Marked

heard one of the young men say.

  Damian replied, “Feel free to explore as you’d like. I’ll call when it’s time for dinner.”

  Some of the people remained in the front hall, while others disappeared upstairs with their drinks. Some were soon arm in arm with one of Damian’s numerous friends. All of them were having a great time at the party.

  Marc used the distraction to find a quiet corner in the parlor to talk with Aimee. “Are you okay?”

  He could read the stress of all of this easily on her face. “No, I hate him! I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to play nice, but everything about him offends me.”

  Marc grabbed her hand and began to lead her out of the room. “I don’t care if it pisses him off, let’s just go.” Then, they heard the screams. There were groups of people trying to run to the large front doors. It was chaos. The humans were afraid, so very afraid, and their fear ripped through Aimee in unsettling waves.

  Damian was making his way down the stairs again. He jumped the banister about a third of the way down from the top and landed on his feet on the floor below. He pounced on one girl who was almost to the foyer. He tore through her throat, immobilizing her for others to feed upon. He spotted Aimee and Marc when he looked up and began walking toward them wiping the blood calmly from his mouth on a towel from the buffet in the parlor room. “Follow me, it’s time for dinner.”

  It would have been impossible to run. Damian had already demonstrated his own power, and the sheer number of followers that he had would have been enough to hunt them down quickly. Without any other option, they followed Damian up the staircase. They walked down a hall, lined in hardwood paneling, like the one downstairs.

  Even in the broad hall, they had to step over the bodies that were being fed upon to keep moving forward. The look in their eyes as their life was slipping away was so haunting and horrible. He led them through a bedroom, and onto a large balcony. There, Damian and his friends had cornered a young man. He was swinging a chair leg that he had broken off to fight back with. The body of a girl ways lying at his feet, his girlfriend probably. Her head was barely still attached.

  Damian looked at Marc and Aimee, still beaming with his terrible smile, “He’s yours. Bon Appetite!” It was clear what he wanted them to do.

  “I can’t do this!” Aimee thought to herself.

  Then, she heard Marc speaking to her. “You can. We have to or they’ll kill you. The boy is dead either way. I’ll grab the right side of his throat and hold him down. You grab the left. I’ll bite first, and I promise you that he will be dead before you even sink your teeth in.”

  There was no time to argue. The others had already begun to gather around them. They were like a pack of ravenous wolves. It must be done. Marc lunged skillfully at the boy, biting his arms out to the side. He sunk his fangs in deep, slashing his jugular. She bit deep into the other side and began to drink. Aimee could feel the boy’s body jerk as Marc pulled back, opening the wound wide. The boy did die quickly. Still, his expression flashed in her mind. His face would haunt her.

  When it was over Damian walked up to them. “So, you are vampire then, my beauty?”

  This was the first time that Damian had spoken directly to Aimee. She ignored him and walked past him with Marc, calm, blood dripping down her dress, out to their car parked on the street.

 

  Never Let Go

  Aimee went straight to the bathroom when they got back to the hotel, and shut the door. She turned on the shower full force. It had been a long time since she had needed to purge anything. She remembered every step, every small detail of the ritual. It was all that filled her thoughts. She was horrified at what she had seen, and more so by what she had done. She took a towel from the back of the toilet and rolled it twice, laying it on the floor below the toilet. She took another and wet it a little under the water, and then knelt down onto the floor. She used the back of her toothbrush to gag herself. Her fangs were too sharp to use her hand. Then, she emptied the blood from her stomach. He was the first man that she had ever killed. It did not give her a sense of strength, or power, only a stronger awareness of the darkness around her. The blood came up with such force that pain shot through her abdomen, but in another way the sensation felt good. She had no control in Damian’s presence. This was a way to defy him. He had not won. He was an animal and she would never let herself be like him. Tears flooded down her face. She used the towel to clean her mouth while she watched the blood swirl away down the bowl. After sitting there for a moment, she crawled into the hot shower. Aimee sat there, looking at a fixed point on the wall, unable to move.

