Marked by Courage

by W. J. May

“It must be easier for Blues,” she said quietly. “You can pass as human as long as you aren’t in direct sunlight, getting burned to smithereens.” She pointed to his eyes. “Little less obvious than burning red.”

  “I’d never thought of that,” he admitted. “But people are pretty good at only seeing what they want to see.”

  “That’s true.” Kallie buckled herself in, frowning. “There’s a whole world out there I just know nothing about, isn’t there? Werewolves and everything. I’m not…walking into danger by accident or anything, am I?”

  “I wouldn’t let you! Don’t worry.” Liam shook his head. “But knowing you, that’s not exactly reassuring, is it?” He started the car and considered. “Hmm. Well, you don’t have to worry about werewolves much. A lot of them don’t even try to pass as human. They’re mostly up North. The thing about transforming at the full moon isn’t exactly accurate. And if any come into town, you’ll probably sense it pretty much immediately. Then there are witches, of course, but I tend to put those in the category of natural disasters.”

  “What?” Kallie looked over at him as they took the road out of town, toward the forest.

  “Well, you know how it is with freak blizzards and so on. They can really mess you up, but nothing compared to Petra. Witches are usually pretty good at hiding themselves, though I can almost guarantee that you’d know if you touched one.”

  “How?” Kallie asked, and she was surprised to see him shudder.

  “I feel bad saying this, because of your mother, but…”

  “Go on. You might as well.”

  “Well, witches smell like decay. Death. You touch them, and you can see all the things they’ve done to get their power.”

  “So the witch-burnings…” Kallie frowned.

  “Were just as cruel as you thought. Almost all of those women were just midwives and healers. Real witches were rarely caught. As to whether they would deserve burning…” He shook his head. “It’s a bad way to go. I’d never do it even to the Reds who killed my family. Can we talk about something else?”

  “Sure. What about, um… elves and dwarves and fairies? Do those kinds of things exist too?”

  He laughed. “Elves don’t exist, at least not anymore. If they ever did, they’re so long gone that even vampires think of them as fairy stories and nothing more. Same with dwarves. Fairies, now, they’re a trip. There are some in the forest out here. They couldn’t pass for human in a million years, so they stay out in nature. They’re, uh…a little crazy.”

  Something in his voice made Kallie giggle. “Someday you’ll have to tell me stories.”

  “Someday I will,” he promised her. He turned down a dirt road, first checking that there were no other cars on the road. “Almost there. Listen, I’m going to go in first. They can be a little jumpy. You’re completely safe out here.” He put the car in park.

  “Right.” Kallie swallowed. She waited in the car as Liam disappeared into the darkness, looking around nervously. Like the times she had to wait for her father. She half-expected to see a Blue drop onto the car like something out of a horror movie, but when a shape moved in the darkness, it was only Liam beckoning to her. They tramped through the darkness together and ended up at a part of the forest floor that was unusually bumpy. Liam sat down and dropped through a cleverly-hidden hole in the moss and Kallie followed. They dropped onto the dirt floor of a cave and Kallie found herself face to face with eight Blues, all of whom were staring at her like she was a ghost story brought to life.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” one of them muttered finally. “You weren’t kidding.”

  Liam smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Nope.”

  “And how did it happen?” The man was still staring at Kallie as if she were an object, a curiosity of sorts. He peered at her skin and her hair, his eyes locked on hers, but without trying to make any sort of contact.

  “Near as I can tell,” Liam explained, “she either absorbed enough of my blood after the first accident or a few weeks ago. Or, once my blood was in her, it never left. When the Red made her, she didn’t turn full Red.”

  “She chose a Red,” the man murmured.

  “My father is a Red,” Kallie said, annoyed at their appraisal. “I did this to save his life, and I wasn’t going to choose a side that meant I couldn’t be in the same house with him.”

  The man raised his eyebrows at her, amused by her outburst. “Very well. I’m not upset, my dear. Just surprised. I never thought I’d see one of your kind again.”

