Page 75 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts
For a moment, the animal’s beauty held her still. Then his lupine eyes opened, and he rose to sit upright. Amber irises locked onto her face, and Amelia fought the instinct to recoil.
The wolf transformed. His muzzle receded into a human skull, and his fur melted away, revealing a muscular male figure. Callan. His clothing must have been made of natural fibres, because by the time the transformation finished, he was dressed – at least from the waist down.
Amelia hesitated, then stepped back from the window and went downstairs. She wore one of Viktor’s borrowed T-shirts and a pair of shorts, both hanging loosely on her frame, as if they might slip off with every step.
In the yard, Callan was splitting logs. Why chop wood in late spring? Did he intend for them to stay there until winter?
He gestured towards the pile. “I can’t abide idleness after spending so long in a coffin.”
Amelia crossed her arms, her gaze lingering on the sun-kissed muscles of his forearms. “How is it possible for you to be both dead and alive?”
“How can an entire city exist on Earth, unseen by anyone?” Callan set the axe down. “Let’s make a deal. You ask a question, I answer. Then it’s my turn.”
She considered his proposal. Perhaps she was venturing into dangerous territory, where she might reveal more than she learned. Even so, she agreed to play by his rules. “Do all manticores and lycanthropes descend from you?”
Callan’s smile sent an inexplicable shiver down her skin. “So the legends say. It wasn’t until many years after I was born that I met others like me. I suppose I’m the first.”
“You have two immortal forms?”
He clicked his tongue. “My turn. What does the tattoo on your back mean?”
“That’s…” Amelia hesitated. The magical mark of the Council was visible only to its members and their allies. “How can you see it?”
“Ah, someone is having trouble following rules.”
“Excuse me?”
Callan’s dark eyebrows knitted together. “We have an agreement. One question for one answer.”
“Fine. It incorporates symbols of the six immortal species represented on the Council of the Hospital for Immortal Creatures. All members bear it – and it’s only visible to them.”
She chose not to waste her next question on the tattoo. As a firstborn, Callan likely perceived more than others. Instead, she asked, “Are you really the ‘Horned God’?”
He moved around her in a slow circle, forcing her to twist her neck to follow him. “Yes, and no.”
She faced him fully.
“Yes, because they worshipped my mummy as the ‘Horned God,’” Callan explained. “And no, because the ‘Horned God’ does not exist. It’s a fabrication perpetuated by those deranged vampires in the Temple. My turn. Who are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard you were a human who became an Oracle, but when I saw you, I realised you also carried witch blood. How is that possible?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“So you were raised by humans?” Callan studied her features, as if searching for proof of her human origins. “Interesting. Something must have concealed the blood.”
“I wasn’t just raised by humans – I wasconceivedby humans.”
“That doesn’t mean the bloodline didn’t reappear fifty or a hundred generations ago. Anyway, you have witch blood in you. I tasted it.”
Every trace of Amelia letting down her guard disappeared at the reminder. “And what made you decide to drinkmyblood?”
He smiled. “I’ve craved your blood ever since I first caught your scent in the Temple of the Dead Immortals.”
Her gaze drifted down the firstborn’s body, recalling the mummy he’d been mere weeks ago. It was unnerving to think that a lifeless creature could sense her. “Why drink it? What did my blood do for you?”
“Oracle blood is always stronger.”
