The Soul's Mark: CHANGED

by Ashley Stoyanoff

  CHAPTER 24

  Fear was an odd emotion. If it ran deep enough, it could play with a person’s mind, clouding their judgment and distorting reality. It was fear that had let Mitchell hide the truth of what he had become, and it was that same fear that had turned a crowd of vicious vampires into a cluster of cowards; Amelia was sure of it.

  It hadn’t taken long to instill that fear in them either. Really, Amelia figured she had freaked them out pretty good before Mitchell, Luke, and Lola had shown up, but it was their belief that Mitchell was really going to have Jake killed, and that Amelia was actually going to let him, that solidified the fear. They didn’t, of course. Instead, Mitchell issued a few unprintable threats, backed by even worse threats from Luke and Eric, and the vampire community had fled to the safety of their homes. And as soon as they were gone, Eric bolted to the house in search for Megan.

  It was an effort to walk beside Mitchell. Amelia had to force herself to move with him at a sluggish human pace even though every part of her wanted to run and make sure everyone was okay. She even tried to convince him to tap into her vampiric speed through the bond like she had with him before, but he wouldn’t, claiming that the walk would do him good.

  Mitchell looked pretty good, although it was obvious that he was tired, and he really needed a shower. Amelia could smell a slight trace of dried sweat, most likely from the fever, and he was still in the same clothes from yesterday when he’d passed out. Amelia figured he was right, that the fresh air and exercise would be good for him, but the whole situation was seriously irking her. She tried to get more information from her cousin on what was going on, but all Megan would say was that Amelia needed to hurry up and see for herself. And even with the bond, Amelia couldn’t wrap her head around why Mitchell had thought it was a good idea to rush out, and immerse himself into the angry crowd.

  “You’re mad,” Mitchell observed. It wasn’t a question; she could feel him confirming his statement through the bond. He nudged her shoulder, just a soft bump, as he tried to gauge how pissed off she really was.

  “You think?” she said and groaned, rolling her eyes. He nudged her again, and she nudged him back. Luke chuckled, and she shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. He walked a few paces behind them, his arm wrapped around Lola’s waist, and he winked at her. Amelia groaned again, long and loud before looking back to Mitchell and asking, “What the hell possessed you to walk into a crowd of vampires? Ones that may have even wanted you dead if they found out you were human.”

  “You were in trouble,” he answered simply, as if that was actually an answer. There was something … different about the way he said it. The statement wasn’t firm. It felt as if he was looking for her approval. And he was nervous. She could feel it, but she couldn’t figure out why.

  Amelia threw up her hands, frustrated. “Really? Did it look like I was in trouble? I was handling it.”

  Mitchell grunted, and the tinge of nervousness vanished. He didn’t say anything, but then, he really didn’t need to. She knew what he was thinking; she saw the flames play through his mind. But in all fairness, she’d never said she was handling it well, just that she was handling it. He chuckled softly, catching her train of thought, and he snagged her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, and tugged a little, pulling her closer.

  “I thought you were dead,” Amelia whispered. “I thought I killed you. Do you have any idea how that feels? And then you wake up and run out, putting yourself in more danger.” Her eyes started to prickle and she rubbed her free palm at them hastily, not wanting him to see how upset she really was. It was a useless effort; she knew that. If he wanted to know how she felt, all he had to do was look, but still, she didn’t want him to see it.

  Mitchell stopped abruptly. “I know exactly how it feels, Amelia. I saw you die. I watched them burn you alive.” He swiveled so he was standing directly in front of her; his bright blue eyes met hers, darkening with a storm of emotion, and for a fleeting moment, she could have sworn that he looked taken aback as he searched her face. “I’m fine,” he said, brushing his thumb across her cheek, catching a stray tear she’d missed. The light touch sent warmth careening through her body. He turned around slowly in a full circle and said, “See. Fine.”

  Amelia pursed her lips and shook her head, letting out a long sigh. “If you ever do something that incredibly stupid again, you won’t be,” she snapped, trying to sound furious, but it didn’t work. Her tone was full of mirth and relief, and no matter how hard she tried to keep her lips thin, they stretched across her face, curving into a wide smile.

