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“Mine?” she whispered.
“Yes, and just as it was prophesized so long ago, they have all perished leaving only one last female of the Durent Clan. Don’t you see? Your Rh-null is a rarity which could easily lead to an all-out war, every Iridescent hoping to get his hands on the Red Queen. You are the last of your kind and believe me, there will be no more.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t the Midewiwin tell you?”
“How did you know I saw one?”
“Professor Bapttise from the university, phoned me.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because I am the Seventh Miigis and he fears me.”
She wrenched herself from his grasp and spun face to face. “You can’t be.”
“Oh, but I am,” he said, his eyes looking right through her.
“The seventh was all powerful.” She swallowed hard, studying his face. “He was a demonic spirit…a killer.”
“Yes, the other part of me is all that and more,” he breathed, his smile fading.
“You’re confusing me,” she mumbled leaning back onto the desk as he placed a hand on both sides of her hips. “You speak as if you’re both Zaroc and the Seventh Miigis.”
“You’re quite perceptive, my dear.”
“Lies,” she sputtered, clutching the table, leaning farther away, her head turned to one side unnaturally. “The Seventh Miigis was the most powerful thing on earth. You’re just an overgrown boy,” she said, cutting her eyes to him, “terrified of your own father.”
He grabbed her, his hand sliding around to the back of her neck, pulling her toward him. “Perhaps I am terrified of him, but the Seventh Miigis fears no one.”
“That’s not possible,” she said gripping his arm. “Release me,” she huffed with more authority than she possessed.
His demeanor shifted. “What’s not possible,” he breathed, his face pressed to hers, “is getting the seventh out of my body without a baby.”
“A baby? Are you crazy?”
“Crazy, no—fact of the matter, once I sire a baby and drink of its blood, I will become a powerful Sirun. Omniscient.”
“And what happens to the Seventh Miigis?”
“He will take host of the child’s body as it takes its last breath.”
Donja staggered, wishing she could unhear his words. “So that’s what you meant about me being the last because even if I gave birth to a female, a Durent female, you would kill her.”
He just stared.
“You’re insane,” she whispered.
He suddenly released his grip and stepped back. He shook his head as if trying to escape an agony she could not see. She slid around the table, gripping the edge for support. He took a step forward as if gaining control of himself. She met his gaze. “You would drink your child’s blood…a newborn baby, kill it and let that…that demon, have its body?”
“Yes.”
“No,” she screeched, her voice breaking, “that’s murder.”
“So, what would you have me do,” he pleaded with desperation in his voice, “because if we don’t get him out of me, I’ll die!”
“Surely that’s not the case. If this Miigis is all powerful, why doesn’t he just take the body of someone who’s dying of natural causes?”