Mark of the Dagger (The Marked Series Book 1)

by Rae, Stella

  Joe’s eagle eye on the both of them throughout the week during combat training made ignoring Samuel doubly hard. Joe’s curiosity with Dani and Samuel was frustrating to the say the least. He was constantly looking between the two with furrowed brow and questions shining in his eyes and every time he looked at Dani for answers she had to pretend she didn’t notice. For five days straight she had to haul butt out of there before he could pull her aside. Dani hated avoiding her uncle! Just another thing to add to the Why Dani hate’s Samuel list.

  Even though they hadn’t spoken to one another in days, the antagonism between them only seemed to grow. It was a physical presence that you could feel anytime they were forced to be in the same room. Samuel even had the nerve to throw snarky remarks her way in front of the entire combat class when a student suggested they do another demonstration. In front of Joe, no less! Once again, he managed to hurt her for no reason. That was the first time she struggled to keep up her I don’t care façade in front everyone. And that shamed her.

  One thing that really confused her about the whole thing was that fighting with Samuel hurt her with a physical pain. She felt each verbal blow as if it were a punch landing on her body. Each glare, each hateful look was a stab to the heart. The emotional turmoil, she could understand. But she didn’t know what to do with the other stuff.

  ***

  With the campus at capacity, the parking lot was full of black SUV’s. The extra housing provided from the school for special events was full of Demon Hunters from all over the world. She braved Joe’s inquisition long enough to ask why so many people were here and barely let him push out his lie about ‘special training’ before she took off again. She could tell he was lying before he even opened his mouth and Dani didn’t want to risk Joe asking his own questions enough to stick around to find out the truth.

  The influx of guards made it harder for Dani to sneak out. They were always on guard, tense as if waiting for something to jump out and say Boo. Though their readiness was a good thing considering their jobs, it made her think something more was going on.

  It was Friday night and she was in her room when there was a knock at her door. Worried it was Jan with an invitation to another party she was tempted to ignore it. She had just gotten to the part in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where they are standing in Dumbledore’s office accusing him of creating Dumbledore’s Army and she would much rather keep reading than attempt a party. What could she say, she loved reading and Harry Potter was her favorite. When the knock sounded again, this time louder, she huffed in annoyance and got out of bed.

  "What?" she grumbled when she opened the door. "Oh, hey. What are you doing up here?" she asked when she saw that it was Damien.

  "We are going to put in some practice time. Want to come?"

  "Sure," she said. "I'm always up for more, and it gets kind of old fighting Joe all the time. We're getting to where we know each other’s moves, so it's not as exciting."

  "Great,” he said relieved. "Well were heading out to the gym now if you want to come."

  "I’m surprised they're letting us use the gym tonight," she said after she changed and they were walking through the quad. "Especially since there are so many visitors this week."

  "Trainer Joe gave us permission. I wonder why there are so many Hunters on campus anyway."

  "I heard they were just here to train or something. There is another school opening up and all the Hunters assigned to it will be assigned here for a couple months to get the hang of things I guess." She shrugged. "At least that's what Uncle Joe said anyway."

  "You sound like you don't believe it."

  "I guess I don't. Joe is a horrible liar." She laughed. That and she had this nagging feeling that she was missing something.

  "What do you think's really going on?"

  "Not a clue." Not entirely true she thought. She wondered if all the extra Hunters had anything to do with her sort of dream though she still hadn’t told anyone about it.

  In the gym they all paired off. There were six pairs in all. When she saw Jan paired with Jordan she quickly grabbed Damien as a partner.

  "What do you want to use? Sword? Stake?" Damien asked.

  "Hands?" she countered. She wasn't in the mood to wield anything, plus she wanted a more basic work out first.

  They faced off as soon as they were able to find empty space on the mat. Their interest in sparring soon wore thin as neither of them were able to land a solid hit on the other. When they realized neither could get the upper hand it turned more playful rather than educational. She laughed as Damien swung too high and lunged at him. He moved too quickly and before she could regain balance she lost her footing, landing face down on the mat.

  She rolled to her back to get up but before she could, he sat over her waist. "Mmpf,” she said as his weight landed on her.

  "You lose," he said. Without getting off her he continued. "I know I've already said this, but let me say it again. I'm really sorry about what happened at my party. I swear, I thought he was into you and had I known he would be such a dick I would have stopped him from taking you outside like that."

  "Don't worry about it. Crap happens." She tried to shrug but his weight kept her pinned down.

  "Then we’re still cool?" he asked.

  "Yes of course. Like I said, it isn't your fault that the guy has major issues," she laughed.

  "Great,” he said and bent to give her a quick, friendly kiss. With a smile he rolled off her to help her up.

  "Wow, Dani. You really should be more careful about how many guys you kiss in one week. You'll get a certain reputation," Samuel said sarcastically. She felt Damien tense beside her and she grabbed his wrist to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

  “Sounds like someone has a chip on their on their shoulder,” Damien said. She gave Samuel a cool look then turned her back on him.

  "Come on Damien." She pulled him away before Samuel had time to reply and back toward the group still fighting on the mat.

