Marked

by Jasmine Derriman

  “Why especially now?” I frowned at her.

  “Because of you of course,” Seth answered me. “If you’re found, if they know about you they know the dagger can be found, which means it’s power can be used, which means…”

  “…we can win the war,” Isaac finished. “They’re convinced it’s the only way right now, more marks will solve everything.”

  “But isn’t that how the first war started in the first place?” I frowned. “The abuse of too many marks?”

  “Exactly,” Isaac said, pointing at me. “Someone finally gets it.”

  “Let them do what they need to do,” Eve said. “If she is this one than no one else but she can use the dagger. We need to focus on what we need to do.”

  “And what‘s that?” I asked her.

  “I’m going to teach you how to be an Insigne.”

  I’m not sure if that statement amused Isaac, but there was no doubt that I heard a chuckle from his direction and Eve put her hands on the table and directed her attention towards him.

  “What’s so funny?” she sighed.

  “There are several things funny about that sentence,” Isaac said, putting his feet on the table as he leant back in his chair, “for one. It takes more than three days to really learn to be an Insigne, but then again, it would seem she would already know most of it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Seth was even confused as he walked to the table to lean on it from the opposite side from Isaac.

  “It’s almost like she’s always known and it’s just been locked inside her head or something,” Isaac told them. “She has a vaster knowledge of the marks than you do, Eve. I mean, she just looks at one and she just knows what it is. Not to mention she’s killed two demons already.”

  I had barely moved from where I stood and in the corner of my eye I saw Seth frowning as he looked at me. It was then he decided to walk over to me and before I realised what he was doing he turned himself around and reached over to pull his shirt away from his shoulder. It was then I realised why he stood there, and it was to show me his mark.

  I knew the moment I saw it, it was not a mark I had seen before, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know what it was. I could see in my head marks just kind of floating around, but the one I needed to see was there.

  “Wisdom,” I said softly before he could even ask. “Your mark is wisdom.”

  Seth pulled his shirt back up and turned around to face me and he shook his head a little. “That’s weird.”

  “You’re telling me,” Isaac muttered.

  “And why exactly did you neglect to tell me this information until now?” Eve asked annoyed.

  “Because, I don’t know, it slipped my mind,” Isaac admitted.

  “Did you tell the elders?” Seth narrowed his eyes.

  “No,” Isaac said immediately as he glanced at me. “I knew what they would think if I told them, and it’s exactly what you two are thinking now, and I didn’t need to give them any more ammunition than they already have on her.”

  “An infinite knowledge of marks would definitely support the theory that she can control the dagger,” Eve said, throwing her hands in the air. “She would need to know as many marks as she can to carve a new one into someone.”

  Isaac just shook his head a little towards Eve. “It doesn’t change us being here.”

  Isaac wouldn’t look at me at this point; he wouldn’t even look in my direction right now. I was really starting understand that Isaac had some sort of hatred towards this dagger, but I didn’t exactly understand what about it bothered him so much.

  “Okay, fine,” Eve said, sitting down in the chair that was near her. “So I don’t have to teach her about marks. What about demons then?”

  “I don’t know anything about demons,” I said quickly. “Just that if you stab them in the heart with a telum, they die.”

  Eve smiled at me. “Well, it’s a start.”

  “Start with the demons,” Isaac said, as he stood up. “I’ve got to deal with something.”

  Isaac only slightly looked at me as he proceeded to walk out of the room. I felt my body loosen a little and I realised I tensed as Isaac at walked past me, the whole situation felt kind of tense actually. Eve suddenly sighed loudly as she put her hand on the table and stood up.

  “He can be a drama queen sometimes,” Eve said as she looked at me. “Something I’m sure you’re understanding already.”

  I found myself just curling my lips together and nodding slightly at her. If I was honest I didn’t know so much about Isaac. I was learning bits and pieces only so often, and earlier, the talk about our family was the only real piece of information I seemed to understand about Isaac. Though, it wasn’t just knowing details about someone that made you know them. I knew Isaac’s voice, I knew the way Isaac’s hair was never in any sort of orderly way, I knew that he was passionate about what he did, and I knew him in the way I needed to right now.

  “It feels far too pointless to even begin going through the stuff today,” Eve sighed. “It’s already the afternoon believe it or not.”

  “I wouldn’t be able to tell from the light in that window,” I said softly, nodding my head towards the stainless glass window.

  Both Seth and Eve smiled a little at me, a lot like I wasn’t in on a private joke.

  “What?” I frowned at both of them.

  “Did Isaac explain to you this place? Did he explain that no one really knows where it is?” Seth asked me.

  “Kind of,” I shrugged. “I didn’t really make much sense.”

  “Well, you’re right, it doesn’t make much sense,” Eve nodded at me. “We don’t know the exact location on the map that council is located, only the elders know. It’s for protection. For an Insigne it’s the safest place in the world, a demon could never be able to find this place, and a demon can never enter the portal, only an Insigne can. If anyone who besides the elders knew the location this place could be swarming with demons.”

  “How is that even possible?” I asked them confused. “It sounds like…”

  “Magic?” Seth suggested. “Cause technically that’s exactly what is.”

