“This is going to be hard to take,” Sarah said as she turned around.
Mark quickly turned away and pretended he wasn’t looking. Sarah noticed and a smirk grew on her face.
“What’s going to be hard to take?” Mark asked nervously. He needed to quit doing this to himself, he couldn’t have Sarah.
“Why don’t you turn on the TV. There has to be some news of it by now. And keep in mind that Katie is safe,” Sarah said sheepishly. She didn’t know how to tell this to Mark. It might be cowardly, but the news was going to tell him.
Mark flipped through a few channels until he found a channel with his picture in the lower left corner. It was the mug shot he had taken when he was in jail. He was amused at first because the picture must have been taken while he was passed out. He looked stupefied and stoned.
The stuffy looking news man spoke. “Mark Albet is wanted in connection with the death of his wife Jennifer and his daughter Kathrine. If anyone has any information on his whereabouts please call…” Mark couldn’t listen anymore he shut off the TV and threw the remote across the room. When it collided with the wall it exploded.
“What the hell did you do, Sarah?!” Mark yelled as he stood up.
Sarah wasn’t quite dressed yet, she had gotten her blue jeans on but quickly covered her chest with the shirt she had picked out. Now was not the time to tease Mark.
“Calm down, I said this was going to be hard to take,” Sarah pleaded.
Mark took a step toward Sarah in anger, then realized, this was Sarah. He could never hurt her, so he just looked up at the ceiling and yelled, then let himself fall, face first, on to the bed.
“Katie is perfectly fine,” Sarah said as she put her shirt on. “My brother will stop at nothing to kill everyone who stands in his way. If he thinks she’s dead, he’ll quit looking for her. He will use whatever he has to in order to make you join him.”
“Why? Where is she? What does he want with me?” Mark was beyond confused, beyond angry. His life was now totally gone and Katie with it.
“First things first. Katie is staying with some friends of mine that owe me a lot, so she will be well taken care of. Second, the best way for you to protect her is if she thinks you killed Jen, so she won’t look for you. Third, Sariel thinks that you are the key to winning the war. So he is willing to do anything to control you.” Sarah sat on the bed next to Mark wishing she could do something to help him with this.
“What do I have to do with this war? And I’m guessing that Sariel has sided with The Beast?” Mark asked, exasperated.
“Yes, he is helping The Beast and you are important because you’re special,” Sarah explained.
Mark sat up and stared into Sarah’s eyes. She could see the anger and desperation and she didn’t know how much more Mark could take before he totally lost it.
“Why am I so special?” Mark pleaded.
“It has to do with how you were conceived. You see you were the child of a Nephilim and an angel,” Sarah said quietly. She seemed like she was reluctant to even say it out loud.
“So?” Mark asked crossly.
“So the union of an angel and a Nephilim is certain death for the Nephilim mother. This is why your mother died in childbirth and your father just disappeared,” Sarah explained.
“So what does that make me?” Mark asked, a little calmer now.
“It makes you special,” Sarah smiled. “If you don’t believe me why don’t you go take a shower and look in the mirror? You probably haven’t had a shower in days and we want to fit in as we try to sneak our way through the city. You look kinda like a homeless person.”
“Maybe that would help me fit in better,” Mark laughed. He was still angry, but Sarah was intoxicating, hearing her make jokes was impossible for him to resist.
“You want to be invisible, just dress like you do for work and no one will even look twice at you. There are some clothes in the bathroom that I had someone pick up from your house. I hope they still fit,” Sarah said with a snicker.
Still fit? What did she mean? When Mark entered the bathroom he looked in the mirror and he knew exactly what she meant. His arms and chest, even his legs had gotten sturdier. He looked like he worked out every day for a year. A week ago he was concerned about the fact that he was starting to get a beer belly but his abs were clearly visible now. What was happening to him? Although, putting on some muscle was probably the best thing that had happened that week, it was still strange.
“I’m gonna have to stop calling you cutie,” Sarah said through the bathroom door. “I bought you another shirt, two sizes bigger, after I saw you at work I realized how special you were.”