  Dani soon decided that she was done with group training and went into the weight room, if for no other reason than to just be alone… And for the punching bag. She really needed to get her anger, hurt and frustration about Samuel out of her system and she couldn’t really take it all out on some unsuspecting sparring partner.

  It took a great deal of effort not to reply to Samuel's comment. That was the only thing she was proud of at the moment. She hated herself for loving him. She hated the fact that he was able to hurt her so badly even without saying anything at all. She hated that she had given him that power over her and he didn't even know it.

  She was weak. She punched the bag harder as her anger got stronger and felt something pop in her wrist. She did another experimental punch to the bag. It stung, but she thought she could work through it and alternated with kicks.

  What kind of Demon Hunter would she make if she couldn't even handle the fact that someone like him hated her? She shouldn't care who hates her or not. She was here to train, she was here to become a warrior. She shouldn't be concerned about some boy. Sure, he was a cute boy. Sure, he was the best Demon Hunter of his generation. Sure, he made her heart skip a beat whenever she looked at him. Sure, his kisses turned her inside out. But he was still just a boy and in the grand scheme of things, he was unimportant.

  Dani pictured his face on the bag and attacked with a vengeance. She didn't know how long she stayed in there but by the time she was finished her left ankle was swollen, her shin was bruised and her wrist was on fire. She limped out into the main room and noticed that it was empty.

  Dani went out into the night and headed toward her room. Halfway there she detoured to the pond. She took a deep breath of the cool night air and her throat burned with unshed tears. Her fight with the punching bag relieved her of her anger but not of her despair.

  She collapsed under the first tree she saw, unable to walk any farther. Her ankle hurt too badly. She awkwardly rested on her knees for a moment, trying n
ot to jar her injured bones too badly, before settling back against the tree. Looking out over the lake she remembered her dad. She was already melancholy, why not add to it?

  Dani wondered what her dad would think of her if he could see her now. Would he be disappointed in her for being so emotional? Would he overlook it and see that she was doing her best? But was she really doing her best? Sure, she trained as hard as she could but it was all the other stuff that worried her.

  Not being able to keep her emotions under control probably affected her ability as a fighter. Had Dani known that being in love with a person gave them such a great power over you, she would have fought harder to keep her heart her own. She blinked rapidly to try to keep the tears from falling and failed.

  She used to dream about finally falling in love. She thought it would be all bright lights and sparkles. Never had she imagined it would be shades of black and gray. "That's what you get for falling in love with someone who hates your guts," she said aloud.

  She heard the thump as someone landed on the ground on the other side of the tree. She should have figured that the one person she couldn't bear to see, would be the one walking toward her now. It seemed as if he were always around when she was down, and he liked to gloat about it.

  She averted her face when he came to stand in front of her and tried to discreetly wipe the tears from her eyes.

  "Where's your boyfriend?" he asked sarcastically.

  "Where's Barbie?" she replied.

  She knew he would be able to tell she had been crying by the sound of her voice. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the trunk of the tree. Without opening them she said tiredly. "Is there a reason you're trying to annoy me tonight? Because if not, I would really appreciate it if you just left me alone."

  Dani stiffened when Samuel sat beside her against the tree, his side brushing hers. When she made a move to get up he caught her injured wrist in his hand to waylay her. She cried out in pain and he angrily dropped his hold. “Jesus Dani, I didn’t grab you that hard,” he spat. She gingerly cradled her wrist to breasts taking deep breaths to ease the pain radiating up and down her arm.

  "I'm tired Samuel," she sighed.

  "Then go to bed," he snapped. She closed her eyes briefly then nodded not bothering to mention that just a moment ago he was trying to keep her there. She rolled to her knees to get up, and he said, "I'm sorry."

  She paused and stared at him incredulously and sat back down. "For?"

  "I..." He let out a breath of frustration. "I know I'm rude to you and I'm sorry."

  "No, you're far past rude." She looked out over the pond toward the mountains.

  "You're the first person in a long time that isn’t intimidated by me. And I liked that."

  Still not looking at him she said, "Funny way of showing it."

  "And there's that. I don't know half the time if you like me or hate me. Your tone and words say you hate me yet your eyes say something completely different. You confuse the hell out of me Dani."

  "Do you expect me to apologize for that? Because I won’t. In fact I'm glad that I've been snarky. The moment I let my guard down around you, the very second that I surrendered and gave you everything I had to give, you threw it back in my face. So no, I don't apologize." She got up gingerly and started to limp away.

  "What are you talking about?" he asked spinning her around to face him.

  "Since you have to ask, that just tells me that it was wasted." She took a breath trying to calm the hurt that wanted to surface. "Please let go of my arm. Please," she sobbed. "Just let me go."

  As soon as he did as she requested she turned to walk away. "No! Not until you talk to me." he said and tackled her, the only way to keep her there was by sitting on her. "Dani, what's wrong with you."

