The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Eleven

"What did you do to him?" I demanded as I eyed the sinister smile he was making. My hand clenched on Luke's.

Countess Eldresen gave a simpering smile at our satyr. "Oh, Xavian can be naughty, so we keep him controlled so that we can make use of his spectacular gifts. Men are such puerile creatures; are they not, with all their raging? As a noble, even if it is from that awful Spring Court, you would agree, no?"

I looked at Xavian's glassy, vacant eyes and the empty grin on his face and compared them to the determined man on the street. He'd been confident that he could be of service to me, and there'd been a spark of hope and life. The man before me was a beautiful doll giving an ancient puppet master her illusions of power.

I opened my mouth to disagree just as Xavian began to hum a haunting tune that erased my protest from my mind. Feelings of contentment attempted to wash over me, and along with that, contentment was a sudden thought to allow others to enjoy me and for me to enjoy them.

The ones that were not linked to me somehow, Noc and Rielte, crumpled under the force of the melody. I'd been standing in front of Noc, so I was the closest target for his compulsion. His arms draped around me, and the chill of his frost giant body should have shocked me into alertness, but that is not what happened.

Instead, I grew hungrier - but not in the way that Countess Eldresen probably wanted.

First, all I could think about was pizza. I needed pizza suddenly, like I needed air and water. Then, I began to ponder whether air and water could be turned into pizza. That would be a world-changing feat, wouldn't it? Then as I considered the ambrosia-like goodness of Pizza with a capital P, Roots shot out from me and sunk into Noc, Rielte, Xavian, and everyone not already attached to me in the room and pulled on their spirits, just as I had tried to do in the prison.

Noc clutched me tighter and left a trail of frozen kisses on my neck as the song mixed with the pulling of the root upon him. The tantalizing snowflakes of his force spilled into me, and I exhaled with a smile.

My eyes glowed so brightly the colors of the garish room washed out in the light. The lace that hid my eyes could not hold back the painful brilliance. My gums ached as long fangs pushed through, and I hissed from the pain and the increase in my hunger. I could smell the sour vinegar of fear and the overpowering stench of roses like a vulgar perfume as new ways to sense others activated with the release of my fangs. As Noc continued to feather icy kisses on me, my blue root continued to pull his energy to me, then paused, and it turned white. At the change of color, I  was able to find a flicker of reason to release a flood of energy back to him. Noc groaned as he staggered against me but wouldn't relent from kissing my neck. I tangled a hand into his hair and hunger filled me once more. The blue roots went searching again.

"Aaah!" Countess Eldresen fell to her knees with a scream as my blue root tugged at her and found her wanting. It sucked at her lifeforce as she tried to flee. Another tendril found Xavian. Even though my satyr's life force was being sucked away by me, he was still smiling. Then the blue root attached to him turned white.

Along with the desire for their lifeforce came a craving for blood. Souls and blood eclipsed pizza in my esteem, and I turned in Noc's embrace. I pulled his head down towards me, focused on his neck. A sharp jerk from solid arms pulled me away from my prey, making me roar in frustration.

"You need to stop." Ciaran's calm voice eked its way into my psyche, but the hunger was too much for me to bear. He pushed a stream of life force energy that paused my goal of eating every soul in the room. Although his words and actions paused me, In my haze, I  registered that he wasn't directing the words to me. He was looking at the Countess on the ground.