Harley
“So what do you want in return?” I jumped straight to the point, knowing she could change her mind at any moment. That was the trouble with creatures like her: you could never tell what they were thinking.
Echidna swayed rhythmically. “All in good time, child.”
It might have slipped your notice, but I don’t have a lot of that, Mother of Monsters.
“Do want a gift of some kind?”
“I wonder why Katherine hasn’t killed you yet.” Oh, so we were digressing while my life was on the line? I couldn’t exactly rush her, not with her fangs and claws at the ready to swipe my head from my shoulders.
I shrugged. “Maybe she’s working up to it.”
“Could be.”
“What can I give you in return for your blood?” I pressed, feeling the creep of the Suppressor with every second that ticked by.
“Perhaps she might need you later.” She tapped her claw against her lip, ignoring me. “It’s the only viable reason she’d allow someone like you to live.”
“Someone like me?”
She smirked. “That power, remember?”
How could I forget, when it was all anyone could talk about? Levi, Alton, the Mage Council, even the Rag Team were guilty of it at times—they saw my strength before anything else, with that apparently being my primary feature.
“You think that’s why?” I figured I might as well get as much information out of her as possible before I made my escape out of this frigging box. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, the panic in my veins heightened by the Suppressor’s influence. Two more steps, and I’d have this thing out of me for good. The Dark blood and then the Sanguine spell—those were the only tasks left for me to complete before I could break the Suppressor, and I had to keep my focus on that.
“It is the only reason a Challenger of a Child of Chaos would wait.” She licked her lips. “Oh my stars and garters, that energy is delicious. So very delicious. I’d eat you up if I could.” She seemed to be head over heels for the power inside me, to the point where I was actually worried she’d hold true to her word and literally devour me whole.
If that’s the case and Katherine is waiting for something, then what is she waiting for? It got me thinking again. Katherine and I had faced each other, one-on-one, and she’d found plenty of ways to sneak her spies into the coven and manipulate good people like Nomura. So why had none of them come for me? I mean, Nomura had intended to exchange me, but Katherine hadn’t asked him to kill me. He could have done it at any point, and it would have been way easier than locking me out of my body and making an exchange. She wanted me alive, but what for?
I vowed to find the answer once I got out of here in one piece. Escaping Echidna alive was my main concern, given the current circumstances… and that ravenous look in her red eyes.
“So what can I offer you in return?” I repeated for what felt like the millionth time. My body tingled with loose Chaos, my limbs feeling as heavy as lead and my heart slowing to a sluggish pound in my chest. If she didn’t broker the deal soon, I wouldn’t be alive enough to give her anything. My Chaos seemed to be trying to push through my skin, the energy practically seeping out of me. I shuddered, wondering what would happen if I didn’t get out of here in time. With me dead on the ground, Echidna would probably eat me for the sake of not wanting my body to go to waste.
“I will give you my blood…” She trailed off in thought.
“In return for?” I prompted, after a good few minutes of silence. This was getting silly now.
“After—or rather, if—you defeat Katherine, you must bring your firstborn child to me within a week of its birth and allow me to name the infant.”
I frowned at her. “You want to name my firstborn child?” That didn’t seem like such a big deal, but she wouldn’t have been asking if it didn’t hold some weight. I just didn’t know what kind of weight it could possibly have.
“Oh yes,” she hissed with a smirk.
“Who says I’m having kids? Bit presumptuous, don’t you think?”
She chuckled. “Then what do you have to fear?”
I don’t know… What do I have to fear?
“And that’s a long way off. Wouldn’t you rather have something more immediate?” I replied.
“I am a patient mother. I can wait.” She smiled at me. “You would be surprised how strong the maternal instinct can be. It pulls at the heart unlike anything else in this world. I am confident in my choice.”
I shuddered. What do you know that I don’t? I had horrible visions of one of her monster offspring creeping into my room in the dead of night and somehow injecting a Purge beast into me.
“Do you mean an actual child, or do you mean my first Purge beast?” I wanted to be sure. Echidna was the Mother of Monsters, after all, so it could well have been either. Human or beastie, she saw them both in the same way, with the same level of importance.
“I mean a human child. Born of your womb.”
There are no babies getting in this womb anytime soon, pal.
As if reading my mind, she barked a laugh. “As I say, I am patient.”
“What if I shirk my promise and don’t show up?” I asked bluntly. “Or I name it something else? If I ever have a kid, that is.”
