by Ryals, R. K.
"Dayton?"
I knew by Amber's troubled tone that she was trying to differentiate between the dirty kidnapped girl from the refectory and the clean, weary one standing now before her. My powers had their advantages.
"You shouldn't be here, Amber."
I pushed her flashlight down, away from my face as I gazed up at her. Her eyes were wide.
"Y-you look . . . you're different," she stuttered.
I met her gaze unflinchingly.
"More than you know."
Amber didn't respond, her eyes traveling what she could see of me in the dull glow thrown off by the flashlight. I knew what she saw and fear wasn't part of it. There wasn't even much compassion left.
Amber came to some kind of silent conclusion, and I watched as she pushed past me, her flashlight bouncing as she took a seat on the trunk I'd just vacated.
"I'm sorry, Day."
I didn't have to be looking at her face to know she was crying. Her breathing was deep, her words broken. I wanted to say something comforting, to tell her it was all going to be okay, but I honestly didn't have it in me. I wish I could say I was self-sacrificing enough to just pat her on the shoulder and say, "It's fine." But, in all honesty, no one is that selfless. At least I could admit I had faults.
"He's planning to rape me."
There. I said it. The one fear I had been forcing myself not to give into was now out in the open. And I felt dragged down by it. My throat constricted, my heart began beating faster than any human's ever could, and I swallowed convulsively against the bile that threatened to enter my esophagus. Amber sobbed.
"But you knew that, didn't you?" I asked.
Amber hiccupped as she tried to bring herself under control. She couldn't speak. That much was obvious, but she did nod.
"When?" I asked, the question a furious whisper in the dark room.
Amber wiped her eyes with the back of hand before taking a deep breath.
"Soon. He needs to unbind you from his brother, but he won't wait on that."
"Marcas," I corrected.
Damon's brother he may be, but Marcas deserved to be referred to by name. My knees grew weak, and Amber scooted over as I moved to the trunk.
"We need to get you out of here," Amber insisted as I sat down.
I looked at her, at her wide, red-rimmed eyes and her messy blonde hair, and I shook my head.
"How do I know you aren't being controlled by Damon, that he isn't privy to every thought in your head? It's obvious he has the Sect possessed."
Amber looked away.
"Some of us are stronger than that. I'm stronger than that. He's never been able to take my mind."
"Amber—"
Her hand suddenly gripped my arm, hard.
"Give me a little credit, Day. You know better. I have as much of our mother's blood in me as you do."
It wasn't hard to believe her. Bezaliel may not be Amber's father, but we still shared the same mother. Our mother was a fighter. But our father . . . .
"You know, Amber . . . Dad. . . Daniel—"
Amber cut me off.
"I know, Day."
I looked down at my lap.
"Damon reveals a lot when he believes we're all mind-sotted," Amber said.
I felt fear traverse my spine.
"And you've been fooling him into thinking you are as possessed as the others?"
My words sounded skeptical even to me. Amber didn't answer me right away, and I looked up to find her fiddling with her flashlight nervously.
"Sometimes he takes a little persuading," she mumbled.
I felt my whole body go numb.
"Persuading?"
Amber looked away, her eyes avoiding mine as she pulled her long blonde hair away from her neck. I took one look and gasped.
"Amber!"
Her neck was covered in bites. They weren't gentle wounds, the teeth having dug into her skin in so many places it was almost like looking at a bone that had been gnawed on by a dog.
I lifted my hand and tenderly skimmed the area with my fingers. The marks were both old and new, some healing while others festered, and her skin was varying shades of blue, green, and yellow.
"He likes blood," Amber said quietly. "If we don't let him feed from us, then he knows he has lost control of our minds."
I cringed.
"All of Lilith and Cain's children like blood, Amber."
It was the only thing I knew to say. Amber's eyes met mine again.
"Lilith and Cain?" she asked.
I just nodded. There wasn't enough time to fully explain. She would have to piece it together on her own. Amber covered her neck back up with her hair.
"And Marcas? Does he feed from you?" she asked.
I sat frozen, my eyes still drawn to her neck despite the veil of hair.
"No. The Demons don't need blood. They just crave it. Marcas refuses to let the thirst control him."
Amber placed a hand over mine on the trunk, forcing me to look away from her neck. She lifted the light just enough to search my eyes.
"You're in love with him," she whispered.
I didn't disagree.
"Oh, Dayton . . ."
I pulled my hand from hers.
"Don't!"
I stood up and moved away.
"Condemn me all you want silently, Amber, but don't say it out loud. Out of everyone involved, Marcas has always been the most honest. He has the most to lose, and he was willing to sacrifice everything for me." I poked myself in the chest and held Amber's gaze. "For me!"
"He's a Demon—"
I almost snarled.
"And he's the brother of a Demon you've been allowing to feed off you. Don't be a hypocrite, Amber."
Amber held out her hands.
"I'm not . . ."
I gritted my teeth as I leaned toward her.
"You are."
I could feel the anger swirling around in my gut, my stomach clenching as I moved to the foot of the basement stairs and looked up. Amber moved awkwardly toward me.
"I don't want to fight, Day. I just want to get you out of here."
