Lost Soul (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 2) (13 page)

"The Lady Kira will see you now," said a tiny Death-talker who exited the room as if she floated on air. She was as pale as the others with one significant difference—she didn't look any older than twelve. Even her voice had the high pitch of a pre-teen. She smiled at me and inclined her head, stepping aside to free the doorway for Nerina and me.

Nerina rose and walked ahead for which I was grateful. Kira sounded like a force to be reckoned with and having Nerina guide me inside made me feel a little less intimidated.

I wanted to laugh. I'd been through so much, yet I was intimidated by someone I hadn't even met. I took one last glance at Logan. He scowled, his face dark with anger.

Nerina held the door open for me. As soon as I entered, she shut it with an ominous click.

The room was cathedral-like, high glass ceilings, bookcases that seemed to go on forever and plush seating dotting the carpet. It was more a library than anything else. An impressively large library.

I didn't let the grandeur of the room distract me. After a cursory scan of the room, my gaze fell on a woman who stood before a large, arched window. A book sat on a podium in front of her and she stood silently as if waiting for me to speak. I didn't. She had summoned me. So I waited in silence.

One thing stood out clearly as I waited. Her hair was the inkiest black possible, so unlike the grey non-color of the rest of the Death-talkers. Did that bode well for her when she performed callings? Or perhaps as the High Priestess she no long did mundane work like Callings.

Minutes ticked by as the high priestess stood with her back to me, as if she wanted to extend my wait just that bit longer.

At last she turned, staring at me with glittering, dark eyes. "State your name and the reason you are here." Her words were cold and arrogant. Why did she need me to state my name and purpose? She knew it already from her contact with Nerina.

But I was here for her help. No sense in pissing her off. "I am Kailin Odel and I'm here to respectfully request a portal seal to allow me entry to the Greylands." I kept my tone neutral, hoping none of my irritation slipped through.

"And do you not understand that only the demons and the dead can walk the plane of the In-Between?" She looked me up and down, her tone cutting into me as she questioned me.

I forced myself to continue. "I am able to travel within the Greylands."

"And pray tell how that is possible." She moved closer to me, studying me, a cold sneer lifting her lip making her look deadly dangerous.

"Because I am the Hunter." I left it there, hoping she wouldn't want to talk about the Niamh.

"That is a wild claim. I know the Hunter. And you are not her." Kira snapped, her eyes flashing.

"If you mean Celeste, she is my mother."

"So the daughter deigns to think she can be as powerful as her mother. Quite presumptuous aren't you, little cat?"

A cat jibe. How very mature. I felt anger rise. My panther didn't like this woman either and she clawed for release, but I tamped her down. I was not going to allow Kira to get a rise out of me. Taking in a slow deep breath, I let it out just as slowly, urging my heart rate down. "I am not trying to take her place. She isn't able to save my sister from the Greylands. I really have no choice."

"Ah yes, the reason for your travel to the Greylands. You wish to save your sister?" Her voice was still cold even though her words hinted at a little empathy. But I could be wrong about her having any feelings. Her face was pinched. Emotionless. And she looked at me with cold derision. "How very heroic of you."

"I don't really have a choice. If I leave her there, she will die or go insane."

"I am well aware of what can happen should a living soul be trapped within the Greylands." She attacked as if I'd intended to insult her, but before I could even think of apologizing, she said, "So what will you be willing to pay for the portal seal?"

I hid my surprise. Nobody had mentioned a price, but it was naive to think I would get it for nothing. Everything had a price. "What is the cost? What do you wish me to pay?" I was sure I could raise whatever amount of money she wanted. My father was a very wealthy Alpha.

"Oh, don't you worry your little feline head about money. It's not money I want." There she went again with the cat insults. This woman was really rubbing me the wrong way. But I kept my cool and waited. From her expression, she was frustrated that she wasn't getting a rise out of me. I liked that. "But tell me first. Why should I help the likes of you?"

She looked at me from head to toe as if I lived in a garbage dump. Even her lip curled as if she couldn't stand the smell of me. My panther growled, wanting release and probably wanting to rip the High Priestess's face open. I wasn't sure how to answer her, but she didn't really want a response. She just enjoyed playing her little games, so I let her, despite my rising fury.

She paced before the book. "What is it to me that a foolish walker gets herself trapped in the Greylands? She deserves to die there for her stupidity."

I hid a smile. Kira didn't know I wasn't falling over myself feeling sorry for Greer. How sisterly of me, but that was just the way it was. "I think my mother would prefer for her daughter to survive her trip to the Greylands."

"Ah, yes. Celeste. Foolish choice she made. Children are a burden a woman like her should never have taken on. It has made her weak, vulnerable." Kira's skin gleamed in the fading evening light. "Very well. I will give you the portal key on one condition."

Her about-face was so sudden I blinked, then schooled my features, hoping my surprise didn't show. I wasn't keen on revealing my feelings to her. "What would you have me do, Lady Kira?"

"I will have you swear a blood promise to me. You will get the portal key in return for a promise to do my bidding whensoever I should ask it."

***

My chest tightened. That was a huge favor. There were any number of things she could ask me to do that there would be no way in hell I would do. I opened my mouth but she cut me off. "There shall be no bargaining with my offer. It is . . . how do you say . . . take it or leave it." She smiled, her lips curling coldly.

I clamped my jaw shut and chewed on my lip. She hadn't left me a choice. It was the blood promise or Greer dies. I hoped my sister appreciated what I was about to do for her.

"I agree to the blood promise." Kira arched an eyebrow, the skin at her eyes tightening in surprise. A sough of breath behind me told me that Nerina was also shocked that I'd agreed.

