Inception (The Marked Book 1)

by Bianca Scardoni

  “Can I get you guys a drink to start with?” she asked, smiling as she dropped a set of menus on the ivory table.

  “I’ll have a Coke.” I turned to Gabriel who was sitting perfectly straight in his seat, both hands planted on his lap. It was almost unnerving how proper he was.

  “Just water, please.”

  “No problem. I’ll be right back with those,” she smiled and walked off.

  “Four years.”

  I looked up at him and blinked. “Four years what?”

  “I’ve been a Revenant for four years,” he said calmly. “I was twenty-one when I turned, and that was four years ago.”

  “Four years. That’s it? I thought you’d be something more dramatic. You know, like a century or two.”

  “Sorry to disappoint,” he said evenly. His eyes seared into mine, waiting for another question.

  I was happy to oblige. “Did you choose it?”

  “I would never choose this,” he said, every word slicked with repugnance.

  “How did it happen?”

  The waitress cut through with our drinks and placed them down on the table in front of us.

  “Are you ready to order?” she asked, oblivious to the epic conversation she’d just interrupted.

  I realized I hadn’t even looked at the menu. Unwilling to suffer the extra wait, I went with the tried and true. “Cheeseburger and fries.”

  “Perfect.” She jotted down my order on her pad and turned to Gabriel. “And for you?”

  “Nothing for me, thank you.”

  “You sure?” she asked, tilting her head to the side as she smiled at him. It seemed like a flirty gesture.

  He nodded, resolute and unaware of it.

  “Okay. Well, if you change your mind, just give me a shout,” she said, pointing to the nameplate on her bust that read Lana.

  I waited for her to disappear behind the counter again.

  “Will you tell me how it happened?”

  He ran a hand over his face and nodded. I guess I finally wore him down enough to spill the goods.

  “It happened four years ago,” he began, glancing out the window as though the pictures were replaying for him in the distance. “I came home after being out of town on assignment and found my brother entertaining Revenants in our living room. True Revenants, not Descendants like us.”

  My eyes widened.

  “Seeing them there in my home, invited, where my family lived...” I could see the fury settling in over him like an old familiar friend. “I did the only thing I knew how to do. What I’d always been trained to do. I reacted.”

  “Meaning you vanquished them?”

  “Without question.” He glanced out the window again, his eyes sweeping the parking lot carefully. “Later when the dust settled, so to speak, I’d learnt that Dominic had been involved with one of the female Revenants from the coven,” he said turning back to me. “And that he fancied himself in love with her.”

  “Are you saying Dominic was in love with a Revenant when he was still Anakim?” I had no idea why I was so surprised, this sounded exactly like something he would do.

  He nodded, his expression undisturbed. “Dominic has always taken pleasure in breaking the rules. He’s always gravitated to the dark side but nothing like what he became after that day. It was as though something in him had switched off. He vowed revenge on me for what I’d done, though as it turned out there wouldn’t be much time for retribution since ironically, both Dominic and I were fated to die anyway. Or so we were told.”

  “What you mean fated to die?”

  “On the Paradigm,” he answered plainly. “The grand scheme of things—of all things. There is much we can manipulate in this world, things we can prevent or alter, though death is not one of them. It’s a Cardinal Law. If you’re ordained to die—if it’s your time to go—Death will come for you until the debt is paid and the balance is restored.”

  I felt a prickling chill slide down my back. There was something about the way he described death, like it was a living breathing entity, and it made my skin crawl.

  “Dominic, being the nonconformist that he was, refused to accept this fate and instead chose to spend every waking moment he had left looking for some kind of loophole—a way to cheat death. And indeed, he found it.”

  “By Turning,” I realized aloud.

  He tipped his head once. “You must die in order to become a Revenant, thus satisfying the Paradigm, which in turn left him free to reanimate without any consequences—cosmically speaking.” His moss-green eyes gleamed as he stared back at me from across the table. “And through that discovery, he’d also found the perfect way to make me pay for what I’d done. By turning me into the very thing I hated most. The thing I was raised to hunt and kill.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “He did this to you? He’s the reason you’re a Revenant.”

  “And I’ve had to carry that guilt with me ever since. For both of us. For my family.”

  “Why would you feel guilty?” I asked, confused by his admission. “He’s the one who did this, not you.”

  “Yes, but he did it because of me,” he said blinking slowly. “If I hadn’t vanquished them…if I would’ve heard him out first, found another way, none of this would have happened—”

  “You don’t know that for sure,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “And besides, you can’t make people do things that aren’t already in them to do, Gabriel. You taught me that, remember?”

  He looked up at me, his expression somewhat surprised.

  The waitress returned to our table with my order and placed the plate down in front of me. “Bon Apetit.”

  “Thank you.” I skimmed a French fry off the top.

  “Have you changed your mind?” she smiled at Gabriel, wiping off the area in front of him with her dishrag. “A lot of people get an appetite after smelling the food.”

  I tried not to laugh.

  “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

  “Another glass of water maybe?”

  He shook his head. She hadn’t noticed his glass was still full. Or that mine was almost empty.

