Marked

by Jasmine Derriman

  It was more than a relief when I actually found myself in the kitchen. I had noticed the whole time that there was barely light anywhere. The whole demon presence had completely consumed this place. I walked slowly now through the kitchen and out into a corridor that I had never been in before. I looked at the walls of this corridor as I tried to find the door. The whole corridor seemed to be an endless all, with only the same grey stones that made up all the walls in the whole building. I finally found a door handle towards the end and I realised the purpose of it was to blend into the corridor. I didn’t think on it for another second though and pulled the door straight open.

  There was a faint glow as I entered the room. I realised though it was not exactly a room. There were bars on either side of me as I stood at the bottom of the stairs. I realised they were cells. They were jail like cells all down the hallway I was now in, and the faint glow was the torches lit in some of the cells. The ground was made of kind of an earthy stone, very similar to the walls. It really makes me think this place really did used to be some sort of castle.

  I walked slowly down the corridor between the cells and my footsteps echoed loudly throughout the room. I feared this place was completely empty and that I would never find Rhys. Isaac told me the first place he could think of that would make sense, but it didn’t mean he would be right. If he was wrong though I wasn’t going to give up. I would search every room and every corridor if I had to.

  “Rhys?” I called out.

  Even my voice echoed and I could hear it come back to me. I tried listen for anything else, but when I didn’t hear anything immediately, I tried again.

  “Rhys?”

  “Lily?!”

  I heard my name followed by the sound of something scrapping on the ground and what I presumed was movement. There was a spark of hope set off inside of me and I sped up immediately towards the sound of the voice and something caught my attention in the corner of my eye and I jumped.

  “Eve?!” I gasped.

  I ran towards her and wrapped my hand around the bars of the cell she stood in. Eve looked awful, like she had been beaten up or something. There was dirt and dry blood covering her face and her hair looked like a bird’s nest and when she looked at me I saw a complete sadness in her eyes. I didn’t look at her long though as something beside her caught my eye and I felt my heart beat stop.

  “Rhys.”

  I whispered his name so softly that it didn’t echo like everything else. He stepped from behind Eve and I felt like crying. He looked worse than Eve, worse than I remembered him looking. His hair was a mess, he was covered in dirt and bruised and he was blood and his clothes were torn and there was black under his eyes, and all I could think was his pain was my fault, but there was also this wave of relief that he was okay, and alive.

  “Oh, god, how do I get you guys out?” I asked, looking at Eve.

  “I don’t think there’s key,” Eve told me, stepping towards the bars. “I’ve tried to get it off myself, but the bars are too strong of me. Heat up the lock.”

  “What?” I frowned looking at her.

  “You can heat up the lock. It’s metal, you’ll weaken it and you’ll be able to break it,” Eve told me.

  “I don’t think I can do that,” I whispered, looking down at the lock. “Last time…I did that, I didn’t do that on purpose. I don’t know how I did it.”

  “You can do it, Lily.”

  My eyes immediately caught Rhys’ as he spoke to me. My heart now jumped into overdrive rather than stopping and I felt my eyes well up. I felt myself nod as I realised his words would keep me going, or at least allowed me to try. I had to help them, and I had to at least get them out of there.

  I put both my hands on the square lock within the bars and I let my eyes shut. I knew I’d have more concentration that way, and I would be able to direct it then. I tried to focus all my energy to my hands and too the lock. I tried to focus any heat I felt inside to my hands, and to this lock. I could feel it running through me, the heat and the energy and I focused harder.

  When I felt a warmth on my hands I let my eyes open. My hands were a bright red colour, like all the blood was rushing to my hands, but it wasn’t, it was heat, and it was fire. Although the heat couldn’t burn me I could feel it my hands heating up the lock and breaking it apart, completely melting the lock. When I heard a clang of the metal hitting the ground, I removed my hands from the lock and they immediately cooled down. The metal itself still had a bit of a glow and I couldn’t even imagine the temperature that I had to get them at to make that happen. I put my hand on the top of the lock and with a bit of a force the lock broke from its bracket and it swung open.

  Eve and Rhys stood frozen for a moment, and I even was a little frozen, but not for the same reason. I felt so much guilt for Rhys right now. He was here because of me, because of what I was, he was in danger because he knew me, no other reason. I was so happy to see him, so happy to see he was okay, but just happy to know that he was here with me and that I could physically see him.

  We both moved at the same time as we suddenly flung ourselves into each other’s arms. I held onto him so tightly and let myself go onto my toes. I squeezed my arms around his neck and I even shut my eyes. I felt his arms around my waist and he squeezed me tightly and I didn’t want to let go, and for a moment there I thought that I wouldn’t, but when I felt Rhys loosen his grip and he slid his hands from my back, I forced myself to let go.

  Rhys and I were now just looking at each other, starting slightly into each other’s eyes. I expected to see fear or confusion or something, but instead I saw concern.

  “I’m…I’m so sorry,” I whispered suddenly, ignoring what facial expression was on his face. “I’m sorry all this happened, and that I let them mess with your memory, this wouldn’t be happening-.”

  “Lily,” he said plainly, interrupting me. “You don’t have to apologise.”

