The Soul's Mark: Broken (5 page)

Amelia tried again.  She could feel the
magic coursing through her veins.  She pushed on it, expelling it from her
body, and just like before, it vanished as soon as it hit the air.

Confusion hit her first, and then pain. 
Her breath was coming hard and fast, and a scream ripped from her throat.  And
then she smelled it.  Cotton candy, honey suckle, and gumdrops.  Before she
could try to fight it, her breathing regulated, her pain melted away, and her
thoughts fogged together.

“Amelia.” Josh’s voice made her skin
sizzle.  “I don’t want to have to force you to accept this, but I will if you
make me.”

Amelia sighed, inhaling the sweet scent. 
She smiled at him.  His yellow-green eyes shone brightly, and she giggled. 
“Can you keep your skin on?” she asked, and then she giggled again.

“Sure, sweetheart.  Whatever you want,” he
said.  He bent down and pressed his lips to her forehead, and then he murmured,
“Now stay still. I’m going to try to mend your bones.”

Erin tiptoed down the grand staircase,
hugging the wall closely.  She stretched her senses, listened for any movement
close by, and held her breath until she picked up the voices of her family. 
She picked out each one, and by the sound of it, they were still all gathered
in the kitchen planning out the rescue mission with Madame Crystal.  But now,
Erin was positive it was too late.  She was certain Amelia was already dead.

She had snuck away from the meeting when
the first squeeze around her heart had come.  Her family hadn’t noticed her
leave the room, and they hadn’t noticed when the pull around her chest made her
crash to the floor on her way out of the kitchen.  Their focus was on the
psychic, and their thoughts on Amelia and Megan.

During the past several months, Erin had
spent hours upon hours studying the journals with Amelia, helping her hone in
on her powers.  And right now, the knowledge that she had picked up was
resurfacing and filling her with heartbreak.  She knew that there were only a
few ways to break a spell.  The first and easiest way was for the witch that
cast it to lift it.  Other than that, there were only two other ways.  One was
for another witch to break it using the same magic that cast it, and the other
was for the original witch to die the final death.  The last option was the one
Erin feared the most.  The one where Amelia was dead and never coming back.

Erin wanted to believe that Amelia wasn’t
dead, but it was the only thing that made sense.  She was from the first
coven.  It would be next to impossible for another witch to tap into that kind
of power and break the spell that Amelia had cast to change her bond with
Tristan. And that spell was definitely broken.  She could feel him, hear him … Tristan
was a part of her again.

Come to me, Erin.
Tristan’s voice filled her thoughts, and the chain around her heart
pulled tighter, urging her forwards. 
I know you can hear me,
his
teasing voice called again, and she threw caution to the wind, running out the
door at full speed.

Tristan, where are you?
Erin asked as she ran.  She had never thought she would see him
again, and honestly, it scared the hell out of her, but dammit, it also made
her stomach flutter and her heart race.

Follow the pull, honey,
he answered, his voice doing things to her that she never thought
were possible, and just like that, Erin ran faster.

It was energizing.  Feeling him again;
feeling whole.  She ran faster than she ever had before.  The wind cut through
her tank top and beat against her bare legs.  Her pigtails flapped against her
cheeks as the pull at her heart urged her forwards.  Somewhere in the back of
her mind, Erin knew she should turn back.  She was pretty sure Tristan would
kill her, but the pull wouldn’t let her stop.

Erin let the feeling wash over her.  It
pushed against her conscious until the only sound that she could hear was
Tristan’s voice.  She skidded around a corner, coming to a stop in front of her
old house, and her breath caught in her throat.

Tristan stood in the doorway, the rising
sun washing him in gold.  She had forgotten how gorgeous he was.  His hair was
longer and more tousled than she had remembered, and the black stubble on his
chin gave him more of a rugged look.  His black on black look still screamed
mysterious bad boy.

