Blood Vivicanti (9781941240113) by Becket Read Free Book Online Page B

Memories
consumed me. She is my lonely sister. She is all I’ve thought
about.”
    Now it was my turn to pick
up Lowen by the throat. He struggled but he could not fight against
me.
    “ My most passionate memories
are yours, Lowen. You gave them to Nell, and Nell gave them to me,
and I return them to you, filtered through me, for you to swallow
and stomach.”
     
     
     
     
    I flung him across the
Labyrinth Fort like a ragdoll, but not too hard – in memory of
Theo.
    He rammed against a railcar
and left a large dent in the side.
    Nell came to his side and
helped him stand.
    “ Bring her up,” he said to
Nell in a choked voice.
    Nell brought up a little
girl whose body was charred and ashy. The girl’s hair had been
burned away and she was missing an arm.
    Beyond the disfigured face,
I knew that it was Nell’s old body, the girl whose neck I’d pierced
and whose blood I’d drunk.
    But now Nell was no longer
inside that body anymore. Someone else was in there. And without
knowing how, I knew that the person within this burned body was
none other than Wyn.
    It was Wyn’s boyish eyes
staring at me through hers. It was Wyn’s attitude that exuded from
her like smoke. He was inside Nell’s old body, the body of a
Devicanti.
     
     
     
     
    The expression of surprise
and sorrow on my face made Lowen laugh. It hurt me more to see that
cruel laughter coming from Theo’s beautiful face.
    Turning to Lowen, all I
could say was, “You put Wyn’s soul in Nell’s body?”
    He smirked. Then he reached
toward Wyn with one hand. Through his spirit-link he caused pain to
wrack Wyn’s new body.
    Wyn grabbed his scorched
head, clenched his eyes, gnashed his teeth, and twisted in
agony.
    I cried out, as if I were
the one in pain.
    “ Wyn is now dead to the
world,” Lowen said. “He is mine. He loves me now and will do my
bidding. I can cause him pain or pleasure. I am his
god.”
    My eyes filled with
tears.
    “ What do you want?” I asked
Lowen in a defeated tone.
    He beamed at me
maliciously.
    “ Give me the Red Man,” he
said.
     
     
     
     
    I went to Red.
    He was fighting even more
hordes of Devicanti. They seemed to be coming from every direction.
They were piling high on top of him, but they could not overpower
his Herculean strength.
    Lowen stopped the attack
with a wave of his hand.
    The Devicanti halted almost
immediately and backed away, obeying him without
hesitation.
    Red kept fighting for a
moment, swinging and grabbing, running on the Kharetie equivalent
of adrenaline.
    He realized that none were
fighting back. He stopped and stood ready for more, with his hands
poised. He was panting and winded, although he was not tired. He
has the stamina of several stallions.
    “ Red,” I said.
    He looked at me. His
expression changed from intensity to tenderness.
    I ran to him and wrapped my
arms around his waist. He leaned down and held me too. We held each
other. It seemed timeless. I loved the scent of his
sweat.
    Then we met
eyes.
    “ Forgive me,” I
said.
    He nodded. He
understood.
     
     
     
     
    Lowen turned to
Wyn.
    His burnt eye blinked up at
him.
    “ Take out the pocket watch,”
Lowen commanded.
    Wyn had no choice. He
reached his burnt hand inside his burnt pocket. And he took out a
slightly tarnished, golden pocket watch.
    “ Open it,” Lowen
ordered.
    Wyn looked at me pityingly.
“I’m sorry,” he said in Nell’s small voice.
    From out of the pocket
watch shone a bright, marvelous light.
    Wyn set it on the ground
and backed away.
    In the center of the light
appeared the floating form of Ms. Crystobal. The light was
imprisoning her, Wyn’s old housekeeper, the portal
opener.
    Yet though she could not
get free from her luminous prison, she looked as merry as Julia
Child.
     
     
     
     
    Lowen staggered closer to
me, still greatly weakened by the Blood Memories I’d shared with
him.
    “ Now it’s time for you to
go,” he said through pained breaths.
    Wyn’s blackened eyes
widened knowingly