The Soul's Mark: FOUND (4 page)

“Really, Amelia,” Angelle said, sounding a
bit hurt.
 
“They’re nothing special.
 
It’s just a few ‘welcome home and to the
family’ presents.”

Home?
 
Family?
 
That sounded so perfect and so terrifying all
at once.
 
Amelia rolled it around in her
mind, trying out the words.
 
She looked
around the table, it did feel like home.
 
She hesitated for a second and then took the glittery box in her hand,
gently peeling the tape, afraid of ruining the lovely paper.
 
“It’s just paper, Millie,” Eric said, rolling
his eyes.
 
“You’re supposed it rip it.”

Amelia giggled and ripped into the paper to
find a shiny pink iPhone.
 
“I pre-loaded
it with all the best music,” Eric said proudly.

“And I put your class schedule in the
calendar for you,” Luke added.
 
“And programmed all our numbers on speed dial.”

“Mine next,” Angelle said, pushing a
wrapped envelope across to Amelia, not giving her a second to check out her new
toy.
 
She looked so excited that Amelia
thought she was about to jump out of her seat.
 
Amelia opened it to find a single piece of paper that said
shopping
.
 
She looked up at Angelle, confused.
 
“It’s a shopping spree!
 
We’re spending the day tomorrow shopping and
I’m buying you a new wardrobe.”

Luke and Eric groaned in unison.
 
“I tried to stop her,” Luke said with amusement
in his voice.
 
“She insisted.
 
I’m really sorry but I just couldn’t get you
out of it.”

“Hey,” Angelle said, shooting him a look.
 
“It’s going to be fun.”

“Don’t worry, Millie,” Eric said.
 
“You can use the present from Luke and I to
make an escape when you can’t take it anymore.”

“This is just…” Amelia started, tears
brimming.
 
It was so hard to believe that
this was all happening.
 
They were
actually being nice to her.
 
They
genuinely seemed to like her.
 
It was
wonderful and overwhelming and she just didn’t know what to say.
 
“It’s just so wonderful.
 
Thank you.”

Another loud yawn escaped and Luke gave her
his fatherly smile.
 
“You should get some
sleep, kiddo.”
 
He rose from the table. “I’ll
walk you back to your room.”

“Of course,” Angelle said, standing up as
well.
 
“But nice try Luke, we still need
to have our little chat.
 
Eric, why don’t
you take Millie back?”
 
She came around
the table to Amelia and gave her a big hug.
 
“I can’t wait for tomorrow.
 
We’re
going to have so much fun.”

Luke followed
Angelle’s
lead and gave her a brotherly kind of hug.
 
“Sweet dreams, kiddo,” he said and ruffled her hair.

“After you,” Eric said, giving a grand
gesture towards the door.
 
Amelia laughed
and padded her way out of the room, Eric following behind.
 
At the doorway, she turned back to her new
friends.
 
“Goodnight,” she said with a
sleepy smile.

“Goodnight,” Angelle and Luke said in unison.

Eric and Amelia walked in silence through
the big house towards her room and she started to feel nervous.
 
She was alone with Eric.
 
And he was coming to her room.
 
And he smelled good.
 
So good.
 
She had to stop this.
 
She knew it.
 
He was her roommate and that would be weird.
 
Trying to get her mind off him and onto
something, anything else, Amelia broke the silence.
 
“I feel like I missed something back
there.
 
What’s with Angelle and
Luke?
 
Are they a couple or something?”

Eric chucked.
 
“No, they’re not a couple.
 
He’s with Lola.
 
Angelle doesn’t like us kids hearing the
adults fight.”

“Us kids?”
Amelia questioned.
 
She was
the youngest for sure, but the rest of them looked about the same age.
 
Early twenties.

“So you have a boyfriend back home?” he
asked casually, changing the subject, which she barely noticed.
 
The question made her heart flutter.

“Ah, nope,” Amelia answered lamely, not
knowing what else to say.
 
She wished she
was one of those flirty girls.
 
Angelle
would have known what to do.
 
She would
have said something cute and funny.
 
Amelia thought of the way she had shut the boys up over dinner.
 
She had them wrapped around her little finger
and they probably didn’t even know it.

“I find that hard to believe,” he said,
stopping in front of her bedroom door and running his fingers through his
hair.
 
“You’re really cute.
 
You probably have guys chasing you like
crazy.”

He
thinks I’m cute,
she thought in wonder.
 
A real
boy, a very hot real boy thinks I’m cute.
 
She had spent the last five years focusing all her energy on school and
her imaginary boyfriend that the thought of a real boy thinking she was cute
thrilled her in a way she didn’t know was possible.
 
She felt… alive.
 
Her whole body was… alive, vibrating,
hot
.

Amelia smiled at him, in a way she hoped
was sweet and coy.
 
“Thanks,” she said,
again lamely and she felt the blush creep up her neck.

Eric looked at her for a moment, serious,
and then a sexy lopsided grin spread across his face.
 
“Goodnight, Millie,” he said and then he gave
her a peck on the cheek and walked away.

Amelia watched him go, stunned.
 
He
called me Millie, a nickname, which was good, right?
 
