“So you made me into a First Blood. That was part of our agreement. What about Jabari and Tabor?”
“Do you think Jabari would allow me to make a creature that could potentially destroy him?” Sadira demanded, incredulous. “Of course not. But if his blood flowed in you, he was sure you would feel bound to him, protecting him from your temper. It would also enable him to know your location at any time.”
I turned my back on Sadira, a chill sweeping through me as a slight pain throbbed in my chest. It was nowhere near as intense as before, but was a subtle reminder that there was another world I had to return to. I stared down at my bare arm, my pale, white skin unmarred and unbroken. The reality of my raw and bruised wrists did not bleed into this illusion. It wasn’t important. My focus was on the blue veins below my skin. Jabari’s blood filled my veins in some way, had helped to give me this life.
“Yet things did not go how he had hoped.”
Sadira’s words jerked my head up. She had silently walked around the table and now leaned back against it. Her small slender hands were folded before her stomach.
“What happened?”
“You remained…you,” she said with a smile, while an odd glow grew in her eyes.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means he assumed that you would be easier to control as a vampire because you could be subjected to more intense forms of punishment without being killed due to your human frailties. But you refused to obey me. You refused to obey any Ancient that crossed your path. Also, I refused to give you up, so you were stolen.”
I forced out a sharp little laugh. This was where her little story took a wrong turn and I was no longer buying it. It was a good try up until then. “I was kidnapped by the naturi, and we both know it.”
A look of pity crossed her pale face as she shook her head. I longed to smack that look off her face but remained standing where I was, my fists clenched at my sides. “Think, my Mira. Before you were stolen, we were traveling west, heading back from Vienna. It was only you and me. We had gone to ground just before sunrise in a tiny village just west of the Pyrenees. No one knew where we were. The only ones who could have found you were those who made you.”
“No!” I shouted, flinching at the faint echo that seemed to bounce around in my brain. I knew what she was saying and it was impossible. Jabari could have handed me over to the naturi five centuries ago. And he could have done it now. After the battle at Machu Picchu, I collapsed in his arms for a century, leaning on his strength. Then, centuries later, the naturi found me in my own domain and again in Egypt, driving me into Jabari’s waiting arms.
The pieces fit, but I didn’t trust them. Jabari hated the naturi. He wouldn’t use them against another nightwalker. He didn’t have to. If he wanted something, he simply commanded and the nightwalker obeyed. Except for me. I didn’t accept a direct order from anyone…but Jabari, and that was only because he had saved me from the naturi.
Gritting my teeth, I shoved both my hands into my hair and paced away from Sadira. My thoughts were swirling in an endless circle. Was she telling the truth? I knew she couldn’t be trusted.
“Why are you telling me this?” I growled, refusing to look at her.
“Because he’s searching for a way to replace you,” she whispered.
I dropped my hands back to my sides as I turned back around to look at my maker. “How?”
“The same way we made you,” she said, shrugging her slim shoulders. “I have helped with ten others, and I know there have been some I was not a part of. Not one has survived beyond the first year.”
“Why? What happens?”
Sadira shook her head, her eyes dropping down to her folded hands. “That’s not important. The fear is that he may succeed one day.”
“And then you think he will have no further use for me.” My voice was dead. Was any of this true? I didn’t know what to believe anymore. My eyes wandered around the room that was my home for ten years. It had been my entire world and Sadira my only contact with life. She had been warmth, and compassion, and love for those years. Had that been a lie too? Or was it the only thing during those years that had been the truth?
“I know you feel no love for me, but you are my child, my beloved daughter. I do not want him to end your life because he feels you are no longer useful to him,” Sadira murmured.
I didn’t want him to end my life either, but I wasn’t about to seek shelter in Sadira’s open arms. It wasn’t exactly an enticing alternative. “Why have the others died?”
Sadira shook her head and her image wavered. At the same time, the pain in my chest increased. “It’s near sunrise. We will speak more later.”
Before I could stop her, pain stabbed through me and my eyes popped open. The library with its tall bookshelves and grim men surrounded me again. Candlelight flickered, casting shadows around the room. Sadira sat on the edge of the table beside my hip. She was using a delicate white lace handkerchief to wipe blood from her wrist. Her skin was so pale she was nearly translucent, and her eyes seemed more sunken and shadowed. I could taste her blood in my mouth, but it hadn’t been enough. The worst of my wounds had closed using her blood, but I still needed to replenish all that I’d lost.
Just the taste of Sadira’s blood sent up a dull roar inside my chest. The monster that wound itself around my soul was awake and screaming for blood. I clenched my teeth and tried to push it back. I would likely kill anyone I tried to feed from right now if I couldn’t get a handle on my hunger.
Gabriel.
I whispered his name in my mind, sending the soft plea out to his brain. A wave of his emotions pushed back through me; fear, relief, worry, and joy all came rushing back in the wave of my mental touch. I wrapped my mind and heart up in his concern, holding them close to me as he entered the room and pulled me into his arms. I used those emotions as a way of protecting him from me as I sank my fangs into his throat and drank deeply.
The monster roared and clawed at my soul until I was sure there were only jagged shreds left, but I refused to give in to its demands that I take it all. I drank only enough to get me through the day. When I awoke at sunset, I would have enough strength to hunt and replenish all that I’d lost.
Lifting my mouth from Gabriel’s neck, I instantly healed the wound and rested my head against his chest as he continued to hold me. His heartbeat was strong, seeming to vibrate through my weakened frame. He smelled of spice and cotton and steak. A smile teased at my lips and I relaxed in his arms. Themis had been kind enough to supply my angels with dinner. At least they’d been safe here.
“That was too close, boss,” Gabriel murmured, rubbing his chin against the top of my head. He tightened his arms around me, keeping me pressed close but still trying to be careful of my tender wounds.
Tipping my head back, I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before gently pushing out of his arms. The room spun slowly and my limbs trembled. I was weak and my whole body hurt. Hunger still roared in the back of my brain, but I had pushed it down so it was now little more than low white noise mixing in with all my other aches and pains.
“Sunrise,” Sadira murmured, and I nodded as I swung my legs over the edge of the table. We were running out of time. Sunrise was less than fifteen minutes away and we needed to find a secure location to sleep.
I looked down at myself for the first time. My silk shirt was a mess. Both sleeves were shredded and the front was torn open from the waist down. What remained of the cloth was soaked in my blood, as were my leather pants. In fact, my blood was everywhere; my hands, face, the table, Sadira, and now Gabriel. It had been too close.