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“You infected people, my people, human beings, all for what?” I seethe and hurl a wave of Haloed lightning at his back, rejoicing in how it causes him to stumble, to spin around, and pay attention. “To distract me?!”
“Oh, it was quite difficult. Tell her, Lux,” the Father bids her.
She rubs her hand up and down her naked arm as if playing a role. Everything she wears is a role with the diamonded cobweb bustier draped across her breasts with tiny diamond strings dangling across her arms. And the same diamonded thong barely covering her sex and the hip attachments of luxurious white ruffles puffing out to exhibit her bare legs. And the angel wings headdress.
In her eyes are nothing but those gold stars until they spiral into eerie amber flames. Amber. And then, she dances the few steps into my circle, her body graceful and seductive as usual when she reaches for me and kisses me. A Scourge kiss! Infectious, it injects deep into my throat, stirring all those black capillaries to approach the territory of my heart. And I let her do it every damn time. Lux is not just the pawn credited with Neo’s new heart and salvation.Sheis the Scourge—the Father’s viral vessel.
“I didn’t expect you to be so strong.” She cups my cheek, fingers tender as always. “I had to find ways to get closer to you, even convincing Neo that you were playing the whore at the border so he would have me check your hymen. Any way I could get closer to you so I could kiss you. But I didn’t count on you taking my food supply, so I had to contrive a reason for why I had to sleep more and why I was sick.” She frames a heart around her bare navel. “I didn’t expect Neo to take you to the grotto so quickly or to heal you. It made you stronger, so I alerted the Father so he could put the next steps of the plan into motion.”
Court Mordere’s attack. And the bait for Neo.
“Why on earth would you deal with the one vampire you cannot control?” I challenge the Father as he weaves his way back to Lux, coasting his hand along her naked hip and roaming up to her breast.
“I use whomever I decide to, Everblood.” He leans down to kiss Lux. I wince at the sight of him claiming her mouth in a slow savor before bending her lips back to a ferocious devouring. “Lux’s reward will be Neoptolemus’ true seed. Mordere’s reward will be the razing of the Tenth Court. He will have his fun so long as he harbors the necromancer soul I require to bring back my prized eldest. You see, a necromancer can only be housed in the blackest of souls, so Mordere was the obvious choice.”
Holy foremothers. The razing of the Court. Quillion, Neo’s harem girls, all the innocent humans, and even vampires, despite how blind they are, thanks to the Court’s bread and circuses. And I shudder to imagine what Mordere will do with the human blood farms, the anarchy and war he will unleash upon the border.
“I do hope you are not too put out.” The Father wanders back to my side and pats my head. “You should have known better than to make a deal with the devil, little angel. Nor to believe your love with my Neoptolemus was strong enough to overcome centuries of our bond as Father and son. Of course, he was attracted to you, or perhaps he was simply attracted to the ghost of the girl he once loved: his first true bride, who will also be his last. Come, Lux, we have a Valentine’s Day party to get to. I doubt this broken princess will make it out of the Spirit woods alive.”
No, I want to cry out. I am hislastbride! But the truth is sealed as a ghost of a scar on my heart, upon my arm. No more horned crown upon my wrist. I am no longer a bride. Now, I’m just a broken princess of a fallen kingdom, and by the time the blood moon sets, I will be dead, and the Father will torture my soul for eternity. Unless…I vow it to Thanatos. But if the necromancer raises him from the dead, he will no longer be Thanatos. He will become Death. His flames will return, the mark of Satan will return, and I will be Death’s prisoner in Elysium! Or I will become fodder for thisSoul-Eater.
I love you, Ezer Kenegdo.
I stumble against a tree, catching myself with my hands and weep. Thanatos’ voice is a dark lullaby in my mind, made possible by these woods. Could he stand against the Father? Could he truly destroy this Scourge if I give him my tooth, my flesh, my tear, my blood? No, I hold onto the words of the Goddess, the words of the prophecy. I am the Everblood. Even for just a few more precious hours or less now that Lux has kissed me again, I am still the Everblood. Most of all, I choose to hold onto those words of Ezer Kenegdo.
