Page 85 of Blood Vows
Utterly his.
31
LITTLE FLAME
Sleep claimed me and then…it didn’t.
As if something in my subconscious wouldn’t allow me peace for long. Which was why I found myself lying awake in his bed, the low hum of the manor pressing in around us. The fire had died down to embers, glowing faintly in the hearth, their soft orange light painting shadows that stretched and curled along the walls like living things.
Vas had fallen into a restless stillness beside me, his breathing deep but uneven, his hand still draped over my waist as if even in sleep he couldn’t let go. The warmth of him seeped through the sheets, anchoring me in place, yet my mind refused to be still.
His mother. The hunger. The scream.
The way the darkness in his eyes flickered when he spoke of her.
Every piece of it tangled together inside me until I could hardly breathe. But beneath all of that, something else began to stir.
A pull.
Soft at first, so faint I thought I imagined it. It came like the faint hum of electricity beneath the skin, a vibration that seemed to travel through the air, through the mattress, through me.
I sat up slowly, careful not to wake him. The room was quiet except for the faint whisper of wind against the windows, yet I could feel it, a call, low and thrumming, tugging at the edge of my mind.
The necklace.
The thought came unbidden, sharp as a blade. I hadn’t spoken it aloud, yet it filled the air as though I had. My heart began to pound. I pressed my hand to my chest, trying to steady myself, but the sensation only deepened. It wasn’t sound, not exactly, but a pulse, one that was dark and rhythmic.
My thoughts drifted to where the necklace lay beneath my bed, hidden in the shadows where I had kicked it during the fight. I could see it in my mind’s eye, the red stone gleaming faintly like a drop of living blood, the light inside it pulsing as though in time with my heartbeat.
For a fleeting moment, I thought I heard something, not a voice, but a whisper that curled just beneath the surface, soft and coaxing. My breath hitched, my fingers curling against the sheet.
It felt like it was calling to me.
My pulse raced as I glanced toward the door, half expecting to see a shadow move beyond it. Nothing. Only silence. Yet the feeling didn’t fade. It grew stronger, spreading through my chest like warmth and cold all at once, until I could almost taste the metallic sweetness of it at the back of my throat.
Vas stirred beside me, a low sound escaping him, almost a growl. His grip on me tightened, his fingers pressing lightly into my hip as though his body sensed something his mind hadn’t yet woken to.
I froze, too afraid to breathe, afraid to move, caught between the warmth of his body and the pull of something dark and ancient that waited just beyond the threshold of the room.
The whisper came again, clearer this time,
‘Nessa…’
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. The sound had been inside my head, soft and feminine, familiar in a way that chilled me to my core. I turned slowly toward Vas. He didn’t wake, but his brow furrowed, his body shifting uneasily. His darkness stirred beneath his skin, faint but visible, moving like shadowed veins beneath the surface. It responded to something unseen, something I could feel pressing closer.
The air thickened, the warmth fading from the room as a cold breath slid across my skin. I swallowed hard and whispered,
“It’s just a dream.”
But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t.
The necklace was awake.
And whatever lived inside it was no longer content to be hidden.
It was as though invisible fingers were curling around my mind, tugging gently, insistently, beckoning me closer. I knew it was dangerous. Every instinct screamed at me to stay where I was, to remain wrapped in the safety of Vas’s arms and the faint hum of his shadows that lingered protectively around the room. But danger had never whispered to me quite like this. Because this voice did not feel foreign. It felt familiar, intimate even, like a memory that had been waiting in the dark for me to remember it.
My gaze drifted toward the door, and at that moment, I knew what I had to do. Carefully, I eased myself from Vas’s hold, moving slowly so as not to wake him. I found my pajama pants first and slipped them on, then reached for his black t-shirt, choosing it over my own torn, bloodstained one. A faint smiletugged at my lips as I looked down. The hem nearly brushed my knees, a small reminder of just how much taller he was.
