Page 87 of Love Heals
"Interested?" Vlad asked. "I only ask for the prophecy in exchange."
"It's that important to you?" Her voice had become a little high-pitched, as if she was trying to remain professional but could barely contain her excitement. Whatever secret Vlad had offered her, she wanted it.
Jared almost felt bad to let the old vampire take the fall for them, but one thing was clear: Vlad wanted this prophecy just as much as they did, even if Jared didn't fully understand his motives.
"Okay, we have a deal," Sage decided after a moment, her wings still going way faster than they should, creating a stream of air that stirred Jared's hair. "You give me that memory, and I shall give you that dusty old prophecy in return." She flew over to the shelf with the marbles, reaching for the highest shelf. When she turned back around to them, she was holding two orbs. One that shone with swirls of bright pink, and one that looked as if it were empty. Jared assumed Vlad's memory was going to go into that. Sure enough, she approached Vlad with it.
"Tell me again," she asked.
He closed his eyes for a beat, exhaled, then leaned in close once more to repeat his earlier words. This time, as Sage listened, she spoke an incantation under her breath, holding the empty orb up between them. Slowly, the marble-like object filled with color. A brilliant red.
Vlad drew back when he was done speaking, blinking rapidly.
"A little disorientation is normal," Sage said. "You'll be right as summer rain in a moment."
"The prophecy?" Vlad asked, undeterred.
Sage held the pink orb up high and turned it in her hand a few times before muttering another incantation. Suddenly, a booming voice filled the room. It sounded like an old woman speaking, in a language Jared did not understand. As soon as her voice faded, though, Vlad spoke, translating what he’d heard into English.
“On the day the marked dhampir loses his heart to a child of night, a sacrifice shall raise the veil of sleep, and death will lift the curse of the vampire from this world.”
Jared glanced at Silas, then the others, trying to make sense of it all. He even looked to Vlad, who seemed lost in thought and not at all like the words he’d just spoke made any more sense to him than they did to Jared.
A sacrifice shall raise the veil of sleep.
What did that mean?
