Hidden Powers

Chapter 4: Mark

            It’s been at least a week since we left Midknight Coven in search for this Hope person Ava keeps talking about. Her and her twin brother Holton. Ava hasn’t really told us much about them, but they’re both red eyes chosen to defeat Michael. I don’t think Ava would lead us into any danger on purpose. Ever since I met up with James and Chase at the mall that one night, my life has changed.

            My parents would tell me stories about the red eyes who would one day bring all the supernatural’s together and lead us into battle to defeat an old vampire drunk with power. I thought it was just a story, trying to encourage me and other children to become a warrior for the King. It was a myth among our world, but now I know that those stories are true. That’s why I changed my occupation. It was time for me to serve my King and Queen, who happened to now be some of my best friends. I was so thankful when Ava agreed to let me become a warrior, and shocked when she asked me to be her personal guard. Even though she doesn’t need one, she felt it was the right position for me.

            “We should stop here for a while.” James said bringing me back to the present. We were stopped in a crowded area of trees. It would be difficult to see us if anyone were to walk by, and there’s plenty of debris on the ground to be alerted if anyone snuck up on us.

            “This looks good.” I said as I place my pack down next to a tree. Ava jumped down from the trees. She took the high ground to scout out the area and to help lead us in the right direction. Her and James can communicate through a special mind link due to her powers, and them being true destined mates, like the truest of all time. I’m not sure there’s another couple out there to match their bond.

               “Ava, you need to be more careful. It’s not just your life you have to protect now, remember.” James scolded her. She rolled her eyes at him and kissed his cheek.

                “Your baby is perfectly fine, and so am I.” She told him.

                They were expecting their first baby together and for them, it’s a difficult time to be expecting. There’s a crazy evil vampire guy wanting to take Ava away for himself because she looks like her aunt, who happened to be this guys mate. He didn’t know it when he killed her though. I think he figured it out right before she died and he probably regrets it.

                James and I got to work setting up a tent while Ava set up a fire to start cooking. All of a sudden I smelled something that didn’t belong in the woods. It was a flower sent, but I could quite figure out which one. It was being masked with something else that didn’t belong either. I looked around trying to search for where it could be coming from.

                “Everything good bro?” James asked with concern on his face.

                “I don’t know. Can you smell that?” I looked over at him and he looked confused. He shook his head then I looked over at Ava. Her senses are a little better with her extra powers.

                “I can smell lilacs, maybe there’s a field close by.” That was the flower smell. The scent gives me warmth and makes me feel good inside.

                “Can you smell anything else?” I needed to know if she could smell what was trying to cover it up. She shook her head.

                “Why? Is there something else in the air?” She asked with a knowing look on her face.

                “I think the scent is coming from someone, because it smells like it’s being covered up by something else. Almost like they’re trying to hide.”

                “You know what I think?” She asked with a big smile. “I think we’re closer than we thought. I’ll contact Hope after getting some sleep then maybe she can help us again.”

I finished setting up the tent with James and Ava finished cooking dinner. We kept it simple with hot dogs to eat then we each had a bottle of blood. Our supply was starting to run low, so I hope we can reach our location soon. After we ate, James said he would take the first watch while Ava and I slept. Ava tried to say that she could take the first shift but James and I both shut that down. She needed rest to help the baby grow. Once I knew Ava was settled in the tent and already asleep, I took a spot close by and set up my sleeping bag on the ground. I preferred sleeping outside in case I needed to jump into action at any moment.

                “It’s all good bro, go to sleep. I’ll wake you up if something happens.” James encouraged me.

                “Thanks man.” I closed my eyes and took in deep breaths. I focused on the lilac smell and let it calm me into a deep sleep.

                A girl appeared in front of me with short blonde spikey hair. Her eyes were a dark brown full of pain and sadness. She was broken and struggling with something. I wanted to reach out to her, but every time I raised my hand to reach out, I was further back. She tried to open her mouth to speak but no words came out. She started to claw at her throat like she was surprised she had no voice. She was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I stopped trying to reach out and after a moment, I would get closer to her. She stopped trying to speak and we were able to be close to each other. I sat down, indication she should do the same. We sat there studying each other for a while, until someone else appeared.

                This new person was a guy who looked about a year older than me, and the girl. I didn’t notice too much about him, but his grey eyes stood out and they were evil. They held a darkness in them that would terrify most people. He grabbed the girl and she began to scream. This time I could hear her voice and it broke my heart to listen to. I tried to reach for her again, to stop her from going with the dangerous guy, but again, I got pushed back. I watched helplessly as she was dragged away and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I heard a laughter in my head which startled my awake.

                I was in a cold sweat and I couldn’t grasp where I was. My breathing was fast and I couldn’t focus. James came over and put his hand on my shoulder. When he touched me, I jumped and almost grabbed him to tackle him down. He blocked my move and pinned me to the ground.

                “It’s ok man. Take deep breaths. You had a bad dream.” He told me over and over again until my heart rate slowed. “Better?”

                “Yeah, sorry.” He got off of me and helped me up. “Ava still sleeping?”

                “Of course, nothing can wake her up unless it’s real danger.”