  “You’ve seen others?” Kallie’s voice trailed off.

  “Other Hybrids? Yes. Two.” He smiled and took a deep breath as he stared at her. “I’ll tell you in a moment. But, first, can you tell us about yourself?”

  Kallie looked over at Liam and he gestured for her to speak. She cleared her throat nervously. “Right, well. It’s not much of a story, really. Two years ago, we were in a car accident. I remember seeing a man in the street, his eyes gleaming red. At the time, I thought it was just a trick of the light. It was storming. I lost control of the car and I guess slammed into a tree.” She shrugged. “Basically, my dad and I woke up in our beds the next day. We didn’t remember anything about the accident, except my dad was different. He’d been turned.” She stopped, remembering when she’d picked him up and how he had felt ill. She wondered a moment if he had been changed before she had come to get him. Anything seemed possible now.

  “So what happened?” the older man urged.

  “Everything changed pretty much overnight. My mom’s a nurse, so she was able to get him blood, but everything changed. He sold his business and just retreated. We didn’t understand how to help him. We even offered our blood sometimes, but he would never take it.” She swallowed, hating the memories, and yet wondering why she wasn’t starving like her father had back then. “We didn’t understand some of the things he was going through. Every month, he had me take him somewhere, and he would get out of the car and come back near dead. Then I met Liam. He was curious about the accident. He knew something must have happened. He was the one who told me what was really happening to my father: because he was a pureblood, he was more powerful than the other Reds, and they were draining him. At every full moon.” She looked around herself and saw them staring at her with horror in their eyes. Her heart twisted. “Everything kind of fell apart after that,” she admitted. “A Red showed up, Caleb. A…” She shook her head. She couldn’t betray him.

  “He’s the day-walker I mentioned,” Liam said flatly.

  “You told them?”

  “Caleb has tried to kill me a few times. I thought he might try to kill them, too. They needed to know about him. Now, of course it’s different.” Liam looked over at the other Blues. “Caleb will protect Kallie with his life. That much, I’m sure of.”

  “He was assigned to me,” Kallie explained, seeing no more need to protect Caleb’s talents, and every reason to show the Blues that he could be trusted in certain ways. “Here’s where everything gets wonky. You see, my mother, you’ve heard of her, I’m sure. I said my mother was a nurse, but that’s not really my mother. In my head, she is, so I’ll still call her that, but she’s actually my aunt. She believes she’s my mother because her sister put a spell on her. Her sister, my real mother, is Petra. The witch.”

  They stared at her, and the man who’d first spoken swallowed. But nobody said anything, and she continued.

  “I changed so that I could help my father, but what I found was a faction war within the Reds. There are rogue Reds, and they might be fighting my mother or not. I don’t know for sure. There are rumors that she was trying to create a Hunter out of one of the rogue Reds. And…look, all I wanted to do was save my father, but everything just keeps getting more complicated.”

  There was a heavy sigh, and the man stepped forward with his hand out. Kallie clasped it and he smiled at her.

  “I’m James.”

  “Kallie. But you knew that.”

  “Yes.” He smi
led again. “Your honesty is reassuring. We knew much of this. We had followed Liam to see where he was going. His ties to you worried us, and frankly, you worried us. But your story has the ring of truth. So you have come to us for our help, Liam says. To learn more about what you are.”

  “Yes,” Kallie said eagerly. “My father tried looking up stuff on Hybrids. He’s terrified about anyone knowing what I am.”

  “As he should be. It’s a dangerous thing, I’m afraid.”

  “But it’s hopeful,” Kallie said. She could hear the pleading note in her voice. “If-If we can unlock what I am, and harness it, maybe we can stop the war. We can bring back what the vampires used to be. The empire.” It was crazy. She’d just wanted her dad to be safe and now here she was talking about saving their race and bringing harmony?

