Mark of Blood

by Jody Morse

  I watched as Sebastian placed the crown. Even from afar, I could see the way it sparkled under the dim lighting.

  “Alessandra, please place this crown atop Sebastian’s head,” the officiant instructed.

  I watched as she placed the crown on top of his head. It was shaped just like the crowns I’d gotten as a kid at Burger King. The only difference was that this crown wasn’t made of cardboard; it was made of gold.

  Darting my eyes over at Zoe, I asked, “Are they officially King and Queen now?”

  “Not yet,” she whispered. “There will be a coronation later on. It’s just for appearances.”

  “Oh.” I was about to ask her if they got to keep the crowns in the meantime, but then I heard the words I had been dreading.

  “And now you may kiss the bride.”

  As Sebastian leaned in close to Alessandra, I knew that I should have turned away, that I shouldn’t have looked.

  But I was stupid. I didn’t look away.

  I allowed myself to watch as the guy I loved kissed his bride; I watched as his kiss sealed their fate as husband and wife.

  Chapter 41

  Alessandra

  IT WAS OFFICIAL. I was Alessandra Isabella Allegro Stark. For now, at least.

  Soon enough, we would drop the Stark and add a different last name—the name of our new coven. And then we would add Queen in front of my name.

  But right now, it was as good as things could get. I was one step closer to being Queen Alessandra. And becoming Queen was the only thing that really mattered to me right now.

  As Sebastian walked me down the aisle, our guests clapping around us, my eyes locked on Zoe’s.

  I had heard that girl talking and whispering during the ceremony, which led me to one conclusion: Julia was there with her; I was certain of it.

  I was no fool, even though Sebastian seemed to think I was. But I’d figured him out. I knew how he had kept his slave hidden from me.

  Apparently, he had gotten his witch to put an invisibility spell on his little girlfriend.

  Well, Zoe Blackwood needed to watch her back. She thought Sebastian would do whatever he could to protect her, but now that I was on my way to becoming Queen, my word would be the rule of the land.

  The way I saw it, I had three options:

  1). I could either banish her from our kingdom or, better yet, from all of Deadwood;

  2). I could punish her for all of her wrongdoings; or

  3). I could kill her.

  I wasn’t really sure which sounded like the most appealing option, but I was certain of one thing. Invisible or not, I was going to find Julia tonight.

  And as soon as I got my hands on her, I would be one step closer to destroying Sebastian’s life, exactly like I wanted.

  Chapter 42

  Sebastian

  AS SOON AS I COULD get away from Alessandra, who was charming our guests in the reception area, I made a beeline for Zoe.

  I leaned in close to her. “Is she with you right now?”

  Zoe nodded. “Yeah, she’s with me.”

  “Good.” I smiled at the space to the left to her, and Zoe chuckled. “She’s on that side.” She motioned to her right.

  “Hi, Lila,” I whispered. Then I turned back to Zoe. “I need you to do me a favor.”

  “What type of favor?” she questioned.

  “I need you to take her back home with you. Keep her at your cottage for the next few days. I’ll be leaving in a few hours in search of my father.”

  “Oh? That’s so sudden. You’re not even planning to consummate your marriage?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “I need you to keep Lila safe while I’m gone. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Zoe shrugged. Even though she was being agreeable to this, I could tell from the look in her gold eyes that she wasn’t happy about the idea.

  It wasn’t like I was happy about it, either. I wished I could just take Lila with me, but I wasn’t sure how long I would be gone. I wasn’t sure what types of vampires I would encounter on my journey or where I would end up.

  All I knew was that I needed Lila to stay safe, and Zoe was really the only one who I trusted to keep her safe.

  I would have trusted Celia, too, but there was no way I could tell her the truth about who Lila was. It wasn’t even because I didn’t trust her not to drink Lila’s blood or even not to tell anyone about it. It was just that I didn’t want to put her in a rough spot.

  “Yeah, sure. No problem. Mind if I enjoy the reception first, though?” Zoe asked. “I mean, it would be a little rude to tell your guest to leave.”

  I thought about it for a few long moments. As much as I wanted to tell her she had to leave now so we could make sure Lila was protected, I also had to remember how much Zoe had done for me over the past few days. She deserved to be here, to celebrate this monstrosity of a wedding, just as much—if not more—as the other guests did.

  “You may stay. Just be careful,” I told her.

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Then with what looked like a flicker of annoyance in her eyes, she moved past me.

  I felt a warmth on my skin, and I realized that, even though I couldn’t see her, Lila was touching me. I reached out and placed my hand over the spot where I was pretty sure hers was and held it there for a few moments.

  Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find a young girl standing next to me. She was short and looked as though she couldn’t have been any older than fourteen or fifteen.

  “Prince Sebastian?” she asked in a questioning tone, as though she wasn’t sure I was who she was looking for.

  “Yeah, I’m Prince Sebastian.”

  “Oh, good. I have a wedding gift for you,” she replied, handing me a small box.

  “Who’s it from?” I asked.

