Disclaimer: I do not own the House of Night, this amazing series and world of Character belong to P.C & Kristin Cast. However, I do own the OC Nettie (and she is me, and this is my story if I were to be Marked). This OC character, Nettie already has her own story, Daughter of Magic, but I wanted to write Erik's point of view of the first chapter when he Marks her.

Only because I am only using one point of view for the story but I wanted to write something from Erik's view so I gave it a shot…

Marked by Night

A Daughter of Magic Story

Silence. That's all I could hear, all I could feel and see. It began to consume me and burn within me like an unbridled passion. There was nothing I could do to stop it, nothing I could do to push the pain back. That's all I knew, all I was in that moment, as if I were suspended in time. The compulsion hit me, like a burning flame, burning my very existence until there was nothing left, nothing but the need to find them, her. Just silence, pain and nothing more, then a voice. Soft and as sweet as a cool night breeze: Help her, Erik. Help her to embrace her destiny, her magic and… you.

My vision began to dim at the edges as shadows danced along my vision, narrowing and pulling my conscious along with it. I stilled realising something was wrong, something was very, very wrong. I had never felt like this before and this was not how my mentor had explained how it would feel. I was meant to get a sense of direction, a calling, a name and a place. Not this, whatever this was and it was terrifying. The urge increased to a level that was all-consuming, my mind scattered sending me in different direction, I wanted to curl up in a ball and scream, but I wanted to find her and… and what…?

Destroy her life and Mark her.

I thought I had been prepared, but this was nothing like what my mentor had told me about, nothing the least bit like I thought was supposed to happen. The last House of Night Tracker from Tulsa, who had called himself Charon, before I had left, had tutored me. Telling me about the compulsion but nothing about the pain or the knowledge I would gain about the person I was supposed to Mark. This was completely beyond me and the depth of all things that I knew. The feverish need to run and find her grasped me anew. But it wasn't just the knowledge that I had to Mark her, but Marking her would keep her safe and that's all I wanted to do- how strange?

A place, a name and a time was what I was supposed to know and those words came unbridled, tumbling from my mouth, causing me more confusion as I made sense of the words leaving my mouth. "Town Centre. University of Deepdene. Twenty Second Avenue. In 15 minutes. Sitting beneath a tree. Nettie Melrose. Nettie Melrose…"

When it was time for him to Mark a fledgling his palm would burn, his eyes cast down now to see the sapphire marking of Nyx's Labyrinth glowing a brightly as the moon as the slender turning circles began to shift and move along his hand. He stared for what seemed an eternity as everything shifted and moved, an uncontrollable compulsion overcame him. The depth of his yearning over took everything he knew, the singular power of the focus that pounded through him was far sweeter than any blood he had ever tasted.

A new strength filled him as his breathing changed and his heartbeat slowed as if something or someone else was taking over. He could hear the sweet rhythm of a new heart, a new pulse that beat heated blood through his veins to the Mark on his hand. Nettie Melrose would be the first fledgling he would ever Mark. Beside the compulsion and the burning in his palm as well as the knowledge of a place, a time and a name, he found he knew other things as well. But this was strange. I had watched the three years I had been a fledgling (as I was changed during my Fifth Former Year), many teenagers entering the House of Night, and though I tried to shy away from the memory I had seen many teenagers die throughout the succussing years as well.

What was different about the girl I saw, or thought I could see, was that she was different? She wasn't a fourteen year old, nor was she sixteen which was the usual span of years that fledglings are Marked, no she looked about to be my age, nigh on eighteen years and it worried me, deeply. I thought I could see her in my mind's eye as I raced through the streets in my red Mustang, surprised to find it only took me fifteen minutes to get from the House of Night to the small town centre of Deepdene, to the small University tucked within the quiet suburban town. Pulling into the parking lot my hands were shaking slightly as I extracted myself from the flashy red car.

