Marko and David had relocated to the lobby while they waited for the others to return. Currently, the curly blond was pacing in circles around the gently running fountain which normally he would have found calming except for everything that was stressing him the fuck out. Meanwhile, his sire was seated in the antique wheelchair he had wheeled out from his room, looking bored from watching the other pace.
"Shouldn't we let Jess know that her sister is alive? She deserves to know, right?" Marko wondered aloud. "What if October is out there looking for her and that's why she couldn't stay?"
David stared at him, unblinking. Silent.
Marko gnawed mindlessly on the worn leather of his glove as he paced, thoughts turning over in his mind of why's and what if's.
"And the hourglass," Marko continued, glancing the object on the front desk out of the corner of his eye. "Where was the countdown? Isn't the whole point for the sand to fall gradually? It's not like it's actual hour glass. It's like all the sand fell suddenly? You know?"
He was babbling and he knew it.
Fuck, he was starting to freak out and David's silence was not helping. His anxiety was eating at him to the point he felt like a sitting duck. Why had he decided it was a good idea to stay behind? There was supposed to be strength in numbers or whatever. But then again, he'd still been stabbed in the heart once when he had all three of his brothers next to him.
"What is taking them so long?" he whined.
He stopped pacing and glanced at David. "It's not like she doesn't want to be found. Right?"
David hesitated for a fraction of a moment, but that time was long enough for Marko to notice. Sensing, his growing apprehension, David abandoned his seat and cautiously approached the shorter boy. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and peered at him from beneath his lashes.
"I don't know what happened last night. Everything was just so…magical. Like it was too good to be real," he admitted quietly. "But I want it to be real. So much."
I can't keep losing people.
The gentle thought struck Marko to his core.
"Boss…"
He reached out to place a steadying hand on his sire's left arm in what was supposed to be a reassuring touch. His hand applied the barest of pressure on David's arm before he reacted in a way Marko did not expect. Without warning, David recoiled violently with a savage hiss.
Alarmed, Marko called David's name but received no reply beyond the sounds of pained torment. He watched helplessly in confusion as David tore his coat and shirt off and gasped at what was revealed.
First, his eye was forcibly drawn to the sinister arachnid tattooed over David's heart in stark, black ink.
The foreboding image definitely hadn't been there on his pale flesh last night. It was almost as if it had appeared there...by magic.
Second, he was unable to avoid the bloody laceration marring David's left shoulder.
"What the fuck!" Marko shouted in panic. Without thinking he reached out and gripped David's left forearm. "Oh shit! Did I-?"
The skin on David's forearm split open David actually screamed at his touch and it made him jump back.
With shaking hands, Marko reached up and gripped fistfulls of his curls. "What the fuck!" he said again, because he really didn't know what else to say in this situation.
Paralyzed with indecision he didn't know if he should summon the others or help David. Not that he knew what to do about the gushing wound that David was clutching at in agony.
"I think you mean 'whom the fuck', little cherub," someone giggled.
Marko released his hair and pivoted to locate the voice.
Someone was perched on the edge of the front desk, sitting with their legs crossed looking for all the world like they owned the place. It was a girl, and not one Marko or David recognized. She was dressed in dark, ripped jeans that bared her fishnet clad legs and a muscle tank that showed off sleeve tattoos that wound around both of her arms. Her manic grinning lips were as black as the ink of her tattoos and her eyes gleamed with mischief.
Marko moved to shield his wounded sire. "How did you get in here?" he demanded, his face already shifting into something monstrous.
His display earned him another giggle that racked her entire body, making her steel toed boots knock against the counter and her short,spiky black curls bounce.
"Like you could keep me out, cutie!" she cackled and the sound was so distracting Marko was too preoccupied with thinking 'This crazy bitch is actually cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West' he didn't notice the large black dog materializing from the shadows until the a reverberating growl echoed through the lobby.
Marko did a double take as the creature slowly stalked closer with gleaming fangs bared and hackles raised. It's piercing white eyes were locked on him.
Holy shit!
He backed away slowly, his main priority being David and his safety. The cloying scent of blood was freaking him out and it seemed to be drawing the menacing dog's attention in a bad way. If he didn't know any better he would have said it was actually a hellhound, but the eyes were all wrong. But that could only mean the creature was actually...a witch's familiar.
"Who the fuck are you?" he demanded suddenly and the girl stopped cackling though her eyes were still wide with mirth and a manic grin remained fixed on her dark lips.
"Who do you want me to be, hmm?" She cocked her head to the side curiously.
Marko scowled at her. "The fuck does that mean?"
The expression on her face slowly sobered and he grew suspicious about what she was up to. A strange wind blew in from the lobby's entrance and threatened to knock him over. He dug his heels in and lifted an arm to shield his face and the icy wind stung his eyes. As suddenly as the wind kicked up, it died down just as fast.
"Eyes over here, curly."
Marko blinked furiously, now more sure than ever what he was dealing with as he lowered his arm and returned his gaze to the girl.
"October…" David gasped softly from behind him, saying exactly what Marko was thinking.
Alarms rang in his head at the wrongness he felt when he saw their soulmate's unmistakable figure sitting on the lobby desk where the intruder had been just a moment ago.
"But-"
He froze, brain working overtime to make sense of what he was seeing.
"That's right." Not-October smiled endearingly. " 'Tis I, your beloved October returned to you."
Marko sucked in a panicked breath, eyes going wide as he took in the whole room. Gaze darting wildly from Not-October(?), to the black dog now sitting obediently at Not-October(?)'s feet, to David's uncertain face.
At the end of his rope and near hyperventilating, Marko snarled at the girl on the front desk. "You are not October!"
The Not-October's sickeningly sweet smile gained a sharp edge. "If I'm not October then who went to bed with David last night?"
David's brow knitted. "W-what?" He dug his fingers into his wounded shoulder, not feeling a thing as the blood seeped into the fabric of his glove.
Not-October raised a brow and let her bottom lip fall into a pout. "Oh no. Did I cross a line? Perhaps you'd prefer someone else?"
She shed October's visage as if she were throwing a sheet off her head and the intruder from before had taken her place once again.
Marko's heart was hammering in his chest. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. This was so far out of their wheelhouse. They needed someone like Jess to bail them out because the situation was careening out of the vampire's control.
"The name's Sloane, by the way."
He bared his teeth at her. "Get the fuck out of our home witch. You are not welcome here."
Sloane scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Unlike you, I actually don't need an invitation to enter your home. I go where I want, when I want."
"Then what do you want?" he snapped at her.
She hopped off the front desk and absently scratched behind her familiar's ears.
"You've got some nice digs here."
He glared at her. "You want the hotel? Are you serious?"
"I want Santa Carla. And you're going to give it to me."
All traces of playfulness were gone. Left in its place was dead seriousness. The shift in tone managed to throw Marko, yet again.
"I'll give you twenty four hours to get your shit in order and then get out of my town. If you're still here after that, I'll make David's curse over there seem tame in comparison to what I'll do to the rest of you."