The Mark of Cain (33 page)

Tracker’s eyes were wide with horror. “That would be
the worst kind of torture.”

“Yes. A lot worse than anything
I
ever did to
anyone because at least their suffering had an end. If God can do that and have
it not be morally wrong, then nothing I’ve ever done could be considered wrong
either.”

Tracker gulped and said, “I can understand why you
would become angry.”

“More than that. I’ll admit that I lost my sanity on
that ocean floor. When I finally escaped, I loathed God. I wanted to do
anything I could to hurt Him. He had no mercy for me, so I would have none for
His children.

“At first I was something closer to an angry animal.
There were many years in which I did unspeakable things. But eventually I
regained some of my sanity and began resembling a human again. I was no longer
the demon in the dark preying on humans. Soon after that, I decided that I
would make God sorry by owning
His
world. That was when I created the
Mokolios. I’ll admit, I was never quite sane again. That ocean floor broke a
lot more than my bones…. Right now, I’m the sanest I’ve been since that
experience, which is probably why some of those things in my past are getting
to me.”

His demeanor suddenly brightened, the direct
opposite of Tracker’s fallen visage. “But I have a purpose again. You don’t
know how long I’ve felt lost. I’ve pretty much conquered the world and was in a
‘Now what?’ situation. But then Hara was delivered to me.”

“So killing her is your ‘purpose’?” Tracker asked,
angry again.

“Yes. She’s revitalized me. But I’m not just going
to kill her,” he said, aware that his eyes were probably shining with psychotic
passion. “Don’t you see, Tracker? Her death is the perfect act for my revenge
against God. He has given me nothing but misery, so I’ll take His ‘Chosen One’
and make her belong to
me
.”

Tracker scoffed. “And you say you’re
sane
now?”

“No. I said that I’m the sanest I’ve been since
becoming immortal. I never said that I wasn’t still crazy,” he said with a
smile. “Maybe if you guys had kept her hidden away, things would be different.
But, as I see it, of all the places I could be…and to find
her
. It’s
obviously her fate. You should have made her join the nunnery. I
never
would have found her there,” he added with a chuckle, which Tracker responded
to with a small one of his own despite their topic.

“She actually thought about doing exactly that at
one time, and she still pretty much planned to after finishing school. Everyone
encouraged her to do it, too. I didn’t know about the prophecy yet so I thought
they were all nuts. She’s too pretty to not pass on her genes.”

“And I bet you wanted her to do so with you?”

Tracker smiled, though this time it was sad. “I
still want that.”

“Why haven’t you ever told her how you feel?”

“And have her laugh at me?”

“She wouldn’t laugh. At least not once she realized
that you were serious.”

“Yeah. Then she’d just pity me,” he said, downcast.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes people don’t realize
their own feelings until they’re forced to search them.”

“But now she’s in love with you.”

Inac shrugged. “I made a move. If you don’t take big
risks, then you’ll never get big rewards.”

“But what would it matter now? I could never compete
with you.”

“You know what she likes about me?”

“Yeah. She talks about it all the time. She’s crazy
attracted to you ’cause you’re ‘so hot,’” he said, his voice dripping with
sarcasm.

Inac grinned. He couldn’t deny his good looks.
“Besides that.”

“Because you say and do all the right things?”

“Besides that.”

“Then no, why is she in love with you?” he asked,
his tone showing that he was annoyed as much as his face was screaming that.

“Because, before me, her life was hum-drum. It was
the same old every day. Since I’ve come into her life, she’s tried a lot of new
things. For the first time, she doesn’t feel like she’s sleepwalking through
life. I make her feel
alive
.”

“Ironic seeing as how you’ll also make her
dead
.”

Inac couldn’t help but heartily laugh at that. “Who
knew you were such a wit?” he said.

Tracker joined in until they were laughing at each
other over the fire. With anybody but Inac, this would be a bonding experience.
But Inac didn’t have “friends.”

Once the laughter had died to an occasional chuckle,
Inac said, “Well, we should probably get back to bed. The sun will be up soon
and we have a long day of hiking ahead of us.”

Tracker groaned before saying, “Can I just ask you
one more question?”

Shrugging, Inac said, “Sure. I’m in a hospitable
mood.”

“God. Who is He?”

“As in, which religion is correct?” Inac asked,
wanting to know whether or not that was the real question.

“Yeah.”

Inac thought for a moment before he answered, his
tone becoming formal, as though reciting it even though this was the first time
he’d ever said such words—maybe it was after-effects from the dream about his
life in the fifteenth century. “Just as I rule each country differently
according to their culture, so has God sent different prophets to say the
things that a certain culture would understand and believe. That’s why each
people has their own God and/or Goddess and prophets, whether it be Krishna or
Guru Nanak Dev, Buddha or Muhammad, Zeus or Tabaldak, Moses or Jesus Christ,
they all circle back to the one and only true God. Just as each weren’t given
the entirety of God’s true gospel, they were all given pieces. Men then filled
in the missing pieces on their own with what they
wanted
it to say to
validate their actions. That being said, they are all right, and they are all
wrong. But, despite the way they war with each other over who’s correct,
they’re warring under the name of the same god. That’s what always bothered me
about the Crusades, though I
did
fight against Christianity in the Third
Crusade in my life as Saladin, which was why they lost. The Christians, I mean,
obviously….”

“Was Jesus really God’s son?”