The compulsion drew me in like a small cord pulling me towards the girl I was supposed to Mark, meandering through the small campus I stared at the large six story imposing building and the sprawling landscape that surrounded it. As well as the Library that sprawled beneath the shadow of the building and further behind that was the Auditorium and then it dawned on me in that moment. She could be anywhere in this University and it could take me longer than she had left to find her. A cough, a sharp intake of breath and the rustling of leaves drew my attention,

And there she sat, like a small child huddled beneath the branches of the tree, her head tipped back happily as her eyes scanned a book. Her gaze turning hungry and a small embarrassed smile caused my lips to twitch as I watched her. Mesmerized. A wracking couch caused her eyes to flash with pain as she almost doubled over, she fell to her knees. The compulsion was lessening as I was in the near vicinity of this slender and small fledgling but I watched as she began to rise to her feet, with an awkward grace. The sharp honk of a horn caught her attention and her bright hazel eyes snapped up, focused and somewhat annoyed, she waved lazily in recognition and began to pick her stuff up slowly, and languidly stretching her body.

Her slender fingers moved to her mouth again, and my blue eyes watched the movement hungrily as she tried to supress another phlegmy cough, her body trembled as if she were about to collapse any moment. Stepping forward, her head snapped around to the movement, noticing for the first time she wasn't as alone as she thought she was. She froze in shock, and I watched in wonder as her full pink lips slowly parted in surprise as she stared at me. Warm sunlight danced upon her face, casting shadows along her pale cheeks but I could see the faint beginnings of a blush painting her alabaster cheeks.

Taking a few step forwards I watched as she stumbled back in fear and I froze surprised at her reaction, I had heard many stories where unmarked fledglings ran away from the Tracker but I had yet to experience such a reaction. She shivered slowly and sent me a furtive glance as if she was considering to both run and possibly attack me; coming to a stop I slowly regarded her with my sapphire gaze. Noticing, with a hot flush of pleasure the way her strange hazel eyes hungrily took in the ancient looking mask tattoo Nyx had gifted me when I had Changed into a vampyre. Several emotion flittered along her face as she stared at me through her lashes, surprise, fear but something else, something much more… sinful.

Heat rolled along my skin as she regarded me with a level gaze, her eyes never leaving the sapphire blue crescent and surrounding tattooing that Marked my face, she was considering something. Watching her tentatively step from beneath the shadowy confines of her haven beneath the tree, pulled at something inside me, her fear was a tangible thing and the memory of those softly spoken words came to my mind once again, Help her embrace her destiny, her magic and… you. I still didn't understand what the Goddess was asking me to do but as I watched the girl slowly lift her head everything seemed to stop.

Her gazed literally floored me; I abruptly came to a stop as moments before I had been moving closer to her, pulled towards her magnetism as her inner voice called to me. Or maybe that was my imagination? Her gaze was straight and true and found their way straight to my slightly darkened and confused soul, and yet she didn't turn away either as if she were mesmerized. "Who are you?" she wheezed as a wracking cough nearly caused her once again to double over in pain.

The slamming of a car door obviously distracted her but I couldn't for the life of me turn my gaze from her, there was something in her that I had felt before, from though I was loathsome to admit it) that reminded me of Zoey, not that she was anything like her, but the power I could feel rolling of this girls skin was somewhat like I had felt from Zoey during a Circle Casting. But the girl before me still had to be Marked and taken to the House of Night, yet she was an ordinary human now that felt, strange and powerful.

As if the elements were already swirling beneath her skin and waiting to be released but that wasn't quite right, it was far purer than that, something like unbridled and untamed power flowed from her in waves. Yet I felt like I might be the only one who could see or feel it. I regarded her silently, trying to figure out what I was sensing, even Astra the current High Priestess at the Deepdene House of Night that I had just transferred to doesn't feel like what this girl feels like, and I don't even think I am making sense right now. And to make matters worse I was supposed to be Marking her not staring at her transfixed!

Her gaze darted from the right back to me as I continued to watch her trying to make sense of all that I was seeing and feeling. Watching her she began to squirm under my intense gaze and she coughed embarrassedly into the palm of her hand as if she were unsure if I were actually here for a reason, because under the circumstances she must be really confused. She gazed at what I assumed to be her mother and then back down as she struggled to cover up a wet cough, in those few moments she was distracted I moved so that I was standing close enough I could feel the warmth of her body.

Becoming distracted once again as the scent of orange blossoms and fresh strawberries registered in my mind, along with the unwelcome thought that if she smelt this good her blood must be amazing. Tearing my gaze from her exposed creamy neck I made eye contact with her, and watched as her hazel eyes widened in surprise at how close I had become. Standing this close to her I could see the bright golden flecks that danced in her green and brown gaze as the edges began to darken blue as I moved closer. Her cheeks continued to darken a delicious pink as I slowly lowered my head so that as I whispered the ceremonial words to her, my breath stirred her warm brown hair against her ear.

