SWNOVELS Chapter Twenty-Two: Marley
The woman’s blood-red eyes almost looked exactly like Sawyer’s as Marley stood in her place in complete shock and horror. Her hair was just as red, if not darker as her pale complexion glowed with the streak of light that shined through the cracks of the cave. Marley felt drawn to this woman as if she were an enchantress, a woman who knew how to manipulate you into her web and trap you.
Marley was drawn to this woman that she didn’t notice the two familiar felines staring up at her in surprise until Figus spoke. “Ay! I see the two love birds have caught up to us!”
“Oh, shut up Figus!” Pipèe spoke. “The boy was about to kill us!”
Figus raised an eyebrow which looked weird and a little funny as he was a cat and chuckled. “I see dear but he has his girl next to him, he won’t do a thing unless she gets in trouble or tells him to attack.”
Marley couldn’t help but agree with Figus as she looked up at Sawyer to see him glaring at the three beings that currently possessed his one and only weapon of destruction before Marley decided to speak. “May I ask who you are?”
The girl glared, eyeing Marley up and down as if she were analysing her. Marley felt naked under her gaze and wondered what she could see that Marley couldn’t. “Nobody.”
Figus scoffed. “This is Red, our leader, provider, mother and protector.”
Marley had already figured that one out for herself however she felt the need to ask anyway. She wasn’t expecting a person like this to own two very outgoing, high-personality felines who both seemed to love to talk. “And uh...”
“Why are you here!?” Sawyer growled, his question coming out as more of a demand than a question as he finished her sentence for her.
“For the heart,” Red responded, holding it out in front of her face as she looked away from them and stared at it again. The ruby heart reflected off her as if it were mocking her and who she was. “Something is wrong, terribly wrong.”
“What is wrong exactly?” Marley questioned again, she felt herself getting irritated. Being around Sawyer for so long made her get used to having straight answers nearly straight away and now she has no patience for cryptic messages.
“The heart is empty.” Red continued. “I felt it calling, it needs a new soul.”
“Then we will get it a new soul,” Sawyer stated. “Marley and I are perfectly capable of doing it.”
The two felines laughed, their paws on their knees as they whaled and cried together before Pipèe spoke. “Honey no, it is not that simple. We need to speak to Simon, he will know what to do and you two need to come with us.”
“Who is Simon?” Marley asked, she felt like she already knew the answer to that but wanted a straight answer.
“The wizard you both hate so much even though he technically got the both of you together.” Figus shrugged after gaining his composure. “I wouldn’t worry about saying goodbye to your vampire friends, they are currently arguing over the fact that the prince helped you two find this place. They were still discussing it and were trying to figure out if they were going to trust you two or not and to be frank I don’t think they-”
“Would you shut up and get on with it!” Pipèe complained. “I swear you are worse than a child!”
Marley heard Sawyer sigh, rubbing his temples as if he were already sick of their company. This was something she noticed he did a lot around others but he never did around her and she kind of felt special. “If we come with you, what benefit will we get?”
“Your lives,” Red stated, tucking the heart into Figus’s satchel before she came towards them. “We don’t have much time before the royal army comes in here to stop us.”
Her feline companions looked at each other before Figus questioned her. “When has being caught ever frightened you?”
Red glared in warning, Figus holding his paws up in surrender before she pushed past Marley and Sawyer and disappeared into the darkness. “Is she always like this?”
Pipèe looked up at Marley and began to play with one of her whiskers. “I think she can smell a scent that she doesn’t like. I think whatever has been nagging at her from the moment we crossed this land is a person.”
“Her mate?”
Pipèe nodded. “Yes, but we will not pressure her into pursuing the pull. She is not a woman who trusts easily and well... her family were killed by rogue vampires so she has a grudge against them all.”
Marley didn’t press any further and watched them also disappear from where she had come before she finally eyed Sawyer again. “What do you think about this?”
“I think this is a pain in the ass and I should kill those fucking cats and run with the heart before that bitch catches us.”
Marley’s eyes widened. “SAWYER SOMETHING KOLKEY! YOU ARE NOT DOING THAT!”
She watched his eyes darken at the way she just shouted his name before he raised an eyebrow. “What? Marley something LockHeart wants all the fun for herself?”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hold back the smile that formed on her face. “No, I would rather keep my hands clean.”
“Well, I like to get mine dirty.”
The way he said that caused her face to turn red and her body to heat in areas she would rather ignore as they stared into each other’s eyes. Neither one of them dared to look away and challenged the other to do it first before they were interrupted “If you two are going to fuck then do it quick! We are not waiting around!”