THE MARK.
Austin stared down into his lap as they pulled into the drive of his family manor. He didn’t need to look to know his mother was standing on the top step, never mind the late hour. Exton was seated in the seat next to him, his posture showing the irresolute guard dog.
‘Don’t tell her about the mark. It’ll just give her move to freak out about,’ Austin begged.
The hellhound considered him for a moment. ‘And if you can’t remove the mark yourself?’
Austin winced. He really didn’t want to consider that possibility but surely it wouldn’t be that hard to remove a spell from a lowly Holma.
‘It’ll be fine, especially if you don’t rat me out,’ Austin hissed. Exton heaved a loud deep sigh.
‘Have it your way but I’m not standing in the way of your mother. She terrifies me.’
‘She’s only human!’ Austin spluttered.
The hellhound nodded gravely. ‘That’s what makes her terrifying.’ The car pulled up in front of the massive house and Austin climbed out with the resignation of a prisoner on execution day.
‘Elessarion Austin Arvaris!’ He winced. All three names. Oh, yes, she was angry. It was amazing how such a petite, elegant woman could look capable of breathing fire which, considering her species, she was probably the only person in the house who couldn’t.
‘Ma-’
‘Don’t you dare! Bedroom empty, not answering your phone, off galivanting the country with the gods knows who! You didn’t think of your ma then! How dare you!’ Her voice rose in volume with every sentence until even the driver still seated in the car was cowering. It broke over Austin like a tidal wave, her fury strengthening her Italian accent.
‘It wasn’t a big deal-’ But it was no good. Her dark eyes flashed menacingly, and she strode down the steps on dainty feet to seize him viciously by the ear. Austin yelped as he was dragged up to the door by the little woman.
‘How did I raise such an inconsiderate son? Might have been kidnapped, might have been cut open for your organs but do you care? Oh no, much more interested in grinding away at some club or party,’ she went on furiously.
‘Dragging the family name through the muck by fraternising with anything with a pretty set of eyes and nice few curves.’ The grand doors slammed closed as Exton slipped in behind them, the hellhound having the good grace to at least look sympathetic. Elizabeth Arvaris released her son with a contemptuous shove. Ear smarting painfully, Austin straightened up. He took a deep steadying breath.
‘I’m not a teenager anymore more ma,’ he said, trying to sound assertive in the presence of his formidable mother.
‘And yet you still act like one! You are my son, and you live under my roof. You have the family to think of. You cannot afford to be so flippant about your duties. One day you will be the head of this family and it’s about time you acted like it!’ she snapped, her hands propped on her hips.
‘I didn’t ask to be the head of this family,’ Austin hissed angrily.
She laughed, the sound high and cutting. ‘Ask? You were chosen! Before you were born, we planned for you to become the greatest demon on this plain to rival the overlords!’
‘Exactly! You chose. I’m not a thing, ma! I have the right to make my own decisions and do what I want with my life!’ Austin shouted back. The entrance hall was ringing with their argument, undoubtably waking every servant on the property. Elizabeth swelled, her eyes narrowing on her son’s face.
‘Oh, you do, do you? And what? Squander your birth right away and live as a peasant on minimum wage working as some baker?’
‘That’s my choice to make!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! No one would rightly choose that,’ she snorted. Austin threw his hands up in frustration.
‘We are done talking about this. Go to your rooms Austin and Exton, make sure he stays there,’ she barked. The hellhound bowed low to his mistress and started to chivvy Austin up the winding stairs even as Austin spluttered for a reply. To be sent to his rooms as an adult was insanely humiliating. He stormed up the last few steps and pounding down the hallway towards his rooms.
Nothing he said ever made the slightest difference. Nothing! He flung the door open and screamed in frustration. Exton sidled into the room and politely closed the door to cut Austin’s yowling off from the rest of the house. Austin turned, his expression quite reminiscent of his mother’s.
‘You don’t need to actually be in my room,’ Austin snarled. The hellhound shrugged, unbothered.
‘You heard the boss. She doesn’t want you to leave the house again tonight and I have to make sure you stay,’ he said simply with a glance towards the balcony window.
Austin followed his gaze. ‘We’re on the third bloody floor!’ he barked. The hellhound gave a small chuckle.
‘That’s not stopped you before,’ the hellhound reminded him with amusement. Austin flipped him off and stalked away into his dressing room. He knew Exton wouldn’t follow him. Probably. He stripped off his jacket and kicked off his shoes. It was about one in the morning and his blood was pounding in his ears. Regardless of the alcohol in his system, he doubted he would be able to sleep now.
He headed into his en-suite. It was, like most of the house, ridiculously over the top with a shower that could easily fit three people and a massive bath that stood on gold clawed feet. He shot it a disgusted look before he turned on the water in his shower and stripped down as the steam filled the space. He stepped under the downpour and let hot water ease some of the tension.
