“This means you’re… you’re actually…” Brendan trailed off and stood abruptly from the ground. He pulled what looked like the butt of a burnt cigarette out of his pocket. He raised it to his mouth with shaking hands. He didn’t light the tobacco, but he moved like he thought he did, sucking on the unlit tobacco and exhaling as he paced across the room. “Kori, your pulse or heartbeat diminished to nothing, and your eyes were open and unaffected by outside influence.” He shook his head. “Your skin dropped to a temperature that would be impossible for a living organism to sustain, and your body went stiff and even colder in three hours.” He sucked on his unlit cigarette. “Then again… all of us have died before. Maybe your theory is wrong, Timothy—maybe Ravage gave her a petal from the Tree of Life. It’s a viable theory. Kori, did Ravage give you anything to eat or drink in the past few days, anything at all?”
“Yes… he gave me meals three times a day,” I said.
Brendan pointed at me with his unlit cigarette. “We shouldn’t discount this possibility.”
“Brendan, I really don’t think I’m wrong.” Timothy didn’t sound happy about it. “Kori died.”
“No, Timothy. I didn’t die. I’m fine. And, Brendan, you’re smoking an unlit cigarette,” I said, because it was really starting to bug me. “Look, I just needed a little rest. Now I’m ready to keep going.” It was a lie. I felt like I was hit by a train. Everything in me burned and ached. “Can one of you please just explain to me where we are and what happened?”
Brendan continued to pace the length of the room. He lit the cigarette and extinguished the Ignis fire so the only illumination was from the crackling moss. “Cave trolls.”
“Trolls? There’s no such thing,” I said.
“Apparently, there is. Well, I’ve been peripherally aware of the possibility of their existence. There are records of them, mostly in human folklore, but even before the volcanos, they didn’t come into contact with ground-level dwelling supernaturals,” Brendan said, sounding relieved to be on a less troubling subject. “We carried you for a time, before a group of trolls came out from the caves around us.” Brendan inhaled the nub of his cigarette until there was nothing left and black ash rained down from his fingers. He ran his ashy hand through his hair in a way that told me that even though his voice was calm, his nerves were beyond shot. “These trolls—a pod of trolls, or family group, had been following us for a couple hours. They’re helping the human refugees escape Portland and Seattle. I guess there’s a trickling migration down to The Deep that’s been going on since the domes were constructed. We were supposed to announce ourselves with some password to prove that we’re not vampire spies.”
Timothy crossed his arms. “And now Ravage will find their camp no matter what we do. There’s no point in trying to stay ahead of his prophecies. The game has changed. I need to tell Irma.”
Brendan pointed two fingers at Timothy as our younger brother headed to an opening in the cave wall. “We don’t know that she’s a vampire.”
“I do,” Timothy mumbled as he disappeared from sight.
“A vampire?” I looked at Brendan, reeling at the insinuation, even though I should have figured out what they were getting at. I felt around my teeth with my tongue, only to feel blunt enamel. Pressing my palm to my chest, I felt the steady beat of my heart, only to remember that vampires had heartbeats. “Brendan, I feel a little out of sorts but otherwise, normal.” I crawled out of bed, setting my bare feet on the frozen cave floor only to pull them back under me on the bed again with a hiss. “How are vampires even made? I thought that a master vampire had to feed a human their blood before they kill that human, but that’s not what happened with Ravage.”
“There’s a lot of secrecy about the making of a vampire, Kori. It’s not written down in any books, and there hasn’t been a new vampire since before the domes,” Brendan said as he continued to pace the length of the room. “What you recited is the common folklore version, but there’s never been any fact-based evidence to back it.”
“I don’t feel any different.” I shook my head.
“We need to talk to a vampire who can give us some information about the transition stage.” Brendan ran his fingers through his thick dark curls, scratching his scalp. He probably had fleas. He sucked on a tooth as he continued to bounce nervously around the room. “According to Timothy, Ravage can find you wherever you are because he’s your master now. Timothy thinks Ravage can now call you and find you or force you to come to him.”