  “You guys have wizards too or something?” I joked slightly, but at the same time I was kind of serious.

  “No, there no wizards,” Eve assured me. “They were called warlocks, but they died out years ago.”

  “So…magic, it’s actually real too?” I said slowly.

  “Well, technically yes, but not anymore,” Seth answered me. “The last warlock died around Annabeth’s time. The warlocks used to team with the Insigne’s to help kill demons, but warlocks were easily swayed by the dark magic demons could give them. The council made a decision to kill out the warlocks for the safety of both humans and Insigne’s. This place though, the warlocks put a protection spell on it, and created the portal so only Insigne’s could enter that way and never learn the true location, it’s why we can’t see out the windows, because we’re not allowed to.”

  “What’s the point in that?” I frowned at her.

  “So no one can work out where we are from looking out the window,” Seth answered.

  “Someone could do that?” I asked surprised.

  “I could,” Eve admitted proudly, “I mean, granted it would take time and a lot of research, if I wanted to, I could find out. We need a safe place though, out there, demons are everywhere.”

  “Everywhere,” I nodded. “I…these demons, so they’ve been around… I mean, they’re just always around, in the open?”

  “Well, kind of,” Eve said, squinting her face.

  “Humans don’t really see demons,” Seth told me, as he leant against the table, “but at the same time…they can.”

  “Yes, that’s the best way to explain it, Seth,” Eve said, rolling her eyes.

  “Well, it’s true,” Seth injected.

  “What Seth is trying to say,” Eve spoke, turning her head away from Seth and to me, “is that whilst humans can see demons,
they choose to not. I mean, they don’t purposely choose to not, it’s kind of like, as long as they don’t really believe in demons, they won’t notice them, and they don’t.”

  “You mean, humans have never noticed that thousands of scary killer demons roam the earth?” I said, shaking my head as I spoke as I realised none of the information was really working together.

  “Well, of course they have!” Eve exclaimed. “But because mortals can be so ignorant of the real danger, they cover it all up, make it into something else.”

  “Like werewolves for example,” Seth shrugged.

  “Oh, god, don’t tell me werewolves are real too?”

  “Oh no,” Eve shook her head immediately. “Not even close. There is a demon called a lupus demon. The demon looks like a wolf, expect that it is slightly bigger, definitely stronger and in a way contains human characteristics. Mortals, when faced with this demon believed that it could only be explained as mortals turning into wolfs and killing people, but like I said…ignorant.”

  “A lupus demon,” I whispered. “Before Isaac and I got here…the demon that attacked us-.”

  “Was a lupus demon,” Eve nodded. “They are excellent tracking demons; always find who they are looking for.”

  “I did…I did something with my hands…I mean, I didn’t just shoot fire like I normally do,” I whispered to Eve. “I don’t even know how I did it.”

  “Marks are a curious thing,” Eve smiled as he walked around the table to me. “Element marks are some of my favourite, because they are usually extremely powerful. Fire represents the idea of courage and strength, it’s seen as a powerful mark in our world. Fire will really never hurt you again; you can’t be burnt by fire.”

  “What?” I frowned, looking up at her as she stood in front of me.

  “It’s part of your mark,” Seth said, still leaning on the table. “I mean, before you couldn’t just shoot fire out of your hands without being burnt. Your skin will never be able to be burnt by fire.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked surprised.

  “Of course he is,” Eve smiled, “as for what you did with your hands, it another method of power you have. You’re able to send heat through something with the touch of your hands. Your hands would burn at such an intense heat, that when you touched the wolf you would’ve spread it through its body. To a human you could practically boil their blood.”

  “I could…what?”

  I looked up to meet Eve’s eyes, and it was clear that this wasn’t scaring her as much as it scared me. The mark at been a protection so far, a protection from the demons. I never saw the mark as much of a weapon, even though that’s exactly what it was. Not all marks were seen as weapon though. Felix’s mark wasn’t, he healed people, did good, and I could only hurt people.

  “When you’ve had your mark longer you’ll start to understand its power,” Eve promised. “We can’t teach you what it’s like to have the mark you do, but it’s chosen for you because somehow it embodies who you really are.”

  I managed to curl my lips together and just nod at Eve.

  “Right,” Eve said, clapping her hands together. “You should go have dinner and get some sleep, I’m sure you haven’t slept properly in days. I’ll find you tomorrow, okay?”

  Eve was right, I did need sleep, but it was so hard to sleep when there was so much going on in my mind. I had quite literally woken up to find myself in some fairy tale, in a world that should only be found on paper, but it was real and it had always been happening around me. It was all really a part of me though, just as much as this mark was now embedded in my skin was, and the more I learnt, the more I realised I was a part of this world.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I was barely aware of the time when I woke up the next morning. The window was of no use to figure out if it was early in the morning or not and I found myself reaching out onto the bedside table for my watch. I didn’t ever wear much jewellery. On my left wrist I wore my small leather banded watch, and now on my right wrist, the leather bracelet Rhys gave me, and I only had two rings. One which I wore on my index finger on my left hand which was plain silver ring and on my right I wore and small ring on my middle finger that had one single red crystal embedded it. I also wore a silver heart locket necklace that Rhys had given for one of my birthdays.

