Soul Surrender (The Soul Mark Series Book 3)

by Cara E Holt

  She carefully takes it out of the box and examines it, before looking back to me. She gives me wide smile. “I adore it. Can you put it on for me.” She holds it out to me and smiling I take it and move her red locks to the side and place it on the tip of her pointed fae ear.

  “It looks good.” I tell her. I summon a small mirror and hold it near her ear so she can see. “I err, I got Leora one too. You know in the hope that..,”

  “I got her a bracelet too.” She tells me. “One day I know that we will all be together.”

  The day is perfect. Everyone is in good spirits. Noah has a new fan in my Mum, who he flirts with shamelessly and praises her cooking. We spend the next hour exchanging presents. Scott loves the fae daggers I got him. I had the symbol for the gate watchers engraved into them, as well as his initials. Mum cries at the necklace we got her. It is a white gold heart that holds a fae protection crystal in the centre. Lorcen’s present makes me cry. He has done a wooden carving of the two of us, stood looking at each other with our hands together, both our wings out. It must have taken him hours.

  “Oh, there’s one left here under the tree.” Alana announces as she leans down and pulls out a small red box. She looks at the label and looks at me and then at Lorcen. Somewhat hesitantly she holds it out to me. “It’s for you, from Kol.”

  The room goes quiet and I daren’t look at Lorcen’s face as I take it from her. Inside the box is a pair of delicate and beautiful earrings in the shape of a flower. They look like rubies, but the red colour of the gems holds a hint of amber within them. I read the small label. ‘Flowers for my flower.’

  “Come on let us see.” Noah demands, craning his neck to see what I have got.

  I hold the box out and move it around so everyone can see.

  “Wow those are beautiful Ebony.” My mum gushes.

  Noah whistles. “They look like real rubies too.”

  “They aren’t rubies.” Az states, frowning at the box in my hand. “They are dragon tears. Dragon tear gems are very rare. They are said to represent eternal love.”

  The room falls quiet again and I look over at Lorcen. He gives me tight smile and comes over to me.

  “Here let me help you put them in.” I smile at him, feeling grateful. He knows how Kol feels about me and could be a real arse about the gift if he wanted to. I think deep down he knows how I feel about Kol and knows that I am going to miss him.

  “Lorc.., I..,”

  “It’s okay Ebs.” He tells me interrupting me. “I know he will never have your heart the way I do. I’m okay with him being important to you.”

  “Thank you.” I whisper, as I lean in and kiss him.

  “Okay. Game time!” My mum announces. “It’s time for pie-face.”

  “Pie face?” Noah asks looking confused.

  “Oh Noah. You will love this game. You are so going first.” I tell him, grinning on the inside.

  Fifteen minutes later I am crying with laughter and trying not to pee my pants. Watching Noah get pie-faced was the funniest thing I had seen in a while. He stands and gives me a menacing grin. “Come here princess.”

  “No way.” I tell him sifting behind the sofa. “Stay away from me Noah Wilde.”

  Grinning he continues to stalk towards me. I hold out my hand. “Noah stay away.”

  Noah freezes in place. He is frozen still and not moving.

  “Uh Megan. I think I may have frozen your mate in place.” I tell her looking in shock at my hands. I had no idea how I did that.

  Megan walks over to Noah and waves her hand in front of his face. She then attempts to tickle him under his arms, but still he does not move.

  “Yes. He’s stuck in place.” She announces.

  “Shit.” I exclaim. “I have no idea how I did that.” I close my eyes and will Noah to unfreeze.

  “Come on princess. You know you want a kiss.” Noah’s voice makes me open my eyes. Thank god it worked. I’m so distracted by the fact that he was no longer frozen that before I can shake myself out of it, he is before me and rubbing spray cream all over my face.

  “I hate you.” I tell him pouting as I wipe the cream out of my eyes.

  “Fairs fair princess.” Noah tells me grinning like a cat that got the cream. My Mum offers us both a hand towel so we can clean ourselves up.

