Pentad of Un

Chapter 20 - Shayrow

     "Shay?"

     Shayrow twitched, suddenly aware that he was crumpled on the ground and that something had just been poured into his mouth, coating his tongue with a bitter, alcoholic taste.

     "Shay, are you okay?" Adif worriedly asked.

     He bolted upright, then he immediately regretted it as his body heaved in reaction to the sudden movement. He rolled on his side, turning away as he hurled.

     "Is that a good or bad sign?" Luss said, his voice coming from somewhere nearby.

     "Both," Adif replied. "I don't know how much akoni is still in him. I can't give him any more."

     Akoni.

     Shayrow barely managed to keep from retching.

     Akoni was a potion for creatures like werewolves, lukanthropes, and vampires... but Adif had given a dose to him—a dhampyr.

     He couldn't wrap his brain around it.

     It wasn't like he needed to drink akoni the way a werewolf had to in order to stay sane under the light of the full moon.

     Right?

     "He should be okay," Adif assured the others, but she sounded worried.

     "What happened?" Shayrow dazedly asked, wiping his mouth with his hand.

     He froze.

     He'd just wiped blood off of his face.

     "Yeah, let's just say it's a good thing you're wearing all black," Luss quipped.

     Shayrow felt his insides flip over.

     "The good news is," Luss went on, "you did pretty much save our lives."

     "What did I do?" Shayrow whispered, lifting his eyes to look at the members of the group.

     Adif was crouched down next to him, and she was clutching an empty bottle that had the signs of its contents being recently brewed.

     Luss was standing behind her and slightly to the side, and he was gingerly holding Shayrow's sword with his cloak as though he were holding something that had been dipped in venom and couldn't touch it even with his gloved hands.

     Jelro was sitting on the ground, comforting the resident animals—which were all present. None of them seemed like they had been harmed.

     Kestek was standing in the back, holding the bottle of dimmed flousx, her face pale and filled with horror.

     The sky above was dark with clouds, and the smell of blood hung heavy in the air.

     "The full moon turned you absolutely feral," Luss indifferently said, holding the sword out towards the dhampyr.

     Shayrow winced as he took the sword.

     "That... doesn't make any sense," he whispered. "I... It's never happened before."

     "Prob'ly because you've never been around that much blood on the night of the full moon," Luss said. "Or been attacked by angry leg demons."

     Shayrow didn't want to even think about the creatures that had swarmed the group.

     "Why stuhaćs, though?" Kestek mumbled. "We don't even have that many legs."

     "Ten is kind of a lot," Luss pointed out.