All this time, I’ve clung to that story I shared in Neo’s harem. Of a warrioress going into battle. Of another Ezer driving her tent peg into the skull of an evil general. Except, there are other ways to be a shield, protect from danger, to deliver from death. I rack my brain, seeking all the testaments of my spiritual foremothers until the answer strikes me like a holy star because I should have known.
I crumble to the ground because he was right. All along, Thanatos was right all along!
Over and over again, I slam my fist against the tree until my knuckles are bloody, until the sound of wings flapping above me disturbs me as if summoned by that blood. I lift my head just in time to see the ghoul lunge toward me through the trees, aiming its teeth right for my throat. I scream, but before the claws can find their mark, something warm charges above my head, a familiar flick of an arrow-like tail on my skin, and that fiery roar.
“Spitfire!” I shout my jubilation as my hellcat pins the ghoul and tears his feline jaws into the throat and the mess of black blood, coating his face and whiskers with it.
My runt, my beautiful and ferocious runt, turns on his haunches and pounces for me, licking at the little lightning buds on what remains of my gown, soiling it all the more. Those lightning sparks are all I have to offer him now.
Throwing my arms around his neck, pinning my body against his chest, my cheek to his comforting hide, I cry because of what I must do. I cling onto him, scratch his ears, rejoice in the feel of his hot tongue scratching my cheek, wishing I could savor more, but there isn’t enough time. So, I mount my hellcat and direct him to take me out of the woods and back to the border. One last ride. My gold tears stain his hide as I hold onto the memory of his powerful muscles, of the stirring heat in his belly, of this runt of a gift from Thanatos in an indirect way. How Neo bonded with my hellcat and wrestled around with him. Ever my faithful daemon, Spitfire carries me the entire way to the border, but I direct him to stop at the line of trees.
“Spitfire…” I address my hellcat, the ache already growing when he snaps to attention at the sound of my voice stating his name. Cocking his head to me, tongue lolling to the side, Spitfire hiccups. Now, I see the baby runt that love-bit me, imprinting upon me, marking me as his own. Somehow, I manage to steel my voice because if this doesn’t work, he can’t be bound to me. “Spitfire, go back to your mother. I release you. Don’t come back for me.”
My hellcat rises to his haunches, tries to approach me, to nudge my hand, to rub against me, but I back away, crying out anguish, crying out my pain, “Go, Spitfire! Get away from me!” I blaze one lightning warning, striking his chest, striking his heart. Tears fly from my eyes as I turn my back and whisper, “I don’t want to see you again, Spitfire. Go away, Spitfire!”
When I turn around and witness my hellcat scrambling back into the woods, I drop to the ground, drop to my knees, hold my chest together, and sob uncontrollably.
Elysia…
Thanatos, please…take care of him!
I will. But who will take care of you?
Not him.Not you,I say as much, invigorated by that spark of rage, no matter how little. Shoving the grief down, I rise and proceed out of the woods with a tiny teardrop on my cheek. Only to recognize it’s not mine. First, I peer up at the sky, at the netting of clouds that hover right above the border, at the thunderclouds promising rain but no lightning. Peering at those Iron Walls, at the balcony, I seeher. Nita is bringing the rain, but why?
With the drizzle misting my gown’s leftover inner layer, I kick off my shoes, forsaking them, and break into a steady run. I don’t stop until I reach the elevator, only to find a new barrier of the Prince’s knights forbidding me to enter.
“Let her in!” Quillion barks the order behind me, and I spin my head to see him marking the knights. “The Hydra Queen desires her presence.”
“What’s going on?” I ask the blood bishop as I lean against the ironwork of the elevator for strength.
“Idrys. His ruling has gone into effect now that the blood moon is rising.” Quillion flicks his head to that gory circle that will continue to rise and harvest to a full, bloated orb. “He’s ordered the knights to round up all infected they can find…and set fire to the quarantined zones.”
