• Chapter 5


    Marked


    Kaden sighs as he removes a long bandage from the first aid kit sitting next to him. He gently wraps it around my forehead and I find myself holding my breath. When he’s tying the bandage he says, “It was a nightmare.” Not a question, but a statement.

    “Yes…..” I answer anyway.

    “What happened, did I bite you?” The tips of perfectly white fangs show and I find myself forgetting how to breathe.

    There are footsteps and I hear Scarlet’s voice start saying my name, but then I hear the noise of a gun being loaded. My eyes slowly slide over to the left and I see Lance standing in front of Scarlet, protecting her, Kyle and Kellan poised to attack, and Keaton with the special gun pointed straight at Kaden’s head.

    “Don’t touch her, and back away.” Keaton growls through gritted teeth.

    “She’s marked.” Kaden replies, his eyes slits, as he stands up. “You can’t keep her to yourself forever.”

    “I’m her Guardian and I intend to protect her for that long.”

    “Marked……” The word escapes my frozen lips. Keaton looks at me for the first time and his lip quivers and arms start to shake.

    “Listen, I just-

    “YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!!” Keaton cuts Kaden off and pulls the trigger on the gun.
    I find myself throwing my body in front of Kaden‘s, my arms stretched out as I scream, “NO!!!“ My eyes widen as the bullet makes contact with my body. The magic in the bullet doesn’t cause me any harm but somewhat stuns me, and the actual bullet part does cause damage.

    I’m staring, shocked (both about how I just got shot and why the HELL did I jump in front of this freaky vampire dude!!) into the dark brown eyes of Keaton as I stagger and fall backwards into the ice cold arms of his twin brother.


    ***


    I hear the steady beeping of the heart monitor and a doctor reassuring a group of people that ‘She’ll be alright’, and it takes a moment for me to realize that the ‘she’ is me.
    I hear the sound of the door opening and closing as the doctor makes his exit, followed by the sound of somebody screaming at another person.

    “YOU IDIOT! IF YOU NEVER-” I recognize the voice of Keaton and then hear chairs being pushed around and people rushing over to hold him back and calm him down, and then hear him get cut off by a cool, dark voice.

    “Hey, you’re the one who shot the gun.” Kaden replies smoothly.

    That sentence is met by silence and I slowly open my eyes.

    “Oh my God, Charlotte.” Keaton kneels down by my hospital bed, his eyes full of worry and concern. “Are you alright?”

    “Yeah, fine…” I mutter. The word ‘marked’ keeps swirling around inside my head and I suddenly feel dizzy. “What…..?” My voice trails away as I turn to look at Kaden.

    “Confused?” He asks.

    Keaton stands up and says, “Shut up, Kaden.”

    “She needs to know what she is.”

    “No, this is what she needs protection from.”

    “What is this?” I ask out of nowhere. There’s an odd feeling at the pit of my stomach that I have never felt before, and everybody turns to stare at me. “Something’s not right. Something bad is going to happen.”

    Keaton’s eyes flash to Kaden and then to me again, and his face softens. “Come on, Charlotte. We’re leaving.”

    Keaton ignores the doctors protesting and asking questions like, ‘What about those scars on her skin?’ and ‘What’s with the cuts and scars?’ and such. Scar, Lance, Kyle and Kellan trail behind us, and Kaden stays behind, at the door, watching us walk away.


    ***


    The day drags on in a daze and the bad feeling doesn’t leave me. Every one is obviously worried about me because of how close they stick to me, and the looks on their faces when they turn around to check up on me.

    I’m standing on the third floor of the mansion, the ballroom. I’m hugging a pillow to my chest as I stare out the glass wall, thinking about what had happened when I snuck out for a little a few minutes earlier. The wind had picked up and made the leaves stir around me, and it’s like I could see the air itself falling over itself along the ground. My hair was flying all over the place and the wind got so strong that there was a high-pitched whistling sound, that sounded like a little girl screaming.

    I hear footsteps and my fingernails dig into the pillow even more as I stare out at the now calm land, waiting for Keaton to enter the room.


    Keaton’s Point of View


    I open up the door of the ballroom to see Charlotte standing in front of the pure glass wall on the side facing outside, hugging an expensive, golden pillow to her chest. I can see her digging her fingernails into it as she stares, and I’m scared for some reason.

    “Hello.” Her voice sounds higher than usual as it rings out into the silence. It’s a little higher than usual. Odd, really. Things have been weird lately. She’s been weird lately.

    “What are you doing?” I slide my hands into the back pockets of my dark jeans, then close the door.

    “Why doesn’t the wind like me?”

    “Huh?” I turn to look at her and see she’s now looking at me. I hesitantly walk over to her side and continue, “What do you mean?”

    “The wind. It was screaming at me.”

    “Wind can’t scream, Charlotte.” She shakes her head in disagreement, then turns to look outside some more. Suddenly, she turns, drops the pillow, and runs forward into my arms, and after a couple seconds, I hug her as she cries into my chest. “What’s been going on with you lately?” I whisper.

    Then I instantly think of her being marked, but then force it out of my head. I won’t allow her to end up like the ones before her. I just won’t.