The Soul's Mark: Broken (9 page)

“I think I was her lover,” Mitchell said,
relaying the information.  He didn’t want to think about it, he couldn’t,
because if he did, he was scared he wouldn’t be able to do what he needed to
do.  “The one from the writings that was killed by a vampire.”

Mitchell threw the front door open and
stepped outside.  “Dude,” Tyler called.  “Wait, what’s your plan?  You can’t
just barge in.  You’ll get them killed.”

Tyler had his keys in his hand and stone
cold determination etched on his face.  “That’s why you’re not coming.”  Then
Mitchell glanced at Sally who looked just as determined to help as Tyler.  “And
neither are you.”  They both looked as if they were about to protest, and
Mitchell raised his hand to silence them.  “Neither of you can sneak in and out
undetected, but we can.”

“What about Meg?” Eric asked, and then as
an afterthought, he rushed on, “Did you see Erin?”  His skin had taken on a
greenish tone that almost matched his hair.

Mitchell nodded.  “They are alive, if that’s
what you’re asking.  Tristan locked them up together in a cage.  They’re both
in rough shape.”

“What?” Tyler asked.  “Why?”

“He’s giving Meg to Erin as food,” Eric
breathed with realization, filling in the words that Mitchell couldn’t voice
out loud.

And then Mitchell, Angelle, Luke, and Lola
launched forwards, running at vampire speed.  Mitchell heard Sally’s voice
float through the air, “Tyler, get in the car.  They’ll need help.”  But he
didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, and he kept running.

Amelia’s head hurt.  It was a pounding kind
of pain, one that radiated through her body with each thumping throb.  She
opened her eyes, and then squeezed them shut again against the bright light
that hung above her.

“Cole, she created us!” Josh yelled.  Amelia
squealed in alarm from the sudden sound.  He must not have noticed though,
because he kept on with his tirade.  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Created them?
Amelia was sure she had heard that wrong.  But then, hadn’t Tristan
insinuated something along those lines earlier?  Or was that yesterday? 
Whenever it was, it didn’t really matter.  What mattered now was that there was
a memory, or maybe it was a thought, something, and it was on the cusp of
breaking through the throbbing barrier of pain that coated her skull.  And it
seemed important, possibly even life changing.  She knew that if she could just
grasp onto it, she could fix everything.

Amelia blinked against the burning light,
and her eyes slowly adjusted with every flutter of her lashes.  She tried to
sit up, but when she moved, she quickly realized that she was tied up again;
the metal-like chains around her wrists, which clamped her arms to the bedrails,
were warm, infused with pulsing magic.

“Yesterday you pointed an arrow at her and
threatened to kill her, and now you’re going to yell at me for using her
magic.  Get a grip,” Cole said.  Was that a tremor she heard in his voice?  
Amelia swiveled her head towards the voices.

Josh was pacing in front of the door with
his back to her.  His fists were balled so tightly they looked like white
rocks, and Amelia could almost see the steam rising from his reddened neck. 
“You’re letting that bloodsucker control you,” he growled.

“I’m not letting anyone control me, and I’m
not going to bow to her either.”  Yes, it was a tremor, Amelia realized, and it
was becoming more defined with every word Cole spoke.  He pushed off from the
wall he had been leaning on, and placed a shaky hand on Josh’s shoulder. 
“She’s switched sides, man.  The paradise life you’ve been dreaming of isn’t
going to happen.  She’s too far gone now.”

“I was made for her,” Josh breathed, and
his shoulders sagged.  “She’ll remember.  And if you touch her again, I’ll kill
you.”  The words should have sounded threatening, but they didn’t.   Instead,
Josh sounded sad, and disappointed, and his strained voice made Amelia think
that he was on the verge of tears.

She guessed his expression didn’t match his
tone, because Cole blanched and quickly dropped his hand.  “Yes, sir,” he
stammered.  “Ummm, sorry, I was out of line.  I just … I figured she should
know she was the witch that set the curse in motion.  If she knew, then maybe
she’d just break it for us.”

