Magick Marked (The DarqRealm Series)

by Baughman, Chauntelle

  He was going to live.

  Light poured in from an open door across the room, the soft sound of water dripping from a faucet taunting her. Luckily the safe house was large enough for people to have their own room and shower. She glanced down at herself and winced. Her leathers were still covered in blood, her shirt holding on to little pieces of grass. She was a hot mess.

  She needed a shower and some clothes, stat.

  Tiptoeing across the room and opening the door gently, she stepped out into the hall. The smell of detergent caught her attention and she wandered over to a set of double doors, hoping she could find something to fit her.

  Her favorite yoga pants were folded on top of the dryer, along with a pair of her fuzzy socks, and she sent up a silent prayer of thanks for whoever was kind enough to do a little laundry. Still, she had no shirt.

  Glancing up, she saw a white cotton button-down hanging on a rod. It was clean and she wasn’t picky, so it would do just fine. She yanked the shirt from the hanger and scooped her clothes off the dryer before heading back to Eldon’s bedroom. As she turned, two familiar faces intercepted her.

  “Holy crap,” Rho said, stepping back. “You scared me.”

  Preshea smiled and folded her arms across her chest. Tim smirked.

  “I successfully scared a vamp? My life’s work is complete.” Preshea raised a brow. “We were about to check on you.”

  Tim’s expression grew serious. “I was worried for a while there, when we saw all that green fire in the distance.”

  “But don’t worry.” Preshea’s eyes narrowed. “Whatever you did there, your secret’s safe with us.”

  Tim nodded, then stepped forward and pulled Rho into a strong hug. “I’m glad you’re okay. Really glad.”

  “Thanks,” Rho mumbled against Tim’s massive chest. He released her and she took a step back, trying to wipe the surprise from her face.

  Preshea stepped forward, coming toe to toe with Rho. “You’re crazy, girl. Fucking nuts. But I like you that way.” She threw her arms around Rho for a split second before stepping back again.

  Rho stood in the hallway, frozen in shock. Tim hugging her was weird enough, but Preshea? If she didn’t know better, she’d say that she and Preshea were… friends now.

  Preshea threw her hands up. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. I don’t hate you. You just bug the shit out of me.”

  “Uh, thanks guys.” Trying to loosen up a little, Rho pulled the clean clothes she was holding closer to her body. “How’s Vectra? Is she okay?”

  The answering smile on Preshea’s face was a stark relief. “She’s a little banged up but she’ll be all right.”

  “No small thanks to you,” Tim added.

  Rho glanced at Tim, then Preshea. “It was nothing.”

  “It was something. You went after her when I couldn’t. You gave her your blood.” Preshea gave her a grateful smile.

  The thanks really weren’t necessary. “I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done.”

  “I still appreciate it. But I gotta tell you.” Preshea grimaced. “You stink.”

  Yeah, she did.

  “Shower it is, then,” Rho agreed. She couldn’t help but smile as she stepped around them, feeling their stare at her back. “Thanks for stopping by.” She closed herself into Eldon’s room and took a deep breath, grateful that for once, someone seemed to care about her. Several someones.

  That shower was quite possibly the best shower she’d ever taken in her life. She stood under the hot water for at least half an hour, letting the warmth sink into her bones, washing away the filth of the past few days.

  Eldon was alive. She’d been given a second chance.

  She got dressed quickly and gave Eldon another once-over. He appeared healthy, intact, and very much asleep. He shouldn’t wake for a while yet.

  Rho closed the door quietly behind her and headed down the hall then downstairs toward the kitchen. Noises filtered from the room, the clanking of dishes echoing with the sound of female voices. The room smelled like coffee, but she ignored her craving and kept trekking along the narrow walkway.

  The house was huge, way too large for just Eldon and his sisters. And it wasn’t even a primary residence. At least four thousand square feet, and she hadn’t explored anything beyond her—er, Eldon’s—bedroom, the kitchen and the living room.

  Hadn’t Eldon said there was a library around here? With careful, quiet steps, she wandered down the hallway in the opposite direction of the kitchen.

  “Where you headed?” a voice said from behind her.

  She whirled around to find Nick standing in a doorway. “What?”

  “Going somewhere?”

  Shit. Busted. “Eldon said there was a library here?”

  He lifted a brow. “There is.” He stepped past her and spoke over his shoulder. “Follow me.”

  Doing as he asked, she trailed him down the hallway. Gorgeous landscape oil paintings lined the walls, and she had to keep herself from stopping to take a closer look. She could admire them later.

  He pushed a door open and stepped aside, allowing her to enter first. She strode through the doorway and looked up…

  Holy Hades.

  The room was shaped like an oval, all rounded edges and finely shaped dark wood. At least three stories tall, bookshelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling. Hundreds of books. Thousands of them. Every wall, every opening, every crevasse was completely filled with literature both old and new, some of the spines tattered with age and others barely worn.

