The Soul's Mark: HUNTED (21 page)

A nervous laugh fell from her lips.  “Did you miss the whole burning building thing?  The only way out for you is in handcuffs.  Just let her go.”  Amelia heard it; that slight tremor in her voice at the end of her words, and she held her breath, hoping that they wouldn’t notice.  She crossed her arms over her chest, praying that it would make her look uncaring and tough, and kept her eyes locked on Cole.

Fiona must have noticed her trip up, because right then she shouted, “Look at me, Amelia!  Look!  They’ve poisoned me.  I know you can see it.  Just leave.  Keep him safe and leave!”

Amelia tried to block the ring of truth she heard in Fiona’s words from her mind, but she couldn’t.  It was as if someone else was controlling her movements, because Amelia couldn’t stop herself from glancing at Fiona.  Their eyes fixed on each other, and in that instant, Amelia caught a glimpse of the scared girl that Fiona usually kept hidden under her protective guise of
bitchy badass vampire
.

“Mitchell!  Mitchell, no!” Megan screamed, the sound quickly snapping Amelia out of her trance.  Megan’s panicked voice filled her with dread.  Amelia spun in the direction of the screams and held her breath, praying that it was just her imagination.  She focused in on Mitchell, just as he threw himself into the blazing inferno.

He’ll never make it,
a scared little voice in the back of her mind cried, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.  A tortured scream pierced her ears, and it wasn’t until her throat burned that she realized that agonizing sound was coming from her own body.

All of a sudden, Mitchell burst through the fog with a cry that Amelia could only describe as a savage warrior kind of sound.  For a brief moment, his crimson eyes scanned her over, and she couldn’t stop the sob of relief that came from somewhere deep within her.  The hum of the bond swarmed into her mind as his thoughts raced through her brain.  She saw him take a quick inventory of the threats, and then he lunged at one of the men holding a flamethrower.  There was a sickening skin tearing sound of meaty flesh ripping from bone as Mitchell ripped out the man’s throat with one swift bite and then tossed him aside.  He grabbed Fiona, yanking her up to her feet, just as the other man let loose on the trigger and shot a long burst of fire at him.  It all happened before Amelia had even managed to get to her feet.

“No!” Amelia cried, as the flames shot out at Mitchell, and without a single thought for her own safety, she ran forwards.  Fiona screamed in agony, and the fire quickly spread over her body.  A strong arm wrapped around Amelia’s waist, and with a yank, she was whipped backwards.  She thrust her elbow back, connecting with her capturer in the ribs and then again and again, until he let go with a grunt of pain.

Amelia snapped her gaze back to Mitchell.  Hot relief washed over her when her eyes found him.  But then she saw the warped rage that lined his face.  Amelia felt hot and cold and sick all at once.  She followed his horrified eyes to a pile of ash that lay at his feet. 
Fiona.
  Her mouth was suddenly dry and her hands, clammy.  Another body was slumped in an unnatural position close by.  
How is he still alive?
a small voice questioned, and Amelia let her eyes search him over.  He was completely unharmed.  His clothes were intact, with not even a smudged mark of soot.

Amelia didn’t get a chance to digest it all.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cole inch back.  His eyes widened, and that smug look that he had been brandishing was replaced by what she was sure was fear.  “You’ll regret doing that,” he said.  There was a clear quiver to his voice, and he tried to cover it with what she thought of as an evil, mad scientist kind of laugh.

“Cole?” Megan’s voice broke through the fog layer that encircled them.  A golden glow radiated from her as she stepped through the mist and into the circle.  The energy shot from her in ribbons and to Amelia’s utter disbelief it seemed to lace around Mitchell.

She had been protecting him,
Amelia realized, before she really grasped what Megan had just said.

“Hey, Megs,” Cole replied with a twisted smile.

Amelia’s body temperature dropped.  “You know each other?” she blurted.

Just as the words spewed out of her mouth, several bolts of white lightning flew through the air.  Mitchell moved in a distorted blur towards Amelia and pulled her out of the way of the attack.

Cole deflected the first round of missiles expertly, but he wasn’t fast enough for the last three that Megan flung at him, and he crashed to the ground; a steaming hole, the size of a baseball, was visible in the center of his shirt.

