Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“Wait, Radu? Is that you?” I pulled back, staring at the phone. “I just got this phone and this number. How do you have it already?” His question penetrated. “And how do you know I’m down?”
“Your tears are a clue.”
I choked, spinning around. “How the—?! You undead stalker! Where are you?!”
“I’m back in my bedroom, of course,” he said, chuckling. “I only popped over to catch a glimpse of you, amore. And you look positively ravished. I see the prince of sloth is slow and lazy everywhere except the bedroom.”
I flushed, face heating up. “Stuff it, Prof, I’m not in the mood.”
That only set him off laughing again. “Anything I can do to make you feel better?”
I heaved a sigh. Yeah, can you do another popover and find out why Tristan won’t talk to me?
But even as the thought crossed my mind, I knew that wouldn’t work. The demon wing wasn’t locked down from vampires because demon blood was fatal to them, but the werewolf wing wasn’t nearly so lax.
Santino couldn’t get over there to talk to Tristan, and even if he tried, the panic—and attempted vampire murder—would be horrendous. No need to kick off that kind of trouble when this was for me and Tristan to settle on our own.
Another thought popped into my head. “Actually, there is something you can help me with. Have you ever heard of the hallows or the All Hallows?”
“Yes,” he replied without skipping a beat. “I have. Why?”
“Wait, you have?”
“Indeed. I’ve been around for quite a long time, honey. I’ve heard all the legends there are to hear.”
“Wow.” I resumed my walk, rounding the corner out of the dorm wing. “But if you’re calling it a legend, then I get to tell you something that you didn’t know. The power of the All Hallows is real. The Avos coven used it to banish all the supernatural creatures to hell and slam the gates behind them.”
A thick, pregnant pause birthed a mess of unsettling, white-eyed vampire babies in the time it took Radu to reply.
“I see,” he clipped. Gods, help me, but his voice gave nothing away. “That would explain... much.”
“Do you know what it is?” I asked. “This grand All Hallows power?”
“You’re asking me? You seem to know more about it than I do.”
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me— Or wait... maybe he could see me. “I only know that it’s real and that it was used by my ancestors to purge earth of everyone they hated.”
“Hold on a moment.” Emotion finally entered his voice. “But if the power was your ancestors, that means it’s yours. It’s in your blood! You can open the gates! You can free us—”
“Lucifer has the same idea,” I sliced in. “He put Dora under the pure soul curse to force me to find a way to activate whatever power is lying dormant in my blood. He’s going to steal the power from me the second I do, but he promised to return Dora’s life and soul after he does.”
He whistled. “Ahh. No wonder you were crying.”
I tipped my head. See? My life was crap. At least someone understood that.
“And you need me to help you wake the sleeping dragon?” he asked. “I’m sorry, honey, but only your witch mothers can train you in how to tap into your magic. Even if they did feel like sharing the secrets of witch magic with vampires, the goddesses they serve wouldn’t let us hold such knowledge in our heads without splitting it open with a lightning strike.”
I cringed at the image. “That actually isn’t what I need. I’ve been thinking about this, but what if this All Hallows power doesn’t play by the blood magic rules? I’ve been told that blood magic is so powerful because it can be shared with the whole coven, and then passed down from generation to generation—making each one stronger than the one before it.
“But if this All Hallows power has been passed down for hundreds of years to my grandmother, then to my mother, and then to me, shouldn’t we be freaking superwomen? Wouldn’t my mother have been able to stop my grandmother’s tyranny with a flick of her wrist? Wouldn’t Grandmother have been able to track us down in a blink when Mother was on the run, hiding her family?”
I took a deep breath. “What if they made a mistake the night that they banished everything supernatural from the world? They thought they were walking away from that spell circle as the new resident badasses, but instead, they used up every drop of the All Hallows power on closing the gates, and when they did so, they locked away all the ingredients they needed to bring the power back.”
“Now that...” His voice changed. “Is an intriguing idea.”
“It must be Lucifer’s idea too. That’s why he’s got me on the hunt for every item mentioned in the spell my foremothers chanted when they brought forth the power. The hallows of the air, sea, wood, and flame. That’s why I want to know if you know anything about what they might be. I have nothing but theories about the possible hallows, but no way to narrow it down. Finding out is the only way to end this.”