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

I had missed most of the brunch briefing when I had fainted, so I didn’t know what tasks Kresnik had set the other warriors, if any.

It was hard to believe that beneath these hallways stood hundreds of dead prisoners, standing to attention like tin soldiers waiting for a stroke of magic to bring them to life. Now that Kresnik had turned his attention to stealing the Supernatural Council’s stash of firestone, he would probably use everyone around the Flame to steal more prisoners for his basement.

My heart sank at the thought of all those dead and soon-to-be-dead bodies, and I exhaled a long breath.

“What’s wrong?” Hades murmured into my ears. “Having second thoughts?”

“It’s a vicious cycle,” I whispered. “Kresnik steals supernaturals’ powers and turns them into preternatural vampires. Then he steals humans to feed the vampires and transforms their corpses into zombies—”

“Zombies?” he scoffed. “Have you been watching human television?”

“What do you call them?”

“The magicless undead.”

I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, the more vampires he makes, the more humans they’re going to need to feed them.”

“And the more souls will remain trapped within this realm,” Hades added. “I wouldn’t care if he just killed people outright and let them move on to Heaven or Hell. His proclivity for upsetting the balances between the realms is what I find objectionable.”

“Glad to see you care,” I muttered.

“Demon King, Miss Griffin, or have you forgotten?”

My gaze turned to the white ceiling and I huffed a breath, admonishing myself for opening up to a creature that valued the integrity of realms more than the numbers of people who might get hurt by Kresnik’s actions. “Thanks for the reminder.”

I pushed the infirmary door open to find Healer Calla standing behind her counter. My steps faltered, and I pulled back my shoulders and tried to look casual as I made myself enter. How on earth was I going to sneak into her room and replace Hades’ ashes with wood ashes if she never left her station?

The healer’s face lit up with a bright smile, and she closed her book. “Good afternoon, Mera. Have you come to check on Aurora?”

I smiled at the reminder. So much had happened since I’d discovered she’d been whipped that I hadn’t been able to spare Aurora much thought. “Is she any better?”

Healer Calla swept her arm to the left. “See for yourself.”

“Thanks.” I guess she was still smiling. That had to be good news, but Healer Calla was almost as twisted as Kresnik.

The woman hadn’t hesitated to withdraw healing from injured people and inject them with vampire blood. Some of them hadn’t even been dying. Healer Calla only hid her malevolence behind kind words and the cutesy exterior of a kind grandma.

When I stepped into the darkened treatment room, Aurora still lay on her front where I’d left her. A white sheet covered her lower half, exposing her back. Even with the dim lighting, I could see that the whip marks had formed a thin crust but with a gentle glow beneath the scabs.

I rubbed my chin. The poultice had draw away some of the heat, but I’d put enough Dharma salt into the mix that it should have absorbed most of the black magic. Why had Healer Calla removed it early?

Heat radiated from her back the closer I got to where she slumbered on the treatment table.

“Ouch,” said Hades. “I wouldn’t treat the mothers of any of my children so harshly, no matter how much they deserved the punishment.”

Ignoring the comment about him chastising women, I continued toward Aurora. The bowl I had left on my last visit lay beneath a cloth on the table next to a jug of water.

I didn’t dare to wake Aurora and interrupt her respite from what still had to be excruciating pain, so I lifted the cloth to see if she needed me to make any more burn salve. The contents of the bowl were exactly how I’d left them and in the same consistency. Anger simmered through my insides. No one had thought to rub it on her back.

“Bloody hell,” I muttered under my breath and glared over my shoulder in the direction of the door. Healer Calla probably just came in, dumped the water for Aurora to serve herself, and didn’t care that she might crack open her scabs trying to get a drink.

Hades chuckled. “I would sure like to have that old healer as one of my minions. She shows no mercy toward the punished.”

“Shut up,” I muttered under my breath.

“Mera?” Aurora croaked.

My chest tightened with guilt at having woken her. “Sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to disturb—”

A rusty laugh rattled in her chest. “There’s no rest under a punishment like this.”

I swallowed back a lump in my throat. “Do you need a drink? Let me put something on your back.”

“Water, please,” she rasped.

Ignoring the jug, which was probably lukewarm, I stepped out of the room and glowered at Healer Calla.

Her brows rose. “Mera?”

“Did you remove the poultices before they drew out all the heat?”

She frowned and clutched her hands to her chest. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I made up a…” My gaze sharpened. The old woman was trying to gaslight me or at least pretend she hadn’t seen the poultices I’d placed on Aurora’s back. What was the point of arguing, when she’d continue this line of bullshit? “Never mind. Could I have some cold water, please?”

“Of course.” Healer Calla flashed me an overly bright smile.

The grin I offered her in return was equally as fake. “Extra cold, please.”

“No problem.” She disappeared to the back of the counter and opened up a refrigerator, letting out a puff of freezing air.

Hades chuckled. “I like this one. Mind if I reap her?”

My smile tightened. This was one occasion where I wouldn’t hold Hades to our bargain not to drag the fire users to Hell.

Moments later, Healer Calla emerged, holding a jug that had frosted over. The contents were frozen solid, so nothing even clinked. When she placed it on the