~ Marie ~
Her muscles rebelled painfully as she tried to sit up. She had fallen asleep curled up in an awkward position on the floor. Somehow she had kept from knocking over any of the piles surrounding her. Well, she had until she woke up and knocked several piles over. She glanced at her watch. Eleven-thirty. Marie slowly pulled herself to her feet using the bookshelf behind her. More aches and pains made themselves known to her but she ignored them as she studied the room. Was it just her or did it look smokey in here? It reminded her of the time Micheal, her mentor, had tried to cook and burned the eggs he'd been trying to make. She went over to the door and opened it.
Marie coughed as more smoke flowed past her and into the study. The rest of her house was filled with a thick concentration of purple smoke. Fire was ruled out but what was the point of something like this? Distraction? At least she didn’t have to worry about inhaling something deadly since her body was resistant to poison. A quick magic scan of the area didn’t reveal much beyond the fact that the smoke was jamming her senses. It was like the whole house was coated in magic.
“Marie!” She thought he had left already but it was definitely Adrian’s voice she was hearing. Marie went towards his voice but he was beside her before she had taken more than a couple of steps. “What’s going on?” His voice was low but it didn’t hide the anger.
“When did you get back?”
“Just now. The back door was open.” So whatever was causing this was still generating smoke. But from where?
“Do you see anything?” Marie felt him stiffen up beside her.
“There might be something near the stairs.” She stepped forward only to be scooped into his arms. She tried to see if she could sense anything but her magic senses were still jammed. He put her back down after a while. They were probably right near the stairs. “Right in front of you, on the ground, there’s something there.” With her hands out in front of her, she knelt down and searched the ground in front of her. She moved her hands around until she touched something sharp. Marie jerked her hand back before bringing it right back to the spot. Carefully, she examined the object. It felt like a box. Marie placed both her hands on the cube and— “Did you find it?” Impatience colored his voice.
“Yes. Give me a minute.” She pulled her focus inward as she studied the spell. This was not going to be simple. This box had spell upon spell layered on one another. The smoke was just one of the many spells layered together. It was possible that if she dispelled one another might activate. Marie frowned. She didn’t have any time to be messing with this. Mark was getting further and further away as she sat here. This needed to be dispelled as quickly as possible. It wouldn’t be pleasant but that was fine.
She would be fine.
Marie grit her teeth as she dismantled spell after spell, brute forcing them with pure magic. Once she came to the core, she smashed through it. There. She sat back as she used a simple spell to open the windows.
The smoke should start dissipating on its own but she used another spell to create a small bit of wind to push the smoke out. Better to get it out as soon as possible. Just because she didn’t have to worry about poison, didn’t mean the same could be said of Adrian. Marie examined the object she was holding. The box was made out of wood and had multiple talismans plastered all over it. She checked the mark before burning up the box. Better safe than sorry. Marie let the ash fall through her hands. She could clean up the mess later.
“Was that the same as the other talismans?”
“Yes.” The magic signature was the same. It meant that whoever had taken Mark was working with the vampires. “Can you track Mark now?” Adrian’s jaw tightened as he shook his head.
“I can feel the link to you is still active but I can’t feel his.”
“Dead?” There was a twinge in her heart but she ignored it. It was better to know and plan for what came next.
“No!” He slammed his fist against the stair rail but he was still in control since the rail wasn’t damaged. Adrian turned away as he ran his hand through his hair. “No. He’s not dead. It’s more like I’m being blocked. The bond is still there but it doesn’t go anywhere.” Hmm. What was the point of blocking the bond? “Can you track him?” Marie shook her head as another thought occurred to her.
“Did he contact you before he disappeared?”
“He did. He said he wasn’t sure about something. Then nothing.” Odd. Why did he contact Adrian when she was right there? She wrapped one arm around her waist as she brought her other hand up to her mouth. Marie’s body tensed as a small ache started in her arms. She had taken too much time.
“I’m going to check the rooms upstairs. He might have left a note.” Unlikely but she needed a reason to go into her room for a couple of minutes.
“You really think he would have left a note?” She shrugged as she went upstairs. Marie ignored the look he was giving her and hoped she would make it to her room in time. She didn’t get very far, maybe a third of the way up, before there was a flash of pain and she crumbled on the steps. “Marie! What’s happening?” Adrian knelt beside her and tried to help her sit up but she brushed his hand off.
“I’m fine.”
“We have very different definitions of fine.” Adrian shook his head as he reached out again to help her up. Her body tensed as another wave of pain washed over her. This would pass, she just needed to keep going. Marie pressed her lips together to keep from biting them. She didn’t need to be bleeding in front of a vampire. Again. Marie was so focused on her pain, she didn’t even realize that she was being carried up the stairs until the wave had passed.
“I can— ”
“Fall down the stairs. You can’t even take two steps without collapsing.” He stopped to glare at her. “I want to know what’s going on.” She opened her mouth but she snapped it shut as another wave of pain assaulted her. Adrian kept a firm grip on her as she curled in on herself. After the pain had passed, he rushed her to her room and put her on the bed. She tried to figure out how she was going to stand up with him here when more pain flowed through her. Right as the pain began to fade, Adrian spoke. “Tell me.” He stood next to her bed, with his arms crossed.
“It’s a curse. It’ll pass.”
“From the box?”
“Yes. When I dispelled it, I was hit with something at the end.”
“How is this curse different from the other one?”
“I won’t die. It will only cause pain until it fades away.”
