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“I think so, too. The chains are practically burning my neck now.”
“I know. Me, too.” When he slid his arm around her waist and drew her close so that if she stumbled or passed out, he’d keep her from falling into the river, she held her hands out flat and placed them on the carvings.
Marius was right: This was another vision.
The air seemed to bow and her body with it, but Marius held her fast.
Shayna, what’s going on? Do you see something?
It’s so strong this time, more than before.
A vision?
Yes. She was sure it was, though she saw nothing yet.
Tell me?
As soon as it takes shape.
At first, she saw nothing, she only felt that what resided on the other side of the vision had breadth and weight.
Oh, Marius, whatever it is, it’s massive. That was the only way she could think to describe what it felt like.
A fleeting image came to her of a room so large that she’d never seen anything like it before—only not a room. Definitely a cavern. But waves flowed over the vision so that she could only catch glimpses, like a dream made up of fleeting images. She thought she saw a man wearing a long cape that draped to the floor. Another man stood on something ten feet higher, speaking in a loud voice that also came and went but she couldn’t make out the words.
The vision dissipated and, for a moment, she thought that was it. Then another came and took its place. The setting was very different, in a much smaller cavern. The dark waves through the vision again made it difficult for her to understand what she was seeing. But she saw enough to recognize that a man she’d never met before, a vampire, stood beside a stone wall, a sledgehammer in his hand. He began slamming the thick head against the stone and with just a few strikes, the wall began to crumble.
The waves still made it so difficult to see. Why were they there? Was she blocked from within or was this some kind of interference outside herself?
When he was done, dust rose, then settled quickly enough.
The unknown man spoke to her in a deep resonant voice. “These have been waiting for you, Shayna, for over four millennia.”
He’d called her by name. He knew her.
More waves.
But she kept working on capturing images until she saw herself pass through an opening in the now crumbled wall.
She felt anxious seeing herself like that, and the waves hurt her mind. Finally, she saw herself sitting at a worktable, looking down at an ancient clay tablet. She was cleaning it very carefully with a soft brush.
And this was in the future.
Her future.
Dizziness and blackness overcame her.
The next thing she knew she stared up at Marius’s face. Glancing around, she saw that she was back in his living room and he held her cradled on his lap. “What happened?”
“You passed out.”
“I guess I did.” She slowly sat up and shifted to sit beside him, wincing. “I have another headache.” She touched the top of her head with the chained-up hand, feeling the rough texture on her scalp. She laughed suddenly. “I think this is ridiculous.”
“What? That you fainted?”
“No.” She held up her hand for him to see the chain. “This.”
He looked confused, a frown between his brows. “The chains are ridiculous?”