Mark heard Sarah walk away from the door, so he started up the shower and got in. After his shower, which he needed a lot more than he realized, he got out and silently thanked Sarah for the larger shirt. The pants weren’t such a big deal, he had always worn his pants a little larger than they needed to be in case of shrinkage in the dryer. Also they just felt more comfortable when they were baggy.
Mark exited the bathroom while drying his hair with the hotel towel so he couldn’t see that Sarah had company.
“So where we going now? I think I can live without stopping at the house. But we need to talk about…” Mark smelled them first, the horrible stench of vampires. He removed the towel from his head and saw two large men beside Sarah and a smaller man behind her with a foot long blade to her throat.
“No funny stuff there, lover boy,” the smaller man said. “You won’t make it to her before I can remove her pretty little head.”
“Mark, just sit down and let me handle this,” Sarah said, winking at him.
Why was Sarah winking? Either way, sitting sounded like a great idea. He wasn’t about to take on these men. He might have put on a little muscle but these mean looked like they could snap him in half.
“Back to our conversation, sweetheart. Is his daughter really dead?” the short man asked as he leaned over to talk in Sarah’s ear.
“Don’t hurt her,” Mark said through gritted teeth.
“I’ve got this, Mark.” Again Sarah winked.
“Yes, I killed her to keep her from becoming a vampire. I blamed it on Mark, but it was me. He’s about to be seriously pissed at me right now, so holding me hostage might not be your best move,” Sarah said and winked at Mark again.
Mark got the hint now. “You killed Katie?!” Mark yelled as he stood up, shooting the chair across the room behind him.
“I’m so sorry Mark, they would have turned her into a vampire. I had no choice.” Sarah smiled a little at Mark, but just long enough to let him know he was on the right track.
The two larger men turned to look at the smaller one.
“Wait, so we can’t…” Before the smaller man could finish his sentence Sarah grabbed the blade and thrust it all the way through his leg, bone and all. While the small man struggled in agony, trying to get the blade dislodged from his femur Sarah attacked one of the larger men. She hit him in the chest hard enough that all Mark heard was the sound of breaking ribs, the man didn’t flinch. He threw a punch at Sarah but Sarah was incredibly fast. She ducked out of the way and kicked the other large man behind her in the knee, again Mark heard the sound of snapping bone as this man fell to the floor in pain. Mark could barely keep up as the three of them fought. Sarah was amazing, he doubted they even got one hit on her. Before long both men were on the floor, Sarah had broken their necks.
“Breaking their necks will not kill them but it does take quite a while to repair. Let’s get…” Sarah was cut off mid-sentence as the foot long blade came out the middle of her chest. The small man had somehow wrenched it from his leg.
“Not going anywhere now, sweetheart,” the man laughed.
Mark was overcome with rage. He ran across the room and hit the man in the head. Mark was not a good fighter, he had intended to hit the man in the jaw but his aim was off. The smaller man shook his head and came at Mark with the blade.
“I can’t kill you but I can cut you up real good before Sariel gets here,” the man said with an evil smile.
Mark wasn’t listening, he was still consumed with rage. The blade sunk into his stomach and Mark ignored it. He grabbed the hand that was holding the blade and pulled as hard as he could. The man’s arm tore apart at the socket and it fell to the floor, still bleeding.
“I’m going to fucking kill you! You killed Sarah!” Mark yelled as he grabbed the blade and drew it back to cut off the man’s head.
As he swung downward, someone caught his arm, someone much stronger than he was. He saw painted red fingernails. It was Sarah, she wasn’t dead.
“We don’t kill!” Sarah scolded him.
Sarah removed the blade from Mark’s hand effortlessly then shoved it in the smaller man’s chest and said. “Pay back is a bitch.” Then she snapped his neck as well.
“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Mark begged.
“It’s ok, I appreciate the sentiment, but you’re forgetting there are only two ways to kill us and stabbing through the heart isn’t one of them,” Sarah scolded again, much quieter this time.
“Right,” Mark said, ashamed that he had let her down so soon.
