Page 69 of Marked

I nod, which is a terrible thing to do with my blazing headache, and try to swallow down the despair and anxiety choking me. Pulling out my gun, I click off the safety despite knowing that it’ll probably be as useless against Seth as it was against Jack. With a shaking inhale, I knock on the door. When Seth doesn’t answer, I twist the handle and, finding it unlocked, push it open.

I cautiously poke my head in, scanning the living room that the entryway faces. Stepping in, I cradle the gun in both hands while trying to keep my posture relaxed. “Seth?” I call out. “Taylor?”

“In the kitchen, Val!” Seth calls merrily.

Jack has masked his aura, but I can feel him close behind me as I limp through the apartment towards the kitchen. I’ve been here countless times since Seth and I started seeing each other, but it has never felt as foreign as it does now. My eyes dart and scan everything, taking in the decorations and furniture with a new critical eye.

When I approach the kitchen, I reel back from the stench of blood, rot, and fruit. Scrunching my nose in a pitiful attempt to get rid of the stench, I step onto the tiled floor. Jack stays behind, his back pressed against the wall next to the kitchen entry.

“What is this?” I ask, looking over the chaotic kitchen.

There’s fruit strewn across the counters. Some of it is fresh and bright, the others are overly ripe with dark green fuzzy spots on them. Small gnats fly over the piles of spoiled fruit before landing on them. Various colorful glass bottles are haphazardly tossed on the counter, some lying on their sides and spilling out suspicious dark liquids.

“Making wine, of course,” Seth explains with a smile from his spot in front of the sink. He’s standing there with a black butcher’s apron, his hands twisting a bar-like knob on top of a wooden bucket. Small planks make up the bucket, almost like a barrel.

“Wine?” I echo, taking a small step forward.

“Yes, it is what I do, after all. Or did you forget that in our weeks apart?” His tone is light, but his smile is mocking and cruel as he steps away from his wine press. He grabs a tattered towel from the counter and wipes at the dark red stains on his hands. He tsks when he turns to me and sees my gun. “Now, now, there’s no need for the gun, Val.”

I give him a disbelieving look. “No need? You kidnapped my best friend!” Remembering Jack’s phone recording this, I go on. “Taylor doesn’t deserve this, Seth.”

He hums as he picks up a short, sharp knife and grabs a handful of strawberries, a mix of fresh and spoiled. “So, you said,” he says. “But you do. I’ve never been rejected before, Val. You wounded me and then my pride when you chose a dog over me. Quite rude.”

“I thought we had an agreement,” I respond bitterly. “We were just bed buddies, Seth. I told you I didn’t want a relationship.”

The blade snaps down hard on the wood cutting board with a loud thunk. “And yet you went on a date with the guardian. Two of them at least.”

“He’s my partner,” I stress, keeping the gun trained on him. “We’re investigating the murders going on in town.” My eyes narrow into a cold glare. “But you’d know all about them, wouldn’t you?”

Seth hums noncommittally. “I believe we already discussed this.”

“No,” I shoot back. “We didn’t. You went on and on about Ammit.” I remember what Jack said about his ego and start to poke at it. “Or was she the one controlling you? After all, you were left to clean up all her messes, weren’t you? A god reduced to an errand boy, it seems. First you lose the girl, then your supposed control. What a pity.”

I don’t realize he’s thrown the knife at me until it sits buried in my thigh. Fuck that was fast. Way too fast. Maybe I pushed the god’s buttons a little too hard. When I look down at the handle protruding from my flesh, the pain hits me and I try to muffle the groan. My fingers wrap around the handle, but then Seth’s hand is around mine.

He takes the gun from my other hand as he grips my fingers tight around the handle. I spasm with pain as he moves it just a little towards the inside of my thigh. “Val, Val, Val,” he chides in a disappointed, sad tone. “Why did you make me do that? I don’t want to hurt you.”

Anubis’ aura flares wide and heavy at those words. I flinch but keep my eyes on Seth’s as a cruel smirk twists the corner of his lips up. “There he is.” He bares his teeth in a mockery of a grin. He tilts his head back and calls for Anubis in a louder voice. “Surely you know I felt that, jackal! Come on out!”

Jack steps into the kitchen with a growl rumbling in his throat. I look at him, but his raging, storming eyes are fixated on our hold on the knife in my thigh. “Let her go.”

“No, and you’re going to stay right there, dog. I could so easily slide this a little further inside her thigh and nick that femoral artery. I wonder how long it’ll take a werewolf to bleed out,” Seth says, forcing my gaze back to his. “But I don’t want to kill you, Val.”

“Y-you killed all those other women,” I stammer through the pain and grit my teeth. “What’s one more?”

He scoffs at me again and has the audacity to pet my hair with his free hand. “I didn’t actually kill them; Ammit did.” His eyes darken with anger. “But make no mistake that I chose each and every one of those women. I made the decision, not her. I am the mastermind, not that beast! Do you understand?!”

My free hand flies to his forearm when he moves the knife again, but I swallow down the cry of pain that tries to rip free from my throat. “Y-yes.” I’m smart enough not to comment on the fact that Ammit killed a man a few hours ago. Definitely not one of Seth’s choices since he specifies women.

“Good,” he praises and pets my hair again. “If I didn’t want you so badly, I would kill you just to piss off Anubis. It would bring me great joy to see him so angry. To take and destroy what he deems as his.”

Jack lets out another deep growl, but it turns into a dry laugh. “Tell me, what are you more upset about? That she chose me over you, or that she kissed me?”

There’s a tense beat of silence before Seth’s aura explodes out of him like a bomb. I would have stumbled away from him at the sudden impact, but Seth’s hand has tightened painfully in my hair. His blazing green eyes lock onto mine as he bares his teeth in a savage snarl.

“So, you did kiss him,” he snarls low and dangerous. “I’ve waited for your kisses for months and yet you give it so freely and quickly to this—”

“Shezmu,” Anubis suddenly states in an amused tone. “I should have known with all the missing heads.”

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