The Soul's Mark: HUNTED (11 page)

“That’s very smart, Eric.”

He grinned at her, pleased that she thought he was smart.  They stepped out of the store and headed through the crowded mall towards the flower shop.

It took just over two hours, but when they were done scouring every flower shop and jewelry store in the mall, Eric was sure that he had found the perfect gift.  He held the pendant up, letting the light shimmer off the diamond chain that weaved around two silver hearts, connecting them as one.  It was perfect: the chain and the hearts.  He was amazed that he had actually found something that could show the invisible link between them.  And since he had bitten Megan, this was exactly how it felt; as if there was an exquisite chain connecting their hearts forever.

“It’s perfect, Eric,” Mabel said from beside him.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he replied.  He handed the pendant back to the sales person and grinned.  “I’ll take it.”

Eric spent another thirty minutes picking out a chain for the pendant.  He had never imagined that there could be so many different kinds, shapes, or sizes.  Did he want a flat one or one that spiraled?  Did it matter?  He finally decided on a thin, long silver chain.  There were so many intricate details in the pendant that he thought
plain
would be the best for the chain.

“Thanks for helping me, Mabel,” Eric said as they left the mall and stepped into the cool spring air.   “Are you coming back to the house?  I would love for you to meet her.”

Mabel’s lips curved upwards.  “I’ll be there soon.  I just need to sort out the fair rides for Amelia.”

“Okay, but hurry,” he said, and gave her a big hug before turning towards his car.  As he walked, he noticed an extra spring in his step, and he grinned widely with anticipation at seeing Megan.

CHAPTER 11

“Megan, are you okay?” Amelia asked, as she cracked another egg into the sizzling frying pan.  Megan had barely said more than two words in a row this morning, and she looked as if she was ready to make a run for it at any second.

Megan glanced up, plastered an unconvincing smile on her lips, and shrugged.  “I guess.”  She focused back on her steaming coffee cup and let out a long breath.  “Man, I wish he’d come home though.  I feel, I don’t know…empty.  And it’s a struggle not to run out and find him.  How do you deal with it?”

Amelia grinned.  “It’ll get easier,” she said, as she pushed the lever down on the toaster and then pulled out some plates from the cupboard.  She glanced at Megan, and her smile widened.  Amelia hadn’t been expecting her to be so open to the whole vampire soulmate thing.  She had sort of expected Megan to resent Eric the way she had Mitchell.  He had just taken away her independence.  But the look on Megan’s face…she was glowing and had that far off
girl in love
kind of look in her eyes.

“At least he’s a complete hottie.”  Megan shot Amelia a sheepish grin from across the kitchen.  She popped up from the island, padded over to the fridge and grabbed the butter, setting it down beside the toaster.

Amelia good-naturedly elbowed her in the ribs.  “Glad you think so, because if you keep drooling over my man...”

“I don’t think you’ve ever called me that before, love,” Mitchell said, cutting Amelia off midsentence.  “I like the sound of it.”  He leaned up against the counter top with a satisfied gleam in his eyes.

Amelia groaned.  “You weren’t supposed to hear it,” she said, waving the spatula in his direction and then taking a minute to admire him.  His hair was damp and the soft, spicy scent of his shampoo wafted about the room.  He had on a pair of light khaki pants and a grassy-green golf shirt that hugged his muscles.  Amelia licked her lips as she let her eyes absorb every inch of his drool worthy frame.  Megan cleared her throat loudly, and Amelia reluctantly pulled her eyes away from a chuckling Mitchell.  “Where’s Eric?” Amelia asked, trying to hide her burning blush as she focused on flipping the eggs.

The toaster popped and Megan began buttering the crispy bread.  Amelia thought she looked like she was trying to stay busy and not show how much she wanted to know the answer, but it wasn’t working.  There was a slight tilt to her body, as if she was leaning in so she wouldn’t miss a single note of Mitchell’s response.

“He’s with Mabel.  Said something about wanting to do something special for Megan since he you know...”

Mitchell was cut short by a loud smash.  They both glanced over to see Megan on the floor surrounded by slivers of porcelain from a shattered plate.   “What the hell,” Megan said with a groan.  “Crap, sorry about the plate.”

