Save Me

What The Hell

“I knew it. I knew he was doing something to her.”

“Peter, you need to calm down,” Carter said. “You’re not helping…”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“You might have to,” Bren said, finally coming out of his research.

“Don’t give him any ideas, Brenden.”

His father was sitting at his desk, nursing a glass of bourbon. Carter was upset, just like the rest of them. What bothered him the most was that he was too late.

“No, I’m being completely serious. Remember Cass’s story? The marks were broken when the warlocks were killed. Well…” Bren held up the old tome. “This is her mark.” He tapped the illustration. As if someone had taken a picture of it and placed it on the page. What looked to be a large raised asterisk with a pentagram in the center graced the shoulder blade of whoever was in the picture.  “And the only way to get rid of it is if the warlock who gave it takes it away or if he dies.”

“Let’s just…cover all of our bases first before we resort to homicide. How did it get there?” Carter asked.

“It says here the ice crystal is formed under the skin using the magic of the woman and the magic of the ice warlock.”

“Which means…”

“She had to give permission for him to do it since it uses some of her magic. Like she said.”

“Then what?” Peter asked, his voice sounding like a growl.

“Touch. He had to touch her in order…”

Peter grabbed the lip of the small table, the one that had the floor plans of the various facilities still on top, and flipped it over, the papers falling to the floor.

“It’s not what it sounds like,” Bren said.

“How is it not how it sounds like?” Peter yelled. “The thing is…”

“They never would’ve allowed Darken to pull her pants down, Peter,” his father said. “More than likely it was done through the fabric of her…”

“That’s just as bad!”

“Remember what I told you?” Carter said. “Remember what you said?”

“I still love her! That’s not the problem here. He was…god, I can’t even say it it’s so horrible.”

“He used her situation to get what his uncle wanted and was now using her like a battery, a very strong, rechargeable battery,” Bren said. “Still is actually.”

“How?” Peter said.

“Whether he’s near her or not, the mark is active and sending burst of magic. Granted, the closer he is, the more he can pull...”

“Which was why she was so cold,” Peter said, realization dawning on him. “Every time he would visit…”

Bren nodded. “And the more he drains, the weaker, colder, and more comatose she is or hysterical depending on current state of mind. Since they were suppressing her magic, he was drawing the miniscule amount they couldn’t. After that, he was pulling at her. Her feelings, her health, everything. As she got weaker he got more powerful.”

“Why didn’t the ghost tell us any of this? As a matter of fact, there is the bastard?”

A freezing breeze went through the room, swirling around him and then making the pages in Bren’s book flip.

“Whoa,” Gwen said. “Let’s not piss off the ice ghost, ok? He could freeze us all to death and I have to tell you, my skin does not react well to the cold.”