Seventh Mark (Part 1 +2) (26 page)

“I don’t know
what you're talking about!” He’d bloomin’ drugged me, not the other
way around. Wait a minute
. The rye.

“Bitch! I can’t
shift! Take back whatever you said and fix this.” He grabbed my
wrist and turned it painfully in the wrong direction. “I’ll break
every bone in your body until you do!”

Despite the
situation, I croaked out a laugh. “It’s not some voodoo curse,
idiot. I didn’t say something, and then add a no-take-backs.”

Damon dropped
his hold on me, and as I fell, he punched me in the gut. It stopped
all laughter as I rolled on the floor and tried to catch my breath
and stop the pain.

“The next
contact will be my foot in your face!” The malice in his voice made
me believe him. “What did you do?”

“I…
Y-Yesterday, I… It was the …” I struggled to find my breath.
Stomach muscles PLEASE relax. I beg you so I can inhale the
oxygen I need
. I tried again, “Yesterday I made a drink to help
me relax. You… You drank it.”

“So what?” He
brought his leg back.

“It was
whiskey, you know… rye.” I had no idea if he knew what that
meant.

“You FED me
RYE?” The spit from his shouting landed on my face.

I gagged. “You
took my glass. You drank it.” I rubbed the wet off my face
terrified he’d ask me how I knew about rye.

“I’m going to
kill you. Slow and painfully and before you die, I’m going show
Michael. Watch the light die in his eyes when he sees you, and then
kill him in front of you.” He grabbed fistfuls of his hair. “I’m a
Grollic who’ll never shift again. That’s more lethal than killing
me!” He raised his leg again, ready to swing.

I scooted back
against the wall, my hands up in defence. “I read… heard…” I
couldn’t make a lie up fast enough, “On the internet... that rye
might possibly prevent a Grollic from changing. It’s not forever.
Just till the alcohol’s out of your system. I had no idea it would
work, and I never meant for you to drink it!” I tried to play the
scared human victim. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know this would
happen.”

He paused,
setting his foot back on the floor. “It’s not permanent?”

“Not that I
know.”
How long did I have?

A long,
horrible scream, followed by a short bark erupted from outside. My
gaze shifted towards the windows, but I couldn’t see anything from
where I sat.

“Get your boots
on.” He grinned wickedly. “My Alpha approaches. It’s time to
go.”

When I didn’t
move, he grabbed a handful of my sweater and tossed me onto the
couch like a sack of potatoes. My heart thundered against my rib
cage, or maybe it was my insides shaking that echoed against the
beats. I slowly laced up my boots. With a sense of sadness I
realized I could do nothing to stop the critical events about to
maybe change, but more likely destroy my life.

Damon had to
physically pull me outside the door of the cabin. I no longer had
the brain power to tell my body to put one foot in front of the
other to walk. Cold air hit my face. It helped wake me a bit,
however, I’d become numb inside. I could understand how a prisoner
on death row felt on his last walk to the chamber. I shook my head
to try to physically clear the fog out of my brain. I needed to
focus and try to come up with something, anything. I had to
fight.

Michael
.
His name made tears spring instantly to my eyes. I barely got to
say good-bye to him yesterday. He had no idea how much I loved him
or what he had done to bring color back into my life. I had spent
the past eighteen years in shades of grey and black.

I had to wipe
my tears with my shoulder when Damon grabbed my wrists and tied
them together in front of me, with a rope trailing from them. I
looked up confused. “Why? You never bothered binding me in the
cabin?”

“I'm
not
having one of my so-called brothers claim my prize.” He started
walking through the trees, giving the leash I was now tied to a
hard tug now and again.
Like a slave to his master
.

Tears continued
to course down my face, as I trailed behind him. I couldn’t stop
Damon or figure out a way to live. Crying just helped feed the
hopelessness.

I cried for
everything I was going to miss out on with Michael. There was so
much I wanted to know about him I would never get to learn. I would
never get to share my life or experience anything with him. I
should have told him how it felt to be with him. How we could talk,
not just speak to each other. We connected as if we belonged
together, like the Siorghra’s eternal love.

