Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I stare at him. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? Why didn’t you tell Priest?”
“Because neither of you mentioned wanting to turn you into a Vampyre.”
“What about Maren?”
“She doesn’t know.”
I reach out and grab him by the collar, my claws coming out and digging into his skin. “You need to tell him,” I growl. “You need to tell Priest what he can do. You need to get him to turn me into a Vampyre, turn Maren into one too so she can live forever with Ramsay.”
His chin jerks inward as he tries to stare down at my claws holding him. “Do keep in mind that I only have this anecdotal evidence to support my theory. It happened once. I never saw another monster turn a human after that. Monsters usually killed them. It’s never a wise decision to base things on one previous outcome.”
“But now this is a risk worth taking,” I tell him. “Priest has to see that.”
“Then you will have to tell him,” he says calmly. “And I will be the one to back up your claim.”
“Well, we’re doing it tonight then,” I tell him as I start to climb down the mast.
“Just realize what immortality means, Larimar,” Abe calls after me. “It means you still live after the world has burned to the ground.”
“I’ll live on a scorched Earth if it means having Priest by my side.”
I hear him sigh, and then follow down the mast.
I march straight down to the galley where Priest and the pirates have gathered, grabbing a knife from Sedge’s counter as I go.
I have to think fast, act fast. Vampyres move like a blur; they’ll stop me if they have any idea what I’m about to do.
And if I give it any more thought, I’ll lose my nerve.
I have to take the chance.
I have to be the one to do this.
I have to force Priest’s hand.
Above all, I must have faith. Faith in an unknown god, faith in fate, faith that my own strength will save me and see me through, that I’ll come out of this no more of a monster than I already was.
I march through the room, Priest, Ramsay and Thane all turning to see me approach.
Priest notices the knife in my hand, and his eyes widen, mouth dropping open.
He probably thinks I’m here to kill him.
I take a deep breath, lift the knife, and bring it to my chest, down toward my heart in a sharp, stabbing motion.
Just as Abe yells from behind me to stop.
But he didn’t need to.
Because Priest is faster than I thought he would be.
In the time the knife tip presses into the skin of my chest, Priest has gone from sitting at the table holding a bunch of cards to holding the blade of the knife itself, the cards still falling in the air, a delayed reaction to his speed.
“Don’t,” he growls at me, gripping the blade so it’s cutting into his own palm, its blood trickling down onto my chest. “Don’t.”
“Larimar,” Abe chides me from behind. “I didn’t say for you to kill yourself. Good heavens.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” I practically whine. I let go of the knife’s handle, and Priest brings it away from me. “I was just trying to make Priest choose me.”
“Choose you?” Priest asks as Ramsay takes the knife from his bloody hand.
“To be yours forever. To become a Vampyre.”
“Larimar,” he snaps at me. “We’ve been over this.”
“And Abe knows something you don’t.”
“For my part, I don’t know what the devil is going on,” Ramsay says. “Larimar wants to become a Vampyre? Surely, you jest. You know what would happen to you.”
“Explain, Abe,” I say.
I expect Abe to let out a despondent sigh, but instead, he tells the others what he told me in the crow’s nest. All the while, Priest is silent, his expression guarded as he takes all the information in. Finally, at the end, he quietly says to Abe, “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“You never asked,” he says. “I didn’t think this would come up.”
“So…” Ramsay begins, “that means Aragon could turn Maren into a Vampyre too.”
“You’re not seriously considering this,” Priest says to him, his eyes flashing.
Ramsay shrugs. “I love my wife. I want her for all of my days. Why wouldn’t I want her to become a Vampyre? Why wouldn’t I bring her immortality if I could?”
“Ramsay,” Priest says, warning him.
“What? I never considered it because, as we all know, she would be destroyed in the process. But if what the doctor says is true…”
“And it is true,” Abe points out. “But I must reiterate that it was hardly a controlled study. It happened once. It might not happen again.”
“Is that a risk you want to take?” Priest asks the captain.
“Everything is a risk,” Thane mumbles, speaking up. “Even immortality isn’t a guarantee. We have to take chances, or we die anyway.”