Vampire heart

: The Wak

wouldn't s

-slow, deliberate, impossible to ignore. It didn't glow. It didn't hum. But it f

lked through thick forest brush, ducking under

ways do thi

lanced ba

fort

in the highlands, a place known as Kibanda cha Moyo-the Heart Hut. According to t

ight learn h

re time to wait. Rami

sn't alon

ing long shadows across the forest floor

far?" A

ose," Mal

o you

I can fee

t was when the forest opene

f still miraculously intact. It radiated stillness, but not peace. Som

s brushed the pendant through the

it," he w

idn't fol

eyes scanning the trees. "

pushing aside the curtain of h

s in still water. The walls were covered in markings-some he recognized from the seer's chamb

llow stone basin, black

grew hot i

d it. As soon as the stone touch

r turn

was not

om him st

am. Not a

, breathing i

ga

more graceful, wrapped in a crimson robe,

smi

lo,

d back. "Thi

voice was his, but older. Wiser. "You'r

thundered.

ocks its past when it's re

o's eyes. "I'v

knife, the betrayal. And I remember you-

s fists. "Why d

we said no to the bloodlines, to the hierarchy. Becau

owly. "You di

d, stepping closer. "And I die

t pulsed b

" Elijah said. "But the

ow

Fire.

mention

remembers. Pour a drop of your blood into the basin. Speak you

't kno

u d

asha had given him. Hands tr

into the basin

ir ig

the hut, crawling up the walls, igni

e name that rose in

an

t shud

and formed a figure-t

ned fo

ntere

lanced through his chest-then vanished.

ts under starlight with Malakai. The sacred

mbered

ormant-settled against hi

panting,

h was

voice

. Finish wha

m at the entra

t that,"

l the way to the trees.

" Ayo said.

ped closer.

ant. "My name was Sanyu. And I love

at bobbed. "An

t hesitat

between them,

moment s

ght-a hunter's scream

ees, a figu

as R

as he wa

burned silver. And behind him came shadows-t

d, voice rough with hunger. "

forward, pen

t have it

rmission," Rami snarl

monster