etly. "And you are my key to moving between them. Yo

rs on my cheeks already

m and pulled

tect what's gr

lower abdomen-flat

at him in

ulfill your role, I'll make you a promise. When everything is done

on

I thought he was going to kill me, not

e even saying something re

s-it cannot be broken. Not unless you die and your soul gets recycl

re colder th

urpose is fulfilled, I'll leave. If lonelin

ly a whisper. "What... wha

blood magic, of bindings... or even what it means to lie with so

ce fl

me-it numbed me. All I could fe

aph began to take shape in your Crimson Sigil Ring... it meant the blood-bound child was

fr

t had been pulsing for days-like coals buried beneath my skin. I

asn't s

darkened. "Un

n't this wait? I'm only eight

r week trying to coax life into a stiff, unw

the first ritual. The first

flatly. "Call it torture, call it rap

t my face, trying to hold on to

op out of school, lock m

ing, still cold

pletely and stuffed them into my shoulder bag. The motion pulled at the

rms folded, watching me wit

ured, looking up at him. "Could

hes. Don't treat

hadn't been, Clara, you wo

gh

as I t

e. A vessel. A b

didn't apply

more n

he mirror in

ke the one I remembered. Pale. Hollow-e

! Hurr

oice echoed do

ed beneath my eyes, and st

d already gone

tering the office, then bolting out j

ll, sprinting down until I finally reached th

d running that the class advisor's b

s in the clear. No

e all the mo

lled vampire husband-calc

the office while I was still there, I

to the edge and left squatting at the windowsill, se

. Too

investigation. Late twenties, ex-special forces, with the kind of s

I felt smaller than ever

to me. "Used to be military. Reads peopl

of chaos and worried faces. Sch

or-slammed a hand against the table the

nts have come to? Low-cut tops, bare legs i

iou

ass advisor, Jack, always got along well with his students. Top-notch r

thing!" I snapped befo

t implying I seduced that

the room heard him. Then he cornered me alone and d

am, no matter how badly I wanted to. But that man-J

man's dead and can't defend himself. Look at yo

other barked, shoving back his chair. "Keep talkin

voice fraying. "This isn't helpin

ng this as a suicide for now. But the media will come knockin

knew what he wanted-s

helping in the office. I ran to get he

eply, Officer Bruno l

lly. "You really going to coach a witness? Rewri

nervously, probably cu

using on me. "Tell me ever

ushed the class advisor's windpipe and dragged him backward like

dn't sto

. And again. F

stions, slightly differ

e recorder and put away his notebook. The

, then said with a faint smile, "Y

ly he

I would've died that night-two yea

**

in the courtyard, clad in a white tank top and shifti

come scratch my back, would

lifted the edge of his shirt. Jus

fr

a Crimson Mask-vivid, grotesque

.. Clara D

ar male voice sli

my father's breathing. Its hollow, blood-rimmed eyes locked on

skgrave..." The vo