The Soul's Mark: BROKEN

Amelia grabbed her cell phone and tapped on the calendar. How was it already Thursday? a voice in her head questioned. She quickly ran over the last few days in her head, praying that maybe, just maybe, her phone was off by a day or two, but of course, it wasn’t. Her stomach clenched, her ears rang, and suddenly she felt lightheaded. A cold sweat broke out over Amelia’s back and on her forehead. “Oh my God,” she breathed. “The fair.”



Velvety laughter echoed off the rough and jagged stone walls. It was a warm sound, soft and silky, but to Amelia it sounded like the manic laughter of a serial killer. The bars that held Eric and Luke rattled deafeningly loud.



Amelia’s head spun. The fair. Mitchell had decided to have it at a park on the outskirts of town. It seemed like the perfect place. It had a huge grassy field and offered tons of room for all the rides and games. But now the location made Amelia feel sick. It was just inside the town limits, but far enough away that the vendors could be there right now and no one in town would even know it.



And then another thought came to her. What if the townspeople didn’t stay inside? Over half the town was supposed be there helping to set up. They were walking into a death trap. Everyone in one place. But then, even if the townspeople followed the orders and stayed home, the vendors didn’t have a clue. They didn’t even know about vampires, let alone know that the town was full of them. Her breathing picked up, coming out heavy and hard. Could she trust Josh and Cole? Would they help? Their team had killed innocent people before. She needed a plan, an idea … anything.



Amelia was jerked from her troubled thoughts by the sudden silence. The rattling stopped, and the laughter ended. The silence became so thick and heavy and loud that it felt as if someone was screaming in her ear. Then there was a whispered grunt followed by two muted thuds one right after another. The scuffling sound of footsteps. Amelia’s heart jumped into her throat. The bars didn’t hold, her conscious shrieked. She locked wide and panicked eyes with Megan and Madame Crystal, and right away, her magic flared. The three of them moved quickly, barricading the entryway, creating a human blockade. When Amelia saw the first figure round the corner, she summoned a ball of gleaming power into the palm of her hand.



“It’s just me,” Josh said, as he stepped into the dim light and caught sight of them. Amelia hadn’t even noticed him leave the room, and with a quick glance around, it was clear that the others hadn’t either.



“What did you do?” Amelia breathed horrified. Her brain jumped to the worst possible scenario when Cole stepped beside Josh and brandished a smug grin. Amelia swiveled, raising her arm and pulling it back, ready to throw the magic like a baseball. If I just command them to keep their skin … She felt her lips curve up, and manic laughter bubbled up in her throat.



Josh blanched and raised his arms in surrender. “They’ll be fine,” he stammered, nervously, and by the way he was looking at her, with a cagey apprehension, Amelia was certain that he could see the murder that she felt bubbling up inside her. “We just, um, put them to sleep. I couldn’t think with all the noise.”



Tyler squeezed through the girls and took off down the hallway. The cell doors clanked and grinded, and seconds later, his voice bounced back to them. “They’re fine.”



Amelia hadn’t realized it, but she had been holding her breath. As soon as Tyler said they were fine, the air whooshed out of her lungs, and she pulled back the power, sucking it back into her core as if she had turned on a vacuum. Josh moved towards Amelia with small and cautious steps. But Cole didn’t think caution was necessary. He groaned loudly and pushed past him.



Megan let out a cry of rage and fury. It was a garbled sound from the back of her throat, and she rushed at Cole. She let her magic drop, and when she reached Cole, she wailed on him with frenzied strikes. Amelia’s jaw dropped, and Madame Crystal gasped. Cole just stood there, stiff as marble, and let her beat on him.



And she did.



Megan smacked and clawed and punched and kicked. And she kept going until she couldn’t lift her arms, and her legs trembled. A deep sob escaped from somewhere deep within her, and she began to shake. She wobbled on her feet as the deep gut-twisting sobs fell.



Cole watched her for a moment. He frowned, and deep crevasses formed between his eyes. He opened his mouth and then closed it. Grief struck his features. And then he did something none of them were expecting. He pulled Megan into his arms and let her cry.



“It’s going to be okay, Meg,” Amelia said, trying to sound sure and encouraging, but even to her own ears, her voice sounded weak and unsure. “I’ll fix this. We’ll get them back.”



Megan sniffled and pulled away from Cole, and quickly got herself together. She fixed a deadly glare on him and said, “If you touch Eric again, I’ll find a way to kill you, and if I can’t, I will make you suffer.” Then she turned to Amelia, determination etched on her face, and said, “What’s the plan?”



