Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
I point at Jeff. “See, I knew the Army of Darkness was relevant here.”
Jeff nods, but he side-eyes Tristin at the same time.
“We need to find Josep.”
“No.” Tristin laughs this word out. “No, Paul, we don’t.” He’s red-faced with frustration now, so he takes a moment to breathe through it and collect himself. “OK. I… don’t know what happened to you, but you’re… confused. So I’m taking over.”
“Yes.” I point at him. “Agreed.”
He turns to Jeff. “We need to get the fuck out of this lodge. Josep could come up at any moment and this asshole is not going to save us. Where can we go so everyone can drink?”
There is a bit of excitement here among the scions. They are hungry and I’m starving them. Not on purpose, though. I was just… preoccupied with something else.
I just can’t remember what that something else was at the moment.
Have I actually gone insane?
“The purple rec room?” Jeff says. “It’s all the way across the compound, but I’m pretty sure Josep doesn’t even know it exists.”
“Don’t count on that.” Tristin laughs. “That thing is not stupid. And we’re…” He pauses here to look at me. “We’re at a serious disadvantage.”
“It’s still the best place,” Jeff says. “It’s small, and out of the way, and near the woods.”
“All right,” Tristin agrees. “Get over there and get ready. Paul and I will be right behind you.”
Tristin waits until all the scions have left before turning to me. He’s concerned. “Paul, what is going on with you? Where have you been? I’ve been waiting at the rendezvous since last night for you to arrive. I only came here to look for you because it was the last place I expected you to be.” He looks around for a moment, then lowers his voice to a whisper. “Where is Josep? Is he in the bunker?”
“I… I’m not sure.”
He and I just stare at each other for a moment. I can tell that he wants to get angry with me, but he’s doing his best to control it. “Do you know what we’re even doing?”
“We’re… killing the Darkness, of course.”
“Of course. Yes. But… you do remember who the Darkness really is, right?”
It hits me then. And things start coming back to me. “Of course. And I was busy all day yesterday preparing.”
“Preparing? How? Because you didn’t feed the scions, Paul. That was literally your only job!”
“I was killing Kael up at the White River camp. For Ryet and Syrsee.”
Tristin blows out a breath. “So you’re really going to jeopardize everything for him?”
And with these words of his, clarity manifests for me. I remember everything again. Who I am, what I’m doing, and why I’m doing it. “Yes,” I tell Tristin. And as soon as this word comes out, I’m back. Calm, calculated, smarmy. “Yes, Tristin, I’m going to risk everything. And anyway, it’s done. I sacrificed Kael, got the blood I needed, and have already given it to Ryet. He’s probably feeding Syrsee right now.”
Tristin gives up. “All right. You’re the king. But this decision of yours? It might ruin everything. By trying to save Ryet, you might kill everyone. So I hope he’s worth it.”
Then Tristin turns away and follows the scions out the door.
I hesitate, playing his words back in my head. Yes, I might actually kill everyone. Or at least sentence them all to an eternity of Darkness.
But I need to get something out of the last two thousand years.
And Ryet is my something.
Tristin watches with an almost lustful fascination as, one by one, I feed my scions. It is during the feeding that my mind begins to return to me. I hadn’t anticipated the insanity that came with the Blood Mother ritual. And, in fact, I haven’t even fully comprehended the consequences of it yet either.
This is the only expected thing that’s happened all day—my confusion. Because how would I know? I’ve never made a Blood Mother before, let alone an Army of Not-Darkness. There’s a learning curve. I can’t be expected to know everything, all of the time. I have fallible moments every now and then.
But I feel confident that my memory is on track to catch up with the times. And, as proof, I realize that as the feedings go on, other things start to make more sense too.
Things like… me.
Where I started and how I got here.
Bits and pieces come back to me. Of course, I never actually forgot what I was doing or why. It just… stopped being important somewhere along the way. Two thousand years was more than enough time to talk myself into the idea that it never happened that way to begin with.
That it was a dream?
A nightmare?
A trick?
It could still be all three.
But it’s not. I know it’s not. From the moment I saw Syrsee in that dreamwalk on New Year’s Eve, I remembered. I just didn’t spend much time pondering the significance of that memory.