Half Blood Rising

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but more and more people began appearing, walking and talking around me. For a long while, I just sat next to Dorothy, hoping she would come around. I glanced at my dirty hands; I was still shaking badly. Karina and Marco were talking to me, but I placed my hands over my ears, rocking from side to side. All I could remember was the fire and the mage’s screams.

“Jaymin, is that you?” a voice asked, grabbing my arm. Dorothy was conscious, and she was glancing around, probably more disoriented than me.

“Yes, it’s me, and you’re safe now,” I told her, still feeling the effects of that dark, dirty energy from the mage. I thought that after using my fae abilities, I wouldn’t have to deal with it, but the mage’s darkness had sunk its claws into me. This happened every time I killed someone, but this time, it felt a hundred times worse. My team was now surrounding me, and the smell of blood was making me nauseous. It was everywhere—the corpses were turning to ash as some members of the council tried to preserve them.

“What the hell happened here, Jaymin?”

It was Dimitry. He asked the question and I glanced at him, wondering how to answer that. I needed to pull myself together and tell them everything. I didn’t want to be taken by the members of the High Council for questioning. Moments later, a witch approached and covered Dorothy with a blanket; she was talking to her in another language. I accepted Dimitry’s hand and stood, my knees felt like they couldn’t hold my upper body. I was so weak, but I had to walk.

“I accidentally walked up on them, the councillor was here, and he was just about to make a deal with the ancient vampire, Leonidas.” I started saying when Marco squeezed my arm. His warming energy felt like bliss.

“I think you should stop asking her questions,” Karina said to Dimitry. “Now isn’t the best time. Jaymin is still shaken up. We need to get her back to headquarters.” I was light-headed and tired.

“It was me. I think I killed them all with my fae magic. The ancient started drinking from me, and I thought I was going to die,” I whispered to them, and her eyes went wide. Everything was coming back to me, and I looked around, horrified. I’d killed them all—it was me, and soon enough, I was probably going to be arrested.

Marco dragged his hand through his hair, and Dimitry seemed at a loss for words.

“Hen, shut up, and let the High Council deal with it,” Lachlan said, who suddenly appeared next to me. “The girl is safe now, so our job here is done. You shouldn’t have run away.” He must have arrived with the others. He looked at the body of his ex-girlfriend and shook his head. I’d forgotten about Ramona. I didn’t think she was dead, but she wasn’t moving. I’d only staked her earlier, but maybe it was my energy that killed her.

know how, but his corpse wasn’t here. We were now

do this?” Karina whispered as we started walking back. “I don’t believe

The Russian human police were there, too, I was seeing yellow crime-scene tape around the area. A lot of humans gathered around, trying to figure out what had happened here. The High Council was probably working with the human side of the law. Sooner or later, someone was going to figure out I was the cause of this whole massacre. Oldman couldn’t protect me, it wasn’t her job, but I hadn’t planned

Lachlan said to Karina, sounding angry. “We need to get her out of sight, out of

magic was still all over the place as they helped me inside the uber. I felt dizzy and nauseous from all the darkness that I had consumed earlier

and Lachlan had taken me back to headquarters, then Karina helped me to bathe myself—she scrubbed all the blood from the shower. Images from the past kept flashing through my

* * *

a long moment, I had no idea where I was. Karina was snoring in the bed next to me, and when I glanced at her, I suddenly remembered everything. The pain was finally gone. I felt good, better than ever before—rested. The clock on the wall was showing around two

mind. Ramona was dead, the ancient escaped, but what happened to the

of pants and a T-shirt and then headed to the kitchen for a

coma.” A voice startled me out of nowhere. When I turned around, I saw Lachlan in

and took several generous sips of water. “How long was I asleep?” I asked him, feeling the familiar sensations in the pit of my stomach as

or so. Oldman told us to leave you alone, that you needed to regenerate your strength,” he said, and then yawned loudly. Vampires

worried and curious to know what might

supposed to direct to him. On top of that, I was hungry, and this time, not for blood, but

“They wanted to question you, but

even sure

confused as to how you ended up in the middle of everything and survived. For now, the council only wanted to question you. The main thing is, our job here is done.