Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel(70)

Alex scrabbled to get away from him, claws flailing and muzzle snapping, but Faris held him easily.
I didn’t tell him to let Alex go, didn’t ask him what he wanted. I knew. We both did. And there was only one way to make sure that Alex made it out of this alive. The werewolf let out a barking whine as he fought, gasping for air.
“Alex, be still.” I didn’t want this, but I didn’t know that there was any other way. There was no one coming to rescue us, no way they could find us here, wherever here was. Alex settled down, staring at me with nothing but trust in his big golden eyes. There was no way I could betray him, not even for this.
I would have to do what Faris wanted.
Faris smiled at me, wide enough that I could see his fangs clearly. “You understand? Let me be very clear so that there is no possibility of buyer’s remorse here. Binding you to me is tricky at best, and temporary. But what I’ve learned is that you, unlike Milly, wholly stand behind your word. You do not have it in you to break an oath. And you follow your misleading heart, even when you know better. So.” —he tipped his head to one side and smiled again at me— “you will Track the Blood for me so that I will become the Emperor, and you will hold to your oath to kill the Child Empress. And you will swear to both of those things on the redemption of every soul you’ve ever loved. And if you break your oath, I will kill everything, and everyone, you hold dear.”
He tightened his grip on Alex. “To continue this clarity, if you do not swear to these things, I will start with him and kill him now.”#p#分页标题#e#
My stomach flopped and my heart sank to the bottom of my guts.
Faris had finally won; he’d left me no choice. I lowered my sword, bitterness flowing through me. How in the world had I thought at any point he’d been there to help me? He was a douchebag who’d had hundreds of years to perfect his motherfuckery. “I’ll kill you for this one day. You know that, don’t you?”
Laughing, the vampire bared his teeth at me. “You can try; I would like to break you to my will. And one more thing, you will also swear that your oaths must be completed when I demand. Now swear it.”
“On killing you? Gladly. I swear on pain of—”
“Do not play with me, Rylee. I am not in the mood.” He shook Alex, who dangled from his hands like a rag doll, his eyes foggy with lack of air.
“Loosen up on him. I will swear to your stupid oath.” I watched as Alex took a deep breath, Faris’ hands easing up ever so slightly.
“What is the Blood we are going after? I need that much, to know if I can do it or not.” Not really the truth, but I needed to stall, and I hoped that with a little more information, maybe I could get us out of here in one piece. Even if it was a long shot, I had to try.
Faris’ eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t read any more of the book of the Fanged?”
I shook my head and he let out an exasperated sigh. “The Blood are the first three vampires, the ones who begat our race, the origin of our lives.”
“Are they dead?”
He barked a laugh and a glimmer of humor sparkled in his eyes. “Well, no more than I am. But they have been interred in a prison to keep them from the world. We have to find their prison so I can drink their blood and seal my life as the new Emperor. Now quit stalling, speak your oath.”
Every gods-be-damned word I spoke burned through to the core of me, acid eating me out from the inside. “I swear to you on the redemption of every soul I’ve ever loved that I will Track the Blood for you, that I will—” Gods, it stuck in my mouth. I swallowed hard. “That I will hold to my oath to kill the Child Empress, done within the time frame you dictate.”
“Well done, Rylee.” He threw Alex toward me, and the werewolf’s two hundred pound frame crashed into mine, taking us to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
“Alex sorry,” he whispered, lips turning down at the edges, as he scrambled off me.
“Not your fault, buddy.” I stood slowly, dusted my clothes off. Alex pressed himself into my leg, and I dropped a hand to the back of his neck. My fingers came away sticky with blood. Anger, hot and sweet, raged through me. Faris would be dead the second I had the chance.
Faris moved to a side table and poured what I knew wasn’t a glass of red wine, though it surely looked like it in the crystal glass. “Now, let us discuss how this will work, our little business arrangement.”
I had to get close to him if I was going to kill him. That was the only way I could nullify my oaths and avoid this whole situation. Killing him was not going to be easy with his speed, but maybe he wouldn’t expect an assault so quickly. I took a step toward him, keeping my breathing slow and even.