“Folks like you—the lost souls—feel the pull of motherhood more intently than most. It will surprise you, I am sure.” She leered at me. “As for you shirking your promise, I have already thought of that, child. A curse will be on your shoulders the moment you walk from this box. I would not risk you breaking your promise, now, would I?”
I struggled not to roll my eyes. “No, of course you wouldn’t.”
“More to the point, you are currently the only thing standing between myself and the ritual that may take my life.” A flicker of real fear moved across her red eyes.
“So if I stop Katherine before she gets to your ritual, will you rethink this whole firstborn thing?”
She chuckled coldly. “I will contemplate it. But if you can’t stop her, and you break your word, you will be doomed. The curse will be slow—it will destroy you little by little.”
“I’m sort of getting used to that,” I muttered.
“Pardon?” She surged toward me until we were nose-to-nose, and I was staring straight into those deadly red eyes. The sour, fishy stench was so overwhelming I had to fight to control the vomit rising in my throat.
“A Suppressor joke. I meant no offense by it,” I replied hastily, my body slicked in a cold sweat.
“Ah yes, very humorous.” She reeled back, giving me a moment’s respite from that foul smell.
“I’ll do it. I’ll agree to your terms.” I exhaled sharply, swallowing my nausea. “I’ll let you name my firstborn if I survive Katherine.” Good luck with that. Me and babies seemed impossible. I’d never been a broody type of person who cooed over babies, and I didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
Echidna laughed raucously. “And if you do not survive her—well, it’s all the same to me. I will be doomed anyway, since Katherine requires me for one of those rituals. A cruel trick by those from whose energy I am forged.”
“The Children of Chaos?”
“The Bastards of Chaos, as I like to call them.” She grinned icily, sending beetles of fear crawling under my skin. “They could have picked anyone, but they chose me. Bastards, through and through.”
“I’m sorry about that, but I’ll do whatever I can to stop her before it gets to your ritual.” I didn’t know why I’d said that, since it wouldn’t do me any favors whatsoever. Even if I did manage to stop Katherine before she reached Echidna’s ritual, I had a sneaking suspicion that I’d still have to let her name my kid or risk a terrible curse. A very small part of me hoped she might change her mind in return for doing something that benefited her, but I could tell she wasn’t the kind of monster who could be easily persuaded toward a good deed. This deal was proof of that.
She snickered. “I know what you’re thinking. I won’t promise it will change the terms, even if you do. There is much to be achieved first.”
I ignored her, wishing I hadn’t thought anything at all. “So does that mean we have a deal?”
“I suppose it does.” She held out her wrist to me. “Take your blood, child.”
I cast her a sheepish glance. “I don’t have anything to cut you with, and I don’t have anything to collect the blood, either.”
“You are poorly organized for one in such dire need.” Now the mom in her was really coming out. I could almost imagine Mrs. Smith saying the exact same thing to me the morning before an important exam.
“I know.” I wanted to beat my head against the glass for being so idiotic. Tobe still had the jar full of Light blood, but he was all the way out there in the Bestiary hall, with no way for me to reach him.
“Allow me.” Lifting her wrist to her mouth, she raked her sharp fang along the line of her human-like skin and tore open a gash. Black, oily blood leaked out, pooling in fat globules that turned my stomach into knots. From seemingly thin air, she produced a small green bottle into which she poured the promised blood. I guessed with all the magic at her disposal, creating something from nothing was child’s play. Although, it showed just how strong these Bestiary boxes were, that they could keep so much power contained without inducing a single crack.
Once the bottle was halfway full, she passed it to me, and I took it gratefully, tightening my fingers around the glass in case it suddenly vanished.
“Is that it? Are we done?” I could hardly believe it.
She rushed toward me until we were nose-to-nose once more. “Not quite. I am in need of amusement. How about we make this more interesting?”
“What do you—” Before I could finish my sentence, she pressed her clammy hand to my forehead. A green flash lit up the glass box, and a hot stream of something fierce and overwhelming shot right into the center of my skull. It thundered down my spine, filling every vein with a searing sensation. My limbs shook, my teeth chattering as if I’d been dunked in an ice-cold lake. It felt as if I were sitting in an electric chair and someone had just flipped the switch. Worst of all, there was nothing I could do to stop whatever Echidna had done to me. What the hell is this?!
Then it hit my Suppressor, and I understood. Energy poured in all directions, taking control of my very being. A blinding pain tore through every cell in my body. I crashed to my knees. The Suppressor finally snapped in two, and all of my Chaos broke loose.