by Tay T
“It will be fine as long as he doesn’t turn me into a rodent,” Everette stated, stubbornly tilting her jaw.
Maya sighed, deciding to drop the subject, and said, “Speaking of rodents, there are pests in the cavern.”
“What? You mean the Cardinal Alpha?” Everette’s face scrunched slightly in confusion, pale lips pursed into a small frown.
Didn’t Maya specifically want him there?
“No, not him. Mice. There are little, squirming, crawling mice in the cavern,” Maya said, turning her head in disgust at the abhorring idea of them wriggling through all her favorite books and leaving behind their little paw prints.
Her skin crawled at the idea.
“I don’t eat mice!” Everette stated in alarm. Her white brows lifted clear to the middle of her forehead and her skin wrinkled in response. The thought was deplorable and made her chest burn with nausea.
“I know that. I was just wondering where they came from. The cavern has never had live inhabitants like that,” Maya explained, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “And I have a sneaky suspicion we are being spied on.”
“Oh.” Everette released a relieved breath of air. “I will track them down once I get back from visiting gramps. Was there anything else you needed?”
Maya turned away from the tree and looked at Everette. “Yes, actually. I need information on the werewolves and any other rituals their people might employ.”
There were only three days left of the blood ritual, but Maya was starting to get antsy and nervous. Her instincts kept yammering about something she could not discern and demanded she listen to its warning, but Maya had failed to heed its call each and every time she took the Alpha’s blood.
Though she knew she was playing with fire, she couldn’t get herself to stop. Not now. Not when his strength and power were right in the palms of her hands.
She refused to.
_______________________
“Maya, are you listening?” Marion, the old mage, asked. His sharp eyes pointedly turned to the dark sorceress who had been vacantly staring at a vial of poison in her hands for the last ten minutes.
At the direct question, Maya snapped out of her reverie. Her eyes were hazy, and she had to blink a couple of times to recall where she was at and what was being said. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue the conversation when her attention was drifting elsewhere.
The call of the Cardinal Alpha’s blood was thoroughly distracting. Even though he was miles away, she could still smell his enchanting blood as if it were right in front of her. It was beckoning her to take a sip, and she was tempted to drop everything and go.
But why was he bleeding without her permission?
Maya’s lips pursed and shimmering eyes narrowed in retrospect of the cumbersome need for his blood.
“I’ve heard from Everette your cavern currently houses a werewolf,” the old man stated.
With trembling hands, Maya set the vial down before she could accidentally drop it.
“It’s true. I recently captured a werewolf for experimentation,” she admitted.
Maya didn’t deny the facts. As long as no one knew who and what this werewolf was, she had nothing to worry about.
“Thanks for your suggestion on the blood rituals, Marion. It is proving to be quite the help,” she said sincerely, a wide grin etching itself on her plump lips.
Marion frowned in response, realizing his words had been the catalyst to her current insanity.
“It is not my place to warn you, but you must be careful. Those old rituals of the wolf-shifters are not to be messed with. You will end up biting off more than you can chew,” he warned, briskly throwing a handful of mint leaves into his current concoction before scribbling it down with a quill.
But instead of contemplating the truth in his wise cautions, Maya’s eyes curiously traveled to his writing instrument, letting his words flow through one ear and out of the other.
Maya glanced at the oddity of the feather, wondering why he hadn’t converted to modern pens or pencils. It would be less messy and more practical.
“You’re not the first to warn me,” she murmured, picking up a vial of toxic poison and inspecting it closely. “But you’re a bit late. I’ve already completed most of the ritual. There’s no point in quitting when I’m so close to the prize.”
Marion warily watched her trembling hands, noting the slightly distant look in her usually lucid gaze, and knew her words to be true.
His old eyes lowered.
“I hope you find the power you seek without losing too much in the process,” he said, glancing downward at the bubbling purple liquid in his pot.
Marion resumed his potion-making. He carefully picked up a pair of dried frog legs, dropped them into the mixture, and stirred with a wooden spoon.
Had he of known earlier, he would have tried to stop her from walking into this opulently-decorated trap promising supreme power and permanent strength.
Although the scroll spoke the truth, there was a simple catch. There was always a catch.
He knew not what, but decided, perhaps, it would be best if she figured it out herself.
Knowing Maya, she was going to follow through to the end anyway. With or without his warning.
The dark sorceress had always been pretty headstrong about saving her mother.
No matter how harrowing the process, she was always undeterred. And nothing he’s said could stop her from jumping face-first into the pit of fire. Perhaps she was fated to walk the grim path. Who was he to impede her gold-coated road?
CHAPTER 8
Within the chillingly dark depths of the concealed cavern, Xavier curled his fingers and dug his blade-like claws into the skin of his palm, piercing easily through the thin layer of flesh, again and again. Several beads of red welled along the crescent cuts and slowly trickled down his hand towards his elbow, slickly dripping on the cold floors.
