Tricking Death

Chapter 21 - Cat Fight

After pulling a newly acquired turtleneck from my closet to cover up all signs of the mark, I made my way downstairs to find out why my great aunt had decided to pay a visit at 8 o'clock in the morning. There was some little part in the back of my mind that was whispering that I should already know the answer, and it left me with a very disconcerting feeling as I descended the stairs. 

I found my aunts and my mother sipping from mugs containing either coffee or tea as they chatted with my great aunt, who suprisingly didn't have one of her own. I thought the woman lived off of tea, but instead there was an air of impatience radiating off of her, as if she had somewhere else that she needed to be and was only talking to her nieces to be polite.

"Oh, there she is," my mom said cheerily, and every pair of eyes snapped towards me on the stairs. 

"Uh, hi?" I stepped down the last couple of steps cautiously, still not sure what to expect. Serena was scrutinizing me intensely, and for a second I felt almost positive that she was looking right through my turtle neck to the mark beneath. I swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. 

"So, any particular reason why you decided to come visit this morning, or can I get going to school?" My mom frowned at me disapprovingly and it took all of my energy not to break down into nervous laughter.

Last night alone, I had done far too many things that were more worthy of that look than me being rude to my great aunt. 

Serena pursed her lips in a stern look of her own. "I would like to speak to my great niece alone for a little while." 

My mom looked like she was about ready to argue, but thought better of it. I could feel my heart sink a little as she and my aunts retreated to the upstairs apartment to leave me alone with Serena. 

"So, are you going to tell me what this is-" Before I could even finish getting the question out of my mouth, my great aunt was moving, roughly grabbing the collar of my turtleneck and pulling it down with so much force that I thought she might tear it right in two. 

"What the hell are you doing?" I shrieked, trying to pry her hand off of me. 

"Shut up!" She was seething as she revealed the criss-crossing web of dark lines radiating up from my chest. "You stupid, stupid girl." 

"Screw you!" I finally managed to slap her hand away as she moved away from me to start furiously pacing back and forth. "Where the hell do you get off? I don't appreciate suddenly being manhandled without my permission!" 

"Yet you let Him mark you?"

"I didn't let him do anything! It's kind of hard to be capable of doing anything when you're writhing on the ground in pain-"

"You had sex with Him." It wasn't a question; she obviously wasn't expecting an answer. "That's when He marked you, not after."

I felt a sick twisting in my stomach as the mark on my chest pulsed faintly. 

"And that's why you're a stupid girl," she snapped. "All you had to do was keep him off of you, just resist the temptation for a little while... Now everything is ruined. Now that you're marked, he's going to be made aware of anything we try to do to stop him." 

"What the hell are you going on about right now?" A dull ache was forming in my head from what she was saying, leaving me to feel even more bewildered and confused. 

Heaving a big sigh, Serena muttered some quick words under her breath, and for the second time that morning I found myself collapsed on the floor in pain. Memories of our last conversation came rushing back in at lightning speeds and I thought for sure that I was going to throw up all over the shop floor from the dizziness that came with them.