worried.
“Just…getting…new…runes,” Valen bites out, and I look around at the rest of my Chosen and see that the same thing is happening to them too.
It’s all over in less than a handful of minutes, and everyone slowly powers down like our batteries finally wore out. “Everyone okay?” I ask, running my gaze over Siah and the others. Everyone nods absently as they stare at the new runes on their hands. Siah’s rune is lined up and just as bold as all my other Chosen runes, but the new rune on everyone’s palm is the one garnering the most attention. Six thin black diamonds, evenly spaced from each other and forming a circle, now fill up the entire palm of all of our hands.
“You’ve got a new one there too,” Sabin tells me, and he points to just right of my neck.
My eyes flash over to Siah, and he cranes his neck to see what Sabin is pointing at. I just know this new rune has something to do with Siah’s abilities as a lamia, just like the new runes I got from being with Torrez were about his abilities as a shifter. I don’t even try to deduce what this new rune could be for.
“Fuck, you think it’s going to give me fangs?” I ask, not sure how I feel about that, and the guys all shrug. “I mean, I already have the speed and like to drink blood—”
“My blood,” Siah interjects.
“Does that distinction matter?” I ask.
“Yes,” he answers simply.
“Okay, correction, I like to drink your blood. What else can you do?”
“Well, aside from speed and strength, we can heal relatively quickly, we can feed off of others’ magic. Some lamia can use different aspects of magic after they feed, but it doesn’t last long, and it’s pretty rare. We all possess the ability on some level to compel. There is the whole fangs and claws thing.” Siah looks up like he’s going through a mental checklist. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
“The compulsion thing could come in handy,” Knox admits. He runs his hand over Bastien’s face and makes his eyes huge. “It’s my night with Vinna; you feel the need to make cupcakes and do my laundry,” he monotones and waves his hand as if he’s attempting to hypnotize Bastien. I chuckle and immediately start jonesing for a cupcake.
“Should we test the new runes out?” I ask no one in particular, but sudden pounding on the door demands everyone’s attention. Torrez jogs over to save the door from the assault it’s under, and Kallan, Enoch and Becket come pouring into the room, their various magical weapons ready.
“You okay?” Enoch demands, his eyes roaming over the room and everyone in it.
“Yeah, what’s wrong?” I demand, worry rising inside of me at their intensity and obvious concern.
“We all lit up like fucking glow worms; did that not happen to you, too?” Kallan asks, his throwing knives disappearing from his grasp.
“Shit, sorry, I figured it would just be my Chosen that lit up like a Christmas tree. Did you guys get new runes, too?” I ask, as I raise up my palm and display the circle of six diamonds.
Enoch and the others quickly look at their own hands and then back up to me. “No, nothing new that we know of.”
“Oh you’d know it,” Valen tells them. “There’s no mistaking when a new rune shows up.”
Everyone in the room gives a simultaneous shudder, and for some reason, it makes me smile. “I guess the Shields lucked out in the pain department on this one,” I tease.
Everyone except for Becket gives me a confused look.
“Fuck, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you guys about this,” I apologize, and I move off the bed and over to Enoch and the others.
“Adriel told me what your runes are. Apparently, Sentinels can mark what Adriel called Shields. He said that they’re like guards, and that’s why each of you has weapons and is connected to me through my magic. Shit, that reminds me too, we need to search this place. He said he had a book about Sentinels. That it had a bunch of information in it about all of this,” I say and gesture to Kallan and the others. “He knew a hell of a lot more than the fucking readers knew, and they supposedly have a whole archive on Sentinels,” I add.
“Hold on, wait, so he said they’re some kind of bodyguard runes, and you’re just taking his word for it?” Enoch questions