The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)
Chapter 33: Perverse Incentives

Keeping my mind on the demons and the threats from the netherworld was a difficult thing to pull with Leon’s lips on my neck and the tips of his fingers tracing the curve of my waist.

The lust charm pumped through me, unmistakeably sharp, like needles pricking at my skin, disabling me from focusing on anything else.

I sniffed that goddess damned rose like a maniac, craving clarity and release.

“Calm down.” Leon mumbled in my ear.

We swayed to the music, lost somewhere on the dancefloor. My heart skipped a beat each time his hips bumped into me and his pants scratched my naked thigh.

“I’m fine.” I grunted and brushed the hair off my neck, wondering how the fuck was I supposed to leave this place and hunt down a damn demon.

Leon’s hands slid down my waist, sometimes daring even lower, depending on the beat, and my legs moved somewhat off-kilter, surprised by each of his particularly lewd touches.

“I like this dress on you.” His breath tickled my ear, and when he finished the sentence, his grip on my waist tightened, as if trying to prevent me from running away.

“I like it on me, too.” I gasped back once his thumbs grazed my ribs.

With a whiff of the rose, I reminded myself we were here to do a job. The magic cleared my head, and I glanced around the room. Through the crowd, I caught sight of Thar, still in the same corner.

He had to think I was here to get drunk and make mistakes. If he thought I’d left with Leon, he wouldn’t try to find me. Anything else, and he’d realise we were attempting to break more rules than existed in this school. They haven’t even got a section on what we were about to do.

Even though I hated doing this to Thar, I knew I had to.

And yet-

“Are you wearing it for him?” Leon asked, surprising me one more time.

Our eyes met. Lights exchanged across his face, colouring his eyes a different shade of the rainbow with each beat. Since I met Leon, I haven’t wanted to slap him this hard, just to wipe that confident smirk off his face.

He was messing with me, and I hated it every step of the way, because I was slowly, but surely losing ground in this relationship. And I was fucking scared of falling into this particular hole.

“What if I say yes?” I asked right back.

A small shrug, “It’s kinda desperate.”

My smile dropped, and I threw my hands around his neck, pushing my nose into the rose.

“It’s just for distraction.” I muttered, bitterness lacing my words. “Focus on the plan, we’re not here to talk.”

Leon snickered in my ear, his grip on my waist loosening, “Ten more minutes, Jade.”

The last fifty had my mind dizzy with questions and my panties wet.

They really should have put someone with more self-control in this role.

“Lorenia’s gone.” I murmured and reached for the phone in my purse.

Morta texted: your dad coming to the party, stand by.

Lorenia left, I texted back.

“Dean wants to talk to us.” Leon pushed me backwards with his entire weight.

Together, we stumbled awkwardly to the tarot reading table. I leaned against the silk tablecloth and pulled my hair up. Sweat gathered on the nape of my neck.

Dean, dressed in a fluorescent pink shirt, shuffled the cards, “Bella has eyes on Lorenia, she’s heading back to the teachers’ quarters.”

“My dad is heading this way.” I poured myself a glass of water. “Ten minutes to go.”

“Do a reading for me.” Leon leaned over the table, propped on his hands.

“Seriously?”

“Come on, just one card.”

Dean shuffled the deck and handed it to Leon who took the random card out. It featured an image of a grim-reaper on a horse.

“And that’s Death.” Dean chuckled. “Lucky.”

Leon grinned, “Always been.”

“What does it mean?” I asked, water stopping somewhere in my throat.

“Not death.” Dean shrugged. “It means transformation, change, rebirth.”

“Well, these cards have obviously never met me.” Leon’s gaze met mine, “Otherwise they’d know I never change.”

I rolled my eyes on purpose, pushing down the suspicion that the cards might know more than we’d like them to. Tarot reading was bullshit. Destiny wasn’t set in stone. But, even the broken clock was right twice a day, and tarot cards liked to pick the shittiest moment to be right.

“Your father’s here.” Dean whispered, staring at the cards.

Sweat flooded me, but I didn’t turn around, “Crap.”

“Okay, showdown.” Leon downed my glass of water, and grabbed the half-full bottle of gin. “Ready?”

“Fuck, no.” I eyed the bottle, tempted to take a sip anyway.

I felt my father’s eyes on the nape of my neck.

Leon linked my arm and led me towards the dancefloor. I clutched the rose with my other hand; its effects wavering the longer I’ve been exposed to the lust charm. On the one hand, I wanted to let loose and forget about everything. On the other, I needed to keep my eye on the prize. I also had to convince my father I was drunk and ready to leave the party with Leon, which made the line I walked very thin.

Leon pulled me closer, his hands intertwining at the small of my back, “Five minutes.”

The bottle of gin touched the back of my naked thigh.

“We have to wait for Amma.” I leaned on Leon’s shoulder, trying not to look my father’s way.

“He’s talking to Thar.”

We swayed on the dancefloor to the slow song, and I hoped we looked like two drunken fools. How much my mind busied itself with anything but the rhythm, I definitely looked off-kilter.

“Great.” I whispered back, ignoring how his fingers began forming circles on my back.

