Mark of the Dagger (The Marked Series Book 1) (5 page)

"Wow that must suck '‘cos I wasn't being nice, I was being honest."

With a laugh Dani said, "Yeah, anyway I'll let you sneak back inside. Coast is clear now and I want to go to the pond." She turned and started walking away. Over her shoulder, she called. "Good Night, Jan."

She went to the pond, this time not to run but just to think. She walked over to the tree just on the shoreline. It was a good climbing tree, she thought. The lowest branches looked sturdy enough to hold her weight.

With little reservation Dani grabbed the closest branch. She hadn't climbed a tree in years. In fact the last tree she climbed, she fell out of and broke her arm. She paused before she could pull herself up, not really wanting a repeat of that incident. But she decided that she wouldn't go too far up and even if she did fall, Adele could fix her right up. With that thought mentality, she could be reckless all she wanted, though she wouldn't. But she did need to get out of sight in case any more hunters walked this way. They wouldn't think to look up for students and she doubted that they really expected to find any kids out of bed this time of night anyway.

She settled herself against the trunk of the tree about ten feet off the ground. That wouldn't be such a bad drop. She loved watching the sunrise and didn't think there was anything more beautiful. When she would write her stories, whenever there was a sunrise, something amazing always happened. The heroine would meet her hero, or the villain would die, or the dragon that couldn't, could. It all depended on the story. But this was always her favorite time of day.

Looking out across the pond toward the mountains, she could see the sky just beyond start to lighten. She knew that within thirty minutes it would be a painting of pinks, purples, and gold. With a sigh of anticipation, she settled back into the tree more comfortably, shut her eyes and thought about her mom and Mia.

Dani talked to her mom every night on the cell phone Sarah got her. She actually looked forward to those conversations. She tried not to talk about how everyone treated her here, instead tried to reassure her mom that she was happy. And technically she was, so she wasn't lying. Even if she was lying, it was to ease her mother’s mind, so it didn't really count. At least that was how she saw it.

She didn't talk to Mia as much anymore. Mia thinks she is at some private school that focuses on literature, to help Dani succeed in a writing career. Plus with all the extra work Dani was doing, she didn't really have time to talk.

Dani felt bad for that and she truly missed her, but she knew this would be one of those sacrifices when she chose this path. She also had to sacrifice her dream of going to college and becoming an author. But she replaced it with another dream, one that would be just as fulfilling. And who knew, maybe she could still write on the side, even use the knowledge she had now and incorporate it into her stories.

"You really shouldn't sleep in trees. It can't be good for the back. Plus, you could get hurt."

The voice from up above startled Dani so badly that she jumped, which was the wrong thing to do because she ended up falling out of the tree. She couldn't catch a handhold before she fell and landed hard on her back on the ground.

Dani closed her eyes as she started to see stars. "Oww," she moaned putting a hand to her head. When she thought the stars would be gone and the world would stand still she opened her eyes. The sky was blotted out by a face, she couldn't tell who it was because his features were still a little fuzzy. "Quit spinning please," she moaned.

There was a light chuckled followed by "I told you, you shouldn't sleep in trees. Accidents like these are bound to happen." Dani opened her eyes and saw a pair of the most beautiful, intense blue eyes she had ever seen. The same blue eyes that were constantly watching her during her practices. The same blue eyes that she found out belonged to Jr. Trainer Samuel Johnson. He was out of school himself but he wasn't sure where he wanted to go so he stayed on at the school to assist the trainers in any way he could.

And he was one of the best Demon Hunters of his year. Not just for this school but all over the world. He had earned a lot of metals and to be only eighteen, he had a lot of kills under his belt.

Dani squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. Of course, he would be the one to witness the most embarrassing moment of her life. The Greek God of Mount Claussen. The most beautiful Demon Hunter here and the youngest, most respected, at that.

The fall she just took would shame any dignified Hunter. She could only imagine what he must be thinking. If only she could have gotten her feet under her to land more gracefully. She was totally caught unawares. And she hated that that happened. She would slap herself if her head weren't spinning.

"You’re hurt, here let me help you up," he said gently reaching to take her arms. She accepted the help up then shook him off as he put a steadying hand under elbow.

"I can stand on my own thanks," she snapped. She was embarrassed, so she reacted the only way she knew how. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

"You were the one sleeping in the tree. I was already up there and I needed to get down.  You were the one blocking the way. It's not my fault that you didn't make sure you were alone. Out in the real world, you would have to be more aware of your surroundings than that to stay alive," he said in a reasonable voice which only aggravated her more.