"Good." Kira moved to a table a few feet from the podium. "Nerina, bring me the ceremonial goblet."

Behind me, Nerina's skirts swished and
the door opened and shut. The younger Death-talker passed me, giving me a worried glance before handing Kira a drinking vessel made of gleaming white stone streaked with grey. She placed the goblet on the table and moved away.

Kira bent and drew up her flowing grey gown to remove a vicious-looking dagger from a sheath on her pale thigh. These Death-talkers weren't as unassuming as they looked. The high priestess placed the dagger beside the goblet and took her place on the other side of the table. She motioned for me to come forward and I stood opposite her.

"To seal the blood promise, I need your blood. Any objections?" She raised an eyebrow in question. I shook my head. She handed me the dagger and said, "Cut. Wherever you want, I don't really care. I just need a few drops of your blood in the goblet."

Taking the knife, I made a thin incision across my palm and held my hand over the vessel, allowing blood to drip steadily onto the bowl. I looked up at Kira. She just stood there, watching as drop after drop of ruby red splashed onto white stone.

"Enough. My dagger please." She held out her hand. I gave it to her, still red at its tip from releasing my blood. She didn't bother to wipe the blade clean, just punctured her palm and dripped her own blood into the goblet. Red mixed with red and swam around each other as if even our blood refused to associate with each other.

She took the dagger and mixed the blood together, the scrape of the metal against the stone sending shivers down my spine. What had I just gotten myself into? I gritted my teeth.
No time for looking back. Just get on with it.

Kira grasped the goblet then spoke a few words over it, the grey in her eyes growing cloudy, swirling with shadows and light. She closed her eyes for a moment, then snapped them open. They both flashed black for a split second before they returned to normal.

Then she raised the goblet to her mouth and tilted it to sip at the bloody contents. My panther pushed for release again, the blood calling to her most basic need. I tamped her down, using all my strength.
Ailuros, help me keep her at bay.

I sucked in a soft breath as Kira handed me the goblet, her lips tinged red from our blood. I wanted to gag at the thought of having to swallow her blood. But I grasped the goblet within steady hands and swallowed the rest of the blood.

Kira nodded and took the goblet, setting it on the table again. "Good. It is done then. Some time in the future, I will call for you to uphold your promise, Hunter. And you will do whatever I ask. Oh, and there is what you call fine print." My gaze narrowed on her face. "Oh, don't worry. It is just a rights handover, if you will. In case of my death. The blood promise will remain in effect until the oath is completed. If I should die before claiming that promise, the rights shall be transferred to the next High Priestess."

I nodded. "So when do I get the portal key?"

"Oh, you don't waste time I see."

"It is what I came here for."

"Very well. Nerina, please hand me a key." Nerina hurried to a large wooden chest that sat in front of the podium holding the enormous book. She dug inside for a moment and rushed back to Kira with a metal disk in her hand. It was identical to the bronze, donut-shaped key Grams had given me to use to enter Wrythiin. My stomach tightened. Was this where Mom had obtained her key? Is that how Kira knew her?

Kira raised the knife again and beckoned to me. More of my blood? I didn't protest, just stepped back to the table and watched as Kira sliced into my palm again. Despite her cold attitude toward me, her movement was gentle and careful as she slit the skin open and let the blood flow. She held my hand over the metal disk and blood dripped onto it, running it along the carvings and filling the tiny crevices.

At last satisfied, she pressed a thumb to the cut and held on to my arm, motioning me for my other hand. I gave it and she held onto both my arms tightly. She began to chant—strings of words woven together like an unearthly melody.

A breeze stirred through the room, lifting our hair and moving our garments. Kira chanted louder, and my ears began to ring with the strange words of her chants echoing in my mind. The air moved and a gust of wind ripped through the room. I glanced about for an open window even though I sensed the wind was coming from nowhere else but between Kira and me.

Air spun around us as Kira chanted louder, almost shouting to be heard above the rushing wind. The metal disk rose between us and began to spin so fast I could barely see it anymore. The portal key had been drenched with blood but strangely I wasn't spattered with any droplets.

Kira managed a last shouted chant and a blast of air hit us from the spinning key, sending our hair flying out behind us, flattening our clothing to our bodies and making my eyes burn. The disk slowed its crazy spinning and gradually descended to the table, laying itself flat as if an unseen hand placed it there with deliberate care.

Kira sighed and reached for the portal key, raising it, then turning it over and over in her hand. She gave it a thorough inspection and nodded, a satisfied gleam in her eye. Then she thrust the key at me as if she couldn't get it out of her hands fast enough.

"The key is now yours. Only you can use it to open the portal to the Greylands. Of course you may bring your sister back with you as long as you are the one opening the portal."

I frowned, thinking of the other portal key I'd used to enter Wrythiin. I cleared my throat. "If the keys were coded with the blood of the user, how was I able to use my mother's portal key to enter the Wraith realm?"

"Surely you have worked that out already, my dear. You do seem smart enough." There was that bite back again. I frowned. The blood of the user enabled the opening of the portal but the key would have been coded to Mom's blood, which meant we had at least part of our blood in common. "The blood. My mom's blood and mine."

"Yes, little cat. You must have had enough blood in common to allow the portal to open."

"So would my portal key open for Greer?" The possibility was worrying.

"No. This particular one may work for your mother but not your sister. Your combination of blood would be too different."

"But Greer could use Mom's portal key to enter Wrythiin."

Kira nodded. "It's possible. But not certain. You will only know if you try. I'd be very careful with those keys if I were you. You do not want them to fall into the wrong hands. The failsafe is that it is coded to your blood, but there are those out there who would do anything for power. One can never be sure what another person is capable of." The words hung in the room, a cloying warning.