Hunted: A Vampire Romance (Marked by Night Book 3)

by Sara Thorn

  As we walked through the rest of the land toward home, I didn’t stop once. I didn’t stop to rest, or find food, or open my mouth to catch the rainwater when it fell. I simply walked at my fastest pace and ignored the throbbing in my feet as I thought about Cassius.

  Thanks to the ritual, the land around us had ceased, and Mystreuce was once again graced with wellness. I was glad that it had worked at least, but it still wasn’t worth the disappearance of Cassius. I needed to find him. In all my anger and worry, I hadn’t even noticed the strange feeling that covered the left side of my chest. It wasn’t until it started to get dark again that I saw the glow emanating up below my chin. When I looked down, there was a steady yellowish light coming from beneath my shirt. I didn’t slow my pace; I simply lifted my shirt away from my chest as I walked to peer down into it and see what was causing the strange brightness. When I saw a round, metallic-looking disc above my left breast, I reached into my shirt to grab it. But when I pulled the smooth medallion, it wouldn’t come off. It was so affixed to my skin that it almost felt as though it was a part of my body. The glowing light seemed to shine off each part of its surface as if it were self-illuminated like some of those solar-powered lights they had back on Earth. I panicked for a moment about having this new body modification, but then quickly dismissed it since there were more important matters to deal with.

  “I have one, too,” Quinn said from behind me as he noticed me pulling at my shirt. “Except mine is on my head.”

  I turned my head while still walking in order to see what he was talking about. He reached his hand up to the top of his head and tapped on the nub of a small horn that protruded from the side of his skull. He didn’t seem particularly fond nor particularly bothered by the new appendages growing from his head. I faced back toward the path ahead as I called over my shoulder to talk with him.

  “What are they?” I asked.

  “Don’t know,” Quinn said. He jogged up to walk beside me so that he could talk to me better.

  “Sylva says all four of us got them, each different. It must be some sort of result from the ritual.”

  “Quinn,” I said as I noticed the castle finally come into view on the hillside. “As soon as you are rested, I want you to go search for them. Turn into a raven and scour the entire land if you have to. Find out where Lithius took Bree and Cassius. Please.” I added on the last word because I realized that as angry as I was at everyone and everything, it was really fear that was at the root of it.

  “Of course,” he said. “That was what I was planning to do even before you asked.”

  As soon as we got back to the castle, I sent Sylva and Norr away. I needed time alone. Quinn took only a few moments to refresh himself and rest, and then he shapeshifted right up into wings that took to the sky. He must have been exhausted, but he did it anyway. I wondered if he was so adamantly on a mission to find them because he wanted to find Bree or if his deepest motivation was because he wanted to find Cassius for me.

  Even though he and Cassius were still not the best of buddies, I thought Quinn knew I would be broken until Cassius returned. Any time Quinn feared that I would be broken by something, he always sought to rectify it, even if it hurt him in the process. That was one of the things I loved about him the most—his utter devotion.

  When I was alone in the castle, I went to the armory. I had no idea why that was the first place that I thought to go, but for some reason, it called to me from deep down inside of me somewhere. I walked inside and saw all of the shining metal and brutish looking weapons, and a different feeling took over me—one that I hadn’t felt before. I wanted to be stronger, much stronger, not just on the inside but on the outside, too. I looked around the room, and my eyes rested on a medium-sized hatchet hanging on the side of the wall. I took it down and swung it around in a clumsy circular movement in my hand. Then I ran my finger over the blade, barely putting enough pressure on the metal to even feel it. Still, it sliced a clean cut into my skin. It was sharp enough to slice through bone with ease. I clenched the handle of the ax in my hand and went out to the courtyard to train.

  Training by myself was not nearly as easy as it was to train with Cassius. When we worked together, he would show me exactly what to do and how to most successfully execute each technique. He would guide my moves, correct them if they needed adjusting, and then would match me in a way that tested my strength and limitations. It was much harder to train myself to do something I had never done without his help. But I did it anyway. I set up wooden targets, practiced throwing, turning, and striking with the ax. I even practiced balancing it in the most obscure ways until I was so comfortable handling it that the weapon began to feel like an extension of my own arm.

  During the process, I managed to cut myself several times. Some of the cuts were deep and probably should have required stitches if I had cared to stop and deal with it. Others were not as bad. I almost took a finger off at least once but thankfully managed to avoid losing any digits. Not only did I train with the ax, but I trained my body as well.

  The powers that linked me to Mystreuce felt stronger now, and I could almost feel the land echoing the powerful, nervous energy that I had thrumming inside my veins. Sometimes I would train outside of the castle in the forest as well. I wanted to be able to navigate all of my surroundings and be surprised by things that I might not expect to encounter, as the sudden sound of something behind me or the way fighting in the rain felt different. I was even able to use the help of Mystreuce to forge weapons and help strengthen my fighting skills as I formed the vines and branches into tools to work against an adversary, and the land seemed to bend to my touch.

  Every day, Quinn went out in further search for Cassius and Mara, spending countless hours scouring the entirety of Mystreuce for them. Every time he left, I pushed my body to become stronger, more agile, and more capable of taking down an adversary. It kept my mind busy until Quinn returned at the end of each night.