  We sift home late at night. All feeling stuffed with food and alcohol. It had been a great day. The most normal day I had lived in a while. There were no thoughts about the cauldron or Devlon or Lucifer. I hoped one day normal days like this would be the norm rather than the rarity.

  I scream “No!” My eyes wild and full of anger. “You can’t do this.”

  Luicfer stands before me with a baby in his arms. The baby is naked and tiny and cries that newborn baby cry. He simply smirks at me before he turns and walks through a portal of fire to hell. Taking the baby with him. I fall to my knees and scream. This was all my fault. I had done this.

  I wake up with a jolt and sit up in bed, shaking with apprehension. Was that a dream? Or a premonition? Whose baby did Lucifer hold in his arms? The way I reacted I am guessing it was mine. I was devastated when he walked through that portal and took that baby away.

  I look to my side to find Lorcen peacefully sleeping. I quietly sift out of bed down to the kitchen.

  “Shit.” I exclaim, jumping a mile when I see Alana sat with a drink at the kitchen island.

  She holds a finger up to her lips and shushes me. “Did you have it to? The dream?”

  My eyes snap back to hers as I take a seat beside her. “You had it too? What do you think it means?”

  Alana shakes her head, a frown creasing her forehead. “I don’t know but I know I was devastated.”

  I nod. “Me too. I screamed in anger and hurt.” I twist the hem of my sleeve. “It must have been my baby. Is Lucifer going to take my baby one day?”

  Alana shakes her head. “I have no idea. But one things for sure, Lucifer was taking that baby into the underworld and hell is no place for a newborn baby.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  Life quickly slips back into a normal routine over the next few weeks. I go back to school. I have missed so much work, but Taylor and Scott are being great and tutoring me outside of school. While I had been in the underworld Alana had been me at school, using glamour. Now I was back she attended school as a new girl and given her red hair we decided to pass her off as Noah’s cousin. She wore a glamour so that she looked nothing like me. Alana and I finally stopped having the pregnancy sickness. Which was a big relief as I had once puked all over Taylor in the school hallway and another time all over the cafeteria table at lunch time. This then had the school rumour mill in overtime saying that Lorcen had knocked me up.

  Drustan had confirmed that no texts suggested that the spear could be used to awaken the cauldron. Everyone seemed to feel that there was therefore little chance of Devlon wakening an undead fae army. I however, was less relaxed. My gut told me that this war was still coming. So despite all the boys protests that I needed to relax, when I wasn’t in school I trained my ass off. Alana too felt the same foreboding feeling I did and would train alongside me.

  Now that I was back home Alana was ready to be soul bound with Blaine. The fae realm was in the midst of wedding fever. In less than a week the fae realm would come together for a grand royal ceremony. Lorcen had asked me if I was upset that I had missed out on all the planning and preparation for our wedding. I honestly told him no. In fact I was glad we hadn’t had to go through all this. I was already bored with dress fittings and listening to Luna – the fae wedding planner, talk about colour schemes and what have you. Alana’s dress was going to be beautiful though. Blaine’s parents had hired the best seamstresses in the fae lands.

  Over the last couple of weeks I had tried to ignore the hunger gnawing at my insides. I knew what it was. The demon part of me needed to feed, but I was determined that I could beat this. The last few nights I had woken up sweating and with pains in my body. I c
ould tell Alana knew something was wrong. I would often catch her looking at me, with concerned etched on her face. I was also getting dark circles under my eyes. Then one day it all came to a head.

  We were all sat together having lunch in the school cafeteria. I was quietly eating a sandwich which if I am honest tasted like sandpaper and was doing nothing to appease my hunger. Which was probably because my body was now hungry for something else.

  “What do you think Ebony?”

  I blink and look around the table, a blank look on my face. “Sorry, what?”

  Taylor tuts and rolls her eyes. “What is with you lately? Where you listening to a word I said?”

  I am suddenly consumed with a fierce rage and I glare at Taylor. I knew my eyes were red, I could feel it.

  “No Taylor. I wasn’t listening. Truth be told, you babble on and on and it’s quite irritating. Why don’t you just shut up and eat or something.”