  It wasn’t long before Marc came in, he didn’t say a word. The black from her mascara rand down her face in two dark streams. Marc knew what she was feeling. He had felt it too, the first time that he took a life. It changes you. He took his shirt off and sat down beside her, still in his trousers, and her still in her evening gown. The water ran red and black, circling the drain. He put his arms around her and held her. He didn’t say a word. She barely noticed that he was there at first because her mind was so overwhelmed by what was happening. After a few minutes, she became aware that he was there beside her. She felt secure in his arms. Aimee pressed her face into his chest and looked up to face him. There was so much sadness in his eyes. He blamed himself for what had happened. She didn’t want him to. If tonight hadn’t happened, Damian would just have organized something else, maybe something even worse.

  “I love you,” she said finally, low and soft. Her gaze never wavered.

  Marc had waited so long to hear her say those words again. It was overwhelming. She meant them, he knew that. He had needed to hear her say those words more tonight than ever. He just wanted to look at her, to take in the moment and hold it forever.

  “I love you,” she said again pressing her lips to his as they stood up.

  Marc turned to her so that the water fell across his back and shoulders, shielding her from the falling drops. He liked the look in her eyes when she said those three words. For so long, he had wondered what it would be like to really have her back, not just to physically be in his presence again but to really be with him again, mind, body, and spirit. He could not remember being so happy, bust for having earned her love and her trust. He ran his fingers along her face, wiping away the marks that her tears had made. Oh, if she only could look at him like that forever. He pulled her close to him, kissing her tenderly as he undid the back of the burgundy gown. She looked so beautiful, with her hair half drenched, no makeup, all undone.

  She grabbed his waist and pulled him back into her, unclasping the buckle on his belt. She smiled softly, he couldn’t help but mirror it. He had never been with another woman. In all that time, all his life, it was only her. It was hard for him to restrain himself. He adored her, every inch of her, every curve, and every tiny flaw. Her skin was so soft to his touch. The sensation of it drove him to madness.

  He kissed down her jawline and neck; lingering at the spot he bit her. The life they had chosen would not be easy, but he did not regret it, not in this moment when he knew they were together again. He had longed for this very instant. It had been worth all the wait, all the pain, just to have her back in his arms again. She belonged here with him. He had never known something more certainly.

  Looking up into his eyes, she noticed something she hadn’t before. There were flecks of so many colors, blue, green, and tiny flashes of gold. There was a need rising in him that he had hidden well from her. He had been waiting for this, for her, for so long. She had always dreamed of finding a love like this. Some part of her spirit had imprinted it within her and never let it go, even through all those lifetimes. It resonated through her. She belonged to him, and he belonged to her. Nothing else mattered now except that they were together.

  He ran his hands down her thighs as she wrapped her legs around him. It was amazing. She never knew that sex could feel like this, and that it could be about love and nothing else.
It was hard not to close her eyes and be lost in it. He kissed her temples, bringing her gaze back to meet his. They felt perfect together, like they were part of the same being. He read her eyes. He wanted to please her. The water beat down, and the steam rose around them, intensifying the heat as it flowed in between them in a wave almost too intense to bear. He closed his eyes once, and when he opened them again they flashed, his pupils contracting and relaxing with each heartbeat. She wondered if her eyes echoed the same. They breathed deeply, fast, in sync with each other. Her arms were wrapped around him. She ran her hands up and down his back, digging eight long scratches with her nails. They called out together in pleasure, and he breathed out a deep sigh. He rested his head on the wall behind her, using the strength he had left to pull her in tighter against him. Now that he held her in his arms, he was determined never to let her slip away.

 

  A New Day

  The midday sun broke through brightly from the window. It reflected off of the white sheets, intensifying the light that flooded in. It moved steadily into the room, across the floor, up the footboard, and over the bed. It rested on Marc’s face. He still slept. Aimee had never seen him look more peaceful, or more relaxed. He had been so