Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

had met her match. So she did not hesitate. She reached across the circle and gently placed her hand in his.

Electricity danced over the part of her in the circle. Her fingertips instantly went numb, and tiny pinpricks shocked their way to her wrist. She did not flinch, as it was not the worst pain she had ever felt. But something must have shown on her face because Wolfgang started.

“Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine.” She shook her head. “Don’t stop.”

For a moment she thought he might say something. His mouth opened and closed before he nodded. Wolfgang laid down amongst the ashes. He shifted a few times and wiggled until he was comfortable enough to give Bones a curt nod.

“Are we ready then?” Bones asked.

Lyra nodded.

At their go ahead, Bones began chanting. The runic language was not one she had ever learned, nor did she care to know what it meant. The words would never mean anything to Lyra. She stared down at Wolfgang to try and see if he so much as twitched.

He did not.

She leaned as close to the circle as she could and whispered, “Is it going to hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Badly?”

He cracked an eye open to look at her. “Immensely.”

“Oh.”

She waited a few moments to see whether the pain was going to happen in that instant. When a few heartbeats passed and Wolfgang had yet to show any reaction, she leaned closer once more.

He interrupted her immediately. “Don’t ask questions.”

“I just want to know what would happen if I let go.”

“I do not believe I would survive another failed attempt to be a Lich.”

“Right, so letting go is definitely off the table.” She nodded firmly.

Although, it certainly was going to make it more difficult for her. She was worried what would happen once he started using magic. If it was going to be painful even for him, she wondered what it was going to do to her. She hoped that what she had felt the few times he had used her for magic was only a fraction of what he felt.

Otherwise, she might let go and ruin everything. Wolfgang wasn’t the best thing in the world, but he was a start at a fuller life.

Her ears started ringing as soon as Bones stopped speaking. The words had created a soothing tone that she had instantly accepted. Now without them, the silence was deafening.

Wolfgang shifted then. His hand clenched hard onto hers as his body started to thrash. First it was a small twitch, then it was a great aching groan that electrified his body. He arched, and his spine bowed to nearly breaking.

“Wolfgang?” Lyra held onto him as best she could. “Wolfgang!”

The ashes began to glow blue. She could smell the acrid scent of burning flesh, and suddenly a wall of brightly colored magic rose from the edges of the circle. Only Wolfgang and her hand, from wrist to fingertips, was held within it. Her eyes burned as the sea colored wall danced with runes in front of her.

His arched spine snapped towards the ground and thumped his ribs against the floor. His eyes opened, and the mismatched colors stared into hers. He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something but was in too much pain to do so.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She lifted her other hand to press it against the shield that held them apart while simultaneously squeezing his. “You can do this.”

He nodded and turned his head to stare up at the ceiling. She watched as he let out a slow breath of air. The runes upon his body began to glow. The black tattoos of spells all began to shine with the electric blue of his magic. Moments passed, and then the scars upon his body began to open as well. Large gaping wounds split open. The floor quickly turned red inside the circle.

It was then that Lyra began to also feel the pain. The tips of her fingers were the first to feel the brunt of the magic. Though numb with electricity, she felt the soft slide of liquid down her palm.

When she managed to pull her gaze away from Wolfgang, she saw that her fingertips were turning black. The pain registered in her mind, and she gasped as magic began to burn the flesh from her hand.

She let out an angry sound but refused to drop his hand.

“Lyra!” Bones shouted from across the room. “It’s too much! Let go!”

“I can’t!”

“You can, and you will! That magic will destroy you both!”

She knew he was likely right. Wolfgang’s flesh was also disintegrating in front of her. Like ashes, small bits of him were drifting into the air. Slowly they lifted from his body and hovered above him. Gravity had no place inside that circle of pain.

“I won’t let him go,” Lyra said firmly.

“Do it now!” Bones was frantic. He was trying to reach her, and Lyra knew his plan before he laid hands on her.

“If you pull me away from him, I swear to you, I will kill you. I do not exist without him.”

“I raised you to be stronger than that.”

“I am! He has shown me how to be a better person,” Lyra shouted. “He deserves someone to be there for him. And I will remain until this is over!”

Bones hesitated when he heard the conviction in her voice. She hoped he realized that she was not the child he had brought to his home long ago. He nodded and stepped away from the two of them.

She didn’t want to look at the mangled mess of her hand, but she did. Her ring finger had lost all feeling, and her pinky was quickly following suit. Magic was eating away at her flesh. This was her price for Blood Magic. This was her price for aiding him in becoming a monster that could very well turn upon them all.

She would do it again in a heartbeat.

“Wolfgang,” she whispered as his mouth opened in a silent scream. His lips split and blood turned