Page 43 of Witch Untold
There is no need to push him. Now that the cat is out of the bag, he’s on a roll. “The mystical infection in your original vampires spawned more than the scourge you’re aware of. That breed is prevalent but relatively harmless. It cares only about feeding, and the rate of siring has declined over the years. Their numbers are manageable. Lilith culled them quite easily, but she was a fan of evolution, and although she wasn’t happy with the existence of vampires, she let the culled numbers live. But she slaughtered the original vampires. Killed them all so that the original infection would die with them.”
The story is familiar but significantly different.
“Lilith thought she had things under control,” Dimitri continues. “But unbeknownst to her, there was a mutated strain of the infection. One that created a different breed of vampire, a breed that could only be killed by the original strain of the infection foundonlyin an original vampire’s saliva.”
“But the originals were dead…” Elijah says.
Dimitri’s eyes smile. “Yes. And so she found my masters. Originals from their reality, the first of their kind. And she brought them here. It was a risk. They may not have been compatible, but unfortunately for my masters, they were. She bound them to this place. To the task. They’re locked here until every ice walker is dead. They might have completed their task and been free by now if not for the Grimswood witches.”
“What do you mean?” Elijah asks.
“They discovered that history had been manipulated. They found my masters and offered them a way out. But it was a lie. They trapped them and siphoned their otherworld power, leaving my masters desiccated and weak. The ice walkers would have wreaked havoc if the binding didn’t link them to my masters too. While my masters slept, so did they, but now my masters are awake.”
“And these ice walkers are awake too,” Conah finishes.
“Yes, and unlike my masters, they are at full strength. Powerful and hungry.”
It all makes sense now. “That’s why you wanted Cora’s blood.”
“Master Mircea tested it to be sure it was potent enough. He was weak, but he made it to Grimswood. Her blood revived him enough to feed his brother Radu. We need the anchor’s blood to restore all three of my masters.”
Three masters, but we’d only seen two. “And where is your third master?”
Dimitri shakes his head and backs up. “Enough. You will remain here and allow my masters to finish what they started. They will drain the anchor, annihilate the scourge, and be free. Then you too will be free.”
He walks away, leaving me with a pounding heart and ice in my veins as the implication of his words sink in.
They mean to drain Cora.
Drain her dry.
No!
A surge of adrenaline sweeps through me, carrying me across the room and into the door. I slam into it, over and over again.
I need out.
I need to get to her.
I need to save her.
Something hits my head and I brush it away.
“Jasper, stop!” Conah orders.
He grabs my shoulder and turns me to face him.
“What the fuck?” My snarl vibrates through me, a warning for him to get his fucking hands off me.
“Easy. Look.” He plucks at my hair, dislodging…plaster? “Look.” He runs his hand along the top of the door frame, and I finally spot the crack running up to the ceiling, up toward the runes.
We lock gazes, but it’s Elijah who articulates what we’re thinking.
“Fuck yeah!”
Chapter Fourteen
Cora
