Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1

by Jaymin Eve

  I was screwed, but there was no way I was going to let them take me without a fight. I’d end up buried in some prison somewhere, never to be found again. I knew this time they would not risk anyone breaking out the dragon marked. We would be locked in the bowels of the Antarctic. Or even that prison which was rumored to be buried under the ocean.

  The east one came at me then. He held no weapons. I guess he thought he didn’t need them. I dodged the first swipe of his hands, spinning in the last moment and kicking out. I actually connected, smashing him in the gut and knocking him back a few feet. He staggered for a moment before recovering himself and stepping back into alignment.

  The Four paused, their identical faces observing me. They seemed intrigued by the fact I’d attempted to fight back.

  “You can never beat us. Why do you fight?” This was the one at the west. He seemed genuinely curious about this fact.

  “I’m a wolf, I won’t be caged. My lifetime is long, and I won’t live it like that. I will always fight.”

  My impassioned words rang out through the trees.

  “Your life is longer than that, it is eternal. The marked are immortal, but…” He broke off. “Don’t despair of your long life, there’s a weapon that can kill the marked and we’re getting very close to finding it. Then we will end the existence of all dragon marked.”

  I calmed myself, but didn’t lower my hands. “You are evil, more evil than the king you proclaim to be defending the supernaturals from. You’ve stolen innocents, locked away babies and children, tortured and attempted to kill. If there was ever a wicked supernatural that we needed to be protected from, it’s you four.”

  I couldn’t understand how they didn’t see this, that in their quest to prevent evil they had become evil.

  They stopped moving again and as one unit spoke: “Sometimes good men must be ruthless. Sometimes you must sacrifice the few for the many.” The four of them repeated this, over and over.

  The words were spinning through my mind and I had to force myself not to vomit. Of course my stomach was empty, which helped with keeping the contents down. They would never be convinced from their path; they were unwavering in their belief. They were crazy as fuck. And it was really hard arguing with an insane person. I knew from my many years fighting with Giselda aka BEF.

  “We’re going to take you now,” the north one said, his voice calm and kind even. “Please do not fight us. We don’t want to hurt you any more than we have to.”

  Oh, I was going to fight.

  They came at me again, all of them at the same time. I kicked, screamed, and fought at all angles. But before I could even think about another avenue or call on my wolf, they had me, each one holding one of my arms and legs. I was held aloft, suspended above the ground and unable to move. Their strength was apparent, I could not muscle my way out of this. I had just one option left. My dragon. I hadn’t called for her because I thought there might have been a chance to talk myself out of being taken. Continue to deny I was marked. But they either knew something or didn’t care. They were taking me no matter what.

  I reached for my energy, bypassing the wolf and going straight for the dragon. She rose to attention and caressed me. But I couldn’t connect to her. Generally, when shifting I’d call for the energy and the change would come. But something was stopping it. I opened my eyes and stared at the hands holding me. Could the Four prevent me from touching that energy, was that part of their combined power? Okay, well I only had one other option.

  I screamed, loud, long, and echoing. Surely we were close enough for someone to come and investigate. The Four didn’t stop me, they let me scream until I was hoarse. I knew where we were going. They were moving toward the border of Stratford. Once we got outside of this area, there was no coming back for me. I would disappear.

  I still screamed for help, but my voice was barely above a whisper now. The ache in my throat felt permanent. I had done a bit of damage.

  Tears were building in my eyes, but I would not give myself the luxury of crying. Or them the satisfaction.

  I sniffed a few times, blinking rapidly.

  “How did you know?” I whispered hoarsely. “That I was marked.”

  There was no point denying it now.

  “We were in the prison, investigating the breakout,” the man on my right arm answered. “Your energy called to us and we knew there was an active marked in there. For your energy to blast through as it did, you were not in the special marked area with its securities. We set up these secret rooms in all of the prisons, we know the five elements which limit the power of the marked and we thread them through each of the prisons worldwide.” His gray eyes flashed down at me. “Since you weren’t in the secret room, then you were in the main prison. After that it wasn’t hard to figure out who you were. Other than the male, you were the only one to leave the prison, and he is dragon, they are never marked.”

