Marked

by Jasmine Derriman

He grunted and let go of my right arm as well to put his hand to where I managed to punch him. My hand completely stung from the force of punching a real man in the face, but I completely ignored it as I scrambled backwards from the man. I hadn’t done enough though to allow myself to stand up and the moment he saw me try to me, he moved forward to grab hold of me once again. This time though, my leg was free enough that when I kicked him, I made contact with his face. I had to pull my whole body forward and almost flip myself up to do so, but I managed to make the connection due to him leaning over

  His head was forced to the side though, or just away for only a second. In only seconds he turned his head back to make, and all I had done so far was make him angry. He jumped forward and pushed my leg down before I could attempt to kick him again. I let out a scream as he plunged his fist towards me. I ducked my head just in time to hear his fist crunch into the wall, but the moment I lifted my head back up I saw that he was directly in front of me.

  He grabbed me by the wrists and pushed me against the wall. I struggled again and let out a little scream as I tried to push him off, but it was no use, he was far too strong for me. I didn’t know what he was going to do me, but he couldn’t kill me, surely. For someone who was meant to be on the same side as me, when I looked into his eyes all I saw was darkness.

  Like the moment I was grabbed, I didn’t see what happened next coming. The man was looking at me in one instant and then the next he was forced to let go of me and thrown aside. I breathed out heavily as I looked up to see what had saved me and I felt complete relief sweep over me as I saw that it was Isaac.

  Isaac only looked down at me, long enough to check that I was okay, but he couldn’t focus on me. The man was back up before either of us could speak. Isaac threw a punch, and it connected. The man threw a punch and it connected against Isaac. Isaac retaliated but he was blocked and Isaac was forced to put a kick in and he managed to kick him in the ribs. The man recovered quickly and punched him again, this time making contact with Isaac’s head. I could tell from the sound it hurt and the fight had been moving so fast I didn’t have time to get to my feet, but before I could, before I could even scream to help Isaac, something else stopped everything.

  “Now, now, don’t you think we should stop this incessant fighting?”

  Isaac, the man and I were one among the few people who actually stopped fighting, but not everyone seemed to have heard whoever it was that spoke. I was still on the floor and I tried to poke my head around to see the source of the voice but all I could see was Hadley in the corner fighting a demon, Eve standing in front of Rhys, fending off a demon herself and Felix standing beside Seth.

  “I SAID, STOP.”

  This time, everyone heard it. The demons, Hadley, Eve and the other Insignes in the room immediately stopped and turned towards the same direction in the room. The man Isaac was fighting was one of the first that started to walk towards the corner of the room from which the voice had come from, the demons and three other Insignes did the same. I looked up Isaac who I now realised was a little frozen. I used my arms and put them up against the wall to start to get myself off the floor. I didn’t realise it until now, but there seemed to be a certain amount of damage to my back and arms, and getting up was not as easy as I would’ve liked.

  A little noise escaped my mouth as I struggled a little to get myself noticed. Isaac suddenly noticed and snapped out of his trance and turned around and rushed towards me. He grabbed onto my arms and he slowly helped me to my feet. Our eyes meet as I finally stood on my feet. I felt like he was trying to tell me something with the look he was giving me, like he was trying to warn me of something, but I was already aware of the danger around me.

  “Do you still have the dagger?” Isaac whispered.

  I nodded. “Do you trust me?”

  Isaac took me a moment to answer and his eyes dropped slightly from mine before he looked back and answered. “Yes.”

  “Now, now, why don’t we all take a moment to just gather ourselves?”

  I realised now I was on my feet I could see who the voice belongs to, I could see who was behind all of this. I couldn’t spot him straight away though. All of the demons and the Insignes that weren’t the good guys in this case, had all sort of formed near each other on the other side of room, and as for the rest of us, we were all sort out of spread out. Isaac’s hands were still holding me and keeping me up right. I had realised that another advantage of being an Insigne was that we were able to recover quickly from a simple thing such as a head bump and I felt fine enough now that I shouldn’t need his support, but I still felt myself clinging to him, and as he turned around and opened up my view I felt my hand grip around his arm.