Cole vaulted back up to his feet and barked, “You’re fighting for the wrong side.”

“I don’t think so,” Megan said in an alarmingly calm voice that sent a chill up Amelia’s neck, and it rolled outwards along her shoulders.  In an undoubtedly practiced motion, she flicked her wrist and flung another intense discharge of magic at Cole.

He jumped out of the way just in time to miss the blast that whizzed by his ear, singeing his hair.  “It’s in the prophecy, Megs,” Cole said with a tone that made it clear they knew each other better than Amelia wanted to believe, and his face softened.  He waved a hand around at the scene that surrounded them.  “This is what we’ve been training you for.”

Stunned silent didn’t seem strong enough to explain how Amelia felt, and clearly, she wasn’t alone.  Mitchell narrowed his eyes in concentration as he tried to figure out the missing piece that would make what was happening in front of them make even an ounce of sense.  She knew Mitchell was trying to keep a close eye on the other two hunters who had moved in towards Cole, with brows raised pointed in his direction.  His brain was moving in slow motion, and he tried to formulate a plan to get them out and kill the other three that were still standing.  But his thoughts seemed to have a gaping hole as he shifted his gaze between Megan and Cole.

Megan snorted.  “Have you completely lost your mind?”  She formed another ball of light in her hand, ready to throw it at Cole.

It was the sizzling snap of the energy that jerked Amelia out of her stupor, and she stepped beside her cousin, her own gleaming sphere growing in her palm.  Mitchell moved with her, resting one hand on her shoulder.  She was about to shrug it off.  She didn’t need a distraction, not now, but just as she was about to push the pestering hand away, a jolt of energy, like a live electric current, surged through her.  She risked a glance over her shoulder and gasped.  Mitchell was flickering as if a lustrous red cape of light had been wrapped around him, and in his free hand, his own blazing orb of energy shone brightly.  She could see the strands of power seeping from her skin where he touched her and snaking along his arm, wrapping around his torso.

He was using her magic, siphoning her energy
, Amelia realized with a start.  But there was something else.  Something was brewing inside her.  It was as if they were combined, their auras, their life sources, their beings; everything was united on a whole new and intense level.  His energy was hers and hers was his.  She had never felt so powerful, so alive.

Cole made a sound somewhere in between a screech and a wheeze, and his jaw dropped, plainly stunned.  He stammered over his next words while he shifted his fear stricken gaze between the three of them.  “The strongest coven will be marked for the oldest vampire house, and with their alliance, the hunters will fulfill their destiny.”

Amelia laughed and opened her mouth to tell him how absolutely retarded that sounded, when someone shouted.  “I can hear them.  Over here.”  She glanced in the direction of the new voice and could just make out four figures moving through the smoky haze, just outside the bubble of air that was keeping the fire at bay.

“You girls will join us whether you want to or not,” Cole said, inching backwards; what was left of his entourage hurried to their fallen comrades, gripped them under the arms and then followed Cole, dragging the bodies with them.  As he moved, the shield of foggy mist moved with him, surrounding him and his companions like a blanket.  Within seconds they had disappeared, fading into the smoke.

Mitchell went to follow them but, without the protection of the mist, the flames grew around them, jumping up as if a bottle of liquor had been dumped on them, giving them new life.  Megan engaged her own magic, coating them all in a glowing sticky film, and Amelia made a mental note to learn how the spell worked.

Just then, the rescue team stumbled upon them, and Amelia was yanked from Mitchell’s grasp and dragged through the building.

The first face Amelia saw when she made it outside was a paper white Officer McLean.  “Amelia,” he said with wide eyes.  And then a visible tremor shook through his body as his gaze fixed behind her.  He rushed forwards, bypassing her entirely, and went directly to Mitchell and said in a frantic whisper, “Get out of here before someone sees you guys.”

Mitchell put up a hand and Officer McLean clamped his mouth shut.  “Did you catch them?”

Officer McLean looked dumbfounded, and he stuttered, “Catch who?”

“Dammit, McLean,” Mitchell seethed, balling his hands into white knuckled fists.  “This was a damn trap.  They were in there.  How the hell did you let them sneak out?”

