Marked: Black Water Academy: Book One

by Murphy, Sloane

  “Little fucking Vampire. You deserve much worse than this for the shit your daddy pulled.” He kicks in my stomach and it winds me. I reach out to him, and suddenly I can see through his eyes, and I feel the hatred in him. It’s ice cold, but white hot all at once. I look down and that’s when I see her. Shock forces me to let go of him, and I feel like I’m being pulled backwards. I open my eyes again and find Kane leaning over me, shaking me.

  “What the fuck was that, Eden?” he looks scared, but I need to get to her.

  “You need to get Creed, now. And Laney. Meet me here, please just trust me.” I pull out my map and show him where I just was, before I take off at a sprint in that direction, pulling on my power so I’m almost a blur as I run across the field and through the maze of the Academy to the room where I just know I was. I take a deep breath and all I can smell is blood. I try the handle on the door but it’s locked, just like I knew it would be. Taking two steps back, I embrace everything I am and kick the door with every strength I have. It bounces open, shattering the doorjamb and the scent of blood hits me even harder. I look around the room and I see her, curled in a ball on the floor, and the two men stood between us, their eyes black as the night sky with no moon. That’s when my power takes over and it feels like I’m outside of myself.

  “What the fuck?” one of them shouts as I rush forward and tear out his throat with one quick movement. The other moves back, shielding himself with her body, his knife to her throat. Her eyes please with me to just let her die, she hurts too much. I feel her pain prickle at my senses and I zero in on his knife. I need it away from him. I reach forward and it flies to my hand, and I feel the sinister smile on my face.

  “I guess this really isn’t your lucky day. Revenge isn’t so sweet after all, is it?”

  “Fucking bitch! The pair of you. This bitch is the reason my friend is dead!” I tilt my head and study him momentarily.

  “What on earth is going on here!” Laney’s voice rings out behind me, and the lights turn on—I hadn’t even noticed the darkness.

  “Aurora?” Creed’s voice cracks from behind me, I feel his anger, hot as a flash, and then Kane beside him, the confusion of everything front and center.

  “This is all your fault,” the guy holding Aurora shouts at me, dropping her and running at me. I push my hand toward him, and he flies backwards, and stays pinned to the wall.

  “Eden,” I hear Kane’s voice reach out to me inside my head. “You need to let him down, and close the door. You can’t let them see your eyes.”

  I shake my head. I don’t want to put the power away. This repulsive savage deserves to feel the pain she felt. I clench my fist and he screams. I feel his pain and it thrills me. I pull on his feelings and I push more fear into him until his screams are shrill, but Aurora’s whimper pulls me back to myself a little. She needs help. I can feel the other three at my back still, unsure and unable to pass me. I drop the worthless sack of bones and pull my power back. That’s when Creed rushes past me to his sister and Laney descends on the guy I had pinned against the wall. I feel Kane’s hand on my shoulder, his presence reassuring.

  “You need to take her to the medical bay, Augustine. Audrina will be able to help her, but you must get her there quickly.” Laney takes control of the situation. Creed picks her up, and she whimpers again. He looks at me, thankful but confused, before he runs from the room in a blur with his sister.

  “As for you, Mr. Brady. I think we’re going to need to have more than just a serious conversation about whatever this is. You will be held in the dungeons under the school until you are brought to the council to be tried for your actions.” She waves and two men in dark uniforms enter the room and take him away as he mumbles about red eyes and madness.

  She turns to me. “Ms DeMontford, I think while your actions were in good thought, the death of a student cannot go overlooked. You will be kept in the dungeons overnight while I try to work out what the hell happened here.”

  I follow Laney quietly as she leads me down to the dungeons. The entrance is a hidden door by the bottom of the staircase to get to her office. We go down the stone stairs, and I shiver at how cold it is down here. I hear metal scrape on stone and then a harsh bang of metal on metal as they close the door on the cell of the guy they dragged down here before me. At least I hope that’s what it is.