  His smile was sad, but understanding. “I’m not sure we should look for that; I’m afraid a world ruled by vampires would not be kind to humans. We have so much power in our bodies that to have power in government, I think, would breed intolerable cruelty. Be that as it may, however…” James looked down at his feet, and seemed to come to a decision. “May I have a moment alone with Kallie?”

  The rest of the Blues flowed out of the nest without complaint, but Liam hesitated. James met his eyes, and Kallie knew at once that James was Liam’s maker. Liam left without looking into Kallie’s eyes, his steps dragging.

  “He’s worried,” Kallie said, looking after him. “You can trust him with whatever you’re going to say, you know.”

  But a low snarl caught her ears, and the next thing she knew, the man had launched himself at her, his fangs bared.

  Chapter 11

  Kallie threw herself sideways, giving a cry as her shoulder and hip hit the ground hard. She rolled over stones and roots, feeling each bite deeply into her flesh. She had twisted her ankle, and she came up unsteadily with a gasp of pain, only to have to jump away again as James charged.

  “Wait!” Her voice was desperate. “Please! Wait!”

  A low snarl was her only answer, and then James opened his mouth to bare his fangs, and hissed. It was an unmistakable sound of intent, not even a challenge. He was going to kill her.

  “Wait, please!” Kallie heard her own cry and, as he charged, she forced herself to step sideways only at the last minute, driving her knee into his chest and shoving him over backwards. “Please, I don’t want to hurt you; I didn’t come to hurt any of you! I’m here to help, I swear I am. I wasn’t lying.”

  But he only came at her again, teeth bared and fists driving low so that she doubled over. She felt his fangs whistling toward the exposed skin of the back of her neck, and she put as much force into her legs as she could to drive him over backward.

  “Liam!” Her voice was a despairing scream. Help, please help.

  “He’s not coming for you.” James’s voice was cruel. He launched himself at her and spun away with a hiss when her fist lashed out.

  “He’ll always come for me!” Kallie shouted. “Liam!”

  “He abandoned you.” The smile was mocking. “You didn’t think he really loved you, did you? Petra’s daughter? The child of the woman who nearly destroyed his kind? The child of the woman who ordered his family killed? She doesn’t care about keeping her beasts on leashes. She killed his family, and he’ll see the same happen to you.”

  “No!” She ran at him, pummeling him with her fists. She kicked, and something cracked.

  He screamed in pain, but he was still laughing. “Didn’t you ever wonder who his final target was? It’s her. But first he’s going to make her watch her family die.”

  “He wouldn’t do that!”

  “Oh, he had his reservations at first.” Hands were at her throat, beginning to squeeze. “But you chose the Reds, didn’t you? That told him all he needed to know. And he wasn’t strong enough to do it himself, so he brought you to me.”

  Kallie summoned all of her strength and shoved, pushing him away from her with a primal yell. “Liam!” But there were tears running down her face. How had she not seen this? Where Caleb and her father had never relaxed their hatred of the Blues, how could Liam have been so selfless as to offer to go away?

  He had never loved her.

  Liam. She doubled over with tears, wiping them away desperately. This man was going to kill her, and she had to make it through him and all the rest of them outside. As he came at her again, she turned her head with a hissing scream. It was a desperate challenge, and she knew it betrayed her fear and her hurt, but it was beyond her to do more than that.

  For a moment, she thought she saw something flicker in his eyes but then it was gone. He snarled and yanked her over.

  “Hybrid blood. Let’s see if I can harvest your powers.”

  Her elbow caught him in the side of the head and he went over with a yell. Kallie put everything she had into several kicks at his prone body, giving a shout with each kick. She hauled him up with her left hand to smash her right fist into his face, and he collapsed. She was a hybrid. She was strong, and if he was going to try to kill her before she could unlock her powers, then her revenge would have to be figuring them out before he could get his plan to work.

  Fury and power coursed through her veins. She had come here to save her father, and she was not going to let this puny man stand in her way. And Liam… Liam. She closed her eyes as she slammed her knee into James’s sternum again. She would kill Liam. She would have to, wouldn’t she? She couldn’t let him live when he wanted to kill everyone Petra had once held dear.

