Marked By Rejection by Avery Stone
From Hot To The Pit Of Flaming Darkness
I've never felt so much pain in my entire existence.
The ongoing blow of the horn continued to ring in my ears, but the agonizing sound couldn't subdue the intense beat of my bleeding heart.
It had to be bleeding everywhere because that was exactly what it felt like. It was like there were a magnitude of piercing holes all throughout my body, and the hot liquid that carried a metallic scent in nature spilled out of me like flowing streams of water.
It scared me to think about the allotted time it would take for my body to be completely empty of blood but was that really important in comparison to the immense, unmeasurable pain radiating through me from head to toe?
If I could find my voice, I'd scream at the top of my lungs. I'd beg to be taken away, to be removed from this constant agony that riddled every nerve ending in my burning being.
That was the other thing I had to acknowledge. The fact my body felt like it was literally on fire, along with the rest of my surroundings. With the excruciating heat that surely could melt my very flesh, I began to ponder whether I'd made way down to Hell and if this would be my eternal end.
Pounding desire coursed through me, begging to see what mayhem I'd fallen into, so with every bit of strength, I managed to open my heavy eyelids.
Fire.
I was surrounded by it, the heat blistering everything around me. I deeply wondered why I hadn't dissolved like the car that was fighting to remain within its enclosed structure. The majority of the car was in shambles like it had been hit from multiple angles in an attempt to be squished.
Somehow my seatbelt was still snuggled against my chest, but as I took in my condition, I realized that I couldn’t feel my limbs. Blood covered everything, like a murder scene being discovered, but I admired the warm tones of the flames and how their amazing colors danced upon my tainted flesh of red.
I still couldn't tell if I was breathing or not, but from the looks of my moving chest that rose and fell in a quick movement, that had to mean something.
Guess this isn't a hallucination as I'd like it to be.
The walls were closing in on me, just like my vision, but I picked up on someone's voice in the distance.
Was help on the way? Could they even help me?
My consciousness was sinking, and the will to keep my eyes open to watch my demise lessened until they were closed again. Everything was fading away, including the pain I'd been desperate to run away from, but it felt so lonely: waiting for the end.
I thought I'd be dead by now - I should be dead by now - but minutes continued to tick away, and I wondered if even Death wished to abandon me.
To be abandoned...even by the Angel of Death? How miserable such a plague could be.
"You deserve it."
One of the many phrases that always taunted my mind. Those words that put the blame on me like I was the true culprit asking for the agony that followed me wherever I went. This wasn't my fault. The situation that occurred wasn't something I'd agreed upon.
I didn't want to be kidnapped, bitten, a victim forced to listen to the plans of betrayal by my boyfriend and my older brother. I never would have asked to be hit by a truck and be burned to death.
Yes, I'd admit to wishing for death many times in the past, but I didn't want it to end like this. To end where I'd achieved nothing.
After Kyle's death, his memory and brief legacy were left with me, and if I perished, the world would forget him as well. I promised at his very grave that I'd keep going. That I'd discover the true reason behind his kidnapping and death, regardless of the perpetrator's death.
He had to have been taking orders from someone. So who wished for my baby brother's end?
It was a flicker of resolve, and maybe that was why I was tugged out of unconsciousness. It felt like I was lifted up in someone's arms.
"Fuck. Alpha! She's still breathing!"
The voice of the stranger had to be super close, but to my hearing, it was rather muted in nature. Regardless, I strained my ears to try to pick up what was being said and fought to feel what was going on.
My body was still numb, but I could feel the slight swaying movement of my body as I was being carried swiftly somewhere. The heat was barely around us, but it could have been my inability to feel that caused the drop in temperature. In time, it was completely gone.
"Alpha...fuck..." The person seemed to be a male in nature. "Yael could do something. Maybe."
There was a long sigh, one that sounded like a woman who was simply annoyed with the world. "She's destined for death. We're not going to get Yael to come and heal her. He's still being used by Hollows."
"He's not allowed to deny emergencies, though. If we make it so it's a civil emergency in the area, it can't be ignored, and they would rather send Yael than use one of their own pack healers."
“Zen, we're not doing that for some frail freak accident! She's not a shifter."
"Maybe you're right, but something isn't right. She should be dead, but there's something...weird going on. Alpha Killian?"
