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It was a place of meditation, which meant that no one would enter once they sensed her presence Thank the gods But she couldn’t hope that the spirit who had taken command of her body would be content to reitated by the creature, although she sensed he was still weakened She had to get away from her people

Or, if worst came to worst, she would have to end her life

A sht All very noble and co as the spirit was in control of her body

For the ain coo would be able

No

The last thing she wanted was Santiago to be in danger

If she tried to reach out for help it would be the Oracles They were, after all, the ones who’d started this whole h to reach out mentally to Siljar, she was abruptly distracted as a vampire stepped in the room

He was a short, bullishly built male with a bluntly carved face and silver hair that was pulled into a tight queue at his neck Oddly, he was dressed in a velvet tunic and leggings that had been the fashion centuries ago, with a heavy war hammer clenched in one hand

Holy hell

She would have stus As it was, she was forced to stand in frozen horror as her former master strolled to a halt directly before her

"Ah, h the thick silence, his pale brown eyes shireed she re last"

"No," she hissed "You’re not real"

He sneered with pleasure at her swelling fear "Did you miss rave

How else was she ever to halt the devastation he was forcing her to wreak on innocents?

So rit

"Dead, but not forgotten"

She felt her fear being shifted to fury, the e out of the building Soon the intense passions would be infecting her people and the spirit would be able to feast to his cruel heart’s content

That’s why it had created this vision of her former sire

It had rooted around in her ed to locate the onethe most intense reaction

"No, I won’t let you usethe bewildered reaction of her people "Not again"

"But you’re such a loyal soldier," heso real that Nefri could almost sympathize with Gaius’s belief that his er to pleaseto destroy an entire clan"

"No"

"No, Nefri," he chided "Don’t you reainst her will the memory of the brutal battle that had killed over two dozen vah herguilt

"I re her pain "Do you hear their screams when you close your eyes?"

Still locked in her paralysis, she could only tremble as the spirit ruthlessly played her emotions like they were a musical instrument

"Yes"

"Do you taste their blood?" he pressed

"It’s over," she rasped

"No, it’s still there Theto be released"

And that was it

Her greatest fear

The reason she had traveled beyond the Veil and devoted herself to creating a place of utter peace

A Garden of Eden

Only I am the serpent, a voice whispered in the back of herto destroy paradise

"Stop," she cried