There was something about this place that made me think that was the case. Similar to the shadows Brin had used to pull us into Noctessa, but different.
Then there was what he’d said right before.
I had to “escapehim.”
Given my situation, it was the only explanation that made sense.
At least this wasn’t likely to kill me.
I hoped.
That was the thing about ancients like him. They didn’t always have a good grasp on the fragility of the beings surrounding them. Something he considered easily survivable might annihilate a baby vampire like me.
It was the risk you took when you hung out with creatures as old as dirt.
I fell into a trance watching the shadows and darkness surge past me. Streamers that reminded me of black clouds parted around my body like vapor.
In the vast depths beyond, there were flickers of color. Quick flashes like the explosion of fireworks. As fleeting as them too.
Somehow, I found myself instinctively slipping into my other sight.
The colors that I’d only caught glimpses of bloomed into vivid detail. Their magnificence holding me spellbound.
Magic. Primal and ancient. That’s what I was seeing.
“Amazing,” I whispered.
Who would have thought the void hid such beauty?
Entranced, I stretched out a hand to touch a red strand of magic. It twitched and swayed, almost dancing as it floated closer. Like a pet eager for attention.
That thought made me hesitate. The realization that I had no frame of reference for what hid in the darkness was a sobering one. There were no Fae that were considered harmless. Eventheir smallest came with teeth and claws. Their affinity for mischief so well known that even humans had cautionary stories about how not to fall afoul of them.
The strand of red took the decision out of my hands a second later, nudging my fingers once and then more insistently.
Taking a chance, I grabbed hold. Pain blazed through me, freezing cold swept up my arm followed by a flood of scalding heat.
My fingers and hands prickled to life. Nerve endings woken from their deep sleep.
I screamed, the sound lost in the vastness.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
It hurt.
Like being set on fire.
I struggled to stay conscious. The floaty, detached feeling that usually heralded a trip to la la land encroaching.
To make things worse, the rest of the colors crowded close.
“Go away!” I shouted.
Again the sound was swallowed by the void, disappearing like a pebble tossed into a lake. Barely creating a ripple.
I thrashed as the aurora of colors infringed on my space. They drifted closer still. Bare millimeters separating us.
At my wit’s end, I screamed, “Alches!”
