Lunar Marked (Sky Brooks Series Book 4) (33 page)

“Are we done here?” Sebastian asked.

Marcia could barely answer the question through her anger. “Yes.”

Michaela and Demetrius were the first to leave and everyone else quickly followed behind. We were soon left with the Creed, who were not happy with the turn of events.

As we headed out the door Marcia stood. “Josh,” she said in a low rough voice still angered by her loss. “Stay, we need to talk.”

Barely giving her request consideration, Josh flicked his eyes in her direction and stopped in front of Bernard to have the manacles taken off his wrist. As he continued toward the door Marcia slammed her hands on the desk, sending a thunderous sound throughout the room.

“Josh! We need to talk now!” she demanded.

He only hesitated for a moment and turned to face them. Fishing in his pocket he took out a small oddly shaped medallion and tossed it in the middle of the floor. “There is nothing more for us to say, I am done.”

I thought she had reached the height of her anger, but whatever he had tossed insulted her more than anything Sebastian and Ethan had done at the meeting. His eyes rested on each one of them, casting his anger in their direction, before leaving.

W
hen the doors
closed behind us we could hear the dead bolt lock. Sebastian scanned the area. It was dark and the cleared path that surrounded us made it easy to see everything around us. It was clear, but there was definitely a presence there: I felt like we were being watched. The caustic smell of Ethos’s magic was dense as it coated the air.
Come out, come out wherever you are.

“He’s here,” Josh said, looking around.

Of course he is.
Waiting for the room to turn against me so that he could swoop in and claim me. I was scared of Ethos, a new feeling for me. I had been able to cling to the fact that he wanted me alive, and that wasn’t the case anymore. I wouldn’t be his ally as he took over the otherworld, I denied him too many times, and I was just a shell that held his prize possession—Maya.

We advanced toward the car but Ethos stayed hidden. Just a few feet from the car we were confronted by a pack of were-animals. Anderson, the Alpha, remained in human form at a distance, watching as the pack approached us. A large man approached Sebastian; he slowly started to shift mid-run and was in cougar form before he was less than a foot away. It didn’t give Sebastian enough time to change and the large felidae slammed into him. He soared back, crashing into the SUV with a thud. He recovered quickly before the cougar could advance again. When it charged at him again, Sebastian slammed his fist into the feline’s throat, and it dropped to ground gurgling. Sebastian slipped behind the animal and twisted the head until the neck snapped. The cougar lay still, body slumped against the ground. Before the coyote that had been stalking near Sebastian could approach, Sebastian was able to change into his wolf and collided into him mid-lunge.

A hyena’s jaws were clamped about Steven’s arm, and I ran over, jamming my knife into its side. It quickly released its hold. I kicked hard into its side until ribs cracked. It snapped at me, its teeth tearing over my skin drawing blood, but it wasn’t able to get a good hold. It started for me again, lunging. I positioned myself to move but before I could Gavin, in panther form, crashed into him. His claws ripped across its stomach before doing the same to its throat.

Josh was a couple of feet away surrounded by several were-animals attempting to get past the protective field that surrounded him. A coyote beat its head against it several times, a lynx clawed at it, and an oversized dingo kept thrashing its body into it, doing more harm to itself than the field. Knife in hand I started to approach, going for the coyote, who was closest to me. Then a wave of magic surfed over me, and I fell face-first into the ground. Josh’s field shattered, the last thing I saw before I was yanked up and pulled into what felt like a cyclone of magic. I heard my name in the distance before it all ended. Silence.

T
he nausea hit fast
, and the bile crept up but I couldn’t give into it.
Traveling
was still the worst way to get anywhere, and I didn’t know how anyone could ever get used to it. The moment my feet were planted firmly on the ground I slipped the knife out of sight—I didn’t need him to take my only weapon—and then spun, punching Ethos in the mouth. He stumbled back, red staining his lips and his eyes blazing. With a quick whip of his fingers I went back several feet. He sucked in his lips, tasting blood as he glared at me. Anger licked at the features of the odd form he’d chosen. His coloring was too pale, and the blush of his rage made him look ruddy.

