The Soul's Mark: Broken (11 page)

Amelia remembered asking Mitchell last week
why he had tracked and killed every hunter he could find. 
Because, they
were hunting me
, he had told her simply.  When she had questioned it, he
had said,
You don’t understand.  They were hunting only me.

And then she had made sure the hybrids were
made.  There was only supposed to be one.  Josh.  And he had been meant for
her.  Amelia could see it all.  She knew it was true, but it was hard to
accept.  She wasn’t about to say that she didn’t have problems with Mitchell
because she did.  What couple didn’t?  It was just that she couldn’t believe
that she had ever really hated him.  Even now, even with his retarded temper,
and everything that he had put her through, she didn’t hate him, and she
certainly did not want him dead.  But the thing was, she remembered it.  She
remembered the hatred.  It was hot, and suffocating.  It had taken her
over—consumed her.

Maybe it was guilt, because really, Amelia
felt as if she had in a sense cheated on Mitchell by creating a new mate for
herself, or maybe it was regret for trying to have him killed, but whatever it
was, the only thing she could think about was that if Mitchell was still alive,
he was alone with Tristan.  And if Tristan had lost his soul just like Luke and
Eric had… A chill rushed over her, prickling her skin as if a bunch of spiders
had been dropped down her back.  “I need to find Mitchell,” she said.

Amelia regretted saying it out loud
instantly.  Josh tensed beside her; Cole yelled at her, telling her she was
crazy.  Tyler shook his head and rolled his eyes at her in the rearview
mirror.  Even Megan objected to running out to find him.  Amelia could see
their point, although she wasn’t about to admit it.  Mitchell was old, he was
strong, and he had no humanity.  But the idea of a demented Tristan holding
Mitchell, torturing him…Amelia knew she had to do something.

As Tyler pulled up to a stop sign, Amelia
caught a movement, something slinking along the shadows.  Up ahead, there was a
group of teens standing underneath a streetlight outside a coffee shop.

Amelia strained her eyes through the tinted
windows, looking into the night.  It was dark, really dark.  The moon was
covered by thick clouds; the only light came from the few streetlights and the
headlights of the car.  She pressed her face against the window, and another
shadowy figure passed by them.

“Guys,” she said, just as Tyler started
forwards.  Her heart was racing, jumping into her throat.  “I think the hunting
has started.”  And as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she unlocked the
door, and before anyone could stop her, she jumped out of the moving car.  She
didn’t think, or maybe it was that she couldn’t think.  All she knew was that
she needed to stop whatever was about to happen.

Amelia hit the ground running.  Tires
squealed as Tyler slammed on the brakes.   Josh yelled her name, but she didn’t
stop.  The shadows were closing in around the teens quickly.

“Get inside,” Amelia hollered, as she ran
towards them.

The kids didn’t even look up.  A figure
emerged from the shadows; the blazing red eyes seemed brighter than Amelia was
used to, and for a moment that was all she could see.  She stopped running, not
even ten feet from the group, mesmerized.  The eyes sparkled like gems under a
light at a jewelry store, and they were breathtakingly beautiful.

“Hey, Erin,” one of the kids said, pulling
Amelia out of the trance.  Erin smiled meekly at him, keeping her lips closed,
concealing her fangs which Amelia was certain were fully extended.

“Don’t be afraid,” Erin lilted.  “Don’t
run.” When they didn’t move, her smile widened, showing off her fangs.  She looked
over her shoulder and called, “Lucy, dinner is served.”

The words confused Amelia until Lucy
stepped out into the light. 
No! No, no, no!
  Amelia’s subconscious
screamed. 
Not Lucy!
  She was just a child.  When she had shown up in
town a few months ago with a fresh mark, and asking far too many questions,
Erin had taken the girl under her wing.  She had run away from home, running
from the dreams, scared and confused at only fifteen.

“Thanks, Erin,” Lucy purred, and Amelia’s
heart raced as she caught a glint of fangs.  Lucy slowly turned, her nostrils
flared, and she locked onto Amelia.  “But I want that one,” she said, raising
her hand and pointing lazily at Amelia.