  “Can you trace the marked energy from anywhere? Will you be able to find all the ones who were freed?”

  The same four answered me again. “No, we must be in close proximity, although there is a bit of a pull for the stronger ones. Generally, supernaturals contact us and report a marked. Then we go to that area and it is pretty easy to find them after that.”

  So if I actually had run, they might never have been able to find me. I bit my cheek hard enough that I tasted blood. “What did you do to the Compasses?”

  “Nothing,” he said. And that was all I got from them.

  We reached the edge of Stratford. I could see the shimmery dome which prevented the outside world from just walking into our town. Of course a human couldn’t see these protections, but they still worked on keeping them out. This dome was supposed to keep me safe … but, in the end, nothing had kept me safe. The man holding my left leg halted, he reached out with a hand to touch the barrier. About an inch from connecting, he stopped … or froze. What the hell? My eyes flicked up between all of them. None of them were moving.

  What was going on? Had the barrier done something to them?

  I started to wiggle, to see if I could free myself. Sure enough, as I started to move and squirm I managed to wrench my left leg free, followed by my arm on the opposite side. Then with a huge intake of breath, I closed my eyes and jerked the remaining arm and leg clear.

  I hit the ground hard, jarring up my body and into my brain. But I didn’t stop for a second, I had to get away before whatever halted the Four lifted.

  Just as I was springing forward, my arms pumping ready to sprint, a familiar figure stepped into view. I ground to a halt before throwing myself into his arms. “Louis,” I gasped. “You saved me.”

  I should have known. Only a sorcerer as powerful as he could have done this.

  He hugged me back hard, before pulling away to stare down at me. “Listen to me, Jessa, I can only hold them for a short time. They’re joined and they’re very powerful.” There was strain on his face. “You need to run. Go now, out of the dome and into the car I have waiting for you at the end of the road. Do not hesitate. Get to the private supernatural airport and onto the plane that’s waiting there ready to take off. The Four will come after you. This is our one chance to get you to a safe place. Wait for me there and I will come once I make sure your family is protected.”

  “I’m going to have to run forever?” I cried.

  He shook his head. “No, we will make you safe, we will find a way. But for now there is no time. If they take you, they will be able to hide you from me. Instead, I beat them at that game and I will hide you from them.”

  He shoved a bag into my hands, a heavy knapsack.

  “Go now, Jessa. I have learned much this night, but there is no more time.” He pretty much picked me up then and tossed me through the portal.

  I closed my eyes, bracing for whatever protections to attack me. But there was nothing, just a weird sucking sensation, then with a diving roll on the ground, I was on the other side. I was in the human world.

  Holy
shitballs.

  I took off along the long, winding, dirt road, nothing on either side but trees and fields. I didn’t slow until the black Range Rover came into view, just sitting there in the center of the dirt path as if Louis had dropped it out of the sky. Skidding to the side, I wrenched open the driver’s door and without hesitation jumped into the black leather seat. I didn’t take any time to remove the bag; it clanked to my side as I hit the button to start the powerful machine. I knew there would be keys inside somewhere, and sure enough, at the touch of my fingertips the V8 engine roared to life.

  As I slammed the stick into drive and pushed my foot flat to the floor, I silently thanked Braxton for my multitude of driving lessons. The four tires skidded on the dirt road before finding traction, and then I was off. In the rearview mirror, dust blew up behind me and I swore, in the far distance, I saw the Four dive out of the dome. Shit. They were already after me.

  I decided to not look back again. I focused on trying to recall where the airport was. We all had to memorize the map. It was part of the evacuation route should it ever be required. But looking at a map and being there in real life, not to mention being chased, was spazzing out my mind a little.