Damon yanked
the rope, forcing me to keep up. I stumbled, almost falling, when a
new wave of sadness hit me.
Grace
. I bit into my lip to try
and stop the tears, which didn’t help because it broke open the cut
Damon had given me earlier. I spat the iron taste out, the color
bright crimson in the snow.

“Rouge!” Damon
slapped my face hard enough to spin me around. I would have fallen
if he hadn’t tugged the rope which forced me to stay upright. Pain
shot from my nose and up into my eyes. More blood dripped, this
time from my nose. I tentatively touched it with my bound hands,
scared it might be broken. Thank goodness it wasn’t.

“Either start
walking or I'll break your legs and actually have a reason to drag
you.” Damon’s eyes darkened to a murky brown color.

I straightened,
realizing the alcohol might be wearing off and he could change into
a Grollic if he wanted to. I grew cold with fear and began to
shake. Somehow, deep inside, I wasn’t prepared for him to shift,
like an inner sense wanted me to wait for the right moment.
Whatever that means… maybe after I die
.

I carefully
nodded. “Sorry. I'll walk now.” I knew enough from past life
experiences that simple apologies and weak commitment might be
adequate to avoid more violence. Pretending to feel bad and submit
probably saved my legs from being broken. He turned and started
walking again. I made sure to concentrate on following him.

As we walked
through the almost knee-high snow, I tried to wipe my nose with the
shoulder part of my sweater. The drops of fallen blood in the snow
looked crimson compared to the brilliant white. My lip seemed to
have stopped bleeding, and the blood from my nose slowed its rapid
flow as well. I couldn’t pinch it with my hands tied, so I tried
pinching it with the inside of my elbow.

The sky was
still a dull grey color, but in a few lighter shades. An eerie
quiet filled the leaf-less forest. I could hear the odd twig break
to the left or right of us every once in a while, but saw no one.
When a loud crack echoed to my left, a huge, ugly grey Grollic
appeared. Its hideousness made me shutter. Out of the corner of my
eye, I caught sight of another to my right. They were probably
flanked all around us to prevent Michael or anyone else from trying
to rescue me.

We continued to
hike around the lake but stayed inside the forest line. I wondered
if walking by the frozen lake would leave the Grollics vulnerable
to Michael’s family. A strange thought crossed my mind.
Is there
something about water Grollics don’t like?

Damon stopped
when a very low and long howl erupted ahead of us – like a trumpet
sounding. Damon pressed one knee to the ground, his head bowed and
then stood. “My Alpha’s approaching in Grollic-form.” He shook
himself and straightened his crumpled clothes. “If you care to live
with hope of saving yourself or the Knightlys, don’t you dare look
him in the eyes. He’ll kill you without a moment’s hesitation.” He
leaned forward and freed my wrists from the tied rope digging into
them.

More Grollics
ret out the same howl as the first. We stood by a large tree. I
leaned back against it for support, too tired to care if Damon
bitched. Suddenly he dropped to one knee again and this time he
didn’t get up, or look up. My heart rate quickened as anxiety
flowed through my veins. Searching every direction, I tried to spot
what might be coming. The air grew heavy, like just before a
thunderstorm. My breath caught in my throat from movement in the
snow straight ahead.

At first I
could barely make anything out, but as the trees became thicker the
white fur became prominent against the bark. Moving at a speed
which seemed impossible for any man or animal, the silhouette
matched Damon’s when he’d shifted.

Running towards
us strode a terrifying, yet awesome creature. He was bigger than
Damon, actually he made Damon look like a runt. The snow didn’t
shine nearly as much as the beast’s coat and his eyes were a ruby
red color. About twenty feet from us he slowed and rose to his hind
legs… then walked like a normal human being, but still a Grollic.
The beast had to be seven or eight feet tall. I jumped when he let
out a guttural bark and stopped inches from Damon.

Damon rose
slowly and leaned away from me. The Alpha ignored him and walked
straight to me. His eyes narrowed and focused in on me. I tried to
avoid meeting his gaze, as Damon had instructed, but I couldn’t.
The Grollic cocked his head to one side and stood inches away. He
stared down, his hot, putrid breath slapping my face.

He had to weigh
three hundred pounds, maybe more. He was massive, with not a speck
of dirt on his white fur.

Craning my
neck, I couldn’t turn away even if I tried. The bright red of his
eyes reminded me of blood, and I saw my reflection in them.

