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

back to me, his eyes burning with malice. The candles surrounding the ritual circle flickered, making his bronze skin look like it crackled with excitement.

“Calla, prepare the child.”

The old woman rose from her seat, reached into the pocket of her white dress, and extracted a pair of cutting shears. I held my breath as she slipped her fingers beneath the child’s t-shirt and cut the garment from hem to collar.

She stepped back and raised her hand.

A large man in denim scurried forward with a box from which she extracted a liter bottle of a dark substance that was almost certainly vampire blood. Cold spread through my insides, emptying out my lungs. I would have reeled forward with horror if it hadn’t been for the magic holding me in place.

They were going to extract the girl’s magic and turn her into a preternatural. What was the point in that?

Kresnik rolled up his sleeves, rubbed his hands together, and positioned himself at the little girl’s side. “Calla and I have devised another method to extract magic but it will stunt the individual’s growth.”

A scream caught in the back of my throat. My gaze locked with Aurora’s who stared up at Petra. Sweat poured down her face, and her entire body trembled. This was so unnecessarily cruel, even for Kresnik.

His face broke into a grin. “If any flying shifter would like to take her place, speak up now.”

The magic holding down my body loosened, and an invisible force pushed me forward, making me land with a slap of my palms on the wooden floor. Cries of relief spread across the room, and some of the people sitting even applauded.

As I slumped forward, breathing hard against the effort of having strained my muscles for so long, realization settled on the back of my head like a pile of steaming shit.

“Hemera Griffin,” he said in a voice like thunder. “You wish to offer up your magic to spare Petra Pardus?”

Bile rose to the back of my throat, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Kresnik never intended to extract Petra’s magic. He chose her out of all the little children in the Flame because I had gone to Logris to rescue her. Because I had asked to return to Logris to save her family. Because we had a connection.

Kresnik probably made up all that crap about her being a flying shifter so I would volunteer to take her place.

Hell, the bastard had thrown me forward with his magic, so everyone could see me volunteer. The worst part was that I could no longer pretend I was magicless because everyone in the room was depending on me to follow through with my sacrifice to save Petra.

“Hemera Griffin,” he roared. “I ask you again!”

Hades made a snarl of disgust. “What a complete and utter cock.”

My hands curled into fists, and I snarled, “I offer up my magic.”

“Then come forth, my daughter.”

“Don’t,” said Hades.

It didn’t matter if Kresnik intended to drain the magic of everyone in the room. What he wanted right now was the power of a phoenix. He’d deliberately placed Petra within my line of sight to prompt me into admitting I had power. Perhaps by now, he couldn’t even regenerate a flea and knew that the ability to regenerate had reverted back to me.

I stumbled to my feet and trudged across the wooden floor toward the circle of candles. By now, Petra’s eyes were closed, but her chest rose and fell with even breaths. Terror had probably overwhelmed her and knocked her unconscious. The man who had brought Petra in removed her from where she hovered in front of Kresnik and laid her on the floor outside the circle.

Kresnik beckoned for me to come closer. My hackles rose and my feet skidded out of disgust for the man, but the same invisible force made me glide into his arms.

He pressed a kiss on my forehead. “Good girl.”

I parted my lips to say something, but his magic had wired my jaw shut.

“Listen carefully, children, you’re about to hear something special. Hemera was particularly difficult to conceive.” He chuckled, as though making an inside joke, although nobody was laughing.

“Do you know how long Jude searched the realm of the gods for a phoenix ready for the plundering?” he asked nobody in particular. “Centuries.”

I swayed on my feet, but Kresnik’s arms around my back held me steady.

Healer Calla walked toward us, her eyes shining with joy. With a firm grip, the old woman pulled me out of Kresnik’s grasp and gestured with her arms outstretched for me to lie on the floor.

Bile rose to the back of my throat. How the hell was I going to get out of this? I had absolutely no doubt that Kresnik would hurt Petra if I refused. But I couldn’t say anything with his magic clamping my jaw together.

Pressure landed on my shoulders, pushing me down to my knees and laying me flat on my back. Fists pounded on my eardrums to the rapid beat of my pulse, and my muscles stiffened, trying to buck. This was it. The moment Kresnik finally got his hands on my power.

“Fifty years ago on one of his jaunts to the realm of the gods, Jude finally found a pile of ash,” said Kresnik. “Next to it stood the soul of a phoenix, waiting for its body to regenerate.”

Kresnik wiped away a tear of joy. “Jude wrestled with the beast’s spirit for days and eventually freed the phoenix and brought it to our realm. It took another thirty years of experimentation to work out how to combine the souls of animals with those of unborn humans to create the ultimate being of fire.”

I reached out with my mind to Valentine, not caring that I’d never before communicated with him telepathically. Perhaps the threat of death or being turned into a preternatural might pierce through the wards and reach him.

My body rose off the floor, making my stomach spasm with the need to expel the bites of sweetcorn