  Taylor looks at me like I have slapped her.

  “Back off sis.” Scott warns glaring at me and stroking Taylors back, offering her comfort.

  “Oh come on Scott.” I snigger. “You know I’m speaking the truth. She never comes up for air. Yap, yap, yap.” I use my hands to mimic a barking dog.

  Taylor glares at me with tears brimming in her eyes. Lorcen puts a hand on my arm and looks at me with a frown, but I shake him off and lean over the table.

  “Nothing to say? Why don’t you stand up for yourself huh?” I bang my fist on the table. Lorcen wraps a hand around my arm and pulls me back down into my seat.

  “What has gotten into you? This isn’t you?”

  I snigger and he flinches. “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking. She never stops.”

  “Well.” Taylor states, arms folded and now looking annoyed. “I’m sorry my presence is such a problem for you, princess.”

  The way she says princess tells me she is taking the piss. I see the red aura around her, as she becomes angry with me.

  ‘Feed.’ A voice in my head tells me, making me jump. I eye the red aura around her like it’s my favourite candy. I blink and stop in horror when I realise what I have been trying to do. I was antagonising my best friend to try and get her angry, so that I could feed off of her.

  “I have to get out of here.” I mumble and quickly look at Lorcen before I sift out of school. I sift out to the car park and steady my breathing. I sift then to our home and sitting down on the sofa, I call out to my father. Telling him I need him. Not two minutes later Lorcen walks into our home at the same time my Dad appears by fire portal. We had all been surprised when Lucifer had agreed to allow him back into the underworld. I had begged him not to go back, but he had calmly explained that it was his home and where he needed to be.

  My father looks me over and frowns. “How long?”

  I wince under his angry gaze. “I haven’t. Not since I came home.”

  My father swears under his breath.

  “What’s going on?” Lorcen asks, looking from my father to me in confusion.

  “I tell you what’s going on. This silly daughter of mine is starving. She needs to feed.”

  Lorcen still looks confused and then his face changes as he gets it. “You mean demon feed?”

  “Yes.” My father barks out, clearly still mightily pissed off with me. “Come on up.” He demands. “I’m taking you to feed right now.”

  I don’t argue. “It’s the middle of the day. I don’t think there are any fight clubs open now.”

  “There are in other countries. Now up, come on, before you’re too weak to stand on your own two feet.” This is what it felt like to be told off by your demon father.

  I stand and look at Lorcen. “Do you hate me?” He looks at me confused. “I don’t want you to think less of me.”

  Lorcen sighs and pulls me into his arms. “You think I would think less of you? I love you. All of you, including the demon part of you.”

  I nod, chewing on my lip. It looks like I was the only one with an issue about this then.

  “Okay let’s go get this over with.” I look at Lorcen and put a hand on his chest. “I don’t want you to come. I don’t want you to see it.”

  He frowns and looks like he is about to protest.

  “She’ll be fine. I’ll look after her.” My father tells him, offering reassurance.

  Lorcen sighs and drops a kiss on my head. “Go. I’ll go back to school and try to explain to Taylor.”

  I wince. I was so nasty to her. She must be so hurt. I had a huge grovelling apology to make to her later. My Dad creates a fire portal and takes my hand and leads us through. When we come out the other side we are stood at some docks.

  “England?” I ask. It sounds weird I know, but it smelt like home.

  “Yes. Come on.”

  He lead us down the side of rows and rows of shipping containers until we come to what looks like an old abandoned warehouse. My father raps three times on the rusty metal door and it swings open. A shaved headed man nods to my father and allows us to pass through. Inside the place is packed. Over by one side of the large space there appears to be a makeshift bar. My father leads us along in the opposite direction towards a fighting ring.

  A young guy with a multi-coloured Mohican and piercings everywhere stands in the centre of the ring.

  “Okay, who is ready to rise to the challenge and take to the ring to face the Dominator?”

  “I am.” My father’s deep voice booms, as he takes off his shirt and hands it to me. He pulls my hood up over my face. “Feed. Okay?”