  “Could I get another coke?” I asked, shaking my glass.

  “Sure thing. I’ll be right back with that.”

  “So, how does my sister factor into all this?” I asked when she was gone.

  “I think I should let Tessa tell you that part herself. It isn’t my place to speak for her,” he said, pushing his untouched glass of water to the side.

  “Okay, fair enough.” I took a mega bite of my burger and smiled as the flavor exploded on my tongue. “How about your father? Is he still around?” I asked through a mouthful of food.

  His taut expression tightened. “He’s alive, however, he’s chosen not to be a part of our lives anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  “Jemma.” He regarded me as though I'd lost my mind. “Dominic and I are Revenants. The Huntington bloodline has ended because of us. We’ve disgraced our family—our lineage, our entire race. How could he not renounce us?”

  “But the Council…you still work for them, and the Magister said you were one of their best—”

  “That may very well be, but it doesn’t change what we are. I can still work for the Order, though I will never be anything more than a foot soldier to them, and I’m okay with that. Had this happened even a decade ago, I would not have been allowed to live, let alone step foot inside Temple, regardless of whether I was a danger to them or not.”

  “What changed their minds?”

  “I suppose the realization that Turned Anakim could be of use to them since our bloodlust can be controlled. We are strong, nearly indestructible, and most importantly, expendable. As long as we operate in the shadows and do as we’re told, we are permitted to exist.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “Perhaps,” he agreed, though not wholeheartedly. “But I understand their reasoning. They don’t want other Anakim seeing this as an acceptable alt
ernative though I don’t see how any Anakim worth their Mark would ever choose this. It’s a disgrace; the lowest form of existence.”

  The hatred he felt for Revenants was palpable. He was raised to hate them, to hunt their breed and kill them without so much as a second thought, and now he was one of them. I could only imagine the mental anguish this caused him. My heart ached for him in ways I couldn’t even articulate.

  “Here’s your coke,” said the waitress as she set it down in front of me and then sped off to answer a ringing phone. I barely noticed her that time.

  “Well, I think he’s missing out,” I said, taking a sip of my drink. “Your father, that is. My life’s only gotten better since you came into it, and I can’t imagine anyone feeling differently about you. It’s his loss.”

  Gabriel smiled back at me. It wasn’t a toothy grin by any stretch of the imagination, though for Gabriel’s standards, it might as well been a full Cheshire smile. And that was enough.

  We chatted quietly for the rest of my meal, mostly keeping to lighter subject matters until it was time to pay the bill. I still had a lot of questions though for now I was satisfied in what I’d learnt. The most important thing was that I felt I could trust him again. Paradigms and Fated deaths would have to be revisited again some other day when my brain wasn’t completely fried and overloaded.

  “By the way,” I said as we stood up from the table to leave, my curiosity getting the better of me. “How did you know you and Dominic were fated to die anyway?”

  Gabriel paused. Something about the look on his face made me hesitant to stick around for the answer. “A Time Keeper,” he said finally. “From the future.”

  27. EXCAVATION

  The rain came down like liquid ash, dusting the world in its wet gossamer as I made my way into All Saints the next morning. Trace and Paula were already setting up and didn’t seem in the least bit fazed by the constant rainfall. I, on the other hand, couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen the sun and was growing increasingly vexed by it.

  I’m sure it didn’t help that I hardly got any sleep last night. After Gabriel dropped me off, I’d spent the better part of the night tossing and turning, musing over the potential ways my sister factored into everything Gabriel had told me. I wanted to know her secrets; all of them.

  I couldn’t help but think she was connected to the mysterious Time Keeper from the future. Whatever it was she was hiding, I wasn’t about to just let it go. This was more than a few skeletons in her closet. This was a bone yard’s worth of skeletons. A bone yard that I’d been dragged into on more than one occasion and I was determined to find out why, even if that meant I would have to unearth every last rickety bone myself.

  By the time the lunch rush was over, I settled down at one of the back tables and busied myself with a list of all the possible people this mystery Keeper could be, though the names seemed to be few and far between. At the top of the list was Trace—the only Reaper I actually knew...

  And then there was Linley.

  For one, she was a trained Keeper, and Trace’s sister, so I knew she had the same abilities as he did, which meant she too could travel freely between space and time. Not to mention she was also the same age as my sister and could very well have been friends with her.

  The more I thought about it, the more all signs pointed to Linley as the Keeper. But why did Gabriel say she was from the future? Had she traveled back in time to warn them about their impending death? And why? What was so special about Dominic and Gabriel’s death that she felt the need to save them, especially if our deaths are supposed to be fated—inevitable?

  More importantly, I couldn’t help but wonder what this all meant for the rest of us, and for the loved ones we’d already lost. Loved ones like my father. Could they too be saved?

  “Is there any particular reason why you’ve been staring at that wall for the last ten minutes?” interrupted Trace as he sat down in the banquet seat across from me.

  “Is there any particular reason you’ve been watching me stare at it?” I countered, dodging his question as I tucked the list inside my book.

