Mark of the Dagger (The Marked Series Book 1)

by Rae, Stella

  "Not necessarily. Come on," she said and pulled her to a window so they could watch the happenings outside.

  Other students were in the common room as well, some with weapons, some standing in groups with worried expressions on their faces. She learned that before the staff went out to fight they armed a few select students.

  The tingling in Dani’s arms intensified immensely and as if out of nowhere they were surrounded. "Uh-oh,” she whispered and held tighter to Jan's hand as she watched the love of her life fight like the warrior he was.

  There were shouts as the hunters fought, cries of pain as some fell. And in the distance there were more. She felt like they were frozen in time. She didn't know how long she watched them fight outside. The longer she stood there the more vampires she saw. Her side was completely outnumbered.

  "Shit,” she whispered. She turned to Jan and the other students that were armed. "We are way outnumbered out there. I'm going to go."

  "Oh no you're not. You heard what Joe said," Jan said as she pulled back on Dani’s arm.

  "Yeah, I know. Not unless we have to. Look out there Jan. They need help. I have that dust remember. That will do serious damage. You guys stay here and protect the rest of them. Don't come fight unless they get past us." She quickly hugged Jan and ran outside before they could stop her.

  If she thought it was chaos earlier, she was sadly mistaken. With her stake in one hand, the fire dust in the other she ran toward the biggest group. She ignored the bodies littering the ground. In the back of her mind she registered that only some were hunters, most were vampires-their bodies already disintegrating.

  She noticed that the Hunter she was talking to earlier and Samuel were in the middle of the larger group of vampires. They were completely surrounded. She looked cautiously around herself, making sure there were no separate vamps. They all seemed to be focused on the two Hunters.

  She moved as quietly as she could, knowing that they would hear her anyway. But they were too focused on the two guys, and that was their mistake. She quickly blew her fire dust on the two closest vampires. When their screams erupted in the night, the others turned to see what happened. The flames of the two vampires were blazing bright for about two seconds then there was nothing but ash.

  The vampires deserted Samuel and the other Hunter-she promised herself she would find out his name if she made it out of this alive- and came after Dani. She blew more dust but only reached two of them. Then there were three circling her. She moved her stake to her left hand and pulled out her sword. It was just like in her dream. It felt right, no, it felt perfect. With a deep breath she lunged at the closest vampire. She swung her sword in an arc and with one swing decapitated him. She had a moment to think 'Wow. That's really sharp’ before she was fending off the next.

  Samuel had come to her aid. They stood back to back as more vampires surrounded them. The other guy was on the outside of the circle taking out any he could get. She swung her sword and stabbed a vampire girl who looked the same age as Dani. She missed her heart but she swung her arm out again and got it the second time, and that was the hardest thing Dani had ever had to do.

  They fought until they were alone in front of her dorm. "Shit,” she said. "That was freaking awful."

  "Yeah. You should've stayed inside. Were you trying to give me a heart attack?" Samuel asked wrapping her up in a fierce embrace. "Thanks for helping. You did well."

  She smiled and noticed that Jan had come outside too and had fought with the other guy. She ran to Jan. "Are you alright."

  "Happy as a clam," Jan said dusting off her hands and Dani realized that she was serious. She shook her head.

  "Guys listen," Dani said. There was some serious fighting coming down by the South Trail. Her only thought was of her uncle and she took off running.

  "Dani come back," She heard Jan yell, but she ignored her and kept going.

  She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye, heard Samuel yell and turned just in time to stake a vampire charging her from the right side. "Nice move," Samuel said when they caught up. "Where are we going?"

  "South Trail. Keep your eyes open though, that was a close call.”

  Dani was right, they knocked off six more before they got to the trail. She remembered hearing that there would by hunters on the trail itself, but there were also hunters on the quad at the opening. She saw they were outnumbered again, but it didn't look like they were doing too badly.

  Dani, Samuel and Jan fought beside each other like they did in her vision. She remembered her uncle saying in class how much stronger a vampire is than her classmates, but she never imagined they would be this strong. She took a kick to her ribs and felt one crack and stumbled in pain trying blink back the blackness that wanted to overtake her.

  Fighting through the pain, she staked the vampire that injured her. Hearing Jan yelp in surprise, Dani turned quickly to see her go down with a vampire poised to lunge. Dani swung her sword and took his head off. Ick. She thought. Too much blood. "Where is your stake?" she asked Jan.

  "He kicked it out of my hand, that's how he got me down," Jan replied. Dani tossed her stake to Jan and pulled out her dagger.

