The Survivors: Point of Origin (book 2)

Alpha and Omega, pt. 1

"What did you do to him?" I cried, dropping down beside Valentin.

"I have no pity for the death of mere mortals. Their time will come eventually. It is no great disservice to bring it sooner," Raven said callously.

A pale green smoke rose from Valentin's lips. "Inhale!" Anthony cried, and, somehow in my daze, I understood him and followed his command. But Raven did also, and the smoke divided between us and came into both of our lips. I felt hot and then cold, and then an uncomfortable vibration down my spine, into my gut. My vision shifted slightly, as if every living thing had some faint other layer of color to it I hadn't seen before. A foreign feeling of what I believed to be nausea rose in my throat. I realized that this was the process of acquisition. I had acquired Valentin's power—half of it, anyway.

Raven's face lit up as he felt the same odd things I did. "A reader! How glorious! It's so rare the nosferatu have any special powers to offer, but this is a real treat," he smiled. So now, Raven was a reader, too. Did that mean I was as well? I looked at Raven, back to the Winters and Ben, even down at myself, but I couldn't tell anything about us. I didn't know anything I hadn't known before.

I closed my eyes, trying to make sense of things. When I opened them again, everything was the same. All I saw was Valentin's body and Raven.

"And you a reader too, daughter Sadie? Now how could I go anywhere without you? He reached toward me to pull me up, but I jerked away.

"You bastard!" Everett screamed. "Touch her again and I'll kill you."

Raven said. "You'll want to control him. It would be unwise to assume I need to touch him in order to destroy him," he hissed.

"Everett, please," I begged. "Be quiet." His red eyes were glowing like neon light in the night air. Mark had to cover his mouth. Where was that cool California boy now?

Ben cowered away from the mass of them, his terror real.

Alexander reached out for me again, likely to torture Everett. But when his hand touched my cheek, his eyes opened wide and he inhaled sharply. Something had shocked him. I realized quickly that it was by something he had read. "It can't be..." he whispered.

Then everything went black.

             

 

Quickly the world reappeared. We were in the same place, but it was lighter out, and we were alone. Alexander was wearing different clothes. His hair messed up and out of his face. He wore blue jeans, a Henley shirt and an undershirt underneath it. His face was textured with a hint of scruff. He looked much more human.

 

            But he had reimagined me completely. My hair was swept back out of my face and hung low at my neck. He had dressed me in a draped blood red jersey Elie Saab gown I'd seen on a runway. It was belted tight against my waist, cut high across my neck with sleeves that touched my palms. And it was slit all the way up my thigh. My feet were bare.

 

            "Why do we look different?" I asked. "Where are we?"

 

            "We're in a place inside my mind," he said, his voice nostalgic and distant as he wandered among the graves. So this gown, this bareness... it's how he had reimagined me. I instantly felt exposed and uncomfortable in a way words could never describe. "This is what I don't like about you, Sadie. You think there's an answer to every question, a reason for every sin. It is naïve. There are some of us in this world who are capable of things you'll never be able to explain. We possess power you can't trace, do things you can't comprehend. I'm one of those. I am above your laws and logic. I am above your human-like emotion and your stupid faiths."