The Soul's Mark: FOUND (14 page)

“Amelia, are you okay?” Mitchell’s panicked
voice sounded loud in her ears and she stopped abruptly looking around her but
she saw nothing—no Mitchell.
 
It was just
her, alone in her room.
 
She gave her
head a shake, convinced she was losing her mind and staggered out the door.

Amelia could hear the hushed voices of her
roommates floating down the hallway and she pushed herself forward.
 
She felt as if her body was giving her the
finger, but she kept going.
 
Her legs
felt like they were weighted down by boulders and every time her feet hit the
floor a stabbing pain shot through her head, but she didn’t allow herself to
stop.

As Amelia approached the kitchen, a new but
somehow familiar voice trickled into her ears and
an odd
warmth settled in her stomach.
 
For a
moment, she thought she was going to be sick and stopped, leaning against the
wall.

An image of Mitchell flooded her mind.
 
Mitchell kissing her.
 
Her lips tingled at the memory and her face
flushed.
 
The sensation resurrected
another memory.
 
When he had kissed her
neck, there had been a sharp pain, like needles breaking her skin and then
burning.
 
Her neck had been burning.
 
She shook her head, trying to toss out the disturbing
memory.
 
It was just a dream,
she told herself.

Amelia felt another tug, as if there was a
chain around her waist yanking her forward, and she stumbled.
 
Her feet were moving again but she didn’t
feel like she was in control of the movement.
 
It felt like she was being pulled.
 
Her pulse quickened and her stomach fluttered with anticipation, almost as
if her body knew what was waiting for her.

Amelia made it to the living room,
following the sound when Luke’s booming voice broke her stupor.
 
“That’s enough!” followed by the sounds of a
struggle and the crack of a fist connecting with solid flesh.
 
A few more incoherent shouts and grunts
blasted from the kitchen.

Suddenly, bits and pieces of the night
before came flooding back.
 
Tyler’s raspberry lips and Eric’s ridiculously protective outburst.

Amelia remembered storming off.
 
She hadn’t been alone.
 
Had there been a young girl?
 
Yes, that creepy kid… Kandi and a man named
Adam.
 
Images flashed quickly, red eyes,
blazing like fire.
 
Her
blood hot and sticky trickling down her neck.
 
Eric’s contorted face with flecks of crimson
filling his vision.
 
And she had told
Luke he was a vampire!
 
Did that really
happen?

“Where are you?
 
Are you hurt?” Mitchell’s voice burst into
her thoughts.

“Get out of my head,” she screamed out
loud.
 
Shaky and dizzy, she needed to sit
down before she passed out and she crumpled to the floor.
 
Her breath was coming out hard and ragged.

You
need to pull yourself together
, Amelia told
herself.
 
She felt hot, too hot and her
eyes prickled as tears spilled over the lids.
 
She buried her face in her hands.
 
It didn’t happen.
 
None of it happened.
 
There’s no such thing as vampires.
 
A sick feeling flooded her body.

Amelia heard someone shuffle into the room
and sit down beside her.
 
“Are you okay,
love
?”
 
He attempted
to keep his voice gentle but there was an unmistakable edge to it.

She could feel him watching her, scanning
her over from head to toe.
 
He sat so
close that she could smell his sweet, tangy scent.
 
“No,” she murmured, and a fresh avalanche of
tears cascaded down her face.
 
She looked
up at him and her body flushed hot.
 
Her
breath caught in her throat.
 
He was
close enough that she could feel the heat of his skin.
 
But even with this closeness, Amelia felt as
if they were painfully far away from each other.
 
She felt a tug, as if she was being pulled
towards him by an invisible chain and without realizing it, she slid
closer.
 
He reached out, brushing away
her tears and leaving behind a sizzling trail of sparks where his fingers had
touched her skin.
 
Her heart beat erratically,
thumping like a jackhammer.
 
Amelia drew
in a shaky breath and shook her head.
 
“No Mitch, I’m not okay,” she breathed, and then everything went dark.

A buzzing noise filled her ears and Amelia
tried to breathe, in and out, slow and steady, and after what felt like hours,
the buzzing deteriorated, and the soft whispers of her friends came into focus.

“Hey man, you weren’t here last
night.”
 
That was Eric.
 
Amelia recognized the voice.
 
She kept her eyes shut, trying to
listen.
 
“You need to trust me on
this.
 
She’s a scared and confused
teenage girl.
 
You gotta think of her
like a time bomb and you my man, are the bomb squad.
 
Proceed with caution.
 
If you push too hard or move too fast she’ll
go kaboom.”

Kaboom
?
 
Time bomb?
 
What was he talking about?
 
Amelia didn’t know.
 
She was about to open her eyes when someone
tucked a warm blanket around her and said, “Shut up, Eric.”

Mitchell.

Mitchell was real.
 
He was here.
 
He was a vampire.
 
They were all
vampires.
 
The thoughts were coming in a
rushed blur.
 