  She felt like a true warrior, standing in battle with her sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. She loved the feeling. They fought-she didn't know how long they fought. Dani was aching all over, her chest protesting with every breath and every movement. But she had to keep going. She lost count of how many she killed. She wasn't sure if she even cared, to be honest. She was proud of herself for being able to protect herself, her friends and her family from evil, though she wasn't proud of having to kill. And she realized that Samuel was right. She was definitely a contradiction.

  "Sunrise," Samuel said. "It will be over soon. The ones that didn't die will take off." He was right. About two minutes after he said that, they vanished. The three of them stood together, bloody and bruised and watched the sun rise over the mountains.

  "Dani!” She heard the frantic call of her uncle as he came out of the trail.

  "Oh thank God," Dani said and ran to him. He hugged her so tightly that she cried out in pain.

  "You're hurt. Oh my God." In a panic he started to run his hands over her to find her injuries. "Where are you hurt? Let me see."

  "It's alright. I just have a broken rib. Other than that, I’m fine."

  "Thank God you're ok. Thank God you're all ok," he said and put his arms around Dani and Jan.

  Dani yelled in pain. At the same time that she fell to her knees and tried not to vomit, she heard Samuel shout as well. She tried to look at him, for he was slowly crawling to her side, but her neck and the right side of her torso were on fire. “What’s wrong Dani?” Joe asked frantically.

  “My side, it’s on fire. Make it stop,” she cried over Samuels' groans of distress. Dani barely heard Jan say that her thigh was burning-her own pain so enormous that it was all she could think about.

  “Dammit, Dani, Samuel! I don’t understand what’s going on,” Joe yelled in frustration, running his hands through his hair roughly. He had never seen anyone go through so much pain. He didn’t know what was causing it. “Is it your neck? It’s just your Dagger Mark lining itself. It does that once you’ve become a hunter, meaning you had your first kill.”

  “No! Uncle Joe, it’s worse. It isn’t my neck, it’s my side. Make it stop, it burns.” Dani ended in a groan.

  Samuel finally made it to her and clasped her hands. The moment their hands joined they both screamed in pain and a blinding white light flashed behind Dani’s eyelids.

  “What’s happening?” Samuel rasped. All Dani could do was sob in answer.

  She felt the collar of her shirt move away from her neck as someone took a look.

  “Oh my God,” Joe breathed.

  “Get it off Uncle Joe. The shirt is making it worse. Oh my God it’s awful,” she cried. “Please somebody get my shirt off of me,” she yelled in frustration when he didn’t do it right away.

>   Dani felt him rip her shirt down the middle and immediately felt better. She heard the intake of breaths around her but was too happy the burn had faded to care. “Thank you,” she said with relief evident in her tone. Samuel let go of her hands and slowly started to remove his shirt.

  “Is that better?” Joe asked in a strangled voice. Never in all his life had he ever seen anything so incredible. He kept glancing between Dani and Samuel at a loss for words.

  “Yeah,” she nodded.

  “Dani! Joe!!” Nadia yelled. Dani looked up to see her running toward them. “Is she hurt?” she asked, immediately worried.

  “No. She’s ok. Just a broken rib or two. Look.” he said quietly and pointed between Samuel and Dani.

  “Holy shite!” she exclaimed.

  “Ok. Someone tell me what’s going on. You all look freaked out. What’s wrong with my back?” Dani said. When no one answered she said “Help me up.” She stood slowly, careful of her ribs and looked over her shoulder trying to see her neck and back, then looked down at her stomach.

  “Oh,” she breathed. “What does that mean?” She turned her wide eyes on her uncle. “How? Why?” Not only was her dagger filled in like a tattoo, there was a big sun tattoo on her right side, the tips of its’ rays reaching all the way across her stomach, touching her ribs on her left side and all the way to her spine on her back. The suns’ center ran down the length of her side. It was huge.

  Remembering Samuels’ cries of pain she quickly looked at him. He had the same tattoo, just as big, running down his left side. Mirror identical to hers. “Oh my God! Why did this happen to only Samuel and me and not anyone else?” she asked. She was working herself into a temper at everyone’s dumbfounded expressions. “Tell me what this means,” she yelled.

  “The prophecy,” Joe said. “That’s the only thing that makes sense. I can’t believe I didn’t put it together sooner. You are the only half-blood that has ever been marked.”

  “What are you talking about, what prophecy?”