  “Of course I do,” I said quickly. “They came after you because of me, because of what I am, and I’m sorry for that, but I know you don’t quite understand it all yet…”

  “I got all my memory back,” Rhys informed me, “and Eve filled me in on the rest while we waited in here.”

  “She did?” I frowned, turning back to look at Eve behind me.

  “I did,” she shrugged a little.

  “And I get it,” Rhys said suddenly so I turned around. “I get why you did it, even though I could’ve helped.”

  “No, you couldn’t have,” I shook my head. “That’s exactly why I let that happen. All of this is on me, understand?”

  “No, that I don’t get,” Rhys shook his head. “This isn’t all on you; you didn’t get a demon to attack me and lock me in a cell.”

  “No, I didn’t,” I agreed softly, as I realised he was right but I found myself frowning and I turned back to Eve. “But who did?”

  Eve was now bitting her lip as she stepped out of the cell and looked down the hall and back before she turned to face me.

  “I don’t know who grabbed me,” Eve shook her head. “Someone got me from behind and I never got to see them, but…but I heard something.”

  “Heard something?” I frowned. “Heard what?”

  “They…took Seth somewhere else, they said they needed him because…Henry is dead,” she answered, looking down away from me.

  “Henry? Oh, god,” I felt my heart drop as I spoke. I had only met him so briefly but he had been noting but nice and supportive. He didn’t deserve to die.

  Eve nodded as I saw her swallow. “Seth and I were in the library when they grabbed me, and they put a bag over my head, I couldn’t see anything and I wasn’t strong enough to throw off whoever had me, but I could hear Seth fighting back…and I heard Henry…yelling…and then I heard nothing, but Seth yelling at whoever killed him. Whoever did it, they knew Henry, and Henry knew them, and Seth did too.”

  I sighed as I stepped closer to Eve. I suddenly felt a whole lot of guilt over Henry, over everything
else and if Seth was hurt…if anyone else was hurt, because it was practically be my fault. This was all over the dagger, over me

  “Is Seth okay?” I whispered.

  “I think so,” she answered with a nod. “I think they need him…and his mark, whoever it is.”

  “I…I think it has to be an elder,” I told her as calmly as I could manage. “There are demons in here, in the council and you and I both know how impossible that is because demons can’t get in through the portal, so they had to get in another way, like a front door I don’t know, but we know there are only four…or three people who know the real location of this place, so…”

  Eve hadn’t spoken yet and I could see her mind ticking over as it all clicked together. Her eyes moved from looking down near her feet and met my eyes.

  “An elder,” she nodded. “That makes sense… too much sense to be honest, but who and why?”

  “It has to have something to do with the dagger, right?” I asked her softly.

  Eve shook her head a little but it was not to say no. “I just can’t… to bring demons into this place.”

  “I know, Eve,” I whispered.

  She shook her head again, all in disbelief of the situation. “Oh, gosh, where are Isaac, and Hadley and Felix?”

  “They got stuck fighting…a primus demon,” I told her. “Eve, this is bad, it’s really bad. Isaac just told me to run and find you guys, and I was lucky I did.”

  “A primus demon?” Eve said in surprise. “Oh, god, and Seth is up there.”

  “We have to go up there and help them, Eve, we have to do something,” I stressed.

  “I know,” she agreed. “Let’s get out of here, now.”

  I nodded and Eve nodded back before she set off first back down the hallway of the cells and to the stairs. I turned back to Rhys who I realised had only just been standing there to hear our conversation. I didn’t know if he understood any of it, and I doubted he did. From what I could tell with his memory back he knew demons existed and I had some sort of mark and I was sure Eve filled him in on what we were and probably told him about the dagger too. I felt so happy that I could just stand so close to him and see him again, but at the same time I knew the danger he was in, just like the danger I knew I faced, and Eve and Isaac and everyone else. This dagger found another way to create danger, but this time, I didn’t even thinking about running away from it.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  I stayed behind Eve and Rhys as we climbed the steps out of the cells and back up to the ground level. I was cautious though, to go anywhere fast. I knew getting Eve and Rhys out of here shouldn’t have been so easy and something told me it still wouldn’t be. I felt cold, and I didn’t think it was just the insulation of the room. As we all emerged from the room and back into the wooden corridor near the kitchen, the darkness of the room made it hard for my eyes to adjust, nothing about this place felt right, right now.

  I heard a sound from the kitchen that made me jump and I watched Eve stop as she cautiously looked ahead. I slowly reached my hand to my back and put my grip around the handle of the telum. Eve didn’t have a weapon and I doubted her smarts were really going to help defeat any demon, I knew I would have to kill it, and I was ready. I pulled the telum from the holder and put it out in front of me. Hadley had told me it was always better to tread lightly if you feared a demon was around. Demons respond to noise, she said, and it made them more likely to attack. So I walked one foot in front of the door until I reached Eve. I used the telum to push her back a little and when I looked at her I knew she didn’t want to put me to put myself first towards the danger, but there really was no other choice.

