Page 175 of Remnants: Disruption
“Believe me or not,” I say, shrugging and pressing another kiss to her cheek. “I’ll get you some water.”
Before I can roll away, she grabs my shoulder and holds me still.
“I—” she sighs out and her mottled eyes meet mine again. “I cannot eat food or drink water. That, of the few things, survived the mutation.”
“Do you need blood?” I ask, running through the very short list of vampire stereotypes I know of.
She shakes her head a little before looking like she might cry again.
“I need to drain Affliction. Or, Aether, I suppose as it is actually known.”
“Aether?” I ask, studying her crumpling expression.
“That is its true name,” she says frowning a little. “I do not know where the term Affliction came from, but Darkrend had called it Aether all those years ago.”
“So, you need it?” I ask, filing the information away from later.
“From a Remnant or person—” she shudders a little and I sit bolt up, sliding off the bed.
“Alright, I’ll—” I frantically search the somewhat reassembled room. “I’ll go kidnap one of the NCPD officers and bring them here.”
Her eyes snap to mine like she hadn’t expected that.
“You would do that?” she whispers, struggling a little before pulling herself into a seated position.
In the light now, she looks gaunt. Alive, of course, but gaunt and fragile.
“Anything,” I breathe out, confused by her confusion. “I’ll do anything for you.”
“Silver no longer kills me, but it drains me of the power I collect,” she says softly, eyes falling away from mine. “To recover fully I would need a Remnant. Not a human.”
I nod quickly, running through ideas.
“Arya,” she says quickly and my gaze snaps to hers again. “I do not want this blood on your hands.”
“Cass,” I hiss, feeling a surge of anger at her, however misplaced. “What part of ‘I love you’ do you not get?”
Her jaw works wordlessly.
“I’ve got enough blood on my hands at this point anyways. I’m just thankful they’ve all deserved it.”
I feel her eyes on me as I stride to the door.
“Fuck,” spit, looking into the rest of the house that I’d yet to actually explore. “I’m still in Romania. How the fuck do I get—”
I gather the shadows like before. Like the way I’d done to get here.
But they flash and fall apart as the portal fails. Apparently several thousands of miles is too much, now.
“Fuck,” I hiss again, panic beginning to rise in my chest. “Okay, so maybe someone locally then?”
Surely there’s a few different sects here. Someone who—
“Arya,” Cass’ tone is sharp now. Like she can see the spiraling. Feel it, probably.
“I’m going to find a way to fix this,” I say, voice tight. “Wait—”
I cross the room to her and grab her hand between mine.
