Dangerous Diabolical: Book 1 (Iridescent) ✔️

Chapter 8 - Gone haunting | Edited

Leofstan already looked as if he'd be expiring where he sat, and now, with a growing wariness that if he did, it might cause him to kill me accidentally, I started to hold my breath each time he took too long to inhale. He was having a hard time replenishing his magic stores to heal.

Working on the knowledge that embedded in my hand was an untapped link into more power and a potential death sentence; I mentally kicked myself for ever having tampered with it. Worst of all, if he almost died first but then killed me instead, how was I meant to eat him? If I were to try and pull his energy through the link, would I manage to get him first?

I flicked a rock, shuffling on the spot. If I snuck him a smidgeon to test it, surely he wouldn't notice? My thumb absently ran over the gem.

Maybe, just maybe...

Worrying my bottom lip with blunt teeth, I tried to emulate the gentle touch of a feather as I began with the softest trickle of magic. Glancing subtly at the other party, Leo didn't offer so much as a twitch. Weird. Maybe it hadn't worked? Trying again, I sent a more substantial wave.

It was the weirdest sensation to continue to leak power. Anything pushed into the gem just vanished. It didn't convert like when casting, and I couldn't find it again to pull it back. Poof.

Leofstan's breathing finally eased next to me as he fell asleep. Remaining undisturbed, I kept going; after all, if I did manage to get my reserves low enough again, maybe I'd figure out where I took my power from before Leofstan died and killed me instead. Closing my eyes, I concentrated.

A stone skittering across the floor jolted me from a slouch, revealing a very sooty Grahame. Blinking at him rapidly, the world suddenly returned to spinning. My body felt drunk. My reserves weren't low, but they weren't precisely sparkly. Each leg tingled with pins and needles, and my hands trembled with movement.

"Can you stand?" The vampire asked Leofstan. On cue, his eyelids fluttered open, cheeks full of colour, and the cracks on his lips scabbed. Cricking his neck, he rolled his shoulders, causing the coat to slip slightly, revealing where injuries actively bleeding before were already in the slow healing process. Stretching his long legs out, the calf, which had been so visibly broken before, now lined straighter.

"Your healing is becoming remarkable," Grahame announced to him. "You're almost on my level."

Shakily, Leo stood, using the wall as a crutch, fighting to place the jacket around him properly. I also tried to stand and fared far worse. Black spots danced across my vision, and my centre of gravity was unable to pinpoint space or time. With a groan, I held my head to check that it wasn't spinning as fast as everything else.

Only when I dared look up did I see Leofstan's eyes staring into mine, and time finally seemed to fall out of sync.

He paled as if he'd seen a ghost. His heartbeat stuttered as he did not look away, his mouth beginning to quiver. We both came to an understanding simultaneously, the jolt of realisation passing between us.

The magic he'd used to heal was mine.

We both reached for the link in the gem in sync, but I was too slow. In that instant, time pounded back into keeping with an explosion that seemed to exacerbate the energy being stolen through my palm.

My knees collapsed unbidden as muscles seized. Entering full panic mode, my main priority was to stop the link. It was akin to trying to grasp liquid in a stream. Energy fled each muscle it powered, sending me sprawling across the floor.

"Oh." I softly gasped, unable to do anything else. No longer having the strength to attempt to summon magic. Leofstan's words echoed in my head; slavery may be worse. No wonder he'd been terrified that I'd intentionally done this to use his magic. He stood glowering down at me, face drawn and brows shadowed. Behind him, darkness stretched infinitely as storm clouds gathered, the sky's thunder shattering the silence.