Officer McLean vaulted back from Mitchell.  “Who was in there?” he questioned in a small and jittery voice.  He caught himself quickly, tried to straighten his shoulders, and fixed his face in what looked like an attempt at the
I’m the boss
glare, but, in Amelia’s opinion, it looked more like a terrified man who knew he had seriously screwed up.

It wouldn’t have taken a brain surgeon to see that Mitchell’s temper was in danger of blowing, so Amelia promptly stepped in between them.  “The hunters were here.  The fire was a trap,” she said, forcing herself not to burst in frustration.

Eric pulled up in Amelia’s Jeep, stuck his head out the window and said, “Get in before the media sees you guys.  We need to get out of here.”

Megan was the first to jump, and within seconds, she was in the car and was practically sitting on Eric’s lap in the driver’s seat, hugging him fiercely.  Before Amelia moved, she asked, “Was anyone hurt?”

“No, Ma’am,” Officer McLean replied, his tense stance slacking a little, and he puffed out a pent-up breath.  “Everyone is accounted for and fine.”

Amelia nodded, and with nothing else to say, she seized Mitchell’s hand and towed him to the car.  Luckily for her, he didn’t protest, but he kept his torrid eyes locked on a blanching and trembling Officer McLean until the Jeep pulled out of sight.

CHAPTER 22

“How the hell do you know the hunter, Megan?” Amelia shouted.  She was so mad that she couldn’t stay still, and she paced furiously across the slick hardwood of the main floor living room.

Mitchell sat in a wingback chair in front of the unlit fireplace not saying a word, and that did not help Amelia’s mood one bit.  He was giving her a look that plainly said he did not approve of her outburst.

Amelia gritted her teeth and glared at Mitchell. 
What the hell was wrong with him?
  The argument had been going on for just over an hour now and he hadn’t said one word.  Talk about infuriating.  When she wanted him to butt out he always had tons to say, but now when she actually needed him to speak up and help her, he sat there silent, only shooting her the odd glare masked with disappointment.

Amelia was close to snapping at him when Megan said, exasperated, “I already told you.  We grew up together.  Cole taught me about my magic.  We’ve been friends since sixth grade, and I didn’t know he was a vampire hunter.  His dad taught me about witches.”

“You’ll have to do better than that, honey,” Lola said snidely.  “Fiona is dead, another one of our kind, and you know the people who killed her.”

Lola’s words hung in the air, silencing everyone.  The atmosphere quickly turned somber.  For the second time since Fiona’s death, Amelia felt sick, and by the expressions on her friends’ faces, she wasn’t the only one.

At first, Amelia had been shaken that no one had seemed upset when she had told them that Fiona wasn’t coming back.  Fiona may not have been everyone’s favorite, but she had been a part of their lives for over one hundred years.  Amelia had thought that maybe all of the recent deaths were just making them immune to the horror.  But now, she couldn’t ignore the flickers of pain and glazy eyes of her friends.  It was then that she realized that mostly likely no one wanted to talk about it, because talking about it just made it all the more real.

Amelia focused on Mitchell.  If the rest were hurting, she was sure he was crumbling inside.  His stoic look gave off an air of unfeeling, and if it wasn’t for the bond, Amelia would have thought he truly didn’t care.  As it was though, he was suffering more than any of them.  He couldn’t mask the pain.  At least not from her.  To Amelia, it felt like a hot needle was jabbing into his heart over and over.  And even worse than that, was the burning guilt he was feeling.  Guilt for surviving the flames when Fiona did not.

“You led them right to us,” Eric whispered, breaking the silence.  He had his back turned and forehead pressed against the wall.  “My friends are dead.  Mabel is dead because of you.”  He hadn’t made eye contact with any of them since he had found out that Megan knew the hunters.

Megan flushed and pulled her knees to her chest, rocking herself weakly back and forth, the leather couch cushions squeaking with the movement.  “I didn’t know!” she cried.

Mitchell had gone back to staring blankly at the ceiling, looking as if he wasn’t even listening.  Amelia couldn’t take it anymore.  She needed to know what was going on in his brain.  She launched into his mind without a second thought, and what she found made her temper go from warm to white-hot.

You’re reciting the alphabet!
Amelia shouted through the bond, wrathfully.  He shot her another look that clearly said to stay out of his thoughts and went back to his ABC’s.