Insidious: (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 1)

by Victoria Evers

  We were down near the pier, right by the shopping district. I knew from the extensive bus ride I’d taken last week that the road up ahead would soon curve around a bend to the coastline where only recluse houses built into the hillsides occupied the area. As soon as we’d pass the docks, we’d be leaving civilization behind for miles.

  Whatever Blaine had prepared for me wasn’t going to be pretty. He was going to use me as some mindless weapon in his perverted plan for power, and I refused to just sit back and play victim. I’d been manipulated and toyed with long enough. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s captive. Not anymore. If I was looking for an out, this would be the best I’d get.

  My fingers slowly pressed into the seatbelt release button. As soon as I felt the clip free, I leaned back toward Blaine, suddenly throttling my elbow up. His reflexes were better than I had anticipated, because he managed to turn his head away just enough that it didn’t hit him in the nose. My blow did, however, connect with his cheekbone. Before he even had the chance to react, I tore off the seatbelt and threw the passenger door open.

  “Kat!” He reached for the back of my jacket, but I was gone.

  My survival instincts turned out to be better than my calculations, because I completely missed the patch of overgrowth I’d been aiming for. Tucking and rolling, my world spun as I collided into the ground with an excruciating hit. My body skimmed across the roadside in a whirl, kicking up debris and gravel along the way. I expected the grass up ahead to cushion my blow, but I slammed to a halt the moment I reached the meadow, feeling my ribs break on impact. Every curse word spilled from my lips as I cried out, only making the pain worse as my lungs expanded. Peeling myself off the sizable rock hidden beneath the lush grass, I could feel the dampness pooling underneath my shirt. But I didn’t have time to bleed.

  The Cadillac’s tires screeched as Blaine’s voice called out from down the road. The vehicle suddenly came hurtling back toward me in reverse, urging me to take off into the thicket. Blindly stumbling over broken tree branches and taking low hanging twigs to the face, I ran as fast as my legs and lungs would allow through the shadowed forest.

  Footsteps pounded into the earth behind me. Blaine was out of the car, and now in hot pursuit. The closer he got, the harder I pushed myself. I wasn’t even breathing. It was the only way to minimize the crippling pain from my ribs. Every time I was forced to take an inhale out of necessity, I nearly fell to the ground in blinding agony. The mouth to an alleyway came into sight, and I didn’t need to tell people to move out of the way. As soon as my bloodied and beaten frame came rocketing out into the shopping district, every last person shrieked and fell back from me.

  It wasn’t until I was around the masses of people that it hit me. Being in a crowd didn’t barter me protection. Unlike ordinary people, Blaine wouldn’t care if others saw him. He could attack me and drag me away without batting an eyelash, because his powers of illusion could make any human see what he wanted them to. A ninja, Santa Claus, Voldemort.

  It didn’t matter. The only thing that did was getting away, getting far enough away that whatever bond we shared lessened until he couldn’t sense me anymore. I needed to lose myself in the crowd first, which didn’t seem too hard. The district was made up of several streets, all looping about in a massive square, with a courtyard venue sitting in the middle.

  I pushed my way into a vintage candy shop, going to the back where there was an additional entrance that connected with the next boulevard. Masses of people meandered about in the middle of the cobblestone street, only separating to let an occasional car pass through. The nightlife was in full swing, with everyone buzzing about the shops or heading towards the numerous pubs and sports bars down the stretch. Struggling to stay upright, I headed to the south end. The trolley system was at the front gates, and it was always packed, which seemed like my safest bet. Standing up on my tiptoes, I could barely see the wrought iron décor that marked the courtyard.

  Crap. I was on the whole other end of the district. Trying to regain my pace, I forced myself between all the couples hogging up the street. A girl in a plunging white halter shrieked and even batted her dangerously long fingernails at me like I was infested with flees as I cut between her and her date. If I looked even half as grimy as I felt, the reaction was entirely warranted.

  “Don’t.”

  I whirled around, nearly stumbling over my own two feet. The voice. It had come from inside my head, but it belonged to Blaine.

