Page 47 of Queen Takes Blood
Eyes wide, Zuma stared at me, still on his feet. His mouth opened but it took him several tries to speak. “That was… unexpected.”
The volume of the other Bloods’ voices rose, their footsteps echoing on the steps where the queen’s blood circle lay. Before they could intervene, I lunged forward and jammed my blade through Zuma’s eye directly into his brain. I didn’t think he could survive without a heart but I’d heard stories of fabled Blood who could live without a head. I’d rather be safe than regret the assumption.
His entire body quivered but he didn’t collapse. His mouth opened repeatedly but without any words. His fingers went slack, and the obsidian blade slid free of his grip.
I caught the blade and added it to his other eye, giving it an extra shove and twist to push him backward. Without a sound, he stumbled back, tripped over the woman’s legs, and finally toppled to the ground. As the two Blood entered the courtyard, I turned to face them with the distinctive obsidian blade in my hand.
They drew up short, eying their dead companion.
Seti let out a low whistle. “Too bad we didn’t return a few moments earlier. I’d have loved to see that fight.”
“It wasn’t much of a fight.” I drew myself up to my full height, shoulders and chest pumped. Eyes blazing with rising hunger, I stared the alpha directly in the eye. “I challenge you.”
Tecuani snorted and shook his head. “That’s not the way Teotihuacan works, lad.”
I rushed toward him so fast that he didn’t even react as the blade swiped through his throat cleanly, so deeply the white of his spine gleamed in the wound. “That’s the way Zaniyah works,alpha.”
Grabbing at his throat, Tecuani fell to his knees.
Vicious exhilaration rolled through me. The obsidian felt so right in my hand, a missing part of me that had come home. The creature inside me recognized the blade and wanted more more more. More blood. More pain. More screams. Agony. All the better.
Slicing up these three Blood would only be the beginning.
I’d run up the pyramid steps in a single bound and kill the queen and Itzcoatl. Find my brother.
In the grip of this ravenous lust for suffering, would I hurt my own twin?
I shuddered, fighting down the compulsion. Denying the hunger that crawled through my veins. I refused to feed if it hurt others.
Seti had no such compunction. He dropped to the ground and locked his mouth over the gaping wound in his alpha’s throat, pushing him back onto the ground. He growled and mewled like a feeding animal. Even when Tecuani released a death rattle and stared blankly up at the night sky.
I seized the back of Seti’s tunic and dragged him away from the other Blood, giving him a hard shake. “He’s dead. Aima don’t feed on the dead or you might as well be a thrall.”
Panting, the man sat back on his heels, his shoulders slumped. He looked up at me, blood smeared over his face. His pupils were blown wide and dazed, his voice slurred as if he’d been eating the hallucinogenic mushrooms used by the human priests. “I’ve never fed on Aima blood. Couldn’t. I don’t have fangs. None of us do except Tecuani. That’s why he’s alpha.Wasalpha. Fuck.”
I shook my head slowly. Queen’s Blood—who never fed on each other or her. For centuries. I wasn’t sure how many generations of Tocatl queens had ruled Teotihuacan but I couldn’t comprehend living like this, even if they hadn’t resorted to torturing humans and raping unprotected queens.
How did they excuse serving such a queen, or following such an alpha whose only mark of power was fuckingfangs? WhenallAima had been blessed by the creators with the gift of their goddesses’ blood, and the fangs to share in that wealth? Feeding honored our bloodlines and continued to serve and respect our ancient beliefs in a world that cared less and less about the foundational mythologies of the first peoples.
No wonder House Tocatl had fallen so low. Where even Blood didn’t have fangs and couldn’t feed on each other to increase their power. Who never saw or served their queen once she stung them into her service. The only Blood who had been regularly feeding himself was Zuma, and he’d only done so by torturing humans.
Giving Seti another hard shake, I demanded, “Where is my brother?”
“He’s with Queen Tocatl.”
“Take me to him.”
“I cannot. It’s not permitted.” I lowered the obsidian blade toward his throat. Paling, he babbled, “There’s only one way into her lair, and it’s not of this world. There’s some kind of portal on the pyramid. Once the ritual starts, the way into the chamber is blocked until Queen Tocatl makes her choice.”
Probably to make sure no one could escape her evil clutches.
My jaw tightened with determination. I might be tainted with Xipe Totec’s dark hunger but I would see my brother alive and well, free of Teotihuacan, its spider queen.
And me.
25
TLACEL
