Mark of the Dagger (The Marked Series Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter Eleven

The next morning, having only gotten two hours of sleep, Dani was back to her normal routine and on the track.  She ran to clear her mind of the horrible things that were said last night between her and Samuel and the trip to the auditorium.  The combination of both was horrendous and brought nothing but tears as she tried to sleep.  This morning she even had to use concealer for fear of running into Joe.

Dani decided to treat what happened last night with Samuel the same as she would with any other student.  She would ignore it, let it just roll off her but since she knew she wasn’t as unaffected as she liked to seem, the more realistic approach would be to pretend that it just rolled off of her.  She would project a calmness that her inner self didn’t feel to keep everyone from knowing the torment wreaking havoc on her insides.

Even though it will break her heart to do it, she’ll go back to ignoring him like she did before the tree incident.  If a time came and Dani was put in a position where she had to talk to Samuel again then she would.  Her actions toward him before last night were less than civil at best.  Any future interaction would undoubtedly be worse.  But thinking about the things he said and the way he had used her just made her feel angry. And terribly sad.  She didn’t want to feel either of those emotions but if Dani had to choose then she chose angry.

And angry she was, enough so that it is what fueled her emotionally and physically drained body to move around the track.  Her anger intensifying with every thump of her feet. 
Thump,
she was pissed that he used her
. Thump,
she was irritated beyond all repair that he knew he could
. Thump,
she felt rage at herself for aligning the circumstances that allowed it to happen
. Thump,
and she was furious that she let it keep her down longer than the useless rat deserved
.

"Dani....Dani!” She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed someone on the sidelines of the track, waving her down. She slowed as she neared the next turn and finally noticed it was Alex and stopped in front of him with a big smile on her face.

"What are you doing up this early? It's Saturday?" she asked him.

"I'm a Hunter guarding the school remember? I'm on duty this morning," he laughed. "Girl you looked mighty mad. I've never seen anyone run like that." His voice softened. "Want to talk about it?"

"No,” She smiled at him. "Thanks but I'm ok. A little anger never hurt anybody."

"That was more than a little. But if you’re sure then..."

She nodded. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to Uncle Joe. No need in him trying to pry something that’s no big deal out of me. And you know he would."

"He is a little over protective, I'll admit that." He smiled. "Kiddo, I don't want to promise not mentioning this to him if it's going to come back and bite me later."

"It won’t," she laughed

"Of course you would say that."

"I promise. It's just girl stuff," she added, knowing that would get him to drop it.

"Alright. Well it's still early, and I got to make my rounds. I'll see you later alligator," he said.

"After 'while crocodile," she said.

They had been saying that parting for as long as she could remember, and suddenly she realized how lucky she was. She may have been in a new school around new people but she was still surrounded by people she loved that loved her back. She had Joe, Nadia and Alex all of whom she has known her entire life. She had family here. And Adele too, though she didn't see her as much. With this new realization she headed to her dorm room to shower, already planning to spend the day with her family.

She stood, banging on Joes door, waiting for him to answer. She looked at her watch to make sure it wasn't too early. He should be up by now. She knocked again, even louder and called out to him. She heard a muffled curse from the other side of the door, and realized why when he answered, naked from the waist up and Nadia readjusting her clothes.

"Oh jeez!" Dani said turning beat red. "First let me say yuck! Shame on you two. Second, it's about damn time." She laughed and jumped out of the way when Joe tried to smack her. "I'll come back later."

"No it's alright, were done,” Nadia said.

"Ick! Too much info there woman," she said and watched Nadia blush

"That's not what I meant." Dani laughed, she had never seen the great Nadia as flustered as she was at that moment.

She shrugged to show she didn't really care. She was in too good a mood today. "Why are you in such a good mood?" Joe asked as if reading her mind. She smiled.

"You'll just think it's corny.” When Joe only stood there staring at her, she sighed and continued. “I was out running this morning, blowing off some steam when Alex walked up to the track. You know how we always used to say that whole 'see ya later alligator' saying to each other?"

"Yeah, you've been doing that since you were two. Actually I think he's the one who taught you to say it," Joe said.

"Yep. Anyway, we said that to each other when he left and I realized something. I'm an idiot for not putting it together before, not in the sense that I did this morning.  I realized that I'm not alone here. I have family with me all the time. I have you, Nadia and Alex."

“And the knowledge that I'll have you guys here, made me happy. I mean obviously I knew you were here before but... I mean, I've known all of you my whole life. I know that you all care about me and I'm not really alone here... God that sounded lame."

