Mark of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 1)

by Conner Kressley

  “That was before,” Eve said, backing toward Merry. My chest tightened. “But under this spell, under this moon, you can give it to one of the children born that night. So long as the others are dead, and so long as you do it of your own accord. You can give it to her. And then, I can take it for myself.”

  My mind spun, wondering if what she was saying was actually true. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she believed it, and that she had worked for a quarter century to bring it into fruition.

  “That’s why you killed them all, that’s why you gave them things that belonged to me. You wanted to get my attention. You wanted to make sure that I got close to one of them; close enough to care.”

  “Once she has the mark, it can be transferred. So long as that moon is in the sky, it can be given to whoever takes it. Once I take it, I’ll drop the spell and solidify the magic surrounding it once more. Then I’ll be immortal. Then I’ll be able to stop what’s coming.”

  “Why would I allow that to happen, Mother?” I asked, close enough that I could touch both her and Merry. “Why would I just willingly give this thing away?”

  “Because I know my son. I know what it looks like when he loves someone, and I know that — when that happens — there’s nothing he won’t do to save her life.”

  She pulled a blade from somewhere in the mound of fabric she was wearing. Before I could react, the blade slashed through Merry’s throat, unleashing a torrent of bright red blood.

  “You had better hurry, son,” Mother said, looking up with the bloodstained blade in her hand. “This is probably a foreign concept to you, but you don’t have much time left.”

  33

  Panic flooded me as I watched Merry bleed out on the table before me. My first instinct was to rush to her, to blot the wound with whatever I could find, to lie to her, tell her she was going to be okay. And then, once enough time had passed that we both knew that wasn’t going to happen, to promise with everything in my immortal body, that I would protect her daughter and rain terror on the monsters who did this to her. Even though that monster was my own mother.

  My next instinct was to rip through these bitches like toilet paper on taco night. But, that wouldn’t do any good either. Both would end with Merry dead.

  Lucky for me, mommy dearest was just about to flesh out the third option on the table.

  “You see, son,” she said, stepping between merry and I and staring me right in the eyes. “You have a choice in front of you now. You can either be stubborn. You can let this woman die and cement who you are to the bowels of history. Or you can change things. You can save a life, and then you won’t be the great murderer anymore. You’ll be a savior.”

  “That role’s already taken, Mother,” I spit out through clenched teeth. “A few times over, depending on which part of the book you adhere to.” I swallowed hard. “Besides, you’re forgetting, the mark doesn’t heal me. Even if I gave it to her, her neck would still be sliced in half. And the instant you took it, she’d drop dead.”

  “Not necessarily,” my mother answered, holding her hand out for me to take. I refused it. Dropping it, she continued. “The mark might not heal her, but my girls here can.” She looked around at the lunar coven, smiling a smug, satisfied grin.

  “Them?” I balked. “They tried to kill her before.”

  “They were never trying to kill her, son,” Mother said as the lunar coven stayed silent on the matter. “They only wanted the both of you here, and trust me, these girls do as I command them.”

  “That’s what I don’t trust, Mother,” I answered, eyeing Merry behind her. Her face was starting to get pale and unresponsive. There was no time. No time at all. “How can I ever trust you, Mother?” I asked with a new urgency in my voice. “I haven’t seen you since the world was new. You should have been dead eons now, and now that you’re back, the first thing you do is set up some plan to force me into giving up a piece of myself.”

  “A piece you don’t want,” she replied.

  “How do you know what I want?” I asked, anger rising into my throat and spewing out my mouth like so much venom.

  “Because I know you,” she answered. “Because I’m your mother, and more than any of the people who now walk this earth, you came from me.” She shook her head. “I know what you want, son. I can see what it is that makes you whole.” Her eyes moved back and rested on Merry, who was convulsing and shaking as she continued to bleed out. “And I would never take that away from you. Not unless you forced me to. Now, do what you have to, Son.”

  My gaze hardened as I took my mother in. She had become something else, something harder.

  “I’m never going to forgive you for this,” I said, resigning myself to playing along with her sick game. After all, what choice did I have.

  “You don’t ever have to. That’s the beauty in giving up eternity,” she answered and tried to touch my shoulder.

  I pulled away, sneering at her like the waste of space that she was. “What do I have to do?”

  She handed me the knife she had just used to assault Merry, the same knife that was still covered with her blood.

  “This weapon was forged the same day the sacrifices were born. It’s connected to the magic used in the spell, used in the moon.” A flicker of a smile danced across her face as I took the blade. “All you have to do is cut yourself. It doesn’t have to be deep or even painful. A little slash on the arm and the connection of the blade will transfer what’s yours to her.” She swallowed hard. “And from there, once the seal has been voluntarily broken, I can transfer it to myself.”

  I knelt down, watching as the light began to flicker from Merry’s eyes. I had seen that look before. It was the look of death, and it had been on the faces of nearly every person I had allowed myself to love over the centuries at one time or another. Looking at this woman now, I knew that I couldn’t allow that look to grace the face of even one more person I cared about. No matter what it cost me.

