Page 64 of The Last Slayer
But I can be obtuse when necessary. “You didn’t make yourself forget him,” I said. “Who is he?”
“No one.” Her voice was still warm, but there was a finality in it. “Please don’t ask me about him. He’s not someone worth knowing about.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“I do. Otherwise, I would tell you.” Leh looked into my eyes. “Promise me you won’t seek his identity. You have a Triumvirate to overcome, and apparently a friend to save. They’re more important than finding out the name of your father, no?”
I watched fear flit across her face, and I nodded the way kids do when they think their parents are acting silly.
She closed her eyes briefly, then rose from her chair. “Come. The moon will vanish soon. Let me give you your first heartstone.”
I followed her to the living room. She pushed the left shoulder strap of her nightgown down and exposed a breast. I suddenly remembered what Nahemah had done to extract the heartstone from India. The way the lilith’s still-beating heart had spurted blood from the gaping hole.
“Uh…maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Leh laughed, the sound lilting. “Don’t worry. Only mortals and lesser supernatural incubators die after extraction. And besides,” she said, a hint of mischief in her voice, “I’m already dead.”
I knew she meant that as a joke, but my heart constricted nonetheless. I wished I’d known her before…and that she were alive so we could leave this place together. Still, I forced a smile and let her take my hand and put it over her heart. It beat steadily. One, two, three. I licked my suddenly dry lips. It felt wrong to take it from her. Surely, she needed it as much as I did.
“Don’t fret. I’ve power enough to last another millennium,” Leh said, putting her hand over mine. “Push in, but don’t force it. If you focus, you’ll be able to reach the heartstone. Otherwise you’ll only end up injuring me.”
I nodded, my lips still parched. Harvesting heartstones is illegal in the States. Of course, I wasn’t exactly in the States, but still…it was a bit strange to do something I’d actively opposed throughout my professional career. Hypocritical even.
Shut up and think about Valerie. She’s dying, and you promised Jack.
My palm tingled with magic, and I concentrated. I could feel her tender flesh give a little. The power within her hummed and sang to me, and I felt mine rise in return. The area where our skin met glowed a faint rose color.
“What—”
“My body recognizes yours, for you are flesh of my flesh.”
I wanted to sink into her and seek the comfort a child might from the warm embrace of its mother. I’d heard of blood bonds, but I’d never known they could be this strong, to go even beyond death. And I hadn’t expected to experience it like this. I wanted to stop, hold Leh and never hurt her.
“Concentrate, Ashera.”
The steel underneath her soft voice kept me going. Sweat beaded on my temples. The scent of lavender and lilies grew stronger—an undertone of blood added an unwelcome metallic tinge to the otherwise lovely combination. A lump clogged my throat, and I had to grit my teeth to stop gagging. Leh took a sharp breath.
“Sorry,” I said.
“I’m fine.”
Damn it. Someone who was okay wouldn’t gasp like that, but it was too late to stop. I focused all my magic on my hand until it suddenly sank into her, as if her chest were nothing more than bread dough. The sight of my hand vanishing into her was disconcerting, and I hesitated, trying desperately to hold an image of the heartstone in my mind. My body was shaking, despite my best efforts to control it.
“Deeper,” Leh said. Her voice was calm, her eyes, locked to mine, serene.
I pushed. The further I went, the more resistant her flesh became. The odor of blood grew stronger, and I began to feel ill. Normally blood doesn’t bother me. I’m a hunter, after all. But Leh wasn’t some demon I was fighting. She was my mother.
It was the first time I had actually admitted it to myself. Admitted it, and truly felt it. Leh was my mother. I’d finally found her. With the thought came an enormous surge of love in my heart, an internal tsunami that threatened to overwhelm me. I loved her. I loved my mother.
Suddenly my fingertips touched something hard and pulsating with magic. This had to be the heartstone.
If I was wrong…
“Now,” she whispered.
I closed my hand around a faceted stone the size of a quail’s egg and withdrew as gently as I could. The instant my hand was out of her chest, Leh collapsed on the floor.
I immediately knelt and put my arms around her, cursing. Her skin was clammy and too pale. Her flesh was closed where I’d penetrated, but tinged a bluish gray. If she died on me, I’d never forgive her. It wasn’t fair to lose my mother just when I’d found her.