"You just now realizing this?" Nadia asked with swat at the back of Dani's head. "Silly girl."

"Anyway, enough about me. I want to know how long this has been going on and how come I never knew about it? Is it a secret? Does Alex know? Does-"

"Enough Dani, breathe,” Joe interrupted her. "That’s why you didn't know. You ask too many questions and I wasn't ready to explain the relationship to you."

“What do you have to explain? It's not like you have to give me the sex talk Uncle Joe."

"Jesus, Dani,” Joe turned beat red causing Dani and Nadia to laugh at his expense.

"What? I already know what sex is. Mom gave me the talk plus we have cable at home. Remember?"

"Oh God Dani, stop," Nadia said, laughing at Joes' expression. "Don't goad him.  You’re giving the poor man a complex.

"Your own dang fault for keeping it from me," she shrugged.

"Alright, I'll be good, now answer my questions."

"It's not a secret, Alex knows and we have only been together for about three months," Nadia answered.

"Really?" she asked looking from one to the other. "I guess I just thought you guys had been together for longer, and since I caught you with your hand in the cookie jar I felt it was ok pry."

"No," Joe said. "And 'caught you with your hand in the cookie jar?' Where in the hell do you get this stuff?" He laughed.

"I'm a teenager, we hear all kinds of things.  Either way, I'm glad you guys are together."

Joe looked relieved yet his tone was sarcastic when he said, “Thanks Queen Dani for your approval." She shrugged indifferently.

"I was wondering if we could get a pass to go off campus?" she asked Joe in her sweetest most innocent voice she could. He knew right away that she was trying to work him. Which she always did, and he always allowed.

Knowing that, he asked cautiously. "Why?"

"I need some new clothes. A lot of my jeans are a little baggy, plus I just want to get away. I figured I could hang out at the mall with my family! Maybe we could grab lunch at the food court too?"

Joe sighed. "Why are you losing weight? You shouldn't be losing weight you're too skinny as it is."

"It's not on purpose. It's from all the training simulations you've been putting me through. So, kind of it's your fault and you should definitely take me and Nadia to the mall." She finished with a cheesy grin.

"Ooh! I agree,” Nadia said.

"Girls!” he said, exasperated. "I don't know if I can. I've got some stuff to do.” Seeing their twin looks of disappointment he added. "Let me check around. I'll have to ask some people first. But if I can't, you two can go without me."

Chapter Twelve

Spending the day at the mall had done its’ job.  The longer she was away from campus the more her disposition improved. They had a great time browsing through the stores and eating lunch together.  The only downside had been that Jan wasn’t able to join them.  But all in all, she had been able to push the events of the party out of her mind!

The next Monday at school was business as usual and only a few people gave her odd looks.  Meaning that not that many people witnessed what had happened outside of Damien’s dorm room on Friday night.

The only thing that dampened her rejuvenated spirits was seeing Samuel around campus.  She vowed to not show any outward reactions because she knew it would be humiliating if he were to find out how much he affected her.  In fact, he would probably love it.  She decided that indifference would cut him the most.  So that’s exactly what she did, she pretended that he wasn’t even there.  She had to save her pride somehow!

Joe’s eagle eye on the both of them throughout the week during combat training made ignoring Samuel doubly hard.  Joe’s curiosity with Dani and Samuel was frustrating to the say the least.  He was constantly looking between the two with furrowed brow and questions shining in his eyes and every time he looked at Dani for answers she had to pretend she didn’t notice.  For five days straight she had to haul butt out of there before he could pull her aside.  Dani hated avoiding her uncle!  Just another thing to add to the
Why Dani hate’s Samuel
list.

Even though they hadn’t spoken to one another in days, the antagonism between them only seemed to grow.  It was a physical presence that you could feel anytime they were forced to be in the same room.  Samuel even had the nerve to throw snarky remarks her way in front of the entire combat class when a student suggested they do another demonstration.  In front of Joe, no less!  Once again, he managed to hurt her for no reason.  That was the first time she struggled to keep up her
I don’t care
façade in front everyone.  And that shamed her.

One thing that really confused her about the whole thing was that fighting with Samuel hurt her with a physical pain.  She felt each verbal blow as if it were a punch landing on her body.  Each glare, each hateful look was a stab to the heart.  The emotional turmoil, she could understand.  But she didn’t know what to do with the other stuff.