  “I really am sorry about all of this, Eden. Especially since your actions were in the defense of another, but we really need to speak to Aurora to find out exactly what happened first. Hopefully, The Council will be happy with her version of events, but who knows these days? I will do everything I can to get you out of here quickly but know that some things are out of my hands. Do you understand?”

  “I do. I understand that my actions have consequences. I just didn’t care when I found them in that room. Instinct just took over, and while I’m sorry he’s dead, I’m not sorry I stopped them from hurting her anymore.” I walk past her into the cell she directed me to. The stone walls and ceiling look as cold as they feel, and the black iron bars of the front wall and door as just as cold. There’s a clean bed in the back corner, with a thin pillow and blankets, and a small sink.

  “Yes, well, maybe you should just be very brief on those details for now until we can speak to Aurora. I’m going to need you to trust me on this Eden. Dannika sent you to me for a reason, and I’ve let her down.”

  “Wait, what?” I spin back to face her as she shuts the door.

  “You didn’t know? I assumed you did. I’m sorry. I didn’t say anything sooner because I figured you knew, and you’d come to me if you needed me. What a mess we’re in, dear girl. I’ve known Dannika since we were young girls, but we can talk about this more later. Now, I need to go and check on Aurora. I’ll have a heater sent down for you. This snow was unexpected, and it’s unreasonably cold. I will be back as soon as I can, but I promise you I will get you out of here as soon as I’m physically able to.”

  “But…”

  “I know, I have terrible timing, but I really must get up to the medical bay. I’m sorry, I’ll be back when I can.” She locks the door and takes off back up the stairs.

  I sit on the hard mattress and try to make sense of everything, but nothing’s really processing. Not the fact that I seemed to jump into other people’s heads via their emotions; nor the telekinesis, which is NOT a typical Vampire ability; or the fact I could implant emotions in that guy’s head, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone being able to do something like that. Projecting a feeling is one thing, but implanting it? I should be freaking the hell out about what the hell I am, and what I’m becoming, but all I can think about is that Laney knew Dannika, and I had no idea.

  I lay back, pulling my hoodie tighter around me to try and warm up, as the cold filters through the walls and into my bones. I close my eyes and reach out to Aurora. I just want to make sure she’s okay. As I reach for her, I can feel her, but it’s hazy, and I assume they’ve sedated her to help her heal. I guess I’m going to be down here a while, so I close my eyes and drift off into a fitful sleep.

  I wake to darkness, except for a dim light out in the hall. When I stir, a torch fires up. I assume it’s a gift from Laney so I’m not in complete darkness. I have no idea how much time has passed, but I can hear the guy from earlier, down the hall murmuring to himself, as if he’s gone crazy. Talking about being cut up inside, eating her heart, and stopping the prophecy. I hear footsteps coming down the stone stairs clumsily and curl into the back corner where the head of the bed meets the back wall to hide in the shadows.

  “Eden, are you awake?” I hear a familiar voice, when Devon’s face appears at the front of my cell with what looks like a tall outdoor heater. “I come bearing gifts of heat.”

  He places the heater in the corner in front of the bed and flicks a switch, and the heat is almost instant.

  “Oh my god; you’re my hero!” I gush and leap up to get closer to the heat and he chuckles.

  “Well,
from the rumors flying around, you’re either a hero who saved the princess, or a monster who decimated like ten guys. I’m going to believe you saved the girl, since Aurora is my friend, and I spoke to Gus,” he shrugs. “I wouldn’t have believed the other crap anyway; you’re way too nice to be a monster.”

  “How is Aurora?” I ask.

  “She’s… I mean, she’s not great. She wasn’t healing, like at all. It was a good thing Laney got to the med bay when she did. She did some old school healing magic to help, but she’s been sedated so she can rest and heal. People seem worried though, because she’s not healing like she should. It’s almost humanly slow, but I’m sure that’s just the shock. Aurora is strong—stronger than anyone I know—and she’s resilient. She’ll get through it. I’m just angry I wasn’t able to help her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was meant to meet with her to study,” he explains. “But I fell asleep, and then by the time I woke, she was already in the med bay. That was last night. I went back this morning and there’s not much change. The Council are here to investigate, though not much can be done until Aurora awakes. We don’t have any shadow walkers here, so we either need to wait for one, or wait for Aurora to wake up, considering how rare walkers are these days, since the Uprising I mean. So anyway, Laney asked me to bring this down to you, and now I’m here. Are you okay?”