“No worries,” Amelia said, taking a few cautious steps over to her and reaching out her hand to help Megan get up.  She started to reach for Amelia’s outstretched hand, but never accepted it.  Her eyes widened, and Amelia was pretty sure she had completely stopped breathing.  It was almost as if Megan no longer saw her, instead, she looked past Amelia with awe and wonder lighting up her face.

“Hi, Megan,” Eric said, walking towards her.  He picked her up off the ground and set her on her feet away from the mess.  Once she was standing, he grinned and stuck out his hand.  “We didn’t get a chance to properly meet last night.  I’m your dumbass soulmate, Eric Carter.”

Mitchell chuckled, and Amelia glanced at him quickly.  His face was alight with pride as he watched Eric, his son, find his way through this awkward mess.  Megan’s jaw dropped even further and her eyes widened, but she didn’t reach for his outstretched hand.  Eric awkwardly let his hand drop and a look of devastation settled onto his perfect face.  Amelia began to take a step towards Megan, but Mitchell stopped her, taking her hand and pulling her back.  He cleared his throat and was about to say something when Megan blurted, “You’re not a dumbass.”  Just as quickly as the words came out, she slapped her hands up to her mouth and backed up a few steps.

Mitchell squeezed Amelia’s hand tightly, urging her to stay out of it, and then said, “I know you are probably feeling a lot of different things right now, Megan, and it’s probably scary and overwhelming, but it’s all normal.”

“Why are you so sad?” Megan breathed, eyes still glued on Eric.  “It’s…it’s…it’s…”

Eric jammed his hands into his jean pockets and dropped his gaze to the floor.  “Because I think I ruined your life.”

“Don’t say that.  You are my life,” Megan said with fervor.  “I can feel it, like, like, you’re a part of me.  You’re the most perfect person, um, I mean vampire…”  She let her words trail off as she took in every inch of him.

Amelia leaned into Mitchell, and he wrapped his arms around her waist as they watched the exchange in wonder.  Megan closed the distance between them, went up on tiptoes and kissed Eric.

Amelia blushed and turned away.  “Hey, Meg,” she said.  “Mitch and I have some stuff to deal with.  Just yell if you need us.  Mitch will hear you, okay?”

Megan shot her a grin in response, and Amelia quickly wiggled out of Mitchell’s embrace, snagged his hand, and dragged him from the kitchen.

“Do you think it’s smart to leave them?” Mitchell asked, as they rounded the corner and headed down the hallway that led to their room.

“Actually, yeah, sometimes I wished everyone would have just left us alone.  Let us fight it out.  Maybe we’d have been better off instead of all this hiding and lying we do now.”

Mitchell opened the door to their bedroom and stepped in behind Amelia.  “Lying?” he asked.  He tried to sound casual, but Amelia heard the undertone of guilt in his voice.

She padded over to the chairs in the lounge area of their room and plopped down.  “I’m not stupid, Mitch.  I know you’ve been lying to me.”  He looked like he was about to protest, and she cut him off.  “You know, seeing the way Eric and Megan looked at each other, it made me think about our vacation.”  She smiled at him.  “I want to go back to that.  I want to use the bond.  I don’t want any more walls between us.  I love you, Mitchell Lang.  I want you, all of you, forever.  I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been.”

Mitchell closed the door behind him and then took a seat across from her and rubbed at his face roughly.  Her stomach dropped.  This really wasn’t the response she had been expecting from him, and suddenly her palms started to sweat and her stomach dropped even further, complete with somersaults on its way down to her toes.

“Amelia, there are some things I need to tell you.”

He still hadn’t looked at her, keeping his face in his hands and elbows on his knees.  “Please don’t tell me it’s Fiona,” she whispered.  Even though she blamed him for screwing around, part of her never actually believed that he had.

Mitchell snapped his head up and forced a weak smile.  “No, no, nothing like that, but you’ll probably think it’s just as bad.”

“Well, go on,” she said, not sure what to think.

Amelia watched as Mitchell leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him.  His face was a mask, giving nothing away.  A knot twisted deep in her belly as her mind started dreaming up all the things that he may be about to confess, each thought worse than the previous one.