***

With the campus at capacity, the parking lot was full of black SUV’s.  The extra housing provided from the school for special events was full of Demon Hunters from all over the world.  She braved Joe’s inquisition long enough to ask why so many people were here and barely let him push out his lie about ‘special training’ before she took off again.  She could tell he was lying before he even opened his mouth and Dani didn’t want to risk Joe asking his own questions enough to stick around to find out the truth.

The influx of guards made it harder for Dani to sneak out.  They were always on guard, tense as if waiting for something to jump out and say
Boo.
Though their readiness was a good thing considering their jobs, it made her think something more was going on.

It was Friday night and she was in her room when there was a knock at her door.  Worried it was Jan with an invitation to another party she was tempted to ignore it.  She had just gotten to the part in
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
where they are standing in Dumbledore’s office accusing him of creating Dumbledore’s Army and she would much rather keep reading than attempt a party.  What could she say, she loved reading and Harry Potter was her favorite.  When the knock sounded again, this time louder, she huffed in annoyance and got out of bed.

"What?" she grumbled when she opened the door. "Oh, hey. What are you doing up here?" she asked when she saw that it was Damien.

"We are going to put in some practice time. Want to come?"

"Sure," she said. "I'm always up for more, and it gets kind of old fighting Joe all the time. We're getting to where we know each other’s moves, so it's not as exciting."

"Great,” he said relieved. "Well were heading out to the gym now if you want to come."

"I’m surprised they're letting us use the gym tonight," she said after she changed and they were walking through the quad. "Especially since there are so many visitors this week."

"Trainer Joe gave us permission. I wonder why there are so many Hunters on campus anyway."

"I heard they were just here to train or something. There is another school opening up and all the Hunters assigned to it will be assigned here for a couple months to get the hang of things I guess." She shrugged. "At least that's what Uncle Joe said anyway."

"You sound like you don't believe it."

"I guess I don't.  Joe is a horrible liar." She laughed. That and she had this nagging feeling that she was missing something.

"What do you think's really going on?"

"Not a clue." Not entirely true she thought. She wondered if all the extra Hunters had anything to do with her sort of dream though she still hadn’t told anyone about it.

In the gym they all paired off. There were six pairs in all. When she saw Jan paired with Jordan she quickly grabbed Damien as a partner.

"What do you want to use? Sword? Stake?" Damien asked.

"Hands?" she countered. She wasn't in the mood to wield anything, plus she wanted a more basic work out first.

They faced off as soon as they were able to find empty space on the mat.  Their interest in sparring soon wore thin as neither of them were able to land a solid hit on the other.  When they realized neither could get the upper hand it turned more playful rather than educational.  She laughed as Damien swung too high and lunged at him.  He moved too quickly and before she could regain balance she lost her footing, landing face down on the mat.

She rolled to her back to get up but before she could, he sat over her waist. "Mmpf,” she said as his weight landed on her.

"You lose," he said. Without getting off her he continued. "I know I've already said this, but let me say it again. I'm really sorry about what happened at my party. I swear, I thought he was into you and had I known he would be such a dick I would have stopped him from taking you outside like that."

"Don't worry about it. Crap happens." She tried to shrug but his weight kept her pinned down.

"Then we’re still cool?" he asked.

"Yes of course. Like I said, it isn't your fault that the guy has major issues," she laughed.

"Great,” he said and bent to give her a quick, friendly kiss. With a smile he rolled off her to help her up.

"Wow, Dani. You really should be more careful about how many guys you kiss in one week. You'll get a certain reputation," Samuel said sarcastically. She felt Damien tense beside her and she grabbed his wrist to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

“Sounds like someone has a chip on their on their shoulder,” Damien said.  She gave Samuel a cool look then turned her back on him.

"Come on Damien." She pulled him away before Samuel had time to reply and back toward the group still fighting on the mat.

Dani soon decided that she was done with group training and went into the weight room, if for no other reason than to just be alone… And for the punching bag.  She really needed to get her anger, hurt and frustration about Samuel out of her system and she couldn’t really take it all out on some unsuspecting sparring partner.

It took a great deal of effort not to reply to Samuel's comment. That was the only thing she was proud of at the moment. She hated herself for loving him. She hated the fact that he was able to hurt her so badly even without saying anything at all. She hated that she had given him that power over her and he didn't even know it.

She was weak. She punched the bag harder as her anger got stronger and felt something pop in her wrist. She did another experimental punch to the bag. It stung, but she thought she could work through it and alternated with kicks.