  He leaned forwards, and planted a lingering kiss on her forehead, before he said, “Look at you acting all protective. It’s kind of cute.” He pulled back a little, smirking down at her. “Oh, and by the way, I told you, you’d be better at the whole bond thing than I was.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” Amelia asked, scrunching her nose. Even with the bond, Mitchell was the most confusing person she’d ever met.

  “You stopped the pain and I know damn well you didn’t agree with me, but you still stopped it.” His eyes were full of pride, but Amelia caught the flash of I told you so pass across his mind, and she rolled her eyes with exaggerated annoyance.

  With hands on her hips, she arched an eyebrow. “If you’re looking for another chance to gloat, Mitchell Lang, it’s not happening. Once is all I can take in a day.”

  Mitchell laughed as he leaned down and planted an incredibly sloppy kiss on the tip of her nose. And as Amelia wiped away the slobber, a deliriously warm burst of sunlight spread through her chest. It was an amazing, heart-racing kind of feeling. She didn’t get to see the playful side of Mitchell often enough and she loved it when she did.

  Lola cleared her throat loudly, drawing Amelia’s attention. “It’s nice that you guys are actually talking, but we should probably go.”

  ****

  Amelia was sweating. It wasn’t so much from the heat, but from nerves. When they had arrived back at the house, Eric, Megan, Erin and Lucy were gathered in the kitchen gawking at Angelle with identical gazes of disbelief. Angelle sat at the island twirling a strand of hair around her finger so tightly that the tip of her finger was starting to turn reddish-purple. Her eyes were glassy, and she had an odd, far away kind of smile pulling at her lips.

  Megan had been right; Amelia needed to see this for herself. She would have never believed it otherwise. And even still, Amelia had been checking for the last thirty minutes, certain that they were all wrong. But they weren’t wrong. Angelle’s soul was gone, and the link was there, waiting to be strengthened into a full bond between her and her soulmate.

  Mitchell hadn’t said anything yet. He sat beside Amelia, pressed tightly against her as if he couldn’t bear not to be touching her. It was odd being on the other end of the bond. Everything felt different, from the pull around her heart to the clarity of his emotions. It had all been overwhelming while she was human, but now it felt normal … right, as if his closeness wasn’t so much a mandatory thing, but where he was supposed to be.

  Amelia watched through the bond while he had used her magic to confirm what she and Megan had already found. She expected something from him. Shock, doubt, anger … anything, but he wasn’t any of those things. Instead, he was just thoughtful, working through a memory that made absolutely no sense to Amelia.

  The memory was disjointed, with black walls that moved like disturbed water and a shadowy image of Tyler with a pulsing soul’s mark on his neck. Amelia tried to follow Mitchell’s thoughts, but it was useless. They were just as disjointed as the memory, and when she asked, he ignored her, too busy trying to piece it all together.

  It was hard to think. The clatter of Amelia’s family as they tried to make sense out of Angelle’s missing soul was ridiculously loud. It was all impossible. When Derek had died, he’d been a vampire. His soul would have joined with Angelle’s. She should have been whole. She should have had both halves.

  “Amelia,
what’s wrong with the spell you want to use to change the bond?” Mitchell asked, pulling her from her broken thoughts. “Why haven’t you tried it yet?” He was nervous again. His tone gave him away. It wavered when he spoke to her as if he wasn’t sure whether he should be questioning her or not. Was he scared of her? Amelia couldn’t tell, but his nerves were starting to make her feel sick.

  All the chatter stopped and everyone focused on her, waiting. Amelia wiggled in her seat, uncomfortable, and huffed. “I have. I’m missing an anchor. I thought I could just use any vampire-human couple, but it’s not enough.”

  “Are you sure it’s not?” Luke inquired. His intense gaze unnerved her and she found herself wiggling again, unable to sit still. It was his thinking gaze, the one where you could almost see the thoughts pass across his eyes as he considered every scenario.