  “Don’t run. You’ll only make things worse.”

  Taking in a much needed breath, I buckled over, trying to relieve the pressure pushing against my ribs. I straightened, just in time to see bleach blonde hair peaking over the tops of the crowd. Shit. I spun back around, only to hear everyone behind me gasp. I looked over my shoulder, watching as everyone was suddenly swept off their feet and tossed in every different direction away from the middle of the street. With the sea of people now parted, Blaine stared back at me, in full view.

  A guitar hummed in the distance, a blues melody that surely came from a street performer. They were guaranteed to draw in a sizeable curbside audience. It had to be coming from the courtyard. Further screams ensued as I battled my way through the masses of people, but I didn’t dare look behind me.

  Zigzagging between people, I was losing ground on him, and fast. My runes were blazing from beneath Adam’s jacket, but I couldn’t tell which ones I was even engaging. If Blaine wanted to play dirty, I wouldn’t go down without at least taking a swing of my own. Zooming past Blacksmith’s, a Wild West throwback bar, I tunneled my focus on one of the old-fashioned rocking chair sitting out front. Channeling the invisible force inside me, I yanked my hand back, watching the giant wooden prop fly from the sidewalk. It hurtled behind me, and I could hear the wood splinter on contact as it hammered into something…or someone. Sure enough, Blaine was laying on the cobblestone street, clearly in a daze from the impact. He barely managed to stagger back up to his feet by the time I disappeared into the madness of the courtyard.

  The more people that screamed and shrieked at the sight of me, the easier it would be for Blaine to track me. Hunching down, I slowly weaseled through the huddled masses, keeping out of sight. Instead of moving against the crowd, I fell into the flow of it. The less of a disturbance I made, the harder I’d be to spot. I slinked over into a corner café, sliding into an available seat at an occupied table. The two women who had already been sitting there froze with their cappuccinos hovering just below their lips.

  “Can we help you?” one of them managed to utter.

  I curled over in the chair, relieved to finally catch my breath. A sharp snap shifted in my rib cage, forcing my hand to the beaten spot. I could only hope that it was the sound of my bones being put back into place. The pain dissipated enough that I removed my hand, and my bloodied digits didn’t go unnoticed by my two new friends.

  “Please don’t,” I panted, slapping one of the women’s cell phones away as she prepared to dial. I lay my face down on the cool, steel tabletop. “I…need…to hide.”

  “From what? A doctor?” the other woman yelped, trying a little too late to lower her voice.

  “An…ex.” I guess it was sort of true. I managed to look up, watching nameless bystanders walk in and out of frame from the café’s window. No sign of him.

  I stifled a sudden cry as the base of my ring finger scalded with a fiery rage. Sure enough, cheekbones sharp enough to split a hair came into view from the other side of the windowpane. I muttered a curse as I turned away, trying to lift my head up off the table as discretely as I could. My nails dug into my hand, clenching around the skin that I could see lighting up even under the guise of my glove. It was the weird entwined rune wrapped around my ring finger. Had I activated it, or had he?

  Letting my hair fall into my face to obscure my features, I snuck a look around a mass of matted locks to see Blaine still standing there, his eyes scoping out the crowds.

  “Damn it,” I growl
ed.

  The two women followed my line of vision, and their faces contorted in disbelief. I could only imagine what they were seeing. Another twenty seconds or so passed, and he eventually walked out of view towards the north end. I slumped back in my seat, taking the last decent breath I could afford. After a solid minute passed, it seemed safe to say the coast was clear. Muddled messes of music overwhelmed my senses as the blues guitars from the street mixed with the hip-hop and dance songs pouring out of the bars and nightclubs. I couldn’t even tell if the pounding in my chest came from my heart or the ear-aching thumping of three different bass numbers clashing into one another.

