Soul's Mark 02 - Hunted

by Ashley Stoyanoff

“Don’t say that. You are my life,” Megan said with fervor. “I can feel it, like, like, you’re a part of me. You’re the most perfect person, um, I mean vampire…” She let her words trail off as she took in every inch of him.

  Amelia leaned into Mitchell, and he wrapped his arms around her waist as they watched the exchange in wonder. Megan closed the distance between them, went up on tiptoes and kissed Eric.

  Amelia blushed and turned away. “Hey, Meg,” she said. “Mitch and I have some stuff to deal with. Just yell if you need us. Mitch will hear you, okay?”

  Megan shot her a grin in response, and Amelia quickly wiggled out of Mitchell’s embrace, snagged his hand, and dragged him from the kitchen.

  “Do you think it’s smart to leave them?” Mitchell asked, as they rounded the corner and headed down the hallway that led to their room.

  “Actually, yeah, sometimes I wished everyone would have just left us alone. Let us fight it out. Maybe we’d have been better off instead of all this hiding and lying we do now.”

  Mitchell opened the door to their bedroom and stepped in behind Amelia. “Lying?” he asked. He tried to sound casual, but Amelia heard the undertone of guilt in his voice.

  She padded over to the chairs in the lounge area of their room and plopped down. “I’m not stupid, Mitch. I know you’ve been lying to me.” He looked like he was about to protest, and she cut him off. “You know, seeing the way Eric and Megan looked at each other, it made me think about our vacation.” She smiled at him. “I want to go back to that. I want to use the bond. I don’t want any more walls between us. I love you, Mitchell Lang. I want you, all of you, forever. I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been.”

  Mitchell closed the door behind him and then took a seat across from her and rubbed at his face roughly. Her stomach dropped. This really wasn’t the response she had been expecting from him, and suddenly her palms started to sweat and her stomach dropped even further, complete with somersaults on its way down to her toes.

  “Amelia, there are some things I need to tell you.”

  He still hadn’t looked at her, keeping his face in his hands and elbows on his knees. “Please don’t tell me it’s Fiona,” she whispered. Even though she blamed him for screwing around, part of her never actually believed that he had.

  Mitchell snapped his head up and forced a weak smile. “No, no, nothing like that, but you’ll probably think it’s just as bad.”

  “Well, go on,” she said, not sure what to think.

  Amelia watched as Mitchell leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him. His face was a mask, giving nothing away. A knot twisted deep in her belly as her mind started dreaming up all the things that he may be about to confess, each thought worse than the previous one.

  He quickly picked up on her anxiety and came out with the words in a rush, “You know how when you opened the bond back up, you said that it had changed, that you felt it, and I didn’t have control anymore and we could just be normal?”

  “Yeah,” she replied.

  “Well, you were partly right. The bond did change. A lot, actually. But not the way you think.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Mitchell didn’t have a chance to answer. The shrill ring of his phone pierced the room. He rose, gave her an apologetic smile, although he couldn’t hide how thankful he was for the interruption, as he fished the cell out of his pocket and answered, “Mitchell Lang.” His brow furrowed. “When?” he asked, listening intently, and his eyes slowly changed to a fiery red. He put the phone to his chest, blinked a few times to clear his eyes, and said, “I’m sorry, love. I need to take this.” And then he went into the adjoining office and pulled the door shut behind him with a loud click.

  I wonder what happened this time, Amelia thought, looking at the closed door. This was one thing that she was sure she would never get used to, and sometimes she secretly wished Mitchell wasn’t so important to this community. She waited, drumming her fingers on the coffee table for a few minutes. Part of her wanted to barge in there and demand to know everything. She wanted to know what the phone call was about, where he mysteriously disappeared to at night, what he meant about the bond changing. She had been so close. He was about to open up to her. Really talk to her…

  No, she told herself. You will wait. She knew that marching in and demanding answers was not the way to go. It would just put them back to square one. They’d fight and one of them would storm off. And frankly, she was starting to get sick of it, even though a few weeks ago she had missed the fighting. But after seeing Eric and Megan together and remembering her perfect getaway with Mitch, it shocked the hell out of her, but man, she wanted that all the time. To be in love, happy, content. She wanted to look at him the way Megan looked at Eric.