Her jaw dropped; she felt it, and she
couldn’t seem to get it to close.  Tristan chuckled, a deep rumble, and in a
blink, he was standing in front of her.  His warm breath puffed against her
face, and her knees went weak.  He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled
her close, holding her against his lean body.  “Vampirism suits you,” he
breathed, running a finger along her high cheekbone and down her neck, sending
tantalizing chills over her skin.

 “It’s really you,” she squeaked, lost in
his glorious black eyes.  “You came back.”  Her heart was in her throat,
thumping erratically, and all she could do was gawk at him.  Every place he
touched there was a spark, as if fireworks were igniting along her skin.

Tristan smiled down at her.  “Of course I
came back.”  He leaned into her and pressed his lips against hers.  Her lips
heated, her skin sizzled, and she kissed him back with urgency.  Time stopped
in that moment as his lips worked over hers.  In the back of her mind, she knew
this was wrong—dangerous even—but she didn’t care.  All she wanted in that very
moment was to lose herself within his arms, feel his body pressed against hers,
taste his lips …

Suddenly searing pain exploded in her legs,
and her knees buckled.  Erin’s eyes flew open, and she screamed.  Someone
grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her back, and the pain spread.  It was
blistering, as if she was burning alive.  The heat spread over every inch of
her body.  Tristan let go, and she fell to the ground, flailing about and
writhing in pain.

“Take her,” he said.  “Lock her up with the
other one.”

“Tristan,” Erin screamed.  “Tristan, make
it stop.”  Someone grabbed her and hauled her up to her feet.  Arms slipped
under her armpits and began to drag her away.  She had never felt a pain like
this.  Not even when she was human and Tristan was using the pain through the
soulmate bond to control her.  She expected to see flames burst up from her
skin at any second.

He grinned, and his eyes flashed red.  “You
haven’t gotten any smarter, I see.  Did you really think I’d just let you walk
back in after you betrayed me to that …” His lips curled into a sneer, and his
skin flushed as red as his eyes.  He looked above her, to the thing that was
dragging her.  “Get her out of my sight, and shut her up.”

Erin hadn’t thought it was possible, but
the pain became more intense.  It was as if someone was stabbing her with
hundreds of burning stakes all at once.  The screams ruptured from her lungs
like a broken dam, and then the pain took her over; everything grayed and then
faded to nothing.

“Could you hurry it up?” Amelia asked for
what must have been the millionth time.  Josh had been poking around for hours
now, and although he was keeping most of the pain at bay, it still hurt like
hell.  After a close examination of her injuries, Josh had confirmed that
Tristan had broken fifteen bones in her body, as well as fractured twice that
many.

Josh looked up from her leg and rolled his
sterling silver eyes.  He smirked and said, “We could just let you heal
naturally if you prefer.”

Amelia groaned, long and loud.  Josh had
been trying to keep the conversation light, and it was starting to drive her
crazy.  Every time she questioned him about Mitchell, he simply ignored her,
refusing to confirm or deny if he was dead, although the sinking feeling in her
stomach and the lack of a connection was confirmation enough.

For the first hour or so, all Amelia could
do was cry, but then she kind of figured she was allowed, given that she was
certain her soulmate was dead, and he was never coming back.  Vampires don’t
get second chances.

Once her tears had dried up, she realized
that she was in a brick room, chained to a hospital style bed.  The room had
probably been used as a cold storage room at one point in time.  There were no
windows and no furniture other than the bed, a white plastic lawn chair that
Josh sat in, and the large television screen that showed Megan, chained,
beaten, and unconscious.  In the center of the ceiling was a fixed light bulb
with a dirty looking string as a pull cord with no fixture.

After surveying her enclosed surroundings,
Amelia had managed to hyperventilate herself to the point of passing out.  She
had never been good with small spaces, and this was almost like being locked in
a closet.

When she finally came to, Josh was still
working at mending her bones, and he had given her what he called a ‘magical
valium’ to take the edge off and help her mind from thinking that the walls
were closing in on her.

