Page 34 of Haunted Nightmares
Quickly rolling up my sleeves, I move toward them, scanning her body head to toe before honing in on Archer’s hack job. “Never the wrist.Never.” Declan throws me a bottle of water as he gets in the driver’s seat. “Conversion requires a direct line from the heart.”
“How was I supposed to know that? It’s not like your father?—“
“He isdead,” I snap as I uncap the bottle, knock back a mouthful to swish and spit before doing it again. “And I’m rectifying his wrongs. You should never be in this situation again but if it does present, you should know that the femoral or carotid arteries are the ones needed for this shite. Now give me your hand.”
Archer slowly does what I say, lifting his trembling hand toward me as I bring my own wrist to my lips. And just before I start a process that can never be reversed and may not actually work given the female’s state, I look him dead in the eye and ask, “Do you understand what this means?”
And the stupid lad just blinks.
“Declan,” I growl as my friend slams on the gas. “You bastard, tell me why I should?—“
“We‘ll owe you,” Archer whispers before clearing his throat. “Sadie and I, we will owe you.”
A grin slowly spreads over my lips, an evil one I’m sure, but it happens all the same. “You will not just owe me, you willbelongto me. Duke is no longer your father, any family she has is no longer hers because youbothwill be mine.”
Archer stares at me for a beat before nodding. “Do it. Duke and I have supported you for as long as we’ve been alive, he’s already indebted to you, just fucking do it.”
“So be it.”
I immediately tear into my wrist, biting down hard before drawing in a hearty mouthful of my own rotting blood. Tugging him forward some, I quickly move to Archer’s wrist and do the same, sucking in enough of his life force while listening to the fading pulse of the female in his lap.
I release his hand as I mix both between my cheeks, swishing back and forth as my powers surge through me, clawing up my spine with its icy grip, tingling its way through my limbs before pounding out themyjakbeat within my chest.
Nodding toward her, I send my instructions to Archer’s gray matter, the male following them to the letter as he watches me closely. Her back flat on the floor, head tilted, mouth opened wide. He holds her in that position as I lean over her, chanting in my head the few words that need to be spoken while focusing my power into them the best I can.
Vritaa noevas
Noevyum saangyuimn
Mortyem yusqyue ayd syenyemn
Ryenyascyeteur ayd noevyum
The language of the gods, a dead language I never thought I’d be using again. Chanting, practically screaming inside my head, inside every fiber of my existence.
New life
New blood
Death to the old
Be reborn to the new
My eyes close and I lower myself, infusing the words into the blood as I move it around my tongue and just as I hear the last beat of Sadie’s heart, I complete the act.
I spit the mixture into her waiting mouth as my eyes pop open, the primal power coursing through me in jolts of electric shocks while I move fast to lock my jaws onto the female’s slashed throat.
My fangs sink into her carotid like butter and as I begin pulling her already cold blood from her body, Archer follows my telepathic command and shoves his gaping wrist into his mate’s mouth to wait.
And wait, we do.
Wait to see if her heart starts to beat again, if Sadie begins to suckle from her mate’s wrist. We wait to see if she draws breath into her motionless lungs, if she shows any sign of life returning to her, of her being reborn.
All the while I wait to see if I can stop myself from taking more from her when those things begin to happen.
“Don’t stop, my king. Take it all.”
I squeeze my eyes shut tight as Zenlothanai begins their incessant nagging, as they try to drown out the chanting in my head. They try hard, encouraging me to drain the femalecompletely, telling me to keep going even when the last drops are within my grasp. The voices grow louder and more persistent, slowly overpowering themyjakand my gifts given by the gods.