He quickly picked up on her anxiety and came out with the words in a rush, “You know how when you opened the bond back up, you said that it had changed, that you felt it, and I didn’t have control anymore and we could just be normal?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Well, you were partly right.  The bond did change.  A lot, actually.  But not the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

Mitchell didn’t have a chance to answer.   The shrill ring of his phone pierced the room.  He rose, gave her an apologetic smile, although he couldn’t hide how thankful he was for the interruption, as he fished the cell out of his pocket and answered, “Mitchell Lang.”  His brow furrowed.  “When?” he asked, listening intently, and his eyes slowly changed to a fiery red.  He put the phone to his chest, blinked a few times to clear his eyes, and said, “I’m sorry, love.  I need to take this.”  And then he went into the adjoining office and pulled the door shut behind him with a loud click.

I wonder what happened this time,
Amelia thought, looking at the closed door.  This was one thing that she was sure she would never get used to, and sometimes she secretly wished Mitchell wasn’t so important to this community.  She waited, drumming her fingers on the coffee table for a few minutes.  Part of her wanted to barge in there and demand to know everything.  She wanted to know what the phone call was about, where he mysteriously disappeared to at night, what he meant about the bond changing.  She had been so close.  He was about to open up to her.  Really talk to her…

No,
she told herself. 
You will wait. 
She knew that marching in and demanding answers was not the way to go.  It would just put them back to square one.  They’d fight and one of them would storm off.  And frankly, she was starting to get sick of it, even though a few weeks ago she had missed the fighting.  But after seeing Eric and Megan together and remembering her perfect getaway with Mitch, it shocked the hell out of her, but man, she wanted that all the time.  To be in love, happy, content.  She wanted to look at him the way Megan looked at Eric.

She crossed and uncrossed her legs and shifted around in her seat.  She glanced at the door, thought for a second about trying to eavesdrop, and then scolded herself for thinking it.  When Amelia couldn’t stand to sit there any longer, she went to her bed and grabbed her purse, which was lying on top of the bold blue comforter, and started rummaging around for some lip-gloss.  As she was searching, her hand grazed across the DVD Cole had returned to her.  Her curiosity peaked when she pulled it out and examined the plain white sleeve.  She started to wonder what notes she had lent to him, since she really didn’t even remember lending any notes to anyone.

Amelia perched on the edge of her bed and grabbed Mitchell’s laptop from the nightstand.  She opened it up, turned it on, and slid in the disk, waiting for it to load.

The media player popped up and pounding music blared through the speakers.  The image on the screen zoomed in on a crowed dance floor, and she recognized her friends immediately as the camera focused on Jess and Amber grinding against Justin and Doug.  This went on for about a minute, and Amelia was just about to turn it off when the images sped up, as if the creator of the little home movie hit fast forward.  The counter in the bottom right hand corner quickly went through hours of dancing and then abruptly the movie went back to normal speed as the girls left the nightclub with Justin and Doug trailing along behind them.

“This is too easy,” a high-pitched female voice whispered, as the camera shook slightly, following the four friends through the dim and shadowy parking lot.  “Are you guys ready?”

There were a set of grunts, which Amelia was pretty sure were male, and then without any warning, Justin and Jessica lit up in flames.  Absolute mayhem erupted.  Amber and Doug screamed frantically as they tried to put out the fire, but within seconds, the vampires were piles of ash.

Two cloaked figures jumped out, tackling Doug to the ground.  He cried out, and the camera began to shake, as the holder must have started to run towards him.  Blood splashed up onto the lens as it zoomed in on a knife lodged in his chest.

The camera swiveled to view Amber running further into the back of the empty parking lot towards a thick tree line.  She stumbled and then dropped.  Again, the camera zoomed in to show a silver arrow sticking out of her back, and then the screen went blank.

“Amelia, where did you get this?” Mitchell questioned from beside her, and Amelia jumped.  She hadn’t noticed him come out of the office.  She could feel the blood rush from her face as the images of the video started to sink in.  When she looked at him, she noticed the muscles in his neck and shoulders bulging with tension.

“Where did you get this?” Mitchell demanded again, more forcefully this time.

Amelia opened her mouth and then closed it.  It had to be some bad joke.  She was sure of it.  “I thought it was notes,” she said, and silent tears began to drip down her cheeks.  “This is a sick joke, right?”