Seventh Mark (Part 1 +2) (19 page)

His tanned face went three shades lighter, and his
eyes turned sapphire blue. I stepped back without even thinking. He
exhaled a terrifying growl as his head snapped toward
Grace.

Her eyes grew big but the shock quickly turned to
anger, her eyes turning the same ice blue as well. “No! How do you
know?”

Michael
’s jaw
clenched. “I remember everything from that night. It’s imprinted in
my memory like a movie. Earlier today…I thought…but it didn’t...”
He seemed to be sending messages to Grace and speaking only parts
out loud.

Earlier, in the car he’d seemed distant.
Had he made some
connection then? Or could he have been thinking about something
else?
Now the shock couldn’t
be more genuine. I rubbed my neck, unsure of my own thoughts and
wondering what the connection actually could be.

Caleb shouted
.
“What the hell’s going on?”

Michael didn't take his eyes off Grace. “Bentos is
the man who came that night with the Grollics. He killed our
parents and then went after us. I don’t know if he was a Grollic,
but he lead the beasts. He’s the one who stabbed me…tortured a-and
r-raped Grace before he killed her.
Bentos
.”

I reached for his hand. He squeezed mine but then let
go and turned to Caleb. “I think Rouge’s uncovered a hidden
secret.” He looked at Sarah.

“
I know very little, Michael.” She came over to
him and touched his face. “We’d been tracking and hunting that pack
for months. We believed their leader had gone mad. We knew they
were different than typical packs. The mess they made appeared
targeted at certain people. Each death maliciously planned out.”
Sarah exhaled a long, slow breath. “That night they came to your
house was the closest we’d been to catching them. They went
underground right after, or got smart and cleaned up their act. My
life changed, and I stopped my military crusades.” She walked over
to Grace and hugged her close. “My life had new meaning with the
two of you.”

Caleb coughed.
“So is this
Bentos
an enemy to us or
the Grollics – or both? Is it possible Rouge scared Damon with his
name?” Caleb sounded all business, not one ounce of sentiment
inside of him.

“
I’
ve heard
stories but assumed they were tales,” Seth said. “The man was
human, so he can’t be alive now. Right?”

I glanced at him in surprise.
I’d forgotten he was still in the room. “The pictures
and name came from a part of the book which isn’t in
English.”

Caleb snapped. “I suggest you and Michael head to the
pool house and get back to the book. There may be pertinent
information we need. Have Michael look at the drawings.”

“They weren’t
specific. I doubt they were actually of Bento—”

“
I found them!”
Tatiana burst through the door. Her hair wild and clothes a
mess, but she appeared triumphant. She went straight to Seth,
kissing him so passionately I had to look away, embarrassed. She
finally pulled away and spoke to Caleb.

“
Damon’s merely a boy. Barely changed, maybe this
past summer. He’s a cocky unsub. There are nine in the pack, two
older, plus a possible Alpha. The rest are young and want to fight.
All full of stupid pride. Easy prey.” She nodded in my direction.
“After her challenge at lunch, Damon went running with his tail
between his legs trying to find his Alpha. They’re all terrified of
the girl now.” She laughed.

“Did they see you?”
Seth asked.

“
Didn’t even realize I was there.” She wiped her
lips. “There were ten, but I had a little fun with one.” She smiled
dangerously at Seth and looked ready to pounce on him, her eyes
shifting through different shades of blue.

“
Focus, Tatianna. Where are they staying?” Caleb
snapped his fingers.

“
By a park, so I don’t know where they live.” She
elbowed Seth. “Dummies. Too stupid to realize how dangerous being
out in the open is. A bloody city park.”

“
Or bold and fearless knowing we won’t do
anything in broad daylight, in the wide open,” Grace
muttered.

I couldn’t believe
it. “They met as Grollics right out in the open?”

Tatiana snorted and
Caleb shook his head. “Of course not.” He glanced over me to Seth.
“Do you see what I have to put with?”

“
Watch it,” Michael warned.

I hadn’t thought the question was that stupid.
The way they
talk…

“
What else did you learn?”
Caleb ignored Michael.