Amelia felt hot and cold and sick. 
This
can’t be happening.  It just can’t.
  None of this was possible.  The curse,
or the gift, or the … whatever the stupid soulmate bond was, she was certain
that she had nothing to do with it.  She couldn’t have.  Her mind reeled,
shifting from past to present with a nauseating quickness that made her head
spin and her mouth water.  The vision of Mitchell’s stiff and lifeless body lying
at her feet made and her stomach heaved.

“She cast the spell because of him,” Josh
seethed, his anger rising up again, and his shoulders and back stiffened. 
“Mitchell was her damn lover!  They’ve been chasing after each other for
centuries, and now because of you, she knows it.”

No!
  That’s
what Amelia wanted to scream.  She even opened her mouth to do it, but the only
sound that came out was a choked hiss.  How was it even possible that she could
have cast the spell?  The image of herself from the past floated around her
head.  She was dark with tendrils of slithering blackness escaping from her
skin.  And she looked…broken.

“I’m sorry,” Cole said.  His voice quivered
loudly, and he dropped his gaze to the floor.  “I didn’t know.”

Amelia took a few deep breaths, swallowed
the bile that rose in her throat, and cleared her throat dramatically loud. 
“Hold up, why is he calling you sir?”  She knew it was probably the least important
thing to ask, but out of everything else, it seemed to also make the least
amount of sense.  Wasn’t Cole supposed to be the ringleader?

Josh was at Amelia’s side in a flash.  His
hand laced with hers, and he was giving her one of those looks.  It was full of
sympathy and caution, and it was overwhelming and seriously confusing.

“How are you feeling?” he asked gently,
rubbing the top of her hand with his thumb in slow circles.  The air grew
heavy, and her skin tingled from his touch.

“Let go of my hand,” Amelia spat, fighting
against whatever magic he was trying to use on her.  She narrowed her eyes and
snarled, “Doesn’t it bother you that the only reason I’m giving you the time of
day is because of a spell?  FYI, I’d rather die than give into it.”

For a quick second, Amelia was sure she saw
heartbreak in those gray eyes, but it was gone so quickly that she couldn’t be
certain.  He was staring down at her with a cold intensity that sent shivers
down her spine.  “He calls me sir because I’m older than him by a few hundred
years.”

Suddenly, Amelia wished she had never
opened her eyes.  She figured she should have expected something like this. 
Things that seemed illogical and absolutely impossible had somehow become her
new normal.  It really shouldn’t have been a shock that Josh had been around
awhile, or that she was
the
witch that cast the spell, but it was still
too much all at once.  She wanted to just accept what he was saying.  She
didn’t want to know anymore than she already did, but she couldn’t stop the
question from coming out.  “But … but …” she started, stuttering over the
words.  She swallowed hard, and tried again.  “Cole grew up with Meg.  How …?” 
Amelia couldn’t finish the question, because really, she wasn’t even sure what
she was trying to ask.

Josh chuckled and patted her hand. 
“Millie, we are born just like any other person,” he said softly, answering the
question she hadn’t been able to ask.  “We stop aging once our bodies are fully
grown.”  He nodded towards Cole and said, “He’s only eighteen.”

“But you said I made you,” she challenged,
desperately wanting to disprove what he was trying to say.  If they were in
fact born, than obviously she hadn’t created them.  It was simple logic.

“You did,” Josh said, shattering her
logic.  “It was your magic that made what I am possible.”  He broke his eyes
away from her, looking at the ground.  “After Mitchell had wiped out all the
hunters, you created a new batch, and one was meant specifically to mate with a
witch for the sole purpose of making me.”  He looked back at her then and
shrugged.  “Cole just kind of happened.”

Amelia opened her mouth and then closed it,
feeling like a fish out of water gasping for air.  She realized she didn’t
actually know what to say, and clamped her mouth shut because, well, right now,
logic seriously wasn’t helping.

“Erin?  Oh my God, Erin!” Megan’s scream
penetrated Amelia’s ears, jolting her from her thoughts, and she snapped her
head to the big screen.  Megan’s eyes were wide and round as quarters, and
filled with concern, but strangely, there was not an ounce of fear.  She
struggled, pulling against the bindings that held her standing with her legs
and arms spread wide.  Erin was huddled in a corner of the cage in a small ball
rocking back and forth, her knees tucked under her chin.

