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.The lace at his wrists wasbeyond repair; poor Barra would be most put out.He tensed as the draugr drew near enough to properly see, swearing loudly ashe took it in.Winsted.Someone had turned Winsted into a draugr.That solved the riddle ofwhere he had gone, but why would someone do such a thing? What was thepoint? Surely Winsted was more useful alive? Hell, he was more annoying alive.This did not seem fair.Midnight hated Winsted, because Winsted hated Devlinand did his best to make Devlin's life miserable, despite the fact Devlin was theonly reason Winsted's sister still lived.He would have liked nothing more thanto tear out Winsted's throat and drink down his blood as he watched life leechfrom Winsted's face.To simply make him properly dead again did not seem fair.It felt as though theyall were cheated out of something, even if that something was an ugly, bitterfight."Oh my god," Barra said.The others were silent.Ceadda stepped forward."He's well made, I will say that much.You act asthough you know him.""Yes," Barra said before Midnight could, and explained as best he could.Midnight left them to it, and spared one last moment to mourn the unfairnessof it all.He loathed Winsted, but this did not seem right.What had been takenfrom him, for what did he search, that someone was able to make him a draugr? Midnight bolted forward, running full tilt to meet Winsted head on and barelydodged in time as one giant fist came flying at him, faster than any humanwould ever be able to move.It would seem Winsted was a bit more powerful than he had thought.Newdraugr tended to be slow at first.The strength and the power and ability tominutely manipulate weather came much later.Whoever had made Winsted adraugr had managed to accelerate the process.Midnight dodged another swing, bolting away as Winsted came at him, barleykeeping ahead of a fury that had nothing human left to temper it.Finally, finallyhe saw his chance, catching Winsted's arm as it came at him again and tearingwith all his strength.Casting the arm aside, he lunged at Winsted, catching his other arm and buryingthe claws of his free hand in Winsted's throat.Feeling flesh and blood and bone,he listened as Winsted gurgled in surprise more than in a sudden loss of hisability to breath.The eyes glowed blue, but there was something something in them had notcompletely turned inhuman monster.Beneath it all, a shred of the humanmonster remained.Pulling his hand from the ruined throat, letting go of Winsted's arm, Midnighttore Winsted's head from his body and cast it aside.He turned away as Troyes drew near to burn the body to ash, staring at the filthwhich covered his hands.He flexed his fingers, flicking off bits and pieces hepreferred not to look too closely at.What would Devlin think, to see him likethis? Would he be repulsed? It was hardly the first time Midnight had gotteninto a brutal fight; Devlin would never lead the true life of a gentleman ofleisure. It was, however, the first time he had been this ruthless, this violent.They hadtaken Devlin, however; were using him because of Midnight.He would be asmuch a monster as necessary to get back his treasure, his reason for fighting offdeath itself so many years ago, but he wondered if the methods would cost himthe prize.Making a rough sound, Midnight vanished to find water, ignoring the sounds ofthe other calling out to him.He moved too quickly for them to easily follow, notstopping until he came at last to a stream.Dropping to his knees, he plunged hishands into the water all the way up to his elbows, willing all the nastinesscovering his hands to wash away.He would have cried, if it were in him to do, but crying had never been his way.All he had ever needed when he reached that point was Devlin's presence.He'dsimply stolen into Devlin's arms for an embrace that let him feel their heartsbeat in time.He was not a monster, because he was Devlin's."Heartbeat," Midnight whispered to the dark, finally pulling his hands from thefrigid stream. II.VI FancyBy the time every last body was destroyed and they were certain no moredraugr were forthcoming it was too close to dawn for them to make it to thesafety of the village."You should go on ahead," Midnight said to the others."Simply see that I amwell hidden and thoroughly covered, and once it grows dark again I will catch upto you." He truly hated his weakness to the sun.He'd overcome so muchDevlin's spell had given him every semblance of true life, but even Devlin'smagic could not conquer the terrible effects of sunlight, or the fact thatMidnight fell into a dead sleep with its rising."No," Neirin said firmly."You are, without a doubt now, what our mysterioussorcerer wants.Not all of his magic may be confined to night.He knew where tofind us; it is not unreasonable to think he might have intended to strand youhere in the open, for better to take you in daylight when you are mostvulnerable.We will stay and guard you.If he is trying this hard to obtain you,then at least be assured Devlin is not dead."Midnight nodded, unable to argue even if he had wanted to.Something aboutNeirin's tone and manner made it impossible to voice a protest.He didn't trulywant to be left alone, anyway.They quickly found a thick copse of trees, through which very little sunlightwould get through.Once Midnight had settled as comfortably on the ground ashe was able, Neirin and Ceadda covered him with their greatcoats, protectinghim completely from any possibility of sunlight.It made him think of a coffin, of being buried.Not that he would ever rest inone upon Devlin's death, Midnight would turn to ashes.Precaution preventedany other possibility.He had never particularly cared before, but now he was grateful that he would be dust.He didn't want to be buried in the ground; itseemed too awful a way to spend eternity.As unsettling as it was, he was too tired to be kept awake by it.As the sun rose,Midnight fell asleep.It should not be so thrilling, but it was.This was only his fourth time venturingout by himself, and after being constantly confined to the house or always madeto go about with Devlin or Barra alone! It should not be so exciting, but thereyou had it.True, it was only to the nearest of the bookshops they visited, but where elsewould he go? At so late an hour, precious little else was open and none of it wasconducive to keeping his nature from normals and nightwalkers alike.Everfretful, he reached up to make certain his short cropped hair was suitably hiddenbeneath his hat.Devlin occasionally took him to museums and pubs and the like,but those visits were infrequent, as he was too strange to go out often, and tooyoung to protect himself well should something go wrong.One day, though.Oneday he would be unstoppable, and Devlin would have to let him go everywhere
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Tematy
IndexChristopher Nicole [Hilton 02 The Devil's Own (v1.5) (epub) i
Coulter Catherine Devil's Duology 01 W objęciach diabła
Chris Speyer Devil's Rock (v5.0) (epub)
Maxwell Megan Proœ mnie, o co chcesz 02 Dopóki jestem ( 18)
Memnoch the Devil Anne Rice
John Ringo When the Devil Dances
Kane Stacia Megan Chase 03 Opętany demon
30 4102
§ Haas Wolf Simon Brenner 06 Wieczne życie
Cinco horas con Mario Miguel Delibes