Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones Trilogy: Book One)

by Vancil, Alicia Kat

  After nearly four years of trying to get me back, Michael now had no choice but to give up on me and walk away. But the question was would he now pay attention to Penelope, or would he continue to ignore her affections?

  Our conversation may have ended, but I had the feeling this was far from over.

  PATRICK

  Nualla took a deep breath and tucked the ring back under her black V-necked sweater. I scowled at Michael’s back as he stalked off with his pack of arrogant jerks. Where did he get off acting like that?

  I turned back to Nualla; she was nervously playing with her pendant. “So he knows then?”

  “Unfortunately,” she answered with a grimace.

  “Won’t he say something about it to everyone?”

  “Not likely, he also has a lot to lose if people found out—and I’d kill him.”

  “Seriously? Like what has he got to lose?” I asked, gesturing toward the now nearly out of sight Michael.

  Nualla sighed. “Pride. Pride is Michael’s fatal flaw.” Then she looked at me curiously. “If you were him, would you really go around telling everyone you had lost?”

  “No…you’re right, I wouldn’t,” I admitted as I looked back out at the parking lot.

  “Look, Patrick, don’t worry about Michael,” she said, touching my arm. “I have to go; I’ll see you tomorrow before school, ‘kay?” She walked off in the direction of her car where Nikki was leaning up against the driver side, staring at the clouds.

  “Okay,” I said to no one but myself.

  I just stood there watching her go; which in the short time I had been with her seemed to happen a lot.

  “What’s got him so pissed off today?” Connor asked, filling the space beside me that Nualla had left.

  I was in an off mood and not really paying attention. Today had been an exhausting emotional roller coaster. “Oh I don’t know, gee, maybe he’s pissed that I married his girl.” My breath caught when I realized what I had just said—out loud.

  Crap.

  I slowly turned to face Connor who was staring at me, mouth hanging open. “Did you just say you were—?”

  I threw up my hands. “Wait, don’t say it!” I looked to both sides; there were way too many people still milling about to be having this conversation here. Plus if anyone found out, Nualla might kill me. Or her parents might. Hell, even my parents might.

  “Walk with me,” I said as I took off toward the street. I walked quickly down the sidewalk weaving past the other pedestrians; not stopping.

  After we were a good city block from the school Connor finally called out from behind me, “Is it safe to talk now?”

  Subtle Connor, real subtle.

  I stopped and stepped close to a building, so I wouldn’t get knocked over by a distracted pedestrian on their cell. Looking around I saw none of our classmates; it was probably safe. Probably. Connor looked ready to burst with pent up questions. “Yeah, we can talk now,” I said reluctantly.

  “You’re married?! Since when?”

  “Um, since last Friday. Actually, it was more like Saturday morning,” I answered as shoved my hands in the pockets of my Bleach hoodie and avoided his eyes.

  “When were you going to tell me?”

  “Never,” I replied looking up, slightly chagrined.

  “Dude, that’s cold, I’m your best friend,” Connor said, folding his arms.

  “Yeah well, it was on a need-to-know basis,” I said, looking nervously down the street; we were inching closer and closer to the truth.

  “Hey, why wasn’t I invited?”

  “Um, gee, well because it was kinda spur of the moment. And I was in Las Vegas, and might I add completely drunk at the time.” Once I had said it, I instantly wished I hadn’t.

  The thoughts playing across Connor’s face came to a screeching halt. “Wait, when were you in Vegas?”

  “Last weekend.” I had given up trying to skirt the truth; the worst damage had already been done.

  “Patrick, I’m lost here, care to fill me in?”

  “Okay, I told you I ran into Nualla at the mall, and she asked me to come hang out with her and her friends right? Well apparently their idea of hanging out is catching a plane to Vegas.”

  “Seriously?” Connor asked in disbelief.

  “Seriously. So while there, we got really drunk, and I woke up Saturday morning in a hotel room—married. That about sums it up.”

  Connor was silent for a moment before he spoke. “Wow you must’ve been really, really drunk.”

  “Oh, my head would have agreed with you on that one,” I said with a slight smirk.

  “So what are you going to do about this?”

  “Nothing,” I said firmly.

  “Nothing?”

  “What is there to do? I’m married to Nualla—Nualla, Connor. This is in no way a problem until she tells me it is.”

  Connor looked at me for a second before a smirk started to spread across his face. “Your life has gotten so weird.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  15

  Please Tell Me You’re Joking

  Wednesday, January 18th

  NUALLA

  I had been avoiding this too long already. I should have gone in on Monday; Tuesday was pushing it, but if I didn’t go today I would be screwed. Tylia had intercepted the message, but that didn’t mean it was a closed matter.