There was a long silence before a deep voice that made my entire body go hot, spoke with authority. "Get Yael."
"What?!" the girl harshly questioned. "Alpha! This is a waste of resources!"
"Beta Lilith," Zen began. "If we save her, she could be of use."
"In what way?" Beta Lilith snapped. "This isn't neutral soil, Zen! We're on Hollow's land! We save this girl, and what? She'll be left here until Kolt’s wolves come and take her away to their fucked-up dungeons and then what? Abuse her? Fuck her up? She might as well remain dead!"
"You're right...but what if they just reject her?"
"You don't know-"
"They rejected you," he cut her off. "Just like they rejected me. I'm sure they're going to toss Yael any day now. They don't want new recruits and we all know it. Yes...they may do shit to her and I wouldn't want that for her...but..."
"What are you seeing that you are not telling us, Zen?" Alpha Killian's voice spoke at a higher volume than the others, and once again, my body was on fire - particularly my chest.
"Alpha..." Zen struggled to really say what he had to say, but he took a deep inhale and let it out. "She's been bitten."
The gasp came from Beta Lilith, but I wasn't expecting a growl that had some sort of effect on me. I guess if I could feel my body, tingles would be running down my arms and making the hairs rise up at the rumbled sound.
"A-Alpha?" Beta Lilith questioned with worry.
"Lilith, go get Yael. Do it promptly."
"Yes, Alpha," she replied, and I heard her footsteps begin to fade away. It felt like I was struggling now to keep awake, but this was where I was getting the most information. I was afraid that if I let the darkness take me, I'd be gone forever.
I had to figure out what this all meant. I didn't want to get stuck in another circumstance that plagued me negatively. I craved to be that strong little girl, and to free her from the shackles stopping her from prospering, but how?
How am I going to survive this?
“Zen," Alpha Killian began. "Are you sure?"
The sound of someone gulping was followed with, "Yes, Alpha. The bite mark hasn't fully healed yet. The vampire had to have drunk a lot of blood from her. That's why I'm shocked that she’s still bleeding out and that she's even still alive. That car had to have fallen from great heights before the flames ignited. There are just...too many death variables, Alpha. She didn't die from whatever hit the car, or from the crash of the car down here. The flames should have made the car explode or submerged her in flames...and yet..."
"She's still here," Alpha Killian concluded. He still sounded angry, like he was attempting to calm his rage with reasoning. A tiny bit in my chest wanted to console him. Weird when I had no clue what he looked like.
"Was she driving?" Alpha Killian inquired.
"No, Alpha." Zen sounded concerned. "That's what worries me. She was strapped in the back seat, and well, you can see the tanned marks of whatever was covering her mouth. She was handcuffed, but by the time I reached in for her, the metal of the cuffs was melting off her wrists."
"And didn't burn her flesh."
"No, Alpha."
"She isn't human."
"I agree with you, Alpha...but..."
"She feels human."
"It's the weirdest thing, Alpha." Zen sounded stressed. "If the bite is in the process of changing her, her immortality shouldn't be in full effect yet. It's as if her body is healing internally with enough speed to keep her main organs running, but that's impossible for a human and she's not a vampire. Like...the only possibility is-"
"She's a wolf." Alpha Killian's voice was stern with confirmation, but the idea of all these beings from movies and fairy tales was going over my head.
"Alpha...sorry for my disrespect, but I don't sense a wolf."
"I agree with you," he admitted, which was a bit contradicting, but he followed up with, "But it's there."
"Alpha...what do you sense?" Zen dared to ask, and it felt like Alpha Killian took a deep inhale and let it out slowly.
"Her chest."
"Her...chest?" Zen seemed confused. Suddenly, it felt like something cold touched where the pooling warmth was in the center of my body, which I could only assume was my chest even without my ability to see.
"Wait...the skull...Alpha..."
"Can you hide it?"
"What?"
"I need you to do something to hide it," Alpha Killian reasoned. "Not suppress it, but if she's gonna be in Hollow's property for the next few days if not weeks, it needs to be hidden until Kolt sees it."
"You WANT him to see it?"
"I do," Alpha Killian noted.
"But...he'll kill her!"
"Not if he rejects her."
"Alpha...Kolt is all about power. The moment he discovers she's...well, you know."
"Do you truly believe he'll find out?" Alpha Killian offered.
There was a moment of silence. "No."
