Chapter 92: The Forsaken’s Mark
Melissa’s POV
A searing sensation that seemed like fire slithering beneath my skin crawled up my arms as I woke up. I ripped aside the sheets and gasped, my breath catching. My wrists were encircled with strange, dark markings that glowed dimly in the early morning light. They moved and pulsed, as though they were whispering secrets that only I could hear.
My ears rang with the thunder of my heartbeat. This wasn’t typical. I didn’t own this.
“Melissa?” As he stirred next to me, Kane’s voice sounded sleepy. All signs of slumber left his face when his eyes fell to my arms. He sprang to his feet. “What the hell is that?”
I was unable to respond. I felt a strange fire creeping through my veins as I traced the lines, my fingers shaking. I tried to steady myself by clenching my fists. “I-I’m not sure. Last night, they weren’t present.
Kane’s face grew serious. “It appears to be magic. The same type that Darius employed.
The name made me cringe. I had destroyed Darius, and now he was gone. Had I not?
Kane grabbed my hands and swung out of bed to take a closer look at the tattoos. “Does it hurt?” His touch was cautious, his words full of worry.
With a “Not really,” I said. “It just feels… strange.”
He clenched his jaw. “We need to get the elders involved.”
I paused. “Kane, what if this is just-”
“It’s not nothing, Melissa.” There was no room for debate in his tone. “We can’t ignore this.”
He was correct. I knew that in my heart. There was a problem. Something was changing within me. And I was scared for the first time in a long time.
With critical eyes, the elders sat in a semicircle around me. Age had weathered their faces, and generations of wisdom had filled their eyes. With my arms bare and the tattoos still blazing dimly, I sat there as a chilling reminder of who I had become.
The oldest of them, Elder Marcus, looked at me with sharp gray eyes. “We have seen many things over the years, but never this.”
Senior Miriam’s lips were pursed in worry as she leaned forward. “Has anything felt… odd, Melissa? Have your feelings or dreams changed?
I paused. Do I need to share the whispering in my mind with them? What’s that weird tug in my chest? My reflection had been acting a little strange recently. I tucked my fingers into my lap. “I’ve been feeling strange, but I don’t know if it’s connected.”
Beside me, Kane’s presence grounded me. He stated firmly, “We think Darius might have left something behind.” “A part of himself.”
There was silence in the room.
Elder Marcus looked to each of the others, then back to me. “It is possible,” he finally responded, “that when you destroyed Darius, you did not destroy all of him.”
My stomach turned over. “What does that mean?”
Elder Miriam coldly remarked, “It means that he might still be inside you.”
The room’s air felt drawn in. My chest constricted. “No. That isn’t feasible. I resisted him. I prevailed.
Marcus mumbled, “Not all victories are absolute,” “Power like his doesn’t just disappear. The marks may make sense if he had an anchor, a means of binding a part of himself to you.
My head whirled. Darius. Still within me? No. I would not believe it, no.
Kane tightened his hold on my shoulder. “What are we going to do? How can we dispose of it?
The elders exchanged solemn glances. Their hesitancy chilled me to the bone.
Elder Miriam finally said something. “We don’t know.”
My ears throbbed with my heartbeat. No. I didn’t need that response. That wasn’t even a response.
The door then sprang open.
Breathing heavily, a warrior staggered inside. “A murder has occurred. Close to the pack’s boundary.”
I tensed up. Kane was on the move already. “Who?”
The warrior took a deep breath. “At this time, we are unsure. However, Melissa, your perfume permeates the entire scene.
The room whirled.
My scent. At the site of a crime? A homicide?
My gut clenched with dread.
What was going on with me?
The smell of blood was carried by the wind as it howled through the woods. As I stepped close to the pack’s edge and gazed at the dead body lying on the ground, my stomach turned. The warrior’s eyes were transfixed in fear, and his throat was ripped open. My chest was thumping with my heart.
“This isn’t possible.” I stepped back and murmured.
Already crouching down to the deceased, Kane had a somber expression. The muttering of the other warriors was scarcely heard as they surrounded us in a close circle. It was oppressively tense.
With his keen eyes sweeping the surroundings, Kane whispered, “This was no rogue attack.” “Someone from within the pack was involved.”
I felt a chill go through me. I sensed that people were watching me and that there were a lot of unanswered questions. To reassure myself, I looked at Lydia, but her face was as pale.
“Melissa…” Kane said in a cautious, low tone. “The scene is filled with your scent.”
The ground seemed to have been torn away from me. I retreated a step, my breath catching. “No… That isn’t feasible. I wasn’t present.
However, uncertainty was already beginning to seep into his gaze. Into the eyes of all.
Marcus, one of the fighters, came forward. We followed the fragrance. It leads directly to your accommodation and the packhouse.
I balled my fingers into fists. “That is completely meaningless! I-I don’t recall being present!
Lydia touched my shoulder, but it didn’t do anything to stop the panic that was building inside of me. “When was the last time you slept, Melissa?”
I started to speak but stopped. I had no idea.
I had been having odd awakenings. Feeling confused and worn out. My mind was always whispering, and now this.
I shook my voice and said, “I didn’t do this.”
With an inscrutable face, Kane stood. “Then we must determine who did.”
But I felt sick to my stomach when he stared at me as if he wanted to trust me but wasn’t sure he could.
My thoughts were racing as I looked back at the body. If this wasn’t me, then what or who did it?
What caused me to feel as though I already knew the answer?
I stared at my hands as I sat on the side of my bed. I vowed that even though they were no longer covered in blood, I could still feel its warmth and the sticky feel between my fingers.
Not as an innocent, but not as a prisoner, Kane had commanded the warriors to guard me. Their eyes showed it to me. I doubt it. Fear.
The worst part, though?
I wasn’t certain they were mistaken.
I looked across the room at my reflection in the mirror. I swore the figure in the glass was moving, but I wasn’t.
I stood slowly. I walked over to the mirror, my heart hammering in my ears. My face was covered in deep shadows from the low light in my room, giving me an almost strange appearance.
I took a deep breath. “It’s not real,” I said.
My image cocked its head.
I went cold.
The reflection had moved, but not my own body.
I felt a shiver of dread. I forced myself to reach for the mirror, my fingertips just above the glass, after taking a trembling breath.
My reflection’s lips twisted into a smirk that I hadn’t made. My heart struck my ribs hard.
“Who are you?” I took a breath.
The eyes of the reflection flashed red.
Then it whispered, in a voice that was mine and not:
“You are me.”
I wanted to scream, but before I could do so, the mirror broke under my fingers, splintering into a thousand sharp lines, all of which reflected that same evil smile.
Gasping for breath, my legs trembling under me, I staggered back.
My room’s door flew open. Kane.
“Are you Melissa? What’s-” His gaze flitted to the broken mirror. I know he noticed the horror written all over my face once he took one glance at it.
I looked at the mirror once more. Wide, terrified eyes stared back at me, yet my reflection was normal again, despite the cracks running across the glass-like veins.
Was it my imagination?
Kane stepped closer. “Melissa, what happened?”
I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. How could I tell him what I just saw? Would he even believe me?
I took a hesitant breath and eventually spoke. “Something’s wrong with me, Kane.”
And I knew the truth in my heart.
Darius was still there.
He remained here.
He was also inside of me.