  “It’s the morning already?”

  “It’s actually the afternoon,” he smiles sadly.

  “Wow, I slept a LOT. Thank you for bringing this to me. It’s so cold.”

  “No worries, I nearly didn’t think I was going to be able to, what with The Council’s security blocking the entrance. They didn’t want to let anyone down here.”

  “What?”

  “Right, something about not being able to contaminate evidence or some crap, but I told them I was there on Laney’s orders and he begrudgingly let me down here.”

  “What a freaking mess. Can you let Aurora know when she wakes up that I’m sorry I’m not there, and I’m glad she’s okay?”

  “I will do. I should probably be going, don’t want the muscle coming down here and locking me up too.”

  “Sure, right. I’ll see you soon, Devon.”

  “Sure will!” he smiles and then leaves the way he came.

  I sit back on the bed, the cell warming nicely thanks to the heater, and I wonder what sort of monster they’ll make me out to be. Will they blame me for the death of the other girl too? Or was Laney right, that all would be fine once Aurora wakes? If she wakes. Oh God, what if she doesn’t? What if I was too late? What if I’ve outed myself and it was for nothing?

  * * *

  “Eden,” I lift my head at the hushed shout of my name.

  “What the…?” I clear the sleep from my eyes and see Creed stood in front of my cell. He pulls a key from his back pocket and opens the door, entering the cell and closing the door behind him quietly. I sit up as he strides over to me and lifts me from the bed, burying me in his arms. I say nothing, because I can feel him shaking, as if he’s just barely hanging on.

  “How are you here?” I ask.

  “Laney, she has a soft spot for her favorite student,” he jokes, but hugs me tighter. “I’m so sorry you’re down here, but I am so, so grateful that you saved Aurora—who I had no idea you knew by the way. I’d swap places with you in a heartbeat if I could, and I’d savor the time here, especially if it meant I punished the fucker who touched my little sister.”

  “It’s okay, and believe me, he’s suffering. I’m sorry Aurora is hurt. How is she doing? How long have I been down here now?” I ask and he winces.

  “It’s been a week. I’m sorry I couldn’t get down here before now, but things are messy up there. Aurora still hasn’t woken up. Her body has healed, but her mind… After what they did to her, people are worried her mind isn’t coming back from it.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true, she’ll pull through. I don’t think Creed’s have it in them not to come out fighting,” I joke.

  “There’s no way I can make this up to you.” He says, pulling back from me, “and what’s worse, is there’s nothing I can do to help you right now. I’ve been trying, but without Aurora, I don’t know what we can do.”

  “What is a shadow walker?” I ask him and he looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

  “Walkers are almost extinct, Eden.”

  “Yeah, I heard they’re pretty rare, but what are they? What do they do?” I push.

  “They were Vampires who could walk the shadows of the other realms. They could infiltrate dreams, insert themselves into people’s minds, their dreams. Why?”

  “Because I think that’s how I found Aurora, kind of…” I whisper and he steps further back in shock. “I was with Kane, and I was working on my empath stuff.”

  “Empath stuff?” he asks, and I forget that he didn’t know.

  “Yeah, I kinda have empathic powers. Anyway, I was working on those when I felt Aurora, and then I don’t know, it was like I was in her head and I could see what she was seeing, and then I jumped into the guy down the hall, and I could see her and I knew where they were. Kane pulled me out of it, and I told him to get you while I went to her.”

  “Holy shit, Eden. Have you told anyone else about this?”

  “Well, I mean, Kane knows about the empathic stuff, but I’ve not had chance to talk to anyone about the Aurora thing because I got hauled down here before I could, and you’re like the second person I’ve seen since Laney dropped me down here.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped more.”

