Chapter 1.2 - Marked

Jace

The pills were small and looked like cartoon characters. To the normal eye, you'd think I was taking a children's vitamin. I guess that's why they make them that way. To fool the average person. I swallowed two, chasing them down with a glass of water.

They were highly concentrated doses of mitochondria. As the doctor liked to call it 'the cellular power plants'. I just knew that they suppressed the bloodlust. I had to take them every morning otherwise I get jittery and if I wait too long, I can smell the blood in others, can almost taste it. But I fight that because I want to be normal, like everybody else.

I watched through the window as Trystan parked and made his way up the sidewalk. I couldn't help but smile. His hair was a complete mess. He had missed one of the buttons on his cardigan and one of his pant legs was sticking in his sock. I watched him stumble and look to see if anyone had noticed, even though he was the only one out there.

I headed down the stairs as I heard him knocking.

I opened the door. Trystan stood there like he was still asleep.

"Don't you have a mirror."

"Huh? What?" Trystan ran a hand through his hair.

I reached for him and set the buttons right on his cardigan then bent to fix his pant leg. "There. Much better." I was tempted to run a hand through his hair too but fought the urge. I took his hand and dragged him inside. "Want some toast?"

Trystan had a thing for toast. I think if all there was to eat was toast, Trys would be perfectly content.

I dropped four pieces of bread in the toaster, pulled the butter from the fridge, and looked at him again.

"You look tired."

He rubbed his eyes sleepily and nodded. "Didn't get to sleep till late." He yawned over the toaster. The toast popped up and he went to work buttering, holding the first piece of toast in his mouth as he buttered the second.

"Who kept you awake?" I asked it lasciviously, with a smirk.

Trys nearly choked on the piece of toast he was eating which told me, there was a someone. I felt a hitch in my throat.

"It wasn't anyone. I just couldn't sleep. Then I kept having this dream, over and over that kept waking me up." He didn't look at me as he explained, but I noticed a hint of crimson in his cheeks.

"A dream, huh?" I grinned and he blushed even deeper. "Was it the girl from the parking lot?" I tried to say it like I didn't think I really believed there was actually a girl, even though I knew there was.

"Yeah." That was all he said as he bit into the second piece of toast.

"Did you do the nasty?"

"Shut up. No, we didn't do the nasty." He did the whole quotation marks with his fingers as he said nastily. "I mean, not really. She just kept kissing me. And..." He looked at me, toast crumbs and a smudge of melted butter on his lips. "There was all this blood. I could smell it and taste it and it was all over everything." His eyes were hollow, his face pale and the piece of toast in his hand shook as he spoke.

I took a step closer to him and he leaned away from me. "Every time I closed my eyes, it's all I saw.

"Maybe you should stay home. You don't look so good."

I knew it was the girl, whoever she was. My mark protected him from anyone else, but it had been dormant acting more like a barrier, but once there was an interaction between my mark and another's... I didn't know what the effects would be. And if she did bite him, it wouldn't change him, at least not in any obvious way, but there would be effects.

"Maybe she gave you mono."

"What?" He popped 4 more slices of bread in the toaster.

"You know... the kissing disease," I explained. My stomach was all jittery. I couldn't help but think this was my fault. I guess in a way it was. I mean, sure, if she had bitten him; without my mark on him, he'd be way worse off. But now, I didn't know what to expect. He was showing symptoms of something, not vampirism, but maybe a reaction to her attempt. She had drawn blood.

I cringed at the thought of talking to my father. He would have answers. But I knew I had to, just to know what I was going to have to do.

#

Trystan

I was so hungry. I stared at the toaster, waiting for the second set of four slices to pop up. Normally two slices will do the trick. At least until I got to school and could get a snack from the vending machines. But after 4 slices I was still starving. I mean it feels like I haven't eaten in days. Not that I know what that feels like, but it certainly doesn't feel like I've just eaten 4 pieces of toast. And they didn't taste like anything. I couldn't taste the butter or the bread. Like there was no flavor at all.

The toaster popped up four more slices of golden brown toast and I slathered a slice with butter, lots of butter, and took several quick bites while slathering another.

Jace gave me a strange look. "Are ya hungry there buddy?"

"What?" I looked at Jace. He was especially cute today. Jeans and a t-shirt never looked so good. I was certain he woke up looking like that. Whenever I spent the night, it was all I could the next morning to keep from jumping him. He was perfect. I felt stupid thinking that he was lovely. It sounded so....feminine, but he was. His eyes were captivating. Mesmerizing. It was hard to look away. Not that the rest of him wasn't captivating too. He had a certain scent that was uniquely him that drove me crazy. I could smell him now. The scent triggered an image from my dream.

The girl was there. Floating and beckoning me with outreached hands. Everything was dark except for her: she was surrounded by a halo of light. And I felt myself wanting to go to her, but part of me fought it, felt a danger that I couldn't quite recognize. But I felt it. Still, I walked towards her, or rather it felt like I was floating and being pulled towards her, like a tractor beam or something. The closer I got, the stronger I fought until I was within her reach. She pulled me to her, I felt her lips on me, kissing me, mostly my neck, my shoulders, my jawline, and then finally my lips. I tried to pull away, but I felt one of her hands gripping my shoulder. The fear I felt was overwhelming. When I looked back, it wasn't her hands that held me firm, but Jace's and it was like an out of body experience, watching him kissing me, his arms wrapped around me, holding me tight to him. And then I saw the blood. We were drenched in it, our hands slick with it and the smell of it made me want to throw up. I pushed away from him, slipping in the blood and falling down, blood splashing up. And he stood there, looking at me.

"You are mine and I am yours." That was all he said before he fell on me, his teeth bared and I could see the fangs before I felt them plunge into my throat, and the only sensation I can remember was the scent of his cologne. And I screamed, waking myself, panting and sweating.

I devoured the last piece of toast, averting my eyes from Jace. I contemplated putting a couple of more slices in the toaster. I was still hungry, but Jace was eyeing me like I might be a little crazy.

"You ready?" Jace grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

I followed him out to my car. He stood on the passenger side staring at me, waiting for me to unlock the door.

"Helloooo. Are you sure you're alright?" Jace looked worried.

I tried to smile but my heart wasn't in it. Something was seriously wrong. I unlocked the door and climbed in, my muscles sore. It felt like I had the flu or something.