  Moonlight streamed in from the curved windows near the ceiling, casting a silvery hue on everything in sight. Candles in hurricane lamps sprang to life one by one, and she pivoted around to find Nick standing with one hand raised.

  “Just lighting the candles,” he said.

  “No light switch?”

  “They have electricity wired in here, but Eldon’s a traditionalist.” He lifted a shoulder. “He prefers it this way.”

  She followed the flames around the room until they reached the wall behind her, and she realized not every wall contained only books. Small jars of various sizes lined a section of shelves.

  “Those belong to Adelle,” Nick answered before she could even ask. “She’s a gifted earth mover. Grows most of this herself, with Jess’s help.”

  Glancing up at the room again, Rho took a deep breath. The smell of old books made her smile. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Glad you like it.”

  “Does Eldon come here often?”

  “They only come here on occasion, but it’s the most protected place they own. It’s where he keeps their records and extra supplies.”

  “Have they had it long?”

  “Centuries. Each generation adds to the collection, which is why it’s gotten so large. This has always been his favorite room in the house.” Nick tilted his head. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

  She could barely peel her eyes from the walls long enough to cast a glance in his direction. “Oh?”

  “I was there last night. When you fought with Rhyannon.”

  A sinking feeling overtook her joy as she met his eyes. Uneasy, she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

  Nick held up a hand. “I’m not going to tell anyone. I want to help.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “Eldon cares about you. I can tell.” His expression relaxed, his lips curving at the corners into a gentle smile. “He doesn’t act like this with most women.”

  Most women. Right. As Eldon had kindly pointed out, there had been many of them. For some reason, the thought made her sick to her stomach.

  “I think I may be able to help you figure out what you are,” Nick said.

  “I’m
a vampire.”

  “Yes, but based on what I saw last night, there’s something else in there, too.”

  She shook her head. “I’m… undead.”

  “Yet you have an aura.” He cranked a brow up as he seemed to examine the air. “Which I would say was impossible if I couldn’t see it for myself. But it’s right there, all around you.”

  “What does it look like?”

  “Red, mostly. After the death mark, it has changed a little. There are black edges surrounding you that weren’t there before.”

  “Am I going to be okay?” Rho asked, her voice barely above a whisper. As much as she’d hated her life up to this point, she didn’t want to die. There was way too much on her bucket list for her to go now.

  “I can’t tell you that. What I can confirm is what Rhyannon already said to you.” Nick wandered across the room and pulled a brown, leather-bound book from a shelf. “You are a Siphon. Or at least partly one.”

  “What is that?” Rhyannon had used that word. Right before Rho blasted her with enough magick to level an office building.

  He cracked open the book and started flipping through the pages. “I didn’t know what it meant when she’d said it, but I did a little research while you were sleeping. Siphons don’t technically belong to any race. And they’re incredibly rare.”

  Rho snorted. “Great. I’m weirder than I thought.”

  He ignored the comment, setting his finger on the center of a page. “According to this, Siphons can pull magick from other people and use it as they wish. But they can’t channel magick themselves.”

  Her socks were quiet against the wooden floors as she glided toward him. She needed to see this herself. “But I’m not a magick mover. Or fae.”

  “Who were your parents?” he asked, looking down at her expectantly.

  She gulped. She’d locked her mom and dad away in a vault of memories, never to be revisited, and she wanted to keep them there. Letting them out was too painful.

  As if he could sense her discomfort, he stepped forward and set a heavy palm on her shoulder. “This could be important.”

  “They were humans, okay?” She glared up at him. “We didn’t do magick in my house. I never knew about the DarqRealm until I turned vampire.” What a shock that had been. And still was.

  “It’s possible that…” He set the book down on the table carefully, his face pinched in thought. “Never mind.”

  “What?”

  He shrugged a shoulder dismissively. “Nothing. Just a random thought.”

  The look on his face tattled on him. It was more than nothing. “Tell me.”

  He rubbed his chin as he stared off into space. Funny, Eldon always rubbed his chin like that when he was deep in thought, too.

  “It’s possible—and I use that word loosely—that your human half could have been turned.” He paced along the floor as he seemingly thought out loud. “I mean, without knowing who your parents were, it’s hard to say. But if one of them was a human and one of them was a Siphon, it’s possible something like this could happen.” He shrugged a shoulder. “It’s only a theory.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head, the pieces of her past falling into place.

  Of course she wasn’t normal. Her entire life had been spent trying to fit in and never succeeding, and this had to be why. She hadn’t been ordinary from the beginning, even before she’d turned vampire. Her parents had always been way too protective, always scared of her going too far away from them.

  Like they were waiting for something bad to happen.

