Summary
Katrina Bayliss is a Hunter, a warrior for the proud Senate.
She trains, she goes on missions and she rids the world of the devious races of daemons that plague the earth.
That's all before there's any mention of her being your average high school girl on top of that.
Juggling her friends with her duties, Kate's only just understanding her new-found gifts and responsibilities. She's worked hard and gotten exactly what she's wanted.
Now she's at risk of losing it all in exchange for what she once had. She thought she was Sealed, her life was mapped out. She'd live, she'd fight, she'd die. Everything is falling apart and the world she knew is nowhere near what she expected or knew.
Forbidden romance, secrets and lies, death and betrayal.
Can Kate decide whose side shes on in time?
A/N: Okay, so I write this a while ago, like about a year or something ago but I had no idea what category to put it in or even if I should upload OS on here. Seeing as I couldn't find anywhere else, I decided to give it a go~ Please R&R this! I wrote it with the intention of it becoming a novel one day and depending on reactions, etc, I'll upload the other chapters as well :) We'll just see how it goes~ Thank you to anyone that takes the time to read this and I hope it isn't that bad. It's UNBETA-ED so there will be grammers, etc. I'm sorry but I just fail in that area. I hope you like and let me know what you all think ^^
Prologue
Salem, Oregon
Seiryn was patrolling the area, just as she had been ordered. She roamed the level, wandering back and forth down the long cool corridors of the midnight-black mansion, hovering by one door in particular. The blades of her knives clicked against the sides of her sleek leather trousers with every lithe footstep she took, breaking the dull silence that curled around her. Her thin heels clacked across the hard floor, echoing and bouncing off the dark walls. Her yellow eyes glimmered in the night, seeing everything with perfect clarity. The young Master's breathing stayed forever in her line of hearing, through the walls to his room.
Clack. Clack. Clack. She thrummed, lifting her arms above her head with a stretch. Her shoulders gave a satisfying crack, loosening the joint and allowing it to move liquid-smooth. Her five fox-tails flicked, brushing each other in the daemon's impatience, twining and twisting vigorously.
Who knew looking after a brat was so boring? Night after night after damn night. She growled to herself. I'm a high level daemon. I'm supposed to be out killing those pathetic Hunters and instead, I get stuck babysitting an Opaque mini-me. What a waste of my powers.
She juggled a tiny golden flame between her fingers, watching as it bounced from finger to finger, rolling over the skin and brightening in her palm. She snapped her fist closed, snuffing it out, blowing the smoke into the air. It dissolved after a few seconds, leaving her with nothing to do. Again.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Jeez, those heels were getting annoying after solid hours of listening to them going up and down the same lane. Seiryn felt a little bit like a jack-in-the-box. Clack. Clack. Clack. Bored. Bored. Bored. There was nothing to do but walk up and down. Up and down. Damn, she had done it so many times she could tell how many types of wood grain were embedded into the wall panels.
Suddenly she stopped, her whole body freezing on the spot. The kid had moved, and she didn't mean sleep-move like a rollover, but had moved and consciously gotten out of bed.
His breathing faltered from it's steady pace, picking up slightly. Seiryn strained her ears to hear what was going on. Even at his age, he could still be silent when moving in a way that was surreal, more than even she. The door opened a crack, a bright blue eye peeking through the curtain of red. It was the brightest blue Seiryn had ever seen, light and glowing, like a jewel twinkling from beneath the bloody shroud of his long auburn hair flowing down his back. She could only see the one eye, his hair covered the other, but Seiryn didn't need to see it to know that, just like his mother, he had been born with it mismatching; it was green and not blue. His nightshirt draped on him, hanging off his skinny shoulders. His expression gave nothing away. It was completely empty of any emotion.
"My Lord, is there something wrong?"
The boy glanced at her, his eye darting in her direction. At first, he did nothing but glare at her, as he always did. She often got the feeling that, like her, he resented the way she had to watch him constantly. Seiryn always felt herself crumble and feel the impulse to bow and kneel at his feet when he looked at her like that. A gaze so compelling and so commanding that it only hinted at the power than ran in his veins. She approached him cautiously, bending on one knee to the boy's eye level. His eye continued to follow, speculating.
"My Lord?" Her brow furrowed. "Prince Kyan?"
The door opened wider. He took a tiny step forward, as if unsure, his lips parting. Something white glimmered in the darkness, pearly white, like his skin. Suddenly, he was gone, disappearing into the thin air, in the blink of an eye. Seiryn felt his presence re-emerge behind her, flaring like a bright flame.
She remained still. His power was flowing all around him, like a beacon, a cloud of strength that pushed down on her constantly when he was near. She could practically feel that eye burning into her back with the intensity of white-hot fire. He took another step forward, then another.
I don't understand. What is he doing? He should be asleep, damn brat.
The young Lord placed his hands on Seiryn, his cool touch making her shiver and tremble in fear. His movements, they weren't like any other. Small. Unpredictable. Steady. They didn't make sense for a daemon at all -a creature that should act on impulse and speed to gain the advantage- he shouldn't have needed to think.
