House of Vultures - Maggie Claire (epub read online books .TXT) 📗

the sharper pebbles slicing into my hands.My blood traces patterns down from my elbows to my wrists as I facethe strange beast. Its length stretches to be at least four timesmy height, mostly comprised of neck and tail. Covered in opalescentscaling that almost glitters in the sunlight, its sleek head towersover me as it inches closer and closer. Its large silver eyesremind me of a cat’s pupils, with soft azure tinting the scalesaround their sockets. The coloration iseerily similar to my mask, I notice as Iscuttle away from the hulking beast.

“Hold out your hands tome,” the monster demands, smoke drifting around me as itsnorts.

“Why?” I stutter,clenching my eyes tight. It smells myblood. It senses an easy kill, my feralmind worries. Run away!

“Do what I ask,” thecreature insists, and I feel helpless to obey.

“So you can eat me faster?Not a chance,” I retort, searching for a weapon, dismay threateningto choke me when I come up empty. Nothingaround me looks even remotely strong enough to pierce that thickhide.

“Look, you’re bleeding,and I think I can help you,” the creature answers softly, her voicetaking on a singsong melody that dulls my senses. “You can trustme.”

My arms stretch out before me as ifthey have a mind of their own. The beast’s soft tongue grazes mywounds, and when I chance a peek, the cuts and scratches are gone.“What did you do?” I wonder as I wipe the blood off myskin.

“It is just as Isuspected,” the beast exclaims excitedly.

“What do you mean?” Icannot help but marvel at the sudden changes in my skin. Instead ofmy gaping wounds, I now see shimmering flesh, not quite scales butnot quite human skin either. It traces my arms like fine, spidersilk gloves, intricate designs swirling where my wounds hadbeen.

“What is your name?” Thecreature continues, ignoring my confusion.

“What did you do to me?” Irespond, twisting my wrist so that the strange markings dance andsparkle in the sunlight. My skin lookslike the monster’s scales now.

“Tell me your name,” thecreature repeats, its voice deepening with its frustration. Thebeast slides back its lips to show me its elongated, sharp teeth.“Now, please.”

I get the message. “Mynah. My name isMynah.”

The creature frightens me with anear-splitting roar. “Liar!” It circles around me, tail thrashingdangerously over my head. “That is what you call yourself, but itis not your real name! What did you choose as your true name atyour masking? What do you claim as your identity?”

“Why should I share suchdetails with you?” I demand, unwilling to divulge any personaldetails to this bizarre monster.

“Your true name isextremely important,” the creature answers me cryptically, steamwafting out of its nose to shroud me in its mysterious fog. “Youwill need to trust me before I can help you anyfurther.”

“Trust you? Why should Itrust you? You could use my name to control me!” I tremble andstand up straight, steeling myself against another outburst.“You’ve done nothing but terrorize me! How do I know that you don’tplan to hurt me?”

“If I wanted to hurt you,I could do that without your name,” the beast answers, tucking itstail under its chin to form a tightly coiled circle, blocking offany chance of my escape. The only way out of the creature’sclutches would be to climb over its body.

I’d never make it acrossthe monster’s physical barricade, I tellmyself as I stare into the silver eyes of the beast. Her irisesswirl with a thousand shades of molten metal hues. Entranced by thesight, my voice fades to a whisper. “Why do you wish to know mytrue name?” Before the creature roars, I raise my hands insurrender and continue. “I just want to understand how it could beso important to you.”

“I need to hear it toconfirm my own suspicions about you.” The beast stares at meexpectantly, as if her words explain everything so clearly to methat I have no choice but to comply.

What choice do I reallyhave? If I don’ttell the beast my name, she could kill me out of frustration. If Ido, she’ll have power over me. And yet, haven’t I already seen thatsuch mind bonding can be broken?Antero snapped our connection as though it was amere twig under his heel. Surely obedience with the possibility ofsurvival trumps defiance with certain death,right? I considermy options carefully as I stare at her scaly skin, counting all theways she could kill me before I even have a chance toescape. Biting, chewing, swallowing mewhole, smothering, clawing, suffocating me by her smokybreath…. The list continues until I canfeel my hands trembling.

“Well?” The creature waitsimpatiently, her claws clicking against the rocks underneath ourfeet. The whole ground seems to tremble under her powerfullimbs.

Resigned to the fact thatI have no true choice, I allow myself to recall the memories of mymasking ritual. I was so young, but Iremember it all as though it occurred yesterday.An image appears in my thoughts, the flower whosename I had taken as my own so long ago. Its soft lilac coloredpetals cascading around a riot of brilliant yellow, leaves fanningout like long, flat paddles. “Iris.” I barely manage to squeak outmy answer. My true name, finally acknowledged, foreign to my ears.I can feel the thrum of power resonating inside me.

The creature shivers as she absorbsthe knowledge. “Irissss....” She almost seems to savor the word onher tongue, as if it holds some secret flavor that she findsdelectable. She pulls herself into a tighter ball around me, andthe warmth radiating from her body nearly chokes the breath out ofmy lungs.

“What do you want withme?” I gasp, praying for a fresh breath of air.

The creature opens oneenormous eye, its liquid silver so molten and shiny that I amcertain if I were to touch it, my fingers would be smothered infoil-like plating. Would it burn likemolten metal? Would it hurt? My hands ache with the desire to find out. The creatureraises her head before I get the chance to touch her, allowing ablessed breeze to finally reach my desperate body.

“Do you really not know,Iris?”

“Know what?” My lungsnearly burst with the strength of my inhale.

“That nothing is chance.You are the first to come here and find your Ddraig.