  Slithering my way between people, I kept my head down, finally making some headway back towards the front gate. The courtyard was much more crowded than the streets, and I appreciated the additional coverage. Just keep moving, and stay down. Just keep moving, and stay down. The south end exit from the courtyard was in sight. Thirty more yards, and I was home free. A hollering pack of frat guys came barreling down on me, forcing me against the wall in front of some Creamery that offered Chicago-styled hot dogs. Squeezing by, I passed the narrow alleyway between the buildings, and I knew before I even felt the yank on my arm that it was a mistake.

  “Well, look who wandered in. About time.” Blaine tossed some kind of food wrapper into the dumpsters behind us as he pinned me against the brick siding.

  Seriously? I was trying to stay conscious long enough to get away, and here this asshole was, idly eating a hot dog, just waiting for me to show up. He was right. I was out of my league. He didn’t have to bother holding me with both hands. I started sliding down the wall, feeling my shaking legs caving out from under me.

  Of all things, he propped me back upright. “My, my. You are tenacious, aren’t you? Stupid, but tenacious nevertheless. I’ll give you that much.”

  “How’s your face?” I scoffed, barely mustering the breath to get the words out.

  He smirked, thumbing his bruised cheekbone as he surveyed me over. “Better than the rest of you, I’d reckon.”

  I writhed about in his hold, but we both knew the effort was futile.

  “Can we just skip pretenses here, or do you really want to keep this going? ’Cause either way, this all ends the same.” Blaine’s fingers gently brushed the matted hair out of my face.

  I returned the favor by slapping him in his, but he caught my hand before it could connect with his good cheek.

  “I’ll take that as your answer, then.” He sighed, almost mournfully, keeping my hand in his hold beside his face. “There’s nothing here for you anymore. You do understand that, don’t you?”

  “Just because Adam let you go, it doesn’t mean he won’t come after you, not if you take me,” I growled.

  His features hardened. “Who said Reynolds let me out?” He could see my eyes widen, and his hold on me lessened ever so slightly. “He made up his mind, and I’m sorry to say it, but you didn’t make the cut.”

  “You’re lying!”

  “He left you, just as everybody else has…or will. That’s a fact.”

  “Reese won’t,” I growled, trying to suppress the tears burning the back of my eyes.

  “Much good he’ll do, considering he’s hauled up in a jail cell right now.” He moved in closer. “It’s about time you accepted your new reality here. After the transformation’s complete, this isn’t going to be something you can hide. So long as you fight your nature, it’s going to backfire on you, and it will expose you. You really think Mommy and Daddy dearest are going to be accepting of you? They’d jettison you from all decent society if you so much as got a B on your report card. What do you think they’re going to do with a freak in the family?”

  My legs started to shake even worse, and it wasn’t from exhaustion. I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true. But what if it was?

  “I can help you.” More than anything, it was the earnestness in his voice that startled me the most. “You don’t have to be afraid, ashamed of what you are. You won’t have to hide. I can teach you how to harness your gifts.”

  “You’re psychotic,” I barely managed to mutter. “I hate you.”

  “All in good time…” The slightest hint of a smile teased at his lips as he started to lower my hand, and the pleasure, the sick amusement he seemed to find in what he’d done to me, burned a whole new kind of ferocity inside me.

  Every cell in my body raged with an electrical charge unlike anything I’d ever mustered before. The bright blue light manifested so quickly in my hand that Blaine barely had time to notice it. In one instant, he had me pinned against the brick siding of the alley. The next, he was gone. The discharge from my hand emitted a thunderous boom roaring through the air as it hammered into the side of his head, and the blast left Blaine airborne. His body rocketed clear out of the alleyway, hurtling right into the courtyard.

  My heart suddenly clenched up, feeling as if someone reached right into my chest and squeezed the muscle until it almost burst in their hand. I gasped, crumpling to the ground. Was I going into cardiac arrest?

  I looked over at Blaine, seeing his unconscious frame shudder for a split second. And just like that, the feeling lifted. He hadn’t been lying about our connection. I’d felt it right then and there. Whatever I just did had stopped his heart, and in return, it stopped mine. Now knowing that our lives were tethered together, his survival meant just as much as my own. At least I could find relief, though miniscule, in the fact that he really was as strong as I suspected. He’d healed quickly enough to recover from that part of the blast, but he still remained unconscious on the ground.