  I stayed on the road until we reached a fork and I was starting to get my bearings. I knew the first turn was left, then there was another long road. It was definitely hard to orientate myself, everything looked the same. I was surrounded by huge fields of corn. I continued to take the turns, three left and two right, and then I sucked in a deep breath as the familiar supernatural symbol appeared on a small plaque, discreetly placed beneath the human speed sign. Thank eff. I sobbed my next few breaths. I was going the right way.

  It took thirty minutes, but suddenly the large hangar building appeared on the horizon. I didn’t bother to look for a place to park my car, I just continued to drive until I pretty much ended up on the tarmac. There was only one plane out of the hangars, and it looked ready to roll. I screeched to a halt near the back of the wing. A quick glance in all of mirrors – I was still alone for the moment. I threw myself out of the car, leaving the door hanging open, and sprinted for the steps. I clunked my foot on the bottom step and a man appeared at the top.

  “Hurry, Miss Lebron, we have to leave now.”

  I recognized the golden ring he wore on his middle finger. He was a guild. Humans that helped us out; he was going to get me to safety. I really hoped we wouldn’t have to kill him afterwards. I’m sure Louis just wiped their memories.

  I ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time. Once I was inside, the plane door slammed close and was secured. The takeoff procedure started immediately before I’d even made it past the front entrance. I leaned against that wall, the heavy bag hanging off my side, and took a moment to calm my racing heart. Until we were in the air I wouldn’t feel safe. In reality, knowing how crazy powerful the Four were, I wondered how I’d ever feel safe again.

  “Miss Lebron?” I spun my head to find the guild man right beside me. “You need to take your seat and buckle up.”

  The plane was already moving. I lurched a little as I left the wall I was hugging.

  Moving down the hall – it was quite large for a private plane – I emerged in a long open room that seemed to have lots of leather chairs. And as I focused on the scene before me, I froze, and then loud and violent sobs burst from me. Mischa was in the closest chair, and further back were the Compasses. All four of them. Red hair caught my attention too. Grace, the healer witch, was off to the side.

  Wait, what?

  I knew it was weird that she was here, but right now I was focused on the others.

  “Jessa.” Mischa’s arms came around me. “Thank God you’re okay.”

  I lifted my trembling arms, securing them tightly around her, and held on like my life depended on it.

  Jacob, who’d also jumped to his feet when I’d appeared, swept me away from my sister and carried me back to buckle me in next to him. “Come on, baby girl, we got you now, you can relax.”

  Mischa was back in her seat and the plane had started rapidly down the runway, and then we were in the air. I managed to get my sobs under control, lifting both hands to wipe at my eyes. I’d never been on a plane, and was distracted from my crying fit by the weird sensations of blocked ears and pressure in my head.

  Tyson leaned over Jacob. “Open your mouth wide and yawn.” He had to speak loudly over the thrusts of the engine.

  I followed his instructions and had immediate relief.

  “Thank you,” I shouted back. A few more sobs shook me, but I had them under control. I wiped away the last of the wetness of my cheeks. “What’s wrong with Braxton?” I finally noticed the way his head was lolling to the side. He looked like he was asleep.

  Maximus laughed. “Well, let’s just say none of us were very happy with Louis’ little plan, but Braxton actually had to be … well, convinced. He’s having a little nap.”

  I cast worried eyes at my bestie, but he didn’t seem to be in distress. His breathing was nice and even.

  We ascended for a long time, and then finally, as the plane evened out and started to glide, Braxton blinked a few times before his head shot up. He raised a hand and rubbed at his temples.

  “Jessa…” he bit out, looking around the space. The relief across his features when he noticed me was apparent. “I’m going to kill that fucking wizard. If anything happened to you…”

  The light went off for the seatbelt sign, so I clicked myself free and crawled across the boys to hug Braxton. “I’m fine,” I said. “Louis saved me.”