"Then?"
"She's so frail, Alpha. She doesn't look like someone who could handle being rejected. If he exiles her into the abyss..."
"Remember you said the same about Lilith, and now she's the Beta of our pack."
He didn't answer, the silence dwindling between them before he sighed. "I can do what you ask, Alpha...but what if she confuses who her mate is?"
"Her fate is in the hands of our Goddess. She'll follow the path that will lead her to where she has to be."
"What if they ruin her, Alpha?"
"Ruined or not," Alpha Killian whispered, "she will survive. She's destined to be by your Alpha's side."
I was struggling to keep up as that familiar sensation that I was on the verge of death began to creep through me.
"You have to make your decision then, Alpha. I can only do this once and there's only one defect to it."
"What is that?"
"If she's rejected, he'll still have access to how she feels."
"Elaborate"
"B-Because of the bond being torn, unless she literally dies, the connection will still be somewhat potent. One side of them will, anyways. In my entire life of being taught by my grandmother, this has only happened twice. The first scenario was a happy ending, but the second...the threads were strained from the rejection, but they weren't broken. So the male counterpart could still feel her but not vice versa. The woman can't feel his emotions the moment the bond is severed."
The low chuckle that seemed far too close to my ear made me mentally claw at the edge of darkness that was closing in on my consciousness as I fought to remain just a few seconds longer.
"That will be no issue for me. In fact, it would be the perfect ongoing punishment for what he's done to all of us."
"Like torture?"
"Isn't that what it is?" he offered back. "You go to the store and reject a toy you actually want but are too ashamed to reveal to the world. So, that toy becomes the last of its kind and is taken by someone you ultimately despise. They flaunt that toy to the world, and instead of everyone disliking this person's object, they praise and admire its rarity. What does that leave?"
"Envy," Zen whispered.
"A nagging desire to have what was rejected."
"Do you believe you can help her?" Zen's voice was tender. "She's..."
"Human? Weak? Completely oblivious to our world, antics, and the cruelty of our kind and those in this world of supernatural chaos?"
"Yes."
Another chuckle was followed with something soft brushing along what could have been my very lips.
"Everyone judges a caterpillar for being useless until it cocoons itself and blossoms into a monarch butterfly." His words were so soft, and I couldn't imagine what kind of man this could be because I'd never heard someone speak this softly, other than my own father. "Everyone judges an outcast as worthless, but that's why we're here."
"So...the plan?"
"Hide the mark with the trigger being Kolt. I'll speak with Yael privately to keep tabs on her until he's kicked out. The torture may be hard on her, but we know she won't die with the information we've discovered tonight."
"We need to act now, Alpha. She's slipping."
The fact that this man knew of my struggles was the only blessing I could fathom in this unfolding struggle of consciousness, but I really was slipping away and the darkness that was creeping into my vision was closing in.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it this time around.
The acceptance made me realize how cold I suddenly was, like I'd left the oven of flames to the intense frost of a blizzard. But the cold was short-lived as something pressed against my lips.
Scorching heat burst at the single press, spreading through my body with enough force to make me cry out in agony. It felt like my insides were burning, and I begged for it to stop, but a voice brewed into my mind - a deep hum of power.
"I sense your curiosity. I see your desperation for a life that's out of the control of those who belittle your worth. Survive the trial ahead, Little Bird, and I will deliver you into a world that will never force you to bow to your predators again."
Their words were like law - absolute in their ability to grant me what I finally grasped was true. He wanted to free me, to allow me to spread my wings and fly the moment I got a grasp of freedom.
Can I trust him?
A tiny part in my heart told me I could, the same space that pulsed with need and hope to discover the face of this being of control.
And thank him.
Ignoring the pain and the harsh heat, I forced myself to relax, and it encouraged the darkness to work its way in, wrapping my consciousness and embracing me in its chilled hold.
I should have been afraid, but the heat against my lips remained, along with the loud beating of not one, but two hearts. The rhythms were off at first, but with every beat that followed, they got closer and closer, until they became one.
"Good girl." The praise of the deep voice brought a wave of ease that settled into my very bones. I didn't know what was in store for me, but for once in my life, I'd try and endure every bit of it if it meant meeting my savior again.
"Until we meet again, Little Bird, survive and I assure you, I will grant you retribution."
A promise within the pits of flaming darkness.