“What?” I braved the stone floor this time, going to stand before my brother. “I feel normal.” I couldn’t seem to stop telling them I felt normal, but this vampire transition felt so impossible. I passed out and woke up feeling normal. The idea that my entire existence had changed felt inconceivable.
Brendan glanced down at my hand. “Can you make Ignis fire again?”
I turned up my palm, and stared at the smooth stretch of skin there, but nothing happened. “How do you activate your powers?”
“I don’t know. It’s a reflex action now. I just do it when I think to.”
I shook my hand. “Well, nothing is happening.”
Timothy stepped back through the crack in the cave wall. “Ravage is coming—I haven’t had any predictions for days—meaning he’s probably doing what we did. But I feel it. We need to leave right away to protect this family.”
My heart, which was already beating fast, started to beat a furious rhythm.
I rushed after Timothy into a much larger and warmer cavern. Spiders skittered over the floor as we entered. A blazing moss fire streamed a column of smoke up to the ceiling where it escaped out of a dark hole, but the air was thick with astringent tasting smoke.
“This will just take me a second,” a grating voice said from the far side of the space. The strangest creature I had ever seen stood there, almost indiscernible from the matte gray cave wall except for their bulging yellow eyes. If they fully extended their body, the creature would tower over us by several feet. But hunched over as they were, we stood close to eye-to-eye. Their head was bald with long pointed ears coming up to both sides. They were completely naked with a thick layer of dark gray fur covering everything below their neckline.
The troll held up a long stretch of burlap, where their wizened, leathery hands worked fast to pile supplies—which from what I could tell were dried bats, a bulging waterskin that was once an amphibian of some sort, and old, worn down workers' uniforms from Portland long ago.
“Kori, this is Irma, she’s the head of her family group. Irma, this is Kori, our sister who’s come back to life,” Timothy said. “We are so grateful for your hospitality, but we need to leave now, in order to ensure that your family is safe. How do we get out of these caverns?”
“Hosp-it-ality,” Irma rolled the word around her mouth like she was tasting it. “What is this word’s meaning?”
“Offering your home to us,” Timothy said, “A home we are putting in grave danger every minute we stay.”
“I know, I know, but you won’t get very far without any supplies.” Irma waved a hand in the air, and her craggy face wrinkled up like a cracked boulder as she smiled broadly at us. All of her teeth were missing except the central four tusk-like teeth at top and bottom, but those four looked sharp enough to cut through metal. “Welcome back to the world of the living, little dead woman,” Irma rasped as she scratched her bald head behind her fuzzy and pointed ear. “Let’s get you heading down to the Queen of the Deep. You’ll like her—I think.”
“Thank you.” I nodded as I searched the cave for possible exits. As far as I could see, there was only the room we came out of and another room with long bunks made of moss and piled blankets. The third opening lead out to a much larger cavern that was mostly dark save for the lapping edge of a large pool.
Irma pointed to a pile of discarded shoes in the corner. Each looked to be patched together from several pairs of boots. None matched the other, but I managed to find one shoe that wa
s just a little too tight and another just a little loose.
Timothy stepped before the troll. “Irma—we don’t know our way out, but if you give me instructions, we can at least draw King Ravage away in time for you to escape.”
“One of us will have to show you. We’ll have you on your way in a second. I’ll get Sonny, he’s out there hunting with Honey for more bats so you can take them on your journey. It won’t take a minute. We’ll have you fully stocked, but they won’t be properly dried,” Irma pointed to a cave opening at the far side of the cavern. She rolled up our provisions with her knobby, clawed hands. “We’ve filled three skins with water that was boiled since you humans don’t have the best stomachs. I think we might have a little bit of tobacco left behind for the little man.”
“Thank you, but please, we have to go, Irma.” Timothy took the provisions. His voice was measured, but his eyes darted about the space like he was expecting Ravage to pop out of a crack in the cavern walls at any moment. “King Ravage has unimaginable powers, and he knows where we are now.”
