Page 22 of Marked
The presence of something far darker than her attackers filled the space around them. Blair could feel it thrumming in the air, pressing against her skin. This weight was different than the previous ones. This one was lighter and made the air crackle with angry energy.
Damien's eyes immediately assessed her as he approached, skimming over the blood coating her body.
As his eyes met the hunters, his lips rose in a snarl.
Damien's chest became rigid, and his eyes, always the blue of a summer sky morning, immediately cascaded into blackness.
A web of black markings grew from around his eyes, down his face, and overtaking his whole body.
The markings moved, writhing as if they were alive, eager to obey him.
The ground beneath his feet darkened as he walked, leaving a trail of shadow tendrils.
He stepped forward, his eyes glancing at Blair's bleeding form again, causing his shadows to surge in anger around his body.
"Would you look at that sweetheart," The taller hunter smirked, cocking his head and lifting his eyebrows in recognition, his voice dripping with malice. "We found our answer. "
Damien didn't respond; he only continued toward them. When he was only a few feet away, the shorter, older hunter stepped in front of him. "Look at that, we were hunting little Ian the whole time."
At the sound of the nickname, Damien tore his gaze from the woman lying helpless and bleeding on the ground to find the face responsible. The shadows reacted viciously in response, swarming around his body, ready to attack.
At that moment, the other man lunged at him.
A sharp whip of darkness shot forward, trying to ensnare Damien, but his shadows blocked the attack easily.
Another tendril of darker gray shot out, intending to pull him to the ground.
Damien sidestepped and twisted his wrist. A stampede of black shadow bombarded the short older man, attacking from all angles.
In response, the hunters' lighter gray shadows reacted, moving swiftly to block and counterattack.
Focusing back on Blair, Damien progressed toward her while the hunter was occupied.
"Don't worry about her. We already had our fun." the larger hunter taunted as he watched Damien move closer.
Damien's response was a growl, a low, guttural sound that came from deep within his chest. The shadows stopped moving and instead, began to pulse around him, the air tainted dark. A blade of pure shadow struck out, slicing through the air where the hunter had been standing. Moving in just the knick of time to save his life, he looked at Damien and smiled. The sound of a wet thump caught the Hunters attention, and he looked down, as his arm dropped lifelessly to the ground. A wail filled the air, and a wall of gray shadow shot up around him as he tried to create distance. Damien didn’t react but instead focused his attention solely on the hunter in front of him, who barely avoided his previous attack.
Damien moved fast, breaking through the wall of gray.
Different tones of gray and black began swirling around each other as they attacked, trying to get an advantage over each other.
The fight was silent, the typical sound of clashing steel absent.
This was a fight of silence and shifting forms, a war waged in the space between light.
The shadows halted for a split second as the Hunter reassessed and charged at him again in a different way.
A knife glinted, catching Damien's attention but he didn't move. His shadows twisted again, forming a dark shield that the knife slid harmlessly off. The man stumbled back, disoriented from the blood loss of his arm. As he caught himself, Damien’s shadows wrapped around his leg, pulling him up.
Damien raised his hand, and the shadows responded, slamming the man against the ground with brutal force, crushing his skull in the process.
He landed with such force that multiple other bones snapped, and his thick black bracelet shattered, expelling shards all over the ground; with them, an eerie black mist dissipated.
"One down," Damien muttered, his voice barely recognizable. His black eyes were as dark as the onyx dagger that was poised in the older hunter's hand.
He turned slightly, clearly adjusting his stance to challenge the last hunter.
This one showed no sign of fear but smiled somewhat in response to the fight.
He dodged the first lash of shadow, rolling away to create distance.
His gray shadows shot forward toward Damien, aiming to take him out at the knees.
Damien retaliated, sending a magnified whip of blackness at the hunter's back. He turned at the last second.
"Nice try, Ian, but do you remember who trained you? “I know all your moves." he taunted with a smirk.
They mirrored each other like a reflection, anticipating and countering each other's attacks and movements.
One leaped onto a large oak tree for an advantage; their shadow stretching unnaturally upward to grasp the large branches and pull them higher.
His opponent followed, launching themselves upward on tendrils of living darkness.
They met midair, a brief collision of shadow and forged weapons before parting, landing opposite each other in the clearing.