  “The sender doesn’t matter. The gift is what’s important.” She glanced around nervously to make sure no one was listening in on our conversation and then leaned in close to me. “Please make sure you open it when the princess isn’t around.”

  And, without saying another word, the girl disappeared into thin air.

  Well, that was strange, to say the least. Apparently, it was important enough that whoever had sent it had thought it necessary to have a witch deliver it. The gift seemed so mysterious that I couldn’t help but be curious about who had sent it or what was inside.

  As anxious as I was to get away from the wedding reception, I knew that wasn’t a possibility right now. So, instead, I left the gift beneath a bush, which I promised myself I would remember to return to later on.

  Chapter 43

  Vernelle

  I’D FINISHED THE LAST bottle of blood Alessandra had left for me, and now I was craving more. I needed more.

  I pounded on the door, frustrated that it was locked and there was no way of getting out of this awful room. I was so tired of staring at these same four walls for the past few hours.

  Even through the anger and thirst I felt, I was more confused than anything else.

  Alessandra told me the blood she’d left for me would be enough to get me through three or four days, but it had only been hours since she’d left.

  Why was I still so thirsty?

  What was wrong with me?

  There was only one answer that seemed to come to mind. I was pretty sure that blood would have been enough to last me for three or four days only if I was a human who she had turned into a vampire.

  There was the catch. The problem that was throwing everything off.

  I wasn’t human.

  Not entirely, at least.

  My grandfather had been a Seeker. I was pretty sure that was the only reason I’d ended up in Deadwood in the first place. I wasn’t entirely sure of why I was here or who had brought me, but I was convinced that whoever had brought me had known my grandfather and wanted to seek revenge on my family.

  In any case, it meant I wasn’t purely human the way Alessandra believed I was. Even though both human and vampire
blood ran through my veins, Seeker blood did, too.

  I wasn’t certain, but I was pretty sure there was a good chance I was the first with Seeker blood in history to have ever been turned into a vampire.

  What happened when someone who was part Seeker became a vampire?

  If the anger and rage—and the thirst, the everlasting thirst—I felt was any indication of what happened, I had one guess.

  And my guess was that, whatever happened, it wasn’t good.

  Chapter 44

  Sebastian

  AS OUR GUESTS BEGAN to leave the reception, I found Alessandra. “I need to talk to you.”

  She looked concerned, for once in her life. “Sebastian, what is it?”

  “I’m going to look for my father.”

  “Now?” She just stared at me, an unhappy look in her eyes. “It’s our wedding night!”

  “I need to do this Alessandra. I’ll be back in a couple of days, I’m sure.”

  She sighed. “I would argue with you over this, but I get the feeling your mind is already set.”

  “It is set,” I agreed with a nod.

  “I’d prefer if you don’t bring your father back... for reasons that we’ve already discussed.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t intend to. I have a feeling that, wherever my father is, he doesn’t want to be found. He doesn’t want to come back. I just need to talk to him. I need advice.”

  “Marriage advice, huh?” Alessandra asked with the hint of a smile.

  “Something like that,” I muttered.

  “Fine. Go find him. But promise me you’ll come back to me safely?” she whispered.

  “I fully intend to.”

  “I just can’t bear the thought of something happening to you so soon after we’ve just wed.” She shot me a weak smile. “It would just be my luck to become a widow after waiting my whole life to get married, you know?”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve been around for three-hundred years. I’d say that’s a pretty good indicator of my survival rate,” I told her with a chuckle.

  “True,” she admitted. “Have a good trip.”

  “Thank you. I plan to.” I was about to walk away from her when she grabbed my tie and pulled me to her.

  Her lips found mine and she kissed me with more passion than I had felt from her in years. I found myself kissing her back, knowing that it would look unusual to the rest of the guests who remained if I didn’t.

  When I glanced up, I saw Zoe staring back at me, watching me intently. I knew that meant Lila must have been watching, too, which made me feel incredibly guilty. But I couldn’t help it.

  This was my life right now. I needed to just roll with it. I would explain everything to Lila—including the reason I had actually gone through with marrying Alessandra—at a later time. She fully deserved an explanation. It was just that now wasn’t the best time.

  Once Alessandra was out of sight, I headed back over to the bush where I had hidden that box. I had been keeping a close eye on it all night to make sure no one went near it, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous it had disappeared.

  Luckily, it was there. I breathed a sigh of relief as I scooped it up.

  Then I headed for the dock my ship was anchored at. I already had spare clothes and blood stored on the ship. I was always prepared to leave the island, just in the case of an emergency.

  I had notified Troy Donaldson and Porter Hughes, two guys from the coven who I often traveled with, that I was going to be taking the trip. They promised they would meet me on the ship.

  It was the first time I would be traveling without any of my brothers, but the last thing I wanted to do was drag Henry along for the ride. I knew it would upset him if we didn’t find our father. My youngest brother was, by far, my most sensitive.

  I could have brought Emerson along with me, but he had only just gotten back to Deadwood after being gone for a few weeks. I doubted he would have wanted to leave again right away.

