The air grows thick and heavy with silence. My eyes are drawn back to him, attention away from assessing my condition to hanging on his next words. He seems uncertain.
“We will exchange blood.”
“Exchange…blood?”
“Yes, you will consume my blood, and I will consume yours.”
I can feel my lids widen. A cold, invisible hand grips my spine around my neck, sending chills throughout my entire body. Every vertebra shudders. My stomach churns. Fear and disgust drench me in cold sweat.
“I amnota vampire. I do not consume blood.”
“Oh? You attempted to gain the powers of one.”
“That is the last thing I would ever do.”
“The state in which I found you says differently.” He chuckles darkly, the yellows of his eyes shining brightly at my grimace. “But you’re right, you are not a vampir. Nor would I ever give you the rites of such a blessing.” His upper lip curls slightly in a displeasure that mirrors my own. “I would only give you enough of my blood to strengthen your body, to help ground you in Midscape enough that it will ward off the withering.”
“And you would consume my blood in return?”
His lips pull into an almost vicious smile. I work to keep myself composed at the sight. “Yes. To accomplish our goals, we would become bloodsworn—two who have consumed the other’s blood. A vow made on our lives that if broken would result in the death of the other.”
“You would be able to steal my face.” My voice has become hushed by shock. My ears are ringing with remnants of his words. I see the vampire that wore the visage of my father, its corpse mottled and burning in the sunlight after Davos killed it.
“Yes, I would be able to assume your form so long as your blood is in my body, if I desired. But I assure you I have no interest inyourbody.” His nose scrunches slightly in a sneer of disgust.
I pointedly ignore the remark. “Would I be able to take your form?”
“You are not vampir and know nothing of the blood lore. So, no.” He seems to be delighted by this. It must be a reminder of just how helpless I am before him.
“Then what benefit do I have?”
“Your benefit would be to have the vampir lord bloodsworn—bound—to you. I could not lie to you even if I desired to, nor you to me. Neither of us can break the terms of our arrangement once set. As I said, this is the best solution I could think of that would solve all our problems. If you know I cannot deceive or harm you, then you will know you can trust me, and the same works in my favor.”
I narrow my eyes slightly. In my silence, I weigh my options. If he speaks true…I don’t have long before I am helpless and cannot fight back. It already hurts to sit upright; every breath is more labored than the last.He could be lying, my skepticism persists. But if he wanted to kill me and steal my face, he could have by now—he still could if I refuse. While I am not so naive as to think he is telling meallthe details of this arrangement, I do believe some of it must be true. That’s the only explanation that makes sense. Why else would he be keeping me alive?
But, to drink the blood of a vampire. To bebloodsworn, bound in some magic fashion, to the lord of the vampires… My stomach clenches as though my body is physically trying to reject the idea. The only solace I can find is that it is better me than Drew.
For all I would rather be anywhere else…if I traded fates with Drew underneath the Blood Moon and spared him of this, then that will be my consolation. So long as my brother is still alive…
“I will leave you to the decision.” The vampire lord breaks my thoughts as he starts for the door. “But do choose quickly, because soon enough you will be too weak to accept the blood.”
His footsteps ring out like the solemn bell toll that reverberated through town on nights of the full moon. Twelve tolls. Twelve steps.
Time is running out for me.
But my life has always been on borrowed time. All of ours in Hunter’s Hamlet. We were born into a harsh world of survival. All my life I’ve been working to try and make my breaths mean something—for my family, my town, the world.
If I can kill the vampire lord all this ends, I hear in Drew’s voice. All the pain will finally end.
“I’ll do it,” I say loudly, summoning his attention back to me.
He stills and the air becomes thick once more. This time I cannot read the emotion he wears. I did not even realize vampires were so capable of an array of feelings.
“You, a hunter, will become bloodsworn to a vampir and help me break the curse on my people?” Even though this is what he wanted, surely what he had been calculating, he still seems surprised.
“If that is what I must do to stay alive”—so I can spare my family and every future generation from your ilk—“then yes.”
The muscles of his throat tense as he swallows, sinewy tendons and ligaments straining already under this foolish agreement. “Then I will begin the arrangements and return shortly. Before the moon sets, it will be done. You shall be my bloodsworn.”
