Page 12 of Blood Lord

And then I would have drank his blood, giving his life an actual purpose.

But I had been hasty in his death and before I can drink what I have rightfully earned, a soft thud behind me clears my mind.

I still, my fangs digging into my lower lip as I stare down at the boy's limp form, but the harsh gasps coming from Selene are more important to me. Spinning around, I find she has collapsed, and my heart squeezes painfully as I take in her limp form.

"No," I cry out, worried that something has happened to her. "No, I'm going to save you."

I know I have to get her out of here. She's not safe with any of these people; not safe under a dark elf. I wrinkle my nose at just the thought of him being near her, and crouching down, I scoop her up against my chest.

For just a second, I marvel at her sharp features this close up. She's even more beautiful than I originally thought, and she fits so well in my arms that I could weep. I want to hold her there for the rest of my life.

Without thinking too much, I push up off the ground, my wings spreading and pushing us up into the night sky before anyone has seen what I've done. I barely remember to glamour myself, knowing that I cannot be caught on the surface just yet, as I fly overhead.

My eyes keep darting down, soaking in Selene's every feature. I should be checking the ground, surveying what clues I've left behind that will lead back to me, but I am only focused on her. My entire body is attuned to her.

"We are going to be okay," I murmur to her, her long hair flowing in the wind. "You deserved better than that place."

As we pass over the sea, the breeze blows her scent into my face, and it hits me hard again. It's the scent from before, the one that felt oddly familiar, and instead of driving me crazy, it starts to clear my mind. I start to see reason.

I am supposed to be gathering information from the surface, and this is important. We had lost some humans as casualties in war and we had assumed some had been abducted by the dark elves. We never thought they'd be able to withstand the torture, though.

To see a human—multiple humans—shocks me to my core. Of all the things I expected to find up here, it wasn't the dark elves stealing and mutilating our fated prey, our gift from our god. How dare they! They've perverted our sacred creatures, beings meant to feed us and help further us, and now their inferior magic touches them?

I want blood for it. I want war. I'm sure the others will, too, when they learn.

I shake my head, trying to clear. I can't get angry right now. I fear that if my temper overtakes me, I will make too rash of decisions.

But I do wonder if she knows about the shift in magic. If the dark elves have humans still and those other races, what else is happening up here that we don't know about?

As unlikely as it seems, I feel the humans are related to the shift. We vrakken felt it so acutely that it must have been something we are connected to, and on Protheka, the only things we are truly connected to is the magic and the humans we brought with us.

So, I am led to believe that the humans have somehow created a magic shift that reached the world's core. Clearly, Protheka is nothing as we used to know it.

As we fly over the water, I spot the streaks of the pre-dawn. The sun will be rising soon, and I am in no mood to blister under its rays.

I could sun glamour, though it will be difficult. It's been a long time since I've used that skill, but I suspect it will come back to me naturally, much like everything else.

My main concern is the drain it will have on my power. Between the sun glamour and masking myself from the prying eyes of others, I will quickly be depleted. I will have to feed, and that means leaving Selene alone while I go to hunt.

Or drinking from her.

Though the idea sends a pleasant shudder through me, my fangs snapping down and my cock hardening, I shake the thought free. I can't do that to her. She knows nothing of my kind, and I fear I have already exerted her body too much. I can't do irreparable damage if she is going to be any use to me.

Instead, we are going to have to find somewhere to rest for a little while so I can let down both glamours. Maybe I'll get lucky enough for one of the animals to wander too close and I will be able to feed. I can only run off of adrenaline for so long.

We make it back to the island I emerged from just before the sun crests, and I sink to the forest's floor. The magic here is stronger than it had been across the water, and I close my eyes, letting the pulses of it guide me.

I detect a wildspont close by. It's not the same one that leads to the caves; it's magic is much weaker, but it will help replenish my magic and hide us well from others and the sun.

The magic wells up in me until I feel like I am going to burst from it, and I notice the slight sheen in the air. The wildspont is inside a cave, barely noticeable.

I duck into it, and this portal doesn't take us to more cavernous tunnels. We are in a thriving forest, the trees and plants and rocks more alive than some vrakken. They sway with the magic, and the air has a soft hum to it.

It's not very big, but it will protect us. I know the dark elves don't come near the wildsponts. It is too much magic for them to handle. The vrakken are made from it, meant to feed off it, and the humans can't feel it. Somehow their normality makes them the only other creatures able to go into a wildspont. No one should stumble upon as we rest, and the creatures here will feed me better if I do need to hunt.

I lay Selene out on the floor of the cave, the cool stone easing her hot brow. It's been so long since I've been around a human that I don't know what to do.

"I don't know how to help you," I whisper to her, running my cool hands down her face. She feels too warm, and I worry that something terrible is happening to her. "Please, Selene. Please, wake up."

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