Seventh Mark (Part 1 +2) (16 page)

"It was the last weekend before he had to go back to
his boarding school. He snuck into my room while I was sleeping and
hit me on the head with some kind of crow bar or bat. Whatever it
was, it knocked me out. The next time I opened my eyes, I was in a
hospital and it was four days later. I was beaten up pretty bad and
had lost a lot of blood. The pity in the doctor’s eyes was worse
than the physical pain. I’ve got liquid courage; I’m useless at
standing up to anyone. So, not really the child bearing type.” I’d
never told anyone that story. I couldn’t believe I’d just said it
now. Michael had just been gone for a bunch of hours and here I
tell a gruesome story of the last foster home before Jim and
Sally’s?
Smooth
move, dummy.

Michael seemed ten degrees warmer than before. The
brightness in his eyes confirm
ed his anger.

“
It’s a stupid story. I’m just not interested in
being a mother.” I wasn’t going to tell Michael if something ever
happened to me and my kid got stuck in the foster system, I’d roll
over in my grave.

“
What’s the boy’s name? I’ll find him and pay him
a visit.”

I put my hand on Michael’s leg and traced my thumb
along his jeans.
“It wouldn’t
fix what’s already broken. That boy was pretty screwed up and
should have gotten help years before I came along. The following
summer he was with some buddies in the woods and the reports said
he was attacked by a bear. He got mauled so bad he died from the
injuries.” I shuddered, remembering the article in the newspaper.
“I survived, moved on, and let go a long time ago. That’s all it is
now, just a story about some silly girl who learned a very hard
lesson.”

Michael cupped my cheek with his hand.
“No one’s ever going to hurt you. You
stand up and protect yourself with no shame or fear. There aren’t a
lot of people who are fearless. It’s an incredible strength to
have.”

Fearless
? I liked the sound of that. “I never had anything to
lose in my life – until now. You.”

“
Well, you’
ll never lose me. Wait, let me rephrase that; I sound like
some sort of stalker. As long as you’ll have me, you are never
going to get rid of me.” He pounded his heart. “We immortals have
longevity on our side.”

I laughed. “I’ll love you forever if you’d
like.”

Michael’s pupils grew big. For a moment he said
nothing. “
You’ve got my
Siorghra
so I figured it’s kind of assumed.”

Except
you didn’t put it on me, Grace did.
I smiled but kept my mouth shut –
until I thought of something else. “Did you have a girlfriend back
when…back before?”

He nodded. “I
did.”

“
Did you um… have you… were you
intimate
with your girlfriend back
then?”
Holy
anciently word, dipstick!
The
skin on my face and scalp tingled, running all the way down my neck
and back, even my shoulder blade burned. If hands could blush, mine
were probably doing it right now.

Michael didn’t appear to
notice, or at least he acted like he hadn’t. “Things
were different back then. In those days it was frowned
upon.”

He offered nothing more and didn’t ask me about my
in
timate doings. Maybe he’d
done it a lot since dying and knew I was virgin territory. It
probably flashed across my forehead like a billboard sign. I wasn’t
embarrassed about being a virgin, just humiliated on how I’d
brought the subject up.

I faked a yawn, which turned into one of those huge,
long ones.

Michael smiled and grabbed the duvet. He tucked me in
like a cocoon. “You try and sleep. It’s getting late. Tomorrow Seth
and Tatiana are coming and you’ve got school the following day. We
need to be organized in case Damon’s there.”

“
Do they want to meet me?”

“
Seth wants to see the parts of the book you can
read.”

“And Tee-Anna?”

He paused. “Tatiana’s curious.”

“About me?”

“
No. Why I’m taken with a mortal.”

“
So am I,” I whispered, wondering the same
thing
, and curious to know how
abnormal it was for them.

Morning came
and
I didn’t even remember closing my eyes. A small note on the pillow
beside me, written in scriptive writing, read:

Be back shortly. Caleb called.
–M

Grabbing a pair of jeans and red knitted
sweater
, I dressed and then
straightened the futon. On the other side of the window glass,
white fluffy powder covered the ground. Michael came toward the
pool house, wearing a pair of dark jeans and black leather
jacket.

I opened the door.
“Mornin’.”

“
Heyya. Sleep alright?” He kissed me softly, his
lips refreshingly cool. He straightened. “Seth and Tatiana are
here. They’d like to meet you.”

“—
and I'm just dying to see them.” I laughed
nervously.

“
Best not let them know – or at least not in
those exact words.” He squeezed my shoulder and grinned.

“
Let’s go then. No sense in keeping them
waiting.”

Michael held me back.
“It’s really cold out, like ten degrees below zero
and that’s not even including the wind-chill. You need a coat and
boots. Those sneakers are useless with a foot and half of
snow.”

“It’s all I’ve got.”
I’d left my boots at Jim and Sally’s, along with my winter
coat.

“
Great. All Grace needs is an excuse to shop.” He
opened the door and turned around. “Hop on my back.”

“Excuse me?”

“
The snow’s deep, I’ll piggyback you to the
house.”

“
Nice first impression. No thanks.”

“
Better than cold, wet feet followed by a crappy
cold and Caleb’s comments.”

“
P
iggyback
it is then.”

He speed walked around the pool and I hid my head
against his shoulder. It was freezing out. I said a silent
thank-you when we went into the kitchen and no one was
there.

Michael
set me
down and took my hand. “You ready?”

I swallowed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind
my ear. I gave a brisk nod and we walked into the living
room.

A tall woman
stood by Grace, not facing me. The moment I entered, her back
stiffened. Spinning around, she glared at me, her eyebrows drawn
together. This had to be Tatiana.

