Read Online twice cursed mage 05 - claimed by j a cipriano - Free Book Online Page A

“Here’s your cider.” He shoved the cat’s skull into my right hand and some of the cold liquid sloshed over the side and onto my blackened flesh.
    Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt surged through me as my skin began to fizz like it was made of fucking baking soda and I’d been doused with vinegar. The smell of rotting flesh hit my nose as I stumbled backward, flailing and wound up dropping Jack in the process. The Indian vampire hit the ground with a heavy thunk as I tried desperately to wipe the cider off my dissolving skin. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to burn my left hand any. Was it Cursed specific?
    “The more you fight it, Mac, the harder this will be on the both of us,” the old man said, shaking his head as he knelt down beside Jack and studied the vampire intently. “Warded bullets. Clever.”
    His eyes turned into solid pink gumballs as he waved his liver-spot covered right hand over Jack’s unmoving form. The gunshot wounds covering Jack’s body glowed with cotton candy pink light before the bullets tore violently free from his flesh.
    Warm blood splattered across my face and hands, and as it did, the pain from my dissolving skin receded enough for me to think. Was it because Jack’s vampire blood had healing properties? I wasn’t sure but no matter the cause, my hand had stopped burning, and before I could stop myself, I licked my lips.
    The taste of his blood was like raspberry jam on my tongue, and as that realization hit me, the pain completely vanished. I took a quick glance down at my hand and much to my delight, found it good as new. Man, when this was over I was going to fill a flask with Jack’s blood and carry it around for emergencies or you know, in case I decided to try to leap over a shark tank on a motorcycle to impress the chicks from Happy Days.
    The cat’s skull lay beside my foot, black, viscous fluid spilled across the carpet. I wasn’t sure what had been inside it but judging by the smell of sulfur I was going to go with something demonic. Interesting.
    “I’m not sure what you’re doing, but an explanation would be nice,” I said, wondering why Maya didn’t seem terribly concerned by this weird old guy. She hadn’t moved so much as a muscle since he’d offended her, which now that I thought about it, seemed a bit off.
    “Is that so?” the man asked, standing up. The bullets hovered in the air between us for a moment before falling emptily to the ground. “Why do I owe you anything? You came into my house, did you not?”
    “Look,” I said, gesturing toward the cat’s skull. “There are people after us, and I don’t have time for whatever this is.”
    “Yes, you do.” He smiled, revealing a grin that was all gums. “I stopped time. We have all the time one could want.”
    “What do you mean you stopped time?” I asked, incredulously. I knew Beleth could stop time, but as far as I knew, my own demon had eaten her. If this wasn’t her doing, and I didn’t think it was, who the hell was this guy? Another time-stopping demon? Was that possible?
    “This whole making me repeat myself thing is going to get old really fast. Let’s just cut to what I want, eh?” He moved past me, pausing just long enough to glance at the spilled contents of the cat’s skull. A confused look settled over his features for a split second before vanishing beneath a pensive mask. He shook himself like someone wearing a heavy coat and headed back toward the easy chair in the corner. As he settled into the chair, pink light wrapped around the old guy’s body like a cocoon. The guy’s form seemed to droop, and then another person pulled himself free of the senior who slumped over unconscious and drooling.
    The hitchhiker stood and stretched. He was nearly seven feet tall and gangly as fuck. He wore a crisp pink suit, pink shoes, and a pink top hat. One of his white-gloved hands clutched the head of a jewel encrusted cane, and he leaned heavily on it while flashing me a grin that