“His arm though, that’s not gonna heal for a very long time. Feel sorry for him…almost,” Sarah smiled at the end. She was sort of devious when she wanted to be.
“We need to get out of here, Sariel is coming,” Sarah said hurriedly as she ran to the door. She quickly opened the door then shut it again. “Umm, plan B.”
“What’s going on?” Mark implored.
“Well…Sariel is here.” Sarah was searching around the room looking for something. “So, we need to…not be here.” Sarah had found what she was looking for. “In here.”
Sarah pulled up a small door hidden in the floor revealing what looked like a garbage shoot. As soon as Mark got close he was sure it was a garbage shoot. He could smell the garbage below.
“No squirming, just get in and hold your breath,” Sarah commanded.
“Yes ma’am,” Mark replied then jumped feet first into the shoot. He was not about to argue with Sarah, she was a badass and he clearly was not. She disarmed him with such ease and her grip was like a steel trap. She probably could have ripped his arm off with much less effort than it had taken Mark.
At the bottom Mark tried to get out of the way as fast as he could but Sarah landed right on top of him. She ended up sitting right on his chest as he lay face up. Mark found himself wanting Sarah again. If only this was under different circumstances.
“Prince charming I presume?” Sarah quipped.
“Prince dumpster, more like it,” Mark groaned. “Not that you’re heavy, cause you’re not, but can you get off my chest?”
“Oh I see, I save your life and all you can say is ‘Sarah quit crushing my spleen’,” Sarah said in her best Mark voice as she wiggled her way to the edge of the dumpster.
“Now that’s the Sarah I…” Mark paused, was he really going to say that?
“What was that?” Sarah laughed as she removed the garbage from her clothes.
“That’s the Sarah I know,” Mark quickly covered. Was he really just about to say that?
“We better get moving, Sariel will find that hatch soon enough. Let’s find some clean clothes… again!” Sarah complained as she looked down at her once white shirt. “I really liked this shirt.”
“Yeah, that gaping, bloody hole in your chest isn’t flattering,” Mark joked.
“Says the guy with arm guts all over his white shirt?” Sarah retorted.
“Fair point,” Mark conceded as the two of them carefully crept their way out of the alley and on to the street.
Sarah led the way down the alley, not that Mark couldn’t have found his way but he had no idea where she was going. Also, he was enjoying the view as Sarah led the way.
Chapter 9
After what seemed like an hour Sarah ducked into a novelty tee-shirt shop while Mark hid in the alley. He was, after all, a wanted fugitive now. He couldn’t just walk into a store and buy clothes. What was more, his shirt was torn and covered with blood. Even if they didn’t recognize him from TV the blood would get too much unwanted attention. Sarah, on the other hand, was not a wanted fugitive and she had found an old jacket to throw over her shirt and conceal the still healing wound in her chest. The lull in the action gave Mark time to ponder everything that had happened to him over the last few days and grief began to set in again. Now, not only was the love of his life dead, his daughter believed he had killed her. He would never see either of them again, he was all alone. Why was this happening to him? Just a few short days ago he had the perfect life, now it was all gone.
Mark was snapped out of his wallowing when Sarah came around the corner practically skipping.
“Got us some shirts!” she squealed. How could Sarah be so upbeat? Maybe she was used to this. She was very old and surely had seen her share of blood and death.
Mark stared at Sarah’s shirt in disbelief.
“I thought we were going for inconspicuous? Every guy between the ages of thirteen and seventy-five will be staring at you until we leave the city,” Mark exclaimed, motioning to Sarah’s choice of shirts. He knew he would be staring at her. In fact, he couldn’t take his eyes off her chest right now.
“Well they didn’t have anything big enough for my chest and I liked this one,” Sarah exclaimed, giving a twirl to show off for Mark.
Her shirt was about a size too small and across the front of the black shirt was a neon yellow owl with his eyes directly over her breasts. The quote along the bottom said ‘Hoot if you like boobs.’
“I figured you’d find it amusing,” Sarah smirked.