"And how are we supposed to manage that?"
Amber was at my shoulder
"You have powers now, right?" she asked. I didn't look at her.
"They may be completely ineffective against the ring," I answered.
I heard the fight go out of Amber.
"Then we're both dead."
I turned on her.
"What do you mean both?"
She placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I failed you before, Day. I won't do it again."
Her words made my eyes burn. I didn't want to cry. In all honesty, we had failed each other
"I pushed you away," I argued.
Amber shook her head.
"You withdrew. There's a difference. But I was hurting so badly after Mom's death that I made myself believe you were shoving me away. I needed to blame someone. You didn't deserve that."
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I swiped at them angrily.
"You were hurting. Right or wrong, I won't let you punish yourself for that. Damon will kill you," I hissed.
Amber looked down at me. She had always been the taller one. She looked so much like Mom.
"Even if he did, it wouldn't absolve me of all the wrong I've done. I let them bind you to a Demon, Dayton."
Amber was trying to be strong, but I heard her hiccup slightly. I took her hand in mine.
"Then I should be thanking you," I whispered.
My anger at being betrayed by my family had been replaced by my newfound love for Marcas. I loved my sister. If there was anyone I could forgive, it was her. Trusting her was another issue, but forgiving her I could do. My other hand came up to cover the flashlight she held.
"I can do it."
It was the mantra we had once chanted under tented sheets as I told her the story of a little girl who had gone in search of the Sand Man, climbing Sleepy Mountain even as she tired.
>
Amber sobbed then, her shoulders shaking as she held open her arms. I went into them without hesitation, my cheek against her shoulder as she hugged me.
"I can," she whispered into my ear fiercely.
"We can.
Damon could go to Hell.
Chapter 3
The Seal was never meant to be worn by a Demon.
~Bezaliel~
The basement was getting to me. Amber had left because I knew if she stayed Damon would kill her, and so she had gone with the promise to return. We would attempt an escape then. It was better than waiting to be raped. If I was going down, I was going down fighting.
"Dayton . . ."
The echo in my head was unexpected, and I sat up too quickly, my head hitting the corner of a shelf.
"Dammit!"
A chuckle echoed around me.
"Is it wrong that I love it when you curse?"
Marcas. I gripped the same shelf I had just plowed into, my knuckles white against the wood.
"Where are you?" I whispered.
Silence and then . . . .
"I'm as near as I can be without being detected by the Seal."
His words were not comforting. The Seal was powerful.
"Are you okay?" Marcas asked. I knew by his hard tone what he was really asking.
"He hasn't touched me," I answered, switching to mind-speak while blocking my thoughts so my words wouldn't be overheard by anyone else with the ability. "But I'm scared."
It wouldn't do to lie to Marcas. He may seem unreadable, even unemotional, but I was beginning to know him as well as I knew myself, and he had always had the uncanny ability of reading my emotions.
"I'm coming for you," Marcas promised, and I stiffened, my nails scraping against the wooden shelf.
"Don't you dare!" I screamed. I wouldn't let him risk it. I couldn't bear it.
"Dayton . . ." he began, but I cut him off.
"Don't come, Marcas! It's what he wants. He'll destroy you. Please!"
There was silence, and I let go of the shelf, backing into the middle of the basement. The need to see Marcas was strong.
"I am not afraid of the Seal," Marcas said finally, his voice firm.
I was at the foot of the stairs now, my eyes peering upward.
"I am."
I felt something touch me gently on the shoulder, but when I turned, there was nothing there.
"Look, Day. Stare into the darkness. Visualize what you want to see most."
I didn't understand what he was asking me to do, but I concentrated anyway, my thoughts swamped with images of him. The dark around me shimmered, and I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth as a light fog suddenly moved across the floor, twisting and twirling around itself until I was seeing the image of a man. Marcas.
He was leaning forward, his hands grasping something as he stared at me. A doorway maybe. His image was almost translucent, but he was here, and I suddenly wanted to sob. I reached out tentatively, my hand moving along his fog-like cheek.
"We are stronger, Dayton. Together, we are powerful. Trust me."
Trusting him wasn't hard. The idea of losing him was. There were sudden footsteps above my head, and I looked away from Marcas' image, my gaze focused on the stairwell.
"Fight, Day. Whatever happens, fight. I am coming."
I looked back at the fog. It was beginning to dissipate now. His hand reached for me.
"I'll never forsake you," Marcas said. And with that, he was gone.
I wondered if he knew how much those words meant to me. It was more powerful than "I love you." He would never abandon me. After losing most of my family to abandonment, death, and betrayal, his words dug themselves into my soul and made a home there.
"I trust you," I whispered just as the door at the top of the stairs burst open.
I looked up, my eyes searching the darkness with my night vision only to find my frightened sister beckoning me urgently from above. I took the stairs two at a time.
"He's feeding," Amber hissed hurriedly as I reached her. "And then he's coming for you. We have to go now."
I peered over her shoulder into the corridor.
"Then let's go."
She took my hand in hers, and we moved through the hallways. For anyone who had not lived or worked at the Abbey, the place was a maze of confusing passageways, offices, rooms, and places of study, but Amber and I knew the huge structure well.