Inac shrugged. “That, I don’t know. I do know that
he was an incredible man. I’ve been lucky enough to meet most every prophet or
‘god’ who has ever lived, and they have all had a purpose for being here. And,
with the exception of the few members of the Egyptian royalty who just wanted
to proclaim themselves as gods so the people would listen to them, most have
all been men or women that I believed God would talk to. But remember, I
haven’t spoken to God since He cursed me, so I’m not the expert on Him that you
believe me to be.”

Tracker nodded a few times and, a few minutes later,
he said, “I’m glad we had this talk. Maybe you’re not so different after all.
You’re just a product of your situation. Anybody would go nuts after living
through the torture you’ve been through.”

Inac let his eyes become threatening, the full power
of his hate overtaking them. “If you ever tell
anyone
…. Let’s just say
that you’ll learn firsthand about the Old Manner….”

He wanted to scare Tracker, and that he did. The kid
looked like he was going to wet his pants. His breaths were even coming in
shallow gasps.

“I…I won’t.”

As quick as he’d let his expression darken, Inac
pulled the hate back out. Now, with eyes full of sunlight, he said, “Good.”

After Inac doused the fire, they walked toward the
tent, Tracker still seeming somewhat scared from his threat. Maybe he shouldn’t
have let his eyes be completely taken over by the menace he always felt but
usually kept in check. He’d just wanted the kid to know how serious he was.

Giving Tracker another smile, he said, “Night.”

Tracker nodded, pale as a ghost in the dark.

“Tracker, calm down. That will only happen if you
deserve it, so just make sure that you don’t,” he said, clapping him on the
shoulder. He couldn’t have this kid acting scared to death of him tomorrow or
Hara would pick up on it.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell a soul,” Tracker replied
with wide eyes.

With a large grin he said, “Good. Well, if you don’t
mind, I have a beauty over there who appears to be a little cold, so I’ll see
you in the A.M.”

He then slipped back into the bag, pulling a faintly
shivering Hara into his arms. He felt bad that he’d been sitting by a warm fire
while she’d been in here needing his body heat with the miniscule tank top and
girl’s boxers she was wearing.

After adjusting her tank top because she was almost
falling out of it, he lightly kissed the crown of her head. He didn’t know what
was with him tonight. First with the dream, then with telling Tracker all that
personal stuff he’d never before told another person. And now he was making
sure that he didn’t take advantage of the situation where he could have seen
one of her breasts, as well as kissing her when she wasn’t awake for it to give
him brownie points and make him look all sweet and perfect? He didn’t need to
act
when she was in dreamland….

He
really
needed to corrupt her soon before
she ended up corrupting
him
with her perfection.

***

Hara slowly began to wake, finding herself on her
side. Even before she could open her eyes, she felt Inac’s warm arms around
her, as well as one hand lightly playing with the loose hair at her back. She
didn’t need to open her eyes to know that they were facing each other.

“Mmm…that feels nice,” she said with a faint smile
and her eyes still closed.

“I can give you a scalp massage if you’d like?” He
didn’t wait for her to reply before she felt the tips of his fingers moving
around in small, sensual swirls along her scalp.

It felt so incredible that she couldn’t keep from
faintly moaning. She could wake up to this every day for the rest of her life.

She finally opened her eyes when he took his fingers
away. When she did, she found him smiling at her while gazing intently into her
eyes.

“Morning,” she whispered.

“Morning,” he whispered back. The black double
sleeping bag was pulled down to their waists, and she could see why. It was
really hot inside the tent.

“Where’s your shirt?” she asked him, tentatively
putting a hand on his powerful chest.

“Oh…I must have left it outside.”

“When were you outside?”

“I needed some air a couple of hours ago.”

“Oh. I didn’t even feel you leave.”

“Yeah well, you didn’t even feel when I came to bed
either.”

She giggled. “I guess not. I sleep through
everything. They used to joke at the orphanage that if there was ever a fire,
I’d die because I wouldn’t hear the alarm.”

“Isn’t that a little insensitive?” he asked, his
brows furrowed. “You know, since your family died in a fire?”

She cocked her head. “I guess I never really thought
about it. I mean, it’s not like I remember them or anything.”

He seemed thoughtful this morning. It was as he was
pondering who knew what and she was looking into his eyes that she noticed
again how light they were.

“Inac?”

“Hmm?”

“What color are your eyes?”

“Black. Why? Can’t you see that?” he said with a
teasing grin.

“Do they get lighter when the light hits them?”

He threw her a look that clearly said that he
thought that her brain didn’t work in the morning before he said, “No. Why?”

“Because they keep getting lighter. A couple weeks
ago they were a really dark gray, but now they’re not anymore.”

“What color are they now?”

“Kind of like a medium gray.”

“Hara, love, I think you need your eyes checked.”

She felt her stomach leap. He’d called her “love.”
What did that mean? He hadn’t ever called her that before. Did that mean that
he was in love with her, or had he called his wives that, too?

Trying not to let him realize where her thoughts
were going, she lightly began to tickle his bare chest with her long round
nails. In response, Inac closed his eyes and grinned as he moved to his back.

She moved her fingers around the tattoo that covered
the entire right side of his torso as well as his right arm and the right side
of his back. Now that she was actually concentrating on it versus just
registering it while paying attention to Inac’s mouth and body, she saw how
much of the tribal design consisted of large, black circular lines so more skin
was unmarked than was marked. Some places where the line curved, angular ones
would jut out of it, resembling the spikes on a dragon. Then, in other places,
they swirled until they almost looked like wind blowing across his skin. She
actually thought it was quite sexy for some reason. Probably because, in her
eyes, it made him more masculine, as well as rebellious.