“
That’s it. I scouted and counted. Then
eliminated one. Now I want my prize.” Her attention went back to
Seth and she started to pull him toward the door.

“
I don’t think we'll be much help here for the
rest of the evening, Caleb,” Seth said with a sly smile. “I best
take care of my mate before she causes any damage to your
house.”

You have got to be kidding me.
I blinked and rolled my eyes at
Michael.

“
Go.” Caleb flicked his fingers as if shooing a
fly away
.

Michael punched a fist into his other hand. “Grace, I
don’t want you or Rouge going to school.”

“
Fine…” Grace paused. When Caleb cleared his
throat she spoke again, “We’re still celebrating Rouge’s birthday
on Friday. Even if it’s just dinner, here at the house.”

“
No party, just us.” Michael took my
hand.

“I don’t want to
celebrate my birthday.” I shook my head. “Now isn’t the time. It’s
not important.”

“I ordered cake.”
Grace crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re blowing out
candles.”

Nobody argued. Michael and I left the office and
walked out into the cold night air. The moon danced high in the
clear sky, not quite full but its light giving an eerie glow among
the trees and bushes – everything seemed blue tonight.
Something isn’t
right.
My gut seemed to be
trying to convince my brain. I moved closer to Michael and he
pulled me tight against him. Neither of us spoke as we headed to
the pool house.

Michael and I
planned to work on the Grollic book late into the night, but ten
minutes into it, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Despite all the
worry and things learned, I needed to sleep.
Nice
girlfriend,
I sarcastically thought as I drifted off.

I woke early
the next morning with Michael missing and the room quiet. My laptop
sat open on the coffee table facing me. I leaned over and ran my
finger over the mouse pad. The screen flashed white with a note in
the middle from Michael.

Gone to the
house to speak to Caleb to see if there’s any new information. I’ll
tell everyone to leave you alone. Relax and don’t worry. You
deserve a little break.

I showered, and
then made breakfast. Sitting down on the couch, I opened the
journal to the middle section by the Grollic anatomy. As I turned
the thick pages, my nail caught a corner. Two pages were stuck
together which I hadn’t noticed before. I gently tried to separate
and blew on them, managing to pry them apart.

My heart
stuttered as I stared at the unseen pages. The words were in
English.

Both sheets
covered possibly vulnerabilities of the Grollic. I grabbed a pen to
make notes on half used pieces of paper.

There was no
hierarchy to the list - nothing to show the most or the least
effective. Or what might not work. The points looked exactly like
someone had jotted them down as they brainstormed. Nothing looked
like it would work. They all looked ancient. Science had come a
long way since this journal had been written.

I blew my bangs
off my forehead.
So much for Hollywood and the movies they sell.
Isn’t there always a way to stop the bad guys?

The point
mentioned rye acting as another danger for the Grollic. There was a
question mark beside rye-root.
Rye?
Wasn’t that alcohol?
Could whiskey do the same thing?

“Useless,” I
muttered, tossing the pen onto the table. “How’s it gonna help if a
Grollic’s about to attack? Do I politely offer it a nice rye and
ginger?”

The next
indented notation in the book answered my question. A Grollic in
human-form would be unable to shape-shift if it ingested rye. It
could take hours to days for the rye to clear the body’s system,
which would leave the Grollic vulnerable in human-form.

Now this
information might be important. I’d have to let Michael and the
others know. If they didn’t already know. After Caleb’s comments
last night, I wasn’t too eager to share anything that wasn’t solid.
Glancing at the dull skies outside, I figured I might as well read
the other page before heading over to share alcoholic possibilities
which Caleb probably already knew and would only roll his eyes at
me for sharing.

The next page
talked about Alpha and Beta stuff.
Kinda like werewolves in
movies.
I stood and began pacing the room. I needed to stretch
and reading aloud might make better sense of the writing. “In a
pack of Grollics, there is the Alpha, the leader, and the Beta,
which are under the Alpha. Betas follow the Alpha till death. They
do anything and everything they can to please their leader. There
was no free choice once you became a Beta; you served the Alpha
till death. A slave to its own kind.” There was another note at the
bottom of the page, messy and jotted down like an afterthought. It
went along the bottom to the side edge since there was no room
left. I couldn’t make it out, only something that looked like: Be
the ultimate alpha.