Amelia gritted her teeth against the pain
as Josh pushed down on her leg, holding the bone in place, while he infused the
area with steamy power.  She could actually feel the bone piece together under
her skin, and it wasn’t pleasant.

“Why are you working with that monster?”
Amelia asked, her voice coming out as a growl.  She just couldn’t wrap her head
around the idea of vampire hunters working with a vampire, especially a
psychotic one like Tristan.  But what she really wanted to know was why.  What
was
he
getting out of this little alliance?

She hadn’t expected a response; it wasn’t
the first time she had asked the question, but this time Josh shocked her when
he grunted, “Common goal.”

That really hadn’t been the answer she had
wanted, and she laughed bitterly.  “Yeah, you both want to make sure my life is
ruined.”  Josh put more pressure on her leg, and Amelia let a whimper slip out
from the pain.  She bit her lip hard, trying to hold in a scream.

 “Tristan is helping us find a way to break
the bond,” he said hesitantly.  He cut her a look as if he was trying to figure
out if she was going to freak or not, and when she didn’t, he smiled.  “Not
just for you, but for everyone.  We’re going to break the curse.”

“Why are you letting him screw with your
mind?” Amelia spat.  He couldn’t really believe that, could he?  “Tristan
killed my family out of revenge.  Can’t you see how psychotic he is?”  Tears
bit at her eyes as the memory of her parents’ savage death surfaced.  She
blinked fast, fighting against the brutal images that crowded her mind and the
tears that tried to slip from her eyelids.

Josh’s skin rippled and red flushed to his
cheeks.  “Don’t try and put this on him,” he snarled.  He took his hand off of
her leg and sat back in the chair.  Anger contorted his striking face, his
chiseled jaw twitched, and he yelled, “You created us!  You’re the one who
wanted the curse to end!  You chose this, Amelia, so stop trying to put it on
someone else.”

“Are you stupid?”  The words fell from her
mouth before she could stop them.  Created them?  As in created a bunch of
vampire hunters?  Maybe he was just as insane as Tristan.  She rolled her eyes
and laid the sarcasm on thick.  “I’m sorry, but I think I’d remember creating a
bunch of vampire hunters.”

“Dammit, why can’t you remember!”  Josh
stood up, knocking the chair over with a clatter.

What was Tristan doing to him?
Amelia couldn’t understand how he had such a hold on Josh.  She
knew this was probably not the best time to provoke him.   She was tied to a
bed.  She still had a few broken bones, and she had no magic, but she couldn’t
stop her snarky retort, figuring that if he was going to kill her, he would
have already.  “You’re delusional.”

Maybe she should have tried just a little
bit harder.  In a flash, he was leaning over her; a skull with florescent eyes
took the place of his normally tanned skin, sexy jaw, and amazing sterling
silver eyes.  “I can see what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice deep and
gravelly.  “It is a curse.  At one point, you knew that.  You believed it.” 
Boney fingers encased her shoulders, and he shook her forcefully.  “Wake up,
Amelia.  Mitchell is manipulating you.  He’s the monster, not me.”

“Josh, you have no skin,” Amelia whispered,
in a scared and small voice.  She tried not to shudder, but she couldn’t stop
it.  It raced through her body and with it, goose bumps formed on her skin.

Almost instantaneously, his skin
materialized, and he released her.  Disgust etched onto his face, and he
breathed, “Sorry,” before turning his back to her.

She watched his shoulders rise and fall
with deep, regulated breaths as he tried to get himself together.  When she
noticed that his balled hands had relaxed and the color had returned to his
knuckles, she said, “They are not monsters.  Eric … Angelle … Erin … they’re my
friends, my family.”

“Funny how you didn’t mention
him
in
your little list.”  Josh walked over to the chair and sat it upright, and slid
into it.  “He’s not really your soulmate.  This is all a spell, an illusion. 
But even if he was, would it matter?  You loathe him.  I can see it in your
eyes.”