We were approaching the corridor leading to the foyer when I felt him. One moment, I was running, the next, the Seal's power was slamming into me, and I was thrown into the Abbey's stone wall, my heart pounding, the breath knocked out of me as I slid down to the floor. Amber's hand was no longer in mine, and she was peering down at me, her face pale with fear.
"What happened?" she asked as I stood up, my hands held out, my body throbbing.
"I don't know," I answered honestly, reaching out with my power as I glanced around the hallway.
At first, there was nothing, and then I discovered the shield. It was a force field of magic, obviously created by the ring. It didn't feel like Demon power. Shit!
"He knows I'm out," I said shakily.
The corridor was a trap. I looked toward the stairs leading up to the Abbey's upper levels just as a roar filled the back of the Abbey.
"Run!" I yelled at Amber, my fingers pointing at the stairs.
She sprinted toward them, and I followed, keeping myself between her and the Demon I knew was coming after me. She was on the second flight of steps when she squealed, and I looked up to find the stairs blocked by a group of Sisters, their eyes white and glassy. I groaned.
"Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned," I mumbled as I lifted my hands.
A white ball of light formed in my palms, and I shoved it at the Sisters. Even with the trance, their eyes widened as my power hit them, sending them flying backward into the wall of the corridor behind them. Amber faltered only slightly, her eyes moving from me to the immobile bodies as we climbed over them and continued running. I hadn't killed them. This much I knew.
There was another roar behind us, vile curse words strung so closely together, I'd even have trouble repeating them. I didn't slow down, but Amber did. She tripped ahead of me, and I grabbed her by the arm, pulling her forcibly into a standing position before shoving her from behind.
"Move!"
There wasn't time for kindness.
"He's going to kill us!" Amber sobbed.
I knew she was scared. My own heart was beating so hard, I expected it to pop right out of my chest. But I wasn't afraid of death. No, Damon had something much worse planned for me. He wanted me alive and bound to him. Marcas had given me a choice. He had wanted me unbound so that I wouldn't be damned. Damon wasn't considerate. He was insane, and I could not go back to the fire pits of Hell.
"Run faster!" I yelled.
I knew it wasn't the response she wanted, but I didn't have any comforting words. There was no time to offer a shoulder for tears. I'd seen too many awful things to make her feel better about what may happen to us.
We were moving upward. It was the only choice we had, and we were running out of stairs. The only exit left was the roof. There was a door at the end of the final corridor we entered, and it led to a flat stone roof surrounded by a low ledge. It wasn't a tower exactly but close.
Amber flung open the door, and we burst out of the Abbey onto the stone walkway, our eyes searching a late afternoon sky. Day was melding into night in an arc of pastel colors. Amber stopped at the roof's edge.
"What now? There's nowhere to go," she said as calmly as she could, her voice shaking as I slammed the door closed. I looked into the darkening sky, my eyes searching the open gardens, the pond in the distance, the tree line leading into the woods.
"Fight, Day. Whatever happens, fight. I'm coming."
Marcas' words rang through my head, and I looked at Amber, my hand taking hers just as the roof door splintered. I didn't turn around. I just pulled on my power, wrapping it aro
und Amber and I as shards of timber bounced chaotically off the bubble I'd created around us. Amber's shoulders shook.
There was the sound of feet on the roof, and my hand tightened on Amber's as I slowly turned to face my enemy. He was a terrifying sight, his dark jeans fitted, his black blazer flying open to reveal a black t-shirt with a simple silver chain hanging around his neck. The scar running along his cheek was white and stark against his tanned skin, a blatant reminder of the physical differences in Marcas and Damon. His eyes met mine, and I saw the red sparkle there, the predatory gleam that proved he liked chasing his prey.
Damon's eyes moved to Amber, and by the way they narrowed, I knew he planned to kill her. I moved between the two of them, my eyes catching his again.
"Still want to kill me, Dayton?" Damon asked. He held his arms wide, his eyes searching mine. "Here's the opportunity to try."
He moved his hand so the fading afternoon light would catch the jewels on the Seal, his hand becoming a refracting light show, a reminder that he held all the power. He looked down at it, and then at me.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked.
He moved toward me, and I pulled Amber to my side as I backed toward the ledge.
"You're a fool," I said quietly.
It wasn't words I should have uttered, but I said them anyway. Damon chuckled, his laugh harsh.
"Am I?" he asked as he approached me. There was nowhere for me to go but down, and he knew it."You're mine now, Dayton. Never mistake that."
With those words, Damon lunged, his hand catching me cruelly, his fingers sprouting claws. He ran the sharp edge of a nail along my skin, and I screamed as blood dripped down my arm. I knew what he intended, and I struggled against his hold even as he lifted my arm, catching blood in the palm of his free hand. He brought it up to his lips and drank.
"No," I whispered.
I was still bound to Marcas. There was no way Damon could bind me to him as well. Could he? Damon licked his lips, his smile wide and feral. Amber was whimpering behind me. She might have the strength to keep him out of her head, but I knew from experience that having a Demon drink from you made it harder to fight his control.