  Amelia’s gut twisted and she dropped her gaze. She wasn’t really sure if she should admit that he had been her guinea pig. Thinking about it now, she probably should have asked him and Lola first. Mitchell started to chuckle. “Yes, you should have asked,” he said, plucking the thoughts from her head.

  Amelia groaned and rolled her eyes at him. She tried to give him an annoyed look, but it didn’t work. For the second time that day, instead of being mad at Mitchell, she felt her lips twitching into a smile. She hadn’t realized it, but damn, she’d missed having him in her head. Bashfully, she said, “Um, yeah, I tried with you and Lola.”

  Lola shoved her chair back, the legs scraping against the floor as she stood up. Her face screwed up, and she glared, narrowed eyed, at Amelia. “You’ve got to be kidding …”

  “You need an unclaimed soulmate,” Mitchell said, cutting Lola off as if he hadn’t heard her speaking. “That’s why your mother let me become human. I’ve been looking at this all wrong. You weren’t supposed to bite me until the bond was fixed. Until you were ready to do the spell.”

  Lola shot Mitchell a dirty look that he ignored, before she stalked over to the fridge. She pulled out a couple bags of blood, and then snagged a bunch of mugs from the cupboard. Amelia watched absently as Lola poured the blood into mugs, and then shoved them into the microwave, as she tried to sort out what Mitchell was talking about.

  “Mitch, you’re not making any sense,” Erin said.

  For about half a second, Amelia completely agreed with her, but then she got a glimpse of his unspoken thoughts. “You could have been the anchor,” she murmured. “Biting you would have anchored the spell.”

  “What anchor?” Megan asked. “What spell? When did you even start working on a spell?” Her voice was tinted with what sounded a whole lot like betrayal and right then, Amelia felt a little guilty for not filling Megan in. She probably should have. Megan might have even been able to fill in the missing pieces if she’d known.

  Amelia sighed. “I’ve been working on a spell for the last two weeks. It’s supposed to reverse the pain, deflect it back to the vamps instead of the humans. We don’t feel it the same, it’s just uncomfortable, but it doesn’t hurt, except I was missing an anchor.” She paused for a breath and gave Luke a quick apologetic glance before continuing. “I was trying to use Luke and Lola, but since the bond was already formed between them, I couldn’t alter it without breaking it and then trying to repair it again.”

  “But with an unclaimed soulmate, the bond hasn’t fully formed,” Megan blurted, jumping in and finishing Mitchell’s initial thought. Her eyes lit up. “Holy crap. You could do the spell during that first bite to alter the bond for everyone. That’s actually kind of perfect. No risk of breaking the bonds again.”

  “Yeah,” Amelia agreed. The idea was perfect. It was the whole putting it into motion that was flawed, especially now that she’d gone and ruined her anchor by biting Mitchell. “Except we don’t have an anchor anymore.”

  Lola set a steaming mug of blood in front of Amelia and cooed, “He was going to die. You did what you had to, to save your soulmate.” She stroked Amelia’s hair, a comforting gesture, before she made her way back into the kitchen to grab more of the mugs.

  A somber silence fell over them as Lola passed out the steaming mugs and gave Mitchell and Megan glasses of water. Amelia sipped at her blood, and Mitchell pressed closer to her side as if he couldn’t get close enough. She absently ran a hand through his hair, and he sighed, a contented kind of sound.

  It was Lucy who broke the silence. “We can use Tyler and Angelle.” When Amelia glanced at her, the petite girl slunk closer to Erin. Her sharp features were marred with uncertainty, as if she didn’t know if she was allowed to join into the conversation and it made Amelia feel sick. Other than Erin, none of them had really spent any time with the child since she was turned, and it was clear that she didn’t feel all that comfortable with them.

  Amelia offered a smile that she hoped was reassuring, and Lucy returned it with a timid one. She opened her mouth to agree when Eric said with clear disbelief, “You guys really think Ty is Angelle’s soulmate.” He huffed, and then reached out, patting Angelle’s hand. “I know you love him and all, but you do get that that’s not possible, right?”

