Page 12 of Marked

Blair was almost home. She was walking down the familiar dirt path toward her cottage.

The crisp evening air brushed against her face as the sun settled below the horizon.

It had been a long day of teaching, planning, and fighting a huge piece of metal.

She couldn't wait to kick off her shoes and curl up with a book.

But as she turned the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. The sky was marred by a vast expanse of dark gray. Smoke .

Thick, dark fumes were rising from the roof of her house.

What.. what was happening.

Her heart slammed against her chest as she squinted, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. It wasn't just a small wisp. It was a full, blown blaze, climbing up the sides of her cottage and swirling in the wind like some kind of malevolent creature.

Her pulse quickened, and before she could even think, her legs were in motion. She dropped her bag and started running, her boots pounding the dirt path. Her stomach churned with dread, her mind racing with all the things that could've caused the fire.

As she neared the cottage, she saw the truth.

Her home, her sanctuary, was burning. The flames weren't small; they licked all sides of the building.

The house was trashed, windows shattered, doors splintered open, and the interior completely engulfed in fire.

The front door had been kicked in, and smoke poured from the broken window frames.

"NO!" Blair screamed, her breath ragged as she pushed herself harder, but before she could take another step, a large hand shot out, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her back.

She twisted in surprise, her heart still pounding, only to find herself face-to-face with Damien.

"Damien! Let go! My house!" Blair cried, trying to pull free.

His grip was firm but gentle, as though he was trying to stop her from making a reckless mistake. His brow furrowed in concern, but his voice was urgent. "Blair, listen to me. Did you talk to any Hunters? Did anyone see the dagger?"

She froze, her mind refusing to cooperate as her heart worked overtime. "W-what?."

Damien muttered to himself as he looked down. Raising his eyes back to Blair, he scanned her face as though searching for something he wasn't finding. Blair's blood ran cold as Damien looked back at her burning house, the pieces starting to click into place.

Wait. This wasn't a misunderstanding or a coincidence .

"I-I didn't talk to anyone," Blair stammered, her breath coming out in short bursts as she stared at her house spitting flames. "No one knew about the dagger and I.. I really haven't spoken to anyone."

Damien's expression darkened, his grip tightening for a moment as if restraining himself. "They've been watching you, Blair. They know your schedule. They most likely thought you were home." His voice lowered, "We need to move fast."

A sick realization hit Blair like a punch to the stomach. Her home wasn't just destroyed; it was a message. A warning. Whoever was after her didn't care about her things or her house. They had been looking for her.

She recalled the past few weeks. Every incident. Every interaction. Her mind caught on two; The Hunter who had approached when she was practicing and the Hunter from the bakery.

Could one of them be responsible? Had she embarrassed the one from this morning? Had she been too cross with him?

"I don't understand. Why would they do this?!" Blair screamed, trying to move toward her house again but Damien's arm was still there and this time, he pulled her into his chest.

Hitting him, she fought to turn but he only tightened his hold. "Why?" she screamed again, her voice filled with anger. Why?!

Damien's face was stern as he looked down at her, "We leave. Now."

Without waiting for her reply, he pulled her toward the edge of the path, away from the flaming ruins of her house.

Her mind was spinning; her life, her safety, her very sense of security had just been ripped away, and she felt herself trembling.

After a moment, her mind finally caught up enough to cause her feet to push into the dirt beneath her.

"I’m not going anywhere with you !" Blair said, ripping her arm away. Daggers shot out of her eyes as she straightened her body and looked up at him, “I know nothing about you. You could be part of this!”

Those words had no effect on Damien as he leaned down, picking up her bag and the things she had dropped. "There’s no way you can fight this alone, Blair. They're not after your house. They're after you ."

She opened her mouth to argue, but his words hit too hard, too true. In a way, she knew he was right. They'd come for her. And no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she couldn't fight whatever was happening without help. Still, every instinct in her body told her to flee from him.

“I said I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Damien looked her up and down before clicking his tongue, “If you scream, they will find you.” With those words, he bent down and threw her over his shoulder.

In reflex, her mouth opened to protest but she knew what he said was no threat, it was a guarantee.

Instead, she kicked her feet and thrashed against his shoulder.

Fighting the whole way, she watched upside down as he took her through the winding streets, away from SilverDawn and into the woods beyond.