  I didn’t know what I expected, or which elder I expected it to be, but for some reason the moment I saw him I felt like everything was wrong. The only time I had meet all four of them together, one had stood out, mainly because he seemed to talk the most, and he seemed to have the most authority, and maybe that was why it was him and not one of the others. He was the only one who didn’t seem even slightly intimidated by Isaac at any point, and the only one on that table I ever felt I couldn’t trust, and now I had felt like I definitely was right about that. Odon was a name I remembered, and I was glad I remembered it now, because I wanted to hurt him.

  “Ah, Lily, it’s nice of you to finally join us,” he said, clapping his hands together as he stepped forward from his crowd. “I just kept these guys a little busy until you showed up, you know, to pass the time.”

  I felt anger boil inside me and I realised I was not the only one with that feeling. Isaac beside me was stiffening from anger. From the brief meeting I had seen between the two it was clear that Isaac and Odon didn’t have a trusting relationship and I could only imagine the past between these two. What Eve had told me had to only be the beginning of what had happened amongst these two during Isaac’s time in the council.

  “Surprised to see me?” Odon walked slowly towards Isaac and me as he spoke.

  Isaac reacted to Odon’s movement and since he was still holding onto me, Isaac moved both of us. It was more of tug on my arm that forced me to move along with him. It was now I realised what he was doing. He was moving us back closer towards everyone else, and I was glad he was, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Odon if I could help it. If he could betray the council, kill people we thought were his friends, all because of the dagger, I never wanted to be close to this man.

  “I can see you’re surprised, Isaac,” Odon spoke again, “but of course you are, you never thought I was anything.”

  “I always thought you were annoying,” Isaac shrugged, “guess I was right about that.”

  “I thought you would all be…more surprised,” Odon said, opening his arms out to gesture to all of us. “Although, I’m surprised I managed to get away with it.”

  “Get away with what? You haven’t gotten away with anything,” Isaac was the only one really willing to speak at that point.

  “Yet,” Odon said, pointing to Isaac. “Well, actually… if you ask me, I’ve done pretty well so far. I managed to snake my way into the council, and place myself in the elders, and then kill them all, without any of them suspecting what I was up to.”

  “And…what were you up to? Why…go to all this trouble?”

  I turned my head slowly towards Eve. The way she spoke to him, I could tell she was scared but I could see a true anger when she spoke too, and it was the only thing that really spurred her along to speak. I felt Isaac’s hand loosen slightly on his grip on my arms and as I looked at him and I realised he was looking at Eve too, but my eyes now caught Rhys. He stood behind Eve still and even though I knew he didn’t understand what was going on, I could see how scared he was, but not for himself, for me.

  “That is a very good question, Eve,” Odon said, and it almost sounded like he was happy that someone was taking interest in him. “You were always so smart, but I guess, not smart enough to realise, where you? I mean…th
en again I didn’t expect you to. When I’ve had this planned for thirty years, I wouldn’t expect anyone to notice.”

  Although Isaac had loosened his grip on me, he hadn’t let go. When I looked at him I realised he wasn’t as focused on Odon as I thought. I watched his eyes scan our enemies and I didn’t doubt that in that head of his he was trying to plan a way out of this. I knew he couldn’t though.

  “Power, it’s a funny thing, isn’t it, Lily?” Odon said firmly, catching my attention. “Everyone wants it, and you know what everyone wants from you. My father brought me up with the belief that we deserve more than one more mark, and we do, I agree with him, but… I have a bigger picture. You see, we…Insignes, we are under appreciated, don’t you think? There’s billions of humans out there that every day that don’t even realise that we risk our lives to keep their world spinning, and yet they still find a way to complain about their miserable lives. The day I realised that the dagger was real, and that someone would soon exist that would be able to possess it’s power… I knew our race stood a chance. A chance to be recognised…to be big.”

