Chapter 45 The Claiming Mark Part 1

Chapter 45 The Claiming Mark Part 1
Vladimir 

The conversation with the Elders should have been my primary concern.

The Dark Wizard was strengthening his influence. The ancient binding that had held him for nearly two decades continued to weaken. And unless they found a powerful enough witch or someone connected to his bloodline to reinforce the spell, he would eventually break free.

The threat hanging over the supernatural world was very real. Yet despite that, something else bothered me. A feeling I couldn't shake. Unease. Anticipation. The sensation that something important was approaching.

I checked the clock. Nikolai should be arriving with his guest in approximately twenty minutes. A small smile touched my lips despite myself.

My son had become absolutely insufferable. For an entire week he had spoken of little else. Sienna this. Sienna that. Sienna likes horses. Sienna likes numbers. Sienna listens to terrible music. It would have been amusing if he wasn't so completely smitten.

Then my smile faded. The strange feeling returned. Stronger. I stood from behind my desk and crossed toward the window.

Something was coming. I could feel it.
Out of nowhere, an inexplicable heat exploded across my chest. I froze, feeling the heat source pulsing. Another pulse followed. Then another. My heartbeat accelerated.
Slowly, I unbuttoned the top of my shirt. And stared.

The mark over my heart was glowing. Silver-white light pulsed beneath my skin. Once. Twice. Again. Each pulse stronger than the last.

My hands began to shake. This was impossible. 

For fifteen years it had remained unchanged. Dormant. Silent. A mystery no one had ever been able to explain. My fingertips brushed the mark and memories surfaced immediately. 

A witch working in the human world had called me asking for a favour. She had helped us previously, so when she called, I answered.

A young girl had been brought in to their small hospital. Was losing blood faster than it could be replenished. I had been called because a little girl was dying. Needed AB negative blood. Rare. 

The witch informed me they were not able to source more that would arrive quickly enough. Did we have stock in our vault?

Yes, it was rare. Almost a delicacy in the Vampire world. Only the highest ranked and wealthiest among us had stock or access.

I had brought two bags without hesitation. Mara snuck me in when the Doctors left basically to tell the parents that they had requested additional blood but it would be hours before it arrived and to prepare themselves if she didn’t improve.

I remembered entering the room and seeing her. Tiny. Fragile. No more than four years old. Her nose had been bleeding. There had been blood at the corners of her eyes.

She looked even smaller against the white sheets. Hair like spun frost, almost like white gold colour. Skin translucent, veins mapped in blue beneath. She was strikingly beautiful. Ethereal. Like something that had wandered out of a winter painting and never learned how to stay. 

The doctors could not understand what was happening. She had no visible injuries but her body was failing and she was losing blood faster than they could replace it.

I came closer to the bed. I was not a doctor but I knew the language of dying. “Her parents are older…besides themselves. Her name is Elowen’s.” Mara said quietly beside me.

The girl moved as if responding to the sound of her name. “Wolfie…” she muttered. “Must keep Wolfie safe…” Her voice was a thread. Her chest rose and fell. Shallow. Irregular. Another trickle of blood leaked out her nose.

I took out my handkerchief and gently wiped it. She whimpered and turned her face towards my hand, lashes fluttering. I felt something pull in me. Not hunger. Not lust. Older than that. A compulsion to kneel. 

“Leave us,” I had said to Mara. “Watch the door and warn me if someone approaches.” I instructed. Mara hesitated, then nodded. She knew when to stop asking questions. 

I sat on the edge of the bed. The girl’s face scrunched with pain. But her features were symmetry made flesh. No child should be this beautiful. Not when death had already taken hold. 

I don’t know what made me do it. I drew a cut against my wrist. The scent of my blood filled the room. Iron and ice and old copper. I had never offered this to a human. I had never wanted to. 

I brought my wrist to her mouth. She didn’t drink. I pressed harder. “Drink Elowen. It can help you little one.” I urged her softly. Almost as if she could her me, her lips parted. A reflex. A trickle. Then a swallow. 

And suddenly her body arched right off the bed. The monitor shrieked. “Oh crap..” Panic and desperation flared…my breath stalled…”Was her body rejecting my blood too? Had I inadvertently harmed her, sped up her imminent death?

Then her eyes snapped open. Silver-blue. Like lightning streaked across a sky. She looked supernatural. Not quite human. Something else. My breath caught.

Her small hand shot up and clasped my wrist, surprisingly firm for one so small. But not to pull away. To hold. Her other hand moved, blind, searching. It found my chest, right over my heart. 

The fluorescent overhead light flickered and I felt heat and then a burn right through my chest. Then warmth travelling in my veins in a body that was always cold. I made no sound. I couldn’t. I didn’t understand what was happening but I knew it was of great importance.

“Mae Vlad…” she whispered so soft I almost missed it. My eyebrows raised in shock. She had said My Vlad. Or mine in Latin. My mind was racing.

My first thought was “How could the girl who was unconscious know my name?

My second was “How the hell did a four year old know Latin?”

My last thought was, did a little girl barely holding onto life just Claim me? Declare me hers???