  I contemplated running into the kitchen, facing whatever was in there, but before I could even think about doing that, a gush of air and light almost pushed me back .The light that entered the room was so harsh my eyes didn’t react well to it, and when they finally did and I saw what now stood before me, and I actually almost smiled.

  A fire demon or a fiery demon, quite simply just controlled the element of fire. The demon had long lankly legs and lanky arms and fingers, and its head was quite thin and long and pointy. Its eyes, whilst black like most, glowed from the fire that radiated around the entire body of the demon, and whilst its mouth was faint on its fiery face, I was sure I could see a smile.

  I smiled too though. Although I knew fire itself was useless against this demon, I wasn’t. I couldn’t be burnt by fire, I could barely feel the heat, and my shield mark would be far from useless too, I was sure. The demon didn’t realise any of this though, not that I expected it to, but it meant I had the upper hand, the real upper hand for once.

  The fire demon decided to attack first. It started to run towards me and at first my instinct was to doge the oncoming attack but instead I found myself ready to fight it. I saw a fiery fist come from my right and whilst the telum was in that hand, I found myself using my elbow to block the oncoming blow. I felt the heat and the warmth from the fire, but I know it doesn’t burn me, it only singes the sleeve of my shirt a little.

  I used the force of my elbow to push the demon away but it came back at me again, this time using a fire attack. It worked a little like I did and I saw a ball of fire kind of built up in its hand and I watched as it pushed the fire towards me. It was an instinct that kicked in this time and I held out my left hand to the oncoming fire. I, at first caught the fire like a ball, but it didn’t stay in my hand. I felt a heat and an incredible heat but it still didn’t burn at all, and I eventually realised what was happening. I was absorbing the fire. I was absorbing the fire into my hand and it was disappearing.

  The light that suddenly filled the room disappeared as the fire disappeared into my hand. I felt like standing there in astonishment of what I just done, but I didn’t even get the chance. The demon had realised all of its attacks were useless against me, and decided to take a different approach. It turned its body towards Eve and Rhys. Eve was standing in front of Rhys, with her arm in front of him to protect him. I could see her thinking straight away as the demon faced her, trying to think of a way out, and I didn’t doubt she could, but then I realised she didn’t know what else I could do.

  “NO!”

  I yelled as I saw the demon raise its hand again to build up the fire. I ran and jumped in front of both Rhys and Eve and as I saw the fire leave from the demons hand and it shot it directly to us and I held out of my left hand. The fire made contact right in front of my hand but it never touched it, it couldn’t. I created a shield. Even I wasn’t sure how I managed to get it so perfectly shaped so that once the fire hit the middle of the shield, where my hand was, it would radiate to either side of me and it never got close to Eve or Rhys.

  I didn’t look back at either of them as I waited for the fire to disappear, and when it finally did I pounced. I broke my shield and I pushed myself towards the demon. I jumped a little to gain a bit of ground and hit the demon, slicing across the demon’s arm. It howled and tried to bat me away but I spun around on the spot and ducked, completely avoiding its counter attack. I stood up straight immediately and sliced across the middle of the demon and it yelled again and I even noticed that the fire dimmed. It had no choice but to try just fight me and it tried to grab me and forced me away but I batted both its hands away and in one shift movement I stood in front of the demon and I lifted the telum and plunged it directly into the demons heart.

  With one more howl of pain I watched the fire dim until it completely disappeared from the demon and nothing but a black figure remained, but only for a moment. The demon started to crack a little and before I knew it, it disappeared into a yellow burst of light and my telum was just left hanging in my hand.

  I let my arm hang, as I breathed out heavily, once I realised I needed to just catch my breath a little, I turned back to Eve and Rhys though as I did. Other than a little bit of heavy breathing, I felt fine, no scraps or bruises. I felt like I had handled that well, considering it was the first time I had truly taken on
a demon alone.

  “That,” Eve said as she breathed out, “was impressive.”

  I just shrugged a little. “Hadley gave me some lessons.”

  “Good,” Eve nodded but then I saw her look over my shoulder and when I looked back there was nothing, but I didn’t think that was why she was looking. “I need a weapon, there’s going to be more of them, and you can’t take them all by yourself. Come on, we need to get to the library.”

  “What about getting back to Isaac and the others?” I asked her.

  It was the first time I had mentioned actually going to find them, and it didn’t catch Eve by surprise, she only looked worried. She knew that those three would find their way to the most immediate danger, heck I knew it too. They were there for me, and none of us were getting out alive if whoever was behind this didn’t get what he wanted, and that was me.

  “I need a weapon first, okay? Now let’s hurry, before something else finds us.”

  We were running again, down the halls turning left and right and I thought that I was lost again but it didn’t matter because Eve was leading the way and I knew she would get there without a problem. I was right as we reached the big set of library doors I remembered seeing all those weeks ago and Eve pushed them open to allow us in.

  The library was in such a state that my heart dropped at the sight of it. There were just loose pages everywhere, lying on the floor on the table and on the stairs, and the books were either lying open or lying on the floor, or broken into a million pieces. I swear none of the books were actually on the shelves anymore and some of the shelves were actually tipped over, or a shelf piece might be broken off. This place looked like it got hit by a bomb.