Page 18 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

The sigils leaked, streams of blood creating a morbidly beautiful floral design around Idris and Evie. It reminded me of the stained-glass window in my library.

All I wanted was to be back in that room, reading to Evie while she sat in my lap where she belonged.

I was mesmerized as a stream of blood broke free from the formation, moving along the floor until it met Idris’s head.

As if the blood he’d lost was flowing back inside his wound.

I had no more room for obsessive worrying. All I could do was stare in unshakable awe.

My angel was raising someone from the dead.

The power was definitely fading, redirected toward Idris. She was doing it. Evie was going to accomplish exactly what she said she would, and then I was going to force her to rest and heal.

“I can’t find his soul,” Evie whispered.

I heard the exhaustion weighing down every word. I wanted to help. Gods, I wished there was something I could do to help her.

I couldn’t lose faith. Not when Idris remained motionless, and the shadows quelled, and the winds no longer held me back from her.

“Come back, Idris,” she said, nearly a sigh as her shoulders slumped. “Come back for me. For Mena. We have more love to experience.”

Sweet girl. I wanted to be close to her again so badly it stabbed my heart.

My feet moved tentatively. One step and then the other.

Did we act too hastily? Did we miss a step that was crucial? Was she too drained? Was her deal denied?

Idris’s hand twitched again. This time I was certain of it.

I was a godsdamned heretic to question her.

When Evie gasped, my heart stopped.

“Yeah, yeah,” she whispered. “Athank youwould’ve sufficed.”

Her words were slurred. Who was she talking to?

One single gust of wind moved from the ceiling in a veil of white mist, colliding into Idris’s body with apop.

His eyes flew open. Evie’s wilted body slumped. She was mumbling nonsense now.

Idris gasped for air, gulping it down, his body spasming.

I approached carefully, a few feet away now.

And it was a good thing too, because it only took three short seconds for Idris’s pupils to blow wide, his mouth to open.

He bared his fangs. His nostrils flared.

Evie tried to lift her head. Her glassy eyes attempted to find her brother’s. In her failed attempt to do either, she seemed unaware of Idris’s movement.

Unaware that Idris was entering his first bloodlust.

When he reached for Evie, I tackled him.

7

KYLO