Grayson reached for the ocean.The Gray Tides.He could feel the water being affected by the twin moons.How the liquid was pushed onto the beach and then pulled out into the deep.It was an eternal battle.He did not fight it, for that would be foolish, but instead he worked with it.He started to feed a wave–a very large wave–in the vastness.
If I use my Ashyr powers on them directly they’ll know I’m not human or not normal.The Eyros Vampire could tell others before I’m able to kill her.Best to do something they won’t realize is me.
But it would take time.Again, with the time he didn’t have.
“We killed Weryn so easily before.He was such a fool,” the Ashyr Vampire said with a breathy laugh.She smiled wickedly.“He walked right into our trap like the big, dumb idiot he is!”
Rage formed a hot flame in Grayson’s chest.His gift wanted to strike out, but he fed the flame and fed the wave.It was building and building and building.It was coming.
“W-what do you mean?Have you–you done something to him?”Grayson barely had to act worried as he asked this.
Had something happened to Ryder in these few minutes he’d been cut off from Balthazar? If so, he would drain the blood from these Vampires’ bodies until they were dessicated husks and stake them out in the desert to be blasted away by sunlight.Then he’d have Caemorn bring them back just so he could do it again and again and again.
The Sect of Dawn, Legion, Roan Tithe and whoever else is out there will know fear.
The wave grew bigger and came nearer.The water was pulling back from the beach.Back and back and back.It exposed the sea floor.Shiny rocks.Slimy seaweed.Flopping fish and other things that scuttled back towards the water.There was the hint of alien ruins, nothing like the structures on land, that were revealed where dreadful things slept.But the two Vampires didn’t notice.That had to be Balthazar’s doing.How could they not notice this otherwise?
“Not this time.”The Eyros Vampire sauntered down further onto the beach.She was wearing impractical stiletto heels, but Vampire grace allowed her to walk on top of the sand without the barest imprint being left by her shoes.“Not yet.But while history doesn’t repeat, it doesrhyme.”
“He’s–he’s too strong for you!”Grayson was near to Fiona now.He could reach out and touch her hand, but if he did, the Eyros Vampire would be able to slither inside his mind.How he was so sure of it, he couldn’t say, but he knew better.Balthazar was likely telling him this and he was hearing it subconsciously underneath whatever power this Eyros Vampire had.“You’re just–justgirls!”
Oh, how foolish and idiotic that sounded!But it had the result he wanted.The two female Vampires looked between each other and tittered.They turned their heads back towards him as if they were one person.Their silver eyes shone.
They’re Kaly slices, Grayson realized.The sameness.The way they move.The way they talk.Not quite full people.Caemorn thought he had gotten every part of himself but Roan back.Was he wrong?Or did Roan slice himself into pieces, too?
“Weryn truly has struckgoldwith you, hasn’t he?”The Ashyr Vampire sneered.“So very smart, you are.We’re just girls.Just harmless girls.Are we not?”
“Oh, yes, we are,” the Eyros Vampire said.
“Why are you doing this?What do you want?”Grayson demanded, his voice commanding for a moment instead of shrinking.
“We don’t really want anything from you,” the Eyros Vampire sighed.“This is justpaymentfor the services of another.”
“Payment?Who wants you to hurt me?”Grayson asked.
“I don’t know why they care about you at all,” the Ashyr Vampire said with a shake of her blond head.“You’re so not worthy.”
You’ve no idea…
“I suppose you’re pretty, but that’s hardly important,” the Eyros Vampire tsked.
“Even among the Immortals, pretty growsoldvery quickly,” the Ashyr Vampire nodded. “Though, I have to admit, Legion is quite an acquired taste compared to you.Compared to anyone really.But we can make them palatable.”
The Ashyr Vampire grinned.“We have all the gifts, you know?All of them.”
She held out her small white hands.They looked to be hardly larger than a china doll’s, but he could imagine the power that she held in them.Kaly might not have all the powers in one body, but they had plenty of bodies to choose from.Using different powers was as simple for them as changing a pair of shoes would be for him.
“Who is this Legion?What do they want from me?”Grayson asked.
“They are the Childe of Weryn’s Heart.But you’re distracting him from seeing that,” the Eyros Vampire explained with a wave of one hand.
Oh, gods, Legion is obsessed with Ryder.There isn’t hatred in their heart, but a twisted love.That’s so much worse.
The Eyros Vampire was just a few steps from him.Not that it mattered.They could have lunged for him at any time and gotten there in seconds. His power was still flowing out behind him to the wave, but he also had it pooling at his feet.If they moved, it would slide up faster than they could lunge and block them.It would be like slamming into a brick wall at 120 mph.
Balthazar, where the hell are you?
“Time grows short,” the Ashyr Vampire said.“We can’t dally any longer.”
