Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Worried for me?” His voice is like the touch of a feather.
I sit up, my skin prickling. “Valen?”
Nothing. No response. I lay back down, that tingle of awareness still rushing through me.
I keep listening, focusing on him. My eyes closing. My thoughts drifting.
“The hour is late, my Blood.” He’s dressed all in black, crouched down on top of a building in the moonlight.
I look down. I’m wearing my gray, base-issued pajamas. What I wore to bed. “I’m dreaming.”
“Something like that.” He glances up.
I yelp as Coal lands right beside me, his wing passing through me. “What the—”
“They’ve got some anti-aircraft artillery and plenty of guns. Tantun is advancing steadily, but they’re suffering heavy casualties.”
“Good.” Valen’s still looking at me as I gawk at Coal.
I pat my side where his wing seemed to cut through me. Nothing’s there. No wound. And I’m solid.
“What is this?” I ask.
“Projection.”
“Hmm?” Coal looks right through me. “Who are you talking to?”
“My Blood. She’s accessed projection already.”
“She has?” Coal searches the spot where I’m standing. “Humans can do that?”
“Apparently so. My Blood is exceptional.” The pride in his voice sends a pleasant rush through me.
I wave my hand in Coal’s face. He doesn’t so much as blink.
If it’s a dream, it’s an oddly specific one. No, I think it’s real. “I’m asleep, right?”
“Yes.”
I just go with it. It’s not as if I have any other option. “Are you all right? What did Gregor do? Did he hurt you?”
“Nothing to trouble you with.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“He ordered me to raze Atlanta to the ground.” He gestures toward the darkened city. “To stamp out the resistance that’s sprung up here.”
“Some of my best work.” Coal smirks.
“You helped them?” I ask, but of course he can’t hear me.
“We’ve disobeyed as much as possible. Ensuring your people survive. But that’s all. Vampires and humans will still die. The war will continue. Nothing can change or end until Gregor dies.”
“I know.” I tangle my fingers together. “If I could make the poison and somehow get it to him, this would be over. Then we could start rebuilding, find some way forward.”
“Listen, my Blood.” Valen’s expression is stark in the moonlight. “Gregor is fading faster now, but he’s even more erratic. There’s nothing he won’t do; nothing left for him to fear except death.” His eyes sear into me. “I don’t think he’ll have any qualms compelling me from here on out. That’s the only reason I’ve left you at that base with the humans.”
“You left me there because I told you to,” I correct him.
He only smirks.
Ass.
Valen turns his head with predatory quickness, and Coal does the same.
Someone scrabbles over the edge of the roof right behind me, then stands.
I back away until I’m behind Valen.
“You’re safe here in this form. No one else can see you or hear you,” Valen’s voice is in my mind.
He stands to his full height. “What, Tantun?” he snarls the word.
The vampire approaches and dips his head slightly in deference. “Lord Specter, we’ve broken through their front lines, but their weapons are much improved as of late. They’ve added silver to the slugs. We’re taking heavy losses. If the Corvidions could—”
“Is there a reason you’re here instead of following orders?” Valen’s tone could cut through steel.
I wince back.
“We—” He wavers for a moment, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. “We’d like to request air support from the Corv—”
Valen has him by the throat so quickly I stumble back, then he slams him so hard onto the roof that the cement cracks, a light plume of dust rising around them. “You will return to your troops and attack the humans’ position as instructed or you will die right here, right now.”
“S-sorry, my lord. Please,” the Tantun wheezes.
Valen rises, bringing the vampire with him, then flings the Tantun off the roof as if he were tossing a bit of trash into a wastebasket.
A thud and a groan follow, and Valen pulls a black handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his hands as if he’s touched something filthy.
Something explodes, and I whirl to see a plume of fire rising only a block or so away. The blast sends a shockwave and a torrent of dust rushing past. I don’t feel any of it.
“Looks like our petrol barrel finally got hit.” Coal crosses his arms, his black wings folding at his back. “About time. You’d think humans would have better aim by now.”
“I told them to wait until the mass of Tantuns were close. Maybe they followed my instructions for once.” Valen gives me an apprising glance. “Though I know of one who never does.”
“That’s not true, not to mention unfair. I do what I think is right. You—”
“I do what is necessary,” he gives me a withering look.
“Oh, and I don’t?” I put my hands on my hips. “I went to DC because it was necessary. I worked on a cure, and worked with a particularly rude vampire, might I add, to save people from the plague. I do all kinds of things that are necessary. I’m not out here twirling through the hills and having a great time like you’re implying.”