Her pulse picked up,
beating painfully fast, the thumping of her heart was drowning out the
conversation around her.
 
She felt cold
like ice.
 
Were they going to kill
her?
 
If they wanted to, wouldn’t they
have already done it?
 
What had her dad
said to her when she was a kid?
 
It was
something about bears when they were camping.
 
Play dead and they won’t bother you?
 
Does that work with vampires?
 
She
didn’t know but she thought she would give it a try.

Mitchell chuckled, a warm sound, velvety
and soft.
 
“No love,
playing dead with vampires doesn’t work.
 
We can all hear your heartbeat so you might as well open your
eyes.”
 
His voice seemed to speak
directly to her heart and she felt the chain tugging and tightening and as if
she had no control over her body, her eyes fluttered open and landed on him.

Amelia’s breath caught in her throat and
warmth flooded in.
 
Mitchell stood over
her, looking down, a bright lemon yellow glow around him, shooting out in
stripes, like rays from the sun.
 
Amelia
blinked, trying to clear her vision but the yellow haze stayed around him.
 
The stripes of color reminded her of the second
or two after you closed your eyes and flashes of colors appear before turning
black.
 
The brain wave came to her like a
smack in the forehead; she could see his aura.
 
That’s what those flashes of colors were.
 
She remembered reading about it once.
 
Amelia studied his face.
 
There was so much love in his brilliant blue
eyes.
 
Not just in his eyes, she realized
with a start; she could feel it, coming from him, it was as if they were
linked, and his feelings were radiating from him and pulsing into her.

Amelia didn’t think she could speak.
 
The sight of him in front of her was absolutely
awe-inspiring.
 
The dreams had not done
him justice.
 
He had always been
striking, but with the yellow glow outlining his chiseled and perfectly
sculpted six-three frame and mixing with his soft light brown hair, he was so
stunningly beautiful that it nearly hurt to look at him.

Her mouth felt dry and the awful pulling
around her heart urged her to get up, to go to him, to touch him.
 
Before she could stop herself, Amelia was off
the couch, the warm fleece blanket falling to the floor around her feet, and
she was reaching out to brush her fingers across his cheek.
 
“I can see your aura,” she breathed, more to
herself than to him.
 
“How are you here?
 
You’re not supposed to be real.”

Mitchell took her hand in his, holding it
against his cheek and leaned into it.
 
She could vaguely feel the presence of her roommates, but it didn’t
matter.
 
At that very moment, nothing
mattered more than he did.

Someone cleared their throat loudly,
drawing Amelia reluctantly back to the present and Mitchell dropped her hand.
 
“How did you know what she
was thinking, Mitch?”
Eric asked.
 
He looked mad, Amelia noticed, hands balled into white fists and red
tinting his face and neck.
 
There was
something staining his white shirt, which was ripped in a few places.
 
Something brownish-red—blood?
 
Yes, it looked like dried blood and there was
some dried up under his nose and smeared on his cheek, too.
 
He had a black eye, which to Amelia’s
disbelief, was getting lighter with every passing second.

“Yeah Mitch, how did you know?” Angelle
added.
 
She was suddenly standing in
front of them, glaring daggers at him.
 
“Because I know you wouldn’t do that to her.”
 
Mitchell didn’t bother to answer, and Amelia
thought he may have looked ashamed, which made no sense at all.
 
What did he have to be ashamed of?

Angelle and Mitchell stared at each other
for a long, tense moment.
 
“Dammit,
Mitch!” she said under her breath, looking away from him.
 
She took Amelia’s chin in her hands and
gently tilted her head looking over her neck.
 
“When?” she yelled at him and Amelia had to fight hard not to whimper,
because hey, she was alone in a room full of vampires and there was an angry
one holding onto her and her eyes were such a glowing red, who wouldn’t want to
whimper and find a rock to hide under?
 
This wasn’t the sugary sweet girl Amelia
knew.
 
This thing standing in front of
her, holding onto her chin, was a monster.

“Leave it alone, Angelle,” Mitchell said
tightly and started pacing the room.
 
The
beautiful yellow that surrounded him was fading and quickly devolving to a
muddied red.
 
It only took Amelia a
second to realize what the change meant—a rising tide of anger, so strong it
was suffocating.

I
should run,
Amelia thought, as she watched the red
deepen and black flecks, like spots of dirt, appeared.
 
Just run.
 
God, why can’t I run?
 
Stupid flight reflexes.
 
What’s wrong with me?

You
don’t need to run, love.
 
No one is going
to hurt you.

Amelia trembled and a shiver rushed in,
straightening her spine.
 
“You didn’t
talk,” she said, the tremors coming out in her voice.
 
“You’re lips didn’t move.”

“You project very clearly, Amelia.”
 
Mitchell chuckled softly, and looked at her,
some of the anger lifting away, and his soft smile returning.
 
“It’s kind of like one of those amplifiers.
 