  ***

  Dark days will come, evil will unite

  To battle our people, to destroy the light

  Our warriors will fall, our light we will lose

  And a darkness will come, consuming all hope

  When despair arises,

  Our saviors will be;

  A boy who is lost will be part of our grace

  The best of his race there will be no one stronger,

  A girl who is half, she will fight to defend,

  Not only herself but all of those within

  The strongest of all, She will be the key

  With her fierce loyalties and his fierce love

  They will unite a family that will be all above

  For they bear the Mark of the Chosen

  Their bond cannot be broken

  For love is the light they will need.

  ***

  When Joe finished reciting the prophecy from memory, everyone just stood around staring at each other. As if a bomb went off, they all starting talking at once.

  “Holy Toledo Batman!” Jan said.

  “How do we know for sure they are talking about us? Couldn’t this be something else entirely?” Dani asked.

  “Parts of that actually make sense,” Samuel said nodding. Dani stared at him incredulously, shocked that he could be so calm about all of this. Wasn’t he freaking out? Even just a little?

  “Everybody stop!” Nadia yelled. When everyone quieted, Dani whispered. “What does this mean?”

  “I don’t know baby girl. These marks are beautiful and ancient looking and you and Samuel should wear them with pride. However, all we know is what the prophecy states. There is no written documentation, only what has been passed down, generation to generation. And even that is slim at best. There were only a few blood-lines that even knew about the prophecy. Most people only think it’s a legend now. We will figure it out together, all of us. Ok? But for now, I think we should keep this between us if we can,” Joe said and took off his shirt, handing it to Dani to cover herself. When they all agreed, they headed back to their dorms with heavy hearts.

  Chapter Sixteen

  They lost twenty-seven men and woman the night of the attack. Two students and four Hunters were injured. They found out that Damien and Nick were two of the students chosen to guard their dorm but thankfully neither of them had to fight. Damien was none too happy that he missed out, especially when he found out that Jan and Dani fought alongside the hunters.

  They weren't sure how many vampires actually attacked or if the ones that got away would come back. For now they just had to hope they didn't. The witches assisting the vampires were never caught either so they weren’t able to find out what they were after.

  They buried their dead the following week, Alex among them. Dani took that loss pretty hard. She loved him like another uncle and she didn’t care to think that she would never see him again. Especially considering what happened the last time she saw him.

  It was hard for everyone to get back into the routine of the last week of school before Christmas break. Death still hung heavy in the air and it seemed everyone, not just Dani, was ready to get away.

  They learned that Joe and Adele were sent by the council to spy on the school. Headmaster Charleston was mad as a hatter. Dani had never seen his paunchy face so red. Nadia was mad at Joe too for keeping it from her, though she soon forgave him. Headmaster Charleston grudgingly agreed that no matter what Joe's original purposes, he was a great teacher and was welcomed to come back. An arrangement he happily accepted as it allowed him to stay close to Dani and help figure out what the new marks and visions meant for her. Adele was offered the same, though she declined. She said she missed her family and wanted to return to England. Dani didn't blame her.

  Dani thought it was hilarious that the worst liar she knew was the one the council chose to spy on the staff. She had to admit that he must have gotten better considering he had gotten away with it.

  She was having a hard time dealing with the memories of that night. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the blood and the bodies covering the ground. She got nauseous every time she remembered killing that night.

  Another thing she had hard time dealing with was her new position. Being part of a pair fated to save the world was a lot of pressure. Yet, she couldn’t talk about it, not to Jan or Joe and especially not to Samuel. Not yet anyway. What did that prophecy even mean? Not the part about saving the world. She understood that for the most part, it was pretty self-explanatory. The part about love and family? Does this mean that she and Samuel are supposed to love each other? To be together?

  Not that she would mind. She does love him, more than anything and she is pretty sure that he loves her too. Their relationship has just been so rocky from the start. Who is to say that this prophecy won’t complicate it even more?

  The council came to town for the funerals and interviewed the staff and the few students that fought during the attack. They all decided it would be for the best if they didn’t find out about Dani or Samuel so they refrained from mentioning it to the council. She was also lucky enough not to receive any more visions yet. That was another giant question mark. Regular Hunters don’t have any powers other than physical strength and fighting skills. So why was she gifted with visions? The prophecy didn’t mention anything about it either.

  She avoided Samuel as much as she could the rest of the week. She didn’t regret kissing him that night, but that didn’t mean she was any less confused. She knew that eventually they would work it all out, so she wasn’t going to rush it. Maybe some time apart will give her the time she needed to think.

  She was glad to be going home where she could at least try to pretend that none of it ever happened. But she knew that wasn’t likely. She and Joe had lots to figure out, and when the right time came, she would have to let Samuel back in, probably a lot sooner than she would hope.

  As soon as she and Joe passed through the open gates, and out o
nto the highway, she didn’t look back.