Page 71 of Blood Vows
He moved like a shadow given form, the storm outside raging again as if called by his fury. The windows shook, the curtains whipped, and for a heartbeat, I couldn’t tell where the thunder ended, and his demonic voice began.
He crossed the room in a single blur of movement. The woman barely had time to gasp before his hand was around herthroat, slamming her back against the wall with such force that the mirror above the vanity cracked.
I could only stare, trembling as the sight unfolded before me.
His darkness was alive.
It crawled along his skin in violent, pulsing tendrils, spreading from his face down his neck and across his arms like veins of black lightning. The firelight caught the sharp planes of his chest, his eyes burning silver with the kind of rage that belonged to gods and monsters.
He looked terrifying.
And beautiful.
And mine.
The woman clawed at his wrist, gasping, her legs kicking as he pinned her higher against the wall.
“V…Vasilei… please!” she choked out, her voice rasping through the constriction of his grip.
“You don’t understand… she’s… not… your Vanes…”
“Don’t!”he warned, cutting her off, his voice a growl that rumbled through the floor.
“Don’t speak her name.” I pressed my hand to the wound at my arm, the blood slick and warm beneath my palm.
“Vas…” I managed, my voice shaking.
“Stop, please… You’re going to kill her” He turned his head sharply at the sound of my voice and the moment he saw the blood smeared across my skin, something inside him snapped.
The shadows around him surged like smoke, twisting through the air as his jaw clenched and his fangs bared in a sound that made the glass lamps crack.
His grip tightened.
“How dare you touch her,”he snarled, his voice low, trembling with barely contained fury.
“You dare spill her blood in my house, the blood of my fated!?” The woman struggled, choking, her eyes wild.
“She is poison! She will steal your soul, suck you of your power, reduce you to nothing,” she spat, her voice breaking through the pain.
“She’s another curse! Another lie!” He slammed her back again, the wall cracking beneath the impact.
“Enough!”The shadows writhed up the wall behind her, framing them both in a macabre display of light and darkness. He looked every bit the monster he claimed to be, and yet, he was the monster that wanted to protect me.
“Vas,”I whispered again, tears streaming freely now.
“Please…Who is she?”For a long, heavy moment, he didn’t answer. He just stood there, chest heaving, his hand still tight around the woman’s throat. His head bowed, and when he finally looked at me, there was something broken in his expression. A kind of anguish I had never seen in him before.
When he spoke, his voice was raw, hoarse, and trembling with a truth that shook the air between us.
A truth I wasn’t prepared for when he told me…
“She’s… my mother.”
26
THE STAIN OF EREBUS
VICTOR