“Amusing is not the word I’d use,” Mark said as he tore off what was left of his shirt and threw it in the dumpster. “Oh geez, and this one’s not much better.”
Mark’s was black with neon lettering as well that read ‘I’m with stupid’ and it had an arrow that pointed up.
“Sorry,” Sarah half-heartedly apologized. “I’ll take em back.” Sarah pouted and Mark’s annoyance waivered. What was it about Sarah? He just couldn’t be upset with her. Not that seeing her perfect figure in a tight fitting shirt was anything to be upset about.
“No, it’s fine, let’s just get out of here,” Mark conceded.
“I was going for tourist couple. I think I hit it on the head,” Sarah smiled and Mark nodded in agreement.
Mark and Sarah walked down the street, arm in arm, trying to blend in. Mark tried desperately not to stare at Sarah but it wasn’t working. Her shirt was so tight that Mark could see the outline of her nipples under the shirt. Mark was again glad that he always wore his pants a little large, Sarah probably hadn’t even noticed his interest in her body. Mark was also intoxicated by the smell of Sarah. He couldn’t even describe the smell. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before, but it was remarkable.
Sarah figured they should look like tourists because nobody ever bothered tourists. They didn’t want to be asked a million questions about where the best such and such was. This worked out very well and Mark admired Sarah’s intelligence silently.
As they walked along, Sarah’s guilt overtook her and she had to confess.
“Mark?” Sarah asked looking up at him.
“Yes, Sarah?” Mark sounded annoyed, but truthfully he wasn’t annoyed with Sarah. He was annoyed with himself, how he felt about Sarah. He was also struggling with his inability to quit looking at Sarah. How could he betray Jen like this? Why was he so attracted to Sarah and why now? He had always had a thing for Sarah but his twinge of fascination with her had turned into full on lust. When he was with her all he could do was think about her body, how nice she smelled, how much he would love to kiss her. He thought that maybe it was because of his grief or maybe the blow to the head Jen’s killer had given him. This sudden desire for Sarah must have a reason behind it either that or he was some degenerate and had only now
realized it.
“I have something else to tell you. I should have told you a while ago but I thought you might get upset. So…here goes. Jennifer was my youngest sister.” Sarah paused for a minute to wait for Mark’s reaction.
“Jen? Was like you?” Mark was very confused. He stopped walking and stared at her face, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “We had Katie. I thought Asuune couldn’t have kids?”
“No, she hadn’t ascended yet. She wanted time to have a family. She wanted as much normal as she could get before she turned.” Sarah looked down at her feet as she stood in front of Mark.
“She knew?!”And there it was, the other shoe. Mark was a little too loud and some of the people in the crowd turned to look. Mark quickly lowered his voice. “She knew and didn’t tell me?”
“Yes, she wanted to wait until after the new baby you guys were planning. She wanted one more child before she told you. We were gonna tell you, I promise. It seemed like you might not be able to handle it so we just kept putting it off,” Sarah explained apologetically.
“Oh,” Mark didn’t know what else to say. It was probably the right call. Jen always knew what was best for them. He wasn’t upset with her for keeping this from him. In Mark’s mind, everything Jen did was faultless. He still loved her the way he had for twenty years, why did he have these feelings for Sarah now? Mark felt like he was going insane.
Sarah could see what she thought was grief creeping back into Mark’s expression so she tried to cheer him up.
“At least you survived. I’m not sure what I would have done if you had died when she did.” Sarah was trying to give him something to be happy for but it just turned out badly. Her attempt to cheer him up only ended up making Mark have more questions.
“What do you mean at least I survived?” Mark looked at her curiously. “You said they wouldn’t risk killing me because I’m special.”
“No, no, they wouldn’t have killed you. It’s just that, another one of God’s road blocks is that every Asuune has one person for them. Like their soul-mate or something. Each Asuune gets one and only one. Most times if one of them dies the other also dies. Call it a broken heart, shared existence, whatever. For some reason the mate will just instantly die if the other does.” Sarah felt she was doing a better job explaining things now but Mark’s expression still hadn’t changed.
Curse of the Asuune Page 7
