Page 38 of Marked

Blair hoisted the rucksack over her shoulder. They had managed to secure food rations from the base they had infiltrated. Although it was a light load, it didn't help her sore body.

"Well," she exhaled, "It looks like we have food for the next few days."

"I don't know," Blake said, squinting dramatically toward the sack as he fiddled with the makeshift tourniquet around his chest. "From what we found there, I think I'd rather eat dirt."

Damien adjusted his own pack as he scanned the tree line ahead.

"I didn't know we had picked up such a drama king.

" he directed toward Blake. He then turned his attention back to the land in front of him.

The path to their following location was narrow and uneven, but after Nova's hideout and its suffocating silence, the environment they were in now felt almost merciful.

They walked for a while, quiet except for the sound of boots on packed dirt and the occasional metallic clink of canned food in Blair's bag .

A few minutes in and the silence was broken. Blair glanced at Blake, who was loudly humming some tuneless melody and pretending a twig was a conductor's baton.

"Respectfully, why are you like this?" she asked, her eyebrows raised at his mannerisms.

Blake raised his eyebrow back. "Are you trying to get to know me? Could you at least wait until I'm sun-drunk and full of canned beans?"

"I'm actually serious," she said. "I watched you fight earlier. How do you go from a skilled assassin to an energetic five-year-old?"

"First of all," he said, hand over his heart. "There are many layers to this handsome man lasagna." his hands then moved from the top of his head to his feet.

She gave him an uninterested look, and Damien snorted, herding them through a thick patch of brush.

He sighed, letting the sarcasm drain a little from his voice. "Second of all, I came from a camp, probably just like the one our friend Damien was stuck in. North of the Divide. You know, beautiful skies, endless torture, enforcers trying to pound in your face. Real trophy-worthy stuff."

Blair slowed her steps a little. "So how are you so... happy?"

Blake gave a mock bow. "Well, when you are raised to be a child soldier by day and a potential killer by night, you have to find humor in the darkness, or it'll eat you alive." he shrugged nonchalantly .

Damien glanced over his shoulder, making eye contact with Blake, but said nothing as he continued to cut through the brush around them.

Blake continued in a light tone but just slightly off its usual rhythm. "I grew up fighting against my friends, so we would crack jokes to lighten the mood; I guess it became part of my personality."

Blair's brow furrowed as she mentally compared the differences between him and Damien, who had the same childhood fates. "So, how did you get out?"

He gave a dry laugh. "Turns out my personality may have been too much. I'm all about free will and having a soul. Pretty sure they frown on both."

Blair opened her mouth, but he kept going.

"They wanted machines, not people. And I, shockingly, didn't want to follow orders. I wanted to be a person. Then I figured out that I could travel through shadows, which they were not expecting."

She didn't reply at first. Just watched him as if trying to figure out which part was a joke and which part wasn't.

Blake caught her look and smirked. "Don't go giving me your tragic eyes, Blair. I'm emotionally drained but not broken."

"You could've fooled me," Damien muttered under his breath.

"Look who speaks," Blake shot back. "I was wondering if your voice box still worked or if you traded it for another one of those brooding stares." Damien didn't respond, but the faintest smile tugged at the corner of his mouth .

Blair shook her head and kept walking. "So, that's your thing, then? Using humor to cope?"

Blake let out a mock gasp at her assumption. "I cope by using my charm and devilish good looks. There's a difference." But there was something quieter in his steps after that. Something heavier in the way he adjusted his bag like she had seen through him, and he wasn't comfortable being vulnerable.

They walked in silence again for a while, the wind picking up and threading through the trees, a slight chill beginning to form.

Eventually, Blair glanced back at him. "So, eliminating the hunters would benefit you too, then? Whether it's a personal vendetta or for some other reason. Whatever it is, thank you for helping us. Well, helping Damien. I can't do much for the team."

"Not true, you're pretty to look at."

Within a mere second, Damien had turned and punched him in the stomach, his hand wrapped in a glove of shadow for extra power.

"I told you already, don't fucking think about it." Damien snarled.

Blake immediately bent over, wheezing and holding his stomach. As he knelt, Damien grabbed the back of his neck and pushed him down.