Something flickered across the screen,
moving so fast that all Amelia saw was a distorted shadow.  “What was that?”
Cole asked, peering at the screen.  Clearly, he had seen something as well.
“Someone else is …”  And then the figure stepped in front of the camera. 
“Shit!”  His voice shook, and he jumped back.   “They found us.”

“Mitchell,” Amelia screamed at the top of
her lungs.  She couldn’t believe he was here, or there, or wherever Megan was. 
Seeing Mitchell, knowing he was close, knowing that for sure he was still alive,
sparked something in her.  Something new, strong, and a bit scary.  Her heart
raced, her breath caught in her throat, and a raw energy surged through her
body, racing to every nerve ending.  Magic curved around her like a coiled
snake.  She pulled on it, manipulated it, and with a twisting screech of metal,
the bindings that held her snapped.

Amelia vaulted off the bed and ran to the
door.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Josh shudder, and his skin
rippled.  In a blink, it was gone, replaced by a skeleton.  “It’s time, Cole,”
he growled, his voice raspy and urgent.  Josh’s bones clicked against the
cement floor as he moved across the room, and before Amelia could reach her
escape, cold and boney fingers wrapped around her wrist and lifted her off the
ground.

“Josh, let go,” Amelia shrieked.  Her
struggles only made her swing around as she dangled in the air by her wrist. 
She launched bolt after bolt of shimmering magic at him, but the blast passed
right through, cracking against the wall behind him.

“Stop!” he shouted, letting his skin snap
back in place only around his face.  His gray eyes met her with an intensity
that chilled her to her core.  “The curse needs to be broken, and we are out of
time.  It will be more unpleasant if I have to stay like this.” He made a
waving kind of gesture, showing off his skeletal hand, and his voice softened. 
“My power is stronger when I’m like this, and it will hurt you more.  But I
will stay this way if you keep attacking me.”

“Go to hell,” she seethed, and launched
everything she had right at his face.  She wasn’t quick enough.  His skin
flicked away just in time for the white-blue light to shoot through his opened
jaw.

“Do you want Cole to do it?” he yelled,
dropping her wrist and wrapping his boney fingers around her shoulders, shaking
her violently.  “He’ll drain every last drop from you.  He doesn’t care if you
live through this!”

Amelia couldn’t stop herself from looking
at Cole.  It was as if her eyes were drawn to him, and she regretted not
closing them.  Cole’s sneer was sick and twisted, and there was murder in his
eyes.

“I’ll try to make it quick,” Josh said,
caressing her cheek.  Amelia thought that the gesture was meant to be soft and
caring, but his fingers were rough and cold, and his touch made her gag.

“Josh, don’t do this,” Amelia begged, the
desperation was heavy in her voice, and she swallowed the urge to vomit.  She
struggled against his hold, but it was useless.  She tried to pull on
Mitchell’s senses, to gather strength, but she couldn’t grasp onto it.

A hair-raising scream resonated off the
walls.  Metal cracked and snapped.  Amelia and Josh followed the sound and
looked at the screen just in time to see Tristan step up behind Mitchell, and
in a sifted motion, he grabbed hold of Mitchell’s head and twisted.  Mitchell
crumpled back against Tristan, and was swiftly dragged away.

Amelia screamed.  Logically, she knew that
he wasn’t really dead.  She had watched Eric come back from a broken neck, but
her mind didn’t want to process that.  She screamed again and again and again. 
It was as if the filter from her brain to her lips was broken, and she just
couldn’t stop the sound.  Her heart broke; it felt as if someone had jammed
their hand into her chest and ripped it out, shredding it into pieces.

Suddenly, Amelia was on her knees, and she
felt as if she was paralyzed.  There was another sobbing scream lodged in her
throat, as if she had swallowed a rock that wouldn’t budge.  Josh stepped back,
and his skin inched back into place.  An electric current pulsed from him like
a heartbeat, thumping in time with hers.  Lights flashed around him in blues,
greens, and whites.  It looked like the Northern Lights, as if he had harnessed
them, letting them loose within the room.