  “You just want… praise for what we do?” I whispered as I looked at Odon.

  “Praise? Oh, Lily, I want more than that,” he told me. “Humans should bow down to us; bow down to what we do. We are Gods, and we deserved to be treated so.”

  “So you would kill all of us to get that?” Isaac asked suddenly. I didn’t realise he was now listening.

  “Well, it’s not so simple, Isaac,” Odon said as he started to pace slightly. “The council seemed to believe that us staying hidden, unknown what was best for the world, because if they knew about us, that means they would know about the demons. What kind of world would we live in then? Well…we’d live in a world where we really did rule, wouldn’t we?”

  “The council is right, the world shouldn’t know about us,” Eve stated. “This is crazy…you’re crazy.”

  “Well, thank you for saying so, Eve,” Odon said putting on a smile. “Not everyone seems to think so though. I have followers, and not just here. I’ve been planning this for years and people have been joining me for years. You think this is the only council being invaded by demons now? Do you think this is the only council where elders are dying? Once my world is complete, the rest will join.”

  “You think you can people over with power,” I spoke up. “That’s why you want the dagger. More marks…more power…you think that’s what will make people fear…and worship you.”

  “Oh, but it will, Lily,” Odon said with a smile. “You are living proof of that. Everyone here is willing to die for you…for that dagger…they would follow you not matter where you went to ensure you safety and they follow like a leader too, all because of that dagger. The one I know you have.”

  “Doesn’t mean I’m going to give it to you,” I said plainly.

  I could see Odon was unimpressed, but I knew he didn’t think it would be that easy. He was still pacing and as he paced he walked over to where Isaac and I had been standing before Isaac had moved us over. Isaac’s mother’s telum sat on the floor where I was forced to drop it. I felt Isaac stiffen as Odon leant down and picked it up. He held it in his hands and moved it up in the air and turned it in his hand to get a clearer look at it.

  “Put that down.”

  Isaac’s voice was so fierce I felt myself tighten. I already knew it would bug him, to see a man that was betraying us right in front of our eyes touch something so precious to him, but Odon only wanted to tease Isaac, I knew it.

  Odon laughed. “I gave this to your mother, you know? It was a birthday present, one of the few I think she really liked. It’s lighter than a normal telum, smoother to use, I made is especially for her and she really did appreciate it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Isaac said through his teeth.

  “Surely someone told you your mother and I was here at the council together through our training period?” Odon said twirling the telum in his hand. “Oh…I guess no one did. She really wanted to keep it all a secret.”

  “What-,” Isaac’s voice was softer but loud enough to be heard, but Odon spoke so loud and confidently, Isaac couldn’t be heard.

  “I guess she had liked my presents, that’s how love works, isn’t it?” Odon asked but then he turned to Isaac with a smiled. “Although, this present didn’t do the trick, did it now? If it did…she’d still be alive.”

  “Don’t you-.”

  “Oh, no, wait, she wouldn’t be. I’m not sure how well a telum would work on an Insigne, it might cut us a bit, force a drop of blood, but it would take some real effort to kill one of us with it, and to kill me. In fact, all she did was beg for your life.” Odon stood straight toward Isaac and I and I could barely hear Isaac breathing, and I didn’t blame him for the shock he was in.

  “You killed her,” Isaac whispered so softly I didn’t think Odon heard him, but he must’ve.

  “She really didn’t think I would do it to be honest,” Odon shrugged slightly, “I guess she thought…she thought that well…the man she loves, the man she had a child with, would never kill her…but I did.”

  I froze at the same time Isaac did. I could barely move, but that was nothing compared to what I knew was probably going on in Isaac’s mind. My heart was racing though and my breathing quickened, but Isaac’s just stopped.

  “Oh, of course…no one told you that either, did they?” Odon asked in an amused voice. “Well, son...I’m your father.”

