I am once more the woman I’ve always known. My skin is back to its naturally tawny hue. There are no dark, angry veins writhing underneath its surface. No flush or pallor to my cheeks. However, I notice a marking in black at the base of my throat, in the hollow between my collarbones. It’s a diamond shape with a long, slender teardrop underneath it. What looks like two stylized bat wings gracefully arc around either side. I touch it lightly.
“It’s my mark.” He approaches, staring thoughtfully at it. “A signature of my blood, of my magic. It signifies that you are bound to me.”
I inhale slowly, watching as the muscles of my neck strain against the marking. It moves with my skin as though it has been tattooed there. He chuckles.
“Don’t fret. Once our deal has concluded and the vow has been upheld, it will fade from you.”
“Good.” I lower my hand and frown up at him.
He leans forward, nose almost touching mine. “Fear not, the loathing of wearing the other’s mark is mutual.” He reaches for his collar, unfastening the top button deftly, even one-handed. My eyes are drawn instantly to the motion, and a flush rises toward my cheeks despite myself. My fascination with a man undressing is instantly quenched as he yanks the shirt aside, revealing a diamond outline with a smaller diamond in its center. Two sickle shapes envelop it from either side, hooklike points jutting off their ends.
“What is that?”
“Your mark.”
Mine… “But I am not a vampire.”
“Vampir,” he corrects pointlessly. I will never make the adjustment, especially not on his behalf. “And I did not say they were a mark of the vampir, but a signature of an individual’s blood. Your blood holds the power of your life itself, made richer by every experience you’ve ever or will ever carry with you. No two marks are alike.”
That is my mark, I think as he leans away. My eyes are affixed to it even as he buttons his shirt once more, re-situating it. I am in the world of the vampire. I have sworn a blood oath with the vampire lord. But what finally shakes my core is this:
My blood.
My very human blood.
Has magic.
“There’s magic inme?” I whisper. I hadn’t intended the thought to escape.
He turns, a crescent brow rising. “Of course there is. Others might have assumed humans to be completely non-magical, but the vampir knew the truth of it: Everyone has power, if they claim it.”
Power is made, not born, that’s what Drew told me long ago when I asked him why Davos had chosen him to take on as a special student. Anyone could be made powerful. All it took was hard work and guidance. That was why Drew sneaked back to me, almost every night.We are twins, he would say.If I can become strong, so can you. Together, we became more than what we were—than what we ever thought we would be. I wonder if Davos knew that he was really training us both. Likely not. If he had, he never would’ve continued teaching Drew.
I cross toward my reflection. The vampire lord continues to watch me as I gently rub at the mark on my neck. His expression remains guarded and impossible to read. I’ve no idea how I, a humble forge maiden, have ended uphere, marked by a vampire lord and wearing the guise of a hunter. I still have my black eyes and dark hair, the familiar scars and burns up my arms, on my right cheek from a forge accident when I was twelve, but I hardly recognize myself otherwise.
“Do you want to harness it?” He jars me from my thoughts.
“Harness what?”
“The untapped power in your blood that your ancestors never did.” Ruvan smirks slightly. He’s smug. So self-satisfied that I might be fascinated by something in his world. I stifle my musings. Those will be for me alone.
“Of course not. I’m no vampire and I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”
“Oh? Being bloodsworn to one certainly is ‘anything to do’ with a vampir.” His smugness intensifies.
“This is an arrangement, nothing more.” I ease away from the mirror, fastening my armor all the way. I wish I could tighten down my racing thoughts with the same effectiveness.
“Yes, of course.” Ruvan turns for the door. “Now that you have seen your quarters, I will introduce you to the rest of my covenant.”
“Your covenant?”
“Yes. My loyal knights—those who have sworn an oath to me, to this land, and to our kin. My own group of hunters, if you will.”
“Are you sure you want to? No longer worried about my sharp tongue?” I’m not sureIwant to meet them. I would be very happy to hide in this room as long as I’m able while I try and catch my breath. So much is changing and I’ve hardly had a chance to keep up. “Besides, what will they say when they discover that their illustrious vampire lord has made a deal with their sworn enemy?”
“Do you question your hunter lord?”
I purse my lips. I’ve no idea what happens in the fortress and that makes answering dangerous since I still don’t know how much information these vampires have about Hunter’s Hamlet or where they got it from.
