Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

MIKO

T he tendril shot forward, burrowing itself into my forehead. I howled in pain, hundreds of tiny jaws chewing through flesh and bone, working quickly to reach my brain.

I jumped up and scrambled forward, clutching my skull. Pink dots burst to life in my vision, my blood pumping hotter, my control under attack.

My mind resisted the invader spreading its pink roots. I saw them as if watching a virus growing under a microscope, some fucked up movie playing on a pop-up screen in my brain.

"Holy fuck!" I boomed, everything falling under a pink haze.

Crawling, wriggling, ants clambering over my defenses, nothing more than a helpless grub caught in the path of their relentless march. I was being taken over, falling into pinkness.

Becoming…

Becoming…

…one of them.

"You can't have me!" I cried. Out loud? Internally? I had no clue. I wasn't even sure if I was awake anymore, I could only see the pink smoke.

I fell into confusion, my desire to fight ebbing, my organs ready to fail.

"No! I won't let you give up!" I bellowed at them.

But they were weak against the onslaught of Dawn. It was ruthless and powerful and my master. It wanted me. It would have me in death, and then…

A lust for flesh flickered somewhere inside me, waiting to rise. To eat. To eat. Eat. Eat. Eat.

But there were blockages. Poxy supernatural blood. Why wouldn't it bend? Why did it always have to resist the true master?

"Will you be quick or slow?" Dawn said, the pinkness rippling around me.

"Neither. I'll be me…" I countered, clinging to myself with the last of my desperation.

Laughter. "You are mine, wolf. There is no escape. There is no prophecy to fulfill. This is the beginning of the end. You belong to me. I will claim the blood of the unyielding creatures."

Everything hurt, every organ slowing, every cell on the verge of collapse. It wouldn't be more than a minute now until I became a biter. Even while swimming in this mire, my mind unraveling, I fully understood my fate.

Maybe. The blood… The blood is so resistant…

"Orion…" I said, my soul clammy with fear. "Ori…"

"Do not resist me." Dawn spoke in soothing tones. "Embrace me. Become one with me. Serve me."

"Ori…"

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

The beating of our entwined hearts cut through everything, holes appearing in the pink. My organs flooded with life, Dawn's already tenuous hold on me loosening.

"What are you doing?" it asked, no anger in its voice.

My shining fae superstar glistened in the darkness beyond the gaps in the pink. Full of light, full of cherries. The most precious creature in existence, the magic of his presence pouring energy into me.

Fill me up to the brim, Ori…

Second by second, Dawn's grip slipped. The pink diminished as my head cleared.

No zombie shit for me today.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Dawn moaned, sounding like a biter. "That sound. What?—"

"Miko? By the stars! What's going on?"

As soon as his voice jingled in my brain, my heart raced, my veins filling with incredible heat.

"What is this?" Dawn cried. "Cherries! Fae! Fae! Fae! The cursed blood!"

A new pop-up screen appeared, showing me the tsunami of glitter-flecked blood joining mine inside my veins. A special connection from Orion across the miles, just like his voice in my head.

Cleaning me out, a sparkling stream of rubies drowning the pink, washing it away. Making everything better.

Fae blood did something to Dawn. Ori saw it when a biter took a chunk out of Basil, the man's human memories restored briefly before he went back to zombie mode. The blood might be a cure, or a weapon against Dawn, but right now it became a special thing between boyfriends to knock back the pink menace.

God, I really need to hold you…

"Miko?" Ori's beautiful voice rang in my head, albeit panicked.

"I'm here," I replied, the night sky and the rooftop filling my vision again.

"What's going on? It feels like I'm healing you."

"You are. I…"

Dawn howled, the noise threatening to destroy my hearing forever. I covered my ears, getting to my feet. "I have to go."

"Miko!"