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  I could feel Isaac’s chest rise and fall against me as the whole room turned silent. I thought everyone had forgotten how to speak as we were all probably thinking that same thing inside our heads, but none of us dared to speak. This man had known his son all his life and Isaac had never known a single thing about his father, and knew…well, I could imagine Isaac didn’t want to know, or he at least couldn’t believe it, because I couldn’t.

  The longer I stood there though I saw the resemblance and I really didn’t want to. I was the way their faces were shaped, both strong cut jaw lines and small noses, but that still didn’t mean I wanted to believe it. For Isaac’s sake, I didn’t want to believe that the man that was doing this to us…was his father.

  Odon was the only one who wasn’t shocked by this new news and he definitely didn’t seem to care that it was breaking Isaac’s heart right now. I didn’t even think he cared that he had a son, but then again I didn’t think he could care about anything other than power.

  “Oh, don’t look so sad,” Odon pretended to pout but then laughed allowed to himself. “It’s not like I’ve been a father to you, and it’s not like I’m going to start now, and why should I? You turned out fine without me.”

  I could feel Isaac tensing against me and I realised he wasn’t listening to Odon’s taunts. Odon wanted to get a rise out of him, but I knew he didn’t need any more taunts to make Isaac lose it. I knew what he was thinking, without asking. He was thinking about this man being his father, he was thinking about this man killing his mother…making him lose someone so important to him, and I knew he would kill him for that.

  “Isaac, no!”

  I tried desperately to grip onto his arm as he suddenly darted around me directly towards Odon. My fingers slipped on his arm as I almost managed to grab him but he was too fast and too strong and shook me off. Isaac didn’t reach for his telum in this case, like I thought he might, but instead I saw his fist curl, ready to punch Odon, but Isaac never reached Odon.

  I tried to run forward to grab Isaac, to help him, but someone’s hands caught around my waist before I could step forward. I let out a small scream as three of the demons that had been lingering in the background suddenly charged towards Isaac. It was so fast that they turned into a blur. They were a blur, but not enough that I wasn’t able to watch them grab Isaac and lifted him into the air. He was suspended for a moment, but the moment ended and his body hit the ground at such intense force the sound echoed throughout the room.


  I turned my head and saw that it was Felix that had stopped me but he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at Isaac. My breathing was so uncountable that with every breath a made a sound, like I was going to cry. I turned my head back toward Isaac and saw the demons had turned their backs and were walking away. Isaac grunted a little as he rolled over from his stomach and turned only slightly onto his back. I knew what I could see, and I hated it…blood was dripping down the side of his head, and he could barely move, and I could barely look at him so weak. My eyes moved slowly from Isaac to Odon.

  Odon was just…smiling. It was amusing to him that in Isaac’s moment rage he got hurt instead of Isaac hurting Odon. It made me want to try and do exactly what Isaac had done, no matter how stupid it seemed. Odon sparked a bit of anger in my stomach that I didn’t know was even there. With the same smile of joy on his face I saw him take a step towards Isaac and I felt the need to make some sort of outburst.

  “Don’t you dare touch him!”

  I could feel the words burst out of me like I had no control, and it was so loud I swear my words now echoed throughout the room. I felt Felix tighten his grip on me as I yelled because I also tried to push myself towards Isaac. Isaac had only ever tried to protect me, no matter the situation, and I needed to do the same for him.

  There was nothing I could say that would knock that smirk off Odon’s face though, I knew that. In fact, my desperation to protect Isaac only seemed to amuse him more than Isaac’s pain.

  “When you last walked into this room, Lily, you were…so venerable, so naïve to what this world is,” Odon said as he stepped sideways, but not closer to Isaac. “He…he stood front of you like a shield, spoke for you… I was never able to judge how strong you really were. You care about my son though…don’t you? He cares about you too; otherwise he wouldn’t be here now, although I feel like he may not be good with the emotional side, especially now.”