"Oh, for Christ’s sake! I wasn't sleeping. I was thinking, and I don't need a lecture about safety from you. As if it's any of your business." She started to stomp off to her dorm.

"Sure could have fooled me," he muttered.

"What were you doing in the tree in the first place? You should be in your room sleeping like a normal person. Besides that, you should know better than to go so far up.  And don’t deny it, you had to be way up there to have been so we camouflaged.”  She cut him off before he could deny it.  What she said was truth because she looked up before climbing and saw no hint of him.

Dani kept walking, her embarrassment fueling her anger as she knew he was following her. Instead of answering her he grabbed her arm to spin her around before she reached her porch. Furious at being man-handled she was ready to punch him but when she saw the way he was looking at her, her breath stuck in her throat and she knew she looked like a deer caught in headlights. No boy had looked at her with such an intense expression. To say she was a little frightened would be an understatement.

"Are you sure you’re not hurt?  I should take you to the infirmary," he said gripping her arm a little tighter.

"I'm fine," she said, and hated the breathlessness of her voice. "It wasn't that far of a drop, I can handle ten feet," she said making her voice stronger.

"Of course you can," he said and his eyes darkened. She couldn't tell if it was from anger or something else or if he was being sarcastic or not.

She didn’t know Samuel personally, but she had heard stories about him around campus. And of course she noticed him around too. Who wouldn’t? The man was gorgeous. He was always one of those people sitting on the sidelines watching her and Joe’s training sessions.

She didn't know this boy at all, and within five minutes of being in his company he got her back up. She didn't like that one bit. "Like I said, I can handle myself.  Now I don't care who you are or what you've accomplished in your short life, but you've no right to handle me this way. Now release my arm before I make you." Big talk coming from her, especially considering who she was talking to, and the fact that she was scared witless. "And if it weren't for you I wouldn't have fallen in the first place. You could have at least let your presence be known when I started climbing the tree." To her surprise when she jerked her arm away, he let it go.

Before he could say another word to her she ran inside. She didn't see that he stood staring after her with an incredulous expression.

Chapter Six

The episode outside cut into her track time so she decided to skip it all together. She quickly showered, dried her hair and applied makeup. Dani wasn't sure why, but she was in the mood to put an effort into her appearance today, something she hadn't done since her first week of school. She put on black skinny jeans, a black spaghetti strap shirt that showed an inch of midriff, a white see through sweater with white heels.

This was how Dani used to dress before she came here and she looked great. It was about time that she got back to her old self. Though she will never be entirely like her old self again, at least she could add parts of the old to the new.

Dani was doing it and liked what she saw. This was the new strong, independent Dani DuPont. With a last smile to her reflection she grabbed her bag to head to breakfast.

Once again when she closed her bedroom door she backed into Jan. "You know you really should watch where you're going," Jan said with her hands on her hips.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on people," Dani countered with a smile. "Were you looking for me?" she asked her.

"No, I just thought I would hang out by your bedroom."

"Smart ass," Dani muttered and started walking down the hall.

Halfway to the stairs Jan yelled. "Hey wait up, I was joking." Dani stopped and waited for Jan to go back into her room for her book bag. When she caught up she said, "You going to the cafeteria?"

"Yep,” Dani said and started walking.

In the light of day Dani was able to take in Jan’s features a little more.  She recognized her from around campus and knew they shared a couple classes together as well.  Jan’s style was more gothic-chic than anything else but it suited her tall frame and dark curls perfectly.  She had a fairy tattoo on her right shoulder, her dagger mark on her left calf.

Dani wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Jan’s sudden interest in her.  The only thing that Dani could think of was that she was in for some sort of prank against her.  That wasn’t something she would put past the student’s here, though she hoped Jan was sincere.  But even so, Dani planned to keep her guard up until she knew for certain what Jan wanted.

"You want to eat together?" Jan asked. They were halfway to the main house when Dani stopped to stare at the other girl.

Cautiously Dani asked, “Why?" She inwardly flinched when Jan looked a little hurt. "I'm sorry. It's just, that you’re the first person to talk to me in two months. You have to see why I'm being a little cautious."

"I told you last night,” Jan shrugged. "I've been meaning to talk to you but you've been so busy kicking butt." Dani laughed at that and Jan smiled. "I know you’re not sure about me and that’s fine. You seemed pretty cool to me so I thought we could hang out. It's no big deal though if you don’t want to," she said and started to walk off.

