Don't Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell #2) - Juliette Cross Page 0,95
the outskirts of the city. I told my mother I’d find fresh water for us to wash and drink. So I went inside the city, wandering the streets filled with people. Somehow, I found myself being lured down an empty alley and then a stone stairwell. I don’t know why, but I knew I had to follow the whispering in my mind.”
I paused, remembering the bone-deep fear and allure of that voice, guiding me toward my fate whether I wanted it or not.
“A Stygorn vampire.”
“An ancient one,” I added before going on. “He sat upon a throne deep in the earth, his hall lit only by braziers. There were other vampires, beautiful ones draped in the shadowy spaces on luxurious silks. Golden platters of food and drink sparkled, filling my senses with the opulence of this place, the majesty of this man. Gorgeous women, stunning men, all seemed to be worshipping the one on the throne. I thought I’d fallen into a dream because I couldn’t resist when he held out a hand to me, covered in jewels. His eyes were pure liquid silver.”
I huffed out a laugh, the memory smarting.
“I went to him so easily. So, so easily, Isadora. A poor boy being summoned by a king. So I’d thought.” She squeezed my hand before I went on, “I took his hand, and he said, ‘One day, you will thank me.’ Right before he hauled me to him and bit me hard, drinking so long I passed out. When I woke, I was still in that room, the braziers of torches lighting the room. But there was no beautiful entourage at his feet. No golden platters. Only cobwebs and the musty dank smell of decay. Just the beast himself in ragged clothes. When he saw me wake, he stood, his eyes glowing bright silver, his face flushed and healthy after feeding. The rest had been a mirage created by his glamour. There was such pain and such thirst, but all I could do was look up at the vampire. He smiled down at me and repeated, ‘One day, you will thank me.’ Then he walked away and left me there.
“I remember wrapping my scarf around my neck to hide the mark and stumbling my way back to my mother. I’d found a well along the way and drank furiously, trying to quench my thirst. But nothing would do it. Not until I stole a goat and drank from it when the thirst had nearly made me mad. That was when the guilt set in.”
“What was wrong with him? Vampires don’t behave like that anymore.”
“He was an ancient who’d been in a trance-like sleep for centuries, waking to smell me near. I don’t know why he pinpointed me out of a city full of people, using his power to lure me, but he had. The bite had nearly killed me, but he’d also transferred the magic and power of the Stygorn.”
We paused for a few minutes, neither speaking, till she asked quietly, “Did your mother ask what happened to you?”
“Oh, yes. She did. She knew something was wrong, but I’d returned. I was alive, and that was enough to pacify her. As a widow, she had a very hard life in that time. I’d already sworn to never marry while she was alive. I was her only child. I had to stay close and keep her safe. Now that I knew what monsters lived in the world, I was determined to keep them away from my mother. The only problem”—I gulped hard, staring down at Isadora— “was that I’d become one of the monsters.”
“No.” She squeezed my hand, hauling it closer against her breast. “Of course, you weren’t.”
“Can you imagine the kind of guilt I felt as a Hindu to live as a vegetarian, who vowed to hurt no living creature for my body’s sustenance? Then I’d sneak off into the night to steal and kill a neighbor’s sheep or drink from his goats. I avoided killing when I could, but in the beginning, I couldn’t stop myself. I had no one to teach me. The only option was to stop altogether and die. But I couldn’t do it.”
“I’m so sorry, Devraj.” She loosened our hands and pushed a long lock of my hair over my shoulder, her palm settling over my tattooed shoulder. “You can’t help who and what you are. I’m so glad you did what you needed to do to survive.”