Her breathing changed becoming deeper as I began to speak, the sound of her racing heart beat like a delicious melody tantalizing me in the caressing breeze that danced around us: "Nettie Melrose! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; harken to her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!"

On some impulse I moved forward quickly, lightly pressing my lips against her smooth forehead, feeling the long soft tresses of her hair brush against my arms. The moment I touched her everything changed. Her gasp of pain gripped at my heart and nearly ripped me apart as she fell forward into my embrace, her fingers curling around my forearm. Distantly I heard the screaming of a woman who knew she had just lost her daughter and the sound of a shouted warning, to me or to her I didn't know but everything faded as her slender body began to fall from my embrace as something else began to unfold before me.

Bright candle light flickered around her body as she danced, casting her in dark shadows and warm exotic light, her cheek flushed with heat. Her head raised, the moonlight glinting of full sapphire-blue Markings to the sky as her arms moved around at her sides. Held loosely in her hand was a small athame the ceremonial knife glinted in the moonlight, and I could see the fresh scarlet colour of blood. As she moved, her right hand flung out at random intervals as she spoke with a sing song voice, sprinkling the scent of mulled wine, fresh herbs and cinnamon, her blood? into the midnight air.

She moved so gracefully, the tresses of her hair spun around her slender form with her. Her hazel eyes were alight with happiness and something else, perhaps passion or power. Her full lips were pulled up in a sensual smile. The words she spoke were filled with such ancient power that it rattled deep in my bones, and the power of my blood sung through my veins. Each time she invoked an element she danced in the right direction, starting with East and ending at North:

"Airy light of the moon,

Warmth of the burning flame,

Power of the flowing river,

Mystery of the deep forests,

Light of Spirit and Magic,

In Nyx's name we call to thee."

Stopping, the beautiful woman before me paused and turned her head, ensnaring me with her gaze. The full length of her black dress glittered with what seemed like a million shards of crustal, but a split up the side showed off her long legs. The athame was limp at her side but I watched as a single drop of blood fell from the knife and landed on her bare pale leg, continuing a slow steady trail of crimson down to her ankle. Her lips pulled up in a warm, opening smile as she gazed directly at me, her hazel eyes seemed to glow golden from the light of the candles that flickered around her like a sensual dance, "Welcome Erik Night!"

Being pulled back into this time and this present was startling, the heat of a body pressed against me intimately and without and conscious thought she/ it began to slide from my arms, falling to the cobblestone floor beneath me. Warm skin slid along my hands as the soft brush of hair awoke something primal within me. The sound of crashing waves filled my sense, as my skin began to flush with the heat of an open flame, even as a startling chill over took me. The rustling of the leaves caused me to look up as the wind changed direction, glancing down I stared at the fallen form of the girl I had just Marked.

I had never had a vision before and never heard of such a connection between a Tracker and a fledgling before and it scared me, deeply, there was something completely and utterly wrong with me or this girl. What was going to happen to her when she entered the House of Night, just what kind of destiny did Nyx have in stall for her? And the most important question off all, what part was I to play? Staring at the fallen girl I watched as she slowly closed her eyes and a part of me wanted to know what she was thinking of.

"Erik…" her voice was barely above a whisper and it was a softer more melodic version of her voice, something filled with the power and warmth of the Goddess. Stilling, I stared down at the fallen girl, the urge to pick her up and cradle her in my arms were startling but I stopped as the sound of running feet came to my ears, and the screaming of a hysterical parent.

So I did what I thought I never would as a Changed adult vampyre, in the service of the Goddess, with strength beyond that of a human and the prowess of a wild animal. I Erik Night, Poet Laureate and Drama Professor as well as the Tracker for the Deepdene House of Night… ran away.

Read and Review: So what did you think, please tell me I didn't fail as much as I think I did? I just wanted a broader version of the OC, Nettie being Marked as well as the inclusion of the 'vision' Erik had about her when she fainted. If I go with the Plotline I am thinking of for my storyDaughter of Magic, that vision becomes really important.

Hope you liked it, please review! But go easy on me and I won't listen to flames, because I am not perfect, and if you have read the books Nyx's favours those that aren't, perfect that it.