Page 76 of Caller of Crows
Sven's brow furrowed and his mouth opened slightly as the information registered. He shuddered. "How?"
Altair held out his hand, palm up, and concentrated on summoning a crow. The bird appeared, black feathers gleaming and talons digging into Altair's pale skin. Its beady eye stared at him inquiringly, as if wondering what it was needed for. Altair stroked his free hand down the bird's head, and it closed its eyes.
"You don't have to put a stake through a vampire's heart," Altair said. "You can also tear it out and eat it." Memories rose in Altair's mind. Memories of that fateful night.
Bloodied talons sinking into his sire's heart. Sharp beaks tearing flesh. Black birds darting in, grabbing pieces of muscle and meat. Wings slapping against his arms, his face, as more crows filled the space between them until there was nothing but darkness and the sound of screeching, viciously fighting animals. Feathers floating through the forest air all around him.
"But why?" Sven asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Because he tried to take something that was mine."
They fell quiet for a moment. Then Sven shifted closer and placed his hand in Altair's unoccupied one. The gesture was small, but it grounded Altair, made it easy for him to push aside the memories of his sire's demise and concentrate on the man in front of him instead.
"Did this have something to do with your mate?" Sven asked.
Altair looked at him, considering the question. "Yes," he said eventually. "But I don't want to talk about this any further."
Sven nodded in understanding. "Fair enough."
Altair released the crow back to the shadows and squeezed Sven's hand. "In any case, it doesn't matter now. I killed my sire. His coven fell to me, but there were some who disagreed with my ascension. They rebelled and broke away from me and some of them joined my brother's coven."
Sven's eyebrows rose. "I didn't know you had a brother. Wait, is that who you fought with tonight?"
Altair shook his head. "He knows better than to show his face around here. We avoid each other wherever possible."
Mordyn chose that moment to reappear with a tray in his hands. "I'm back!" he announced cheerfully and set it down on the counter in front of Sven. "And I bring dinner."
Sven smiled and nodded at Mordyn in thanks, but the mortal looked uncomfortable once again as he studied the plate in front of him. The food Mordyn had brought out was fine; a perfectly normal hamburger with french fries on the side.
Mordyn looked at Altair. "Is this all okay? Or did I fuck up?"
"It's perfect. Thank you, Mordyn."
Mordyn shot Altair a doubtful look, but when neither Altair nor Sven said anything, Mordyn grabbed himself a drink and walked away to tend to other matters.
"Eat," Altair encouraged Sven. He gestured toward the untouched burger with an incline of his head.
Sven poked at it with his fork, inspecting the patty and the bun, but making no move to actually take a bite. He glanced at Altair again after a long moment and then asked, "There's no pixie blood in this, right? Or any other kind of blood?"
"We don't add blood to the food we serve."
"I don't know. Mordyn seemed pretty keen on getting me to try—"
"Mordyn says a lot of things," Altair interrupted. "He can be mischievous at times, but he doesn't cross certain lines." He paused. "I trust him. He won't mess with you because he won't mess with me."
Sven continued to poke at his food with an obvious lack of appetite. Considering all he'd been through over the past 24 hours, maybe that wasn't surprising at all. Sven looked up from his plate. "There's still something else I need to talk to you about.
Altair nodded for him to continue.
"My mom's funeral," Sven said. "I've got to arrange it somehow."
Altair considered that. He understood Sven's need to get this done, but he'd onlyjusthad to fight off a group of vampires who thought Sven would make an excellent meal. The idea of letting him walk around outside was ludicrous. "You can make whatever arrangements you see fit via phone."
Sven scowled at him. "I can't do it all over the phone. That's ridiculous. How do you expect me to organize my mom's burial over the goddamn telephone? Are you gonna expect me to attend via video call too?"
Altair didn't respond and the silence hung heavy between them.
Sven exhaled heavily and pushed the plate of food away from him. "You can't be serious."