  Holy hell. Who was she?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  A soft knock on the door pulled Rho’s attention away. Eldon stood in the doorway, looking as vibrant and healthy as he always had. As he should.

  She heaved a sigh of relief and gave him a small smile, a little surprised he was already up and moving around. “You’re back.”

  “Nick, can you excuse us for a moment?” Eldon asked.

  Nick didn’t say a word, just nodded and crossed the room quickly. The door clicked shut behind him.

  Silence fell, somehow infinitely expanding the distance between them. He was only across the room, but he felt so far away. His eyes were critical, drinking her in slowly as if he were reviewing her for some defect or deformity—or a death mark. His gray cotton pants hung loose around his waist, his simple black tee fitting him perfectly.

  She swallowed hard.

  Finally he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why did you do it?”

  Glancing down at her socks, she clamped her mouth shut. There were a million things that needed to be said and she didn’t know where to start. She wanted to say something, anything, but for once she was at a loss for words.

  She felt his warmth closing in on her as he crossed the room. “Rho?”

  Daring to look up at him, she caught his stare. And couldn’t look away.

  His eyes were brilliantly blue, serious yet kind. He approached her slowly, only stopping inches from her. With a finger, he tilted her chin up. “I asked you a question.”

  The statement was a demand, really. A demand for an answer she was terrified to give because she’d never be able to take it back. But the words left her mouth anyway. “I couldn’t let you die.”

  Oh, come on. You can do better than that, she told herself, trying to summon the courage that had somehow vanished, leaving her mouth dry and her chest heavy.

  His voice was soft and low, every word caressing her skin. “I’m really unhappy with you right now. Jess told me what happened. And what you did.”

  She squared her shoulders. “I don’t regret it.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  They stared at each other in silence for a long moment, neither willing to give in to the other. His stubbornness was only another part of what drew her to him. He damn sure would have done the same thing if he were in her shoes last night.

  Eldon broke the silence. “Why didn’t you let me die?”

  She opened her mouth then shut it again. What could she tell him? She’d been wrong about so much and she’d pushed him away. From the moment he’d used the word gravity, she’d known he was soul struck. Only when he lay there on the edge of death had she realized it was a two-way street. She’d been struck, too.

  He took another step forward, forcing Rho to step back. Her spine hit the bookshelf and trapped her in place.

  “Answer me,” he said, his blue eyes vibrant in the flickering candlelight.

  A hundred phrases lingered on the tip of her tongue but not one of them left her lips. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I want you. She settled on, “I don’t know.”

  “You’re lying.”

  She was lying through her teeth. Because even though they’d only known each other for a short while, he could see right through her.

  Come on Rho, she gave herself a pep talk. Be honest. Tell him the truth. You owe him that. “I was wrong.” The moment she said the words, a tremendous weight lifted from her shoulders.

  He lifted a brow. “How do you figure?”

  “Before. When I told you we couldn’t make it work. I was wrong.”

  His eyes flared. “What made you change your mind?”

  “This whole thing with you and me, it isn’t normal.” She studied him, trying to be stronger than she felt. “I’m… not normal. I don’t know what I am anymore.”

  Green fire had spilled from her hands. Vampires shouldn’t be able to manipulate magick, and she was very much undead. Frankly, what she’d done was unnerving. To know that she’d unleashed something inside of herself scared the shit out of her.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Eldon murmured as he tucked a strand of hair b
ehind her ear.

  “What if we don’t?”

  “We will.” He traced a finger along her cheek. “I’m still angry with you for doing what you did.”

  “I figured you would be.”

  He ran his fingers through her hair, staring at it for a long moment before lifting his eyes to meet hers. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

  She sucked in a breath and placed a hand on his chest. The spark of magick at her fingers felt like static shock, only momentary but strong. “Eldon…”

  “Tell me no.” He stared at her intently, as if waiting for her cue to back off. “Say the word, and I won’t do it.”

  She didn’t want to. Embarrassed at what she was about to say, she turned her attention back to her socks. “Um, I haven’t been with someone for… a long time. Since before I turned.”

  “Even with the lust?” He sounded shocked. She’d been pretty surprised herself, considering how strong her vampire urges had been, especially in the beginning.

  With a tight nod, she gulped again. Somehow, even though it hurt, she had the impulsive need to tell him everything. “The last time, um—it wasn’t good.”

  He drew back. “Were you hurt?”

  She nodded.

  An angry growl rumbled in his chest.

  “Frederick killed them,” she said quickly. “My maker, he killed them.”

  “That’s good.”

  “But they did enough damage that he had to change me over. That’s the last time. The night I turned vampire… that was the last time.”

  Strong arms drew her into a wall of muscle, his heartbeat ringing loudly in her ears. He held her for a moment before speaking. “I would never hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m so sorry that happened to you.” He squeezed her tighter. “Are you okay?”

  “It was a long time ago,” she answered.