Erin spun and glanced at Amelia.  For a
second, her eyes began to fade, and Amelia was certain she saw recognition pass
across Erin’s face.  But then she blanched.  She reached out, grabbed Lucy, and
shoved the girl behind her and began backing away, her eyes focused somewhere
behind Amelia.  From the corner of her eye, Amelia caught sight of shimmery
energy.  Erin snarled, her eyes widened, and then she screamed, “Run!”  And in
a blink, they were gone.

Amelia pivoted on her heels, scanning the
street for any sign of them.  Nothing.  Megan rushed past her, shooting her a
flustered, and more than a little panicked, look before she ushered the shaken
kids into the coffee shop.  “Was Erin going to eat us?” one of them asked in
disbelief, as if it was crazy to think a vampire could do such a thing.

Amelia’s chest constricted.  “Josh, give me
your phone,” she demanded, as she turned to find him just behind her, his bow
in his grip.  He lowered it, dug in his pocket, and pulled out her shiny pink
iPhone.

****

The dungeon was cold and dark, and the air
tasted stale.  This had been the longest night of her life, and ending it
locked away in the creepiest place she could imagine only seemed to make it
worse.  The stone walls still had dirty brown stains, but at least all of the
torture devices had been destroyed and were no longer crudely displayed.

As soon as Erin had taken off, Amelia had
called Officer McLean.  With his help, they had been able to broadcast a
lock-down over the emergency radio and television station.  After that, Amelia
split up the town with McLean, each taking half, and they had spent the rest of
the night, going door to door, stressing that all residents were not to leave
their houses.  McLean had concocted an elaborate story about a massive chemical
spill, explaining that until it was cleaned up, everyone needed to stay off the
streets.

Amelia had sent Megan, Cole, Madame Crystal,
and Tyler back to the house with Eric and Luke.  For reasons she couldn’t
explain, and really didn’t want to explore, she asked Josh to stay with her. 
He readily agreed, telling her he wasn’t planning to leave her side anyway, and
it made her sick when she realized that she was just a tiny, little bit glad
that he was there.

Maybe it was because the townspeople were
so used to farfetched explanations, especially when a vampire was involved, but
no one questioned the lock-down.  In fact, no one even seemed surprised.  At
the first few houses, Amelia had assured the people that she would personally
bring supplies to them to last them through the crisis.  She was actually blown
over when she found that they all had emergency stashes, until McLean had
bluntly told her that this was not the first, and probably wouldn’t be the
last, lock-down for Willowberg.

The sun was high in the sky when Amelia and
Josh left the officers and headed to her house.  McLean had arranged to have
his officers patrol the streets, switching shifts every twelve hours, and
Josh—against Amelia’s better judgment—had loaded them up with charmed bullets
that would ignite on contact with a vampire’s flesh.  She hated it, but she
also knew she couldn’t let them run around with no means to protect themselves.

Now, Amelia was sitting on a hard, and
extremely uncomfortable, wooden bench in the cold dungeon, listening to Tyler
and Megan argue about how to fix the spell, but all Amelia could think about
was Erin.  Something just wasn’t right.  If Erin had no soul, no humanity, then
why had she changed Lucy?  It would have made more sense if Erin had killed her
or just bitten her.  That thought led Amelia to her next question, why was she
helping Lucy hunt?  And why had Erin looked at her with recognition?  It was as
if she remembered, or at least wanted to remember, their friendship.

Madame Crystal, although full of
information, hadn’t been able to shed any light on Erin’s strange actions, and
she also had no idea how to fix the bond.  “It’s not that easy, Megan,” she
said.  “It takes a lot of power to link souls, and I do not wield that kind of
magic.” She sighed, and a yawn escaped.  “We need the help of Mother Nature and
the spirits.  We have to ask for their help.”

“Well, ask them then,” Tyler snapped.  He
looked exhausted.  They all were, and Amelia knew that they were running on
fumes now.

“Amelia,” Josh said, his eyes searching
hers and filled with concern.  “You need to sleep.”