  I nod and holding his top I watch as he walks away and jumps up into the ring. My father was ripped and I had no doubt that he would win this. The Dominator is a beast of black guy whose chest is covered with white coloured tattoos that stand out against his chocolate skin. I look around the crowd and see money being exchanged as people placed bets. The Mohican guys rings a bell and signals the start of the fight. They fight bare fisted, no gloves. The Dominator makes the first move and tries to take a jab at my Dads face. Dad anticipates it and dodges to the side. He swings his fist out and hits the dominator straight in the nose, with a sickening crunch. Ouch! The room is full of red auras, all fuelled with violence and I close my eyes and take my first pull. My body grabs onto it greedily, like a starved beast. My eyes roll with euphoria, it feels so good. I pull again as my Father gets another hit in and hits the Dominator on the side of the head. The Dominator wobbles on his feet, but doesn’t go down. My body laps up the energy in the room, until I feel full to bursting. I open my eyes and breathe in. My Dad is close to ending the fight. I give him a quick nod to tell him I am done and then decide to take a walk around. As I weave in and around groups of people I can see there is another fighting ring over in the other far corner. People are drinking and exchanging monies. The place was full of sin. It’s funny how I could sense it now. It was all here, Lust, envy, greed. I bet Kol and his brothers were regulars at places like this. I keep my hood up and my eyes low as I’m unsure if my eyes are still red or not. As I’m making my way through the old warehouse, I feel my tattoo on my back tingle. My eyes fall on a familiar face and I stop dead in my tracks. Over to the right stood with a drink in his hand chatting with a group of people, is my demon. I don’t think, I just take off at a run and throw myself at him, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He stumbles at my impact.

  “What the..?”

  “I’ve missed your demon arse.” I say into his neck. He seems to relax then realising who it is that has just literally thrown themselves at him.

  “Well hello flower.” I feel his arms go under my bum to keep me held up around him and he starts to walk. He takes us into a quiet corner of the warehouse and places me down on a concrete wall. He lifts my hood off my head and looks down and just stares at me for a few moments. I can’t read his expression. I’m so happy to see him. I tug on his jacket. “I miss you.”

  He offers me a sad smile. “I miss you too. My home feels
empty without you and that giant wolf.”

  I laugh. “You mean you aren’t happy he’s no longer leaving wolf hair all over the bed?”

  He takes a piece of my hair in his hands. “I miss the smell of you on my pillows.”

  I sigh and take his hand in mine.

  “What are you doing here flower?” He cocks a brow. “Not stalking me are you?”

  I roll my eyes at him. “You wish. I’m here with my Dad. I came to err, you know, feed.”

  He nods and looks around the room. I presume looking for my dad. I tuck my hair behind my ears.

  “Thank you so much for the earrings. I adore them.”

  He runs a finger across one of the ruby flowers. “I knew they’d suit you. Red is really your colour.” His fingers strokes my hand. “How are you?”

  I nod, looking down at our joined hands. “I’m good. I’m back at school and doing normal stuff. You?”

  He frowns, looking over my head at the room around us. “I’m okay, usual prince of lust business.”

  We are both silent. I miss talking to him. One way or another whether he liked it or not, I would have him in my life.

  “Baby.” A pretty brunette in a leather jacket and ripped jeans comes up behind him. He doesn’t turn to respond.

  “I have to get going.” He tells me, a frown on his handsome face.

  “Can I see you? Please.” My voice pleads to him. I beg. I don’t care.

  He looks at me and sighs, wearily. He runs a hand over his dark hair. “Look maybe I can swing by in a few weeks.”

  My eyes snap back up to his, I had been looking away, preparing myself for when he told me no.

  “Whenever works for you. You know anytime is fine.”

  He smiles then at my enthusiasm. “I’ll be seeing you flower.” He tells me as he walks backwards. When he reaches the brunette she hooks her arm through is and she looks me over. He gives me a wink and turns and walks away from me.

  “Ready to go?”