Chapter 36: THIRTY-SIX

The curse Lucas woke up in the middle of the night to find someone standing in the middle of his room, right in front of his bed. It was dark, and he couldn’t see properly. Could it still be the effect of the alcohol?

No, even though he still felt a terrible headache, he’d completely sobered up now, he was sure that he was back to his normal self now. Where was the lady he’d slept with before he passed out? She wasn’t sleeping beside him anymore, instead he could make out a dark silhouette standing at the far end of his bed.

So, he must be in a dream, or he was seeing things, he thought. He rubbed his eyes as he turned on the lamp on his bedside so he could get a clear view of who it was.

As he turned it on, he froze upon seeing Susan standing there with a wicked smile.

Who are you? He tried to speak, to bring the words to his mouth, to say something, but he couldn’t. It felt as if his tongue had been tied. He tried to move but he couldn’t either, he just kept staring at her. Who was she? What did she have in mind? What was she going to do to him? He wondered. He had never had this kind of encounter with anyone before, and he didn’t know what to do.

So, he just sat there numbly, waiting for what she would do or say next.

“It’s time to teach you a permanent lesson, Rabbi” she said as she held out a glowing ball in her hand, and pointed it at him.

“You are still the same, the goddess granted you another life but you’re still as useless as you were before, you’re still the same cold, heartless and wicked. You have a beautiful maiden and child at home but yet you choose to let strange people warm your bed. You are a disgusting man Rabbi, you are a disgrace unto humanity, you are wicked, and you have a talent for hurting those who choose to love you. You ruined me, I am ruined forever because of you Rabbi, you don’t deserve to be a human being; the goddess should have brought you back to this world as an animal, that is the kind of life that suits you; but since she failed to do so, I will see to it that you become the beast you truly were born to be.”

The glowing ball in her hand shone brightly as she continued cursing.

“From now on Lucas De’ Clan, you will become a beast, a wolf, a slave to the moon, a rejected alpha and your curse will be so. I will take everything away from you; your maiden, your child, your happiness, EVERYTHING!!! You will live a solitary life, a lonely, painful existence, and you will die a gruesome death, this beast will remain with you forever and will never leave you. Let it be so as from today.”

She continued with the incantations, the glowing ball shining brighter and brighter until the sound of an explosion was heard, and within the next second, she disappeared from the room.

**********

Lucas jolted up from his bed, sweating heavily, he’d just had the most terrible nightmare, he tried to see if the woman, Susan that was her name, was still in his bed, but she wasn’t there. And who the heck was Rabbi? Maybe she was all a dream, he thought, a horrible dream that he never ever wanted to experience in his life again.

But losing the company wasn’t a dream, even though he thought it would be. Sadly, he had to move on now and look for something else to do, but first, he wanted to go home to Bambi and Amelia.

He got up and went into the bathroom, freshened up, and about an hour later, he was in a taxi driving to the airport.

He arrived home about two hours later, and was greeted at the door by little happy Bambi, jumping up and down, glad to see his daddy again.

“Daddy! You’re back,” he shrieked excitedly. “Now you can play with me today.”

Lucas was tired, he wanted nothing more than to go and sleep in his room, he didn’t want to do this, but he knew that Bambi wouldn’t forgive him if he missed this one. So, he put down his luggage, went to greet Amelia and nanny upstairs, before wearing Bambi his shoes and carrying his happy son to the playground.

He reached the community playground and helped Bambi swing, slide and play with the sand while he watched. The sun was out but the air was humid, and it didn’t take long before he started sweating profusely, he wondered how he had so much energy pent up just by watching his son play.

He tried to clean it up with his handkerchief but the sweating persisted, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Bambi, we need to go back home now, daddy is tired, we’ll continue playing tomorrow.”

Bambi was now in the little playhouse, he didn’t want to come out, but after daddy insisted so many times, he had to oblige. Lucas took Bambi back home in his arms and spent the rest of the day trying to catch some sleep, but he couldn’t. Instead, the sweating continued, even more intense than when he was out in the sun.

He tried taking off his shirt and didn’t miss the sight of wild hairs springing from his chest.