Copyright © 2011 by Nina Deviine
Imortant Note!!!
If you want the next chapter to come out quicker please vote. When I get 5 votes I will upload. I'm sorry if it's not fair to you, but I put my time and energy into this and it's not fair to me if I get no votes. This is how it's going to be for every chapter. However, don't worry because the bar for votes WON'T get bigger than 5. Thank you and sorry for the trouble.
Recap:
“Someone’s coming,” Catherine said, sniffing again once more.
“Friend or foe?” Justin spoke for the first time. His face was a myriad of emotions. Before Catherine could answer she fainted and the rest of the world grew black. It felt like I fell into a black vortex of nothing at first and then all conscious thoughts left me.
_________________________________________________
When I woke up, my head was throbbing. It felt like I was run over with a truck, definitely not a nice feeling. I brought my hands up to my head and started to slowly massage my temples. The muscles in my hand ached as well, feeling like I was lifting weights all day yesterday. I looked around and noticed we were back in the house.
Everyone started groaning and getting up. Catherine jumped up and barred her teeth, snarling at someone. I winced at the noise she made. It felt like I had a hangover.
“Cool your head child,” a smooth, seductive voice calmed Catherine and she immediately sat back down immediately. I snapped my head towards the woman who made herself comfortable on one of the chairs.
“I didn’t think I hurt you that bad,” she remarked almost to herself.
Everyone was staring at our new arrival with shock, while Catherine just sat there silently.
“Who are you?” I asked, curiosity eating away at me. I’m sure that was on everyone’s minds, but no one asked.
“I’m Zoë,” she answered. She didn’t look older than twenty with her white hair and cold, blue eyes. Even I had to admit, albeit grudgingly, she had a perfect dress sense. Her black dress was very chic and went really fine with the golden bangles stacked along her arm. A tattoo of vines climbing their way up her arm took my breath away. It was very bold, but suited her perfectly.
“Zoë what?” I prompted, yet she just smiled.
“I can’t tell you that. I’m just Zoë.”
Catherine burst out laughing, but you could tell it was dripping with sarcasm.
“Well then Zoë, why are you endangering our lives?”
She sighed in exasperation, shooting Catherine a sardonic look. It was obvious that there was no love lost between the two of them. At the end of the day, what didn’t Catherine know? I was beginning to think she was as old as time itself. Yet I still didn’t know exactly what she was because it definitely wasn’t a werewolf.
“Because of Amber.”
That got everyone’s attention.
“I need to destroy her.” Catherine rolled her eyes at her comment, but the rest of us didn’t take it lightly. Justin jumped up and snapped at her.
“You can’t do that!”
“The minute she joined with exiles her life spam expired. It’s really simple, the Guardians want her dead. She’s just too dangerous if she gets a hold of her power,” Zoë explained nonchalantly.
“So you’re not here to reprimand an “abomination”?” Catherine mocked.
“I wouldn’t push it.”
Catherine pouted then shut up. I didn’t think anyone could control her like this, but it was obvious Zoë could and that was scary. Because if anyone had ghost of a chance saving Amber from the law, it would have been Catherine. Until moments ago, I was positive Catherine would be the only one who wouldn’t follow any rules—boy was I wrong.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know. All we know is she’ll be coming back,” I answered and Zoë nodded, she didn’t look like the type to smile.
“I’m afraid that you’ll have to put up with me while I wait for her,” she said as a matter of fact and dumped her duffel in front of her feet. I inwardly groaned.
Three days later...
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say our house just turned into a hotel, but of course that would be my stab at bad humour. Was there nothing more twisted than housing people that would kill your sister? I don’t think so. The world was very cruel. And it had an awful sense of humour.
As I walked through the kitchen I noticed the usual group of werewolves wolfing down the breakfast like a bunch of dogs and Catherine, sitting in the corner growling in contempt in between bites of her raw meat. I shuddered, thinking how could she even eat it? I certainly didn’t have a craving for raw meat. No.
I stared at my hands which glowed a florescent pink. I hastily drew my gloves over my hands before anyone noticed. Witches weren’t supposed to have those inscriptions. Only black witches did. I shivered, thinking of my fate. If anyone found out it would be worse than Amber’s.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on how my hands looked without the strange tattoos. When I opened them they were once again gone. For how long? I wondered, because it was all a question of time. One day I won’t be able to hide them. And what then? I shook my head, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
Then I’d burn, I thought grimly. Then I’d burn.
Dispelling the grim thoughts from my mind, I walked to the coffee machine and served myself some coffee.
“Witch!” someone called behind me and I stilled, recognizing that voice anywhere. Zark.
“Demon,” I greeted back, looking down on him, or more correctly-looking up at him.
“May we talk?” he asked, his golden eyes staring into mine. I stared at him suspiciously. In the short time we knew each other, Zark and I never held a decent conversation. Never. That may have something to do with him meeting me and calling me a ‘slut’. The guy didn’t even know me.
“What do we have to talk about?” I asked rudely, not caring for his feelings in particular.
“Can we talk about it outside?” he asked. I decided to follow him not because I was curious, but because it had to be a serious matter if he wanted to talk to me; his least favourite person.
We strolled into the garden and he sat on a bench. I followed his lead.
“So spill it.”
“Be careful when you’re looking at your Tah-Li markings,” Zark warned me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I simply replied. Was that the name of my markings?
“Just be careful. The Tah-Li markings are really sacred to us demons.”
“Sacred how?” I couldn’t help but ask; my curiosity truly piqued.
“But you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Zark mocked, mimicking my voice. I scowled at him. We couldn’t even hold a decent conversation.
“Here,” he handed me a card. I took it and looked at it czrefully. It had his name, address and phone number written on it.
“What’s this for?”
“Ring me or find me when those marks start burning your skin,” he answered, not willing to divulge anymore information.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m the only person you’ll trust then.”
“That doesn’t explain anything,” I argued.
“Don’t worry, it will.”
Knowing that I wasn’t going to get anything else out of him, I shrugged my shoulders and tucked away the card. Whatever was in store for me it didn’t matter. I didn’t trust anyone as it is, so I wouldn’t be running into his strong arms at any cost. I promised myself that much.