Half Blood Rising

I must have passed out for a good few minutes, because when I came around, I was lying on a large table, seeing gleaming yellow eyes that definitely didn’t belong to someone who’d come to my rescue. My entire body was stiff, and dull pain was spreading everywhere. Even my throat felt like I’d swallowed razorblades, but it was probably from dehydration. I sensed magic slowly drifting around me.

“Fae are common, silly creatures who think they are better than us. I don’t want to touch that unworthy piece of scum.” A male voice reached me, but whoever was speaking was mumbling, so I could barely understand him. On top of everything, he had a strange accent.

Memories floated inside my mind as I sat up, and the warlock appeared in front of me, then I realised that the scary eyes I’d seen belonged to him.

“What the—”

I couldn’t even finish my question, because then I realised he had fangs. I was wrong… I’d been so wrong—he wasn’t a warlock at all, but another vampire. He lunged for me before I could even anticipate what he was trying to do, sinking his disgusting fangs into my neck.

It was all too much, the agonising pain paralysed me, and as he started drinking my blood, I became lost. Nothing else mattered; my limbs went numb instantly, as I drifted into a state of oblivion. I’d been weakened earlier, and now I had no strength left within me to fight him.

At least the craving for blood was slowly fading, but then I heard a whisper. I didn’t want to listen when it told me I couldn’t just give up. This vampire was draining my inner essence.

I didn’t want to listen to the annoying voice inside my head. I just needed that vampire to keep drinking from me, to take all my energy so I didn’t have to worry about anything else. Then the whisper became louder and louder, and I realised I had to keep fighting, that I couldn’t just give up.

An image of Ramona and Lachlan rolled through my mind. They seemed happy and I didn’t care anymore. Sometime later, I roared out in anger and kicked my oppressor between his legs, not even knowing where this added strength had come from. Everything was slowly coming back to me. He instantly pulled away, screaming and cursing.

Straight after, he struck me in the face, throwing a knock-out punch. I was done after that—done and dusted.

* * *

As I awoke the second time, I was immersed in darkness, in even more pain, and inside something that resembled a cage. My head was banging, and there was dried blood all over my neck. The wound was fresh. It stung, and I should have healed by now, so that meant I was still charmed.

“How long have I been gone?” A strong female voice startled me from out of nowhere.

I struggled but managed to pick myself up off the dirty floor. The vampires used some sort of old charm to break me down, and then one of them fed on me. I could hardly move, everything hurt.

warlock was a vampire, and why he’d drunk my blood. My inner energy rose slowly, but something seemed to be blocking it. Who I’d thought was a warlock, (now

and then to my right, I saw a flickering light. The vampires must have given her a lamp. I rolled my eyes, thinking that this was

trying to remember all the events of the previous evening. That ancient vampire had hypnotised me. Even he’d insinuated I was half-vampire and half-fae. Maybe he was right. Nothing made much sense to me anymore,

now,” I said. “How are you

I was healing slowly, but the internal charm was blocking most of my abilities. It was going to take longer than I’d anticipated to feel more like myself. The ancient vampire had lured me here, and now I realised he’d been talking about me when he’d mentioned a ransom. Ramona must have made some sort

seemed fine, and all the research Karina had done on her was accurate. Her energy was still powerful and rich. Every supernatural had an aura, and most often, I could read them well. Dorothy’s aura was intense and colourful.

The ancient vamps want me instead of you,” I told her, finally catching

to do with me next? It turned out I’d become someone’s experiment, an experiment that was meant to fail. And afterwards, I’d

came closer to the cage and grabbed the metal bars, staring at me. The dim light exposed her beautiful face. She had several fresh-looking scars sweeping down the side of her cheeks. Well, she’d

Leonidius wants to gain influence over the admission board, and now because he has me, he’s gained leverage over my father,” she said, sounding angry. “You need to get

the ancient vampires cared about some rogue girl who might have been created illegally.

the Elite,” I said, trying to figure out if her kidnapping had something to do with the meeting in the basement of the pub. “They wanted to help someone get in, someone

them with her magic. There was no way I was leaving here without her. I couldn’t tell her I was part of the

return. The vampires had confiscated my knife, but I didn’t need it. Being close to her kind of helped. She was strengthening my core, not even knowing it. I was certain that other vampires didn’t have this kind of

to make

thoughts, her plan made sense, but I wasn’t sure what the ancients were planning to do with either of us. There was also Ramona. I had a feeling she’d been working for the enemy this entire time. At the same time, I couldn’t

listened, waiting and wondering if we would be able to pull this off. I had to get Dorothy out of here and bring her safely to headquarters. No one would

night-time outside. It would be difficult to figure out if

* * *

speak to Leonidas,” Dorothy said when one

than I’d expected. The ancient spell was still blocking all my abilities. Damn it. I didn’t

that the vampires weren’t using

her blood, and I was given something that resembled a meal. It was too dark to see, but I needed my strength, so I ate it. The food wasn’t too bad. Time was dragging by, and I wanted to know what was going on. Five minutes later, we were finally alone again. Leonidas, another ancient vampire, was planning something that