  Everyone nearby began circling around his body, but no one dared to touch him. They were all exchanging looks back and forth between me and him. Clearly, nobody could quite wrap their head around what they’d seen. A solid, 170-pound guy had been sent flying through the air by…me? Even if by some freak chance I happened to be a kung fu master, that didn’t make sense…unless I was armed with a catapult, which I wasn’t.

  People began looking up at the rooftops, now murmuring about how he maybe jumped from one of the buildings. Apparently, no one had actually seen what had happened. I staggered back up to my feet, hugging Adam’s jacket around me to avoid anyone seeing the blood pooling all over my shirt. The smell of mint soap clung to the lining, now making me sick. I ambled out of the alley with my head hung low, eying Blaine as I inched along the wall away from the spectacle.

  “Hey, you! In the black jacket!” a guy called out behind me, but I didn’t turn. “Hey! Someone, stop her!”

  The mob moved in every different direction as people pushed their way through the masses of huddled bodies, and I eventually got lost amid all the hoopla as several bystanders called 9-1-1. More clicking and snapping resonated from inside my rib cage, allowing me my first decent breath. I pushed my way through the crowds until I found myself at the front entrance. I’d made it.

  ***

  Sirens whaled from the parking lot, which I’d mistaken for an ambulance. It wasn’t until I was standing at the gate that I realized it was a squad car. I didn’t need to pull up my sleeve to recognize the familiar burn of one particular rune. A threat drew near.

  Blaine said he had members of the police force in his pocket, and I wasn’t going to stick around to see if these particular ones were. The trolley system would take at least forty minutes to get close to my home. I couldn’t wait that long. Blaine could already be awake for all I knew. He, along with Mr. Reynolds, knew I’d give myself up rather than put my parents in harm’s way. It was open season now, and they were prime hunting targets.

  Then another curious thought ate away at me. How come this rune didn’t activate when Blaine was around? It hadn’t gone off even before he bit me. Surely he was a threat, more than anyone. Call me crazy, but damning your soul for all eternity certainly seemed like a hostile act. Yet, I hadn’t received any forewarning.

  It wasn’t something I was particularly proud of, but even I had to admit
there were perks to having demonic energy. I slinked over to a parked Beamer and placed my hand on the driver’s door. The lock popped up without resistance, same as the engine that roared to life as I climbed into the car. Add grand theft auto to my list of offenses. The moment I exited the parking lot, I floored it.

  The twenty-minute drive to my house took an enraged nine. I pulled the Beamer up alongside the curb, using my sleeves to wipe off anywhere I’d touch just in case they’d dust the car for fingerprints later. I had enough enemies as it was; I didn’t need the Fuzz coming down on me as well.

  I rang the doorbell, and in an instant, it swung open.

  “Oh my god, Kat!” squealed Mom, yanking me inside as she ensnared me in a hug. “Where on earth did you go? What were you thinking?” More questions ensued, but she didn’t give me time to answer any. “We were scared to death!”

  “I’m okay,” I assured, managing to weasel out of her hold. “But we need to leave.”

  “What?” She got a better look at me, taking in the muck and grime and God only knows what else. “Kat, what the hell happened to you?”

  “I’ll explain later,” I said, grabbing her and pulling her toward the stairs, “but you and Dad need to grab whatever you can. We need to leave. Right now.”

  Dad came out from the kitchen with a bottle of beer in his hands and immediately sighed at the sight of me. “Jesus, Kat, you’re okay.”

  “Yeah, well, I won’t be. And neither will you two if we don’t leave!” I bellowed again, finally letting Adam’s jacket fall open.

  Mom yelped and fell back against the wall as Dad sprang forward, both seeing the bottom half of my white Sex Pistols tee now soaked red.

  “Did that Blackburn kid do this to you?” Dad started grabbing at every part of me, examining every inch for injury. He didn’t find anything.