Amelia didn’t hesitate with her reply. “We go to the fair.”



As far as plans went, it wasn’t much of one. Amelia knew that, but it was all she had. And when everyone agreed, she figured it was worth a shot. If she was right about the vendors, then somehow, they needed to get everyone off the streets and to a safe location, and she knew she couldn’t do it alone, so she promptly pushed her worries about working with the hunters aside. At least until she figured out a way to talk to the spirits and get the vampires their souls back.



Josh and Cole ventured out of the dungeon first to make sure it was safe. As soon as they left, Amelia fired off a quick text to Officer McLean. He promptly replied, confirming her fears. The officers had been patrolling the streets, making sure no one was wandering around, and they hadn’t bothered with the edge of town since there were no houses out that way. She was in the middle of a frantic reply, telling him to send a team out right away, when Cole called down the steps, “Um, Amelia, can you come up here, like now? We’ve got a little problem.”



It took everything Amelia had not to collapse and burst into a flood of tears. And Cole’s tense stance and nervous shifting at the top of the stairs did not help one single bit. How many more problems could she handle? Had this been how Mitchell felt? He always seemed to handle the disasters in stride, and she suddenly found herself wishing he was here.



But he wasn’t.



Tears prickled her eyes as the image of Tristan breaking his neck and dragging him away flooded her memory. That was when she realized that he might never be here, with her, again. For all Amelia knew, Tristan had already killed him. She knew damn well that that had been his ultimate goal.



“Millie?” Tyler said. “You want me to go and check it out?”



Amelia blinked fast, pushing back the tears that threatened to fall. She tried for a smile, but by the look of concern that marred Tyler’s face, she knew her smile was not convincing. She opened her mouth to reassure him, but her voice caught in her throat so she just shook her head back and forth, and headed for the stairs.



When she reached the top, Cole tossed his head to the side, gesturing for her to follow, and then he started down the hallway. When they reached the foyer, Josh was pacing back and forth in front of the door. He was frazzled. It was impossible to miss. His hair was a disaster, sticking out every which way as if he had been running his hands through it without rest. His skin had a grayish tone, it was flickering in and out, and he was muttering to himself.



“Josh?” Amelia said, drawing his attention. She couldn’t even think of anything that could have gotten him so spooked.



Josh stepped towards the window, dragging his feet as if he was trying to stall, and then with a drawn out sigh, he parted the curtains and stepped back, giving Amelia a clear view. “It might be a little harder to just subdue the bloodsuckers,” he said.



Amelia sucked in a breath. “Are …” the words caught in her throat, and she had to clear it a few times before she could make her voice work. “Are they all …” she tried again, looking out over the front yard at fifty, maybe more, cloaked figures, and it looked like every single one of them had a bow in hand.



“Yeah,” Josh said. He put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around to face him. He grimaced. “We are kind of like bees.”



“What?” Amelia asked. She shook her head, trying to make sense out of that, but she couldn’t.



Josh ran his fingers through his hair and then scrubbed at his face roughly. “Well, um…” he hesitated, and cast his eyes to the ground, refusing to meet her confused gaze.



“What he’s trying to say,” Cole said from behind Amelia, “Is that, just like bees, we have attack pheromones. When one of us dies, well …” he paused, mulling over his thoughts for a second, and then he sneered. “I warned you at the fire. I told that bloodsucker he’d regret killing my team.”



White-hot rage flooded over Amelia, and her blood boiled as she spun around to face him. “Stop calling him that! His name is Mitchell. Not bloodsucker, or fanger, or monster, it’s Mitchell!”



“Fine!” Cole yelled back, like a child throwing a tantrum. He huffed and pouted for a second before continuing. “When we are injured or we die, we release a pheromone which signals the others to attack. And with you here, the call was a bit stronger because …”



Realization dawned on her, and waves of hot and cold rushed through Amelia’s veins. She snuck back to the window, parted the curtains an inch, stole a quick peek, and she breathed, “I’m the queen bee.”



“Oh good,” Madame Crystal said with a clap of her hands. Amelia jumped, dropped the curtains, and faced her. “They’re here.” She stood in the entryway of the foyer with an excited smile, and the look in her eyes, Amelia thought, was as if Madame Crystal believed that the hunters, which were littering the front lawn, were the answer to all their problems. Amelia wasn’t so sure.



“You knew they were coming?” Amelia blurted, stunned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”