AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I coughed. “I’m not planning on picking a sire. I have no intention of becoming a vampire.”
But Lannan continued as if I hadn’t said a word. “My guess: Either you’ll be forced into Myst’s servitude, or you’ll choose one of us. I recommend me, for obvious reasons, but if you hate me so much, then choose my sister. She’s safer to be around than Geoffrey, though you may not believe me right now.”
He pushed me toward the table and leaned over the crystal, his gaze totally caught up in the spinning crimson lights that began to emerge.
“Take my hand. Now.”
I obeyed, reaching out to clasp his cold fingers. Like a hurricane, the energy began to spin, whirling into a giant eye, and we were caught in the maelstrom. And without further ado, we went sliding through the rabbit hole.
Peeling pages off the calendar, we went sailing through the ether, buffeted by gale-force winds to every side. We were the fence posts caught by the tornado, a boat caught in storm surge, trees crowning from wildfire. I clung to Lannan’s hand, no longer caring who he was—he was a lifeline and if I let go, I knew I’d be lost.
It could have been seconds or hours, but the spinning lights died down and we came to rest in a room I remembered all too well. Crawl’s temple. Huge, reverberating with energy, the chamber stretched beyond my sight line, the ceilings well over thirty feet tall. The walls were a blur of crimson—I’d thought it paper the first time I was here, but now it looked like blood, staining the hall. Benches lined the walls, magical sigils covered the floor, and the scent of ancient magic filtered through every corner, every inch of the temple.
Lannan put his arm around my waist, and for once I did not resist as he led me forward, toward the dais. The walkway was Tuscan gold, but unmarred by magical symbols, and I knew better than to step off the path. All the while, I held back, not wanting to approach the raised platform. I knew who waited, and one visit had been enough.
But then, within a blink and a skip, we were there. Lannan stepped in front of me and, much to my surprise, knelt at the foot of the dais covered in curtains.
“Rise, son of Crawl. The Blood Oracle recognizes you. Stand, Wild One, and beseech. Answers will be offered for payment.” The voice came from behind the curtains, rasped and harsh, the whistle of the wind through ancient ruins, the sound of ghosts on the wind.
Slowly, Lannan stood. “My Master. I come seeking your help.”
And then, he was there, at the edge of the platform. Crawl. The Blood Oracle. The vampire every other vampire revered, perhaps even more than their queen. Crawl, almost unrecognizable—if he’d ever been human, it didn’t show. Crawl, who was more a force than a being anymore.
Bent and twisted, Crawl crept rather than walked, like a bug or a spider. His skin was blackened, charred by some unseen fire that burned from deep within him, his hair falling in clumps of dreadlocks long lignified.
In front of the dais, rising up to his reach, stood a fountain of bubbling blood, ringed by unwavering flames. The blood was fresh, smelling fetid and cloying, and it sounded like a brook. Crawl’s lidless eyes gleamed with a sudden intensity when he saw me standing behind Lannan.
“Her blood—the Oracle remembers the smell of her blood.” His tongue darted in and out of pasty thin lips, and with one bony finger he reached out, pointing at me, his hand shaking. “Give Crawl her blood. Sweet and thick in the mouth. Quickly, son of the Oracle, cut the flesh and make offering!”
Lannan grabbed my wrist and gave me a look that froze any objections I might have had. Regina had used my own blade to cut me, but Lannan just held out his fingernail and ripped a gash in my forearm, then motioned for Crawl to move back.
Crawl stared at the blood dripping down my arm, his dark eyes gleaming. Before Lannan or I could move, he stretched out one of his incredibly long arms and grabbed me by the hair, pulling me up onto the platform with him.
Lannan let out a shriek and scrambled to catch me before Crawl could yank me up on the dais, but he failed and I found myself lying beneath the Oracle, staring up at him. I began to scream as his long nails dug into my shoulder and he leaned over me like some giant praying mantis, his head turning from side to side as he contemplated me like a Happy Meal. I rolled, trying to get away, but he quickly straddled me, holding me down.
Crap. I had to get away because I knew that Crawl was about to take a big bite out of me . . . or at least sink his fangs into me, and who knew where those fangs had been? I struggled, pushing against him, but he was incredibly strong, his thin arms anything but brittle. He leaned in, his teeth chattering at me, eyes burning with hunger.
“This one is dessert. This one is sweet. This one makes the Oracle’s belly rumble. This one is ambrosia. Lannan has done the Oracle well to bring such a sweet treat.” Crawl smelled like decaying wood and mothballs, and I beat against his shoulders.
“No, no! You can’t drink from me!” I was frantic, even as I saw Lannan leap up on the platform. “Lannan, help me! Please!”
Lannan gave me a vague smirk, but he looked worried as he knelt beside the Oracle’s side. “The Master perhaps remembers the rule of the Crimson Queen? The one rule she extended to the Blood Oracle?”
Crawl leaned down and trailed his tongue along my arm, sucking up the blood where Lannan had cut me. The rasp of his licking felt like wriggling insects against my skin. I let out a sob, wishing it were over, just praying it would all go away, but the stench rising from the Blood Oracle overwhelmed my senses and I just wanted to go poof and no longer exist. If this was what life was going to be like from now on, could I handle it, even for the love of Grieve?
“My sired child should keep his comments to himself.” Crawl glanced back over his shoulder at Lannan, hissing at him. “The Blood Oracle is hungry and it’s been so long since he fed. Sweet flesh before him, a temptation too hard to ignore.” And he turned back to me, opened his mouth, and bit hard on my shoulder.
The pain was blinding—heat and fire seeping into my body as his fangs sank deep and he began to drink from me. The sensation of the blood leaving my body made me queasy. This was not like when Grieve drank from me, or even when Lannan had fed on me. The blood flowed like a river, and Crawl was reveling in my life force. I closed my eyes, willing myself to fight, but the pain became all there was—a white-hot haze of fire blurring my vision.
Everything retreated to a distance and I found myself staring down a long tunnel, and there, at the end, was Lannan, holding his arms out to me as he called my name. I turned but could not move.
My wolf moaned, then let out a long howl, and I reached to comfort it but there was no comfort there—only a gash ripping the space between my love and me. I sought Grieve out on the slipstream, calling to him.
Grieve, Grieve . . . where are you? Why aren’t you here to help me?
And there he was—but he was at the end of a long narrow ravine, running toward me, though I could tell he couldn’t see me. He was screaming my name, looking for me, and I couldn’t break through the fog that rolled along the snow, for everything was icy and pure and brilliant. I tried to run to him. All I wanted to do was to be safe in his arms, to let him enfold me and protect me from the energy that was sucking the blood from my body drop by drop.
Cicely! Where are you? I can’t find you!