“Like you’ve been saying, yes,” Irma swiped a hand in the air. “Trolls have found that we can kill vampires, though we enjoy a life of peace — we’ll protect you from the Broken Prince if we have to.”
“Who is the Broken Prince?” Timothy asked.
“The Broken Prince is what we call King Ravage,” Irma said.
An image flashed through my mind. Ravage bellowing in pain before the Tree of Life in a desolate cavern. I wanted to ask Irma more, but waiting here any longer would be the height of selfishness. I shook my head. “Timothy is right.” I tried to keep my breaths measured. “Your family is in immediate danger. We need someone to tell us the way out of these tunnels.”
“All right. I’ll get Sonny to lead you out—my family is waiting to guide you the rest of the way to the queen. Teach them this new word, hospitality. They will like it.” Irma shuffled to the other side of the cavern, still seeming in no rush.
We kept pace with her, and at the entrance to the next cave, I peered past her to where two large trolls waded through a dark swamp. These trolls stood at nearly twenty feet tall, maybe more, with a small hunch to their backs. Their thin bodies were sheathed in shaggy gray fur. Just within the illumination of the warm firelight, a bat made a break for the other side of the cave when one of the trolls flung out its long, thin arm and snatched it out of the air. The bat met its gruesome end as the troll tossed the creature into their sharp-toothed maw.
On the far side of the marsh, a cave waited, and within it was a flickering light that was getting brighter. The silhouette of large figures interrupted the light, and there was a low murmur of voices
I pressed my back into the cave wall. “Is someone here besides Sonny and Honey?”
“Erm?” Irma hummed, as she swung to face the cave entrance. Her lids narrowed. “Vampires are on their way—three of them.”
A mingled panic and hope filled me. Three vampires could mean that the former Kings of Portland had finally found us or it was Ravage with his warriors. “Get your family. We should all run.”
Irma turned to me, her big bulbous eyes very close to my face. “We’ll just have you sneak out of the back. Don’t worry about us, little ones. Our skin and fur are made of stone. Only trolls are strong enough to kill trolls—and we have peaceful souls.”
The moment after she uttered the words, the cave shook, and dust rained down all around us.
“Run, little ones--” Irma grabbed the wall when an enormous chunk of stone broke loose, and a troll fist smashed through the cave wall. Both the fist and the hunk of wall slammed into Irma’s face as green blood and pointed teeth flew outward.
“Sonny?” Irma squeaked as two giant hands reached through the break in the stone and closed around Irma’s neck.
All I saw of Sonny were enraged blood-red eyes and a sharp wide-open grin.
“Sonny! Sonny!” a muddy Honey called as she struggled out of the swamp. She grabbed at his arms, but Sonny didn’t even seem to notice. He just kept knocking Irma’s body against the jagged stone wall, trying to pull Irma through.
Timothy and I grabbed at one of the claws around Irma’s neck, but Sonny didn’t even budge.
“Move!” Brendan shouted.
I did just in time for him to press a ball of Ignis fire into the troll’s fingers.
A low guttural growl came from the cavern beyond just as Irma’s body went limp. Sonny yanked her through the jagged hole in the stone. Brendan and I rushed forward, going after them, when Ravage stepped through.
As one, my brothers and I, along with everything in the room, flew back. Boots and chairs, pots and pans, grimy furnishings, all simultaneously smashed against the back wall. Brendan and Timothy tumbled to the floor, limp, but I stayed fixed to the wall with arms splayed out, fingers stretching apart. The impact knocked the air out of my lungs.
Ravage walked across the grimy cave floor, lifting a hand and hushing me with a finger held to my lips. “Why do you always have to get so many others involved in our arguments? I didn’t want to kill these creatures.”
Words died in my throat. He was dressed in a fresh tunic, loose at the neck. As I hung suspended above the ground, we were eye to eye. He stepped in close. Every feature of his face felt so familiar to my eyes, his nose, cheekbones, chin. His gaze was so chilling it felt like ice on my skin. He stopped a foot's distance away and bared his fangs.
“Did you kill her?” I croaked.
