The Marked Ones

The Marked Ones

alexanderobasi2002 · Ongoing · 142.5k Words

1.1k
Hot
1.1k
Views
6
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Vandal dies betrayed by his fiancée and allies, only to awaken in another world as a chained child marked for sacrifice. His captor, Elizabeth, eerily resembles his mother, but a monstrous power in his left eye turns her nightmares against her and grants him escape.

Alone in a brutal wilderness, Vandal learns he can devour Echoes of living beings, gaining their strength, though the sentient eye hungers endlessly. Driven to find his lost sister, he uncovers fragments of memory suggesting his rebirth and powers are no accident. To survive, he must master the eye, uncover the truth behind Elizabeth, and cling to his humanity before the hunger consumes him completely.

Chapter 1

The cave trembled violently. Rocks tumbled down in a chaotic rush.

Vandal, his fiancée Sandra, his best friend Darius, and his business partner Harland ran, dodging debris.

At one point Vandal realized the ceiling was on the verge of collapsing. There was no time for rational thought. Acting purely on instinct, he pushed Sandra toward Darius just as they neared the exit.

"Get out quickly!" Vandal shouted.

For a split second their eyes met. Something in her gaze felt off, cold, almost relieved. The thought flickered and vanished under the roar of collapsing stone.

Then the ceiling gave way. Massive slabs crashed onto his shoulders, back, and legs. Bones snapped. He screamed as he fell. Heavy rocks buried him in seconds. Blood filled his mouth.

From somewhere beyond the rubble he heard voices.

"Darius! Is he..." Sandra's voice cracked with terror.

"Yes, Sandra, I am certain he is more than dead, buried six feet under," Darius replied, calm as ever.

"I... he was not meant to die. This was not part of the plan," she said, hysteria rising.

"We just committed murder. I am not going to jail, Darius."

"You are not. The company is now ours, and Mr. Harland will finally uphold his part of the agreement and back our takeover, will he not, Harland?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let us just leave this place. I am filthy, and that was a narrow escape."

Footsteps receded.

Vandal heard every word. He knew those voices better than his own heartbeat. He coughed up more blood, eyes wide with disbelief.

Why?

Pain lanced through his skull, but memories flooded in, bright and merciless. Sandra's smile at their favorite spot on campus, palms shaped into a heart. "I love you. I will always love you." The way she used to trace the family heirloom necklace he wore, the eye encased in a triangle, and call it "cute" even though her fingers sometimes lingered too long, too curiously.

The small lies he had ignored because loving her felt safer than doubting her. The way she had started insisting they explore this remote cave system "just the two of us" for weeks, even though she hated dirt.

All of it clicked into place now.

A bitter, broken laugh tore out of him despite the blood gushing from his wounds. The sound echoed wetly in the dark. Rage and grief collided so hard inside his chest that the only release left was laughter, maniacal, unstoppable.

He had given her everything, trusted her with his life, and she had sold it for a company and a future with his best friend.

A massive slab broke free above him and hurtled downward. As it filled his vision, Vandal kept laughing, tears mixing with blood. He did not notice the necklace glowing an eerie red, soaking up the blood that spilled across the eye design.

Squish

Endless darkness. Eternal rest.

Then a bright red, flaming metallic blob hurtled toward his face like a meteor and plunged into his left eye.

His skull ignited. A silent scream ripped through him. Consciousness shattered.

The sweet embrace of nothingness.

A sharp slap jolted him awake. The sting compelled his eyes to flutter open. He was no longer in a cave.

"Wake up. I did not give you permission to sleep."

He was small, perhaps too small, gazing at his tiny hands and feet, bound in shackles. A woman loomed over him, exuding an air of elegance mixed with cruelty. Her cheekbones were sharply defined as if sculpted from a block of flesh.

Memories crashed in like a relentless tide. His mind flooded with waves of recognition that reflected in his pale blue eye.

This was her son. The boy she had brought here to complete what she had begun with the sister. The sister who had fled three months prior, leaving only screams and blood upon the altar.

