wall, but he refused to turn around, to acknowledge that her words pierced through the veil of his calm demeanor.
    “But don’t worry. This one isn’t for you.”
    When he whipped around to confront her, she was gone, her cackling laugh trailing in her wake.
    “Damnation!” He slammed his fist into the wall repeatedly until his knuckles bled. “No. You will not harm her. Do you hear me?” He shouted at the ceiling. “You will not!”
    * * * *
    Outside the library, Abby stood with one hand over her heart. She’d listened to the exchange between Nathaniel and the acidic-voiced woman in horrified fascination. Now, she heard his pain, his fear.
    Was the next curse meant for her? She swallowed hard and stumbled toward the stairs. She had to get out of here before she ended up trapped as well. Her foot touched the first step, and she stopped. How could she run away now that she knew what had happened, was happening, to Nathaniel?
    There had to be a way to save him. Maybe the Fates had brought her