  I ran the blade across the inside of my arm, slicing at the tender skin. A yelp of glee escaped my mother’s lips. It sickened me. Still, I had bigger things to concern myself with. A loud rumble of thunder cracked through the sky. Something told me the Big Guy was not a fan of this turn of events.

  The energy that had fueled me for oh these many years poured out, a visible golden stream of power. It soared through the air, surrounding Merry like a halo, and then dissipating into her body.

  I felt weak as her eyes flipped open and old as she turned to me.

  “Callum,” she asked, her hand instinctively moving to the tear at her throat.

  “It’s okay,” I said, taking her hand and moving it away from the horrible violation. “It can’t kill you, sweetheart. Nothing can kill you now.” I swallowed hard, my bones creaking as I knelt. “And I think you can call me Cain now.”

  Merry’s eyes narrowed as she took in all that had happened.

  “No,” she said with tears in her eyes. “You can’t,” she continued, swallowing hard. “You can’t give the curse to her.”

  “Oh baby,” I said, pushing the hair out of her eyes and giving her a half grin. “I’m not giving her a damn thing.”

  The instant the words left my mouth, the entire maze shook hard. Something had been cut, had been severed. And, I knew just who had done it.

  “Thank you Pearl,” I said under my breath, turning quickly and standing. My body ached as I spun back toward my mother. Suddenly, I felt every one of my years all at once.

  “What’s happening, Cain?” Mother asked, looking up at the sky, at the way the moon seemed to be flickering in and out of existence.

  “You know how people say they don’t make things like they used to?” I laughed, wiping the blood from my arm. “Same thing’s true with magic, I guess.”

  “His friends!” Mother hissed. “Fan out. Get them!”

  The witches dispersed like so many sparrows, flying to appease a master, who never really cared about them.

  “You�
��re fooling yourself,” Mother spit back at me. “I commissioned this magic myself, the strongest in the world. I saw to it! No witch alive can tear down what I’ve put up.”

  “What about one that’s not quite alive anymore?” I asked, letting a crooked smile play across my face.

  Merry was back on her feet, wobbly but not dying, never dying, it would seem. The entire maze shook again, and I saw my mother fold in on herself. She grabbed her gut and retched loudly.

  “You tied it all to yourself, didn’t you?” I asked, moving around her.

  “Give me that knife, Cain,” she commanded , looking up at me with panicked eyes, with the same eyes she must have had when she doomed us all to this dreaded world in the first place.

  “I knew it,” I answered, keeping the blade firmly in my hand. “I knew the instant I saw you that you would have to make all of this about you. This spell, this place, you tied yourself up in it, didn’t you? That’s why it’s hurting you, that’s why when Pearl takes this entire operation down, you’re going to go down with it.”

  “Not just me,” she answered, her voice raspy and tired as she tried to hold herself together. “This place is a vortex. If it goes, everyone inside goes down with it. You, all your friends, and this little girl that you gave everything for; she’ll be trapped here for all eternity, in the dark, all alone.” Another magical tore. The maze shook and my mother was on her knees. She crawled toward me. “So just give it to me, Cain. Give me the damn blade and let me finish what I’ve started. You have no idea what’s coming. I have to save the world. I’m the only one who can.”

  “You?” I asked, looking down at her and feeling more than a little sad. “You gave paradise away for an apple, Mother. You’re the reason we’re in this situation. What the hell makes you think you can do anything?” I took Merry’s hand in mine. “You’re going to die here, Mother. And this time, I’m the one leaving you.”

  I pulled Merry along with me, heading out of the large room.

  “You come back here!” I heard my mother scream over my shoulder. “You come back here and do what your mother tells you!”

  A crackling sound emitted from behind me. Turning, I saw that my mother — still on the ground — had produced a huge ball of fire. She must have redirected some of the magic she was connected to.

  Before I could react, it was spinning toward me, heat encompassing me as it flew through the air.

  An instant before it hit, Merry threw herself in front of me.

  It knocked her backward, putting me on my ass with her on top of me.

  “No!” Mother screamed as she herself was encompassed with flames. In seconds, she was nothing more than a torrent of fire, useless, screaming, and writhing on the ground.

  “Sevenfold,” I muttered, looking up at Merry.

  “I wonder how your mother likes them apples,” she grinned.

  “Really?” I asked, smiling.

  “Too soon?” she wondered.

  “It might always be too soon for that.”

  Her hand went to my hair. “It’s gray,” she said, looking at me mournfully.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s nothing. Let’s just get out of here.”

  We stood and started running as the entirety of the room began to fall away.

  Looking up, I saw that the moon was flickering even more now. She was doing it. Pearl was taking down the spell.

  As we rushed through the maze, hand in hand, I followed the sounds of battle.

  Gunshots poured out into the air. Somewhere, Andy was defending either himself or Pearl.

  I heard clomping paws and the screams of women, Clint was putting these witches in their place.

  And then I felt the worst of it. An intense pull at my guts.

  Merry felt it too, as it drove both of us to our knees.

  The world was collapsing around us.We had barely been outrunning the deterioration as is. Now, turning back to look at the swirling vacuum readying to swallow us both up, all I could think about was what my mother had said.