“The trolls were stopping me from saving you. You need my blood to make it through your transition, or you’ll die. That’s what I was trying to tell you, but instead you pried into my mind—peering into something you have no right to see. You stole my memories.”
“What are you talking about?” Even as I asked it, images flashed through my head. A corpse transformed into a bone-white tree. A young Ravage screamed in agony as he laid at its roots. They were hazy memories that slipped away as soon as I focused on them. “Let me go, Ravage. I served my sentence except for a few hours.” I fought to free myself, but the air pressed harder against my chest until I couldn't even pull in a deep breath. Ravage’s hands ran up to cup my cheeks.
“See, I had plans for those remaining hours, Kori, and you stole them from me. You were supposed to submit to me. I was going to take your power and then help you through your transition. If you still wanted to leave me afterward, I would have released you.”
“After you took everything from me,” I managed.
“After I gave everything to you. Do you have any idea how much time I’ve invested into keeping you alive? The only way to absorb a blood mage’s powers is to drink every last drop of blood from them, which kills them. Everything I’ve done in this past year has been to strengthen you until you could survive our power exchange.”
I spit in his face, and it was so satisfying to see him reel back in shock. “Everything you have ever done is for your own sake, Ravage. You’re just too self-centered to see it.”
He wiped my spit away, and his green eyes blazed with his fury. “I bled myself to the point of sickness every single day just so I could feed you. I didn’t just turn you into a vampire, I changed you into so much more—I could have made you merciless to obey me. But, I wanted you to be unstoppable. Now I regret every choice I made. After all I did for you, you betrayed me… and I can’t stop loving you…”
“You don’t know how to—”
His mouth smashed over mine, trapping my head in place. The moment he slipped his tongue into my mouth, I bit down as hard as I could.
He chuckled as a familiar taste filled my mouth. It was the aftertaste of the wine I drank every night, and damn, I wanted more.
“Drink,” he murmured into my mouth. I did. I needed it. Instead of struggling, I bit down harder on Ravage’s tongue and drank his blood. Ravage’s body aligned with mine, and even though I hated him with every fiber of my being, my body ignited with sensation at his nearness. He pulled back to run a hand ove
r my hair. “I hate having to punish you for your betrayal, Kori, but you need to know that there are consequences for prying into my past.”
“Your past… I didn’t do that.” My throat burned with thirst, and all that filled my mind was rushing crimson blood flowing over my tongue fanning the fire that raged within. I leaned in toward Ravage’s mouth, willing to offer him anything for more of the liquid life.
“We have so much to accomplish together, you and I.” His hands ran over my hair as he stared at me with hurt brimming from his eyes. “I don’t want to forgive you—but I find myself doing it in spite of everything.”
“I hate you.”
“I know.” Leaning down, he kissed the top of my head and then pressed a hand over my heart. “The power exchange can’t wait any longer. You’ll recover, Kori. I’ve made you strong enough.”
“You can’t have my power,” I screamed as I fought to free myself, but the air pressed harder.
“Shhh…” His fangs traced over my neck. “Your Tempus powers were always meant to be mine. It was fate that brought us together.” He struck. Ravage’s fangs sunk into my skin and pain exploded through my neck. He pulled his fangs out, only to plunge them in again, slicing into me.
A massive silhouette blocked out the cave entrance. “Get off of her!”
Something huge, a piece of furniture or a boulder, slammed into Ravage from the side just as a hand yanked me in the opposite direction.
A huge vampire ran in from the doorway. The moment his face came into view, I recognized Death. His ivory hair whipped around as he streaked through the air, moving impossibly fast as he tore into Ravage.
The air pinning me released, and I tumbled forward. As I fell, I caught a glimpse of Brendan lying on the floor pinned under a pile of furniture. My palms and knees hit the ground as blood coursed down my arm. I tried to crawl toward my brother, but the room spun. “Brendan,” I cried. “Timothy.”
“Get her out of here,” Ash yelled from somewhere way too close beside me.
Ash (Fire & Blood Book 2) Page 8