  Braxton didn’t look convinced. “Tell me what happened.”

  I quickly went through everything, touching briefly on the Four and the power they’d had to halt my shift to wolf. Only Braxton knew of my dual shifting abilities, so I didn’t mention that my dragon had been cut off also.

  Then it was their turn. Tyson started. He explained how Louis had come to them and decided to put this contingency plan into place. He said that if the Four decided to attack, it was better to be prepared, and if they didn’t he’d return and fetch the boys. He’d grabbed Mischa at the last minute while I’d been occupied with the Four.

  I turned to the witch. “Hi, Grace.” She returned my smile. “How did you get roped into this?”

  Her very dark doe eyes blinked a few times. “Louis asked me if I was willing to help you all, that you would need a healer.” She shrugged. “There was nothing keeping me in Stratford, and I’ve always envied the closeness of your pack.” Her stare was direct. I could see Tyson locking his gaze on her too. “So … here I am.”

  “Thank you,” I said, my tone low.

  I didn’t even want to know why Louis thought we’d need a healer.

  Braxton hit the button to free himself from the harness then. “Fucking wizard took us all by surprise. I told him we needed to stay and defend you, but he insisted we had no idea what we were going up against and that we had to be smart. I was on my way to smack him in the face when everything went dark.”

  Tyson kept a straight face. “He hit Brax straight in the chest with a knockout spell, fastest cast I’ve ever seen.”

  Mischa moved across then and squished in with all of us on the large couch. “What is in the bag?”

  I reached down and freed the knapsack that was wedged in between me and Maximus. Lifting the lid, I tipped the contents onto the small table. Bundles of cash, passports, and driver’s licenses spilled out. Damn, the sorcerer was like a human Boy Scout, always prepared.

  We sifted through the lot, opening each document to find there were new identities for all of us, including Grace, enough paperwork that we would be able to survive in the human world if we needed to. And a crap-ton of cash. Lastly, there was a folded piece of paper.

  I opened it to find a hand-penned letter.

  I didn’t recognize the neat writing, but I assumed it was from Louis. I read it out aloud to the group.

  “Jessa, if you are reading this, then the Four
know about your mark. I hoped it wouldn’t come to pass, but I always have a contingency plan for these situations. I have included in this bag everything you should need to venture into the human world.”

  I sucked in deeply before continuing: “New names, new identities, nothing traceable for the Four. You may not need them as I’m sending you to a safe house of a friend, a friend that I trust with my life. He knows a lot about the marked, he will have answers for you. I, too, have a lot to explain. I have learned many things this day but there was no time. For now, stay safe.”

  I glanced down at the rest of the note. It was filled with directions to follow once we got to our new destination. He’d signed his name at the bottom in a flourishing signature.

  Mischa leaned over to look. “Does it say where we are going?”

  I looked between all of them. “Don’t you all know where we are going?” Seriously, I just assumed someone knew.

  Heads shaking side to side and grim faces. I scanned the rest of the directions of the note but there was nothing to indicate our final destination. Rising from my seat, I made my way into that little front alcove, where the man who’d welcomed me on board was preparing food.

  “Hello.”

  He jumped. “Sorry, Miss Lebron, is there anything I can help you with?” He faced me and I realized he didn’t look much older than I was.

  “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name when I first got on the plane…” I let the sentence trail off.

  He dried his hands on a towel. “I’m Craig.” I wondered if he was going to shake my hand, but he didn’t move, so clearly not. I observed him for a moment. He was my first real human and I was fascinated by his lack of energy, almost as if he were cloaking it, but I knew that was simply what a human was. He was cute but sort of plain. Mousy brown hair and washed-out blue eyes. Nothing special about him, but maybe his normalness was special all on its own.

  “Hi, Craig, you can call me Jessa.” I smiled, which he returned, but ten to one he was still going to call me Miss Lebron. The guild was big on their formalities. “Can you tell me where we are going?”