Page 35 of Nearly Dead

“Silence!”Decimus yells.Then to me he orders, “Continue.”

I try to keep my words in, but the circle compels honesty.“I was dying.Costin turned me against my wishes to save my life.”

“Were you dying or turning?”Decimus asks.

“Against her wishes,” Sully rumbles.“We wouldn’t even be here if the vampire hadn’t intervened.There would be no questions as to her true nature.She’s a wolf.Death is part of that process.She belongs with us.”

“The ritual made me too weak.I wouldn’t have survived the bite.”I believe it, even if I don’t know if it’s true.

“But you did survive,” Sully counters.

“My family is here as a courtesy,” Astrid states.“The council needs to ask its questions of her, or we’re leaving.”

I look at my father.He doesn’t speak.His expression says he just wants this to be over.

“You were saying, Lord Constantine bit you,” Decimus prompts.“Are you sure you weren’t just trying to pick your future as a vampire rather than a wolf?”

I can tell most of the people in this room would easily believe that.The wolves are treated as the lesser of the human-originated supernatural beings.

“I didn’t want to become a vampire, either,” I state.“I had made him promise me not to let me turn.He didn’t honor that.”

A murmur ripples through the chamber.I see Costin’s jaw tighten and feel a pulse of complex emotions through our sire bond.Regret, defiance… pain?

I don’t like that he’s hurting.I should never have said such a thing.My hybrid stirs.I start to move toward Costin.

“Yet here you stand,” Zephronis says, demanding my attention.He’s staring at me, and I wonder at the intensity of his look.It doesn’t match the calmness of his tone.“Neither fully vampire nor fully werewolf.What do you feel when the moon calls to you?”

The question triggers something primal.Even underground, I can feel the approaching full moon.It’s a distant pull on my blood that grows stronger each night.

“Hunger,” I admit.“Rage.The need to run, to hunt.”I swallow hard.“To tear things apart.”

“And what of your vampire nature?”Decimus asks.“Do you feel the thirst?”

“Always.”The word escapes before I can consider it.Damn this stupid truth circle.“But it’s different from the wolf’s hunger.Colder.More calculating.”

“And which is stronger?”asks Elizabeth, her voice deceptively gentle.“The wolf or the vampire?”

I feel both sides surge at the question, as if responding to the challenge.My fingernails lengthen slightly, my canines pressing against my lower lip.I force them back with effort.

“They...take turns,” I manage, breathing heavily.“It changes.Sometimes minute by minute.”

The white-haired vampire seated near Costin rises, her movements so fluid she seems to float.“May I approach the circle, Elder Zephronis?”

The old magic nods, and she glides down to the center floor to join us, her violet eyes never leaving mine.Up close, I can see the true age in her face, not in wrinkles or gray hair, but in the depth of her gaze, the subtle way her skin seems almost translucent.

“I am Elder Vasilisa,” she says, her accent thick.At the sound of her voice, I feel a violent pull toward her.“I have lived five centuries and seen many curiosities, but never a successful hybrid.”She circles me slowly, studying me intently.“Your sire,” she gestures to Costin, “comes from my bloodline.I can sense his power in you.But there is something else too.Something...unexpected.”

She stops directly in front of me, her head tilting slightly.“The wolf blood in you is not just any Alpha’s.It is old blood.Ancient.”

Sully steps forward, ignoring the warning glances from several council members.“Thane’s lineage traced back to the first packs.”

“So he always claimed,” Vasilisa says, though her tone suggests doubt.“Or perhaps there is more to this story than we know.”She turns to the council.“I would request a private examination of the hybrid.”

“No,” Costin and Sully say simultaneously, then glare at each other for the agreement.

My father clears his throat and finally speaks.“My daughter is not a specimen to be studied.”

“She is an anomaly that threatens our entire world,” Birch counters.“If she cannot control both natures, if she exposes us to humans?—”

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