Read Online Blade Of The Vampire King (Book 4) by Lucas Thorn - Free Book Online Page A

the swelling on her forehead, above her temple. The stinging made her wince but the tendrils of numbness moving through the bruises made her think of worms sliding between her skin and her skull. Not a pleasant thought, and one she could live without. She dropped her hand and grunted. “And ugly. You usually so gentle with it? Might want to swing it a bit harder if you plan on killing someone with it. Maybe use the sharp edge. That's what it's for.”
    “I only saw your ears at the last minute,” Melganaderna said. The young woman had to work had to tear her gaze from Hemlock. “You're lucky I did. Or you'd be dead. I've killed a few men with this thing already. Yeah, even with the flat of the blades. When I first swung at you, I was trying to cut you in half. I couldn't stop after I started, but I managed to turn my wrist. Even so, you should be dead. Should have crushed your skull. Now, it seems you know who I am. You even know why we're running. But it looks like there's still some secrets here we haven't shared. Want to share them with us?”
    “She's got a hard head,” the warlock grinned. “Filled with rocks. You'd have more chance breaking this mountain than her skull.”
    Silently, she agreed with Melganaderna. The battleaxe should have obliterated her skull.
    Should have sent her howling into the Shadowed Halls.
    Instead, she was alive. And, other than a throbbing headache, she felt mostly fine.
    Remembering back to when she was young, the elf had been hit on the head before. A few times. Fights were common in the ruthless alley shadows. Sometimes after being hit, she'd feel sick for days.
    The swelling would be a lot worse.
    And there'd be more blood.
    She looked down at her hands. Saw grime streaking her fingers. Felt the light crawl of insects over her skin, and looked up into Melganaderna's searching expression. Was about to say something, though she wasn't sure what, when Hemlock let out a deep groan and tried to sit up.
    Which took the young axewoman's full attention away.
    The elf's gaze caught Chukshene's, and he nodded slightly as though acknowledging how close she'd come to telling the young woman about Talek's Cage. As though something had been saved by Hemlock's timely movement.
    Maybe it had.
    She still didn't like thinking about what invaded her. A gift? A curse?
    Something stirred as the warlock held her stare. Something irritated.
    She looked away.
    “Hem? Are you okay?” Melganaderna moved quickly toward the struggling young man. She tried to help him sit up.
    He nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. “I'm fine, Melgana. Fine. It's just I heard her again. That voice. Screaming in my head. I couldn't block it out. It was too much.”
    “Whose voice?” Chukshene asked.
    “Sorry?” Hemlock blinked at the warlock. “Who are you?”
    “I'm Chukshene. Don't you remember trying to cut my throat? It was lucky for me you fainted before you could slit a vein. Lucky for you, too, in a way.” He cleared his throat and edged closer, an intent expression on his face. “You said her voice. A she? Does she have a name, this voice? Or are you just a few birds short of a flock? You know. In the head?”
    Hemlock pressed his palms against his eyes and grimaced, unaware of Melganaderna's arms around him. “I don't know. She never says anything. Just whispers and cries. Cries and whispers. It's almost like she's asleep. Dreaming. And all her dreams are nightmares. But she's not to be trusted. There's so much hatred hidden beneath her sorrow.”
    “Huh.” The warlock shot a smirk toward Nysta. “Sounds like someone I know.”
    “We need to stop them,” Hemlock said, reaching up and grabbing a fistful of the warlock's robe. “They're already waking her. I don't think we want that. No. It would be a terrible thing. A terrible thing.”
    Slowly prising Hemlock's fingers free of his robe, the warlock remained calm. “Of course we don't. We don't want to wake up anything. I'm against that sort of thing.