“How long until it fades?”
“15 minutes.” Maybe. For sure, it would be less than an hour but she didn’t want to wait out the time. She preferred to be doing something. Like figuring out where Mark went rather than resting.
“I’ll continue to look for him. Wait here.” He walked out without a backward glance. Tsk. She wasn’t going to stay here. Marie sat on the edge of the bed just as the door to her room shut. Another wave of pain hit just as she stood up and she tried to use the nearby nightstand to stabilize herself. Her hand slipped on the letters she had stacked on top and she fell to the floor. A shower of letters followed after. Her shoulder hurt from hitting the nightstand on the way down but the pain in her shoulder was nowhere near the amount of pain she was feeling from the curse. She took a shaky breath. Based on the last wave, it seemed like the intensity was starting to fade. Good. If that was the worst then she should be able to deal with the rest.
Marie focused on the letters that had fallen with her. She started to gather them up when she spotted something strange. A piece of paper that was folded in two lay amongst her letters. She picked it up and quickly scanned it for magic but it came up clean. There was no address or any other identifying mark on the outside. Another wave of pain hit and she was careful not to crush the letter in her hands. Once it passed, she opened the paper and read what was inside. The door opened. Adrian looked down at her with a frown on his face.
“What are you doing on the floor?” Based on his frown, he already knew why. But he didn’t know about this. She held the note out to him.
“Someone left another note.” He eyed the paper before looking back at her. “Says that you and Noah fought over more than just hospitals.” The letter stated that the two Masters fought over the same woman and so had a grudge against one another and if she wanted to hear the truth she should head over to Bel Meade. Why this person decided to share this info with her was still a mystery but it was looking more and more like this had been designed to place the blame between these two clans. Adrian eyed the paper again before he took it from her hands. While he read, she quickly checked her body with magic. No injuries at least. There was still pain but the intensity was low enough she could ignore it.
“Where did you find this?” His voice was expressionless but his eyes were narrowed in anger.
“It was on the nightstand.” She gestured to the other letters that had managed to stay when she knocked everything over. Whether it had come from her mailbox or not was debatable. Since she knocked everything over when she fell, it was hard to tell if it had been on top or mixed in with her other letters. “Do you know where that is?”
“Yes.” He glanced down at the paper before he folded it and put it in his pocket. “No.” He crossed his arms.
“I’m fine.” To illustrate her point, she stood up and crossed her arms as she stared back at him. “We need to check out the address and see if Mark is there.”
“And if it’s a trap?”
“Then we use it to our advantage. Only two groups want Mark. Bel Meade and whoever framed him.”
“And if they’re one and the same?”
“Then we only have one stop to make.”
“Why don’t you stay here and rest? I can take care of the rest.”
“And you’ll keep me up to date on what’s going on?” It was a rhetorical question. The answer was obvious. His smile only proved her point.
*~*~*~*~*
“How did he get outside?” The two of them were sitting in the living room. Waiting. She should have memorized the address and gone by herself. As it was, Adrian told her the address was too far to walk to and that they would need a car. He'd “contacted” one of his people and they were bringing a car to her house. Marie had asked but he still wouldn’t tell her how he was contacting them. She sighed. Marie hated doing nothing but unless she was willing to knock Adrian out and take the paper then she was stuck waiting. According to Adrian, they would only need to wait about five minutes. Marie resisted the urge to look at her watch and answered his question.
“What are you talking about?” Clearly, he walked out.
“I thought you prevented him from leaving.” Adrian leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs.
“There wasn’t anything in place to stop him.”
“Nothing magical?” Ah. He was probably talking about that. Marie shook her head as she crossed her arms. “I heard something very different from Mark.”
“Nothing prevented him from leaving.” Adrian glared at her. She stared back at him. What did Adrian want her to do with him? Lock him in his room? There was no reason for Mark to listen to her. Though given what had happened, it might have been better if she had locked him in his room.
“And what about the letter?”
“What about it?”
“Is it true?” He raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms as he leaned back. She tried to keep her irritation down. With the conversation over, the rest of the time was spent quietly.
“They’re here.” Marie stood up and followed him out. A black car was parked in her driveway. She didn’t know anything about cars. One car looked like another to her but she was certain it had one thing most cars didn’t have. The tint on the windows was almost as dark as the car itself. Adrian opened the driver’s side door and got in while she sat down in the front passenger seat. Whoever had dropped the car off was gone. No one was in the car. Were they watching them leave? Marie scanned the area but didn’t see anything. She turned her attention to the road.
Ten minutes passed. She glanced at Adrian occasionally but he never took his eyes off the road or spoke to her. This was clearly a trap but in what way, she hadn’t figured it out yet. It was looking more and more like she'd have to take him with her.
It looked like they had arrived at their destination when he slowed the car down after turning into a neighborhood. He parked in the street and turned the car off.
“Let me go in by myself first and talk to them.”
“Why would they let you in, considering what’s happened?” Adrian frowned as he tapped his finger against the steering wheel.
“What do you propose then?”
“I go in first.”
“And you leave me out here?”
“I said I’ll go in first, not I’ll go in alone.” He looked ready to argue but he closed his mouth without saying a word. It wasn’t that she wanted to work with Adrian. It was just, right now, with everything going on, it was smarter to keep him by her side. The extra backup would help in a situation like this and if he was able to sense Mark again, she could follow him. They got out of the car and she followed him to the house.
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