What kind of Demon Hunter would she make if she couldn't even handle the fact that someone like him hated her? She shouldn't care who hates her or not. She was here to train, she was here to become a warrior. She shouldn't be concerned about some boy.  Sure, he was a cute boy.  Sure, he was the best Demon Hunter of his generation.  Sure, he made her heart skip a beat whenever she looked at him.  Sure, his kisses turned her inside out.  But he was still just a boy and in the grand scheme of things, he was unimportant.

Dani pictured his face on the bag and attacked with a vengeance. She didn't know how long she stayed in there but by the time she was finished her left ankle was swollen, her shin was bruised and her wrist was on fire. She limped out into the main room and noticed that it was empty.

Dani went out into the night and headed toward her room. Halfway there she detoured to the pond. She took a deep breath of the cool night air and her throat burned with unshed tears. Her fight with the punching bag relieved her of her anger but not of her despair.

She collapsed under the first tree she saw, unable to walk any farther. Her ankle hurt too badly. She awkwardly rested on her knees for a moment, trying not to jar her injured bones too badly, before settling back against the tree. Looking out over the lake she remembered her dad. She was already melancholy, why not add to it?
 

Dani wondered what her dad would think of her if he could see her now. Would he be disappointed in her for being so emotional? Would he overlook it and see that she was doing her best? But was she really doing her best? Sure, she trained as hard as she could but it was all the other stuff that worried her.

Not being able to keep her emotions under control probably affected her ability as a fighter. Had Dani known that being in love with a person gave them such a great power over you, she would have fought harder to keep her heart her own. She blinked rapidly to try to keep the tears from falling and failed.

She used to dream about finally falling in love. She thought it would be all bright lights and sparkles. Never had she imagined it would be shades of black and gray. "That's what you get for falling in love with someone who hates your guts," she said aloud.

She heard the thump as someone landed on the ground on the other side of the tree. She should have figured that the one person she couldn't bear to see, would be the one walking toward her now. It seemed as if he were always around when she was down, and he liked to gloat about it.

She averted her face when he came to stand in front of her and tried to discreetly wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Where's your boyfriend?" he asked sarcastically.

"Where's Barbie?" she replied.

She knew he would be able to tell she had been crying by the sound of her voice. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the trunk of the tree. Without opening them she said tiredly. "Is there a reason you're trying to annoy me tonight? Because if not, I would really appreciate it if you just left me alone."

Dani stiffened when Samuel sat beside her against the tree, his side brushing hers.  When she made a move to get up he caught her injured wrist in his hand to waylay her.  She cried out in pain and he angrily dropped his hold.  “Jesus Dani, I didn’t grab you that hard,” he spat.  She gingerly cradled her wrist to breasts taking deep breaths to ease the pain radiating up and down her arm.

"I'm tired Samuel," she sighed.

"Then go to bed," he snapped. She closed her eyes briefly then nodded not bothering to mention that just a moment ago he was trying to keep her there. She rolled to her knees to get up, and he said, "I'm sorry."

She paused and stared at him incredulously and sat back down. "For?"

"I..." He let out a breath of frustration. "I know I'm rude to you and I'm sorry."

"No, you're far past rude." She looked out over the pond toward the mountains.

"You're the first person in a long time that isn’t intimidated by me. And I liked that."

Still not looking at him she said, "Funny way of showing it."

"And there's that. I don't know half the time if you like me or hate me. Your tone and words say you hate me yet your eyes say something completely different. You confuse the hell out of me Dani."

"Do you expect me to apologize for that? Because I won’t. In fact I'm glad that I've been snarky. The moment I let my guard down around you, the very second that I surrendered and gave you everything I had to give, you threw it back in my face. So no, I don't apologize." She got up gingerly and started to limp away.

"What are you talking about?" he asked spinning her around to face him.

"Since you have to ask, that just tells me that it was wasted." She took a breath trying to calm the hurt that wanted to surface. "Please let go of my arm. Please," she sobbed. "Just let me go."

As soon as he did as she requested she turned to walk away. "No! Not until you talk to me." he said and tackled her, the only way to keep her there was by sitting on her. "Dani, what's wrong with you."

"What's wrong with me?" she whispered. "You're what’s wrong with me. I fell in love with you Samuel. God knows why? But I did. I wish I didn't love you. I wouldn't be broken now if I didn't. I have never given my heart to anyone before and when I gave it to you, you used it to prove a stupid point. Such a pointless thing to do because I already knew that I wanted you. The craziest part of it all? I have no clue why I love you. You’ve given me zero reason to Samuel. None. But for some stupid reason, even now, my traitorous heart aches for you. But I will not be your test dummy again."