Set in Post-Books Tulsa House of Night.
A new fledgling is marked but it doesn't seem like he likes the idea of becoming a vampyre-or dying for that matter-and the whole changing thing that came with it.
Meet Mark, the newest fledgling at the House of Night, oh, but what's with his weird mark? Why is it all black and filled in like that? Does it mean something? Is he going to die? Is he the next Zoey Redbird?
No one seemed to know. Maybe it was his harsh abhorrence to the goddess and all things vampyre. In any case, it looked like Tulsa had another weirdo filled-in-mark having fledging again...
I never saw the need for disclaimers on . It's FAN FICTION.net, not ORGINAL STORIES THAT YOU SHOULD SUE US FOR.net.
Chapter One
Poisoned
In the usually silent infirmary now lay two injured men, or rather, one injured man. The other was seemingly unhurt, though by the fight he threw, one might assume he was held there against his will.
The first, quiet man was lying face up, hands over his stomach, wearing a dark, covert sort of uniform one might picture on spies. His mask was very mysterious and masquerade-like and seemed to hide his identity completely, of course, that wasn't actually a mask. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that it was just a very convincing sapphire tattoo. He was a tracker, a vampyre sent out to mark those youngsters that were foretold to become one of the children of the night.
There was a bandage over his chest and stomach, covering several holes made by a very powerful rifle. Clearly, it had been a surprise attack, since surely no teenager would pack heat, let alone try and fight a vampyre.
He'd been wrong, of course.
The man on the other side of the room, being restrained by several adult vampyres, including the head nurse and all her supporting staff, the fencing teacher, and the High Priestess.
"Let me go, you greedy, talent stealing, fang fucking freaks!" The new fledgling snapped, managing to lift his back off the bed, knocking one of the nurses to the ground with a soft 'omf!'.
"Calm down!" The High Priestess huffed, trying to hold down the teen's shoulders. "Y-You're safe now!"
"Safe, my ass! I want a lawyer! You can't keep me here!" The boy shrieked, his fighting becoming more desperate and violent.
"You're… you're giving us no choice but to sedate you!" Cried the fencing professor as the fallen nurse hurried to get the proper medicine.
She returned, the boy still screaming about his rights and so forth, with needle in hand. "On the count of three, we all hold him down at once!" The High Priestess hissed at her fellows.
"One!"
"You can't do this!" The teen shrieked, his eyes widening as he squirmed more, hitting the fencing teacher square in the face with his foot. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
"Two!"
"HELP!" The boy started to claw at anything he could reach, fear gripping his stomach and mind like a chilled, unpleasant creature. "HELP ME, PLEASE!"
"THREE!" All the vampyres pushed down at once, forcibly pressing the child to the bed as the fallen nurse took the opportunity and shoved the needle into her patient. The clear, smoky liquid within disappeared into the fledging and soon his struggles died as he passed out.
The fencing teacher stood up straight, sighing as he rubbed his cheek. "…That boy has quite a kick." He chuckled, looking at his High Priestess.
She smiled, "Hopefully he'll be less… stubborn when he wakes up."
"Stubborn." He smirked, "That's the word for it."
The woman turned to her nurses. "I trust that you can take care of him from here?" She asked. They nodded.
The Priestess nodded, waving her friend to the door and the two of them left the ward.
The fencing professor was tall, with a cute face and soft curls that were held back in a tight ponytail. His bright eyes only helped him look alert and intelligent. The markings on his face took the form of a book, odd, large words written in a strange, almost illegible handwriting twisting and turning into the shape framing his eyes. In the middle was, of course, the tell-tale mark of the vampyre; a crescent moon.
The High Priestess was a little shorter than her friend, her own dark hair hanging along her back. Her high cheek bones gave away her ethnicity, and that of her Cherokee background. She wore a simple outfit, a lovely dress that decorated her curves accordingly. Her shoulders and some of her back were revealed, showing off the intricate designs covering nearly her entire body, making her look exotic and goddess-like. They seemed to take on the shapes of little runes and nameless forms that created a spectacular look.
"We're going to have to warn the twins and Stevie-Rae about this student." Damien muttered tentatively, "He could cause trouble in their classes."
"Yes." Zoey sighed, "We might as well warn everyone. I'll let Lenobia and Erik know about his little… ah, issue with vampyres."
"Alright, we'll get everyone else." The professor smiled as they entered the faculty office.
"Ya'll took your damn time getting back!" Sprang an okie twang from the darker side of the room. A blond tornado of a woman came striding forward, her red markings looking like something straight out of the south. "I had to hear from one of the students that they saw a tracker being pulled in here! Bleedin'!" She burst.
"Calm down, he's fine. The fledgling he marked evidentially didn't want to be marked." Zoey explained.
"Z," Came a voice from the other side of the room. A white girl with bright blond hair and bright blue eyes came forward with what might have been her complete opposite. The other was the latte brown to her white, and the black to her blond.
"Come on," The woman continued, "No one,"
"Wants to get marked." The darker skinned woman finished.
"Yes." Zoey huffed, "But not every fledgling shoots their tracker. Hell, I didn't even give mine a second thought after I was marked."
"Neither did I." Damien agreed. "The fact that he could stand up straight and awake long enough to unload a few shots astounds me."
"Are we gunna keep him?" Stevie-Rae frowned, "Seems a little violent to keep at the Tulsa House of Night…"
"Stevie-Rae." Erin frowned, "Half your students are too violent to keep."
"But we do anyway." Shaunee added.
The southern woman huffed but remained silent.
"Anyway," Zoey smiled, "We're keeping him here, he just needs to get used to the whole new life thing. It isn't that ha-"
"Zoey!" A man's voice cried as he threw open the doors to the staff room. "I just saw a bloody vampyre get pulled into the infirmary, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Erik." The High Priestess smiled, "He's fine, too. Our new fledgling got a little carried away defending himself." She explained.
The dark haired, tall, incredibly gorgeous vampyre sighed, walking into the room to slide into a chair. "He attacked the tracker?"
"Unorthodox, isn't it?" Damien shrugged, "Besides the thrashing and squirming, he seemed like he was just afraid. I agree with Zoey on this one. He's a good kid, he was just scared."
The twins snorted as Stevie-Rae muttered, "If ya'll say so…"
Read and Review :D
Thaaaaaanks for reading. Yeah, yeah. My first chapters are always short. I wanted to get this out there and ready to go already!
Review challenges!
Who were your favourite characters in the original House of Night series that you might like to see as adults in this one? I can't bring back characters from the dead, so sadly (SPOILER) Jack is still dead. ;-; I loved him so much.
Do you have any questions? Did this beginning make you want to read more?
Believe it or not, I actually want to hear what you have to say. (Unless it's needlessly mean and/or rude.)
There'll be more review questions in later chapters when you learn some more bits about everything, so watch out for that!
PS, I named the story "Dark mark" partly because of my obsession with Harry Potter and the title made me laugh a lot harder, and a lot longer than it should have.
So there you go, inside joke.
