Page 4 of Claim the Twilight
“Orina would want us to do our jobs and help stop Loviator, and I can’t do mine without another transfusion. We can do that at Jacqueline’s place first. I know where she keeps all the supplies and…” She trails off, staring at me and my confused expression. “Orina didn’t tell you? I said she could.”
“Tell me what?”
She sighs heavily. “I was infected by the mullo a few months back, and Jacqueline has been giving me blood transfusions to slow down the infection.”
A mullo infection always ends in the infected person turning mullo. The fact that she’s staved it off for so long is astounding. “I assume you’ve searched for a cure.”
Her face falls. “Yeah, we have, but nothing so far.”
“Edwin will find something,” Merry says.
“Edwin…I was wondering where he was.”
“He went into some kind of supernatural library system called the vault and—” Padma breaks off and shakes her head. “It’s not important right now. Right now, we need to go. We’re of no use here, but maybe we can find Jacqueline and get some intel out of her.”
“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Merry says.
“Wait.” I look to the shadows in the far corner of the chamber where Godor crouches, a silent, watchful sentinel. “Godor, can you provide the ladies with an escort?”
“Ladies?” Padma snorts. “Two Order operatives and a mageri. We can take care of ourselves.”
“Maybe on a regular day, but Loviator is out there, and we have no idea as to the extent of her power right now or when it might spike. There’s safety in numbers.”
Her shoulders drop. “You’re right.” She smiles coldly. “Heck, we might even come across Kaster.”
“If you do, then tell him to get his ass over here. We need to know what the fuck is going on.”
Godor pulls himself up to his full lofty height and steps out of the shadows.
I suck in a sharp breath at the sight of his face. Human now. His body is straight and strong, and only the gray tinge to his skin and the red pinprick in his eyes remain of the creature he once was. That and his wings, folded tightly against his back. He wears loose black pants now whereas before he had been naked.
I don’t understand this evolution, but maybe Ezekiel will be able to explain it because he’s the only one of us who truly knows what Godor and the batlings are.
“Keep them safe, Godor.”
He inclines his head. “Always.” He leads the women out of the room, and I turn my attention back to Orina, who’s now crouched in a corner of her cell scraping at the stone with long black talons.
Her head whips up, and her lips pull back in a snarl.
I crouch down to her level, locking gazes with her. “Come on, Orina. Come back to me. Come back to us.”
Ezekiel surfacesnot long after Padma, Merry, and Holly leave. He sits with his head in his hands for long seconds, and my insides twist with nerves.
Behind me in the cell, Orina is curled up on the bed, fast asleep. “Did you do it? Did you get her to remember?”
“No.” He raises his head. “She sees something, hears something but refuses to share it with me because she doesn’t want to acknowledge it. Accept whatever it is…”
“Are you sure she needs to remember how she died to beat whatever this is?”
“No. I’m not sure of anything right now. This…all of it is uncharted territory. But itfeelsright.” He rises and crosses to the bars. “She died, Hemlock. She died in horrific agony, hoping, waiting for us to save her, and we were too late. Now she’s alive again, but she’s broken. A part of her mind has locked away the memory of her death to protect her. She’s…lost, and I need tohelp her assimilate. I’m afraid if she doesn’t master the vampiric spirit soon, then…”
My pulse beats faster. “Then what?”
His eyes slip closed on an exhale. “Then it might end up mastering her.”
I don’t want to consider that possibility. “Kaster fucking Black needs to show his face and explain what the fuck is happening.”
Ezekiel’s jaw flexes. “How does it work? You and Ordell set up this Order, right? So you must know what happens now that Loviator is free.”
