This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, #5)(40)
“You could always just spell it out and save us all some time,” I said, unable to keep all the exasperation out of my voice. Did being dead for over a century turn everyone into riddle masters instead of people who could just say what they meant?
“I won’t join your cause against Apollyon. Last year, my sire could have ordered me to, but with Gregor dead, my loyalty is to my people alone.”
Anger rose in me. “Even at the expense of countless thousands dying over reasons as stupid as who has fangs versus flat teeth?” I gave her café-latte skin a pointed look. “I would think you’d be smarter than to side with a senseless bigot.”
“It has nothing to do with bigotry,” she replied sharply. “But Apollyon’s reach has grown. If I openly oppose him, I will be seen as a betrayer of my race. Even ghouls who disagree with Apollyon may side with him out of species loyalty. It will be civil war. During this, am I to believe the vampire nation will not swoop in to crush us while we are weak from infighting?” Marie gave me a thin smile. “I am not so trusting.”
“Oh come on,” I huffed. “Vampires have no dreams of subjugating ghouls. You know that’s just a smoke screen Apollyon’s using.”
“There are some among your race who would take advantage of ghouls just as ruthlessly as Apollyon is seeking to do with vampires. If you’re not smart enough to heed my words and outwit him on your own, then you deserve to lose,” she replied with brutal bluntness before leaning forward and reaching behind her chair.
Everything in me tensed, ready to spring for the knives in my boots, but all she did was pull out an empty wineglass. That previous tension began to ebb. Jacques had served us drinks last time I was here, even though for the life of me I didn’t know how he’d managed to procure a cold gin and tonic in this dank underground area. But instead of calling out to him, Marie set the glass on the armrest of her chair without a word. Then she flicked open a ring on her finger, revealing that it hid a tiny sharp point, and sliced it across her wrist before holding the wineglass underneath the cut.
Oh f*ck no, I thought, keeping myself from bolting out of my chair with every last bit of willpower in me.
Her gaze drilled into mine as dark purplish liquid began to fill the glass.
“Reaper,” she said coolly. “Won’t you have something to drink?”
Chapter Sixteen
Once more, I couldn’t even risk glancing at Bones to see if he looked as appalled as I felt. Play it cool, she could be bluffing, I chanted to myself, managing not to flinch when she held out that half-full glass to me.
“What an unusual offer, but you know I prefer gin and tonic,” I said, praying my heart didn’t start beating out of sheer panic. If she did know about my twisted feeding habits, who would have told her? And did that person somehow screw it up and report back that I drank ghoul blood for nourishment instead of vampire?
“Over a dozen years ago, Gregor told me of his vision about a young half-breed who would one day wield the power of pyrokinesis,” Marie said. “After his sire, Tenoch, perished, only one other vampire existed who could manifest fire and bend it to his will, and as you know, Vlad Tepesh was no ally of Gregor’s. Gregor assumed you’d come into this power about a century after you’d been changed into a vampire, and he intended to have you under his control long before that. Yet you killed him using fire within a month of your turning.”
I didn’t move, afraid that my slightest gesture would betray me. “Everyone knows that,” I said as calmly as I could. “Beginner’s luck.”
A sharp laugh came from her. “Then, curiously, you weren’t reported to use fire again, even when you were in dire circumstances. You were reported to have used telekinesis against a group of vampires in Monaco a few months ago. So that’s two incredible powers, all manifested less than a year after your changing. More beginner’s luck?”
“I’m a lucky girl,” I said, thinking if I were still part human, I’d be puking from stress right now.
Marie glanced at the glass of blood in her hand before meeting my gaze. “Let’s find out,” she said, her Southern accent changing until it sounded like hundreds of voices suddenly spoke through her, and none of them friendly.
Bones moved at the same time I did, but an icy blast of power knocked me back into my seat hard enough to topple me over. I came up with knives in both hands, only to have them ripped from my grasp by what felt like razor-sharp claws. In disbelief I saw Bones suspended in midair, shadows swirling around him, his mouth open in a roar that still didn’t drown out the horrible keening noises that filled the room.
Marie hadn’t moved from her position, that glass of blood still resting on the side of her chair. I started toward her again, only to be met by a wall of ghosts that shot up from the ground, their features indistinct due to their sheer numbers. When I tried to push past them, it felt like they slashed my body with thousands of razors, but worse than that, my energy drained away as abruptly as it had at dawn when I was first changed. Pain radiated in me from my boots to my eyebrows. I looked down, expecting to be covered in blood, but only a faint smudge of dirt marred my front even though I felt like I’d pass out.
“Stop,” I gasped to Marie.
She shrugged. “Make me. Call forth fire, or knock this drink from my hand with your mind, and I will.”