etly. "And you are my key to moving between them. Yo

rs on my cheeks already

m and pulled

ect what's grow

briefly over m

at him in

ulfill your role, I'll make you a promise. When everything is done

on

I thought he was going to end me, not

e even saying something re

een us-it cannot be broken. Not unless your mortal life ends a

re colder th

e my purpose is fulfilled, I'll leave. If s

ly a whisper. "What... wha

g of blood magic, of bindings... or even what such a union enta

ce wa

me-it numbed me. All I could fe

ood Seraph began to take shape in your Crimson Sigil Ring... it meant the blood-bo

fr

had been pulsing for days-like a dormant ember beneath my sk

asn't s

darkened. "Un

n't this wait? I'm only eight

line, dictated by the bond itself. The initial p

the first ritual. The first

in this cycle," he said flatl

t my face, trying to hold on to

op out of school, lock m

ing, still cold

them off and stuffed them into my shoulder bag.

rms folded, watching me wit

red, looking up at him. "Could yo

ings. Don't treat m

lacked all control, Clara, you

gh

as I t

A vessel for a bond.

tions didn't

more n

d to th

e the one I remembered. Pale. Hollow-eye

! Hurr

oice echoed do

ed beneath my eyes, and st

d already gone

tering the office, then bolting out j

ll, sprinting down until I finally reached th

d running that the class advisor's b

s in the clear. No

e all the mo

led vampire husband-calc

the office while I was still there, I

ged to the edge and left at the windowsill, seen

. Too

investigation. Late twenties, ex-special forces, with the kind of s

I felt smaller than ever

to me. "Used to be military. Reads peopl

of chaos and worried faces. Sch

or-slammed a hand against the table the

nts have come to? Low-cut tops, bare legs i

iou

ass advisor, Jack, always got along well with his students. Top-notch r

thing!" I snapped befo

t implying I seduced that

the room heard him. Then he cornered me alone and d

am, no matter how badly I wanted to. But that man-J

man's dead and can't defend himself. Look at yo

other barked, shoving back his chair. "Keep talkin

voice fraying. "This isn't helpin

ng this as a suicide for now. But the media will come knockin

knew what he wanted-s

helping in the office. I ran to get he

eply, Officer Bruno l

lly. "You really going to coach a witness? Rewri

nervously, probably cu

using on me. "Tell me ever

force seized the class advisor and dragged him backward.

dn't sto

. And again. F

stions, slightly differ

e recorder and put away his notebook. The

, then said with a faint smile, "Y

ly he

ould've been broken that night-two ye

in the courtyard, clad in a white tank top and shifti

come scratch my back, would

lifted the edge of his shirt. Jus

fr

a Crimson Mask-vivid, grotesque

.. Clara D

ar male voice sli

my father's breathing. Its hollow, blood-rimmed eyes locked on

skgrave..." The vo