The shadows of night were quickly descending and that made her fight harder. Kicking her knee to the side, she managed to make contact with his jaw .

Dropping her quickly, Damien groaned in pain and rubbed the tender spot as she found her footing. She braced, expecting a fight but as his eyes met hers, an avalanche of feelings bombarded her. She was vulnerable . She had been foolish . And now, for the first time in a long while, she was scared .

This fear materialized when something changed in the air and Damien broke eye contact, moving his gaze from her to the space around them.

The shift in the environment made her stomach drop.

At first, it was subtle, an unnatural stillness, like the world itself was holding a breath.

Then, a low rumble echoed from the forest to the east, followed by a dark shadow that seemed to crawl across the ground itself.

Damien grabbed her wrist and pulled her next to him into the closest shadow given by a tree.

They stood together, Blair's heart pounding. The town square was out of view, but the bustling sounds of the town had followed them along the path they had walked. SilverDawn’s livelihood that had carried on the wind suddenly stopped, and that sent another cold wave of dread through her.

She heard a scream in the distance, sharp, desperate, and then another.

Oh god.

Around them, the air crackled with an invisible presence. A wave of shadow moved, and creatures leaped from the darkness, twisting and writhing like living smoke, their eyes glowing with malice, headed straight for the town.

Her eyes bulged in disbelief at the creatures that rushed past her.

Moving in waves, they ran toward the town like a plague.

People continued to scream, and she could only imagine them fleeing in every direction to escape.

Blair's feet moved on instinct, her hand grasping for the dagger she'd concealed on her thigh.

The safest bet would be to run, but the town was descending into chaos.

Her students' faces flashed in her mind, and there was no time to think, only to act.

The ground beneath her feet shook as more of the dark creatures surged past, their claws tearing through the stone. Damien's arm reached out and encased her against the tree behind him, sensing her urgency to move.

"I need you to stay still and be quiet .

" he whispered. His face was grim, his dark eyes scanning the chaos around them.

His breath was shallow, almost like he was tempted to hold it until everything had passed.

He used his head to shield Blair's face from the passing wave of darkness and held tight against her body as she began to writhe in protest.

He pressed a hand over her mouth, muffling the scream that had almost escaped her throat. "We need to get out of here. Now ." His grip was firm as he pulled her into the forest, away from the sight of the shadow beasts but her body still refused to cooperate with him.

"Come on," he commanded again, urging her to follow him.

For a moment, her mind went blank, and her feet shuffled with his as the adrenaline pounded in her ears.

They passed through the trails like ghosts, slipping between the large trees and avoiding the sounds of panic.

Damien never spoke, only gestured for Blair to follow.

She was too stunned to protest, the world outside her mind a blur of darkness and fear .

Finally, they reached a clearing, a space far enough away from town that the smoke was as distant as the screams. Damien paused, glancing over his shoulder to ensure they hadn't been followed. He took this second to take out a small pouch of water and offered it to Blair.

Blair's eyes roamed over the pouch and darted back to the path they had just walked.

She blinked a few times, willing herself to reassess what she had just seen.

If she returned, it would lead her to her schoolroom and the children she needed to ensure they were safe.

Her mind screamed at her as they took a second to breathe, keeping out of sight.

After a few moments, she could again hear the echo of screams from people in the town and that made her body quiver.

She knew the creatures were probably everywhere, spreading across the town like ink in water.

That was enough to clear the panic-induced fog that had rendered her helpless.

"I have to go back. I must help them!" Blair turned to leave, but Damien wrapped a steel-like hand around her arm.

"You are no match for them," he stated blankly as he tugged her arm back. She immediately whipped around and dug her heels into the ground.

"You don't know a goddamn thing about me, and I need to help the people in the town." She grabbed for the dagger and again moved back in the direction of the town square.

Damien snarled loudly and blocked her path yet again, pushing his chest up against hers. The whites in his eyes seemed to darken as he pushed into her space. "We don't have time for this. They are after you, not your students. "

Snarling back, she pushed her shoulder into his torso. "I'm not asking . Let me through, Damien!"

He took a deep breath in and out, "Sorry, but you leave me no choice," he said and then for the second time he bent to hoist her over his shoulder.

She tried to fight him off but as he grabbed her, the world around was swallowed by shadows.

As she succumbed to black, she feared the monsters invading their town had found them.