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)
My reality shifts when these words come out of his mouth. I’m talking backwards, and sideways and fucking pear-shaped upside down. I want to ask a thousand questions. I want to know everything about her. My grandma. The woman who saved me from a death cult of witches, and hid me away, and gave me to the Guild to raise up, and educate, and then… then what?
I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Because none of what’s been happening to me the last twenty-eight years is making any sense at all today. I don’t know who I am, or where I came from, or where I belong, or what any of this means.
And I hate that. I also hate the new, sudden realization that the Guild knows more about me than I ever will. And they were never going to tell me.
And maybe Zusi too.
What if Zusi knows everything? What if—
“I’m not your father.”
“What?” I almost choke this word out.
“I can read your mind. That was coming up quick. So I would just like to nip it in the bud. We are not related.”
For several heartbeats I can’t stop the dizzying effect his words have on me. But somehow, I manage to blurt, “Thank God,” under my breath.
“It’s got nothing to do with God. You’re a creature of the dark, Syrsee. You are the blackness. You are the evil everyone warned you about. But you’re also very powerful. Why do you think they kill your kind? Hmm?”
Is this thing asking me questions?
Am I actually having a conversation with a monster?
“They kill you, not because they fear you—though they do fear you—but because what you are is so much more than they are. The Guild was never going to tell you the truth, you know.”
“What do you know about it?”
“I know everything about it. As do they. But they can’t tell you who and what you really are because then…” He shrugs and smiles at the same time. Ryet moans, repositioning himself in his sleep so that his cheek is resting on the vampire’s bare thigh.
This makes the vampire look down and stroke him, his long, pale fingers gently swiping up and down Ryet’s cheek. And I catch a look of… concern, I think. But a moment later, the vampire’s attention is back on me. “He’s dying. I would like to save him. But I cannot. Only you can do that.”
“What?”
“He needs your blood, Syrsee. Quite a bit of it. But you don’t have to give it—”
I laugh. Loud.
“What’s so funny?”
“He needs…” I laugh again. “I’m… I’m supposed to feed him?”
The vampire is not frowning. But the brightness is definitely gone. “That’s your purpose. Part of it, anyway. Do you know what the other part is?”
“My purpose.” The guffaw that bursts forth is both loud and long. “My purpose? I’m food, you asshole!”
“Do you want to know the other part or not?”
“Other part of what?”
“The Guild kept it secret from you. They’re so afraid of you, Syrsee. They raised you in hopes of hiding the truth from you forever. Do you know why you’re not going back to the library?”
My whole face screws up in confusion. “You knew where I was?”
“Every moment.” He takes in a breath and that brightness is back. “Every. Moment. They have kicked you out, Syrsee. That’s why you’re here.” He pans a hand towards the town. “I own White River.”
“What?”
“They sent you here. To me. To him.” He points a finger down at Ryet.
I think back on the ridiculous ten-day trip. The the buses, the planes, the car. “No. That’s—”
“The truth. Listen, I’ll tell you a little bit now. It’s just bait, though.” He pauses to smooth Ryet’s sweaty hair away from his cheek. “It’s just bait. But I can tell you anything you want after you give him the blood.”
I squint my eyes at the vampire. “What the hell is going on here?”
“I thought I have made that clear. I would like you to feed Ryet and—”
“No. Between you two.”
The vampire Paul smiles so bright, so big, it almost lights up the room. “I love him. And even though he pushes me away, he loves me. We’re lovers, Syrsee. Blood lovers.”
Blood lovers. I almost fall over when the purple words come spilling out of his mouth and float in the air in front of me. I reach for the chair near the window and sink down into it.
“Don’t be jealous.”
“What?” I actually laugh.
“Of me, darling. You and I have two very different roles in his life. I cannot replace you, you cannot replace me, but when we’re all together, it’s going to be magnificent.”
“Gross.”
He chuckles. “You think that now.”
I am not in any danger here. Ryet is so sick, he can’t even wake up. And the vampire isn’t even in this room. He’s dreamwalking in a lavender haze. So I snap at him. “What is the information you have about the Guild? Why am I not going back to the library?”