Dani stood where she was for a minute thinking over her words. Jan did seem to only hang out with a couple other people. Both last night and this morning she had been nothing but nice. She took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. If she never at least tried to make friends she would always be lonely, no matter what.

"Wait up," Dani called and jogged after her.

Sitting at the breakfast table she learned that Jan was sixteen, and had been attending Mt. Claussen for six months. She got the impression that Jan was a little rebellious and thought her attitude was a nice change to be around. Not that Dani was rebellious. But after two months of totally hard work it would be nice to have a little break every once in a while. Knowing that she was probably up to no good last night, Dani had to know. "So where were you last night?"

"Oh no. Don't tell her that,” said a brown haired, brown-eyed boy as he sat beside Dani. She could tell that he was joking from the smile on his face. Dani got suddenly uncomfortable not knowing how this boy would react to her being at their table.

"I'm Damien,” he said, holding out his hand for her to shake. When she hesitated he laughed. "Don't worry, I won’t bite you. Scouts honor."

"He's for real, he only likes blonds," Jan said, Dani laughed too and took his hand.

"It's nice to meet you,” Dani said. He nodded.

"So are you really not going to answer me?" Dani asked again with her eyes on Jan.

"We were hanging out on the South Trail, nothing big. What were you doing?" Jan asked and Dani blushed.

"Hanging out by myself in a tree. At least I thought I was by myself." Then she decided to tell Damien and Jan what had happened.

"Rough break. He is hot," Damien said and Jan nodded her head in agreement. Dani looked at Damien curiously. "No, I’m straight but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate God's work," he answered her silent question with dignity.

Dani shook her head at Damien. Another thought for another day, she decided. "Anyway. He was such a smart aleck and all 'I told you so' to me. It was his damn fault I fell in the first place. He shouldn't have kept his presence unknown. Then he had the nerve grab my arm and-” She was working herself up into a big temper when she noticed the look on Jan and Damien’s faces. "What."

"You really shouldn't blame people for your own clumsiness," came a voice from behind her. The sound of the cocky voice sent shivers racing down her spine. She turned around to look up at the man standing behind her, his blond hair and bright baby blues shining.  Whether in amusement or anger she wasn’t sure.  Dani had a feeling that he was a master at hiding his emotions.  Not liking the idea of being talked down on, literally, she stood to face him head on with narrowed eyes and hands on hips.

“I see you still have a penchant for sneaking up on people unawares, Samuel.  Have you not learned your lesson yet?” she asked sweetly.  Before he could toss a snide remark at her she continued.  “And FYI, I wouldn’t have even fallen out of the tree in the first place if it weren’t for you.”  She took a step closer to the brooding man, knowing they weren’t alone made her feel braver. “What are you doing eavesdropping anyway?  Nothing better to do?  Or are you just planning on being around every corner I take now?” 

"Look who's being cocky now," he murmured quietly and matched her step. "You think I was following you little one?"

She interrupted him, "You are such a jerk, and I am not little."

"Would you just stop talking for one second?" he said heatedly. "I was in that tree first. Sorry that my being there scared you and made you fall. You dropped this when you went down," he handed her the small black cell phone. She hadn't even realized it was missing.

Caught by surprise Dani said, "Oh, thanks." But he had already stormed off in his anger. "Oops," she said on a breath and sat back down. Damien and Jan were staring at her with mixed looks of awe and exasperation. "What?" she asked annoyed.

Jan just shook her head as if she couldn't believe whatever it was going through her head. Damien said, "Two things. One you may just be an idiot for talking to him that way but it was very admirable. I've never seen nor heard of anyone facing him like that so you deserve kudos for having the balls to do it. Double kudos '‘cos one you’re a girl and two you’re a mixed blood." Dani must have made a face at that because he added quickly. "Not that I care. I don't. I think you're pretty cool no matter what blood you have."

"Now back to my second point. Don’t get mad at me for saying this, but you are definitely an idiot because you totally just hurt his feelings. He was being nice and I think he likes you and you just made him feel like a stalker. No girl in their right mind would have done that. They would have been ecstatic to get his attention. Crap even I would be and I repeat-I'M NOT GAY."

Feeling defensive she said, "I don't care if he likes me or not. His arrogance is unmatched.  I despise cocky people."

"But he's-” Damien stopped when Dani glared at him. Instead he threw his hands in the air and huffed out in exasperation. Jan just stared at her like she was nuts.

"Stop looking at me like that," she said to both of them. "Come, on the bell rang," and she stood up to walk out of the cafeteria.

