Page 142 of The Vampire's Mercy

“You have found the truth!”the voice boomed inside me.“Sing! Sing your little song!”

“What—”

Silvanus darted in front of me, taking me by surprise. “Don’t come any closer,” he warned the walking corpse with a terrifying growl.

The thing pretending to be Aidan stopped. “I’m in no mood to be tied up at the moment, vampire. Maybe later.” He waved a hand, flinging Silvanus across the room with invisible force. He crashed through the other door, wood exploding everywhere.

Medusa ran after him.

Aidan continued striding toward me.

No! Not Aidan! Not Aidan! Not?—

“Sing, precious blood! Sing for me!”

Sing for what now?

“Faithful elf,” the zombie said, his voice like the dying scream of a thousand mortals. “Come to me. I will make everything better. Here begins the end of everything you know, and the opening of a new road. Be with me. Keep your faith in me. I am peace. I am the way.” He paused. “If you turn your back on me now, then these will be your final moments.”

Aidan threatening my life? The savior of everything?

My faith cracked, fissures racing across my soul. “This can’t be… This can’t…”

“Sing!”the voice cried.“Sing! Sing! Sing! Sing!”

Aidan opened his arms. “Come to me. Be with me. Change everything with me.”

Tears tracked down my face. I looked to Silvanus, now back on his feet.

“Aidan…” he whispered.

The zombie kept his attention on me, moving again. “If you won’t come to me, then I’ll come to you.”

“Sing, precious one!”

I hesitated, glued to the cauldron. I was a conduit for agony and sorrow and all the dark shit. Got some anguish to dump? Come pour it over my head.

“Please…” Please what? Make it stop? Restart this whole drama? “Wake up… Please wake up…”

The zombie got closer, his laughter a gargling horror. “Poor elf is lost. Poor elf is in pain.” Closer, closer. “Let me take the pain away.”

“Sing! Sing! Sing!”

The zombie drew his hand back, a set of talons bursting from the tips of his swollen fingers.

“I’ll make it stop,” he said. “Death will set you free.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

SILVANUS

Aidan.

My love.

My love who…who’d hurt me beyond repair, was a deity.

But what kind of hurt? What had he done to make me ache like this?