The mother's name in this world was the same: Elizabeth. And she was smiling, a maddening grin, one that was strangely familiar to Vandal's own mother from Earth, the one who went insane when she told her own son she wanted to beat him into an early grave because he reminded her of all she lost.

She leaned closer. "Your sister ran. But you... You are perfect. So much purer. Once I take your Mark, the Nocthra clan will fear me."

Her fingers dug in. Purple light pulsed brighter.

Vandal's left eye burned.

Not metaphorically. Literally. She was attempting to pry his eye out.

He convulsed. Vision splitting. Trying desperately to move but his weak body betrayed him. The room sharpened to impossible edges. Each shade of shadow had weight. Every flicker of fire carried regret.

Within him was the same terror he felt when his own mother would lock him in a dark room at the slightest provocation. And in this mother's face, layered over her features like translucent scars, he saw flashes:

A younger Elizabeth weeping over a grave.

A knife in her hand, trembling, as she cut into something, someone, in a candlelit chamber.

The moment she first tasted another's Resonance and felt power flood her veins like wine.

The exact instant she realized she could consume her own children to ascend to a higher being.

Anger rose slowly, drowning his terror. Anger at the world, always taking, taking, taking everything from him.

Elizabeth's palm pressed harder onto his eye flesh. "It will be over soon, my gentle child."

"Get off me! Get off me!" Vandal thrashed beneath her weight. But when her nails scraped the rim of his socket the pain was white-hot lightning straight into his brain.

The eye answered with a savage spasm. The iris split wider. Obsidian black shot through with crimson threads like ruptured veins. It became a black hole in his skull, ancient and ravenous.

His pain turned his anger into rage. Vision turning monochrome red.

Something stirred behind the vertical pupil, something vast, patient, starving.

A voice, not his, not hers, whispered inside his skull, soft as a final breath:

I feeeast...

The vertical pupil dilated. The iris cracked wide like a chasm from hell.

The air around Elizabeth curdled. Shadows thickened into living tar, slithering up her ritual robes like starving worms. From the blackest pits of her soul, her own nightmares tore free and turned on their creator. She recoiled in terror.

First came the ghost of her slaughtered daughter, the sister who had escaped three months earlier.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Soulbound Mark

Soulbound Mark

4k Views · Completed · ngocvynguyen985
Vampires are her worst fear, but what if one of them turns out to be her soulmate?
Elena is a witch who adores flowers and plants, possessing a gentle kind of magic that is tied to nature. She leads a quiet life with her family—until one day, the peace is shattered. After a ruthless vampire kills her parents to obtain their magic, she barely escapes and is forced to go into hiding.
From that moment on, she lives in constant fear and does all she can to avoid vampires, afraid that her past may catch up with her one day.
However, Elena can’t escape her fate, and it leads her straight into the arms of yet another vampire. Their encounter throws her life into disarray—not only is Ryder her enemy, but he is also her destined soulmate.
Tempted By The Enemy

Tempted By The Enemy

3.9k Views · Completed · rituparna darolia
Twenty-two-year-old Alyssa Van Every is in a dilemma. Her close friend, Sienna, is marrying billionaire, Lucas Donnelly who, along with his brothers, happens to be her older brother, Alex's sworn enemy.
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
The Heir of Flame and Fang

The Heir of Flame and Fang

4.7k Views · Completed · Sophie Smith
Elara, the daughter of Nikolas and Saphira, has been sheltered and protected throughout her life from dangers that came for her, but she doesn’t see it that way. Elara remembers feeling isolated and controlled, and now that she has turned 20 and is expected to begin training to succeed her parents, she feels more controlled than ever. Things worsen when she is told she will be taking a mate through the Matchmaker, who will be the face of the pack while she helps in the background. Feeling like she has no other choice, Elara decides to run away, where she meets Kaelan, the Alpha Werewolf from the forgotten pack. A bond begins to form, but Elara has not been truthful about who she is, and now she faces a difficult choice. Should she reveal her true identity and risk everything, or return home and figure out what happened to the parents she grew up hearing about?

Please note: this story contains strong language and mature scenes.

