Mark

“Aaaagh!” A scream stirred the darkness, and then was gone.
Trembling, Larmica shielded her face.
There in the dark she’d seen it. No, she’d felt it. Felt the pain of the
same holy mark of the cross her father had seen on the girl’s neck two days
earlier! It would make its sudden appearance only when the breath of a
vampire fell on it.

The vampires themselves didn’t know why they feared it. All that was
certain was that even without seeing it their skin could feel its presence. In
that instant some nameless force bound them. This was the mark they
couldn’t allow humans to know about, something that had supposedly sunk
into the watery depths of forgetfulness thanks to ages of ingenious
psychological manipulation—so how could this girl have the holy mark on
her neck?

Though Doris didn’t understand why Larmica—who’d enjoyed an
overwhelming advantage until a second earlier—had suddenly lost her
mind, she surmised that she’d been saved. Now she had to run!


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