  “I know it’s not possible you moron,” Angelle spat, yanking her hand away from him. Palpable tension rushed from her, crackling through the air. “None of this is possible. It’s not possible for a vampire to become a human, but look at Mitchell. It’s insanely impossible for Amelia to become Mother Nature, and it’s crazy to believe that Tyler has anything to do with changing the soulmate bond, but Mitchell seems hell bent on his theory. It’s insane to even consider that you’d turn into one of those controlling, jackass vamps, but yet, you have.” By the end of it, Angelle’s face was all splotchy red and she was flat out yelling at Eric.

  Eric shifted in his seat and opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something, but before he could, Megan shot him a look that clearly told him to shut up.

  “I’m not supposed to become Mother Nature,” Amelia muttered after a moment, dismissing the only thing she could from Angelle’s list. No matter how inane it all sounded, everything else she’d said had some validity to it. “We’re wasting time here. I don’t know what’s going to happen when the day ends tomorrow, but I really, really don’t want to find out.” She nudged Mitchell. “You really think they’re giving me a deadline to change the bond?”

  Mitchell didn’t hesitate. “Yes, and we need to find Tyler to do it.”

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Angelle growled, low and threatening. Her eyes blazed and the tips of her fangs rested on her plump bottom lip. “You will not use him for anything.”

  Mitchell flinched against Amelia’s side, and she cut him a sideways look, surprised. “Love,” he said, “it was your mother’s voice that woke me up right after I saw Tyler. It seems like a hint to me.”

  He was waiting for her to agree, as if at some point, what actions they took had become her decision, but she couldn’t find her voice. Instead, Amelia stared at him for a long moment, unnerved. Mitchell didn’t flinch. It just didn’t happen. She figured she must have been staring at him for too long because he bumped his shoulder against hers and called through the bond, Amelia?

  Amelia gave her head a shake and pushed out her chair. She glanced around the island, and didn’t miss the way everyone was watching her, as if they were waiting for her direction. She stood up, and began pacing the kitchen, trying to clear her head. It wasn’t working. She’d forgotten how distracting the bond was. Mitchell was watching her, and she knew he was having a hell of a time sitting there, forcing himself not to get up and touch her. She remembered the feeling; the relentless tug around her heart, the urge to be near him. And she still felt it, but it was … different now. The pull was there. The want was there. But it was feeling his distress that made the distance between them unbearable.

  She took a deep breath as she sorted out what needed to be done, and moved back to his side, squeezing his shoulder, as she began barking out a list of orders. “Get Tyler back here, Angelle. Use
the dreams. Call his soul to you. Do whatever it takes to find him. Lucy, Erin, help her. Meg, talk to Eric and work out whatever the hell your problem is. He thinks you want to leave him. Lola, you and Luke go into town, see if you can get the donations back up and running. I don’t care what you have to do. Persuade the whole damn town if you have to; just get it fixed. And you,” she said glaring down at Mitchell, “just stay here and don’t get hurt.”

  Once she’d finished giving all her orders, she glanced around at everyone. She’d kind of expected them to laugh or brush her off. But they didn’t. No one protested. Angelle squeezed her eyes shut and let out a breath before nodding her agreement and Luke and Lola even got up and started out of the kitchen. She must have looked as stunned as she felt because Eric chuckled and mouthed, Nice work.

  Amelia grinned. She leaned down and brushed a quick kiss onto Mitchell’s cheek, and then spun on her heels, heading for the door. She only made it a couple steps when Mitchell got a hold of his composure and said, “Stop right there, Amelia.” She glanced over her shoulder at him and smirked. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To find my mother,” she said. He frowned at her and he looked as if he was about to protest, but she didn’t wait to hear it. “I hate to break this to you, honey,” Amelia’s tone was syrupy sweet, “but you’re the one that taught me that everything is about power and strength. Right now, there is not a single being in this house that’s stronger than I am, so that means I’m in charge. Get used to it and just do what I’ve asked.”

  He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Sure, love, whatever you want.” His tone was a touch too condescending and right then, she didn’t need the bond to know that he wasn’t going to listen to her.