When he was out of sight, she turned back
towards her room, rushed in and closed the door, leaning up against it.
 
She rested her hand against her cheek and
with a happy sigh, wiggled out of her clothes, dropping them wherever they fell,
leaving a trail to her bed.
 
She pulled
on a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt from the pile Angelle had left and slid
under the covers.
 
She hadn’t thought she
would be able to sleep with all the excitement.
 
But as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.

Mitchell paced his office waiting for word
of Amelia’s safe arrival. Could she have missed it?
 
Her bus was due to arrive early in the
afternoon, but now the sun was starting to set, bathing Mitchell in a fiery
glow as he glanced out the window.
 
Someone
should have called by now.
  
He checked
his watch again, 7:00.
 
It was still
early, maybe they were just having a good time.
 
Yes, that had to be it.
 
But what
if something happened to her?
 
The idea
squeezed at his heart.
 
He couldn’t lose
her.
 
Not again.
 

“She’s fine,” he told himself, stalking
over to his desk.
 
Surely, he would have
heard by now if things had gone… wrong.
 
Mitchell sighed.
 
He needed a
distraction, anything to keep his mind off her and to stop the relentless
tugging around his heart that begged him to close the distance between
them.
 

He folded his long legs under the large oak
desk and surveyed the stack of files that awaited his attention.
 
Mitchell opened a folder and tried to focus
on the report, but the figures blurred before him in an incomprehensible
mess.
 
So much for distractions,
he thought, as he rubbed his forehead,
before checking his watch for the umpteenth time.

Why
haven’t they called yet?
 
Mitchell wondered and the panic came rushing
back in, suffocating and thick.
 
He
fished his cell phone out of his pocket and called the house again,
voicemail.
 
He tried Angelle, no
answer.
 
Luke, busy.
 
Eric, voicemail.
 

Another insistent pull yanked him to his
feet.
 
Why is she affecting him so
much?
 
After all, he has yet to bite
her.
 
The pull shouldn’t be this
strong.
 
Mitchell glanced down at the
open file on his desk and, in
frustration,
he tossed
it across the room, adding to the mess of papers on the floor.
 

Something must have happened.
 
That was the only explanation.
 
Of
course something happened, you idiot,
a voice growled through his
mind.
 
You left your human
soulmate
alone with three
vampires.
 

“What was I thinking?” he breathed and a
new set of fears twisted in his gut.
 
How
could he have left a bunch of vampires in charge of keeping Amelia safe?
 
He shook his head violently, attempting to
shed the thoughts.
 
They wouldn’t cross
him.
 
Not unless they had a death wish,
but...

Mitchell was just about to call home again
when the intercom buzzed, and his assistant’s raspy voice filled the room.
 
“Mr. Lang, Ms. O’Connor is in the meeting
room waiting for you.”

Panic washed over him in a flood.
 
Why is Angelle here?
 
The only reason he could think of was that
Amelia was... Mitchell ignored the intercom and rushed to the meeting room a
few doors down from his office.
 
He threw
the door open, “What are you doing here?
 
Is she okay?
 
Please tell me she’s
okay.”

“She’s fine,” Angelle said
,
her big brown eyes were hard as she looked Mitchell
over.
 
She was lounging back in a black
leather chair, her red patent leather heels resting upon the table.
 

He let out a pent up breath.
 
“Why didn’t you call then?” he shouted.
 
“Did you forget who you work for?”
 

Angelle ignored him, collecting her long
auburn hair together and tying it into a knot, which just increased his anger.
 
She kept her cold stare locked on him,
unblinking.
 
“Are you sure you’re doing
the right thing, staying away?”

Mitchell thought about that for a moment
while he tried to regain his composure.
 
No, he wasn’t sure.
 
He wasn’t
sure about anything when it came to Amelia.
 
He had spent eight hundred odd years searching for her, and each time he
was too late.
 
He had seen her buried too
many times to count.
 
And ever since the
last time, he hadn’t been able to get through to her in the dreams.
 
Yes, the dreams were magical, he couldn’t
deny that, but they had physically remained thousands of miles apart from each
other for way too long. It was as if she had put up a wall, a barrier of some
sort to stop him from finding her again.
 
Now that he had, he didn’t know what to do.
 

“She’s been through so much, Angelle,”
Mitchell finally answered, dropping into a chair.
 
“She needs time to adjust.”

Angelle’s
eyes washed red and her fangs popped down.
 
“You’re wrong.
 
She loves you,” she hissed with contempt
dripping from her voice.
 
She threw her
legs off the table, sitting up straight in her chair.
   

He was almost tempted to laugh at her.
 
Angelle was always so passionate, and she rarely
thought before she lashed out, especially with him.
 
They had been together for so long that at
times, she forgot her place.
 
And most of
the time he just looked the other way.
 
But something inside him growled at the blatant disrespect she was
showing him and his instincts kicked in before he could pull them back.
 
“If you give me that look again, I will take
that as a challenge, Angelle.
 
This is my
jurisdiction and you’d be wise to remember who you are speaking to before you
flash those fangs again.”

What was wrong with him?
 
Why all the anger?
 
He didn’t get it.
 
