The Bloodbound Awakening

Each step sent vibrations through the pendant embedded in her chest - that cursed silver crescent now fused to her sternum, its tendrils burrowed deep beneath her skin like

g on his forehead and the dark bruise flowering across his cheekbone. Mira knelt beside him, her usually nimble fingers trembling as she tore strips from her ruined dress to fas

m screaming when the hunters had twisted his arm beyond natural limits. His br

her skull. She doubled over as another memory forced its way to the s

the air - so real Elian could taste it. She was Seraphina now, standing at a balcony's edge, the night breeze teasing strands of dark ha

till bright with something dangerously close to hope rather than the endless hunger she knew now.

rmured, his voice softer

tightening on the balcony r

r neck, pausing where her pulse fl

was slow, deliberate - the kiss of a man who believed eternity stretched before him. And for one perfect, terrible moment, she kissed him

the ghost of that kiss, her heart pounding as if she'd lived it herself. She pressed shaking hands to her mouth, nearly ch

nreadable in the flickering torchlight. "Now you begin to understand," he murmured,

a pained grunt, his face contorted

a smile. "The blood remembers what the mind forgets. And her blood..." His gaze

physically hold back the flood of foreign emotions. "Why is t

cause the bond must awaken gradually. Too much too soon would shatter your mind." He reac

noise. "What does the blood

nd present thins. When memories become more than memories." His hand dr

dragging her under into another mem

she raised the ritual dagger, its blade gleaming in the flickering candlelight. Around her, thirteen hooded figures formed a circle, their voice

h betrayal, locked

itioned the dagger over his heart. "Becau

great hall swam back into focus - the cracked stone walls, the terrified faces of h

derstand,"

l event. It was a reckoning. A chance to either re

ed with books bound in what looked disturbingly like human skin, their spines etched with runes that pulsed fa

t to sacrifice me?" she demanded, her

ning illuminating his sharp features in flashes of sil

hat wa

e dark. "She bound my soul to her bloodline. Cursed me to sleep

ch twisted. "

freely." He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a whisper that raised goos

leaded glass windows in their frames. The storm was ge

malevolent stars in the gloom. The blood moon would rise in three nights. Three nights to decide - would she

nock sounded

aid, not turning

t determined in the flickering

centuries pressing down on her shoul

in the fabric of her ruined dress. "Because from where I'

the crescent-shaped scars on her palms throbbing

Mira interrupted, tears glistening in her eyes. "

them, sharp as the dagg

storm beyond the glass. "May

first howls of the hunters' wolves rose to meet the thunder. The hunt was beginning in earnest now, and Elian stood at its c