"Okay. okay..." he responded in short breaths, trying to suck in as much air as he could. "I get it. O-off limits..."

Damien released his hold, and Blake dropped, inhaling rapidly as he hit the ground. Blair rolled her eyes at this and turned sharply, leading down a small path to a medium-sized patch of grass. Damien followed, with Blake catching up shortly after.

Coming up to a tree, Damien sat on the ground next to it.

Blair followed next, sitting to his right, and Blake watched farther back, rubbing the back of his neck as he approached.

Damien moved swiftly, taking out the piece of paper that had been secured firmly in his pocket.

He laid down the map of Opelsyk and pointed to an area just outside of Togar.

He then moved his fingers to the surrounding areas showcasing the Xs where the leaders would be.

Blake stepped up and followed Damien’s hands as he pointed to Togar, the closest area that contained an X.

As Damien lifted his finger off the map, Blake brought his hand up to his chin, stroking it with one finger.

"I think something’s off." Blake brought his finger to an area labeled Kaythorn Pines and let his finger hover over an X there before moving it to the city of Keithston, "They joined together here.”

Damien didn't move as he double-checked the names and locations. "How sure are you about that?"

Blake made a small sound as he contemplated his words, “Pretty sure. Call it a gut feeling.”

“Good, hopefully I won't have to hunt you down in the afterlife because you got us killed.” Damien replied, rolling up the map and standing up.

"Is that all it takes for you to joke with me? I just need to be beat up a little bit?! That means we can definitely have dick-measuring contests soon." Blake excitedly yelled as he stood along with Damien .

Blair rose up last, pushing her shoulder into Blake and knocking him off balance.

"Could it be a trap?" Blair asked, shifting her pack off her back and setting it down on a broken tree next to her.

"A trap or a coincidence? Who wants to bet money that it's the first one?" Blake asked as he looked up at Blair and waggled his eyebrows, “...we could bet clothes. Whoever loses takes theirs off."

Within a second, Damien raised his fist, and a wall of black shadows slammed into Blake, who disappeared a fraction of a second before impact. He reappeared behind Blair and stepped around her, "Just checking if you were still awake!"

Damien rubbed his temples and looked at Blair, "I'm going to kill him."

Blair laughed out loud as she stepped up to Damien and placed her hands on his shoulders, rubbing the tension from his neck. He exhaled loudly and closed his eyes.

Blair looked at Blake, "Why don't you find somewhere for us to set up camp for the night?"

His mouth popped open in surprise. "I don't know anything about..." he started, but Blair held up her hand.

"I don't want to hear it. Go find somewhere before I let Damien have you," she said with a smile.

He snapped his mouth shut and looked at Damien. Turning around and stomping away, his voice faded as muttered broken words made their way back to Blair and Damien. The phrases “...my neck still hurts..." and "I definitely have the bigger dick." echoed off the trees around them .

Blair moved in front of Damien. Careful to not step on the map, she crouched down and glided her hands from his shoulders to his chest. She then brought them up to his jaw and lifted them until his eyes met hers.

"I think we should keep him." She said with a wink. "I like seeing your blood pressure rise." Damien smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap.

"I can barely deal with you, Feisty. I don't know if I'll survive two." He said, lowering his lips to hers.

"Then you'll just have to find a way to handle it." she replied with a sweet tone, batting her eyelashes.

"I'll handle something, alright." he murmured as their lips touched.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed into him, his torso barely moving as he squeezed her tighter, nestling his hands in her hair.

The kiss became more passionate as they rocked back and forth, consuming each other and the raw emotions that had come with the last few days.

A twig snapping caught Blair's attention, and she pulled away, licking her puffy lips and eyeing Blake as he dropped a variety of sticks and wood. His jaw was open, and he winked dramatically at her.

"Of course you like the tall, dark, and broody ones."

She giggled again, nuzzling Damien's nose with her own before standing and pulling him up. "I sure do. Turns out those are also the ones who have anger issues. I would hate for you to be a victim of that." she said cloyingly .

Blake rolled his shoulders in response and blew a raspberry in her direction. He then turned his attention to Damien.

"I was thinking. I think we should take on the two closest ones. They have the strongest leaders. If we do that, bigger targets are gone."