  She crossed and uncrossed her legs and shifted around in her seat. She glanced at the door, thought for a second about trying to eavesdrop, and then scolded herself for thinking it. When Amelia couldn’t stand to sit there any longer, she went to her bed and grabbed her purse, which was lying on top of the bold blue comforter, and started rummaging around for some lip-gloss. As she was searching, her hand grazed across the DVD Cole had returned to her. Her curiosity peaked when she pulled it out and examined the plain white sleeve. She started to wonder what notes she had lent to him, since she really didn’t even remember lending any notes to anyone.

  Amelia perched on the edge of her bed and grabbed Mitchell’s laptop from the nightstand. She opened it up, turned it on, and slid in the disk, waiting for it to load.

  The media player popped up and pounding music blared through the speakers. The image on the screen zoomed in on a crowed dance floor, and she recognized her friends immediately as the camera focused on Jess and Amber grinding against Justin and Doug. This went on for about a minute, and Amelia was just about to turn it off when the images sped up, as if the creator of the little home movie hit fast forward. The counter in the bottom right hand corner quickly went through hours of dancing and then abruptly the movie went back to normal speed as the girls left the nightclub with Justin and Doug trailing along behind them.

  “This is too easy,” a high-pitched female voice whispered, as the camera shook slightly, following the four friends through the dim and shadowy parking lot. “Are you guys ready?”

  There were a set of grunts, which Amelia was pretty sure were male, and then without any warning, Justin and Jessica lit up in flames. Absolute mayhem erupted. Amber and Doug screamed frantically as they tried to put out the fire, but within seconds, the vampires were piles of ash.

  Two cloaked figures jumped out, tackling Doug to the ground. He cried out, and the camera began to shake, as the holder must have started to run towards him. Blood splashed up onto the lens as it zoomed in on a knife lodged in his chest.

  The camera swiveled to view Amber running further into the back of the empty parking lot towards a thick tree line. She stumbled and then dropped. Again, the camera zoomed in to show a silver arrow sticking out of her back, and then the screen went blank.

  “Amelia, where did you get this?” Mitchell questioned from beside her, and Amelia jumped. She hadn’t noticed him come out of the office. She could feel the blood rush from her face as the images of the video started to sink in. When she looked at him, she noticed the muscles in his neck and shoulders bulging with tension.

  “Where did you get this?” Mitchell demanded again, more forcefully this time.

  Amelia opened her mouth and then closed it. It had to be some bad joke. She was sure of it. “I thought it was notes,” she said, and silent tears began to drip down her cheeks. “This is a sick joke, right?”

  Mitchell took the laptop from her and set it down on the bed. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her closely. “Amelia, I need you to tell me where you got this.”

  There was something in his voice that made her uneasy. The way he spoke, the tone of his voice, the way he was holding her; it was almost as if he already knew about her friends’ deaths. “What
’s going on?” Amelia cried. “What do you know about this?” She pushed out of his arms and searched his face for any hint of knowing.

  Luke was the first to come in at Amelia’s raised voice. Lola followed right on his heels. “You guys okay?” he asked, taking a seat on the steps of the landing by the bed.

  Instead of answering, Mitchell took the computer and pushed play. By the time it finished, Angelle, Tyler, Erin, Eric, and Megan were all there, watching in silence.

  Eric was the first to speak. “Millie, tell me that’s not the DVD that that guy gave you.”

  “What guy?” Mitchell asked. When Amelia still didn’t answer, he took her face in his hands and forced her to meet his eyes. “Love, please. I need you to talk to me.”

  “They’re dead. They can’t be dead.” Amelia closed her eyes tightly, trying to fight back the tears as they fell. She took a deep breath, pulled her thoughts together, and said, “There was this guy named Cole that gave it to me when we were leaving the diner yesterday. He said he was just returning it. I thought he was from school.”

  “Shit,” Luke swore. “I can’t believe the vampire hunters came directly to you.”

  “Hold on,” Erin said. “Did you just say ‘vampire hunters?’”

