The Marked

Chapter Twenty

Lily arrives at home safely and sits in the car a moment, she looks at her phone to see that she'd messaged Zion a few times and he hadn't responded.

Before locking her phone she texts Ryder, 'Got back fine, cars parked outside yours.'

She  taps the phone against her hand before deciding to go over to his place and see if he's there, since she had Ryder's keys she could've took his car, but she isn't insured to drive it so she decided against it.

She'd just have to walk.

She walks up to Ryder's door and posts the keys through his letter box before beginning her walk to Zion's.

***

At Zion's house Charon is trying to figure out a way to find Zion, he's looking at a map of where Zion's phone was found to try and find where he could of been taken from there.

It's such a stretch and a highly unlikely way of finding him but that's all he can think of and the frustration is starting to get to him.

Leaving the computer he goes over to the table in the room where the syringe is sat, he glares at it for a moment as if it would tell him something about Zion's captor's. Obviously, they know what they're doing because it takes a lot to knock out a Marked, especially of Zion's age, and by the lack of dead bodies he found nearby, he's guessing that Zion went down pretty quick.

Thinking for a moment, Charon realises something, "how'd they know what knocks out a Marked?"

He doubted that it would be Zion's brothers because they wouldn't knock Zion out with drugs, so maybe a testing facility for Marked, that would explain knowing what it takes to knock out a Marked, so he needs to be looking for places that could be used for testing, old hospitals, underground buildings.

Charon goes back over to his computer and looks at the map, making a note of all the places in the town and on the outskirts.

Halfway through the list he gets a knock on the door, he ignores it but then the person knocks again. Finally when he thinks the person left, Zion's phone rings at the side of him and a picture of a flower comes up as the caller ID.

Must be Lily at the door, he considers answering it for a moment but then decides not to, what exactly would he say to her?

Outside the house Lily takes the phone away from her ear when Zion doesn't pick up, is he ignoring her? Maybe he knows that she figured out that he's the one stalking Ryder, or maybe he knows everything he needs now so has no reason to talk to her anymore.

She walks away from the house, it doesn't make any sense, why would he tell her about himself last night and then come to the conclusion that he had everything he needed, she never mentioned anything confirming Ryder's ability last night so why tell her if he already knew everything...

Deciding that she needed a distraction from all this she phones Casey, who picks up almost immediately, "hey Case, you wanna do something? Tristan and Ry are already at the Diner up to something and I don't think I want to know what."

"Sure, I'm just finishing up at the mall, you wanna meet me at the park? I'll get a taxi and be there in 10."

"Yeah, I'll start walking now and wait by the bench."

"Doesn't it take longer than 10 minutes to walk from your house?"

"I'm not at my house, I'll talk to you at the park."

"What-"

"Byeeee." Lily moves the phone away from her ear and hangs up continuing the walk to the park.

***

At the Diner Tristan and Ryder are sat having a milkshake, "God of Death? What?" Tristan asks.

"I know, I'm not even sure what's going on. Last week this thing wrong with me was just something that irritated me and made me feel different, now it seems to be taking over my life." Ryder groans.

"So.." Tristan starts, "Lily told you all that, and then you told her about the stalking, and then?"

"We got chased by a wolf and Lily almost got ripped to shreds so we didn't exactly get chance to discuss it." Ryder replies.

"But you're sure that she was okay? You said Zion controls death, that means he could control hers." Tristan points out.

"Yeah, I know that." Ryder nods taking a sip of his milkshake, "but if anything she seemed betrayed yet levelheaded, she realised the fact that he was using her but before she had chance to react properly I saw that wolf, and we just ran."

"He was using Lily to get to you? Why? If he's the God of Death, why not just kill you or her?" Tristan asks.

"Honestly I don't know," Ryder explains, "that first night he approached me he used his ability to choke me, but didn't kill me, he could've but he didn't. I never really thought about it as I was just happy that I didn't die, but at the shack Lily said that I might be his feeder, maybe he needs me for something."

"That doesn't explain why he didn't kill Lily." Tristan mentions.

"He planned to, it failed." Ryder points out.

"But what if he didn't? Maybe he just didn't want you to tell her." Tristan says.

"Maybe it could of been a lie. But he definitely didn't want me to tell her, I'm not sure why, not that it matters she's done with him." Ryder tells him.

Tristan waits for a moment trying to take everything in, "why do you believe all this so easily? I mean shouldn't we be trying to figure out a logical explanation for all of this."

"I don't think there is one," Ryder tells him, "I know I don't bleed like normal people do, I know that it felt like someone was choking me to death that night yet there were no hands around my neck, and I know that Lily isn't the kind of person to make up fantasy stuff, she wouldn't have said anything to me unless she believed it could be fact."

Tristan's phone pings, "that was Casey, she's with Lily, at least we know she's okay."

"What are we supposed to do now?" Tristan asks sipping his milkshake.

"For now we just sit and enjoy spending time at Ralphs, because I get the feeling it's gonna get a lot more complicated."