The beast made
a noisy, wet sound as he inhaled. I cringed when his cold nose
pressed against my neck and paused to smell the blood on my coat. I
pressed myself closer into the tree trunk without even realizing
until the rough bark scraped my cheek.

The Grollic
stepped back and moved around the ancient tree. A second later he
appeared on the other side in human form, completely naked. He
must’ve been about fifty, extremely fit, white hair and the same
birthmark as Damon just below his clavicle on the left side. His
mark appeared darker and raised, almost as if burned onto his
skin.

“This the one?”
He looked at Damon.

I now had no
problem avoiding my gaze.
He’s apparently oblivious to the cold
and snow.

“Yes.” Damon’s
head bobbed up and down.

“All this
trouble for
her
?” He snorted and threw his hands up in the
air. “It's weak and female! You’re positive she’s the seventh?”

“Seventh
generation. Seventh descendent. Seventh of Bentos.” Damon bounced
up and down with each syllable. I wished I could wipe the grin off
his face.

“Does the
demon’s offspring know?”

No, they’ve
got no clue.

Damon scratched
his birthmark. “She had no clue. If they know, they kept it from
her.”

They don’t.
Michael would’ve told me.
Then why was I wondering if it might
be true?

“Scoundrel,” he
scoffed. “Will they fight for her?”

“The twins will
without a doubt. We're not so positive about Caleb. He’s not too
keen on the girl.”

The Alpha
leaned forward and slapped Damon across the face. Hard. Really
hard. Howls erupted and glancing around, I nearly jumped up the
tree to climb it. My heart exploded into rapid beating. The other
Grollics had formed a semicircle around us. I hadn’t noticed their
approach. I’d been too focused on the Alpha. They were not as huge
as the Alpha but big like Damon, and all different shades of
ugly.

“Insolent!” the
Alpha shouted at Damon. “I will not fight unless their Alpha is
here! Why send for me if you're not sure?”

Damon cleared
his throat. “We – I believe – Caleb will protect his
understudy.”

“And this girl,
she is the offspring of Bentos? Without a doubt?” He asked the
question again to Damon. Would a Grollic lie to his Alpha? How
tight were their bonds?

Even in naked
human form, the Alpha was terrifying. He charged toward my still
frozen frame near the tree and grabbed my chin. Forcing my head
left then right, he dropped his hand in disgust. “She stinks. Like
liquorice. Her bloods tainted.” He spat. As he spun around he swung
back and pulled my collar down, scratching my skin. “She’s not
marked.”

“She’s the
one.” Damon shook and then whispered, “She is the last one, my
lord.”

The last? Of
what?
Had Damon somehow found me as the perfect target for this
horrifying tirade and planned to use me to try and impress his
Alpha?

“I’d don’t
believe it. She’s a coward.” He shook his head once. “Bait her for
the Fallen, and kill her.”

“With pleasure,
my lord.”

Suddenly a
shaggy-haired Grollic came running out of the forest and jumped
over the circle of Grollics. As it leapt into the air, it changed
into human-form and dropped one knee down as he landed.

“What say you,
scout?” the Alpha barked.

“Th-Three of
th-them…” the young man panted. “One’s fighting Janice at their
cabin… Two are headed this way.”

“The
twins?”

“Two men, my
lord. I believe one is their Alpha.”

My heart
skipped.
Michael and Caleb
.

The Alpha
clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Finally. I want that
ol’ bastard destroyed.” He shot a glance at me. “Damon, take the
girl by the water. Make sure they see her, and then drown her.” He
turned to the others, “You take the lesser male.
No one
kills the Alpha but me.” He released a low hum which turned into a
howl as he shifted into his grotesque Grollic-form.

Damon grabbed
me, and threw me over his shoulder. He began to run towards the
lake at breakneck speed. I bounced around and tried to keep my
teeth clamped tight so I wouldn’t bite my tongue.

“Put me down.”
I pounded against his back and tried thrashing my legs. He
tightened his hold, his shoulder knocking the breath out of me as
he dug it into my gut. My nose started to bleed again, and as I
tried to suck air in through my mouth, I watched drops trail from
my nose into the snow. I had nothing compared to the strength of
Damon - human or shifted.