I watch the other cars burning bright against the night, bodies turning to ash in our wake. The few remaining lamia step out of the shadows and eerily watch us drive away. I catch sight of a large blond lamia making his way towards the transfixed survivors; Sorik. A weak grip on my arm drags my attention away from the scene, and I look down to find Talon’s hazel eyes staring back into mine.
40
Panicked shouts and yelled instructions bounce around the front of the SUV, but I tune it all out and stare at Talon’s conscious face.
“Little Warrior," Talon whispers to me, reaching a feeble hand toward my face.
I place my palm on the outside of his hand and holding it to my cheek.
“What did they do to you?” I ask absently, taking in how battered and broken he looks.
“Nothing I wouldn’t have endured a thousand times to keep them away from you.”
Talon coughs a wet cough and groans. I try to comfort him with useless words frustrated that I can’t do anything to ease his obvious pain. Talon offers me a weak smile, and I see bloody gaps where his fangs must have been pulled out. The truth of what he is squeezes my heart.
“Talon, you’re lamia.”
My voice is an accusation, question, and broken heart all woven together as it leaves my lips. I stroke a shaking hand over the hollows of his cheeks and he closes his eyes at the contact.
“I am, Little Warrior.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I’m not sure if I’m asking him why he didn’t tell me about him, or why he didn’t tell me about me? He obviously knew what I was, but how? None of this makes any sense. Talon’s body is wracked with coughs, and I stare helplessly until they subside. Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth, and alarm bells sound in my head.
“Talon you’re a fucking vampire; aren’t you supposed to heal superfast?” I ask with a panic-laced voice.
“Faron was dosing me with shifter blood. It keeps lamia from healing.”
“Can I give you some of my blood? Will that help?”
“I’m sorry, Little Warrior. I’m past the point of hope. The shifter toxin makes it impossible to regenerate, and I’m too wounded. I can feel myself shutting down.”
Talon’s voice is a dry, brittle whisper and the sound of it and his words, cement what my mind has been screaming at me.Talon is dying.His head sways uncontrolled as we make our way down the bumpy dirt road. I hold his hand in mine and lean closer to him.
“Talon, what the fuck is going on?”
He tries to laugh, but it’s sucked into wet coughs. I try to soothe him with promises ofhold on.We’re going to get help.You’re going to be okay. But I feel the lies on my tongue as the words leave my mouth.
“Vinna, I was twenty-three when I was turned into a lamia. In the beginning, I felt like the god they told me I was, and I gloried in everything that made us what we are. I gained the trust and confidence of my sire and was entrusted with his biggest secret. A female he held captive. She had special markings that gave her immense power and abilities.”
I gasp in understanding and stare at him with laser focus not wanting to miss a single word from his mouth.
“I was assigned as her guard, while my sire set about accomplishing his goal. You see, I was told that this female, with her great power and amazing abilities, could bestow those abilities and that power on another being if she willed it. My sire was intent on becoming that being, and he was trying everything he could, to force or coax this female into giving him what he wanted.”
My stomach roils with the thought of what this evil fucking lamia was trying to accomplish. Talon groans and I realize that I’ve unknowingly tightened my grip on his hand. I loosen it immediately and try to soothe any injury with my other hand.
“After some time, and repeated failures, my sire changed his plan. He decided that this Sentinel’s hate for our kind, was too embedded in her, and because of that, success was impossible. So, he decided to breed her. With the intent on taking the offspring and raising it amongst the lamia, where he was certain he would be granted the power he sought.”
“We began taking male casters, but a binding and transference still never occurred. Until a coven of paladin attacked the nest. We took serious casualties, but in the end, we prevailed, and the paladin survivors were locked up with the Sentinel so Adriel could decide how he wanted to end them. Surprising to all, the Sentinel’s magic called to one of the prisoners. She marked him and bonded with him. Bestowing on him the gift that my sire had spent hundreds of years trying to take from her.
“Adriel was enraged, and the only thing that calmed him was that in their binding and transference, the Sentinel conceived, and my sire’s new plan was finally coming to fruition.”
I stare at Talon’s now closed eyes, completely dumbfounded. Am I really the result of some fucked up lamia breeding program? I look away from him, my focus unseeing in the dark night shrouding the car. The atmosphere is silent and still, and I notice that we’re driving on smooth pavement instead of the bumpy road we were on earlier.
Talon begins to cough again, and the episode seems to last longer and take more of a toll on his already failing body. I use my hands to wipe the blood from his mouth and side where he was clawed. I add his blood to mine and the blood of lamia I killed, as I swipe my hands down my stained and blood-soaked clothes.
“Before I was assigned the task of guarding your mother, I was a good soldier. A stalwart defender of my sire and all that he wanted. But after guarding Grier for hundreds of years, an unexpected fondness formed. She was strength incarnate, and it was impossible not to respect and admire her with time.
