Page 143 of Gift from the Stone

“Guys, it’s coming down, pull out.” Aria’s voice penetrates my concentration and I slowly draw my magic back.

It’s a sluggish feeling coming back fully into my own mind. My memories take their time resurfacing, leaving me painfully dizzy and slightly confused.

“Something’s wrong,” Layton screams, grabbing onto his head.

“Shit. Aria, I didn’t think this would happen if you put up the barrier,” Tillman shouts as he kneels in front of Layton.

“What’s happening? What’s happening to my son?”

No one answers Sira as we all stare in fear.

Aria suddenly clutches Layton’s head in her hands and both of them go eerily still. Her eyes completely cloud over as he stares off into nothingness. The seconds seem to tick by until the silence is shattered when Blaze busts through the interrogation room door shouting.

“We have a situation.”

Grabbing me by my elbow, Caspian drags me out the door behind him and my men, and the sheer volume of screams piercing my ears causes me to wince.

Every way we look or turn, the members of the Mastery are dropping like flies. Screaming, howling, hissing, panting. Whatever their animals may be, they’re crying out as each of them begin dropping dead.

“No, no, no. How the fuck is this possible?” Corentin fumes.

My mind has barely caught up from coming out of Layton’s, and I’m having the hardest time wrapping my head around what the fuck is happening right now. When Caspian lets go of my elbow, I sway. Sway hard enough, I fall right into him.

“Primary,” he yells, catching me.

“Fuck,” I mumble as the world spins around me, and I prepare for the darkness to greet me, but instead, I free-fall into a vision.

Something’s different about this vision. I’m not sure how I know, but as my feet carry me through the dense forest and thick fog, it’s obvious to me I’ve somehow stepped back in time, not forward.

“It never fails. The arrogance and ignorance of your kind will always bring forth your death.”

Fear pounds in my chest as I whip around toward the voice, wondering how in the fuck they can see me right now.

A scream of pure terror rips from me as my eyes collide with a set as red as blood, but the man standing inches away doesn’t even acknowledge me. His gaze is locked over my head.

Slowly stepping to the side as my heart threatens to beat out of my chest, I peer at the spot where I was just standing and suck in a startled breath as I realize there was another there the whole time. Cloaked from head to toe in black, they’re barely visible.

“Most of my kind dare not step foot here willingly unless they have a death wish. I’m sure you’re speaking of the gifts I’ve been sending you.”

That voice… I know that voice. I just heard it.

The Summum-Master.

“So you’ve walked yourself to your own death willingly then, I suppose.”

The creature with the piercing red eyes strikes out so fast, I never even saw him move. The arm that stretches out, adorned on the end with nails as sharp as razor blades, slams to a stop, mere inches from the Summum-Master’s throat.

“And it’s my kind who you call arrogant and ignorant. As if I did not come prepared for your bloodthirst.” The Summum-Master’s laugh is deep, condescending, causing the creature to grow even angrier.

“Tell me, Keeper, how does it feel to no longer be the strongest amongst the masses?” he asks as the echoes of his laughter die down.

“How do you know who I am?” The creature fumes, salivating at the mouth as he tries his damnedest to force his hand around the Summum-Master’s neck.

“I know all there is to know about the original line of vampires and their descendants. What a pity it is for you to be stuck here when you should be ruling your realm. Ah, but this should remind you of home.”

Reaching beneath his cloak, the Summum-Master pulls out a black leather book that looks as old as time. The parchment that’s bound inside is a dark cream, the color of a coffee stain, with frayed edges and even annotations sticking out the side.

The vampire glances down at the book and the longer he fixates on it, his eyes begin to shift, from a swirling pool of bright red blood to the most striking shade of a dark ruby. His dull, what I though was black hair, begins to lighten, revealing the intense garnet undertones, and his sickly white skin flushes. Whatever this book is seems to breathe life back into him.

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