It was almost as if he was just turned.
 
No control over his emotions and the blinding
anger...
 
He knew damn well Angelle
wasn’t challenging him.
 
There were only
two other known vampires that would even come close to his age and strength and
she, by far, wasn’t one of them.
 

Angelle shot up from her chair and slapped
him across the face.
 
His vision hazed
over with crimson and his teeth sharpened at the threat.
 
“Dammit, Mitch!” she screamed in his face,
and it took everything he had not to rip her head off.
 
It had been a long time since any of them
talked back to him like this, and it boiled his blood.
 
“I’ve been with you since I turned.
 
I’m not your enemy.
 
You aren’t thinking clearly.
 
The bond is taking control of you and you’re
acting like a jerk.”
  

Angelle was right.
 
He had never imagined the pull would be this
strong.
 
It was as if someone was
grabbing hold of him and trying to drag him towards her.
 
A constant yanking that at times, threw him
off balance.
 
If it was this strong now,
this confusing, what would happen after he bit her and solidified the
bond?
 
Would he have any control left?
 
No,
he told himself firmly.
 
He wouldn’t do
it.
 
No matter what, he wouldn’t do that
to her.
 
He couldn’t take away her
choices.
 
He wouldn’t cause the pain.

He shook himself and took a deep
breath.
 
If Luke could do it, he knew he
could.
 
He was older, stronger, more
experienced.
 
He had to keep it together
for her sake, if not for his own sanity.
 
But it was taking everything in him to stay away from her.
 

Angelle sat back down, crossing her legs.
She could sense his inner-conflict and her eyes relaxed.
 
“Mitch, there’s something else,” she said
softly.
 
“She
different.
 
I don’t know what it
is but there’s something about her.
 
We
all feel it.
 
It’s as if some sort of
power is pulsating from her.
 
And when
she gets mad...”

“Why the hell was she mad?” Mitchell
snapped, cutting her off and trying to ignore the wistful look settling in her
eyes.
 
“She’s only been there a few
hours.”
 
The rage built up inside him,
burning hot.
 
Couldn’t they just take one
simple order?
 
All he had asked was to
make Amelia comfortable.
 
Let her get to
know them.
     

“Eric talked about the mark.”
 
She held up her hands, gesturing for him to
stay put and he clenched his jaw.
 
“Before
you freak, he only mentioned
soulmates
and
dreams.
 
She doesn’t know what we are yet
and she thinks it’s just a birthmark.”
 
Angelle palled and averted her eyes to the floor.
 
“There’s some kind of connection between her
and Eric,” she murmured.
  
“I thought it
was just her but at dinner I saw it in him, too.
 
He’s attracted to her.
 
Maybe it’s the power that’s pouring off
her.
 
It’s almost like a drug.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Mitchell said,
glad his voice didn’t waver.
 
It was
better if they didn’t know, at least not until he was sure.
 
She’d be safer that way.
 

Angelle huffed and shook her head.
 
“I’m telling you, you can’t wait.
 
You need to come home.
 
Let her know that you’re real.”

“Not yet,” he said firmly.
 
“She’s not ready.”
 

“What happened last time?
 
What are you so scared of?”

Mitchell opened his mouth to tell her.
 
Maybe it would be better to get it out, tell
someone, anyone.
 
The memory was etched
in his brain.
 
The flames, the chanting,
and the hatred that blazed in her eyes.
 
But
if he said it out loud, confirmed what she was, then...

“Stay out of it,” he growled as fiercely as
he could.

Angelle popped up from her chair and tossed
her arms up.
 
“I’m just trying to help
you.”

“She’s not stable enough to handle it all
at once, Angelle.”
 
Mitchell met her eyes
square on, pleading.
 
“Too much has
happened and if she remembers...”

“Remembers what?” she pushed, and he cursed
under his breath, knowing Angelle wouldn’t rest until she figured it out.

“Just please, trust me on this one.”

Angelle rolled her eyes.
 
“Fine, but when it all blows up in your face
just remember I told you so.”
 
And in a
flash, she was gone.

Mitchell sat down resting his head in his
hands.
 
She has p
ower,
he thought, the confirmation making him feel sick.
 
He had hoped that for her sake he had been
wrong.
 
The bond had always only been
between vampires and humans.
 
But God
only knows what a bond between a vampire and someone…someone like Amelia could
unleash.
 
An overwhelming rush of doubt
suddenly passed through him.
 
What if it
was a mistake to bring her here?
 
Ever
since the curse, his race had never seen eye to eye with hers.
 
What if being
soulmates
wasn’t enough?

A soft sneeze floated through the air, and
a familiar scent, the sweet floral fragrance of her blood filled his nose.
 
Amelia.
 
She was here, but how?
 
He hadn’t called her soul to him.
 

Mitchell followed the mouth-watering
scent.
 
It was intoxicating, filling his
mind and body.
 
As he moved along the
hallway, the pull become more insistent and his heart hammered in his chest with
anticipation.
 

When his eyes found her, perching on a
chair, his heart stopped beating for just a moment.
 
She was perfection.
 
Everything from her small frame, to her
unruly curls was flawless and she was his.