  His lip twitched as though it wanted to sprout a smile. “What are you working on?” he asked, ticking his chin.

  I lifted up the novel so he could read the cover.

  I was supposed to be working on my Lord of The Flies essay for English, but I couldn’t seem to get my brain to shift into homework-mode. Somehow, it just didn’t seem as important as all the other things going on in my life as of late.

  “It doesn’t look like you’re getting a lot done.”

  “Looks can be deceiving. You of all people should know that.” In fact, everyone in this town seemed to be perfectly versed in the comings and goings of deception.

  “I guess I had that coming.”

  I turned my attention back to my essay. “What do you want anyway? I know you didn’t come over here to talk to me about my homework.” I looked back up at him in time to catch his dimples ignite—no smile.

  “The work schedule for next week.” He placed a sheet of paper on the table and slid it over to me. “I put you on the day shift for spring break. Is that alright with you?”

  “It’s fine, thanks,” I said, slipping the schedule into my messenger bag. At least I’d have my evenings off. Gabriel was kind of a stickler when it came to my designated training hours.

  “I also took you off the schedule this Friday,” he added, glancing down at my open binder. “It’s Spring Formal.”

  “Yeah, I know.” As if I could forget. “It’s pretty much all Taylor can talk about these days,” I said, less than excited.

  “I guess you don’t like dances?”

  “Not by Taylor’s standards. She already has everything planned out right down to the color of eye shadow she’s wearing. I feel like there’s something wrong with me because I couldn’t care less if I went wearing a potato sack.”

  Trace leaned back in the seat and laughed. A real guttural laugh that upon hearing it, made me realize how much I enjoyed the sound of it. “I bet you’d still look beautiful,” he offered, carefully appraising me now.

  I felt my cheeks warm as his words registered. Unsure of how to react to them, I began busily flipping through my novel in an effort to appear unaffected.

  My to-do-list floated out from within the pages.

  “I shouldn’t have said that.” His voice was low, regretful. He caught the list and skated it back over to me. “I’ll see you later,” he mumbled, rising from his seat.

  “Hold on a sec,” I said, grabbing his wrist as he tried to pass by me. “I need to talk to you about something.”

  I figured this was as good a time as any to start my excavation. I waited for him to settle back in his seat before continuing. “I was hoping you could explain some things to me, you know, about Keepers.” I folded the piece of paper in half and stuffed it into my back pocket.

  “What do you want to know?”

  I wanted to know everything, like what their powers were used for and how they factored into vanquishing demons. But most of all, I needed to know under what circumstances a Keeper might travel to the past in order to save someone’s life, and if this could be done for other people—other people like my dad.

  But I had to be discreet about it.

  “I don’t understand why Time Keepers are used to hunt demons,” I began, careful with my words. “Is it just because of your porting ability, or is there another reason?”

  “There’s lots of reasons.” His dimples flashed briefly.

  “Like what? The other day, Ben said you could move between time and space, but I don’t see how traveling to the past fits in with any of this.”

  “It doesn’t. Not really,” he shrugged. “They don’t like us messing with that anyway. We mostly just port or realm jump.”

  “Realm jump?”

  “Yeah, to get to the other worlds—as part of the Covenant.”

  I think I was getting more confused as this convers
ation went on, which was so not the purpose of this inquisition.

  “They told you about the Covenant, right? The peace treaty.”

  I shook my head. “There’s a peace treaty? With who? The Revenants?” This seemed like a great thing. Why hadn’t anyone bothered mentioning it to me? If we had a peace treaty going on with the demons, what the heck did they need us for?

  “No. Between the Anakim and the Angel race.”

  My face blanched.

  “Look, maybe you should talk to your uncle about this,” he said, leaning forward to examine me as though I might keel over at any moment.

  “No, I’m fine. I can handle it. Please, just tell me what this coven thing is. I need to know.”

  “The Covenant,” he corrected as he sank back into his seat and shrugged. “The story goes that back in the day when the Angels first came down to earth, there were some problems within the ranks, you know, some of the Watchers who were supposed to be looking out for mortals were...well, helping themselves to them.”

  “Helping themselves?”

  He cleared his throat. “Mating.”

  “Mating. Right.” I could feel my cheeks blushing. “Which, um, resulted in the Nephilim—our earlier ancestors,” I quickly added, remembering what my uncle had said about the Fallen.

  “Exactly.” He cracked a half smile. “In the early days, the Angels made no distinction between any of them. They hunted them all equally—the Fallen, the Nephilim, and eventually even the Anakim even though their only crime was being the Descendants of a hybrid race,” he explained, tracing the frost down the front of my glass. “Anyway, a lot of blood was spilled on both sides.”

  I felt a shiver run down my spine.

  “Cut to a few hundred years later, leaders from both sides had finally had enough of the bloodshed so they came together and drafted a peace treaty that promised armistice amongst the races. Basically, they’d stop hunting us as long as we agreed to stay hidden from mortals and helped the Angels vanquish demons—from this world and beyond. Neither side has broken the Covenant since.”