"I couldn't leave, not while you ..."
He was very quiet and her eyes softened as she realized that he hadn't fed because he'd been afraid to leave her side. But at what cost? she wondered. He looked haggard, but it only heightened the perfect surreal beauty of his face. Victoria understood in that second why people could fall prey to vampires so easily—their beauty enticed and compelled, especially when they were hungry.
"I'll be okay," she told him. "I'll wait. Go." Victoria stood up and literally shoved him out the door. It was snowing again and she watched his lithe body disappear into the trees, their dark evergreen branches heavy with snow.
With Christian gone, Victoria returned to the chair he had vacated and pulled her mind into focus. Her body ached but her mind felt uncluttered. Even her magic felt more malleable, different. Something new had arisen within her, something intense and strong and frightening. It excited and terrified her at the same time.
Who are you,really?
The amulet pulsed as if it held the answer. Victoria held the stone. She knew that she had only survived because of its protective power and magical knowledge. She thought about the fire curse that had incinerated the creature, and her blood boiled in response, the amulet scorching her icy hands. She remembered what Brigid had written in the journal about the inhuman exchange between the blood's magic and sacrifice, and her face paled in horror. In that single moment, everything became crystal clear.
She had killed last night!
Victoria closed her eyes and whispered a summoning charm, the music box from her bedside table materializing in her lap. She removed the journal, and found the letter that Brigid had written to Marcus, rereading the lines she wanted, "the price of the blood had always been mine to set" and the piece about the diamond amulet, "this is everything that was best of me."
She set aside the journal and removed the amulet, her brow furrowed as she examined the diamond. One thing was clear: somehow, the amulet had protected her with its own magic of its own volition. Tentative, she pushed her consciousness into the stone, prisms of crimson light dazzling her, and found herself in a blood-red cavern. The air felt heavy as if she were swimming underwater. Drawing her mental hands forward, sifting through it, her fingers left a trail of silvery-blue phosphorescence in their wake, and she stopped fascinated. Magic!
This was the legacy that Brigid had left—a living testament to her fathomless power, a part of her own consciousness existing forever in the amulet. The stone undulated, embracing her with familiar strength, and she felt renewed.
Victoria pulled some more of the energy into herself as she withdrew, aware of its colossal strength. She would need it for what she was about to do. She lay back in the chair and closed her eyes. Now for the hard part.
A soft noise interrupted her as Christian strode back into the room.
"Victoria, are you okay?"
"Yes. I just have one thing to do but I'm trying to figure out whether I should do it," she said, smiling at his use of her full name. His skin was flushed as if he'd been running but he looked far more human than when he'd left.
"What's that?"
"The wound. I can heal it myself from the inside out but I'm wondering what would happen if I took it into me instead." She quelled his instant look of concern with a gentle smile. "Trust me, it has been a day of discoveries. It won't hurt me."
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because I need to understand why it attacked me." She hesitated. "And how it died."
"Do you want me to stay?" Christian asked.
Victoria nodded and leaned forward, clasping his long fingers in her own. With his free hand, Christian removed the gauze bandage, and was shocked at the yellow and red mottled skin. Victoria wrinkled her nose at the slimy odor as she closed her eyes and concentrated on healing the area surrounding the wound.
"Curo," she murmured.
Before his very eyes, Christian watched spellbound as the skin lightened slowly and visibly cleared, the angry color dissipating as Victoria's magic compelled it. Her body shook slightly as her intense concentration created lines of tension in her face. After a minute the skin on her shoulder became unmarked but for a thin half-moon scar, where the teeth had penetrated her skin. After about ten seconds, Victoria relaxed, opened her eyes and smiled fiercely at him. Her expression was triumphant.
"Did it work?" he asked, his thumb stroking her hand.