It was as his skin started to turn a dark pink from the heat that the golden mark on his arm grabbed his attention. At least his mother hadn’t seen that. If she had, she probably would have put him under house arrest until he was in his fifties. Austin shuddered at the thought.
Right. He needed to get this off.
He sat down on the tiles under the spray and inspected the mark carefully. He always tried to avoid using magic. Any stirring of his demon abilities meant a risk of strengthening that side of him. The more demon he was, the longer it would take to fade and the longer he would have to wait to be human.
Still. This was an emergency.
If his mother saw that mark on him, she would skin on him alive with a spoon. Then she would probably find that Holma and do the same to him. Austin closed his eyes. It shouldn’t be difficult, even with his limited practice. So long as one knew the theory, one could pick apart the seams of the spell holding the mark to the skin. Holma’s could be dangerous, but they were low on the demonic food chain.
Austin tried to look at the mark using his inner sight. It was a task he had practiced nearly every day with his teachers since he was five years old. To his disquiet, the mark was seamless. It flowed quietly in the depth of his mind. He couldn’t find where to pick. He looked and looked even as a deep worry began to twist at the pit of his stomach.
The worry turned to dread as his magic concluded what his mind had already begun to suspect. He couldn’t remove it. No matter how he twisted or touched the brand, it did not respond. That didn’t seem possible, but Austin already knew why. He couldn’t remove the Holma mark because the mark wasn’t put there by a Holma.
He swallowed, his throat tight. He opened his eyes, blinking away the water. There it was, gold and pretty, glowing on his forearm. A demon brand from an unknown demon. This was bad. This was so fucking bad. Trying not to hyperventilate in the hot steam, Austin racked his hazy brain. He tried to remember every aspect of the night. Meeting up with Jess, arriving at the club, lining up outside.
Who had touched him? Jess’s friends. They were human, of that he was completely sure.
Who else?
The bouncer? No, the man had just waved them through.
He bumped into a few people at the bar, but no one had looked at him. The club had been full of people. It was impossible to go to the bar and back to their table without touching someone, but no one had stood out to him, no one had spoken to him other than the bartender. He considered the bartender for a minute.
The pretty young woman with her sparkling lip gloss and bright eyes. He had touched his hand when he had passed her his card to pay for the drinks. He may be out of practice, but he was sure he would have noticed if she were not human. She had been standing right in front of him. The Holma had also not reacted to her which was telling.
Austin groaned and fisted his wet hair. He could remember the slight creeping sensation that had struck him once he and Exton had left the club, but no face came to him. He had been too distracted by the Holma and Exton showing up. With a resigned dread Austin stood up and shut off the water. He wrapped the towel around his waist and praying the hellhound wouldn’t immediately out him to his mother, he called out.
‘Exton? Get in here. Please.’ There was a shuffling of loud feet outside the door. He knew Eaton did that for his benefit. The hellhound could make his tread utterly soundless as any good demonic bodyguard should, but the hound had learnt early on that Austin didn’t appreciate being snuck up on.
‘What’s up little man?’ Exton called from the other side of the door. Austin sighed angrily and flung the door open. The hound gave his showered body an appreciate once over.
‘First off, do NOT call me little. Second off, my eyes are up here,’ Austin barked.
The hound smirked. ‘In my defence, you called me over wearing nothing but a towel.’ The hound’s smirk exposed a thick canine.
Austin glared up at him. ‘Can you stop treating everything as a joke? This is serious,’ he hissed. Exton’s expression sobered and he glanced down at Austin’s arm which was still pink from the hot shower.
‘Have you tried getting it off?’ the hellhound asked. Austin nodded. The hellhound swore under his breath and strode over. Austin usually never considered Exton threatening. He had known the hellhound most of his life but now, hellfire green eyes flashing, the hound looked menacing. It was with a large gentle hand that the larger male took hold of Austin’s arm to inspect the mark.
‘Can you get anything from it? Any scent?’ Austin asked hopefully. Exton inhaled for a long moment. He seemed to consider for a moment and then shook his head, frowning.
‘There’s not much of scent. You really don’t remember any other demon at that club?’ he asked.
Austin shook his head. ‘No. I thought the mark must have been put on me by that asshole Holma.’ It was Exton’s turn to shake his head, his coal black hair catching the low light.
‘Can’t have been. Firstly, it doesn’t smell of Holma. Secondly, this is way too sophisticated. This is bad,’ the hellhound said in an uncharacteristically sombre voice. Austin jerked his arm free.
‘I worked that much out for myself thanks. I’m aware that this isn’t exactly ideal, carrying around some random demon’s mark,’ he replied waspishly. Exton looked down at him with those glowing green eyes.
