"What is she doing?" Daniel said.
He sounded like he was far away, but I couldn't pull my eyes from what I was seeing. "She's going to make her a Ghoul." I looked over at Daniel. He did look dimmer. What was she doing to him. "Daniel?"
"You really think she'll do that?" He looked at the view. "That'll make Stephens her slave."
"I think that's her plan. No…" I didn't like the woman. Not even a little bit. But I wouldn't want that kind of control held over anyone. I understood the Ghoul / Revenant relationship between Jason and Nick. That was one of mutual respect. But this wasn't going to be like that. And the best way to punish Vanessa if she disobeyed would be to withhold blood and the pain from that withdrawal would drive her mad with hunger.
Please… Inanna…don't do that.
You think I would settle for that kind of control, Wraith?
Uh oh.
Wait…
What did that mean?
"I'm waiting on your answer, Ms Stephens. I can make the pain go away."
"And…damn my soul…"
"No. No damning. In fact, I would make you feel better than you've ever felt."
"You're…you are exactly the monster I thought you were, Zoë Martinique. And your mother will know this. Your mother will help us destroy you."
No…oh fuck shit…she still thinks it's me! I closed my eyes and looked into every crevice I could find, searching for some way in or out or through. Anything I could do to take my body back.
But there was nothing.
"It's in the desk. There."
Inanna followed where Vanessa pointed and went to the desk. She opened drawer after drawer but didn't pull anything out.
"Not that desk. The desk in the house."
I stopped for a second. The desk in the house? Did she mean the Society House?
Inanna bent over the woman and put a hand on her jaw and opened her mouth. "You lied to me."
"Monnoo…." Vanessa tried to answer.
This was it. She was going to give her blood, and then Vanessa Stephens would be locked to Inanna for the rest of her days.
Inanna released the woman's jaw. "Let me in."
Vanessa blinked. "What?"
I blinked. What?
"Let me in, Vanessa Stephens. Invite me in and I will give you eternal life, and power. That's what you want, isn't it?" She leaned in close. "What you really want."
I staggered backward. This was….
Let me in!
She was saying the same thing a First Born asks when they bond with a mortal. The simple ritual that seals the bond. I invited Inanna in the same way. Was she thinking of abandoning me…and jumping to Vanessa?
Could she do that?
"Zoë—"
"Y-yes," Vanessa said. "That's what I want. Please…come in."
I whirled at Daniel's voice and gasped. He was thin. Barely there. Like a transparency over black. "Daniel!"
He reached out to me and vanished.
I mean he was just…gone.
My knees gave on me as I lost control of myself and swirled down into what felt like a psychic drain pipe. Light and dark swirled into a miasma of storm clouds. Lightening lit up the sky and I landed painfully on the ground, on my shoulder. I gasped for air, fought to pull it into my lungs as I rolled onto my front. My arms shook as I tried to push myself up and then failed. I landed on my stomach, my head turned to my right.
Darkness lightened and blurred as something came into sharp focus on the floor in front of me. A few seconds passed as my breathing slowed. My lungs still burned. I gasped when I recognized the body laying beside me.
Manuel.
The carvings all bled in small rivers down to the blood soaked carpet. I was inches from him.
Help me!
I realized in that second I was back in control of my body, and my energy was gone.
"There…all better."
That was Vanessa's voice. And it was Inanna's.
Gray pumps appeared on the floor between Manuel and I just before one of them pushed me over onto my back with a quick shove to my shoulder. I looked up to see Vanessa Stephens looking down at me. Her
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