Read Online Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Farnsworth
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faithfully for all the days you walk the Earth. ”
More of the strange language, then the hair-doll was used to crush out the smoldering embers of the herbs. She gathered the bloody, sooty doll into the leather pouch, along with the bullet, and cinched it tightly shut.
Cade could feel the cut on his cheek healing already. And he felt something else. Like a new spine, growing down his back. A certainty that had not been there before. He knew what he had to do. He knew what his unnatural life was for, now: to protect and to serve.
The smoke dissipated and the cell seemed to snap back to its normal size.
Mme. Laveau rose and gathered her things, as matter-of-fact as a woman picking up her knitting.
He still had the cross in his hand. It still hurt. But the pain helped him focus. Helped him see clearly. It gave him something other than the thirst.
“What did you do?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know.
“About your hunger? Nothing,” she told him. “You will have many chances to take human blood, if you want. Your president will give you that. But the choice is always yours.”
She leaned down again, took the cross gently from his hand. The pain stopped, but Cade found he wanted it back.
She took a length of cord and looped it through a ring on the cross, then tied it around his neck.
She held his gaze for a long moment.
“You are bound to this man now, and all the ones who will follow him. You will fight the dark forces. You will have to fight.
“But you are not a slave,” she said, holding his hands in her own. “Remember that: no man is a slave.”
She stood quickly and picked up her bag. The leather pouch was in her other hand.
She knocked on the door, and Johnson and a soldier reappeared as it opened.
“It’s done,” she said, and gave the pouch to Johnson. “You may remove those chains.”
“You’re certain?” Johnson asked.
She gave him the same scowl as before. Johnson gestured to the soldiers to unlock Cade.
Mme. Laveau looked at Cade one last time before she walked out the door. Her eyes were full of pity.
“I can see your road, child,” she said. “It is not easy. You might have been better off dead.”
SIX
There is no known physiological reason for the pain Cade experiences when exposed to the sight or touch of a cross, or other religious paraphernalia. While there are no lasting effects, a cross can be enough to keep a vampire at bay.
It appears that prolonged and repeated exposure can build a resistance, or at least, an accommodation with this pain. Unlike other vampires, our subject wears a cross around his neck. (He claims the pain helps him focus on beating his thirst for human blood.) Some in the research group have suggested that the pain is psychosomatic, an abreaction to the vampire’s disgust and self-loathing at his or her transformation. However, this does not explain why religious symbols affect all vampires more or less equally, without regard for the individual’s religious background.
—BRIEFING BOOK: CODENAME: NIGHTMARE PET
Z ach sipped his coffee and grimaced. It was awful. The only stuff he’d ever had that was worse had been in the mess of an aircraft carrier, during a visit with the president. But a single cup kept him awake for twenty hours.
He looked at Cade, then Griff.
“Okay,” he said. “So he has to do what I say?”
Cade’s face didn’t move, but Zach got the distinct feeling he didn’t like the question.
“Not exactly,” Griff said. “He will follow the orders you pass on from the president. But for now, you should learn the ropes from us.”
Zach shrugged. He supposed he had no choice but to see where this ride would go.
“Where do we start?”
Griff handed a sheet of paper to Cade.
“This is what I tried to tell you about before you stormed off to bed,” Griff said.
Zach laughed at that, then turned it into a cough when Cade looked at him.
“ICE has found something in a container off a ship at
More of the strange language, then the hair-doll was used to crush out the smoldering embers of the herbs. She gathered the bloody, sooty doll into the leather pouch, along with the bullet, and cinched it tightly shut.
Cade could feel the cut on his cheek healing already. And he felt something else. Like a new spine, growing down his back. A certainty that had not been there before. He knew what he had to do. He knew what his unnatural life was for, now: to protect and to serve.
The smoke dissipated and the cell seemed to snap back to its normal size.
Mme. Laveau rose and gathered her things, as matter-of-fact as a woman picking up her knitting.
He still had the cross in his hand. It still hurt. But the pain helped him focus. Helped him see clearly. It gave him something other than the thirst.
“What did you do?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know.
“About your hunger? Nothing,” she told him. “You will have many chances to take human blood, if you want. Your president will give you that. But the choice is always yours.”
She leaned down again, took the cross gently from his hand. The pain stopped, but Cade found he wanted it back.
She took a length of cord and looped it through a ring on the cross, then tied it around his neck.
She held his gaze for a long moment.
“You are bound to this man now, and all the ones who will follow him. You will fight the dark forces. You will have to fight.
“But you are not a slave,” she said, holding his hands in her own. “Remember that: no man is a slave.”
She stood quickly and picked up her bag. The leather pouch was in her other hand.
She knocked on the door, and Johnson and a soldier reappeared as it opened.
“It’s done,” she said, and gave the pouch to Johnson. “You may remove those chains.”
“You’re certain?” Johnson asked.
She gave him the same scowl as before. Johnson gestured to the soldiers to unlock Cade.
Mme. Laveau looked at Cade one last time before she walked out the door. Her eyes were full of pity.
“I can see your road, child,” she said. “It is not easy. You might have been better off dead.”
SIX
There is no known physiological reason for the pain Cade experiences when exposed to the sight or touch of a cross, or other religious paraphernalia. While there are no lasting effects, a cross can be enough to keep a vampire at bay.
It appears that prolonged and repeated exposure can build a resistance, or at least, an accommodation with this pain. Unlike other vampires, our subject wears a cross around his neck. (He claims the pain helps him focus on beating his thirst for human blood.) Some in the research group have suggested that the pain is psychosomatic, an abreaction to the vampire’s disgust and self-loathing at his or her transformation. However, this does not explain why religious symbols affect all vampires more or less equally, without regard for the individual’s religious background.
—BRIEFING BOOK: CODENAME: NIGHTMARE PET
Z ach sipped his coffee and grimaced. It was awful. The only stuff he’d ever had that was worse had been in the mess of an aircraft carrier, during a visit with the president. But a single cup kept him awake for twenty hours.
He looked at Cade, then Griff.
“Okay,” he said. “So he has to do what I say?”
Cade’s face didn’t move, but Zach got the distinct feeling he didn’t like the question.
“Not exactly,” Griff said. “He will follow the orders you pass on from the president. But for now, you should learn the ropes from us.”
Zach shrugged. He supposed he had no choice but to see where this ride would go.
“Where do we start?”
Griff handed a sheet of paper to Cade.
“This is what I tried to tell you about before you stormed off to bed,” Griff said.
Zach laughed at that, then turned it into a cough when Cade looked at him.
“ICE has found something in a container off a ship at
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