  Merry would be all alone, trapped here forever. No, I wouldn’t allow that. I raised the blade, nearing her arm with it.

  But then a light swirled around us, whisking us away.

  When we reappeared, we were both standing. We were right outside the maze, which I could now see was little more than a swirling mass of greens and energy.

  Clint and Andy were standing to my left. They were both pretty beaten up, with Clint obviously having the worst of it. Still, neither of them seemed to be in too much trouble.

  “Jesus, Uncle C!” Andy said, his eyes widening as he took me in. “You look like warmed over shit.”

  He was right. Looking down at my hands, I could see they were now wrinkled and worn with age spots. The curse, now that it was gone, my body was reverting back to it’s age, which meant that I’d be dust in minutes.

  “Where’s Mimi?” I asked, surprised at how croaky my voice sounded.

  Andy’s face fell.

  “They got to her,” he said, stepping aside and revealing Mimi laying on the ground, a hole blown through her abdomen. “She saved us, and she made sure to get us all out. But they got to her.”

  The maze disappeared from view, imploding like the hotel had, all those nights ago, as I knelt down to the woman who had basically been my granddaughter.

  Suddenly and furiously, I knew what pain was all over again. The rest of the world melted away, as I looked down at her face. It was older now, etched with the lines that time had brought to everyone but me. Still, all I could see was that little girl; the one I had left, the one I had loved.

  “You look almost as old as I did the day you left me,” she said. And I could tell from the content and the cadence in her words that I was talking to Pearl and not Mimi.

  “It’s been a crappy day,” I answered, brushing hair out of her face. “I didn’t want this to happen to her,” I choked out.

  “I know,” she answered weakly. “Neither did I, but we can’t change was is. And, in the end, all of us have to move on in one way or another. This is a better way than most. And she’s at peace with it. She really is.”

  “Is she in pain?” I asked, blinking back tears and trying to keep myself sturdy.

  “Don’t worry. I took it away from her,” Pearl said and she began to cough. “She’s with me now. I’m not going to let go of her again.”

  “You take care of her over there, Pearl,” I answered. “Take care of our girl. And tell her that I’ll see her soon.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Pearl answered. “You remember what I told you back in the house about the woman standing behind you, the one who could see your mark?”

  “You said she was proof of something,” I answered, watching as that look, the look of death that I had tried to hard to keep out of Merry’s eyes settled on Pearl’s. “What is she proof of?”

  “You’ll see,” she answered, coughing again. “You’ll see very soon.”

  And, with that, two women I loved departed the same body.

  “Uncle C,” Andy said, leaning down beside me and pulling me from this agony. “We need to do something. You’re-” He gulped. “Look at you. You’re getting older by the second.”

  “There’s nothing to do, Andy. It’s well passed my time to call it a day,” I answered, looking up at him and patting him on the shoulder. My hand was nearly a skeleton’s as I pulled it back. “All I can do is wait.”

  “Or not,” Merry’s voice echoed from above me. I must have put the blade down as I went to Pearl, because it was now in her hand, now hovering over her arm.

  “No!” I said, groaning louder than my aged voice box would have liked. “You’re still hurt and there’s no witch left to heal you. Without the curse you’ll die.”

  “And without it, you will,” she answered. “And you heard your mother. Something is coming. She might have been delusional to think she could have stopped it, but I’m not delusional. And I know you can.”

  �
�Merry, don’t do this!” I said, looking up at her. “Merry stop!”

  “You said you’d take care of my daughter,” she said, actually smiling as she ran the blade down her arm. “I’m holding you to it.”

  And then she fell to the ground.

  34

  Two days later, Merry woke in a hospital bed on Savannah’s west side. She was hooked to machines and laying five feet away from her daughter.

  And I was there to greet her.

  “What?” she asked weakly as her eyes opened. “Is this what heaven is like?”

  “Don’t know,” I answered. “Never been, and neither have you.” I leaned forward in my chair, resting my hand on hers. “You’re stubborn. Do you know that? It took all I could do to get you back here before you finished bleeding out, and I want you to know I owe a pretty demanding Tibetan healer a massive favor for saving your ass.”

  Her hand went to her throat.

  “It’s gone,” I said. “All except a scar.” I shrugged. “Like I said, the favor I owe is massive.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she sat up in bed, probably feeling a little better than she had any right to.

  “What about Amber?” Merry asked, looking over at her sleeping daughter in the bed beside her. The little girl was a beauty to say the least, and what was more, I had some pretty major news to give Merry about her.

  “I pulled some strings, got her moved here. I figured the two of you could use some bonding time.”

  “But-but her condition,” Merry started. “Her father’s dead. There’s no kidney.”

  “There’s also no need for one,” I answered, leaning even closer in. “A lot’s happened in the few days that you’ve been out. I got the curse back and obviously reverted to my youthful, and very handsome, normal self,” I said, grinning and winking at her. “But I also had another trick up my sleeve. Someone came to me when we were with the gypsies; a very powerful someone,” I said, thinking of Andy lying dead on the ground and the promise that Gabriel made me make in order to save him. “He told me how to do something I didn’t know I was capable of. And, when I got you back here and saw your precious little girl, I decided to try it out.”