Chapter Three-Jed

I shut the door on the young hexblood. Unable to fathom why she'd attempt such a brash escape, surely she knew it would be impossible? Between the gourams guarding the water's edge and the shifters patrolling the island, she should have realized that she'd end up dead before she got close enough to escape. In fact, it's amazing she got as far as the clearing in the first place.

I exited the cabin and inhaled deeply, taking a moment to reflect on what happened when I caught her. The answer burned in the back of my mind but I refused to acknowledge it. After all, it's impossible. The best thing to do would be to turn her in quickly and be done with it.

Trees rustled close by and I growled in response, crouching to attack whoever dare invade my territory for the second time that night.

My body relaxed as a slender figure emerged from the shadows. "Easy, Tiger," she said, raising her hands in the air playfully, "A bunch of us were sent out to look for another escapee, this one actually busted the door down if you believe it. Killed her own sister too. The bloody savage," she shook her head, "That's what you get for mixing bloods the way the royals do. Anyways, I'm sure one of the others will catch up with her, it's not like she's got much place to hide so I've got a few moments to spare."

She tilted her head to the side which made her blue eyes sparkle as the moonlight shone down onto her glossy blonde hair. "Not that I'm not beyond happy to see you, but weren't you scheduled to leave the island tonight? I thought I saw your name on the notice at the docks." She asked as she looked up at the night sky, "Looks like the perfect night for a hunt."

I shrugged and walked towards the forest, "Something came up. I'm pretty interested in seeing the door the hexblood broke though, take me there?"

Giving me a wicked grin, she joined me as we made our way along the short path leading to the village, "Sure, No problem. It's right this way. Although I must warn you, you might get hungry." She said with a wink before walking ahead of me, swaying her hips as she did.

The smell of blood was the first thing I noticed as we approached a small hut. The door was split in half, left hanging to the side on one hinge as it gently swayed and squeaked in the breeze. At first all I saw was a single drop of blood on the floor outside, however once I entered the tiny living space I found myself frozen in place.

Never before had I seen such brutality from a hexblood. Blood covered the ceiling, walls and floor, pooling around the dead girl's body which was covered in puncture wounds no doubt from a vampire.

I sniffed the air around us and picked up the dead girl's scent, the captive's scent, and one other. "I don't think this was done by the girl. I smell someone else."

"Hmm, who cares?" Delilah said, clearly uninterested as she bent down and pulled the silver locket from around the dead girls neck. She stood up and dangled it in front of me, "Finders keepers!"

I shook my head as I watched her leave with the girl's necklace, "Typical witch." I muttered.

"I believe the word you're looking for is bitch," She giggled as she spun on her heel and walked away, "See you later, I should probably help the others find the hexblood."

"Actually, I may have already found her."

She turned and studied me from top to bottom with one eyebrow raised, "Do you now? And how exactly did this happen?"

"She invaded my territory." I stated with a shrug.

Delilah nodded and pulled out her cell phone, "Hi there, Frank. Yeah we found the girl." She waited a few moments before replying, "Great, we'll bring her over in a few." She snapped the phone closed and looked at me, "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get moving. Chop chop!" She said playfully clapping her hands together.

**********

"Wake up." Delilah said sharply, kicking the girl in the stomach before pulling her up roughly by the wrist. "Come on." She said loudly as the hexblood scrambled to her feet, scowling as Delilah spoke, "Move it or lose it, Sunshine, I've got better things to do today."

"Well, I can't say you're the highlight of my day either." She spat back sarcastically and I couldn't help but smirk. The girl had guts, that's for sure. Delilah was one badass, higher level witch; hardly anybody dared to challenge her.

Delilah looked momentarily shocked but recovered quickly. In a period of two seconds she had the girl up against the wall by her throat, her feet hovering just inches away from the floor. "You better learn where you stand, hexblood," she said when their faces were just inches apart, "You may be emotionless enough to kill your own flesh and blood but that kind of savagery is nothing compared to the magic coursing through my veins as we speak, step out of line again and I'll make you wish you were never bred."

Delilah let go of her and she fell to the ground, leaving her in a heap on the floor as Delilah turned around and walked out of the room, "I'll get her cleaned up and ready." She said.

I turned back to the hexblood as she spoke, "Tell me she's lying," she shouted at me. "Tell me my sister is not dead!"

"You killed her yourself, girl. Do you know what the price is for such an act?" I said as I walked forward and pulled her up to face me. "Public execution." I finished slowly.

"I didn't kill her," she sobbed adamantly through clenched teeth, "but I am the reason she's dead. Please," she said as her teary eyes found mine, "kill me."