  "What's wrong with me?" she whispered. "You're what’s wrong with me. I fell in love with you Samuel. God knows why? But I did. I wish I didn't love you. I wouldn't be broken now if I didn't. I have never given my heart to anyone before and when I gave it to you, you used it to prove a stupid point. Such a pointless thing to do because I already knew that I wanted you. The craziest part of it all? I have no clue why I love you. You’ve given me zero reason to Samuel. None. But for some stupid reason, even now, my traitorous heart aches for you. But I will not be your test dummy again."

  "Dani. I..." He shook his head at a loss for words.

  "Are you happy now? Your goal seems to always be 'let's see how we can humiliate Dani today’. Well now that you know how hard I fell, you don't have to try anymore. Mission accomplished. You got a lowly sixteen year old to love you. You must think that's hilarious. You can laugh all about it on the way to your room, tell all your friends and Barbie too, I bet she'd get a real kick out of that," she sighed. "Since I'm already down, I can't get any lower, so I'll go ahead and beg you for one last thing. Please, from now on, just leave me alone. Your comments and taunts hurt more than you could ever know."

  "I didn't know Dani-"

  "What?" she interrupted. "You didn't know that your words hurt? Of course they hurt. I may be able to ignore and get over everyone else's words, but not yours Samuel. I'm only so strong and I can only handle so much. I'm not like you, I have emotions, and I have feelings."

  "Dani," he breathed out in frustration, then leaned down to take her mouth. He plundered as if he were a drowning man and she were his air.

  "No,” she sobbed and pushed hard at his chest, ignoring both the pain in her wrist and in her heart at the effort. "I didn't know it was possible but I hate you just as much as I love you. Now let me up, I need to go to the infirmary." When he let her up she turned away from him and started toward Adele. She didn’t bother looking behind her, she knew wouldn’t follow her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "Who wants to demonstrate?" Joe asked the class. They were still working on vampire killing techniques. He knew they should have moved on by now, however with the threat of an attack on the school, he wanted his students to be prepared to defend themselves if necessary. He just prayed to God it wouldn't come to that.

  He looked at Dani, normally always the first to volunteer, but the past two weeks she had been withdrawn and distant. He noticed that she kept mostly to herself, only talking to her friends occasionally. And he never saw her talking to Samuel anymore. In fact when they acknowledge that the other existed it was only to glare at each other.

  Teenagers! He thought desperately. "Hey Alex. Want to come play vampire?" he asked his friend who decided to observe the class today.

  "Sure." He came to stand on the mat with a cocky grin in place.

  "Dani?" Joe asked, raising a questioning brow. He saw her look of resignation as she straightened her shoulders. He looked around the room and noticed his assistant trainer sitting on the stairs to his office, staring at his niece with a curious expression. One Joe could only describe as longing.

  Joe couldn't tell for sure but the kid almost looked hurt. He quickly went over the basics and blew his whistle. While they were fighting, he lost himself in his own thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about the imminent attack and the extra Hunters they had at the school.

  It was getting harder for him and Adele to keep hidden that they were sent here. He was almost certain-as was she- that this wasn't an inside job. So hopefully the council will allow them to warn the other staff of what was going on. He figured the more they knew, the better they could defend themselves.

  He caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye and turned toward the door. He was only too happy to see his favorite sister-in-law, watching in awe as her daughter held her own against a grown man, and his girlfriend standing just inside the door.

  He called the fight after three minutes when neither killed the other. "Anyone want to tell me what she did wrong?" he asked the class.

  "She's not focusing," Samuel said from the staircase.

  "Gee thanks Samuel," she said sarcastically.

  Joe put a hand on her shoulder. "He's right,
kiddo. You weren't giving a hundred percent. You can't do that on the outside. It'll get you killed." He inwardly flinched when she glared at him and shook his hand off her shoulder. "Alright, I'm calling class early due to some personal business to attend. Dani, stick around," he said and nodded to the door.

  "What was that all about?" Nadia asked when Joe joined them.

  He gave a discreet look in Samuels’ direction and turned to Sarah. "Hey!" he said happily. "What are you doing here?"

  "Did you forget that today is her birthday? Plus I missed my girl. Is that lame or what?" Sarah asked on a laugh and hugged him.

  "It would only be lame if you didn't miss me too," Alex said coming up to hug her.

  "Hey Mom!" Dani said giving her a hug. "I've missed you. Are you staying tonight or driving back?"

  "I was going to stay but apparently there are no guest quarters available."

  "You can sleep in my room," Dani suggested.

  "Hey Dani," Samuel said when he approached their little huddle. "Can I talk to you a sec?"

  "No." She turned back around to face her mom and didn't see the hurt flash across his face but Joe sure did. He looked around to make sure there were no students left in the room.

  "Alright, Normally I wouldn't get involved. But enough is enough," Joe said angrily. "You,” he said pointing at Dani. "You have been walking around like a zombie lately and Samuel’s right, your focus is slipping. And you,” he pointed at Samuel. "You've been too busy moping around to be of any real assistance in the training sessions and both of your attitudes help no one. Especially in my class where I need both of your participation. I don't know what in the hell has gotten into you two or what you're fighting about but you need to get it resolved now. If you can't talk it out then take it to the mat. I'm sick of it."