Fuck, he smelled like cigarettes and clover, and the skin of his neck was soft against my lips.

“They’re staring at us.” Leon’s grip on my waist tightened, and I felt the drag of the bottle against my thigh, lifting my hem up, then continuing up the curve of my body.

“You’re enjoying this so much.” My lips dragged across his neck, up to his ear.

“Not as much as you.”

Fuck. You.

I had no time to voice my complains, because leaned down and kissed me. I opened my mouth against his immediately, inviting his taste and his scent, stupidly needing to feel his tongue on mine. Blood pooled in my head, making me dizzy, making me forget all the reasons why this was a bad idea. When my phone buzzed a second later, I was already breathless.

Amma. Probably telling me everything was ready.

Leon’s kiss deepened, his teeth clashing with mine, and the grip around my waist turned a bit too rough. Urgency. We needed to appear drunk. Lost. High on the lust charm.

I wasn’t even fucking pretending.

I put my hands around his neck and pulled him even closer, pushing my body on his. Leon’s hands climbed up my back, all the way to my shoulder-blades. He dropped the bottle of gin then. It splashed across the floor, making everyone jump off and start shouting. I pushed myself away.

Leon laughed, his hand still around my waist, “Let’s go. This party is getting boring.”

“Alright.” I nodded, eyes wide with surprise.

He half-dragged me from the dancefloor, but I managed a sneak peek behind me, catching my father and Thar Adara staring at me. My father simply shook his head in disappointment, which was the only expression I wanted to see on his face tonight.

Thar’s face was hard and emotionless.

I knew what I looked like.

A drunk whore making a fool out of herself.

Swallowing a burst of shame, I followed Leon up the stairs to the second floor.

I pushed him off the moment we were out of sight, “Fuck you.”

“What did I do?” He laughed.

“You know exactly what you did.”

The rose went straight to my nose, and I breathed in deeply, but it failed to destroy the taste of Leon’s tongue on mine.

“I’ve been instructed to look like I’m about to take Jade Montgomery to bed and make sure everyone saw us leaving the dancefloor together. Have I not played the part to your satisfaction?”

“Yeah, you were perfect.” I grimaced and waved with my phone. “Let’s go, Amma said to meet her in the eastern building.”

“Down the hallway and down the left staircase.” He pointed and I began to move.

We walked in silence, me a few feet in front of him, steps full of anger. The lust charm somewhat wore off and the rose helped in keeping my mind clear, yet it jumped back to the dancefloor.

He kept insinuating that I wanted him more than he wanted me and it pissed me the fuck off.

It wasn’t true.

I only needed to take the edge off.

The further we moved from the party, the clearer my mind became. Although traces of lust charm still flickered in the field of my vision, blurry and pastel, I found the anxiety resurfacing.

We were about to go back in there.

Back where fifteen of our classmates died.

Leon and I circled the eastern building in the dead of the night, trying to walk quickly and with purpose, like we were two dumb kids going into the woods to make out. No student would pay attention to us, at least we hoped.

Morta was guarding the teachers’ quarters. Bella was walking through the hallways in case any of our teachers turned wayward. Dean was at the party, his eyes constantly on Thar. And once we reached the backdoor of the eastern building, Leon stopped.

He would be guarding the entrance.

At first glance, there was nothing off about the building, except for the fact it was completely shrouded in darkness. However, when I opened up my senses, I felt magic crawling everywhere through the damn place. Slimy, thick and cold. Shivers ran down my spine at the thought of entering, and like a coward, I closed up the walls inside, knowing it would be easier to walk in without feeling anything.

“Ready?” Leon opened the door for me.

“Not at all.” I swallowed and stepped into the darkness, the flashlight on my phone my trusty companion. “Keep watch. Don’t get high or drunk and ruin everything.”

Leon chuckled, “Your distrust is disheartening.”

Rolling my eyes, I walked inside the building. The place was cold, almost colder than the air outside. It was also painfully silent. I turned right and headed down the hallway, trying to ignore the need to run away.

Amma and Eugene were standing right in front of the entrance to the main hall; the grandiose marble archway with lacquered red wooden door. Amma was kneeling in front of a large circle-shaped cardboard. Runes surrounded its edges, and the plants we’ve stolen from Lorenia’s garden lined a pentagram shape. Amma had carved the symbols into the cardboard. There was also a glass jar in the centre of the pentagram with runes drawn all over it.

Eugene was standing above her, a book in hand, fingers tracing the lines he read.

“Everything ready?” My voice was strained, rough.

Amma raised her head, eyes watery, “Yes.”

I dropped my phone into Amma’s backpack lying on the floor and the rose next to it.

“Did you unlock the door?” I glanced at the entrance to the main hall, half hoping there was no way to open it.

“It wasn’t locked.” Eugene said. “I guess they truly didn’t think someone would walk in.”

The stupidity of this entire situation hit me just then.

This was fucking insane.

If those things touched us... we just might die.

“And we could have just partied instead.” I murmured.

Amma let out a choked laugh, “Shall we?”

“Step three.” I squeezed my fingers. “Catch a demon.”

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