“Yes, but it’s mixed with fascination. And thirst. I can smell the blood in the ground. It’s thick and it’s rich. I can hear your heartbeat, taste your scent.”
Yet his eyes were Cian’s eyes, she thought. They didn’t burn red as they had the night he’d come here with Larkin. “They’ll be stronger here than on other ground.”
He looked at her then, realizing he should have known she would understand that. “They’ll be stronger here. There’ll be more of them than there are of you. Driven by what’s bred in this place, by Lilith’s power over them, death won’t mean to them what it does to you. They’ll come and they’ll come without thought of their own survival.”
“You think we’ll lose. We’ll die here, every one of us.”
Truth, he thought, would shield her better than platitudes. “I think the
chances of beating this diminish.”
“You may be right. I’ll tell you what I know of this place. What I’ve read, and what I think is the truth of it.”
She looked out again, across the pitted land called Ciunas. “Long, long ago, before the worlds had separated, and were one instead of many, there were only gods and demons. Man had yet to come between to fight either, to tempt either. Both were strong and fierce and greedy, both wanted dominion. But still, the gods, however cruel, didn’t hunt and kill their own kind, didn’t hunt and kill demons for sport or food.”
“So had the margin of good against evil?”
“There has to be a line, even if it’s only that. There was war. Eons of it, all leading to this place. This was their last battle. The bloodiest, the most vicious, and most fruitless, I think. There was no victory. Only an ocean of blood that rose here, formed this harsh valley, and in time ebbed away, so that blood soaked into the earth, deep and deep.”
“Why here? Why in Geall?”
“I think when the gods made Geall, deemed it would live centuries in peace, in prosperity, this valley was the price. The balance.”
“Now payment’s due?”
“It’s always been coming to this, Cian. Now the gods charge the humans to fight the battle with this demon that began as human. Vampire against what is its source and its prey. It balances here, or it all falls. But Lilith doesn’t understand what may happen if she wins this.”
“We’ll burn out. My kind.” He nodded, having come to the same conclusion himself. “In chaos nothing thrives.”
Moira said nothing for a moment. “You’re calmer now, because you’re thinking.”
He let out a half laugh. “You’re right. Still, it’s the last place in this world or any I’d want to spread out for a picnic.”
“We’ll have a moonlight one, after Samhain. There’s a place that’s a favorite of mine and Larkin’s. It’s—”
Though he’d told her not to touch him, he gripped her wrist now. “Ssh. Something…”
Saying nothing, Moira reached into the quiver on her back for an arrow.
In the shadows, Davey grinned and drew his treasured sword. Now, he would fight the way a prince was supposed to fight. He’d slice and thrust and bite.
And drink, and drink, and drink.
He leaned low over the saddle, preparing to loose a war cry. And Lilith appeared before him.
“Davey! You turn that pony around this minute and come home.”
The fierceness on his face turned into a childish pout. “I’m hunting!”
“You’ll hunt when and where I tell you. I don’t have time for this nonsense, this worry. I have a war to wage.”
Now his face tightened into stubborn lines, and his eyes gleamed against the dark. “I’m going to fight. I’m going to kill the humans, then you won’t treat me like a baby.”
“I made you, and I can unmake you. You’ll do exactly what I…what humans?”
He gestured with his sword. As she turned, and she saw, true fear bloomed in Lilith’s belly. Uselessly she grabbed for the bridle, but her hand passed through the pony’s neck.
“Listen to me, Davey. Only one of them is human. The male is Cian. He’s very powerful, very strong, very old. You have to run. Make this pony run as fast as it can. You’re not meant to be here. We’re not meant to be here now.”