Your thoughts just blast in, loud and clear.”

Angelle wrapped her arms around Amelia
hugging her closely.
 
For a moment,
Amelia stayed ridged and held her breath.
 
Her lungs started to burn and like a balloon popping, she let out a pent
up breath in a gush and all her resistance seemed to rush out with it.
 
There was something about Angelle that
reminded her of a mother bear protecting her cub, and Amelia felt herself relax
into the hug and let herself be pulled back onto the couch.
 
“Oh honey,
it’s
okay,” Angelle whispered in her ear, the way her mother used to when she had
had a bad dream and rocked her softly in her arms.
 
“You’re safe.
 
You’re going to be okay.”

“I can’t believe you’re really here.”
 
Amelia glanced over at Mitchell just for a
second and her heart fluttered happily in her chest.
 
She supposed she should have known he was
real but she had never really let herself think about it.
 
But now that she thought about it, really
thought about it, he had given tons of hints over the years and they were not
always that subtle.
 
Come to think of it,
she was sure he had even mentioned vampires before.
 
A sudden, uncontrollable giggle erupted from
her lips and she quickly covered her mouth, trying to hold it in.
 
Was this shock?
 
It had to be shock.
 
That was the only logical explanation.
 
So if she was in shock then none of this was
okay.
 
She would soon realize that.

Amelia pulled back from Angelle’s arms,
just enough to meet her square in the eyes.
 
“It’s not okay.
 
None of this is
okay.
 
I’m sitting in a house full of
vampires.
 
Vampires.
 
This is completely insane.”
 
The last words came out in a yell.

“What’s done is done,” Luke said
matter-of-factly.
 
Amelia hadn’t noticed
him sitting in the corner.
 
But there he
was, relaxed and composed in an armchair, watching everyone with those
thoughtful eyes.
 
“All of this yelling
isn’t going to change that.
 
I think we
all need to just calm down and deal with this.
 
She loves him.
 
We all know that,
otherwise the dreams wouldn’t have happened for five years.
 
I think you all may be underestimating her
ability to handle this.
 
Amelia is more
mature than you give her credit for.”

“But she wasn’t ready.
 
She’s still not ready!” Angelle raged,
tightening her grip on Amelia.

“I don’t care if she is ready or not,”
Mitchell said, jaw clenching.
 
“I’m not
going to let her run around with that boy!”
 
He shot Eric a challenging look, “Or with you.”

“You did this to her out of jealously,”
Angelle choked and continued to stroke Amelia’s hair.

“Dude,” Eric said, giving Mitchell a look
of pure disgust, but bit his tongue on anything else he might have been about
to say when Mitchell flashed him another terrifying look.

Amelia couldn’t imagine what was so
horrible, but the grim expressions on her roommates’ faces made its graveness
very clear.
 
She pushed her way out of
Angelle’s arms and stood up on shaky legs, wobbling like a tightrope
walker.
 
A sickening feeling engulfed
her, and she suddenly felt a flash of cold and waves of hot all at once.

“I don’t understand what’s happening here,”
Amelia blurted.

“Tell her, Mitch.”

“This is not the time, Angelle.”
 
Mitchell sat down on the couch and pulled
Amelia onto his lap, cradling her in his arms.
 
Every place their skin touched set her on fire, burning hot.
 
His tangy scent filled her head, pushing away
all her fears.
 
Amelia knew she should
push away, but her body just didn’t want to.
 
“Drop it.”

“Mitch, buddy,” Luke said, completely calm
and in control.
 
“She has a right to
know.
 
Think about it.
 
It’s better to just tell her so you can both
be careful.
 
Believe
me,
you don’t want it to just happen.”

“He bit you, Amelia.”
 
The bitterness in Angelle’s voice was as
black and violent as a thunderstorm.
 
She
reached out, as if she was going to touch her, and then drew back, thinking
better of it.

“Angelle,” Mitchell roared.
 
Suddenly, Amelia was standing, teetering
unstably, and Mitchell had Angelle off the couch, holding her against the wall
by her shoulders.
 
He looked scary.
 
Cold, hard and overpoweringly scary, and
Amelia could feel everything.
 
She could
hear his thoughts; he wanted to hurt Angelle, and she could feel it, the cold,
bitter anger.
 
She wanted to do
something.
 
She needed to stop him but
she couldn’t.
 
It was as if she was
frozen in place and the only thing she could do was whimper like a little baby.

“Mitch!” Luke’s voice boomed.
 
Amelia didn’t see him move, but he was now
behind Mitchell, holding him tightly, arms pinned behind his back.

Amelia couldn’t take it anymore and she
crumpled to the floor.
 
Her emotions were
already a jumbled mess and feeling all his anger was exhausting.
 
How could anyone have that much hatred?
 
That much rage?
 
She just couldn’t imagine.
 
And why could she feel everything he was
feeling?
 
“Someone really needs to tell
me what’s going on,” Amelia said in a small voice.