His fingers caressed her shoulders and she could feel her willpower slipping away, being taken over by the need to serve and protect. His hands smoothed the pale skin, sliding up the curve of her throat. His breathe tickled the back of her neck, hot and clammy.
"My Lord, what are you-?"
She felt the cold sting of his fangs brush her skin. She stiffened, her blood running cold. Her tails were blustering around herself in fear, wrapping her hips in a furry protective layer. None dared to lick at the flesh of the Lord or even touch him while he was holding her in such a dangerous position. Every daemon knew that nothing good ever came from someone cursed enough to be bitten by a Prince.
His fangs pierced her skin, the sharp edges slicing into her flesh with the ease of a knife through butter. Seiryn cried out from the instantaneous flare of pain, losing her footing and falling to her knees. He fell with her, tightening his grip as he clutched himself against her form, pinning her across her chest and waist.
"My Lord, please." She begged "Your father-"
At the mention of his parent, the child bit harder, his nail grinding into her skin. Her blood pooled down from the deep cuts he had made in her, streaming like a river. She whimpered, unable to break away or fight back for fear the pain would only increase. Her own fangs emerged free from their sheath as a safety mechanism, much too late, making her whines muffled and hissing.
Damn him, she breathed to herself, it isn't fair that a brat can have this much power over someone like me. He's just a baby, practically, yet it hurts so much…
She wasn't able to think straight enough to finish her thought, the agony clouded her mind as her life energy poured into him, draining her. The effects were already starting to kick in. Her body was beginning to feel weak and disorientated, her vision was blurring at the edges and she was shaking uncontrollably. He was going to kill her if he didn't stop.
As if he had heard her, his arms unexpectedly uncurled from around her, falling to his sides again. He broke free from his hold on her, breathing heavily.
The world tipped and tilted, rolling on it's side. Seiryn felt herself losing consciousness, stooping closer and closer to the ground. Her hands pressed against the ground to hold herself up but with her strength sapped so much, she couldn't even do that. She hit the ground hard, restraining the still-flowing blood that dripped from her throat with a hand. He hadn't even bothered to close up the wound. Seiryn wished she had enough energy to curse the brat for what he'd done. He boy rose, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. That big blue eye of his was still staring down at her, though this time it with pity. A sympathetic disgust that Seiryn would normally have killed someone over, had she not been so close to death. She moaned, digging her nails into the hard flooring with a scowl.
Damn him, she cursed.
He turned, his expression now blank as it had always been previous, heading back into the huge room from whence he had come. Seiryn gasped as her eyes followed after him, wishing she could get up and strangle the little bastard. Inside the room, sat on the windowsill was a dark shadow with a power more great than the young Lord. She could feel it pulsating from where she lay, tangible and strong. The boy took the figure's outstretched hand, allowing it to pick him up and cradle him against it's chest like a baby. The window was wide open, blowing ghastly freezing winds into the hall. It whistled in her ears with an infuriating howl.
No! She moaned, her heart hammering. I have to…protect him, or else…
Her nails ground into the stone. Using what little strength she had, she tried to drag herself along the ground, wailing in pain and collapsing. It was useless now, she couldn't do anything. The shadow was going to take the young Prince and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Seiryn was as good as dead for allowing this to happen. The shadow stepped up onto the window edge, a faint bleached silver light casting a reflection across it's back. Hanging from it's head was a waterfall of crimson like the young Lord, bristling and blowing in the wind. Seiryn reached a hand out towards it desperately. She had only ever known one other daemon in her life to share the boy's red hair and that person had been dead for years.
It's not possible, She cried, The Lady was executed. She can't possibly be-
The light caught the figure's chest for a brief second, revealing a birthmark that Seiryn had only ever, like the hair, seen once. A bloody double X imprinted into the flesh.
The Mark. The Lady's Mark of the Traitorous Princess. I can't be! She's-the Lady, she's dead. It can't be.
It glittered bright red, winking at her then flashed away, coveted in darkness once more. The Mark of the Traitorous Princess twined into her skin. All this time, had Opaque really been wrong? Was it possible she had…survived her execution? Was it possible she had just been in hiding and was only choosing to reveal herself now to take her son back?
It's not real, I'm hallucinating from blood loss. It's not real, I can't be!
Seiryn's greatest fear had come to life right before her eyes. The Daemon Killer, alive when she should be dead, now claiming back the one thing she had been ordered to protect on her life. Then the shadow disappeared from sight and with it, the young Lord held in it's arms as it dropped from the window to the lower levels and escaped. Seiryn's blood pooled around her and she trembled in terror and agony. Her eyes were wide and disbelieving.
Indeed it was right, what all the daemons had said to her; those who were cursed enough to get bitten by a Prince never did last long.
Seiryn had definitely been cursed this night. Bewitched by a child of the dead into believing something impossible, yet, she had seen it with her own eyes. The Mark of the dead Princess stared her back in the face. The bloody double X of a traitor.
The Mark remained burned into the back of her eyeballs as she drifted out of consciousness, praying she had merely fallen asleep on duty and all of this had been a dream. Otherwise, the Prince would have her head.
