Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I nod. “OK. Then one hour should be fine.”
“What if…” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes skyward. Like she’s asking the God who hates me for a favor.
I finish that thought for her, so she doesn’t have to. “What if she’s not dead in an hour?”
Zusi nods reluctantly. “Will you leave?”
My pause is too long.
“Syrsee?”
“Yeah. Fine.”
“One. Hour.” She shoots me a stern look. “I’ll be outside.”
When she’s gone, the room is frigid so I go back to my grandma’s bed and sit down, then gently push her long, gray hair out of her eyes. Letting myself imagine her life when she was my age. What she was doing and how she was doing it.
The Guild did not protect her. I am the first Black witch they’ve taken on. I am so, so lucky. I’ve been safe my whole life. But it wasn’t the Guild who kept me from being drained of blood and eaten like food. Not at first. It was my grandma. And I’m not leaving here if she’s still alive. I’m not. I owe her this.
I settle in next to her frail and chilled body, letting out a long, tired sigh, thinking about what will happen next.
I don’t know. I have no idea where I will end up after this. The only thing I do know is that I will probably never see the Guild library again.
“She’s going to give you away, Syrsee.”
My grandma’s weak and croaky voice startles me so bad, I nearly scream as I sit straight up. “Grandma? Grandma, are you awake?”
“Syrsee.” Her voice is barely a whisper.
“I’m here, Grandma.” I give her hand a squeeze. “I’m here.”
“She’s going to give you away.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“The old feeder. She never liked me. And when I got away, she just grew mean. She haunted me in the dreamwalk. Just like she’s haunting him right now.”
“Him? The vampire?”
“Paul.” My grandma says his name like she knows him intimately. And she does. Or at least she did. “Once upon a time he drank from me.”
I grimace, picturing this.
“He’s so gentle when he drinks. He caresses my face like a lover.”
Oh, God. That’s just gross. “Grandma, I think you’re maybe… delusional. He’s a vampire, remember? He hunts us.”
“Oh, he is.” She nearly moans these words. “Come, granddaughter. Come with me and watch him.”
And then the dreamwalk is back. Three fucking times in one night!
But I don’t have time to think about that, because I’m standing in a new room. A very… prison-like room. And there is a beautiful man sitting on a bed, holding a small girl in his arms.
My grandma whispers in my ear, like she’s afraid he might hear us. “This is Paul.”
Well… her infatuation makes a little bit of sense. Because he is beautiful. There is nothing demon about him. No wings, certainly. Just a very handsome man holding an equally beautiful child in his arms as he sucks on her neck.
“It’s an illusion.”
I look to my right and find my grandma standing next to me. She’s young too, maybe twenty. Younger than I am now, for sure. She is fair, and blonde, and gentle-eyed. But still, I can feel the wickedness hiding inside her. “I can hear you. That’s not possible. There’s no sound in a dreamwalk.”
“This is my dreamwalk, granddaughter. You are not me. Not yet.”
Not yet? What does that mean?
“Look at him. Tell me he’s not pretty.”
I give a little noncommittal shrug. “I can see it, I guess.”
“That’s how they get you, darling. With the beauty. Never forget, Syrsee. The Devil craves beauty. Even in himself.”
We stare at each other. And I want to say so many things, but mostly I want to say I’m sorry.
Grandma reaches up to touch my cheek with the palm of her hand. It’s no longer frail and her skin is no longer transparent. Then she cups my whole face in both of her hands. “That boy is coming for you.”
The scion. She means the scion. “Yeah. He’s only two days behind.”
“The magic will be gone with me. You must learn to do it on your own. You must make your own choices now, Syrsee. I did what I could, but I can’t live your life for you.” She nods to the beautiful man drinking blood from a child just a few feet away from us. “He will come for you too. He will get you. And he will make you offers, dear heart.” She frowns and smiles at the same time. “These offers will tear at you.”
“What kind of offers?”
“They will tear at you. At your heart, and your soul, and your desires. He will make promises, darling.” She’s still cupping my face with her hands. “You need to be ready to hear them. Because they will be magnificent promises.”
“I’m not going to—”
“Oh, but you will.”