                “Good. That’s good.”

                “Want to tell me what happened?

                “I don’t even know.” I sighed. He was looking at me, waiting for an explanation. “I was dreaming of someone. She was beautiful, but she looked sad and in pain. We couldn’t talk to each other, but eventually another guy showed up and dragged her away from me. Even though she couldn’t talk to me regularly, I could hear her scream and it broke me. I tried to reach out but couldn’t grab her back to me. Then there was an evil laughter that woke me up.

                “You’ve never had dreams like that before?”

                “Never.”

                “It’s a warning.” Ava said while coming out of the tent.

                “A warning for what?” I asked her.

                “I don’t know since I didn’t see the dream, I’m just going off of a gut feeling. My guess is this girl is    someone important to you and there’s someone in her life who is going to be a danger to her, and possibly to you as well.”

                I nodded my head at her trying to take it all in. After rubbing my face many times, I stretched out my arms and back from sleeping on the ground. “You two can get some more sleep. I’ll start my shift now.”

                “Everything is good so far. Only disturbance was you.” James told me before he and Ava went into the tent. I tuned out their talk and focused on the forest life around me. That lilac smell was growing stronger, and I’m determined to find the person connected to it as soon as I could.

*Hope*

                I jolted up in bed as soon as Jack started to drag me away from Mark. It was painful when he reached out to me but was pushed back instead. I tried to call out to him, but my voice wasn’t working. Eventually we were able to have a moment sitting in silence together. He was very handsome and I wanted to say hi so badly. When I was getting comfortable, I heard Jack in my head. He told me I belonged to him, and him alone. Then he showed up and grabbed my hair to pull me away. I screamed from the pain in my hair and Mark tried again to grab me away from Jack. I wasn’t sure what all Mark could see, but he knew something was happening. Last I heard was Jack’s laughter in my head before waking up. This dream was worse then the last one, and I actually had to talk to Jack in that one.

                Sleep wasn’t planned for me tonight. I haven’t slept for long since getting home from the movies with Lucy and Emily a few nights ago. Jack tried his best to hang around us and ask me questions that would possibly give my identity away. Lucy and I tried our best to get away, but Emily was struggling to stick with us. She kept finding reasons to talk with him and to keep him around. I need Holton to suck it up and come around when she’s near so he can hear what’s going in her mind, but he has this Emily sensor to tell him when to leave.

                I got up and went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. I’ve been struggling to reach out to Ava, probably from the lack of sleep since my first nightmare. Finally after calming down, I decided to go down into the kitchen and pull out some ingredients for a sleeping spell. One that will help me sleep without someone else invading into them. Once I was finished, I took it upstairs and put it on my dresser. I wanted to take it, but I didn’t know how long I would sleep for. There was still something bothering me and my body was starting to heat up, so I opened my window and went to sit on the roof. I took deep breaths and found a few new smells. One was a strong smell of roses, another was rain, and the last was of pine trees. I’ve never smelled anything more amazing.

                “What are you sniffing at?” Holton came out of his window and sat next to me.

                “You can smell that?” I pointed out in the general air.

                “No. We can’t pick up on smells, that’s usually a vampire or werewolf ability.”

                “Maybe I’ve been spending too much time in Ava’s head.” I laughed and shrugged.

                “Why are you awake?”

                “I can ask you the same question brother dear.”

                “I felt your anxiousness. Bad dream?”

                “You could say that.” I sighed.

                “Is that why you haven’t been sleeping lately? You keep having bad dreams?”

                “I didn’t know you were paying attention, but I’m fine.”

                “What’s with the potion then?” Held up the bottle of the sleeping potion I made a few minutes ago.

                “How did you…?”

                “You’re not the only one practicing their magic.” He winked at me. He twirled his hand and the potion was gone. “I put it back on your desk.”

                I decided to fill him in on my dream with Jack a few nights ago, and what happened in my dream tonight. Although I could see anger flash across his face, he listened quietly and didn’t interrupt until I was all done. “So, what do you think?”

                “I think I’m going to kill him.” He said through gritted teeth.

                “He’s too strong now Holt. I’m worried that he broke through our spell and can remember that night.”

                “Even if he did, and he does, he’s not going to do anything to you. I’ll get Logan to stick around. Ava and her group will be here soon, so that’s three more powerful people. Nothing is going to happen.”

                “Lucy will help, but I don’t think Emily will be willing to help anytime soon.”

                “Don’t say her name. That girl gives me the heebie jeebies.” He pretended to shiver from the cold after saying this.

                “It would be nice if you didn’t avoid her all the time. Something is up with her, but I can’t figure out what. Lucy and I have learned not to talk about anything too important in front of her now just in case.”

                “I can think about it. You should try and get some more sleep though. I’ll stay in your room tonight to help keep the demon away. If it doesn’t work, you can take the potion.”

                “Thanks Holt.” We both climbed in through my window and settled on my bed. I left the window open so I could continue smelling that pine tree smell. I took several deep breaths inhaling it in to calm my nerves. Between that and having Holton next to me, I was able to close my eyes and have a dreamless sleep.