  My watch informed me that it was actually almost afternoon. I jumped out of bed in surprise and threw myself into the bathroom to have a shower. I hadn’t showered since my encounter with the lupus demon from the other night as I looked at myself I realised I was covered in dirt and in faint scars and bruises. Looking at myself now I realised that…. I just looked run down, and it was the little things that made me think so. Things, like my black nail polish being chipped, my hair was unclean and turning a little frizzy in places, and the dark circles that had started to form underneath my eyes. I almost just didn’t recognise myself, and when I thought about it, it made sense. After all, I didn’t recognise my life right now.

  After a wrong turn or too I finally managed to find the kitchen, where I thought I might find Eve, or even Seth, but instead I saw Isaac. He was sitting on the stool at the bench, and he appeared to be reading, which actually surprised me. As I stepped forward he suddenly became aware of my presence and turned away from his book.

  “You are finally awake,” he noted.

  “I didn’t mean to sleep that long,” I said quickly.

  He smiled a little and look away from me before he spoke. “I don’t blame you, Lily, you haven’t slept properly for days, and you needed to sleep.”

  I just bit my lip and nodded at me as I leant on the bench so I was opposite him. I was trying to gaze at the book he had in front of him because I found it funny for some reason that he was reading.

  “It’s one of Eve’s books,” Isaac said suddenly. “Just about marks and stuff.”

  “Don’t you already know all that stuff?” I said, frowning.

  “No,” Isaac answered in a little sarcastic tone. “Unless you study this stuff like Eve, you’ll only ever know the basics.”

  “So you use your free time to brush up on your knowledge?” I said, still a little surprised.

  “I’ve got to do something, don’t I?” He just shrugged at me. “You should eat something and then go find Eve in the library. Knowing her she’s probably itching to teach you anything she can.”

  I grabbed some fruit and made my way to the library, after another wrong turn or too, I got there, but I was convinced that I was never going to know my way around this place as it took me probably ten more minutes than it should have. Eve and Seth were sitting patiently at the end of the table muttering to each other when I walked in. Eve and Seth had their heads very close together and Eve had this smile on her face as Seth spoke, and it was so warm…

  “Oh, Lily,” Eve said in surprised. “I didn’t hear you walk in.”

  “Sorry, I can be pretty silent sometimes,” I shrugged at her.

  “It’s not a problem,” Eve said as stood up, and pushed her glasses that she wore again today, up on her nose. “Seth and I were just getting what we need ready. Here come sit.”

  I found myself walking slowly over to the chair Eve had left empty beside her. As I sat down my eyes immediately locked into the books they laid out on the table and I noticed the pictures, the drawings of demons.

  “We thought a visual aid might help you learn this stuff,” Seth said, noticing my gaze. “There are a lot of demons, and some of them can look the same.”

  “How many demons exactly?” I asked them softly.

  “Roughly, there’d be about one hundred and fifty different types of demons,” Eve shrugged. “What do you think, Seth?”

  “No, that would be about right,” he agreed immediately. “Roughly, anyway.”

  “One hundred and fifty?” I breathed out in surprised.

  Eve smiled at me a little. “Don’t worry; it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

  “I’ve already faced five differe
nt demons, and they were bad, and you’re telling me there are more?” I felt myself sit up straighter, tighten a little.

  Eve’s face suddenly became a lot more concerned as she judged my expression. She looked at Seth who was looking more at me and Eve sighed a little before she stood up slightly to lean forward and grab a book and push it in front of me.

  “Technically, there are two types of demons,” Eve told me, pointing to the page on the right first, and moving her finger to the second page as she spoke. “There’s archaic, which are considered to be more powerful, and then there are shadow demons. Archaic demons usually stay in their natural form, as they are stronger that way, but they can change from, and they are the only demons who can possess a human.”

  “So…the man I saw, possessed in that house…he was possessed by some sort of archaic demon?” I asked her.

  I felt myself swallow as I spoke. The moment Eve and I said the word possession; I saw it in my head, the memory that was going to haunt me. I could see the man’s dark, soulless empty eyes and his pale skin and I felt myself shiver. The worst part was that that wasn’t what the man was like. He might’ve had a family, and good job, who knows, his life was taken away from him by evil.

  “Precisely,” she nodded. “Whilst they aren’t nearly as strong inside a human, as you can imagine it has advantages for them.”

  “Well, it did allow the demon to blend it,” I muttered.

  I realised the book Eve had placed in front of me had the two pages titled Archaic and Shadow, of what she was talking about. My eyes skimmed some of the illustration and I felt myself cringe, it showed pictures as a demon possessed human, and one as it ripped through the man’s dead body. Possession seemed to be terrifying in every way.

  “Archaic demons have a third form,” Seth spoke suddenly, making me jump. It was clear he spoke to break the silence that I had created from staring at the book. “It’s called spirit form, and it’s the form they take to possess a human. It has the advantage of the demon not needing to be close to the human to possess the human, and you can’t kill a demon whilst in spirit form.”