‘No, I mean that this mark must have been put on you without skin-to-skin contact,’ the hound clarified.
Austin scoffed. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. The only demons strong enough to do that are the overlords.’ The silence in the room was his only answer. Austin’s stomach flipped over. The mix of alcohol, the late hour and rush of adrenaline all seemed to culminate together with this new piece of utterly terrifying news.
‘I think I’m going to throw up,’ Austin whimpered. To his credit, Exton moved swiftly out of the way and said nothing as Austin stumbled towards the toilet bowl, lifted the lid and purged his stomach of everything he had drunk. The hellhound waited patiently until Austin stopped retching and handed him a roll of toilet paper. Austin groaned weakly, using the tissue to clean his face.
‘I don’t want to tell my mother,’ Austin rasped.
Exton winced. ‘You really think that’s a good idea? Aus, this demon, whoever they are, they’re a heavy hitter. I don’t think they are just going to go away on their own. Your ma will know someone-’
‘Yeah, and my life will be fucking over. Exton, she’s going to use this as excuse to put me in the gilded cage she’s always wanted me in. Don’t you know someone we could go see?’ Austin pleaded. Exton’s expression was twisted with indecision.
‘Maybe but-’
‘Then can we go see them first? Please, Exton, I promise if this doesn’t work then we’ll go to my mother but if there’s a chance we can fix this without her, then please let me try! Exton, aren’t you sworn to protect me? You’re soul bound to be my hellhound, not my mother’s. Please do this for me.’ Austin met the taller man’s eyes. Finally, the hound let out a heavy breath and relented.
‘Alright Aus, we’ll try it your way but if we can’t work out who this demon is or get rid of their mark then we will need to tell your ma,’ Exton said sternly.
Austin nodded. ‘Yeah, okay, fine. Thank you,’ he said, nearly panting with relief.
Exton rolled his stiff shoulders. He clearly wasn’t entirely on board with this plan. ‘You should try and get some sleep Aus. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.’
—
‘You look terrible,’ Jess said as Austin shuffled into the back room, dark shadows under his eyes and a slump to his posture. He had barely gotten away from the house and only after swearing to his mother that he would come straight home and allow Exton to stay with him all day. Thankfully, the hellhound was very used to fading into the background shadows and observing from a quiet distance.
Maybe it was the metaphorical weight of the mark, but Austin could almost feel the weight of Exton presence even though he knew for a fact the hellhound was sitting in an unmarked car in the street outside. Normally that would bother him. Today…
‘How bad was it?’ Jess asked. Austin put on his apron. He had slept… what, maybe three hours?
‘A lot of yelling. Some of it in a language I could understand. Disgracing the family, not what my father would have wanted, massive disappointment, blah, blah, blah…’ Austin trailed off as he stared blankly at the list of orders. Jess winced. Apparently taking pity on his ass, she sifted through the receipts until she dug out a few simpler ones.
‘You do these orders, let me grab us some coffees, then we’ll blast some fucking awful 90s rock and get the rest of these done before close,’ she said. Her face told Austin that she still felt a little guilty about leading the ‘golden child’ out from his castle.
‘Thank you, but it really wasn’t your fault. I’m a big boy Jess, I made a dumb decision.’ Austin took up his station. Jess grabbed his shoulder, hard.
‘You took one night off to have a few drinks with friends. You did nothing wrong,’ she snapped aggressively.
Austin shrugged helplessly. He appreciated her comment, even if it didn’t help him feel any better. ‘For what it’s worth, thank you,’ he said honestly. The orders he’d been given were incredibly easy. Vanilla cake with chocolate ganache writing. “To Richard, my love.” Next order, cookies and cream ice cream cake, rainbow sprinkles. Free reign design.
Austin barely took note of what was going on around him. He was functioning more on muscle memory then brain power. As he iced a chocolate cake, his thought about his half-formed plan. Exton and Austin had agreed to tell Elizabeth that her son finished work at five. Exton would then bring Austin home. His real finishing time was four. That gave them one hour to drive across town and find the Seer Demon Exton was hoping could provide some clues as to who left the mark on Austin’s arm.
Austin was tempted to go back to the club and poke around for a bit. A demon that powerful would have left some kind of magical trace. Exton pointed out that the club would probably be closed this early in the afternoon. He glanced at his left forearm, but his shirt and jumper were covering the little gold sigil. If it was an overlord, there was a good chance that the family library might have something Austin could use.
As he inspected his piping tips, he made up his mind.
Depending on what the Seer Demon could do for them, he was going to sneak into the library tonight and do a bit of poking around. He knew Exton wouldn’t stay quiet forever and there was no way in seven hells was Austin allowing his mother to lock him away for the rest of his life.
This was his life, damn it. He was going to live it without this demon bullshit ruling every aspect. He would find a way to fix this.
--
END
--