I looked around the large space; stone walls surrounded me. The few circular windows were too small for me to fit through. I was in a blockhouse of some sort. I tried to find comfort in the fact that I wasn’t underground. To escape all I had to do was get past the only exit I saw, which was directly behind Ethos—no problem.

The smell of dirt and something pungent filled the air along with magic, odd magic—dark magic. There was something different about it that I couldn’t figure out. A mixture of magic that went wrong. To my right on a table in the corner were the Clostra, the Gem of Levage, and a copper-looking object made of a series of interlocking circles, which I assumed was the Fatifer. He had four of the five protected objects, and I’m sure he was working on finding the fifth. The one that Claudia had. I kept glancing around the room looking for the Aufero, I knew it had to be close.

I couldn’t ignore the bloodstains on the leather bindings of one of the books of the Clostra. What did he try to do with it? Whose blood was it?

“You could have made it easier on yourself. It didn’t have to end this way,” he said. He seemed almost apologetic. The odd violet eyes shone like crystals, contempt and sympathy an odd combination.

“How should it have ended, Ethosial?”

He smiled in appreciation. “I go by Ethos now.” Fear rolled over my stomach, but I didn’t know why. We knew he was powerful and had been around for hundreds of years, the strongest link to dark magic, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.

I took several steps back and he laughed. Looking around the room he frowned. “Why are you moving away? There isn’t any place for you to go.”

“Where are the others?”

“Others? I know of no others but you and rumors.”

Being under his intense gaze was starting to make me uncomfortable.

“I want it the way it used to be. That was a life, people revered us for no other reason than that we existed. I didn’t have to share power with them, to earn their adulations. The world is different.” He stopped and gave me a once-over. “Even your kind is different, human-like. Before you were beasts we used for nothing more than entertainment or punishment of others. The vampires, what has become of them? The looks of angels, when before they were monsters barely able to stand upright. Gross creatures that commanded the night and preyed on the weak for food.” The world he described sounded horrible, but he spoke of it with wistfulness and a tinge of sorrow. He missed a world that I could barely stomach hearing about.

Yes, the devil always wanted sympathy. Wah, people don’t worship me. Wah, I don’t get to rule people with an iron fist. Wah, I may be the only horrible one of us left. Wah, the vampires aren’t ugly monsters that terrorized the night. Give me a break.

“Are you sure we are the only ones?” I asked.

He smiled at the use of the word
we
.

“I’ve spent decades chasing rumors,” he admitted. He stepped closer to me, and I jerked back when his finger trailed up my cheek. “That’s what I have you for, my sweet amphora. If they exist, we will find them. If they don’t, we will make things as close to the way it was as possible. We will control again.”

I jerked away. “No. You don’t have me. I won’t help you. This will not end well for you,” I said, boasting a level of bravado I shouldn’t have.

He smiled, his teeth stained from the blood spilled when I punched him. He winced a little. Really—the big bad Ethos found a busted lip painful? If the situation wasn’t so dire I would have found it funny.

He gnashed his teeth and shrugged. “Very well, I no longer have use for you, my little amphora. You had more value when I thought you were the only one.”

The footsteps were soft at first but quick, more than one. Rushed voices came closer and then Marcia came through the door, behind her three of the other members of the Creed carrying a limp body. As soon as they were over the threshold they nearly tossed the body on the ground.

“Don’t you hurt her.”

Dark curly waves covered her face; with her head turned to the side, I couldn’t see the face, but I had a sense of familiarity. Ethos knelt down, gently repositioning her, brushing the hair from her face. Even unconscious she still had the same scowl of youthful defiance as she had the first time we met. Senna, my cousin, and the only other person I knew who could use the Clostra.

Damn.
Things just got really bad.

