Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
SLOAN
The woman had red hair like a torch had been lit on her scalp. The robes that covered her body were dark blue, maybe purple, it was hard for Sloan to tell. Her eyes were penetrating, like bright mage lights directed only at her. She stood above Sloan’s sleeping figure.
Sloan stumbled from her sleeping position on the thick, red-carpeted floor.
Everything was how she remembered. The bed that had held her dead friend was still there beside her.
The chairs, table, and sofa that used to be in the middle of the room had been pushed against the walls to provide room for the bed.
“Your change is coming.” The woman looked Sloan up and down like she was inspecting a prize horse up for auction. “And you are not prepared for the thirst that will follow.”
“What?” Sloan winced, trying to make sense of what the woman was saying. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized she had to be dreaming, but that part was buried down deep, locked away in light of the realness she felt. “Who are you?”
“Who I am is not important. Listen to what I have to tell you. You’re about to go through a very harsh transition.
The chemicals that have altered your body are not as much of a gift as you think they are.
You’ll thirst for the blood of others once you have fully turned, sleep will be a memory, and you’ll have the ability to change others with a single bite. ”
“What … what are you talking about?”
Sloan looked the woman up and down again. Her fair skin, the light sprinkle of freckles on her face reminded Sloan of someone, she just couldn’t recall who.
“Look at yourself!” The mystery woman was on her in a moment. Somehow, she was stronger than even Sloan. She grabbed Sloan by the arms and dragged her to a bookshelf where a circular mirror sat facing outward. “Look at yourself!”
Sloan winced at the deathlike hold the woman had on her arms. Her skin was already melding to the woman’s hands like there would be imprints there forever. A part of Sloan wanted to fight, but stronger still was the part of her that wanted answers.
What she saw in the mirror’s reflection terrified her to the bone.
There was no doubt that the woman looking back at her was herself.
But something had gone horribly wrong. Two needle-like canine teeth came down from her upper jaw.
They were so long, they overlapped her bottom lip.
Her eyes were a shade of blood red she had never seen before.
“What … what am I becoming?” Sloan managed to get the words out.
The woman finally relaxed her grip on Sloan. She stood beside her, gazing into the mirror. “You are becoming something this world has never seen. Your enemies are also growing in strength and number. They will also become monsters.”
“I’m not a monster.” Sloan didn’t even believe the words as they came out of her mouth. “I’m not.”
“You’ll be forced to fight a battle on two fronts.” The woman’s voice was so commanding, it made Sloan finally look away from the mirror. “One against your physical enemies, and one against the enemy that now lies within you.”
“I need more answers.” Sloan shook her head. She moved her right hand to her mouth to feel her mutated teeth. They were still there, hard and dangerous under her fingers. “What’s going to happen to me?”
The woman shook her head, sending her long red hair into a frenzy. She raised her left hand that glowed with an aura of white magic.
“Wake up. Go and seek your answers Charlotte Sloan.” The woman snapped her fingers.
Sloan woke, sitting bolt upright. She looked everywhere in the room for the woman, but she was alone. A heavy layer of sweat covered her brow and had gathered in her armpits. Sloan swallowed non-existent saliva down her dry throat.
She had no idea how long she had slept. The only way to gauge the passage of time was by the moon instead of the sun that now shone through the window. Sloan hated herself for trying, but she had to know.
With a trembling hand, Sloan raised her fingers to her mouth. Her teeth were as normal as ever—straight, standing in a row like a line of soldiers she had commanded in a previous life.
“Get yourself together,” Sloan said out loud, then took in a long breath. “It was a dream.”
Whether there was truth to her nightmare or not, one thing was for certain: Sloan needed answers, and she knew exactly where to get them.