Page 38 of Midnight Reign
Well, kind of mine. So sexy. Been a while since I had a good lay.
“Jesus,” I mutter, taking a deep breath. She is riling me up. Getting angry with her is just amusing her and will make her worse.
The others are watching me warily, clearly unsure how to react to my outburst.
“Sorry,” I mutter. “She’s chatty.”
Zephyr steps forward, his purple eyes intense. “What did she say?”
I shake my head. “Nothing important. Just trying to get under my skin.”
Corvus frowns. “We need to figure out how to control this, Addy. She’s getting stronger, isn’t she?”
I nod reluctantly. “I think so. But I’m learning, too. We just need to stay ahead of her.”
“And how do we do that?” Ignatius asks.
I look down at the book in my hands. “By learning everything we can. About her, about Vespers, about this power she wants to unlock.”
“So, she is a Vesperidae?” Corvus asks,
“The very first, I guess.”
“And she has been waiting for you.”
“Seems so.”
Zaiah moves closer, peering at the text over my shoulder. “Does it say anything else? About how to stop her, maybe?”
I flip through the pages, scanning for any more relevant information. My eyes catch on a passage near the end of the book. “Wait, there’s something here...” My eyes scan the ancient text, my voice growing more urgent as I read. “To contain the Progenitor’s power, a ritual was devised. Five elements must come together - blood of the vessel, shadow of the fae, flame of creation, essence of wishes, and the void of night. Only through their union can the ancient one be bound, her power harnessed without consuming the vessel.”
The group exchanges glances, the implications sinking in.
“Five elements,” Zephyr murmurs. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Blood of the vessel,” Corvus says, looking at me. “That’s you.”
“Shadow of the Fae,” Ignatius adds, nodding to Zephyr.
“Flame of creation,” Zaiah says, gesturing to Ignatius.
“Essence of wishes,” I continue, my eyes meeting Zaiah’s.
“And the void of night,” Zephyr finishes, his gaze landing on Corvus. “The vampire.”
A heavy silence falls over us as we process this information. My mind races, trying to make sense of it all. “So, we’re... what? Destined to perform this ritual?”
“Fated, Little Dollie,” Zephyr says in normal tones. “Just as our fathers were.”
“Fuck,” Zaiah whispers.
“That about sums it up.”
“So, they contained Crimson ‘x’ amount of years ago, and she has been lurking, waiting for a Vesper vessel to pop on along that she could possess, and here I am, giving her what she wants,” I grumble. “Sounds about right for bad luck Addy.”
“First off,” Corvus says, taking my hand and kissing it. “You aren’t bad luck Addy. Whoever gave you that name is a moron. Secondly, you have far surpassed her expectations. You were meant to die at that ritual, and she was meant to take over your body. You didn’t die. You lived, but not only that?—”
“You thrived in the darkness,” Ignatius finishes for him. “She can’t take you unless you let her.”
