Monday, March 20th. Deaton's Vet Clinic.
The Vet Clinic was as quiet as a mouse. It felt ironic considering the fact that it held three Doberman, a German Shepherd and two Shape-Shifters.
Their silence was brought on by varying reasons. Marco had a lot to think about. Not that Scott and Deaton didn't. They just also had the added effect of shock.
Marco could feel it wafting off their skin as he cleaned the cat cages while the others roamed. They still smelled like death. It made him want to kill Gerard all over again.
The silence. It had been that way for the first hour of work as people came in and out. But afterwards there were no customers and Scott wasn't one to stand by for much.
Marco knew he was coming long before he entered the feline portion of the clinic.
The cats hissed as he stepped into the room wiping dog fur off his hands.
"Easy." Marco told the cats as they soundlessly jumped up onto countertops and cat tree's to watch Scott more carefully.
Scott didn't hang at the back of the room like he did last time they had clear tension in the clinic. He came over to the operating table Marco used to clean the cat enclosures and started helping.
"I didn't request any help." Marco said flatly.
"Yea….. but I think we both know I'm not here to help." Scott said calmly as he began scrubbing the metal gate door.
Marco didn't reply. The muscles in his arms popped and bulged with every scrub of the crate. It filled the silent room along with the cats wary meows.
"Where have you been?" Scott asked.
"Busy." Marco finished.
"Busy….. busy healing? Busy tracking down the rest of the Warlocks..? Or busy dealing with Alison's mom?"
Marco looked up at him, his jaw clenching repeatedly, "All of the above."
Now it was Scott's turn to be silent.
"Does that bother you, Scott?" Marco questioned, "Does it bother you even after she tried to kill us. If she got through with her plan, Deaton would be dead and this place would be crawling with Warlocks. Instead, I chose to open her mind….. give her a gift. It was either that or I ripped her head off."
"You call this a gift?" Scott asked.
"Anything worth fighting for can be seen as a gift." Marco said as he got back to cleaning. Over his shoulder, a cat pulled itself up to watch Scott across the table.
"…..I didn't. We didn't even know….. you were an Alpha." Scott said, "How? I thought we all had one spark."
Marco turned away from Scott to grab another sponge from the dull grey cupboards, "That's none of your business."
"But that is something I'd like to know as well." Deaton said from the doorway. He crossed his arms as he leaned against the frame and looked around the recently cleaned room. "In all my years I've never seen anything like it. It looks almost like henna….. but it clearly is something more than that."
Marco froze at the cupboard.
"Henna?" Scott questioned the Druid.
"It's a special sort of dye used to stain the skin and make temporary tattooing. Very common in India and the Middle East." Deaton explained.
"You know, Henna started in Egypt. It started with the Pharaohs." Marco started after a long stretch of silence. He still hadn't turned away from the cupboards.
"No. I didn't know that." Deaton replied.
"Their oldest record is of Cleopatra. She used Henna to adorn her body and beautify herself. Queens and leading women back in that time needed beauty. It was as important to them as a sword was to man. Every being needed something. Hunters needed Prey. Queens needed beauty. Kings needed followers…."
Nobody spoke because no one knew where Marco was going.
"That's what the Druid told me." Marco's voice shook if only a little. "A man in those parts of Africa was rare. And when he found me I was hiding in the trees. Eating with the Leopards after starving for days."
"This was after the attack?" Deaton assumed.
"Yea." Marco replied, "I still….. their…. It was still on my skin." Marco couldn't get the words out. "It gave him the idea I'm sure. Looking back at it, I should've killed him. He wasn't right. I knew Druids. He wasn't like them. He was dark. He was looking for power not to spread guidance."
"He was a Darach?" Deaton questioned, his face suddenly going serious.
Marco shrugged, "I don't know. I don't remember much. Only a few things he said to me. I remember because I found his accent funny. Id never met an Indian man until then. He asked me if I was tired of being afraid. And if I wanted to get revenge."
"And you said yes?" Scott asked.
"Who wouldn't?" Marco questioned defensively. "That's when it started. He used the ashen remains and regular remains of my people to give me what I desired. He punctured me with their fangs, he cut into me with their claws. And he cooked their ashes while praying to gods I may never understand. Then he burned it all into my skin."
Scott felt sick. It wasn't a tattoo. Well, it was. It's just that the ink was his families remains.
"Naturally there was more to it… but all I remember are his earlier words. Kings need followers. Queens need beauty. Hunters need Prey….. and those seeking revenge need reminders." Marco stated before hitting his knuckles against the countertop.
"There was more. I just don't remember. I woke up with the marking and my mother was sick. He was gone. Not even a scent to follow. And I could feel that I no longer had a single spark. I could feel them in my head."
Marco removed some of the mountain ash wrapping on his arm. Blue sparks ignited along with spirals of steam. "I have all of them."
"And that's why it burns…" Deaton concluded as he tried to shake off the goosebumps rumbling across his skin. "That can't be safe…. You understand that don't you, Marco?"
"Nothing so powerful ever is. I feel the sparks burning away my…. Well, everything. I won't see the age of sixty. Maybe even fifty. No Shifter is meant to hold this much power. But I hold it. For them. And I did what I set off to do." Marco tied up his arm once more to hold in the uncontrollable power.
The room went back to normal and somebody burst into the clinic and began hitting the bell reputedly.
"I need help….. I need help and you're the only people that can help me." Lydia's voice traveled through the silent clinic.
They all turned to look at eachother before leaving the room to find Lydia waiting at the front desk. Tears sullied her black eyeliner and made her look haunting in sense when combined with her pretty dress and bright hair. But to Deaton, nothing was more haunting in those moments than the marking made on the glass door behind her.
Marco smelled the fear on him and looked to the door. Scott must've noticed and moved to help Lydia so she didn't go nuts after being ignored.
"Lydia. Come back with me." Scott held a hand out to her and led her back into the clinic.
Marco and the Druid waited. Once she was gone he spoke.
"What is that and why are you so afraid."
It looked like a triskelion…. Only different. Tainted in design as if to evoke those same feelings. It was…. Intimidating."
Deaton looked up at Marco, "We may have a very serious problem….."