Page 30 of House of Crimson Hearts
Cordelia’s face turns serious “Well, if new leadership and rolling in an era of peace isn’t carrot enough, then how about this:and reveal the grimoire secret within.
The prophecy whispers of this sole chance, For the rightful heir to undo the city's dance.”
She lets the words hang between them.
“The cure?” the Chief says.
Cordelia nods. “Behind that door lays a grimoire containing the curse that made me and the cure that will break me. Unbind… unmake all of our kind.”
A shiver runs through the crowd. Through hunters, humans and vampires alike. This cure… it would change our world. Beside me, Red’s shoulders tense. And I suspect she’s thinking of her sister.
“Unmake?” Chief breathes.
“Indeed. I offer you the cure for vampirism. On one condition…” Cordelia says.
“Which is?” the Chief replies.
“That you let the vampires offer themselves voluntarily. Should they want to return to their mortality, then it must be their choice. Perhaps your hunters can even administer the cures.”
“Their choice? Their fucking choice? You hypocrite. How many of my hunters, how many humans have you turned against their free will?” The Chief is snarling.
Cordelia smiles, a malice-filled expression that makes her grey eyes sharp as blades. “All of them. But this is my condition. Or… you can just not participate, and I’ll keep what I know to myself. That way, the door and the cure will be lost to us all in… oh, what was it?” She looks at her watch in the most dramatic fashion. “Ah yes, three weeks’ time.”
The Chief’s jaw flexes so hard I can see the bones of her face grinding against each other. There’s a long, heavy pause.
“Well played, Mother,” I whisper.
Red is shaking her head. “No wonder she wanted to do this in public, she’s backed the Chief into a corner.”
I can hear the Chief’s mind whirring from the back of the club. I’ll bet good coin on the fact she’s trying to find a way around this. I’m guessing she doesn’t manage it because she slides a hand onto her hip.
“Explain the teams and whatever farcical nonsense you wish us to participate in.”
Mother’s grin is practically feral. “In order to access the door, we will work together over the next three weeks to collate the four items needed to break the boundary spell. Then, in the final days leading up to the door destroying itself, we’ll challenge the teams to a duel of strength. The winners receive a time benefit when we set them off to reach the door. The victors who open the door become our heirs. Simple.”
“And how do we choose the teams?” the Chief says.
“That is simple too. First, my five children will be the vampire half. Then, we’ll need your hunters. Specific ones meeting certain criteria…”
The Chief’s eyes narrow and gaze off into the back of the room. “Blood of the night, a child of two worlds’ embrace…?”
“You’re a quick study, Chief. The rest goes,‘A dhampir born, a dhampir turned.’And then the next relevant lines are:In shadows they walk, with pulse of sun and moon, The first of their kind, with fangs that hunger and a heart that beats, they alone shall open the door and reveal the grimoire secret within.”
“You think the chosen dhampir is a hunter?” the Chief says.
“Oh, please.” Mother rolls her eyes.
The Chief bristles. “Fine. I’ll agree that there’s some evidence to suggest hunters are born of the dhampir line.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Mother says, her features twitching as if she’s trying to suppress the more impolite sentences. “How many hunters do you have that are almost thirty? My suspicion is that the door wasn’t created spontaneously. I suspect the chosen dhampir was born that night…”
The Chief frowns and turns to the audience. “Hunters?”
“Shit,” Red breathes next to me.
“Well, well, well,” I purr.
She glares at me but steps forward into the light of the chandelier and raises her hand.