Her black dress clung so tightly to her
perfect
body; I wondered how
she got in or out of it. Tanned, like the others, but her hair was
long and so black, it seemed blue. A shine from her silver antique
necklace caught my eye, which I quickly dropped my gaze after
realizing it looked like I was staring at her large breasts. Her
thigh-high black boots shouted ass-kicker. Tatiana was stunning but
terrifying at the same moment.

I stepped closer to Michael – more behind him than
beside him.

“
Tatiana,” Michael said. Her sapphire blue eyes
broke from me and looked at him, turning a few shades of lighter to
a topaz color.

“
She’s prettier than I imagined.” She spoke as if
I wasn’t in the room.

“
She
has a name. It’s
Rouge.”
The static in his voice made even me shudder.

Tatiana
tsked,
her eyes flitting back and forth from me to Michael. “Fine.
Roww-
ge
. It’s nice to see you.
There’s been a lot of talk.”

I stepped away from Michael and despite my first
hesitation, held my hand out. “Hello. You’re different than I
expected too.” I figured she could read into that whatever way she
wanted. My gut reaction—I didn’t like her either.

Her warm,
long
fingers brushed against mine, but quickly pulled away like I burned
her. She opened her mouth but said nothing, only glanced towards
the closed office door.

Straining to hear something I couldn’t, I jumped
slightly when the door opened and Caleb walked out. Tatiana
immediately retreated beside Grace, her body purposely angled so
her back faced me.

Behind Caleb a tall, young man followed.
Seth
.

It took sheer will power to fight the urge to step
back behind Michael again. These two strangers were friends –
family – to Michael and his family but they were terrifying in a
way I couldn’t explain.

Caleb moved to the desk and sat down. Seth leaned
against the door frame, blatantly looking me up and down. Dressed
in black like Tatiana, his bright blue eyes danced against the
darkness of his hair and clothes. A silver chain hung around his
neck, his
Siorghra
disappeared
inside his shirt.

“
Seth!
”
Michael spoke sharply.

All heads swung my way
. The pity, dislike, curiosity, annoyance in their
eyes became too much.

Nervous but annoyed at constantly being judged, I
moved beside Michael. “
I’m the
Grollic-reader, so what?” I wouldn’t mind shoving the journal down
the new girl’s throat and seeing if it had the same affect as
Grollic’s blood.
Where did that just come from?

Seth stepped in front of Caleb.
“My dear, don’t be angry. We’re simply
intrigued. You’re lovely, and so…fresh.” Seth's voice could send
any female’s heart racing. It was deep and husky with an accent I
couldn’t pinpoint. He had the charisma and confidence a lot of
women would follow without question.

H
is hands neatly
in his pockets, Seth ambled toward us. Michael exhaled forcefully
through his nose.

“
Ach, Michael.” Seth shook his head slightly.
“You needn't worry. I shall be on my best behavior.” He took my
hand and pressed his warm, soft lips against my skin. “I can see
how you have become infatuated with this little prize. I commend
you on keeping her a secret—”

“
Enough!” Michael said quietly, but it felt like
he’d roared the words and cut Seth off.

“
My apologies.” He smiled at Michael and moved
beside Tatiana.

“
Well, where is this book
the girl can read?” Tatiana snapped.

Caleb
spoke.
“Tatiana, you are a guest in my house.” He looked at Seth. "Upset
Michael and you will disappoint and anger this house, especially
me.”

What the heck?
These people are wacked.
I had no idea what was going on or
why Caleb suddenly felt the need to protect. However, the needles
in his voice proved to me he meant business.

Nobody moved.
Heat began crawling up my neck and onto my cheeks. My heart
hammered so loud I was sure everyone could hear it. “The journal’s
in the pool house.”

“
Grace,” Michael said. “Please grab it.” She
nodded and immediately left. I stood by him, uncomfortable at the
strange silence in the room. Thank goodness Grace raced back before
I lost my courage.

“
Here,” Grace whispered and handed me the
journal.

The soft binding calmed my racing heart. Encouraged,
as if it held some sort of inner power for me, I moved over to the
desk. “Seth. I
s it ok I call
you Seth, or do you prefer something else?” I turned to Tatiana for
her approval, thinking she might appreciate it. She gave a curt
nod.
Score one for
me
.

“
Call me anything you’d like,
sweet
ca—” Seth stopped and
grinned. “My bad.”

I set the journal on the desk. “It’s apparently
written in some ancient text. I tried finding something about it on
the internet and came up empty handed.” I flipped open to the first
section. “This part of the book is all foreign to me.”

Seth walked over and began turning the pages. Michael
came and stood on the other side of me, not saying a
word.

“
Show me what you can read,” Seth said. “This
entire book’s in the same language.”

I opened to the middle. “These pages, about twenty,
are in English. I can’t explain why I can read it, or why none of
you see it.”

Tatiana appeared on the other side of Seth. “It’s
obvious. You’ve Grollic blood in you.”

Seth scoffed. “
She’s no monster.” He touched my hand, covering it with his
own.

“
I had no idea Grollics existed till this
summer.” I tried to ignore the warmth Seth’s hand offered, and the
revulsion to jerk my hand away. The tug of war raged on inside my
body.

“
What about your parents?” Tatiana asked.
“Grollics reproduce – you may be just a pup, unchanged. How old are
you?”

“
What does that have to do with anything?”
However the
possibility of
what she suggested shook my insides.
If I’m Grollic, Michael would be the enemy. I
couldn’t be
. I’d
feel it…somehow. Right?