  “I didn’t want to implicate you. Kane only knows because he was there when I had my first hit of it, and Ethan, well he followed because that’s what he does.”

  “You trusted Ethan with this, but not me?”

  “Well, Ethan already knew there was something weird, because he saw me on my birthday, and he said that because of who your dad was, not to put you in a difficult situation. I know now that I should’ve told you, but I was scared. There’s still more you don’t know, but I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me…” the hurt in his eyes floors me.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m trusting you now, and no one else knows any of this, but I think I can reach Aurora.”

  “So you can save yourself, you mean?” the bitterness in his voice stings.

  “No, so you can have your sister back.” I say softly.

  “I’m sorry, this is a lot. I just can’t believe all of this. I thought there was more between us, but I guess I was wrong.”

  “You’re not wrong, I feel it. Every single time I touch you it’s like my skin lights up. When I’m around you I feel like I can be myself, but I can’t trust myself to really be me. I’m sorry I held back before, that I’m still holding back, but can you trust me enough to know that I’m doing it for your own good?”

  “I guess I can’t not, all things considered. You really think you can reach Aurora?”

  “I do, I’m just not sure how. I tried to reach her before, but she was so dosed up on sedatives, I couldn’t get through to her.”

  “They took her off those a few days ago, now that her body is healed. We’re just waiting for her to wake up.”

  “Then I think I can do it.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No, just try not to over-think everything I told you, okay? We’ll have more time to talk after Aurora wakes up.”

  “Okay, is there anything else I can do? I hate that you’re trapped down here.”

  “No, I don’t think so, but, Creed, what if they think that I killed that girl? I’m a Vampire. I just killed another student. Regardless of the reasons, it doesn’t look good. What if they blame me? What is going to happen to me?”

  “Shit, I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  “I have nothing but time to think… I know Ethan said he thought it was all a lie, but what
it wasn’t?” I sigh.

  “I don’t want you to worry about it,” he says, and I can see something in his eyes, a decision made. “I’m going to protect you; the way I would have if you’d have told me in the beginning. The way you protected Aurora. I need to go before someone discovers I’m missing. My dad is up there throwing his weight around, trying to pretend like his world isn’t falling apart while his favorite kid won’t wake up.”

  “Creed…” I reach forward and run my fingers through his hair.

  “It’s fine, it’s whatever it is. I’ll come back as soon as I can.” He leans down and kisses me again, but this feels different, like a goodbye. He pulls away and leaves as quickly as he appeared, taking a piece of me with him.

  I lay back and try to clear my mind. If he was right about Aurora, then I might be able to reach her now. I close my eyes and reach out, but all I can hear is the whimpering from down the hall, and that’s when I feel it, the paralyzing fear. The icy cold down my back; a fear so deep it’s all-consuming. I reach out to him, and I realize that I did this. I gave him that fear, and I never took it back. Closing my eyes and focusing, I try to pull it back, but I have no idea how. I clench my fists so tight my nails create crescents in my palms, my frustration rife.

  I need to focus on something I can actually maybe succeed at, so I try to clear my mind again and reach out for Aurora. I feel her, floating, at peace, but so very far away. Further than she should be. I try to ride the emotion to get to her, but it’s as if she’s moving further away from me each second.

  “Aurora!” I shout, trying to grab onto something, anything to bring her closer to me. I feel her rush toward my voice, but as soon as she’s close, it’s like our bubble bursts and I’m kicked out and back inside my own head.

  “Shit!” I bang my fist on the floor, thinking for the first time in a while that I might not actually have a way out of this.

  I can’t tell how many days it’s been since Creed was here when I hear the alarm sound above me. I hear whimpers yet again from down the hall, but I ignore them since there is nothing I can do, and instead, try to listen for any sign of what the alarm is for. I faintly hear footsteps running along the stone floors above us, but I can’t hear anything else. Panic fills me. What if they found out? I hear the grind of stone on stone as the door opens above us and I hear Laney barking orders at someone up there. Footsteps descend the steps quickly and I see a very windswept Laney.