“An unnecessary one, I assure you, my dear creator,” Draven said dryly. “One really doesn’t need it to enjoy life—not when there are so many other pleasures to be found in this vast universe.” He grinned. “Such as crushing your enemies beneath your heel and watching them squirm like squashed bugs.”
Do not go so far, Draven. I have loved you as a son, but if you attempt to harm my other children, I will have you destroyed.
“In what way?” Draven scoffed. “I know your restrictions and limitations. The way you must allow your ‘children’ to work out their own problems with hardly any help. How little you are allowed to intercede, especially in large matters. Unfortunately for you, I am not content to reign from afar. I’d much rather be in the thick of things than looking in from the outside.” He grinned. “But then, you already knew that. It’s why I left in the first place.”
So be it. The Goddess’s voice was cold and terrible. I see you are determined it is to be war between us. But remember, Draven…remember how the last war ended. I had hoped you would learn something in your thousand years of isolation, but I see that you have not.
“Oh, I learned something, all right,” Draven spat, his silver eyes flashing. “I learned to loathe you even more. It is not a lesson I will soon forget.”
Farewell, then. I will not try to reason with you again.
The emerald light in Minverna’s one good eye faded leaving a dull, light brown orb in its place. “What…what happened?” she gasped.
“Nothing that concerns you, my dear,” Draven snapped. Really, he was most put out. “Finish!” He made a commanding motion and the ex-high priestess drove the dagger violently into her own brain.
She had an almost comically surprised look on her face when she dropped to the ground, but Draven was not amused. Indeed, even the satisfying scraping sound of the mirror-mere knife tip scratching against the back of her skull couldn’t make him crack a smile. Speaking to the Goddess always put him deep in the doldrums, especially when she tried to remind him of how wonderful things had been before his defection from her oh-so-glorious realm.
Still, there is one thing that always cheers me up, Draven thought. A nice bit of killing and maiming. And if I can just find that Kindred hybrid, I’ll have the perfect person to practice my favorite pastime on…
Thoughtfully, slowly, the once solid apparition turned ghostly and faded from the room, the strange silver eyes disappearing last.
Minverna was left in a lifeless heap, the mirror-mere dagger protruding from one eye socket and a widening puddle of blood cooling around her body.
Chapter Thirteen
Slowly but surely, bit by bit and day by day, Elise was starving to death.
She could feel it happening, could feel the hunger inside her growing stronger, more demanding, but she was helpless to do anything about it.
No matter how much she ate, there was always a gnawing sensation in her stomach, the feeling that she needed to eat more, even when she was full. That was nothing though, a mere symptom of the bigger problem. After throwing up twice, as quietly and privately as she could in the tiny bathroom, she made sure she stopped eating before she got sick, even though she still felt horribly hungry.
Nights were a little bit better because she and Merrick could touch. Not much, though—he still slept by the side of the bed with his hand on the mattress so she could hold it. Elise always started out in the middle of the bed with just their fingers entwined but often she woke in the middle of the night to find her entire body curled around his large, warm hand and muscular forearm. It was almost as though her unconscious body was getting as close to her only source of nourishment as it could when she wasn’t awake to stop it. It was pathetic but Elise couldn’t seem to help it. And she couldn’t risk having Merrick up on the bed with her.
At first it was because of the memories—the ones that threatened to come flooding back, pouring out from under the door of her mental vault like overflowing sewage seeping up from some underground tank. The night she’d awoken to see the huge, black male shadow standing over her bed they had nearly drowned her.
It had come back in tattered flashes—all of her disgusting past she didn’t want to think about or admit. Like a slideshow of horror she couldn’t get away from.
Seeing the shadow in the door, knowing he was there. Knowing what he wanted, what he was determined to get. Buck standing over her protectively, his mismatched eyes—one blue and one gold—glowing in the night, a low growl rising from his shaggy throat. Her sweet Buck, who’d protected her as long as he could…and then…