  I took a deep breath and walked up the steps leading to the main West Coast branch of Kalodaemon Embassy. The main entrance was swarming with people, their steps echoing on the marble floor. I passed by them quickly and rode the elevator to the third floor running through the past week in my head.

  I was so lost in thought I didn’t even notice he was there until he bumped gently into me. “And what brings you here today?”

  I turned to see the smiling face of The Embassy’s resident tech genius looking down at me. “Travis!”

  “You seem surprised to see me,” he said with a crooked smile.

  “I am.” I was, to be perfectly honest. He was about the last person I had thought I would run into today.

  Travis had been one of my best friends for a long time now. He was about three years older than me, and I had always thought he was pretty damn cute. Like Shawn, he was much taller than me now, but he hadn’t always been that way. When we were younger he had actually gotten picked on a lot for being shorter than the other kids his age. But when he hit puberty and shot up a good foot and a half everyone has stopped wondering which of his parents he would take after. Now it seemed the only thing he had inherited from his Japanese mother were her eyes; almond shaped and a surprisingly brilliant shade of black-blue.

  “So I ask you again, what are you up to today? Your dad’s office is way on the other end of the building so you can’t be going there.”

  “You’re right, I’m actually heading to the Department of Records.”

  “Really?” he said, his smile broadening. “Me too.”

  “What for?” I asked, immediately suspicious.

  “To register some new tech,” he answered as he held up the device he was carrying.

  “Cool, what does it do?” I asked quickly. If I could get him talking about it, he might forget to ask specifics about why I was there. Explaining my current fuck up was really low on my list of things I ever wanted to have a conversation with Travis about.

  “It’s a device that—hey wait, you’re trying to distract me, aren’t you?”

  Busted.

  “No I’m not!” I said, feigning disgust at his accusation.

  “You can’t lie to me Nualla, I’ve known you far too long.”

  “How did you know?” I asked as I crossed my arms and looked down in defeat.

  “You have a
tell.”

  My head shot back up. “Really, what is it? Tell me.”

  “No way! If I told you, then you would change it. Now you’re caught, so tell me why you’re here. It must be juicy, or you wouldn’t have lied. So spit it out,” Travis said, smirking.

  “I need to register something,” I said as I looked away embarrassed.

  “Well duh, but doesn’t your dad’s office normally do that stuff for you?”

  “They can’t do this; I have to do it on my own.”

  I could see him sorting through possible reasons in his head. I could tell, he always looked up and got this far off look in his eyes when he was thinking. But from his expression he was coming up short. The answers were obvious, but apparently too farfetched for what he thought me capable of.

  “Okay, now you really have to tell me.”

  “No,” I said defiantly, folding my arms.

  “That’s not fair, come on!”

  “Fine, a marriage license. That’s what I have to register, okay!”

  Travis smiled; it was more than clear he didn’t believe me even though I was being completely honest. “Ha ha, very funny. Now tell me why you’re really here.” As he continued to look at me, all humor left his face. “Please tell me you’re joking,” he said in a startled voice.

  “No, I’m not,” I replied, folding my arms again and leaned against the nearby wall.

  Travis stood there in front of me, unmoving. I don’t think I had ever seen him look that shocked. “Seriously?”

  “Yes Travis, seriously,” I answered, glaring at him.

  “When? To whom? And why didn’t you say anything about it the last time I saw you?”

  I sighed and pushed away from the wall. “Travis, I was hoping to never have this conversation, but I especially didn’t want to have it in the hall for crying out loud!”

  “My lab then,” he said, gesturing with his thumb.

  “I’m not going to get out of having this conversation with you, am I?”

  “Not a chance in hell.”

  “Fine,” I relented with a sigh. This was going to suck, I could tell already.

  He turned shakily on his heel and walked back toward his lab. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought he was mad.

  I walked down the hall after him in silence, trying to look like nothing was out of the ordinary. Aside from people stopping to bow to me, no one seemed to notice that anything was wrong. Travis never once looked back the whole time and if he hadn’t been practically my best friend, I might have turned around and bolted for the exit.

  Travis pressed his hand against the panel next to his lab which flashed green before unlocking and opening the door. His lab was full of gadgets, wires, and futuristic tech that would have made any tech geek think they had died and gone to heaven.

  Since the death of his parents and little brother when he was six, he had been a ward of The Embassy and thus had lived in the orphanage a few floors up. He had always shown a talent for making things, but it wasn’t until his senior year of high school that my dad had realized Travis was actually a genius. After that, Alex had given Travis this lab which pretty much gave him the means to create all the crazy things he could possibly dream up.

  Travis placed the device he had been holding, safely on the table, and then turned to face me. After a few seconds of silence, he leaned back against one of the tables. “So…”

  There was no way out of this, so I went for the quick blunt answer. “I went to Vegas with Nikki, Shawn, and a guy from school, got really drunk, and I got married. That’s pretty much it,” I stated with a shrug.