This is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a stand alone.
The first book is The Matchmaker.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy.
The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

75.4k Views · Completed · Cherie Frost
"Tell me to stop, and I will," he murmured against my ear. "But if you don't..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.


Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
Glimmerdrop: The Crownwake Series

Glimmerdrop: The Crownwake Series

2k Views · Ongoing · Rafaella Dutra
"Tell me you don't feel this... Just say the word, and I'll walk away."
"This is your last chance to push me away."


At the fiercely hierarchical Haldorian Academy, magic-less commoner Hettie just wants to remain invisible. But Zadok, the academy's most untouchable elite, backs her into a corner she can't escape.
His fatal obsession sparks ruthless revenge: Dana, a high-tier wind mystic, turns paper into deadly blades during combat class, nearly blinding and disfiguring Hettie in a bloody attack .
The massive class divide and brutal bullying force Hettie to draw a line, demanding their romance be kept strictly underground .

That forever unattainable golden boy pinned her against the tree trunk, his scalding and aggressive kiss accompanied by a hopeless surrender: "You're going to be my doom ."

Worse still, Hettie discovers her parents’ dark secrets are dragging her into a deadly conspiracy of betrayal . Survival clashes with forbidden desire. In this deadly, cross-class temptation, whoever gives in first is doomed!
Let Them Kneel

Let Them Kneel

232.8k Views · Ongoing · My Fantasy Stories
Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
The Hunter and The Hunted

The Hunter and The Hunted

5.1k Views · Ongoing · Sashalouise Prior
My skin heats with each thrust of his fingers, and each forceful lap of his tongue, and i cannot stop the moans of pleasure tearing through my slackened jaw. My hand is wrapped in his hair, giving the impression that I have control, but I don’t. I control nothing, and I like it.
Mihai’s hand slowly slides up my stomach, his fingers wrapping around my neck as he cuts of my ability to breathe, black spots clouding my vision, and yet, I am not afraid. I want more. I want everything that he can give to me.
He slowly inserts a third finger, the intense fullness that I feel teetering me over the edge of a cliff I cannot even see, and then he sucks and pulls at my clit. Sparks erupt throughout my body, the orgasm shaking my soul, and destroying what was left of my resistance.


She was the Daughter of a Hunter, he was one of the creatures that her family had sworn to destroy, what could possibly go wrong?
When their worlds collide, who will be left standing, will it be the hunter or the hunted, and which is which?
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

522.3k Views · Completed · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
Bound By Power, Torn By Love

Bound By Power, Torn By Love

1.9k Views · Ongoing · Cynthia Adama
She is the only daughter of a notorious mafia boss, but she is forced by her father to marry a hateful bastard in a contract marriage. To avenge her father, she has a one-night stand with a charming man, but unexpectedly falls into the trap of another terrible man, who is her father's enemy and another mafia boss. His mission is to make her father disappear.
She regards him as her only salvation, but he regards her as a pawn for revenge. When two enemies dance on the sharp knife, what will be the final outcome?
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

2.4k Views · Ongoing · June Calva
In a werewolf pack that despised weakness, Aphrodite learned to survive by staying quiet, keeping her head down, and enduring cruelty in silence. The Alpha heirs hated her. The future Beta and Gamma made her life unbearable. When she finally breaks and seeks freedom at the Moon Goddess temple, she does not find release.

She finds truth.

Aphrodite is not human at all. She is a rare white wolf, descended from an ancient Direwolf bloodline long believed extinct. The ritual meant to sever her ties awakens her wolf instead and with it comes the scent of five mates bound to her by fate.

The Alpha twins who once scorned her now cannot stay away. A human hunter walks beside her and proves that strength is not born of fangs or dominance. A cursed Wolf King holds the key to her past and her father’s imprisonment. And watching from the shadows is one who was never meant to interfere at all.

As gods fall, packs fracture, and war reshapes the world, Aphrodite must decide what destiny truly means. Is it submission to fate or the courage to choose her own path.

Love does not come in one form. Neither does power.

In a world ruled by gods and wolves, Aphrodite will become something neither ever expected.

Not a queen.

But the axis upon which the world turns.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

894.1k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!