A
s if he
read my mind, Ethos gave a smile that displayed self-assurance and defiance. A big fat “I told you so.”

“She’s no more fragile than that one,” Marcia said, her eyes trailing in my direction where they stayed.

Ethos’s eyes lifted in my direction and there was a hint of sorrow. “She is, she will be less durable, human,” he said.

Marcia made an irritated sound. “These affections you have developed for her are absolutely ridiculous. You realize she isn’t anything to you, just a shell that hosted Maya, not her. It’s misdirected affection for someone who isn’t your kind. It is foolish. Were-animals are susceptible to fragilities that you don’t see in humans. If my silver blade cut into her, how do you think she would respond?”

I wanted so badly to tell her nothing more than what would happen to her. A side effect of hosting Maya, and perhaps being changed as a vampire in vitro made me an anomaly. Silver didn’t affect me. But that lack of information gave me an advantage. It’s not like I was enthusiastic about the possibility of being stabbed, but I would heal fast even if the knife stayed embedded in me.

“You’ve been trying to use any excuse possible to keep her,” she accused.

“And you’ve been using every tactic not to,” he snapped. The odd violet color was barely visible through the slits of his eyes. “You tried to have her killed—that wasn’t our agreement. Your impatience almost ruined everything. Do you know what would have happened to Maya without a host near? Of course you didn’t, you just had your sights on one thing.” Anger changed his appearance and he went into a defensive stance. Maybe I didn’t need to run, if I stayed long enough the arguing might become more combative and then they would destroy each other.

Marcia pursed her lips together. “At least I would have gotten something done,” she said through clenched teeth.

I wanted the fighting to continue: it was serving as a good distraction for them and for me to escape. The idea was quickly killed as Marcia’s features softened, her eyes gentle and unassuming, her voice having a light timbre that made her seem kind, maternal. “My actions were selfish and impulsive. Know that it will not happen it again.”

Yeah, right.

“You’ve bonded with a body that you are convinced is Maya—a descendant. Sky is nothing more than a shell, deserving of no more consideration than you give that one. Senna is a better choice. As long as Skylar has the Midwest Pack, she will not subjugate herself to you. They have given her a sense of false security.” Once again she looked in my direction, dismissing me with an upturned nose.

I wouldn’t betray the pack—the alliance made me strong—and I wasn’t likely to give in to Ethos. But would Senna possess the same veracity and ability to deny him? Was my family, if they were even still alive, enough to protect her, to give her the fortitude and confidence to refuse Ethos?

I glanced again at my cousin, still on the ground. They were going to remove Maya from me and I wasn’t going to live through it. I didn’t have a lot of options. To my right was Marcia and the other witches. Even if I had the Aufero, how would I fare against three other witches and Ethos? I was good with a knife, but not good enough to fight my way out against the three of them. My only option was to try to change. As long as I was in wolf form, they couldn’t use magic against me. I didn’t want to leave Senna but there wasn’t any way to get her out in animal form. I inched into position, knowing everything had to be done quickly. I still wasn’t able to change as fast as I needed to, but if I made it past the door and got enough distance I could change. I prepared myself for the pain of shredding through clothes. That always made things harder. I bolted, slamming into the witch standing in front of the exit. They had waited too long and she had put down her guard. I grabbed the arm that reached out to stop me, giving it a sharp powerful thrust that broke it. I could hear the high-pitched scream as I shifted into my wolf.

My paws pounded hard into the ground as I ran as fast as I could, trying to take in my surroundings. I kept a steady pace until a tiger smacked into me with so much force I tumbled across the grass, rolling onto my back. It burned. I spun around to see Anderson, two other wolves and a lynx at his side. I moved back several feet, surrounded by them, looking for an opening. The only thing I had was speed, and if I could get enough distance I would be okay. I lunged, they all started to jump toward me, and then I did a quick spin in the opposite direction. The coarse grass bit into my paws; as I made it to the side of the road the gravel cut into them. I could hear the pounding of paws behind me. I hoped there were just twelve, but the sounds mingled together, forming a thunderous rumble. I thought I would be safe in the street, a car had to be coming, but it was dark, not a car in sight, not even the sound of one approaching.