The continuous sound of his blood striking against the hard surface echoed in the silent cavern.
His little sorceress was late, having missed her usual feeding time by nearly one day now.
Xavier had kept track.
Regardless of the lack of light, he could still pinpoint the correct hour of the day. Over the excruciatingly long centuries of his existence, he had already perfected such a grueling thing.
Since Maya had defiantly disregarded the call of his blood and blatantly ignored him, he had to employ such a tactic to summon her. Albeit this may raise her defenses and give her a clue to how easily he could manipulate her, it was beyond necessary at this point.
The ritual had to be completed.
If she were any more late, he feared they would miss the blood moon. By then, the whole ritual would become ineffective and they would lose much more than they would gain. And that was not what he wanted.
Since the last time she’d taken his blood, he’d duly noted her hesitation.
The slight frown on her pouty lips.
The long pause before drinking his blood.
The doubt and uncertainty that colored her green eyes.
It was obvious his little sorceress was having second thoughts. And that would not do.
Although Xavier had thought of going to collect the dark sorceress, he didn’t want to startle her and have her flee before all her hard work could take effect.
As for her barriers and spells, he wasn’t much too worried about them. They didn’t affect him like they did in the beginning. Not anymore. Because one of the wonderful benefits of this ritual was mutuality.
While Maya was gaining his powers, he was also gaining her powers. With it, he could manipulate her traps and dark magic.
For instance, he was able to freely traverse her cavern without causing any disturbances. Since her magic recognized his presence within her, recognized he belonged to her, her spells had become useless pieces of paper adhered to his body and her deadly traps no longer worked against him.
Other than that, he rece
ntly discovered he had acquired immunity to silver. It no longer harmed him like it had before. Instead of leaving his skin charred over until flesh dripped off of bone, it currently laid docile and useless around his thick wrists.
Xavier Thaeos was practically invincible now.
At the enlightening thought, a feral smirk bloomed on his full lips.
As Xavier stretched his stiff shoulders, movement from the corner of his vision stopped him in his tracks. His golden eyes quickly zoomed in on the subject of his fixation.
The little sorceress came stumbling into the dark cavern, bringing in an array of light. Her red hair billowed around her dainty shoulders and sweat collected on her shapely brows.
Although her pretty green eyes glowed incandescently, both orbs lacked focus. That was, until her vision focused on the drops of red gradually seeping from his palm.
“You finally made it, little sorceress,” he said, calmly leaning back against the wall in an obedient ruse.
Maya didn’t reply.
She had been trying to ignore the tempting call of his blood ever since she left Marion’s place. But that was easier said than done.
His blood had become quite lethal, managing to draw her to his exact location in less than a handful of minutes. In result, all her black magic disappeared since she’d used most of it to come to him.
At this point, it wasn’t hard to see that she was addicted to the wicked substance.
Maya’s breath came out in ragged pants and her fingers curled into a fist. There was a constant tremor in her hands, and her usually lucid concentration was entirely tainted by him.
By his blood.
The scent of it was strong and compelling to her deranged senses, almost like a fine cognac as it wafted under her nose.
In the beginning, Maya had consumed a cup of his blood every day. Though it was hard to take at first, she’d gradually got used to it, gradually looked forward to the spicy burn down her throat.
Now, she drank almost two cups a day to temporarily quench the terrifying thirst that reared its head every couple of hours.
By the looks of it, Xavier Thaeos currently had absolute control over her. If he wanted, he could oh-so-easily manipulate her with his blood and she would willingly grovel at his feet for just one drop. Had it not been for her remaining sense of control, she would have dropped to her knees and licked the substance right off the floor!
Grimacing, Maya found herself stumbling closer to the cunning Alpha before dropping to her very knees before him, practically groveling at his feet. Had she any common sense left, she would have tried to stop herself or attempted to kill him for such humiliation, but most thoughts had already left her.
Maya’s mouth was quick to find reprieve on his skin. Her soft lips attached to the droplets of blood oozing from the gaps of his fingers, and the pleasurable sparks bubbled in her mouth.
Before long, her instincts took over, her brain took leave, and her thoughts jumbled together.
Xavier noted her progressive loss of control.
A dark smirk stretched upon his lips and curled in a sinister and ominous way as he glanced down at Maya’s beautiful face.
Now that she stood within the barrier, the scent of her arousal, thick and heavy, completely wrapped around all his senses.
He could smell spider lilies fully bloomed in the night mixed with wild plumerias, sweet and intoxicating to his augmented senses. It was far more pleasant than anything he had ever scented in his long lifetime, and he felt himself become drunk with each intake of breath.
Xavier’s eyes darkened as she continued to lap at the addictive substance, suckling against the skin of his knuckles until her whole body trembled in the beginning of orgasmic rapture. The entrancing vision she created and the torturous sensations of her sensuous licking caused his blood to rush through his veins in torrents, centering on his lower belly.