  Chaos. That was the only way to describe the following minutes, and in Amelia’s opinion, chaos was a definite understatement. Accusations were flung. Fights broke out. Even Lola and Luke were arguing. Amelia tried to calm everyone down, but it seemed to be a hopeless effort. Pure fear pulsed from Mitchell as he replayed the brutal deaths again. And that fear was evident to everyone.

  Suddenly Megan jumped up onto the coffee table and yelled, “Enough! All of you stop it right this minute!” and she sent out a quick zap of pure, hot energy to get their attention. Everyone froze at her stern tone. She hopped down and marched up to Mitchell, her hands on her hips and head tilted back, to meet him square on with an intimidating glare. “What is going on here?”

  Mitchell looked at Amelia, and she could almost imagine the zipper sliding across his lips. He’s not going to say anything while I’m here, Amelia realized. She gaped at him, blown over by the realization.

  Erin also picked up on it. “I’ve had more than I can take of his nonsense between you two.” She pivoted, shifting her glare between Mitchell and Amelia.

  Megan looked her up and down quickly and then went back to glaring at Amelia. “What happened?”

  Amelia started at the beginning, telling about the boy that gave her the DVD. She explained how she figured it was just class notes she had lent out.

  “Is that everything?” Erin asked.

  Amelia was about to say yes when Mitchell said, “There’s more. Last week we confirmed that there are vampire hunters in town. We found their hideout and cleared out all their research and weapons.”

  As Amelia glanced around the room, she didn’t need to ask Mitchell who was a part of the we. Angelle, Luke, and Lola looked guilty, refusing to meet her eyes.

  Erin was just as quick to come to the same conclusions. “I want to make sure I understand what you are saying,” she said, folding her arms over her chest and looking directly at Mitchell. “You’re telling me that you knew there was a chance that vampire hunters were in town, and then when you confirmed it, you allowed Amelia, Tyler, and Eric to wander around without telling them.”

  “That’s why I went along with them,” Angelle piped up, trying to defend Mitchell’s lack of action.

  “Yes, that’s even better.” Amelia shot Angelle a fake smile. “A vampire went to protect another vampire and some humans from a vampire hunter.”

  “Well, when you say it like that,” Angelle started.

  She was cut off by a furious Tyler. “You knew about this!” His face and neck burned bright red. Angelle inched towards him, eyes wide and full of pain. Tyler put up his hands and stepped back, and then he glared around the room. “I have some calls to make,” he said in a chilly tone. He walked over to the computer, hit eject and took the DVD with him.

  Tears sprung to Angelle’s eyes as she watched Tyler leave. Once he was gone, she turned them on Mitchell. “This is all your fault.” Then she turned to Amelia. “If you two would just work together…” The tears rushed down her cheeks and a loud choking sob caught in her throat. She turned quickly and ran from the room.

  “She right,” Erin said, her face twisted in disgust. “You guys really don’t know how good you have it. Not all of us have the option to be with our other halves.” The last words came out as a snarled yell.

  “Tristan left you to die,” Amelia whispered, knowing that the statement wouldn’t make a difference to the pain her friend must be feeling.

  “I know, but that doesn’t change the emptiness I feel with him gone.” Erin took a deep breath, regaining her composure. “I can’t be with him and what’s worse is that I have to sit back and watch the two of you put up more walls between each other. And now look at what’s happened.” She waved her arms around, as if trying to push away the almost touchable tension that filled the room. “The family is falling apart. It’s not just affecting you guys. Now you’re making us lie to each other and hide things we shouldn’t have to hide.” Erin huffed and moved towards Amelia. When she was standing in front of her, she frowned and said, “Oh and by the way, Mitch has complete control over you, Millie. He’s had it since you let him back in, and he hasn’t used it once. Maybe you should think about that before you make any more stupid rules.” She shook her head and stepped towards the door.

  “Where are you going?” Amelia asked.

  “Library,” Erin replied bitterly. “Standing here fighting with each other isn’t going to help solve the vampire hunter problem.”

