Khent would make sure to tell his kin that even a god recognized his ties to brilliance. Which was saying something about the uneducated and unappreciative vampires he lived with.
“You work for Hecate. You are hoping to stop the great game from being played. When the night eats the world and the fun can truly start. Why would you do this?”
“Perhaps my definition of fun and yours are different.” Khent had his own questions. “What do you want with a Bloode Stone? You don’t think to command the Bloode Legion with it, do you?” Though a god with Nergal’s vast power could muddy vampire loyalties, he’d never be able to command the entire legion. The vampires would kill him first.
Because yes, gods could and should, in Khent’s opinion, die.
Nergal scoffed. “What do I want with vampires except to create chaos? When the Darkness comes, we’ll have plenty of that. No. I want what all in death want. Life.”
“You live here.”
“Do I?” Nergal sighed. “Look around. There’s no flavor down here. Sure, my spider just hurt that dead human back there.But pain is relative. If we were in your world, topside, then he’dknowpain. Then I’d know it as well.” Nergal’s eyes blazed. “To feel the life leave a kill. To see it fade and experience the terror and misery in the living. It’s an exceptional experience. The four-eyes was pure pleasure, I assure you.”
“You believe the human, Vladimir, will give you this?” Khent shook his head. “That Irkalla’s ruler should sink to needing a human for anything…”
Nergal swelled, and the bubble around him expanded with him. Khent’s magic wouldn’t last. Frankly, he couldn’t believe it had lasted this long. But at least Valentine had gotten to safety.
Khent glanced back toward Morpheus, who had yet to awaken. A glance showed several ghosts hovering around him. Did they feed off his dreams? Could they in this lifeless place? Or did they surround him, knowing hope was within physical reach yet forever unattainable?
“I will sink to any level to get what I want,” Nergal informed him. “A human can be nothing but a tool to be used. Something you should take to heart, vampire.” The god smiled, and Khent felt energy in the gloom all around them building.
A loud wail came from some distance away. Growing louder.
Growing closer.
Anticipation had Khent licking his lips, eager for more.
“Give me the stone, boy,” Nergal said kindly. “I’ll happily give you what I’ve been giving the necromancer.”
“Which is what? Longer life? More magic? What do I need with human desires?” Khent shrugged. “I have my studies and battles with many enemies. My life is complete.” Why his thoughts went to Valentine, he wouldn’t say.
“But is it?” Nergal leaned closer to the energy holding him prisoner, and Khent knew Nergal stayed put because he wanted to, not because Khent had actually contained him.
He was up to something, and Khent wanted to learn all he could while he could.
A low moan caught his attention.Finally.Khent darted close to Morpheus and swiped through the many ghosts, their pale tears on translucent faces disappearing as they faded.
Everything melted into gray smoke and dissipated.
A realm of pretend and pain, where nothing mattered or had shape.
“I wouldn’t want to live here either,” Khent admitted.
Nergal snorted. “Trust me. It sucks.” He tacked on, “And not in a good way.”
They shared a grin.
Wailing grew louder again.
“I should go.”
“You really should.” Nergal flicked a claw through the bubble holding him, and it popped. The release of energy sighed into the ground, and what wasn’t absorbed, the ghosts devoured. “You’re skilled. Much more talented than Vladimir. But he obeys. And you, reaper, do not.”
“Of course not. Why should I? Because you’re a god?” Khent sneered. “We don’t worship your kind.”
“And that, of course, is your greatest failing. I could make you my heir.”
“To what? This place that you hate?”