Xavier licked his suddenly dry lips and bit back a groan as she kissed her way down his elbow to lap at the dried blood there.
He could only imagine how pleasurable her pretty lips would be wrapped around his thick cock, taking every magnificent inch into that warm and wet orifice of hers. In response to his imagery, his flaccid shaft grew taut, straining against the thin fabric of his pants, and a large bulge formed.
With a harsh inhale of breath, the Cardinal Alpha’s free arm lifted. His fingers curled around the silken red strands of her hair, watching as it slipped through the cracks of his fingers like water through a crevice.
He petted her delicate head, distracting himself enough to keep his mind off the primal urges to dominate her mortal body in a vicious rutting that would leave her mildly debilitated…for days.
His hardened shaft twitched at the mental image, and it took much effort on his part to temporarily divert his attention away from the bewitching little sorceress, lest his bestial side came out and play.
‘Soon,’ his beast purred in unrest.
‘Yes. Soon. Very, very soon.’
_______________________
Maya shakily seated herself on the leather couch inside her little apartment, failing to see Everette enter through the window and stand right in front of her.
“You okay?” Everette asked, raising a white brow.
“Yes. Just fine,” Maya replied stiffly, staring at her shaking hands in a drunken stupor.
“You sure? You seem kind of out of it,” Everette tried to verify, worry blooming on her face at the dark sorceress’s oddly blank expression. She had never seen Maya this way before, and it was starting to scare her.
“Yes.” Maya gazed up at the young girl, trying to keep her vision steady, but miserably failed. It was extremely hard to get off the high his blood brought her, regardless of how much she’d tried. “I’m just a little tired.”
“Okay. Well, here’s the information you wanted on the werewolves,” Everette announced, setting a bunch of scrolls down on the coffee table in front of Maya. The dove-shifter worriedly glanced at Maya one last time before shrugging her shoulders, deciding to just go with the flow.
“Thank you,” the dark sorceress replied weakly.
After that, she’d completely zoned out, dazedly noting Everette had left right after saying some other words she’d failed to hear.
Although it was very rude of her, Maya couldn’t help it.
Her mind was a jumbled mess because of the big problem on her hands.
There was only one day left of the ritual and she was considering putting a halt to her plans.
If the Alpha hadn’t summoned her to him with his blood, she would have confidently continued with the ritual and belatedly realized the torrential consequences thereafter. But now that she was aware of the dire situation, she could not continue to blindly fool herself.
Maya sighed and decided to re-read the blood ritual.
When she finished going through the contents again, she realized there was one last step required after she finished the nine days of drinking his blood. But the scroll did not state what it was. Instead, there was some type of puzzling haiku that required solving at the very end. And she did not have the time for it.
It read:
When two come bound
are not Moon paired
the gift of both
shall not be shared.
Just lovers’ bond
so pure and true
can save the soul
not one but two.
Thus merge of blood
and soul will mend
all rift and tear
when two lives end.
After reading it for the Nth time, Maya couldn’t figure it out for the life of her. So she spent the next few hours reading through all the scrolls to gain a little more insight on the werewolf kind.
From what she had read so far, the only other ritual standing out among the rest was their mating ritual.
It was something along the lines of connecting a male and female’s life forces, binding them together in an old
age ceremony known for being quite irreversible. It was a permanent union of some sort.
Going through the lines again, the dots connected and the bigger picture was quickly formed in her mind.
“Moon paired” meant a couple handpicked by the moon gods to be joined in a marital union. These two werewolves were known as “mates.”
If only those who were “moon paired” could share each other’s powers than didn’t that mean…
Maya’s face paled immediately in response to the horrifying notion, but she quickly dismissed the thoughts to continue with the research in a way to momentarily distract herself.
By the time the sun finally approached the horizon, Maya had come to a deadening realization. She couldn’t continue to deceive herself when all the evidence was right in front of her face.
The ritual she had activated was not a power-sharing ritual.
It was something exceedingly intimate and vast, resembling some animalistic ceremony werewolves created to bind their life partner. Some type of blood-binding ceremony.
No.
Not quite blood-binding.
It was a soul-binding ceremony.
The merging of two souls into one.
An act so precarious and sacrosanct even the smallest of mistakes could end the lives of two beings.
Marion had been right.
She had bitten off way more than she could chew.
CHAPTER 9
The morning air was chilly and crisp, seeping through the thick fabric of Maya’s cloak, as she marched her way towards her keep.
Her footsteps were heavy, and a worried frown marred her usually confident face. It was etched upon her plump lips and evident on the furrow of her delicate brows.
After a night of no sleep and ceaseless turmoil, Maya had painstakingly decided to confront the Cardinal Alpha. She needed justification for the answers her research had presented, before she could make her next decision.
Although she’d desperately wanted to continue the ritual, she couldn’t blindly put herself into harm’s way.
Maya was human.