  And the idea of taking Kade along with me only crossed my mind because of what a horrible idea it was. He and I couldn’t get along long enough to live in the same kingdom, let alone survive a trip across the Deadwood Sea together.

  Besides, I was also fairly certain Kade would have agreed with Alessandra on why we shouldn’t have been looking for my father at all. Unlike my other brothers and myself, he hadn’t expressed missing my father or wondering if he was okay even once since he’d disappeared two years ago.

  But Kade had always been selfish like that. I supposed that, in some ways, he resembled our father more than the rest of us did. They both always put themselves before everyone else. I wasn’t sure if either of them was capable of loving anyone who they didn’t see every time they looked in the mirror.

  Then again, I had only recently become aware of my own ability to love. If it had taken me 300 years, there was always a possibility that it could have just taken them longer. Maybe I was an early bloomer on the whole love front.

  By the time I had climbed aboard my ship, I couldn’t help but notice how heavy the package was. I was dying to see what was inside.

  I headed straight for the captain’s quarters and straight for my desk. Sitting down, I turned on my lamp and checked the box for any indication of who had sent the gift, but there was nothing.

  Tearing the box open, I glanced inside.

  At first, I thought it was a world globe inside. But when I pulled it out, I realized it was an oversized snow globe. It had a little log cabin and a pine tree with snow. Except I got the feeling that it was actually more than that.

  Someone had sent me this globe and told me not to let Alessandra see it for a reason. There was more to it than just a little winter log cabin scene. There had to have been.

  I shook up the globe and then watched as a scene filled the globe.

  It was Lila, but she was chained up inside a dungeon. Except the dungeon wasn’t mine. It looked darker, drearier. I could tell that it was in another castle, in another kingdom.

  That could only mean one thing.

  Someone else had taken her prisoner.

  Then a moment later, the scene in the globe changed. The scenery was no longer in that dark dungeon. It had been replaced by my own castle.

  I was sitting in the light blue armchair in my sitting room, a solemn look on my face.

  “She’s dead. And it’s my fault that she’s dead,” I said.

  “You know that isn’t true, Sebastian. There’s nothing you could have done to prevent her from being killed. Her death was inevitable.”

  “That isn’t true, Father,” I replied, shaking my head. “I should have done something to protect her—anything to keep her safe. I’m such a fool.”

  “You know what’s foolish of you? To think that you could have been some sort of hero. Do you remember what I always used to tell you when you were younger?”

  I glanced over at him. “No. What?”

  “I always used to tell you that nothing is fair in love and war.” My father sighed. “You know, even if she hadn’t died right now, she would have died, anyway. You would have been the one to kill her eventually. Eventually, your bloodlust would have become uncontrollable. You would have been the one to end her life. At least this way, you don’t have to blame yourself.”

  “But I do blame myself, Father,” I insisted.

  Then the snow globe flashed to another scene again, this time back to Lila in that dungeon.

  “Don’t you have phones around here? I think you should let me make one call,” she insisted. “In fact, I demand that you let me call Sebastian.”

  I heard a guy chuckle. “Sebastian. What a joke. We sent a letter telling Sebastian that you’re dead. And guess what? He believes it. No one will ever find you here. You will rot away in this dungeon. Unless you get lucky and someone decides to drain you of all your blood first.”

  Then the guy, whose face I hadn’t seen, walked away, leaving Lila entirely alone in the dark. I watched as tears st
reamed down her cheeks.

  Then the snow globe went blank.

  I tried to shake the globe up in hopes that it would show me something again, in hopes that it would reveal more of what was to come to me, but it remained blank.

  Assuming that everything this snow globe had told me was true, it had told me three important things:

  1). My father was alive, somewhere. Eventually, I would find him;

  2). Lila would be taken from me; and

  3). I would come to believe that Lila was dead, even though she wasn’t.

  The worst part of it all was knowing I wouldn’t even look for her. Instead, I would become so consumed by the notion that she was dead. I would believe it so much I would just give up all hope.

  It made me feel sick to my stomach to think I could end up leaving her to rot away in some dungeon.

  As much as I wanted to believe this wouldn’t happen now that I was aware of it, it also scared me to think there was even a chance I could completely fail her like that.

  What I needed to do became clear to me then.

  I needed to do something before it was too late.

  I needed to stop being so goddamn selfish.

  For once in my life, I needed to put someone else before myself. I needed to put the girl I loved before my own feelings.

  As much as I hated the idea of being without her, I knew I couldn’t keep her here anymore.

  I needed to let Lila go.

  I promised myself that as soon as I returned from looking for my father, this whole charade was over. I would let Lila go, once and for all.

  I needed to return her back to the human world. The reality was that she would never be safe. Her life would always be a big question mark. But the human world had to have been far safer for her than Deadwood would ever be.

  The hardest part wasn’t just that I would be letting Lila go; letting her go would also mean letting go of the hope I had for us.

  It would mean letting go of any hope that she would return to Deadwood, that she would try to find her way back to me.