  Quick as a snake, James’s hands lashed up to grab her coat. He pulled her close for a head-butt, and stars burst across her vision. Precise, elegant strikes peppered her torso as he fought back grimly. He was bloodied and battered, but one look into his Blue eyes reminded her that he had been a vampire much longer than she had. He must have been one of the ones Liam mentioned who was made in the last days of the war. He remembered the Hybrids. He’d had centuries to practice his fighting.

  And she was weakening. She stumbled back as the hits cracked ribs, and bruises bloomed across her skin. A strike to her jaw put it half out of joint, and she screamed in pain. No. She was not going to lose this. She could not lose. She could not die here. Another strike sent her skidding backward across the floor with a cry of pain, and she hit the back wall of the cave with a gasp. She willed herself to get up, but as James advanced at her, she could hardly move for the pain. She twitched one arm feebly. She was going to die here.

  Something hovered in her mind, a siren call of power and beauty. When she closed her eyes, she could almost see it: an amethyst tumbling over and over, glowing. The world fell away, and Kallie reached for the jewel. It was nothing corporeal, but her fingers twitched as if she might close her hand around it. It was beautiful. She took it into herself and stared at it, knowing she was going to die and almost not caring at this moment. It was so beautiful…

  The jewel touched something inside her, and kindled into a rush of power so deep that Kallie felt before she heard a scream rip from her throat. Her back arched and she was whole again. She was more than whole; she felt better than she ever had before. Raw power drenched her and she was up and moving within a second. She had forgotten James, but her instincts had not. She flung him across the room and felt his ribs crack as she slammed him up against the back wall. Her teeth were bared, and she wore a cruel smile on her face. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

  “Wait.” His voice was a croak as he held his hands up in surrender.

  The action made her pause momentarily. “What?”

  “It… it worked.”

  “What worked?” She tightened her fingers.

  “A Hybrid—” he choked and she loosened her hands slightly as he gasped for breath. “A Hybrid is made, not born. Your strength could only be found by looking inside you. I had to make you think you were alone and you were going to die.”

  “If you think you’re going to get out of this by—”

  “
It’s true, Kallie.” Liam was behind her. She whirled, and he flinched. In his hands, a scroll trembled. “It was this, or meditation.”

  “And you didn’t think I’d prefer trying meditation?” Kallie was shaking, looking between them as James slumped to the ground. He gave a weak wave of his fingers that she interpreted as him saying he would be fine.

  “The meditation…” He coughed in pain. “It takes years, and it’s never sure. We don’t have time. Reaching that part of yourself by will alone is almost impossible. Most Hybrids never realize their true potential. One of the ones I knew faded from the world. She refused to become what she could be. The other was a warrior such as I have never seen again.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “Him, actually. He killed the Emperor, and took on legions of the man’s troops. He’s the one who started the war in earnest. He died in that attempt, but he took down hundreds before he went.”

  “And…” Kallie stretched her hands out, looking at the skin. Was she glowing? She felt like she was glowing. “And I’m one of those?”

  “You said you wanted to awaken your powers. I really am sorry for what I did, but there was no other way.” He shook his head. “I’m most sorry for the lies about Liam. I had to work with what I had.”

  “So he’s not…” Kallie looked over. She could still feel the cold, sickening realization that it made sense for him to have betrayed her.

  “You’re my blood,” Liam said. “And if Petra was the one who killed my family, I will go after her. But I will never hurt you. I’ll do everything in my power to see your father and mother safe as well.”

  Kallie went to him, wrapping her arms around him. Tears were squeezing out of her eyes and it took everything she had not to sob.

  “Kallie.” James’s voice called her back. “One more thing.”

  “What now?”

  “You’re a weapon now. I know you might have become one with or without our help, but it’s what you are. Many will try to use you, and the call of family and maker are both strong. When it comes time for you to choose whether or not you destroy us, remember that there was a reason we feared Petra.”