The hunter chuckled when he landed, "Just like old times, huh?
" Damien's eyes remained motionless and inked in black.
The few words spoken sparked a reaction within Damien, and he retaliated with twice the fury.
There was no hesitation now, only the desperate, instinctual drive to destroy.
Damien's shadows bent and stretched in unnatural ways, forming spears, claws, and tendrils that clawed for flesh.
The trees around them shuddered under the force of the blows, branches cracking as darkness itself rippled through the air.
As they broke apart, the hunter eyed Blair, her breath becoming extremely shallow.
He smiled at her, returning his gaze to his opponent.
With that, Damien's shadow grew into a pretentious wall of black, sending a tsunami of black clouds into the ground.
The shadows beneath the hunter's feet darkened, stretching into long, snaking forms. Before he could react, the ground cracked open, and from the darkness, long shadowy hands shot up, grabbing at his ankles and pulling him down.
The hunter cursed and fought, but the shadows tightened like a vice, pulling him deeper into the earth's cold embrace.
"You might have trained me..." Damien spat, "But you have no idea what I can do."
With a twist of his hand, the shadows came crashing down on the hunter.
A resounding boom echoed from the final movement as the gaping hole sealed, causing the crack in the earth to vanish and removing any proof of the man’s existence.
Damien gasped for air; his power was too much, his anger too overwhelming.
Blair coughed, groaning when her body moved, catching Damien's attention and giving him the chance to regain control of himself.
Damien's shadow swirled to Blair, stretching across the earth like fingers, crawling forward, twitching and writhing until they wrapped around her.
Damien watched them as he started to walk towards her.
He stopped to pick up the dagger that was stolen from her, which had fallen on the ground during the last clash of battle.
Blair gasped as Damien kneeled, and the shadows brushed her face. She tried to open her eyes, unable to make out the figure above her.
Damien stood over her, his face carved in fury, some shadows still coiling around his fingers like hungry serpents. But as his eyes examined her, the rage softened, replaced by something quieter, something worried.
He blinked a few times, and the shadows finally lifted from his eyes, revealing the familiar blue. As if sensing his need to protect and care for her, the shadows enveloped her in darkness as they lifted her, staunching her bleeding.
Blair let out a shaky breath, groaning again at the contact. Damien's eyes lingered over the damage-riddled body. His finger twitched, fighting the urge to console her. Instead, his shadows held her closer, caressing her body.
"I'm going to get you help, but we need to get back to the village."
His voice was rigid with worry. Blair tried to nod, but her body disobeyed her.
He stood, and as he did so, the shadows softly lifted Blair off the ground and into his arms. Not once did he take his eyes off of her as he counted the number of times her chest rose and fell.
Stopping only when she shuddered from pain.
It wasn't long before they were close to the Inn.
Shrouding her in darkness, Damien's shadows took the form of a thick, folded blanket. Damien’s eyes darted around the shops, landing on the rough, brown door he was looking for.
The window next to it was adorned with different bottles of elixirs and medicines.
He looked down again at the woman in his arms, pulling his shadows back and exposing Blair's face.
As slow as he could, he used his shoulder to open the door and willed the shadows, along with his markings, to recede into his body. Within a mere second, they were gone.
The younger man who stood at the counter was excited about the potential customer and met Damien's eyes with a smile as he walked in. His eyes then moved down, taking in the bleeding woman. Damien stepped fully into the apothecary, moving slowly as his sturdy arms placed her on the counter .
"We need any Healers in the area immediately, along with anything you can give her for the pain," Damien said grimly, eyes still focused on Blair's breathing. The man didn't move, overwhelmed by the sight of the broken and battered woman.
"Now!" Damien barked, his attention still focused on the woman in front of him. The boy blinked, breaking the trance that had robbed him of thinking, and turned, running out of the room.
Damien placed his hand on Blair's forehead, rubbing his thumb across the skin that wasn't broken.
"Just breathe."
Blair tried to respond, but every ounce of her energy had been spent, and her body felt light and weightless. Damien's thumb stopped moving, releasing her forehead.
"Come on, Feisty, stay with me."
It was his lips then, pressed to her forehead, pleading with her to stay. Her thoughts became confused, and a haze settled over her mind, causing her to lose consciousness.