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CHAPTER SEVEN
EXECUTIONS
Isranon regarded Amiri in silence, waiting for her to tell him what she had
come to talk to him about. He poured himself a measure of Sanguine Rose to
ease his aching body and sipped it.
The Ymraude pulled at her wealth of slender braids, clacking the beads
together. This isn't easy, Isranon."
He nodded. I gathered that."
"It's about Iuf."
"And Corbienne?"
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Amiri's lips tightened. I promised I wouldn't tell you. However ... I think
things are too far gone not to."
"What do you mean?"
"Corbienne hasn't been right since Chyniolus."
"I noticed that. Get to the point."
Amiri looked uneasy, averting her eyes from his, and letting silence settle
between them.
Isranon's brow furrowed and he knew what she would say. She's Dancing him?"
Amiri gave a mute nod.
Alarm swept through Isranon and he nearly screamed. I want them brought here
now! At once!"
"I'll get Travis and Haig to help me look for them."
Isranon stared at the tent door long after Amiri left, a prayer on his lips
that Iuf and Corbienne could be found before it was too late. Bad decisions
haunted him, which led him to think again about Merissa Redhand and their son,
Darmyk. His son was three years old now, and Isranon had never seen him. He
had not even known that he had left Merissa pregnant, until after the boy's
birth; when Nevin revealed it in Imralon following a bad episode of Isranon's
recurrent illness. She was his childhood playmate among the lycans, the
daughter of the Red Wolf chieftain, Claw Redhand. A sharp whiff of melancholy
breathed through his heart and doubled his sorrows.
* * * *
Corbienne stroked his chest. I love you, Iuf. You're the only one who makes
me warm."
"I know, Corbie. He squeezed her breasts.
She pressed her body over his and licked his neck.
Iuf tensed and stifled a cry of pain as her fangs entered him. Usually
Corbienne would have swept him into illusions of pleasure, but she was growing
wilder and more desperate to taste him. He writhed in pain beneath her, which
only excited her more. She sucked harder and harder, hauling the life out of
him faster and faster. Iuf groaned loudly. Darkness gathered around the edges
of his fading vision. He felt his heart palpitating madly. Dizziness swept
through him.
Corbienne sensed his heart failing, and she knew she should stop. Yet, the
taste of his blood called to her like a seiryn's song, and she kept thinking,
"Just a little more won't hurt. Just a tiny bit more. Iuf won't mind. He knows
he keeps me warm. He knows I love him. He won't mind. Just a little bit more."
Iuf's heart fluttered. His breathing shallowed out, grew stronger, and
shallowed out again. Then his heart stopped, and he stared sightlessly at the
tent roof.
Corbienne felt confused and disoriented when it became harder to pull more
blood out of her lover. All she wanted was just a little bit more. So she
continued sucking.
Travis and Haig poked their heads into the tent. Hey, Iuf, what's up? Haig
and I thought you might like to have a drink with "
Travis gaze fell upon Corbienne sucking on Iuf's neck, recognized the bluish
tinge to Iuf's flesh, and noted his staring eyes. Hey, get off him, you crazy
bitch!"
Corbienne jerked her fangs out of Iuf and swiped her tongue over the wound,
but the wound neither closed nor bled. She retreated from his body, shaking
her head in furious denial. I just wanted a little bit more, Corbienne
whimpered.
Travis moved to Iuf's side and felt for a pulse that he already knew he would
not find.
Haig stepped between Travis and Corbienne, eyes narrowing, taking in the blood
smearing Corbienne's mouth. How is he?"
"He's dead."
Haig's fangs came down and he snarled at Corbienne.
She shrank back from Haig. I didn't mean to do it. He kept me warm. I needed
him to keep me warm."
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Haig flicked his big hand at Travis without taking his eyes off Corbienne.
Get help!"
Travis raced out.
Corbienne turned to flee, and Haig lunged, tackling her. His huge body, as
bearish as the cloak he wore, carried her to the ground. He pinned her with
his knee in the small of her back, and twisted Corbienne's arms behind her.
"We're going to stake you, Corbienne. That's the law. Take no lives out of
appetite or for pleasure."
She jerked and twisted. Let me go. Please, let me go. I didn't mean to kill
him. I loved him."
"You loved him to death. You Passion-Danced him. We all noticed it."
"Then you should have stopped me."
"We couldn't stop you if you didn't want to be stopped. Amiri warned you.
Isranon warned you."
"Mercy, Haig. Please."
The other three Lemyari vampires burst into the tent: Jun, Garin, and Keahi.
Garin glanced at Iuf's rapidly cooling corpse. He was a good mon. He didn't
deserve to die this way."
Jun grabbed Corbienne's right arm, his grip tight enough to make her flinch.
Haig rolled off her, and grasped her left arm. Between them they brought her
to her feet. Amiri has the Ymraudes raising a pole and bundling faggots to
burn her with."
Corbienne struggled, but could not get free of the two much larger males. Jun
and Haig propelled her roughly from the tent. Garin followed them with Iuf's
body in his arms.
* * * *
To take his mind off the possibilities while he waited for Amiri to return,
Isranon poured over Josiah's journals again, working to memorize as much of
the knowledge as he could. Sometimes it seemed like he would never absorb it
all. He kept trying to compress Josiah's two hundred years of learning into
days and weeks of reading and study. If they were going to stop the hellgod
Gylorean Galee, he needed to know everything he possibly could to the best of
his ability.
Amiri burst into the tent. Corbienne has killed Iuf."
Isranon paled, his lips parting in distress, his brow furrowed. I warned
them."
"We all warned her, Isranon. Amiri fiddled with her braids, clacking the
beads woven into her nappy hair together. What are we going to do?"
He closed the journal. Burn her."
"Good. I already have a pole going up to hold her and wood being gathered for
a fire."
Isranon nodded, fighting a tightening in his chest. She was my friend."
"It doesn't excuse what she did."
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