The good and bad about the Midwest was the abundance of farmhouses spread so far about by acres of fertile land. A porch light about a mile away breached the darkness and I ran toward it hoping that someone was home. I’m not sure how they would respond to a bruised naked woman at their door but I needed to try. Just a couple of feet from the home, I was about to stop and change back to human form when a body crashed into me and fangs sank into my side. I howled as another claw slashed my side and another swiped across my face. Blood dampened my face and blurred my vision; I tried to stand but my hind leg went limp under me.

Teeth gripped my leg and dragged me back slowly into the woods. I opened my eyes: two wolves were at my side, I guess Anderson was the one pulling me back to the blockhouse. I snapped at one of the wolves, taking a chunk out of his leg. He growled in pain and bit me, and more pain seared through me. My head grazed over the ground as Anderson roughly pulled me toward the house. Blood blurred my vision but I heard that familiar growl—Ethan.

The sound of crunching bones filled the air. I could only see shadows, but they moved around me. The pain was starting to feel unbearable and I had to keep fighting to remain conscious. I closed my eyes for a second, needing to rest. “Skylar.” The voice was familiar but I couldn’t place it. He said my name again, and when the person attempted to move me, I groaned, batting with my hand to try and protect myself from more pain. “Skylar, It’s me Sam.” I tried to open my eyes, but blood distorted my vision. “I need you to move, there’s a lot of fighting going on and you’re going to get hurt.”

I rolled over to my stomach, the pain from the slashes on my stomach and back aching, and when I pushed up to my legs, I collapsed.

Samuel grunted as he lifted me and pulled me over to the side. I smelled blood and heard bones crunching. The chilling sound of a high-pitched wail was cut short and the shadow of something moved past me. I tried to make it out—it looked like part of an animal’s body.

There was a large crash, and pellets of stone hit me. Josh’s magic was strong and it overtook the air, bursts of it, and when large chunks of debris rained over me I dragged myself farther away from the house using my front legs. I was starting to get light-headed from the loss of blood. More debris splattered around, and when I tried to move again, the world started to swim around me and darkness hit.

“
S
kylar
.” Steven’s voice was gentle against my ear. I attempted to open my eyes, but they were swollen shut; and I was still in animal form. I craned my neck to look around. I was in the infirmary but my body ached just as much as it had before. Steven gently stroked the fur running along my back. “You’ve been out for a while.”

I growled a response and tried to change but everything hurt and even holding my head up was a struggle. How much blood had I lost? How long was I out?

Firm light hands ran along my side, a feather touch, I could barely feel it. “Skylar, sweetie,” said Sebastian. That had to be bad. Sebastian didn’t use maudlin terms of endearment.
Sweetie
,
honey
,
sugar
,
baby
, those weren’t words I had ever heard him use. The panic came on fast. I tried to move my legs, and they moved—I think. Then I tried to turn and bile crept up my throat as I tried to ignore the pain. How badly was I injured?

“Skylar.” Sebastian’s voice was soft and kind and guided me into a gentle reverie. “Lay here and take gentle breaths, okay? We need to change her back into human form.”

“I tried, she’s stuck,” Steven offered.

“You have to be more dominant to force a change.” Sebastian’s tone was soft, but he was too calm, which only heightened my fear about my injuries. “It’s not an insult against you; I think we keep underestimating her dominance.”

Ethan was next to my ear, his voice so soft, I could barely hear it. “We are going to force a change. It will hurt and there really isn’t anything we can do right now to ease it, okay? I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t concentrate on his words, just everyone’s mood. How bad were the injuries that both Sebastian and Ethan had been reduced to this? What did I look like that my mere appearance left such a morose look on Winter’s face?