Chapter 6 A Fire in the Veins

Chapter 6 – A Fire in the Veins

Isaac didn't remember leaving the apartment.

Didn't remember the EMTs arriving. Or the neighbor who called them. Or the way Maya was wheeled out on a stretcher, pale and unconscious, a tube down her throat.

He only remembered her blood on his hands.

The silence in the back of the ambulance was louder than any scream.

He wasn't allowed to ride with her.

Didn't matter.

He wasn't going to the hospital.

Not yet.

He had somewhere else to be.

The card burned in his pocket as he walked back through the streets.

The serpent and the sword. He didn't know how it worked-but somehow, he knew what to do. Or maybe the blood knew. Either way, he followed the pull until it brought him back to a narrow alley beside a pawn shop that hadn't had a customer in years.

He held up the card.

The wall opened.

No sound. No light. Just space where space hadn't been.

A man waited inside.

Same one from the car. Pale, sharp, silver eyes gleaming in the dark.

"I told you not to come looking," he said.

Isaac stepped in without flinching. "Someone put a knife in my friend."

The man studied him. "Then you've learned the first rule."

"Which is?"

"You don't get to love anyone. Not without blood."

Isaac's fists clenched. "Tell me who did it."

"I don't know. But I can give you something better."

He reached into his coat and pulled out a glass vial filled with liquid gold. It pulsed with faint energy, almost humming.

"What is it?"

"Memory. Blood-memory. From a serpent-blood older than any still walking."

Isaac stared. "And why would you give that to me?"

"Because war is coming. Because you've been claimed by it. And because the ones who did this to your friend are just the beginning."

Isaac didn't hesitate.

He took the vial. Uncorked it.

And drank.

It hit like lightning.

His knees buckled. He screamed as fire laced through his spine, through every nerve, burning away fear, weakness, hesitation.

The world fell away.

And in its place-

Visions.

A jungle at night. Serpents made of bone and shadow. A woman with eyes like eclipses slicing through an army of glowing beasts.

A tower on fire.

A boy kneeling in chains, his blood boiling into gold.

A voice:

"You are not born. You are awakened."

Isaac collapsed, gasping.

When he opened his eyes, the silver-eyed man was watching him closely.

"You survived," he said, almost surprised.

"Good," Isaac rasped. "Now tell me where to start."

Back in the underground, Selene stood in front of the Pool of Echoes, her hand hovering over the surface.

It shimmered-not with her reflection, but Isaac's.

Only now he looked different.

More like what he'd seen in the bowl. More power in his stance. Shadows curling at his back.

"Fool," she whispered. "You moved too fast."

Behind her, a woman stepped out of the darkness.

Tall. Elegant. Red lips and long braids coiled like rope. Power radiated from her like heat from a furnace.

"You were supposed to keep him here, Selene," the woman said.

"He left before I could stop him."

"You're losing control."

Selene's jaw clenched. "No. I'm giving him what he needs."

The woman stepped closer. "He'll be hunted now. By everyone. Including us."

Selene didn't flinch. "Let them come. He's not like the others."

"No," the woman said. "He's worse."

Isaac emerged from the alley just as the sun dipped below the skyline.

Greywood was bathed in dusk.

And for the first time, he didn't feel like prey.

He felt like the hunter.

He walked back toward his apartment with new strength in his limbs. The blood still burned, but it didn't hurt anymore.

It guided him.

He didn't know who the enemy was yet. But he knew where they'd struck.

And now... he had a name to carve into the city.

Marshall.