I hesitate. “No. I like them in threes,” I say lamely, but he grins at me.
“Of course, you do. It’s also the Dragon way.”
Is it? Is that why I like it that way? Even hundreds of years before I knew of my real nature, was it ingrained in me to give me comfort? That, in itself, is comforting.
He finishes lighting the candles and comes to stand in front of me. He pulls a blade out of thin air and holds it up, a smallish dagger with a long, thin blade. “Your hand.”
I shake my head. “It won’t cut me,” I say.
“This one will,” he says confidently.
Oh?
I hold my hand out and he slices it slowly across his own palm and then over mine. To my surprise, it cuts through my flesh with a sharp sting, causing my blood to well up and not heal straight away. He quickly puts his hand against mine, mingling our blood together. I feel a fire course through me. A good burn though, as opposed to Cade’s blood which is most definitely a bad burn.
“Close your eyes,” he whispers, and I do. “Feel the power,” he says.
It flashes through me like lightning and I open my eyes. We are standing in the center of a fiery vortex that is swirling around us. Xane tightens his grip on my fingers and steps closer to me, muttering words in Latin. I feel different this time. After all the other different power transfers, this one is the most noticeable.
“How do you feel?” he whispers close to my ear.
“Better,” I say. “Complete.”
He lets go of my hand and the vortex swirls away to nothing. “Good,” he says smugly. “We are bonded now.”
What? Oh, no! Not again. I really am going to have to watch the company I keep. I sigh.
“How so?” I ask resigned.
“My blood runs through yours and yours through mine. We are linked together.”
I close my eyes and wonder how the fuck I’m going to explain this.
“Now. Do you know about the Grimoire?”
My eyes open with a start. “No.”
“Then we need to teach you.” He reaches into the cabinet and pulls out a book as old as me. Well, probably older, actually.
“What do you know of Demon magick?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you know of Dragon magick?”
“I can displace things. I can also use my mind to change things that are in front of me. Make them how I want them.”
He nods. “Something from something. That’s how it works for you. But now you get to make Something from Nothing.”
“Something from Nothing? Like Conjuring?”
“Yes. Observe.” He holds out his hand and says, “For you.”
“What is it?” I step closer. In his palm is a necklace with a small glass ball pendant, and in it flickers a tiny fire.
“The fires of Hell,” he says and clasps it around my neck. “Your new Domain, my lady.”
I reach down and it feels warm. Warm as in I can feel it warm, like I haven’t felt since I was human.