Classes went on normally that morning. The only time Dani talked to anyone was when she saw Jan or Damien. Both seemed genuinely fond of her so she slowly let her guard down around them. They all had fourth period combat training together. It was one of the classes Joe taught. He smiled at her when she started talking to Damien and Jan.

They had all changed into workout clothes for class. Dani looked around the room and noticed the little retractable swords lying on the floor and got excited. They were going to practice hand to hand. They hadn't done that in class yet but she had been practicing with Joe.

When she saw the swords she smiled huge at her Uncle. The class got quiet when he started talking and in her ear Jan whispered, "Damn that man is fine."

"Eeww. You do know that's my uncle right?" Dani asked her and Jan just smiled and wiggled her eyebrows up and down. Shaking her head she returned her focus back on Joe.

"Today we are going to do some hand to hand. We will eventually try different styles and types of ways to kill a vampire. Does anyone know what they are?" he asked. Everyone raised their hands, but he called on a guy named Kirk.

"Silver weakens them. If you get a silver sword or dagger to the heart, they will die. Also decapitation and setting them on fireworks," he said.

Joe nodded. "The method we will use today is the sword. Try to get the heart or head. But you'll realize that real vampires will be a lot stronger than your classmates. Who wants to demonstrate?" he asked and Dani was the first raise her hand. Joe could feel her excitement and could almost see her struggling to keep herself from bouncing up and down and laughed. "All right Dani. You play hunter. Who wants to be the vampire?" He tossed her the sword and looked out at the class.

No one was volunteering. One kid had the nerve to say "I would do it but I'd probably hurt her, seeing as how she ain’t a full blood." Joe was about to reprimand him when Dani shook her head and said. "If you are so sure then come on?" Joe cut her off.

"Damien?"

"Nuh-uh. I've seen her in action. She'll kick my ass," he said then blushed. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Joe said on a laugh. "I'll do it." he said.

"No, I will," Samuel Johnson said. Dani narrowed her eyes at him then looked at Jan and Damien. Jan was bent over laughing and Damien had his hand over his mouth trying to hide a smile. She shook head at them and turned to Joe.

"What's so funny?" he asked her quietly.

"Nothing," she whispered. To Samuel she called. "Bring it Sammy Boy." She was fighting mad again and he matched her glare for glare.

"Careful kiddo," Joe said raising a questioning eyebrow. He knew something was up, just not what.

The whole class got quiet with anticipation. Dani quickly put her hair in a bun on top of her head and watched as Samuel rolled his shoulders before walking over to her. He grabbed her arm again and whispered, "Don't call me Sammy."

She punched him with her free hand and could practically feel her classmates still, the air in the room disappearing as everyone waited to see how he would react. "Didn't we just have this discussion Sammy? Don't grab at me like that." To her surprise he only nodded and stepped back.

"Dani, I didn't blow the whistle yet," Joe said disapprovingly.

They got in their stances, Dani with her fake sword and Samuel with his hands out as if to ward off a blow. "Don't hold back," she said.

"You don't deserve it," he said.

"Maybe not. You're right and I'm sorry for what I said."

"Never apologize for speaking your mind little one," he said, and the whistle blew. She kicked out at his midsection and missed.

"Don't call me Little One," she said circling him.

They circled each other, both feigning and lunging. Neither connecting to the other. She panted "I said don't hold back."

"Fine,” He snapped at her and kicked. The blow landed to her thigh and knocked her to one knee. He lunged before she could get up but she rolled out of the way just in time. They were facing each other on the opposite sides now.

Sword forgotten for a moment she punched out and got him in the kidney. They both swung and blocked attempts. She took a couple kicks to her middle and knew she would be sore tomorrow.

Dani wasn't sure how long they fought but it felt like forever. Sweat was dripping from her hair line and down her spine, her forearms were going to be bruised from blocking his punches and kicks. He wasn't holding back, of that she was sure. She finally got past his guard and flipped him. Before he could react, she was straddling him with her sword pressed against his neck.

She looked down at him and smiled, one he returned though not altogether friendly and she laughed.  They were both out of breath, their chests rising and falling quickly, and sweating.  Suddenly aware of their position she rolled over and lay beside him waiting for her breaths to even out.  She forgot about the rest of the class since the whole room had gone quiet at Samuels’s defeat, until Jan and Damien shook out of their disbelief and ran toward her. 

As the only two to come and congratulate her Jan and Damien helped her up off the floor. The look on their faces said it all. They were proud of her, they truly cared about her and she finally she felt free. She had friends. She hugged them and turned to help Samuel off the ground.