Virgin Sacrifice: Bred to the Beast (5 page)

"Lucas, how could you..."  She shook her head.  "The Beast is hundreds of years old.  We were children together!"

Lucas shook his head.  "There isn't one Beast, Anja.  There have been many.  My father.  My father's father.  As far back as we can know."

"But where are they?" she said.

Lucas lowered his eyes, and she saw a cloud of sadness pass over him.  "The curse," he said.  "When I came of age, I had to slay my father.  My son will do the same to me when his time comes."

Anja couldn't believe what she was hearing.  She imagined she could feel the Beast's child - Lucas's child - quickening in her womb.  Would that baby grow to be a monster?  Would it kill the man she loved?  "Why, Lucas?"

He grimaced.  "The Wise Woman, Rela.  She cursed my line long ago.  Perhaps my ancestors did something to her long ago."  A faraway glaze filled his eyes, and Lucas stared out at the snow falling gently at the cave's mouth.  "When the moon grows full at Harvest and the new Beast comes of age, the father shall fall, and the seed shall grow in virgin blood."

Lucas slid off the stone slab with light, graceful movements.  Ignoring the cold, he stared out at the storm, his back to her.

Tears trickled down Anja's cheeks.  She wanted to reach out to him, but the set of his shoulders kept her away.  Despair filled her.  "Oh, Lucas, how can we be married.  How can I raise a child who I know will kill you?"

"We will," Lucas growled.  His big, gentle hands tightened on her shoulder.  "You must.  If you don't, Rela will kill you, and the child will be raised by another."

"But why would Rela do this?  Why give Krall's virgins to the Beast at all?"

Lucas let out a wry chuckle.  "When I slew my father, Rela took his blood and his fangs.  Something in the blood keeps her young, and the fangs keep her safe from me."

Anja remembered the Wise Woman's necklace, with its clattering bones and sharp, long teeth.  Something in her chest hardened at the thought of her unborn child and the man she loved trapped by a witch's magic.  "If she weren't protected, what would you do?"

His voice was a low growl again, the barely-contained fury of the wild.  "If she dies, the curse is broken."

The blizzard still raged on the outskirts of Krall when Anja approached the Wise Woman's ramshackle hut.  Bird skulls hung on leather thongs by the door, swinging back and forth in the wind.  Thick smoke rose from a narrow chimney, and a thin crack of light outlined the door.  Rela was home, and apparently awake.

Anja pushed open the door without knocking.  Rela sat before her fireplace, eyes closed, facing the flames.  Without opening her eyes, she smiled.  "You've survived the Beast, child.  I knew you had the strength to embrace your fear.  But why have you come here?"

Anja made her voice small and shaky; it wasn't hard.  Rela had lived for centuries, and with Lucas's blood and with their son's blood, the Wise Woman could live for centuries more.  "The Beast took my virginity," she said.  "He spoke to me and told me I would be with child."

Anja watched Rela's face closely, and only just saw the beginnings of a quickly-concealed smile turn her lips.  "You have nothing to fear, girl.  Your child will be safe in Krall."

Anja stumbled nearer, then sunk to her knees beside the Wise Woman.  "How can I be sure?" she pleaded.  "What if it's a monster... like him?"

The Wise Woman's face grew hard and stern.  "I have spoken, girl.  You must raise this child and keep it safe."

Safe so you can harvest his blood someday,
Anja thought.  Anja forced herself to look timid and avoid Rela's emerald gaze, locking her eyes on the floor.  She wanted to stare at the bones and teeth hanging from Rela's neck, but if she even glanced at the necklace, the woman would know.  She reached out slowly as though begging, but as she opened her mouth to make some plea, her hands darted downward.  She snatched a fistful of bone and fangs and gave a mighty jerk, pulling Rela forward as the other woman howled in shock and rage.

The leather thongs snapped, and Anja scrambled to her feet with a handful of clattering bones.  She bolted for the door, but Rela's hand shot out and grabbed her ankle.  Anja flew forward and hit the soft earthen floor with a thud, arms splayed out, but she held her grip on the necklaces.

Rela let out a hiss like an angry viper, and Anja turned to see the other woman rise to her feet and draw a flint knife.  "You've made a foolish mistake, child.  You should have let Lucas take your virginity months ago.  I'd have cast you out of the village.  There are better lives than to be a monster's broodmare."  She advanced a step, then froze.  Her eyes widened in sudden shock and horror.

Anja looked up at the door and saw Lucas - a Beast again now, all brown fur and muscle and sharp death.  He reached down with a clawed hand and helped her to her feet, then pushed her behind him.  Rela stood watching, trembling in terror, the knife a pitiful, small thing in her hand.

"Go, Anja," the Beast rumbled.  "You mustn't see this.  Soon, we'll be free."

Anja met the Wise Woman's eyes one last time.  In her own greed, this woman had performed a ritual that had destroyed countless livesq.  "Remember what you told me, Rela.  Embrace your fear."

She stepped out into the night and strode quickly toward the village.  Muffled, wet screams came from the hut behind her, but Anja walked on.  The snow quickly filled her tracks as she hurried toward the safety of a warm hearth and the promise of a long life with Lucas and their unborn child, free of the secret curse that had enslaved their bloodline for too long.

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