Page 12 of Claim the Twilight
She stares at me blankly for several beats as if I’ve just spoken in a foreign tongue. “She survived? No, that can’t be. I saw her die.”
“Yes, she died,” Holly says. “But she had vampire blood in her veins, so…”
The hope in Jacqueline’s eyes winks out. “She turned.”
“Yes,” Merry says.
“Then her blood may no longer be of any use to me. She’s no longer human.”
“Maybe not,” Holly says. “But she’s still the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. She still has the gene…There’s hope…”
Jacqueline drops her gaze to her glass as if inspiration lurks in the depths of the amber liquid inside.
We need this woman, and cooperation will be better than force. “Look, you did a shitty thing. A real selfish, shitty thing to someone who is selfless and frankly fucking amazing. You now have the chance to repent. To make this right and stop the evil you helped unleash. Help us, and maybe Orina will find it in her heart to help you.”
“Two weeks…” She swallows hard. “I have two weeks of being me left…I’m not a bad person. I’m not…evil, I just…I didn’t want to become a monster, but I guess I became one anyway, didn’t I?”
I don’t respond because her question is rhetorical. She drains the contents of her glass and looks me in the eye. “I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Chapter 5
EZEKIEL
Astorm rages in the vista. The sky is so dark and heavy with clouds that it feels as if it plans to swallow us whole.
Orina stands at the balcony, looking out at the angry sea while a gust of wind buffets her. I know the elements can’t hurt her. This place isn’t real. It’s a manifestation of our collective minds, feeding off our emotions, but at this moment, Orina is in control. I cannot affect the weather, and I’m blind to the thing she sees in the sitting room.
“Let’s go inside.” I gently touch her elbow, and she flinches before catching herself.
“I…I’m sorry. I’m just a little jumpy.”
“It’s all right.” I need to get her inside, close to the thing that she can see but I can’t. My instincts tell me it’s the only way to help her. “Let’s go inside.”
“Can we stay out here a little longer?” She tilts her head with a coquettish smile but is unable to mask the flash of fear in her eyes.
I hate to push her, but I’m afraid that if I don’t, then I’ll lose her to the vampire aspect that now controls her body. She mustwake up. She must take control, and it’s up to me to push her into doing so.
“No, Orina, we have to go inside.” I gently grip her arm. “Now.”
Her eyes flash with anger, and she yanks herself from my grip. “Dammit, Ezekiel, I don’twantto go inside.”
“Why not?”
She presses her lips together. “Because I just…don’t.” Her chest rises and falls faster. “Just…go away.”
“What?”
“I don’t want you here right now. Just go!”
A spectral fist punches me in the chest, and the vista shatters. I wake with a gasp, the thump of blood in my head drowning out Hemlock’s cry of alarm.
“What is it?” Hemlock asks. “Ezekiel, what happened?”
Low growls spill into the room from the cell. Orina is crouched by the bars, her inky gaze fixed on me, her lips pulled back in a snarl. Her silver hair is a halo of tangles around her delicate face.
“Ezekiel, what the fuck happened?” Hemlock demands again.
“Orina ejected me.”
