Marked For Life

Prologue

"Azru Li"

Jabal woke up to the cries for help that lingered in his mind. He covered his face with his hands while his eyes adjusted to the bright light. He moved against the cold and grimy ground, shocked to be alive but grateful to be out of the lethal waters. Â He continued to hear the familiar voices and thought it was his imagination, still he turned towards them and saw his father and brothers. He was relieved. He had survived. They had survived. 

They seemed to have been waiting for him, and he removed most of the mud off his body before making his way to them. He could see their pain, as he approached, and their exhaustion. He felt it too, not physically but emotionally. They had tried their best to save the rest of the family, but it had been in vain. Their strength had been helpless against the ruthless force of the waves, seizing the bodies of their loved ones, right out of their clutches. He had seen his father's hopeless look and realized they would not fight it any longer, they would give in to the ocean, letting it take them down as well. Jabal watched as it took his father first and after seeing the last of them immersing into the dark waters, he waited to be claimed. As he began to descend, he fought the urge to survive and closed his eyes as the waters began to fill his insides. He felt his body jerking and then how it became limp, he opened his eyes one last time to witness the end of the nightmare and accepting defeat.

They had survived, not everyone, just them. And that meant, that everything had changed. They had a new ability. A new curse. All of it because of the Sethites. He could sense his brothers and father's hatred as he approached them, the same hate he felt growing inside of him.

Not long ago, he had considered them family; different tribes, habitat, customs, traditions and a very different diet but they shared the same ancestors. They had been fooled, because the moment Jubal fell in love with one of the Sethites, they had shown their true feelings. So much so that when they'd secretly wed they had come after them, stoning her to death and trying to do the same to Jubal. But he had managed to escape them. 

He sat beside his brothers and looked at his father, waiting for a logical answer.

"Bni ha-ahuv, Al mawet."

Immortality? He thought about it for a minute. Could they be in this predicament because of him. He remembered bitterly how it all had started; How the Sethites had come demanding for Jubal's surrender. They had even tried taking him by force and the thought of any harm coming to one of his brothers had sent him right over the edge. He had lost control and had attacked them first. He had never before sunk his fangs into human flesh, just like all of his tribe, they only use their fangs on unclean beast, it was how they fed. Each tribe was different, they drained the beasts off their blood and the other tribes would feed off of animal flesh. They had always found a way to work together, but not when it came down to love. They had started a war over it, one that he had eventually ended. By sinking his fangs into them savagely, savoring their blood to the last drop.

His family had watched him do it, terrified by his action, most had fled but his father and his brothers had found the method a useful defense in battle. But their victory had been short lived and now all they had was a new curse within their initial one.