Part 37 (2/2)
”Oh...okay,” Maggie said doubtfully. ”Thank you, uh, Mother of All Life.”
The green light in Lissa's eyes was slowly fading.
”Call him back to you, child...before it is too late,” she said. Then she sagged and would have fallen if Nina hadn't caught her.
”Where am I? What happened?” she whispered, putting a hand to her temple.
”The G.o.ddess spoke through you, Lissa.” Nina's eyes were s.h.i.+ning. ”She told us what to do.”
”Now if I can just do it,” Maggie muttered.
Chapter Thirty-six.
”I would speak to you, Redan, former second in command of the Clans of the Touch Kindred.”
The Swamp Witch was standing atop the tall stone steps leading up to the huge round globe that housed the public forum building. Her voice rang out across the streets where the people huddled, frightened of the male with glowing red eyes who stood silent by her side. He was still as a statue and covered from head to foot in pitch black dust that coated his skin, staining it so deeply that his eyes seemed to glare from a face that was made of midnight.
”I would speak with Redan,” the witch proclaimed again, her yellow eyes flas.h.i.+ng. ”I would speak to he who fathered my son and then abandoned me and went to bond with another. He swore to love me always until I was found to have what no female should ever have-a Touch Sense!”
Murmurs of awe and disgust ran through the ma.s.ses. The witch had a.s.sembled them all, swearing she would blast every building to dust around their ears if they did not abide by her demands. Now they were a captive audience, subject to her whims.
”Redan is not here.” Saber, the new leader of the Twin Kindred came to the front of the crowd. ”Say what you must to me, witch.”
”Or to me.” Reddix stepped up beside him. ”Redan is my father, after all.”
”And he is father to my son as well,” snapped the witch. ”Behold my lovely son of whom I am so proud. Gaze upon him well for his gaze is death. He will blast you all if you do not produce Redan at once!”
”I am here.” An older male Kindred stepped out of the crowd.
”Father, no!” Reddix put a hand on his arm but Redan shook it off. ”It is my sin the witch calls out-my sin to pay for and no other's. Leave me, my son and tell your mother I am sorry and I always loved her.”
”You dare!” The witch's yellow eyes blazed and she turned to the huge figure beside her who was rumored to be a Shadow Demon made flesh. ”Blast him!” she demanded. ”There stands the one who abandoned you-who abandoned both of us! Blast him and suck his essence, now!”
The Shadow Demon's eyes began to glow and he stepped forward.
Suddenly a new voice rang out. A lighter, feminine voice that trembled but spoke resolutely nonetheless.
”Kor, don't,” it said. ”Don't do this. I know you don't remember him but that's your father-your real father. You don't want to blast him before you even get to know him.”
The witch turned round in a circle, looking for the source of the voice.
”Who dares speak so? Who is it-show yourself!”
”It's me.” Maggie stepped up on steps, her knees knocking but her chin lifted high. ”It's just me.” She looked at the huge, pitch black figure and reached out a hand. ”It's Maggie, Kor. I need you to come back to me.”
Maggie...Maggie... For some reason the name sounded familiar. Therron (no, Kor) whispered a little voice in his head, tried to access his memories of the past again but again a misty veil seemed to be drawn between him and that part of his mind.
”Ignore it!” the dark voice insisted. ”Ignore the girl! She is nothing to you! Blast the old male and suck in his life essence. That is what we live for!”
I...I don't know... Therron/Kor shook his head in confusion. I can't...I don't...
Suddenly a new voice spoke up inside his head.
”Kor, can you hear me?” The voice was light and feminine and familiar. The voice of the girl on the stone steps. She was standing above the crowd, just under and archway of stone upon which all the names of the Touch Kindred Forefathers were carved. ”Kor, it's me-Maggie. I don't know exactly how to do this but they said we're bonded. They said I should just think at you as hard as I could and you would hear me. Can you? Hear me, I mean?”
”Do not answer her!” roared the dark voice inside his head but this time, Therron/Kor didn't listen.
”Maggie?” he sent back hesitantly. ”Do I know you? You look...strangely familiar.”
”Do you know me?” She sounded like she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. ”Yes, you know me! I rescued you from Lady Pope'nose! And then you rescued me from the Flesh Bazaar! You helped me get my implant out. And...and we fell in love. At least, I fell in love with you. Don't you remember?”
Therron/Kor frowned. ”It begins to come back...I called you some nickname-something to do with your hair...” He looked at the girl standing under the carved stone arch. ”Was it...curly?”
She laughed and shook her head. ”Blondie. You called me blondie.”
”Oh, that's right...blondie...”
The memories were coming back now. The dreams they had shared together...the way she had rescued him from the dungeon and the verium dust...their time at the spa...finding her in the Flesh Bazaar and easing her need...the way she felt in his arms...the sweet taste of her lips...
”Do you want to remember something?” roared the dark voice in his head. ”Remember this-the way the little b.i.t.c.h left you! The way she turned away and went to another male-back to her fiance as soon as the implant you helped her remove was gone and she had no more need of you!”
”Kor?” It was Maggie's voice again. ”What was that? Is that the thing inside you? It's a demon, Kor! You have to get rid of it! Have to cast it out!”
Suddenly the dark voice spoke again-this time from his lips.
”You shall not have him, human female. He is mine! A finer host I have never had and I shall not let him go!”
To Kor's horror, he saw the b.l.o.o.d.y crimson curtain drop over his vision and felt his eyes begin to get hot. The energy built up inside him like a red shout of rage...it was about to explode and he was looking right at Maggie!
She must have seen it too and known what his glowing red eyes meant but she didn't run away. Instead, she held out a hand to him.
”Please, Kor,” she said in a low, trembling voice. ”Please...don't you remember? You promised never to hurt me.”
Kor didn't want to hurt her-didn't want any harm to come to her at all but somehow he couldn't say so. He opened his mouth but nothing came out-no warning would emerge because his vocal chords were locked by someone else-by the dark voice, the demon inside him! He tried to turn away, to point his deadly gaze elsewhere but the rest of his body was frozen too-nothing was his own anymore.
No, not all of him was frozen-the bond she had talked about was there. Suddenly Kor sensed it, like a thin, bright ribbon of golden light. It stretched between them, connecting the two of them with love and hope and the promise of a future together.
”Maggie!” he sent, using the bond. ”Maggie, run-hide! It's too strong for me. I can't control it!”
”Cast it out!” she insisted, still not moving. ”Cast it out, Kor! You can do it-I'll help you.”
”I'm not strong enough! It has me too tightly,” he sent desperately through their link. ”Please, Maggie, run before I-”
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