“What’s a Blood Promise?”
“Not too long after the promise was made, though,” he continues on with his story, discounting my question. “Malefiscus was caught and sentenced to his death. The Keepers made the sentence and supposedly they executed him, but deep down people wondered whether they really did or not. There were a lot of traitors at the time and rumors started flooding that someone had snuck him out the day before he was supposed to be hanged.” He pauses and then lies down on the bed beside me, his fingers tracing a path across my stomach, his skin feeling as rough as sandpaper. My gut churns and a slimy chill slithers down my spine, but this is right where I want him; close and distracted.
“Alive or dead, it doesn’t really matter because his bloodline didn’t die with him,” He continues while sketching circles around my belly button as he props up on his elbow and watches my reaction. “It carried through the decades, going completely unnoticed for a while and so no one really knew about it until just recently.” He pauses. “It carried on and now resides in a man named Stephan Avery.”#p#分页标题#e#
He stills and I’m too shocked to breathe. Stephan is the descendant of evil. Alex’s father. God, what does that make Alex?
“Because his bloodline carried on, so did the Fey’s promise to grant him a favor. Only now the favor is owed to Stephan.” His fingernails plunge into my stomach and slice my flesh open. Blood oozes out, but I tell myself to shut out the pain. Shut down. “I had barely heard of this story and I think a lot of Fey had forgotten as well until surprise, surprise, Stephan came to collect a few days ago,” he says venomously. “And he didn’t want just any member of the Fey to fulfill the promise. He wanted the Faerie who has the gift of a Foreseer as well.”
My eyes enlarge as the severity of the situation that I’m in registers in my head. “He asked you… to do what?”
“I think you already know that.” He pivots on his hip and aligns himself over me, his fingers stroking the section of my stomach that he had clawed moments ago. I feel my chance arriving and I try to get myself ready for the wretched place I’m about to go. “He wanted me to track down a very beautiful, feisty, and very tortured girl with the most magnificent violet eyes.”
“What does he want you to do with me?” Stay calm. You can do this. You’re strong.
“Bring you to him.” He inches closer to me like he’s about to kiss me.
I stay as still as I can, despite my initial reaction to squirm and head-butt him. “And why haven’t you?”
“Because I can’t seem to let you go.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my hair and wets his chaffed lips with his tongue.
“You could just let me go,” I dare to suggest. “You could come with me… go into hiding with us.”
He rolls his eyes. “Alex would never let that happen and you know it.”
“I could make him,” I say in an even voice. “I have ways.”
“You are a devious thing,” he remarks and places a sloppy kiss on my cheek. My heart thrashes and my throat burns with the taste of vomit. “But even if you could convince him, I still couldn’t… I don’t have a choice anymore with what I can do to you.” He leans back a little and rolls up the sleeve of his shirt all the way to the top of his arm. On the side of his arm, branded in red and black ink is a triangular mark.
“What is that?” I whisper, although I think deep down I already know. I’ve seen it before in my dream, on Draven, and with all the talk about the Mark of Evil, it’s pretty clear what it is; even if I don’t want to believe it.
“The Mark of Malefiscus, also known as the Mark of Evil,” Nicholas growls, wrenching his sleeve back over it. “I’m branded with the Mark of Evil and I can make you stay all I want, but eventually the power of it’s going to take over. It will make me give you to Stephan.”
“How did you… how did you get it?”
“Stephan.”
My body jolts upward as horror slams through me. “What!”
He smiles and it almost looks like a sad smile. For a brief instant, he looks almost human. “Stephan can do a lot more than what people think.”
I shake my head and open my mouth to ask more questions, but he places his finger over my lips, shushing me. “No more questions. My time is running out…” he looks down at his pale, cracked arm and then his eyes lock back on me. “I have to take you away soon.” He leans in to kiss me.
I shove every ounce of revulsion down and lock it in a box inside me. I become a different person, one that doesn’t feel, and for a second I feel at home. I kiss him, holding everything in me, and pretending like I’m somewhere else. Somewhere the sun shines and my mood matches it. Maybe on a beach. Even though I’ve never been to one; the idea of the sand, the ocean, and the heat seem like it would be a wonderful, relaxing experience. I picture myself there, lying in the sand. Someone is with me, but I can’t tell who yet. A sturdy male figure with skin as smooth as porcelain. I hold myself there as Nicholas’s hands digress all over my body.