Just then something happened that took me completely off guard, something familiar that I hadn't felt in a hundred years. My skin started to tingle as her emotions tore through me, knocking down every barrier I'd put in place since that day.

I tried to pull away from her but couldn't escape as my veins started becoming apparent under my skin, changing from red to a brilliant blue as it made its way down my arms to where our skin touched.

Her eyes went wide as she watched what was happening, "What's going on? What are you doing to me?" She asked.

"No. This can't be happening, it's impossible," I whispered as I watched the colour of her veins change from black to the same blue as my own, "Delilah!" I shouted frantically, "Delilah, get in here now!"

I heard her run up behind me, "What the hell?" She said. As soon as she saw what was happening, she reached forward and tried to pull the girl away from me. There was a popping sound as she pulled back and screeched, her hand red and scorched as she hissed angrily.

Before I could do anything about it everything came to a stop, the whole world ceased to exist apart from her and I. But I was already mated, it wasn't meant to be possible. Guilt and anger tore through me as I thought of her for the first time in so long. I remembered my promise to love her and only her for eternity and I still intended on keeping that promise.

The hexblood looked around with wide eyes, seeing Delilah frozen in time made her open and close her mouth in surprise before she turned her attention back to me.

My back started burning as the mark burned its way back to life. I'd been expecting it, seeing as I'd experienced all of it before, so I clenched my teeth and waited for the pain to disappear.

The hexblood however, never saw it coming. She screamed as the fire tore through her and branded her back with the mating symbol. "What have you done to me?" she asked, her voice shaking as she watched her veins pulse underneath her skin, "What is this? What's going on?" she gestured to her back.

I couldn't tell her what had just happened, I couldn't let her know that my form had just chosen her as my eternal mate. "I'm not sure." I lied.

In that moment our skin returned to normal and time resumed its course.

Delilah walked over to the hexblood and pushed her roughly against the wall as she struggled to get her shirt up over her head. When her eyes found the circular symbol of Aphrodite's flower in the center of her back she gasped and backed off, "It's impossible," She whispered as she looked to me, "Let me see yours." She whispered softly as she made her way behind me and lifted my shirt. I felt her warm fingers trace over the mark that had turned a murky white the moment Tara died. "Jed," she said so softly only I could hear, "the mark, it's black."

Rage surged within me as I punched a hole in the wall, sending bricks flying around the small room. I turned and left them there as I made my way outside, running onto the beach and letting loose as I started to shift.

I heard Delilah shouting behind me as I dropped to my knees, "Jed, I know you're upset. We will find out what's happened but I need you to stay with me. You can't lose control. Not here, not now. I promise you, we'll fix this."

I growled loudly as I fought the urge to change, my muscles itching with the need to tear.

Delilah crouched down and cradled my face gently in her hands, "Jed, come on. We need to figure this out, and it's going to be extremely difficult to do that while you're in full form." She said more firmly, "The queen is expecting the prisoner to be turned in, we need to come up with something quickly before they send someone over here to-"

"Delilah? What's going on here? Where's the girl?" One of the guards emerged from the forest.

Delilah sprang up and flipped her hair over her shoulder, "She escaped." She said plainly.

"Escaped?" The guard said in disbelief, "and how exactly did that happen?"

"Well you see, she just-" Delilah started but was interrupted by a loud bang as the front door to the house swung open.

We turned to see the hexblood making a run for it. My head snapped up to Delilah, "I thought you locked her up!" I shouted as the guard turned and chased after her.

"I knocked her out! I don't know how she woke up, it was a pretty strong spell!" She said desperately.

"Well it didn't work!" I said as I turned and shifted mid-air, sprinting after the guard. To his surprise I leaped onto him, sinking my teeth into his neck as Delilah tackled the hexblood to the ground before wrestling her back inside.

The guard screamed in agony as I bit down harder, breaking his neck with a sickening crunch before dragging his body into the living room.

Delilah walked into the living room, her hands bloody. Without hesitation I dropped the body and turned to her, baring my fangs.

"Easy there, it's my own. The girl is fine. Well, not fine, but alive. Take a deep breath." She said slowly, lowering her hands as she walked towards me. Looking down at the dead body she raised her eyes to meet mine, a worried expression clouding her features, "Now what do we do? The queen adores you but even you won't get away with murdering one of her most valued guards"

"Which is why we need to stage an escape gone wrong." I said, my mind made up, "Can you cast an illusion spell over him to make him look like the hexblood."

"I can, but it won't last longer than a week at most," she said with a shrug, "after that it will fade gradually over a period of a few days."

"That's all we need." I said, "You deal with that. Leave the body on the edge of the woods near the water. I need to see the queen."