  Travis choked and looked at me. “You married Shawn!”

  Of course he would jump to that conclusion. He wasn’t going to make this easy I just knew it. “No I did not marry Shawn; Nikki would have killed me.” I looked at my boots and mumbled the next part. “No, I married someone else.”

  “The other guy?”

  “Yep,” I replied, examining the lack of dust on the floor.

  “What’s his name?”

  “Patrick Connolly.”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell, is he a transfer student from somewhere else in the region?”

  “Nope,” I answered, still not meeting his eyes.

  “Then…I’m confused.”

  “He’s human, alright?!” I said, finally looking up at him.

  A flood of different emotions cross Travis’ face as he tried to wrap his head around this one. “Woah, seriously?” Travis said, raising his eyebrows.

  “Do I look like I’m kidding, Travis?”

  If I thought he looked shocked before I was mistaken, because nothing topped his current expression. “Wow, just wow. I know your aunt married a human—but I never pegged you for one too.”

  “And before you even ask, he’s still human.”

  “Wait, what? How can he still—?”

  “I am so not answering that, so don’t even bother asking. And now if you don’t mind I have to go fill out a lot of paperwork.” I uncrossed my arms and pushed away from the table.

  “Wait, Nualla,” Travis pleaded, grabbing my arm.

  I turned around to face him. “What?”

  He looked at me uneasily for a second before asking, “Do you regret it?”

  I was not expecting that question, so I had to think a bit before I answered. “Even if I did, there’s no going back now. Rules are rules.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” he said in a small voice, not meeting my eyes.

  “I don’t know the answer; I guess I’ll find out, won’t I?”

  “Yeah,” he agreed quietly. We stood there in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “I’ve never met this guy, and I see you nearly every Friday. So tell me, just how long, exactly, have you been dating him?”

  I cringed; this was the most incriminating part of my weekend’s lack of judgment. “A week and a half,” I admitted with a grimace. It was technically a lie, but it sounded far better than the actual truth. I mentally braced myself for what I knew was coming as I bolted for the door.

  “Are you crazy?!” Travis shouted from behind me.

  “Apparently so,” I called over my shoulder as I continued my escape.

  Within seconds Travis was at my side. I should have known I couldn’t get away from him that easily. We walked silently down the halls for a long time.

  When we had reached the Department of Records he finally asked in a quiet voice, “What did your dad say?”

  “He wasn’t happy, but he said it was my decision to make.”

  Travis reached up and brushed a strand of my hair out of my eyes. “You know you really shouldn’t make huge decisions while you’re drunk, you’re terrible at it.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  The line for the Department of Records stretched out into the hall, but luckily I didn’t have to wait in it. One of the privileges of being me, you could say. On the other hand, one of the downsides of being me was that most people knew who I was so they tended to stare—a lot.

  One of the Protectorate officers nearly choked when he saw me and said rather a little too loudly as his right fist came across his body to his heart, “Arius Nualla!”

  Everyone who hadn’t already noticed my entering the room sure as hell was staring at me now. Great, because what I really wanted more than anything at this moment was for everyone and their brother to gawk at me as I filed my fuck up.

  The officer took a few steps toward me and said in a thankfully normal tone, “Arius, what can I do for you?” I was pretty sure seeing me was about the last thing he had thought would happen on his shift today.

  “Just need to file something,” I answered, holding up a folder. “Is Mrs. Murray here today?”
>
  “Yes, she’s in her office, right this way.” I really didn’t need his help finding it, but he looked so startled I just let him lead me there anyway. He opened the door to Mrs. Murray’s office for me and poked his head in. “Arius Nualla to see you, ma’am.”

  “Oh?” came Mrs. Murray’s voice from inside the private office. The officer stepped aside to let me pass, then shut the door behind me. Mrs. Murray looked a little flustered to see me, but she hid it far better than the officer had. “Arius Nualla, what brings you here today?” she asked with a broad smile.

  “I need to register something,” I answered in as steady a voice as I could manage.

  “Of course, what did you need to register?”

  “This,” I answered as I slid the folder containing the marriage license toward her.

  She opened it and stared at it for a while before her eyes darted up to mine. “Does the Chancellarius know about this?”

  “Yes,” I answered truthfully.

  “Well then, all we need to do is fill out these forms here.” She began typing on the keyboard in front of her while looking at the marriage license.

  I swallowed hard. “I also need a human pass.”

  “Excuse me?” she said, looking up.

  “My new husband is human.”

  “Well then, he would need a Neodaemon Acknowledgement Certificate, not a Blue Card.”

  A Blue Card was normally a pass issued to children of Kalodaemons that were born Marked Ones instead of True Born daemons. It secured their safe passage in our world until their bodies signaled that it was time for the Change.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No I mean he’s still human.”