Page 51 of Sacrifice
Eve hesitated. Lucien’s thoughts were so clear in her head. His instructions were forceful, almost irresistible. She thought she could emulate it, if she tried, but somehow it didn’t feel like the right thing to do to this man. He was too fragile, too abused to be bullied.
It is the ultimate test. Two primary directives in competition. If you can make him do this willingly, what else might you accomplish?
The temptation to try was strong, but still.
I can show you, if you like? There are other ways. The gentle persuasion you could employ or the crushing fear of threat. Why don’t I try that one, just to show you?
No.Eve could feel that the energy flowing around her was directable and she could charge it any way she chose. Positive or negative. Gentle or forceful. She could caress Saleh with its touch or crucify him in torment. It would be too cruel to hurt him.
She made her choice and let the energy guide her. Her quintessence knew the erect, proud posture of Saleh’s mother. She adopted it and spoke to him softly, “You have done well, Saleh. Your father would be so proud.” It all came so easily, pulled from the depths of Saleh’s memories.
The man’s eyes filled with tears. “Ommi?”
“Family is always with you in your heart,” Eve said and, as Saleh looked confusedly into her face.
It was bizarre. Eve was doing an impression of a woman she had never met inside the shop assistant’s mind. Her heart raced with the thrill of it. Energy pulsed through her veins, confusing tendrils spiraling away to explore her surroundings. Eve clenched her fists and drew her focus back onto Saleh. Into her purpose. The lights flickered.
She smiled again and held his gaze, summoning the deep blue of the largest sapphire stoned ring on the tray to color her irises in his mind’s eye.
She nodded, and Saleh’s intensions resolved. He would give the best thing within his power to those he loved the most. His energy grew, feeding on the joy he found in Eve, and his aura changed color, a weak green strengthening to become thick and emerald. This contact with family had emboldened him.
Holy shit, it’s working. He’s going to do it.
Eve pushed more of her energy into him and Saleh swayed on the spot. He blinked rapidly and swept the hair back from his forehead, a sheen of sweat formed on his skin.
Lucien shifted beside her.
The quintessence gushed from Eve’s core like a wild river. Energy poured from Eve into the shop assistant. The effort of persuasion had turned the dial too high. She’d opened the gates and now the force of the flow meant she could not close them. The skin on her chest burned with the effort. Her composure started to weaken.
Move it forward, Eve. He’s just a man. Turn down the dial.
A bead of blood ran from Saleh’s nose to his lip. He swiped it away with the back of his hand. His brow furrowed.
Don’t overcomplicate it. Finish the thought.
There was no turning back now. Eve’s muscles twitched, but she had to go on.
“Your efforts are a balm to our pain. Your generosity keeps us from harm,” she said, grasping desperately inside his mind for words that his mother might use. She felt him fracture. She was hurting him. This had to stop. She reached down to tap the sapphire ring she’d been trying to make him see in her eyes and immediately he plucked it from the tray.
His face broke into a smile. “It pales by your beauty,” Saleh said. Blood ran in a rivulet from his nose. He pressed the ringinto her palm. “Ma’a salama,” he said, and brilliant red coated his teeth when he opened his mouth to smile.Go in peace.
He folded her fingers into her palm around the ring and held them there for a moment, to gaze into her face. His expression sagged with longing, sadness, and confusion. He absorbed her energy like a sponge, sucking everything she could give inside himself. Eve tried to pull back, but the flow was so strong now it was like falling over a waterfall, beyond her control.
Panic bloomed in her chest. “Lucien, help me,” she gasped.
Like the cleaving of a knife, he swept a hand up between them, breaking eye contact and severing the flow.
Saleh slumped at the shoulders and leant heavily on the counter with one hand. The air fizzed and crackled. A haze of blue jittered around the lights and cameras set into the ceiling.
“Thank you for your time, Alan.” Lucien said aloud, “We’ll think about it and call back.”
“Oh course, sir,” Saleh said automatically.
Lucien took a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to him, gesturing to his nose. “You should see to that.”
Salah look utterly shocked to see the pool of blood that the white cotton revealed. “Yes Sir, I will.”
Lucien put Eve’s arm through the hook of his own and guided her to the door. He nodded to the doorman, who cleared the way for them without comment. Eve took a last look back to Saleh, to see that his expression now had become quite ordinary. They stepped out into the street; the ring clutched in her grip.
