Page 98 of Blood Moon
“My blood,” I began when I sensed Thea was almost done. But I was unsure of how to ask the question. “Is it not different from other humans? Special?”
Thea made me stand, and when she did, she spit at my bare feet. “I wouldn’t categorize your blood as special. Rare? Sure. But dhampirs—” And she paused, her face hard and then taunting. She knew I had no idea what any of it meant.
A cruel smile. “You are half human, half vampire. A disgrace. An abomination,” she said, and she forced a white veil over my head.
At this, the door unlocked, opened.
CHAPTER49
You cannot run from the shadows when you are the night.
Article I, Lost Letters from Aadan the First
A small crack ran through me. I was led from the washroom to the long hall. The man from earlier was at one side, Thea on the other. Tears progressed in lines down my face, fusing to the tulle of the veil. I was half vampire, half human. I was the daughter of a murderer. I was about to die.
A pipe organ played as we entered a new space, its tune decrepit, the chords pricking at the drums of my ears. The room felt different, larger. Even partially blinded and at a distance, I could sense the presence of others. Could hear them breathing jaggedly as they watched me stumble forward.
Thea removed the metal bands, and the man pushed me against something wooden and hard with a thud, strapping in my ankles and wrists. My body elevated in space.
I twisted trying to get loose. It was the sound of heels clacking against the floor that startled me. The noise familiar and grim.Not her again.
“Vivamus, moriendum est!”she shouted. A confirmation it was Abba. “Let us live, since we must die!”
I wanted no part in this ritual. I screamed and twisted, trying to pull myself out of the leather straps. They only rubbed against my skin, digging deeper.
“Enough!” Abba yelled, and someone ripped the veil from my face.
The air in my chest felt stolen as I glared at the scene before me. Small candles lined the black stone floor. Against the walls were oil lamps, casting a soft glow in the room. Above, a glass ceiling. The Blood Moon bright, coloring everything a shade of ruby. Here, I stared in awe at how enormous it was. It was as if someone had tied a string around it, pulling it closer to the surface of the earth.
Recessed lights flickered on one by one as a group of individuals dressed in heavy velvet cloaks paraded in, joining the others in the room. Apart from me, everyone here was adorned in black.
To my right, a stone altar. A gold chalice sat atop it, filled to the brim with blood. Beside it, a leather-bound book with a title in a language I couldn’t read.
The cloaks formed a circle around me, and the first to remove their hood was Abba. She smiled as she held a silver dagger against her chest. A moon and sun were carved into the handle.
I screamed, and the sound was something horrid. All the while, I was trying my damned best to wiggle out of the straps, knowing full well that if I made it out of the restraints, they’d only put me back. To be here, tied up the way I was, was humiliating, and if these moments were my last, I desired nothing more than to be the hell they put me through.
Almost instantly, the wind was knocked out of me. Blood pooled in my mouth, and snarls arose.
“I did not want to do that,” Abba said as I caught my breath, lips quivering. “But I will gladly do it again if you do notshutup.”
The others removed their hoods, and in the front of the circle, standing two people away from Abba, was Julian.
Julian, the son of Elena. A direct descendant from Aadan the First.
Julian, who was motherless because of my own mother.
Julian, the boy who had lied to me over and over again.
And me,who had allowed it.
His head was down as his hair fell forward, refusing to regard me. Beneath the cloak, he wore a black dress shirt, black slacks, and black shoes. A funeral he was attending,mine.Only he was completely healed, skin shimmering from moonlight, beautiful as ever.
I hissed, spitting the blood from my mouth. “Howcouldyou—”
Abba yelled. “Do you want to die sooner?”
I redirected my stare to her, wishing to undo these ties, so I could undo her flesh.
