Page 30 of Bloodstained
Raducel hadn’t run far. Cowards never did. He cowered in the castle sewers, a rat among shit and rot. I remember nothing of the hunt except the violence taking me over, a hot, blinding thing that answered only to grief.
He fought with the skill of a seasoned warrior, but skill could not stand against what I’d become. His sword nicked my side, but the cut meant nothing. I closed my hand around his throat,hauled him upright, and smashed him against damp stone until the world narrowed to his gasps and the drip of water.
“Pray,” I breathed, the words cold as the crypt. “If your god still listens, he’ll help you. He’ll save you.”
He tried, but the sound was half-formed. I shoved his own sword into his chest. His scream died on the stone.
I leaned in close, breathing him in. His heartbeat stuttered beneath my fingers, and in that moment, I made my choice. I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and whispered to the dark.
“Take me. Give me the sin that grants power enough to undo death. Take my soul and make me what the world fears. I’ll give you everything, so long as I can destroy my enemies and be reunited with my love.”
Raducel gurgled, his blood spilling hot over my wrist. I let him fall, then bent and pressed my mouth to the wound. His life flooded my throat, hot and metallic.
And then something answered.
The air thickened as the shadows came alive, curling icy fingers around me, and sinking into my flesh. The darkness took root, endless and merciless, until pain became all I knew. My body seized, heart stuttering, lungs locking in place.
Then—rebirth. A frantic rhythm where silence had been. The first beat of a damned heart.
I lay on the cold stone, trembling as it consumed me. And for the first time in my life, I surrendered.
When I opened my eyes, the world sharpened into cruel clarity. I could see each bead of blood on Raducel’s chest, hear his heart clawing for life. My teeth ached and lengthened, and a hunger tore through me like a living creature.
I ripped out his throat and drank until there was nothing left. The transformation burned through me. It hollowed me and remade my soul. When it passed, I was whole again but not the man I had been. My veins thrummed with a new, terrible life.
I stepped out of the sewer and into the storm. Lightning threw the ruins into maniacal light. Thunder answered like a war drum. That night I became a villain.
I killed every man who had conspired to steal her from me. I drained every ounce of their blood until the snow took on the color of rust.
Centuries followed in the same bloody rhythm.
Hunt and feed. And through it all, I searched for her, let the years pass and blur, hoping this new lifetime would bring her back to me.
But nations rose and fell, and I remained this creature, bound to the darkness I had begged for. I understood the bargain I had made, and the darkness heard me.
I would be its servant for as long as it pleased.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CLARA
Iwoke with a cry trapped in my throat and iron on my tongue. Sweat beaded my brow, and my heart raced.
I was back in my own body, in my own time, and in Ivan’s castle, but I felt intrinsically different in every aspect.
I was alone in bed, but I knew Ivan was close. I felt his presence. The fire had burned low, but I could tell fresh wood had been added to bring life back to the flames.
The sheets clung to my damp skin as my pulse raced so hard I half-expected to see it rippling the blanket.
It was a dream, but it wasn’t. I had to assume Ivan’s blood sharing had somehow unlocked something supernatural, allowing me to see into another time long past.
Memories that weren’t mine in this lifetime roared through me in a great, cold wave. Not pieces. Not flashes. A life.My life.I was once named Mircalla.
I closed my eyes and envisioned the castle over five hundred years ago. Snow on the cornices. The garden was warming and growing under the sun. And that last evening, I fed the birds in that garden.
The scent of leather and steel was so strong that I swore I was right in the middle of when my husband was training.
I remembered everything. Not just my last night with Ivan but the many years we shared before that.
