Thrall of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 4) by Bella Klaus (elon musk reading list .txt) 📕

the lawn. Brother David crawled out from the crowd of men, coughing like he was about to eject his lungs. His companions crowded around him and patted him on the back.

I broke into a run and tore across the lawn. “What are you doing?”

The men straightened, and one of them stepped forward with a confident swagger. I recognized him from the day Valentine appeared outside the wards as one of the guards in donkey jackets. He wore his thinning strawberry-blond hair parted in the middle and grinned at me through gapped teeth.

“We don’t mean any harm. Dave here thought the ashes were edible, so we—”

“So you let him eat them?” I asked.

He shuffled on his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. “Dave’s immortal, isn’t he? Some of us just wanted to see how quickly he would heal.”

I glanced from him to the men on the other side of the fire, wondering what on earth made them think that rising from the ashes once gave a person eternal life. The real Brother David was dead and gone. “What the hell are you talking about—”

“Miss Griffin,” Hades hissed.

I clenched my teeth. It wasn’t like I was about to launch into a rant about Kresnik, but the warning was welcome. “Our Lord resurrected Brother David so he might fight in the upcoming war,” I said, trying to sound like someone who thought the sun shone out of the Light Lord’s ass. “Let’s not waste a warrior of the Flame on frivolous pursuits.”

“Nice,” said Hades.

The men glanced away, some of them slinking to the other side of the fire. I dropped to one knee and placed a hand on Brother David’s back. “Are you alright?”

He fell to the ground, clutching his belly.

A pair of men helped him to his feet. “I’ll take him to the infirmary.”

“See to it that you do,” I said.

“What was the point of that?” Hades said, sounding thoroughly unimpressed.

I waited for the men to help Brother David halfway across the lawn before moving the contents of my left pocket into my right and dropping to my knees. I reached into the edges of the pyre and scooped up a handful of ash.

“We’re going to need this,” I whispered. “When I empty out your bodily remains, I’ll replace it with this useless stuff, so no one can suspect what we’re doing.”

Chapter Seventeen

I strode away from the bonfire and its oppressive heat and crackle and pop. My heart wouldn’t stop trembling. That excuse of protecting Brother David from eating more ash had to work. I dipped my head, picked up my pace, and wished the ground didn’t sink under my feet with every step. Those men were probably watching me return to Kenwood House, wondering what on earth I would do with the ashes I confiscated.

The white building seemed a mile away, and the trees lining the pathway loomed toward me. Paranoia twisted my thoughts, making me feel like every one of the mansion’s symmetrical, multi-paneled windows had eyes that would report my actions back to Kresnik.

Nobody would guess what I was going to do, would they? Kresnik hadn’t even announced that he’d separated the ashes of the Demon King. As far as everyone knew, he was burned and gone.

The sun disappeared behind a dark cloud, casting the gardens in gloom. Even though the reaper cloak protected me from the brunt of the cold weather, a shiver trickled down my spine. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the change in weather, the hell ring in my pocket, or my upcoming mission.

Now, my next task was to replenish the ashes that had escaped from the jar beneath our bed and place it back on the table. There was another jar of ashes within Healer Calla’s room that I needed to empty, and Hades claimed to know the locations of the other jars.

“Mera?” shouted a deep voice from the right.

My heart jumped into my throat, and I tried not to yelp. I glanced into the distance to find a large figure racing toward me from the other side of the lawn and waving like a maniac.

“Wait up.” It was Racon, wearing a white t-shirt and his denim jacket tied around his waist. Sweat beaded his flushed face and plastered his red hair to his brow. He slowed to a jog. “Have you seen Roman?”

I shook my head. “Not since that last assessment. Have you?”

“Leman said he didn’t return to his room.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and swiped it across his face.

“Oh.” I dipped my head and stared down at my boots as we continued toward the door that led to the Flame.

Until I knew for sure what had happened to the so-called elite team, it wouldn’t be fair to speculate. Martika seemed like a nice girl, but so did most of the young people I’d met here. Unfortunately, everyone who had spent a significant amount of time in the Flame was under the impression that Kresnik was some kind of savior.

“Get rid of him,” Hades whispered. “You have things to do, jars to collect.”

I ignored the demon in my hood and glanced up at my teammate. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his usually cheerful features lay slack with grief. It was no surprise, since there wasn’t a way to solve his particular dilemma. Even if he and Gail had different mothers, they were still the children of the combined entity that was Kresnik and Father Jude.

“Is Gail talking to you yet?” I asked.

“She says there’s nothing to discuss,” he muttered. “Even if we can’t be together like that, she’s still my best friend.”

“Right,” I replied, trying to puzzle out something to say. “She probably needs a bit more time to think things through.”

Butterflies crawled across the lining of my stomach, making me twitch. I’d dealt with breakups before. There was the one I thought I’d had with Valentine, then each time Beatrice was disappointed by the end of a relationship. If this had been any