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I wondered just how much Mother could love what I'd become but pushed the thought out of my head. "The important thing is that we have the location of my bondage to Dredge."
"And I know what you went through," Camille said. "Now… I can understand you a little better."
"That too," I said, softly. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe Camille would be able to help me when the rage and hunger threatened. I looked up at Morio, who was staring at me, a solemn expression on his face.
"Menolly, don't underestimate Delilah," he said. "Someday she may need to know, for her own safety. Don't write her off as a weakling."
I blinked. Trillian had said the same thing. Maybe I should pay attention. "I'll remember that." I allowed Jareth to help me up. "What do we do now? How much time before first light?"
He sucked in a deep breath. "I told you, we're working outside of time this night. You'll be home before sunrise. Follow me." He led us into a room to the left of the chamber we'd been in. There was a pentacle inscribed on the marble floor, carved into a deep trench and inlaid with hematite. Even I could feel the grounding pull of the polished metal as it settled the magic into the floor.>Count to one hundred. Think of nothing but the numbers. If I can count to one hundred, it will be over.
And so I focused, counting under my breath, making every single number the sole sum of my existence. I counted to one hundred, five hundred, two thousand. Finally the world blissfully began to fade. Still deep within me, Dredge leaned back, shaking me out of my stupor. As I stared at him, glassy eyed, he lifted his hand and smacked me across my face.
"Don't you die on me yet," he said, growling as he slashed his left wrist with one of his dagger-sharp nails. I stared at the glistening blood as it dribbled down his arm. Without warning, he brought his wrist to my lips and forced the cut against my mouth. I gasped, trying to twist my head away, but the blood flowed into my mouth and I felt like I was drowning. There was nothing I could do but swallow.
"Good girl," he said. "Good girl. Drink deep. Satisfy your thirst."
And suddenly, I realized that my mouth and throat were parched from screaming. Without thinking, I sucked against his wrist, taking the precious liquid within, soothing the wracking pain.
"That's it, suck hard. Drink it down, little girl. Drink it down." Dredge cradled my head. He moved gently within me, his eyes triumphant. As the pain lifted, I struggled, soaring higher and higher. No. I didn't want to enjoy this. Don't let him make me come, I prayed, but then, before I could stop myself, I teetered on the edge and tumbled into an orgasm that shattered the stars.
As the whirl of energy fell away, I realized that I wasn't hurting anymore. I looked around and saw my body on the slab, Dredge standing next to me, looking victorious. What do you know, I thought. I'm dead, and I'm free. No matter what he does to my body now, he can't hurt me any longer.
I began to walk and found myself in a cavern of ice, the color of glacier water, glistening and pure and clean. It was time to meet my ancestors. A light beckoned at the end of the tunnel and I began to run toward it, feeling free and joyous and ready to enter the Land of the Silver Falls where my father's people went after they died. As I hurried forward, a figure began to form from mist and shadow. My mother, waiting for me on the other side.
"Mother!" I raced toward her. So she had been allowed to join my father's ancestors, even though she was human. Now we'd walk together in death.
"Menolly, come to me, baby!" The look on her face was so beautiful, so welcoming that tears began to course down my cheeks. She would protect me, cleanse me, soothe my soul.
But just then, I felt a tug at the back of my neck. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a silver cord connecting me to my body. Damn, what the hell? But I'm dead. What would it take to get away from this monster?
The cord slowly began to change color. It was turning bloodred, and the color was seeping from my body toward me. What the hell? Whatever it was, the energy felt tainted and I wanted no part of it. I tried to reach the end of the passage but the cord began to drag me back. As the trail of red hit my spirit, I felt myself being sucked back into my body.
No! "I don't want to go back!" To enter that scarred and pain-wracked body again? To face Dredge again? Never!
I tried to fight. As I struggled against the pull, Mother watched, frozen, a horrified look on her face. "Menolly! My baby… Let her go, damn you!" Tears ran down her face and she fell to her knees, holding out her arms. A warm and embracing cloud of sparkling light filtered toward me.
"Mother!" I screamed for real now, struggling. If I could just reach the safety of her light… but the force of the cord was growing stronger. "I won't go back. Mother—save me, please save me."
And then, the light began to fade. I heard her scream my name again, but she vanished into the darkness as I went tumbling out of the ice cavern, back into my stone-cold body. I fell through layer after layer of skin, feeling the lack of a pulse, the lack of breath as I stretched out in the still shell that had been my home all these years.
As I searched frantically for the beating of my heart, I began to panic. I was going to suffocate. I struggled, rocking right and left. Dredge's laughter filtered into my ears and I opened my eyes and reared up into a sitting position, ripping the chains out of the slab.
"She's a strong one, Master," one of the shadows from the corner of the room said.
"Yes," Dredge said. "She is. We'll be able to make good use of her." As he spoke, he held out his hand and I saw that a miniature figure stood in the palm of his hand. It was a shadow of me. He squeezed and my ribs constricted. I yelped. And then he let go and I could relax again.
"Dance, puppet," he said.
My legs swung over the edge of the slab and I couldn't stop myself. I stood and began to dance. "No—you can't control me. I won't let you."
Once again, he laughed. "Are you thirsty, newborn? Go home. Drink deep. Go home to your family and rip out their hearts, and then become a scourge on the world. Destroy all in your path."
With his words, the thirst hit me like a ton of bricks. Blood. I needed blood. I needed to drink. All I could see was a red haze of pain and desire, and I yanked the chains off my wrists and ankles. Dredge stood back, his laughter echoing against the ceiling of the cave as I raced into the wee hours of the night. I had to get home to feed. And then the world went black…
"Menolly, can you hear me?"
The man's voice penetrated the haze of pain buttressing the periphery of my thoughts. Where was I? Was I still in the cavern? And then I remembered—I was safe, in a temple, tied down but under the watchful eyes of someone who was helping me.
