I lunged forward, striking with the accuracy of a snake. I buried my fangs in Callie’s upper thigh, near the femoral artery.
Victory filled me. Blood hit my tongue, richer and more powerful than anything I'd ever tasted.
Blazing, white hot fury surged through my veins. Agonizing pain followed by volcanic fire.
Twin curses came from around me. My eyes were open but I was blind.
A strong finger swept along my lips, detaching my fangs from the flesh they were buried in.
My body hit the ground hard, already convulsing.
"Silly girl, you should know better than to bite someone like me." Callie's voice betrayed her upset.
Don's tentacles wrapped around my legs and arms, tight bands of unbreakable steel as they held me still.
"This isn't good," he observed, unnecessarily.
Callie hissed.
"Don't get angry with me," he instructed. "I will break your snake's neck. You're the one who delayed our return."
Numbing cold replaced the fire. My body bent nearly in half. A scream ripped from me.
"Oh no." Callie sounded horrified.
Don cursed.
"She's petrifying," Callie whispered. "How is this possible?"
"Likely the blood she consumed," Don said in a grim voice. "We need to get her home, or it won't matter how much of Brin she has in her. She'll be dead."
I felt myself being lifted, but I couldn't move. Not even my eyes.
"Breathe, Aileen. Just breathe," Don instructed.
SEVENTEEN
THE PORTAL ENVELOPED me. Cool and welcoming.
Vision, or at least some semblance of it, returned.
Soft darkness wrapped around me like a lover's embrace, more beautiful than I could ever imagine. Only pierced by periodic streaks of color, breathtaking as they nestled next to each other. Each one necessary for the whole. Tightly interwoven, impossible to separate, they held every color of the spectrum and a few I had no words for.
They left me feeling that if I looked hard enough for long enough I’d find the answers to the universe. Secrets hovered outside my grasp.
Calm sank into my being, the velvet, deep shades oddly mesmerizing. Emeralds so dark they were almost black. Purples that reminded me of the night sky before dawn. Blues that spoke of the depths of night.
They took the fear and terror, replacing it with rational thought.
As quickly as it had consumed me, the dark spat me out again.
I came to myself in a room, staring up at a ceiling made of stone, the only clue to my whereabouts. The world was full of shadows—muted and dim.
Without the ability to turn my head, I was stuck like this, my view limited.
With my sight out, it left me to feel the world around me with my other senses.
Magic welled under where I lay, seemingly infinite as it saturated the air.
