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“You all are free to leave as long as you make a vow to leave us in peace,” Loukas says, stepping forward.
“Our fight was never with you, Loukas. We were just following the orders of our high priestess,” One of the women says, stepping forward.
“Then I suggest you get a new high priestess,” Skarlyt says. “And like Loukas said, you are free to leave. But first I need you each to make a magical vow that you will not get revenge for the death of your high priestess or her brother.”
Murmurs go around through the members of Antonia’s coven, but one by one, they all step up, clasping Skarlyt’s arm and vowing never to take revenge.
The more time that goes by, the more my magic replenishes itself, until it begins fighting against the vampire blood, absorbing it from my body. As the seconds pass by, my gums begin to ache, my body begins to shake and sweat starts to pour down my face. I glance around, not understanding what’s happening to me, but when my gaze lands on Rayne, it’s like a switch goes off in my brain telling me that she has what I need to feel better.
I rush toward her with a speed that I know I don’t possess, opening my mouth wide, my teeth already having shifted, ready to take a bite out of her. Luckily, being the trained warrior that she is, Rayne is able to grasp me by the neck and slam me down on my back, straddling my legs. And still, I snap my teeth at her, trying to get a drop of that golden blood. I feel like I’m having anout-of-body experience. I know that what I’m doing is certifiably insane, but I am powerless to stop it. Nothing will stop it except some of Rayne’s blood.
“What’s wrong with her?” Loukas asks, his voice full of concern. I want to reach out to him and reassure him that I’m fine. That everything is going to be okay, but I can’t even make my eyes move from the slow pulsing in Rayne’s neck like a siren’s song, calling to me.
“I don’t know,” Rayne responds, the little veins in her neck pulsing harder as she moves her mouth. “It looks like bloodlust.”
I buck my hips upward trying to dislodge her, but she holds firm.
“It can’t be. Right?” Skarlyt asks, looking around.
Rayne looks down at me, now pinning my hands to my chest with one arm and still squeezing my throat with the other. “Come back to us Pearl,” she says, her voice pleading in a way I’ve never heard before. I desperately want to listen to her, to open my mouth and not want to eat her face off. But I can’t. Every fiber of my being wants to devour Rayne and not in a sexy way either.
“Pearl? Baby?” Loukas says, moving into view but I ignore him, my eyes on my prize and not willing to look anywhere else.
“Breanne is going to be so pissed,” Rayne mutters under her breath, stealing a look of pity with me. Just from those words alone, I want to stop behaving this way. If I hurt someone, she is going to blame herself for giving me her blood no matter if I asked her for it or not.
“Artemis!” Rayne yells as I thrash harder, faster, stronger than I was before knowing that if she is successful in calling the goddess, the chances of me getting the sweet nectar are gone. “Hold her legs,” Rayne says to someone as I kick hard enough to raise both Rayne and me off the ground, twisting my body and almost gaining my freedom.
“Artemis! Get down here, you old bag.”
“Who are you calling old, Spawn?” Artemis says with a snarl, obviously expecting the normally witty banter that she and Rayne love so much yet pretend to hate.
“Oh, what happened?” she asks, rushing over and placing a glowing hand on my forehead.
The red haze burning in my veins lessens a bit, and I watch as Artemis looks at her granddaughter with the most fury I’ve ever seen.
“Who?” she demands, her voice no longer soft and melodic, but hard and powerful.
“Don’t blame her,” I say through clenched teeth, strong enough to keep the urges at bay. Rayne, seeing that I am semi-lucid, loosens her grip but I shake my head. “Don’t let go.”
“I don’t understand. I didn’t know this would happen,” Rayne says, her voice the smallest I’ve ever heard. Normally she’s the larger-than-life, kick-ass, takes-no-shit hunter, but right now she seems so small.
“Did she drink from you?” Artemis asks, looking at Rayne who shakes her head. “Good.” Artie follows up with a heavy sigh of relief.
“Can. You. Fix. Me?” I ask, the words getting harder to force out, theneedramping up once more.
“How much did she drink?” Ignoring me, Artemis pins Rayne with her stare.
“A lot.” Is all she says, never taking her eyes from mine.
“Nobody touch her except Rayne,” she says and I feel Loukas and Skarlyt remove their hands from my body as the haze ramps up, my body beginning to thrash involuntarily. “This is going to hurt, my sweet girl.” That’s the only warning I get as she moves above my head and places glowing orbs for hands on each of my temples.
I scream out, my back arching off the ground, pain like I’ve never felt before rushing through my body. It feels like my blood is on fire. Both my magic and the vampire blood are stripped as her magic spreads.
“Almost there, sweetling. Just a little more,” Artemis coos. Instead of feeling relief, the burning seems to get worse for a few beats. It builds to so much pain that I can’t even scream out anymore.
As if by magic—and I guess it was—the pain disappears instantly along with all my magic that had been replenished. I panic for a moment, worried that along with the vampire blood, she burned up all my magic, but when I search inside me for that green well, I find it deep in my chest, flickering lightly, dormant, almost asleep.
“She’s okay now. You can let her go,” Artemis says and I feel the pressure fall off my throat.