  Dazed, Amelia walked over to her bed and perched on the edge. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess as she tried desperately to sort out what was happening. Jess, Amber, Doug, and Justin were dead, killed by vampire hunters. Megan was her cousin, a witch, and Eric’s soulmate. And to make it all even worse, Mitchell had known about the vampire hunters and hadn’t told her. Could this day get any crazier?

  CHAPTER 12

  Mitchell thought it would better for Amelia to stay home. He really didn’t want her at the scene, and he had a pretty convincing argument, saying it would be harder to deal with it if she saw it, but she went with him anyway. Before leaving, Mitchell made a few phone calls; one of them to the police reporting the human deaths and asking them to meet him at the nightclub.

  Once they set off, he filled her in on everything. He told her how he had been out searching every night for the hunters, trying to pinpoint their location. He explained the real reason why Fiona had shown up and why he had let her back into the house. And then he went on to tell her about the bond and how when she had accepted him—truly accepted him—it had altered the connection, giving him access to her magic. He explained that he could basically siphon the energy away from her when she used it against him if he wanted to.

  Amelia’s head was spiraling out of control from this overload of information. “Why did you let me hurt you so much if you could have stopped it?” she asked.

  He glanced at her quickly and shrugged before turning his eyes back to the road. “I figured I deserved it.”

  “What?” she gasped. Was he out of his mind? How could anyone deserve being tortured the way he had been when her magic got out of control? “How could you say that?”

  Mitchell turned right, heading into the downtown district. “Come on, Amelia. I’ve been a first class jerk.” His hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that it started to bend. “I’ve cursed you with this life. You remind me every day how much you don’t want to be here. I took everything from you, because I couldn’t stand to see you with anyone else. You only love me because you have to. Because I bit you. Because I took the choice away from you.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s not true.”

  “Yes it is and don’t look at me like that.” He loosened his grip
slightly and let out a long sigh, keeping his eyes fixed on the road. “Clearly I’m not the only one who has noticed it. You haven’t loved me since the day you found out I was real. Not really. Sometimes I wonder if we’re only together because we’re too stubborn to admit we failed.” He shot her a quick sideways look that was so filled with regret that Amelia’s breath caught in her throat. “I couldn’t even tell you about the magic, because I was terrified you would leave or cut me off again. I spend so much time trying to figure out what will make you happy, and every time I turn around, I’ve done something else to piss you off.”

  Amelia watched him in silence for a moment. She saw his jaw tighten, his neck muscles twitch with tension, and her heart twisted and squeezed. “Do you love me only because you have to?” she whispered, reading between the lines. “Is that what you’re trying to say here? That it’s just the bond and you don’t really love me?”

  “It’s never been just the bond. Not for me.”

  “Then what is it? Why do you love me? All we do is fight.”

  “Yes, we fight,” he said, and then he laughed, a strangled kind of sound. “You are infuriating sometimes, most of the time, actually, and I’m not scared to tell you that. I’m always going to tell you when you’re being unreasonable and you’ll probably always tell me when I’m being a big jerk, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.” He pulled up to a red light, glanced at her, and softened his voice. “I love the way you say my name and the way you wrinkle your nose when you laugh. I love the way your eyes light up when you smile and how you always stand up to me and knock me back down a peg or two when you think I’m wrong. I love your temper, and I love your passion. I love you. All of you. Every inch of you.” He shifted his gaze back to the road, the light turned green, and he accelerated. He voice was barely audible when he continued. “But I’m not going to force you to stay with me.”

  “Oh, Mitchell,” Amelia sighed. “I’m not going anywhere.” She took one of his hands from the steering wheel, holding it in both of hers, and he shifted his gaze slightly to meet hers for just a second before returning it to the road. “I’m yours. I have always been yours. I will always be yours. I love you. Forget all the ridiculous rules. I was wrong and stupid. I’m lucky to have you and the bond.” The words fell from her lips with more passion; more truth, more feeling, than she had ever felt before, and she realized for the first time that she truly meant every single word. It was that realization that triggered the suspicion. Mitchell knew how she felt. He knew she wouldn’t leave. He knew she didn’t feel forced to stay. He could feel it, just as she could feel it with him, and this wasn’t the first time he had asked her if she wanted to stay. “There’s something else, isn’t there?” Amelia asked.