Amelia opened her mouth to object, but a
loud yawn fell out instead.  Josh reached for one of the sleeping bags and
pillows they had grabbed before locking the doors and spread it out on the cold,
hard floor for her.  The gesture caused Megan and Madame Crystal to do the same,
and moments later, they were curled up and sound asleep.  Tyler took a sleeping
bag and lay it down in front of the entrance to the hallway that led to Eric
and Luke.  He gave Cole a hard glare, clearly still holding onto a lot of pent
up anger, before he slid into the sleeping bag.

“I’m going to get more blankets,” Amelia
said, annoyed at herself and at everyone else.  Before anyone could stop her,
she headed off down one of the passageways trying to remember which room Mabel
had said she stored the extra supplies.

Amelia hadn’t noticed the footfalls behind
her, and she shrieked when Josh grabbed her arm. “Millie,” he said.  She
stopped but didn’t turn around, and he sighed in frustration.  “You’re not tied
to him anymore.”  He let go, and his warm finger ran along her neck.  “The
mark’s gone.  He’s not your problem.”

Amelia bit back a sob, and her shoulders
sagged.  She hadn’t wanted to look and see if the mark was still there.  She
wanted to pretend that this wasn’t happening, but his words stirred emptiness
in her, and a cavernous hole grew within her chest.  “I love him,” she said in
a small voice.

She felt the puff of his breath against her
neck, and his chest pressed firmly against her back.  “And I love you,” he
whispered.  “It’s our time now.  Forget about him.”

Something stirred in her chest.  It was not
butterflies.  Not like the ones that she felt when Mitchell said
I love you
;
it was more like a caterpillar trying to break free from its cocoon. But that
little flutter of
something
scared the crap out of her.

Amelia bristled, not wanting to explore the
tepid warmth that stirred in her stomach.  She spun around to face him, shoving
him away.  “You tried to kill me!” she yelled.

Red streaked up his neck and blazed in his
cheeks.  His eyes glowed yellow-green, and his skin rippled like disturbed
water.  And to Amelia’s surprise, this version of Josh was easier to deal
with.  It felt real, more real than the love struck boy he had tried to portray
just moments ago.  “I was following your orders!” he shouted in her face.

“My orders?” Amelia shouted back, and
laughed bitterly.  She narrowed her eyes at the absurd statement and put her
hands on her hips, drumming her fingers with annoyance.

“Yeah, your orders.”  He shook his head and
crossed his arms over his chest.  He took a few deep breaths, his eyes faded
back to gray, and his skin settled in place. “If you ever fell for that vamp,
we were supposed to execute you.  That’s what you wanted.”

Amelia felt hot, cold, and sick.  She
wanted to deny it.  The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t. 
So far, there had been a hidden memory to confirm all of his allegations, and
she was sure she didn’t want to see that one.

Josh raked a hand through his hair, and he
let a deep sigh escape.  “I’m sorry, Amelia.  I’m sorry for the way I treated
you.”  He paused a moment, searching her face for a reaction, Amelia assumed,
but she kept her eyes narrowed, and her hands on her hips.   “It was wrong
but…You made me for you.  We were supposed to be together.  I just thought …”
He clipped his words short, his eyes pleading with her to understand.

“You thought feeling me up and trying to
control me would make me want you?” she spat furiously.  Her jaw was starting
to hurt from her clenched teeth, but she couldn’t relax it.  What was it about
these supernatural jerks that made them think they could just do whatever they
wanted?  It was as if they didn’t see her as a person, just a piece of meat,
and it made her burn with fury.

“It worked for that bloodsucker,” Josh
said, contempt contorting his features.  He threw up his arms in exasperation. 
“I’ve been watching you for months now.  Watching him walk all over you and you
let him.”  His jaw flexed, and he glared at her for a moment before he shrugged
it off.  “I figured that was what you were into.”

The idea that he had been watching her sent
a chill racing over her skin, snuffing out her anger.  How had they not
noticed?  She tried to hide her unease, and said with a huff, “If this is you
trying to sweet talk me, it’s so not working,” and then she started down the
hallway.  He followed; she heard the patter of his footsteps smacking against
the stone floor, and she focused on trying to ignore him.  She veered left at a
fork in the hallway and ventured into the first open room she came to.  She
flicked on the light switch and thankfully found the blankets.