Page 37 of Bitten By Chaos

Sure, now that he’d already tainted my food with his blood enough to make me hunger for him to the point I still considered lunging across the table. It was a good thing I’d fed on Bres. “Go on,” I urged.

“I have a theory of my own. You see, Elsa is looking at things from a vampire’s perspective. She’s picturing consuming blood. I am a wizard, currently safe from said Blood Queen since I helped her secure dear departed Kayora to drain instead. Don’t look at me that way, kill or be killed and all. So judgy.”

“So, it’s true. She did drain Kayora.” Julian’s suspicions were correct. Elsa now held the power of one of the strongest witches to ever live. That confirmation sent my mind reeling. There’d be no stopping Elsa if she set her sights on something. The urgency to leave the estate grew tenfold.

“Julian, I assume?” Merlin poured himself some more wine and sipped. “Yes, he knows how these games are played. Pity his moral compass prevents him from doing the same. Or perhaps it’s better for him that way. If he tried to come after me, I’d have to destroy him, and what a waste that would be.”

“You are the same as everyone else you seem to sympathize with me about,” I said. “You use others and don’t even hesitate to take lives in order to secure your own.”

“So sure I didn’t hesitate are you? Well, you aren’t wrong, so I suppose it doesn’t matter. I used to, though—hesitate, I mean. I learned those crucial moments can be the difference between life and death, so I don’t anymore. There will be plenty of time to meditate on it later if necessary.” Merlin tapped the table then stood, coming around behind me to set hands on my shoulders and lean over me, cheek to cheek.

I stiffened at the scent of him so close and didn’t dare move.

“In any case, from my perspective, the question becomes how to get demon, fae, and vampire DNA into my own system in order to become this invincible being?” He patted my shoulders and stood, still behind me.

I had all of the above in me. I was up and out of the seat so fast it was on the floor in front of him, me all the way back at the front door in the space of a second.

He held up his hands. “I make deals. I haven’t convinced you yet. That’s okay. But you may want to finish hearing me out.”

“I think I’ve heard enough. I’ll keep my DNA, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, but you won’t have the fae blood forever since you didn’t actually drain him like I’d hoped you would, did you?” Merlin picked up the chair and set it back by the table with force.

“How do you know that?”

“I have eyes and ears everywhere, dear. Now sit down, or I’ll kill your friend Lydia.”

With a snap of his fingers, the kitchen wall spun around to reveal Lydia hanging limply, held up only by silver cuffs on her wrists and ankles.

My vision turned red, and I rushed forward, only to be stopped halfway by an invisible wall I could not scratch through. My snarling and raging intensified as he smiled almost sheepishly.

“I’m prepared to deal with you,” he said and sent me flying into the seat he’d occupied during dinner. “I spent all that time feeding you my blood to make sure you’d show up tonight. As I was saying, I have my own theory on how to make this work. I’m going to need to become a vampire for a very short time, which is where Lydia comes in.”

“You only need one vampire for that,” I countered, trying to calm myself so I could think.

“Yes, but if you turn me, then I have to listen to you, which would stop me from draining you before I turn back into a human. Do you see how that would pose a problem?”

Cold washed over me like a tidal wave as his intentions clarified. He wanted to drain me as a vampire to take the powers he needed. I was a one stop shop for demon, fae, psychic, witch, and vampire blood at the moment. But…

“You can’t become human again,” I said, uncertainty lacing my words.

Merlin held up a finger and rushed to a side drawer in an antique looking buffet piece near the table. He fished inside for a moment then held up a syringe full of something I immediately recognized.

“That’s my cure,” I said dumbly. “There was only one left, and it was lost when my lab was destroyed.”

“Yes, well, it turns out it survived, and I have a talent for locating and retrieval spells.” He bopped his head back and forth with a smile. “All I need is one.”

“Lydia won’t allow you to drain me either.” I stared into his self-righteous eyes.

“She’ll be dead. You’re going to kill her.”

“I will not.” I shoved against his magic using telekinesis and stood, calling up the fae power within me.

“Mmm, I think you will.” Merlin seemed unphased by this demonstration as he set the syringe down on the table. “That’s part of the surprise.”

I narrowed my eyes. It was unwise to attack until I knew what he had up his sleeve. He was expecting it, or he would have reacted differently. I had to play this smart.

“I know, you probably thought Lydia was the surprise. And I suppose she’s part of it. But the real one is that I cheat on the rules a bit when it comes to witchcraft. I use necromancy.”

---