  I hadn’t even seen Quinn come into the courtyard while I was training. He must have been sitting on the steps at the side of the open area for a while. When I noticed him there, I stopped and walked over to talk with him. He handed me some water, and I sat down on the steps beside him.

  “Any news?” I asked, already knowing from the same disappointed look on his face that he had found nothing again.

  “No,” he answered. “There is no sign of Bree or Cassius anywhere.”

  “I don’t understand it,” I said. “Where could Lithius have taken them? Surely, they must be here somewhere. You don’t think it’s possible he took them out of Mystreuce, do you?”

  “I don’t know,” Quinn said as he shook his head. “I think anything is probably possible, but I don’t know why Lithius would want to remove them.”

  I looked ahead of me into the open courtyard with a blank and uneasy stare. If we couldn’t even locate them, then there was nothing we could do to get them back.

  “You’re turning into quite the warrior maiden,” Quinn said as he motioned toward the ax in my hand and the various weapons that were hanging at my waist thanks to a holster that I had fashioned out of pliable, young vines in the forest. “I barely recognize you.”

  “I’m the same person I’ve always been,” I said.

  “No,” he said, “you’re not. Even looking at you shows me that you’ve been changing. I can see the definition of muscles on your arms, your hair is tied up in wild, unbrushed knots, and either those are dark circles under your eyes, or you’ve somehow managed to get some of that flimsy human makeup from Earth and done a very poor job of applying it. You’re not the same, Mara; you’re much more fierce-looking now.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” I asked.

  “No, not at all.” Quinn hesitated as if he reluctantly weighed whether or not to continue with what he wanted to say. “In fact, it makes me realize something when I see you like this, alone in your quest to discover your strength and fight for the ones you love. I know I have let you go so w
e can all move forward, and I do have feelings for Bree. But I can’t help but think, as I sit here, watching you train and seeing who you’ve become, I will never be able to truly stop loving you.”

  I didn’t know how to feel about Quinn’s words. I didn’t know how to feel about anything right now other than I only wanted to feel strong and impenetrable.

  “I know,” I said quietly. “I think that is something we both will be plagued by for the rest of our lives.”

  “Does that mean that you love me, too?” he asked carefully.

  “Quinn, please don’t ask me that,” I said. I couldn’t get into this whole thing again right now. I just wanted to get up and fight more.

  He nodded and got quiet for a minute or two. “Do you remember when you were a slave?” he asked after a bit. “Remember those first few nights that you were in Cassius cavern, and you were so scared and angry and defiant?” He laughed out loud when he thought back to those memories. “You really gave him a run for his money at first,” he chuckled.

  I thought about those first few weeks after I was brought to Mystreuce with absolutely no idea what was happening or what was to become of me. Certain memories stood out more than others.

  “What I remember,” I said, “were the conversations you and I used to have when I would sneak into the fae quarters to sit and talk with you. You kept me sane and made me feel safe.”

  Quinn smiled, and as we sat there on the steps, I finally let myself realize how tired I was as I rested my head against his shoulder.

  “Perhaps that is a love that you and I will never lose,” I whispered.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What are we doing here?” I asked Bree while we sat together in a locked cell of a dungeon.

  I had no idea where we were. The last thing I remembered was opening my eyes and seeing Mara’s frightened stare look back at me for less than a second. Then Bree and I were suddenly here, wherever here is.

  “Stop itching it,” Bree said as I rubbed the side of my wrist where I had used my fangs to draw blood.

  There was a strange tattoo there now, one that wrapped around my wrist and looked like a bracelet full of acorns and thorns. All the dried blood had been wiped off, and the puncture wounds had sealed. The only thing that was left there now was this tattoo.

  “How did I even get this?” I asked her. “And what in the world happened to your eyelids?”

  “You’re quite the charmer, Cassius, aren’t you?” Bree said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes at me, which made her eyelids' brilliant colors even more pronounced. “I don’t know what happened, but I’m assuming that these marks we have are a result of the incantation.”

  “As in, they are the magical cost that was paid?”

  “Yes.”

  I was fine with that. If a tattoo and some colored eyelids were the only prices to pay for saving our world, then that seemed more than fair to me. It was the current incarceration that had me upset.

  “As far as why we are here,” Bree continued. “That is likely my fault.”

  “Why would it be your fault?”

  “Because Lithius is my father.”

  I stared at her with an open jaw. “The man, the one with the giant set of antlers on his head; that’s your father?” I asked in amazement.

  “Yeah,” she said as she looked down and shuffled her feet. Suddenly she seemed less like a powerful deity and more like a runaway teen. “He is the greater god, Lithius, and he presides over the living things on Mystreuce.”

  “Why did he put us in here?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure why you’re in here,” she said. “But I know why I am. Deities, especially lesser deities such as myself, are forbidden from meddling in worldly affairs. I did so anyway. I came to help try to fix the situation that was happening between you and Athan. When you found me in the woods and thought that I was just a stray fae, that wasn’t entirely the truth. I placed myself there intentionally for you to find. I wanted to help you take back your reign and fulfill your prophecy.”

