Page 99 of Veinblood
Light flares along my arms, following the pattern of my veins, flowing like molten silver toward my fingertips. I throw my arms up into the air, and the first bolt fires free, so bright it turns my vision white. Thunder follows, a sound that shakes stone and sends every bird launching up into the sky.
And this is just the beginning.
I tip my head back, and open myself up completely, letting the power flow through me in waves that make my bones sing.Lightning branches across the sky in patterns that have nothing to do with weather, and everything to do with pure magic given form. The air crackles with energy, lighting up the sky.
In response, the city shakes as Earthvein power tears through stones, collapsing the outer wall. Flames reach the sky as Flameveins target the barracks. Water bursts from fountains and wells as Tideveins call it forth.
Screams erupt around me as people dive for cover. The crowd that was just debating Matthis's fate scatters in all directions, some throwing themselves behind overturned stalls, others running for the nearest alley. Soldiers scatter, their formations broken by walls of water and fire that appear and disappear at will.
Horns sound throughout Ashenvale, sharp blasts echoing off the walls.
The revolution has begun.
My arms drop, energy spent and I stumble forward. I need to get away from the square, and find Corwin. I’m supposed to stay with him. I was warned that the display of power I’d need would drain me, and they were right. My hands won’t stop shaking. Silver zips up and down my veins. My vision is blurred at the edges. Every breath tastes like lightning.
But I have to move. The market square isn’t safe.
I stumble across the now-empty square, past overturned stalls and pools of blood. Bodies lie twisted between broken pottery and scattered fruit. Some wear Authority red. Others don’t. The distinction doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
A group of Authority soldiers charge down a side street, only to be met by a wall of earth that rises from the ground. It swallows three of them whole before sinking back down leaving no trace they were ever there.
The survivors flee, screaming.
Fire blooms across rooftops as Flameveins target anything that bears Authority symbols. One building becomes a bonfire, whatever is inside feeding flames that lick hungrily at neighboring buildings. Orange light dances across the faces of people who cheer and throw more fuel into the blaze.
I stumble past an alley where five men are beating a fallen soldier with their bare hands. His pleas for mercy are lost in their shouts of rage. Blood spatters the walls. I look away and keep moving.
A woman’s scream cuts through the air. Then another. My stomach lurches. Jorana warned me that people would be hurt, that it wouldn’t just be Authority soldiers that lost their lives. But that still didn’t prepare me for this. This isn’t the revolution I imagined. This is chaos with teeth.
Water geysers from a broken fountain as Tidevein power floods the street and washes debris against walls. People slip and fall in the rushing current. Some don’t get back up.
I need to find Corwin. I need to get out of this nightmare before it swallows me whole. Before the reason we started this is forgotten beneath the blood and violence I’m witnessing.
Boot steps pound somewhere ahead, and I press myselfagainst a doorway as Authority soldiers round the corner. One spots me. His mouth opens to tell the others.
Terror floods through me, and lightning answers. Thunder splits the world in half, in a deafening sound that causes the soldiers to cry out, blood streaming from their eyes and ears.
I run while they’re still blind.
My heart is hammering so hard I can feel it in my throat, my wrists, behind my eyes. The power inside me wants me. It claws at my ribs, demanding to be released, to tear through everything in its path.
An officer’s voice reaches me from a side street, calling for his men to stand firm. The sound makes my jaw clench.
How many people will die under their swords?
I reach inward, and the mist stalker pours into existence like liquid smoke, all predatory grace and barely contained violence. Its ears twitch forward, and its head lifts, as it scents the blood on the air. Its lips pull back from silver teeth in a feral smile.
The world fractures as our minds touch. And I’m there, inside its head. I can smell the officer’s fear. His pulse throbs in my ..its… heightened hearing, as it circles behind him, silent as death, waiting for the moment he turns away.
The kill comes swift and brutal. Claws punch through skin and muscle. Blood sprays hot across my tongue, even though I’m fifty feet away. The man’s final breath rattles in my throat as we drag him into the closest alley.
I snap back to myself, gagging. My knees hit the ground.The phantom taste of his death fills my mouth—metallic and warm, thick like blood.
The mist stalker melts back into the shadows, ears pricked. As we move through the streets, it finds more prey. A captain shouting from a doorway. A soldier trying to form ranks in a courtyard. Another captain seen through a window, threatening the occupants of the house.
This time I don’t resist the connection. I sink into it willingly.
The world shifts. Now, we are silver death flowing through the darkening streets. The captain’s scent fills our nostrils—leather, steel, and the sharp musk of fear. We circle behind him, muscles coiled like springs. He turns just as we leap. His eyes go wide. Our claws rip out his windpipe before he can scream.