“Hello.”
Michael stood right beside me.

I jumped about
three feet in the air, tossing the journal over my head. I hadn’t
heard him or the door open, hadn’t even felt the cool air, till
now. I shivered.

He caught the
journal and handed it back to me. “Sorry to scare you.” He laughed
and dropped down, pulling me with him. He let out a deep sigh,
resting his arm on the back of the couch behind me.

“Any news at
the house?” I tossed the journal on the table, then snuggled closer
to his warmth.

“Nothing. Seth
and Tatiana found nothing new this morning. No reports. Nothing out
of the ordinary. It is just … silent.”

“Maybe they
left.” I couldn’t keep the hopeful sound out of my voice.

“No, it’s too
quiet. Like the calm before a storm.” He rubbed his forehead with
one hand. “Something’s going to happen. We just need to figure out
what.”

“What does
Caleb think?”

“He wants to
wait a few days before he calls a meeting with the Higher Coven. He
plans to flush the Grollics out.” Michael scoffed; irritated by
something I knew nothing about. “He’s sometimes like the beasts we
chase. He acts as if this is his territory, like he’s marked the
trees. It’s probably a good thing you were here. It’s a bit of a
mess at the house.”

“Oh no, what’d
he do?” For someone high and mighty, Caleb had a lot of temper
tantrums.

“Living room’s
been re-arranged. No structural damage, but we do need a new couch
and a few other pieces of furniture.”

“Do you all
have these anger issues? Should I make sure and keep a lock on the
door, so you won’t ruin the pool house? It’s kinda like the first
place that’s starting to feel a tiny bit like a home.”

Michael
laughed. “You’re safe, and trust me, a lock would be useless.
Caleb’s different. He needs his release and that’s how he controls
his fury. Better to destroy furniture than go looking for a fight
with a human, when the Grollics cannot be found.”

“Wait a
minute.” My heart pounded in my ears. “Why would Caleb attack a
person?”

“Ever seen a
drunk guy try and pick a fight? Doesn’t matter what you say to the
guy or what you do, he’s gonna find someone to take his pent-up
issues out on. Caleb’s a bit like that. He doesn’t go trying to
kill anyone. He just goes looking for a fight. With the biggest,
baddest dude he can find.”

I nodded. I
understood what Michael was trying to explain, but it still didn’t
justify Caleb’s actions.

Michael clapped
his hands and sat up. “Enough with the sludge of my day. Did you
learn anything new from the book?”

I grabbed my
notepad and slid the two ripped pages I’d just notes on at the back
of the book, then flipped back a couple of pages. “I did find
something kinda cool. There were two pages stuck together which I
hadn’t noticed before. I found some information about Grollics
vulnerabilities. You probably know all it already.”

“What we know
we learned from battle. There’s no manual and they’re hard as heck
to kill.”

“You’re going
to be disappointed then. Nothing really stuck out.” I turned the
page. “There’s something about rye but it didn’t make any
sense…kinda like someone wrote it as a possibility and never did
the research.”

“Rye? Like the
bread?” He scrunched his face. “I don’t think asking a Grollic if
he wants a sandwich is going to stop him.”

I giggled. “And
here I thought offering him a nice drink on the rocks might do the
trick.”

Michael smiled.
“Let’s skip the scientific studies on rye and focus on what we do
know. Caleb’s been working on creating a weapon. Nothing has worked
as of yet. If we can slow them down, there has to be a way to stop
them.

We continued
discussing the book. While I made some food ready, Michael jumped
in the shower. After, he sat in front of the fire looking over maps
of the area. He was determined the map would tell him where the
Grollics camped. I set a plate by him and settled on a bar stool. I
ate my sandwich and watched him mark off areas with circles,
crossing off other spots.