  “Why?” I asked. I was genuinely curious as to why a deity would even care what we did on the surface of the world.

  “Because I have a conscience and a heart, and I didn’t like to watch the way people were being hurt. I hadn’t intended to stay for as long as I did. I had planned on getting back before the other deities even noticed what I had done. But I fell in love and couldn’t leave.”

  “Quinn,” I said as I looked at her empathetically, and she nodded.

  Now I felt bad for her. I knew all too well how far someone would go for love. It was impossible not to let it blind your judgment.

  “Now I’m in a lot of trouble with all of the other deities, including my father, for interfering in the worldly affairs of Mystreuce. I imagine that he will be the one to decide my punishment.”

  “What kind of punishment?” I asked.

  “No idea, but I’m sure that it will be spectacular.”

  “I still don’t understand what that has to do with me.”

  I wasn’t trying to be insensitive to her situation. Bree had done much to help us, for which I owed her everything, including saving Mara’s life. But I was just trying to figure out what role I was supposed to play in all of this.

  “I honestly have no idea why you’re here,” Bree said. “But, I’m sorry that I’ve brought you into the middle of this mess.”

  “No need to apologize,” I said as I smiled at her. “You have done more for me than I could ask of anyone. This is not your fault.”

  I paced around the room while I tried to think of what possible reasons a deity would have for bringing me here and what I could do to set us both free while waiting to see what fate would befall us.

  When Lithius arrived a few hours later to open the gate and come in to speak with us, I was taken aback by his size. I had only seen a few quick glimpses of him upon our arrival here, and since then, it had just been Bree and me locked in this quiet cell together. He definitely did look the part of a greater deity. Even his antlers were impressive, and I wondered how he was able to hold his head up straight with all of that weight on the crown of his skull. I guess his massively thick and muscular neck helped.

  “Let us out of here,” I growled as he came and sat down on the floor in front of us.

  Lithius was nearly as tall as I was in his seated position. I remained upright and walked over to stand in front of him so I could look in his divine eyes and figure out why the hell he had imprisoned me here. Bree came up to stand beside me. I got the feeling that she and her father didn’t have the most amicable relationship.

  “I’ve come to deliver your punishment, Bree,” he said as he ignored me and stared at her instead. “I wish that it hadn’t come to this and that you simply would have followed the rules.”

  “I cannot, in good conscience, follow rules that do more harm than good,” she said bravely. I could see her hands trembling at her sides and knew that standing up to her father wasn’t something that came easily for her.

  “The rules are in place for a reason, foolish daughter. Whether or not you agree with the reason matters not. You are a lesser deity, and this is precisely the reason why. Greater deities cannot be ruled by their emotions. We must be governed by logic and regulations that were created using logic.”

  “The fact that you think governing a living planet should be ruled without emotion proves just how illogical your logic is,” she shot back at him.

  I didn’t think I had ever been so impressed with Bree before. Not even the powerful feats of magic that she had done in the past matched this level of courage. I nodded at her with respect and appreciation for her effort to stand up for what was right.

  Lithius shook his head, which sent his giant and fuzz-covered antlers into a swinging motion. If he hadn’t seemed like such an ass, I would have paused to think about how beautiful the antlers were.

  “Your consequence is banishment,” he said. “You are now and forever banished from Mystreu
ce. Should you choose to try to defy me and ever attempt to set foot on that world again, I can assure you that any secondary punishment I would have to come up with will be much, much worse.”

  “No!” Bree screamed. “Father, no! Choose a different punishment, please! I beg you.”

  I wasn’t sure what was going on. If Bree was this devastated by the thought of not going back to Mystreuce again, then wherever Lithius intended to send her must be much worse.

  “Where will she go if she is not allowed back on Mystreuce?” I asked him.

  “She is free to go anywhere else that she likes,” he said. “She is even still welcome to come back home and live among the deities in the glorious place which she was born into.”

  “No!” she started to cry. “I can’t leave Mystreuce; I love him.”

  Now I knew what this was about, Quinn.

  “You love who?” Lithius asked.

  “There is a man on Mystreuce that I have fallen in love with,” Bree tried to explain through her tears. “It wasn’t intended, but it just happened. I do not wish to be pulled apart from him.”

  “And does this man feel the same?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  “What is he?” Lithius asked.

  “Fae.”

  Lithius made a face that looked like he was going to be sick. “I do not want my daughter having any part of this,” he said to her with a cruel look in his eyes. “A deity and a fae? You must be kidding. You have disgraced me enough by your reckless inability to abide by our sacred rules, and now you plead with me to change your punishment because you have foolishly fallen in love with a filthy fae?”

  As Bree continued to break down further, Lithius taunted another idea.

  “I will honor your request to change your punishment,” he said with a snarl.

  I could tell that this wasn’t going to end the way Bree wanted it to as she looked up at him with hopeful, teary eyes.

  “You will not be banished from Mystreuce. “Instead, you will marry him.” Lithius pointed his giant finger at me.