Free Web NovelChapter 57: Hidden Paths
Draven spent eighteen hours reading Cassia’s research notes while the corruption spread past his collarbone and into his jaw, and watching the black veins crawl up his neck toward his face was doing things to my nervous system that probably weren’t healthy but I couldn’t look away.
The notes were getting harder for him to translate—not because the language was getting more complex but because his brain was fighting to stay coherent under the demon influence, and every few pages he’d stop mid-sentence and just stare at nothing while his eyes flickered red.
"There." His voice came out layered with something that wasn’t entirely him anymore. "Page forty-seven. She mentions a third option. Hidden in—" He had to stop because apparently demon corruption made reading difficult. "In metaphor. The path between death and binding."
The path between death and binding. That sounded ominous and also vague, which tracked for Cassia’s research style apparently.
"What does that mean?" Morgana was taking notes because documenting our spiral into disaster was her entire personality at this point.
"I don’t—" Draven’s eyes went solid red. "I can’t think clearly. The demon is—it’s talking. Through the link. Telling me to stop. To let the binding stay. To—" He couldn’t finish because apparently the demon had opinions about us trying to destroy its anchor.
Of course it did. Why would anything be simple?
"Break the connection." Kael’s voice was firm. Final. "Now. Before the corruption reaches your brain."
"If I break it we lose the research." Draven’s words were slurring now, running together. "Cassia’s notes. The third option. I can almost—" His hands clenched on the book hard enough the spine cracked. "See it. Just need—" freёwebnovel.com
He collapsed.
Just dropped like someone had cut his strings, and I was there before my brain registered moving, catching him before he hit the floor even though he was significantly heavier than me and we both ended up on the ground.
"Draven!" His name tore out of me. "Stay with me. Come on. You can’t—"
His eyes opened—fully red, no trace of his normal pale blue—and when he spoke the voice that came out was wrong, layered with gravel and menace that definitely wasn’t Draven.
"The binding will not break." The words came out in that horrible layered voice. "The Hybrid Queen will fail. The darkness will consume—"
Thorne’s hand clamped over Draven’s mouth before the demon could finish its monologue, which honestly thank God because I was not equipped to handle full-on demon possession right now.
"It’s talking through him." Morgana’s voice stayed clinical but I caught the underlying oh shit we’re running out of time. "The corruption has reached his consciousness. We have hours. Maybe less."
Hours. Not days. Hours before Draven became permanently demon-possessed and we’d have to either kill him or watch him become the thing we were fighting.
No pressure.
"The third option." I grabbed the research book from where it had fallen. "He said page forty-seven. Something about a path between death and binding."
Blank pages. Of course. The Blackthorn blood protection meant only Draven could read it and Draven was currently being used as a demon megaphone.
"Can we break the blood lock?" Because if we could just access the research ourselves we wouldn’t need Draven conscious to—
"No." Morgana cut me off. "Blood magic this old doesn’t break. It ends when the bloodline ends or when the caster allows it."
When the bloodline ends. Which meant Draven dying or Cassia dying and we’d already established both options were terrible.
"There has to be another way." I was pacing now, unable to stand still while Draven was—whatever the demon was doing to him through the corruption. "Cassia wouldn’t create a research lock with only one key. She was too smart for that."
"She was also paranoid." Draven’s voice came out strained, fighting against whatever the demon was trying to make him say. "Didn’t trust—anyone. Even her own—" His eyes flickered between red and normal. "Descendants."
Descendants. Wait.
"The binding is keyed to Blackthorn blood." The pieces were clicking together in my brain faster than I could articulate them. "But hybrid blood occupies the space between states. Between life and death. Between wolf and vampire. What if—"
"What if hybrid blood can bypass the lock." Morgana was already pulling up notes. "Blood magic recognizes intent and lineage, but hybrid magic exists in contradiction. It might read as both Blackthorn and not Blackthorn simultaneously."
Both and not simultaneously. That was—that actually made sense in a way that made my head hurt.
"How do I access it?" Because if hybrid blood could bypass the lock then maybe I could read the research and we wouldn’t need Draven coherent.
"Blood on the pages." Simple. Direct. Possibly insane. "Your blood carries contradiction. The lock might not know how to reject it."
My blood on three-hundred-year-old research notes. What could possibly go wrong?
I grabbed the knife Morgana offered—because of course she just had a ritual knife on hand—and sliced my palm before I could overthink it, and when my blood hit page forty-seven the blank pages started filling with text.
Not English. Not Latin. Some combination of both plus symbols I didn’t recognize and diagrams that looked like they’d been drawn by someone having a really intense fever dream.
But I could read it. Somehow my hybrid blood made Cassia’s research comprehensible, which was either brilliant or terrifying or both.
"The path between death and binding." I read it out loud because everyone else was just seeing blank pages. "Cassia’s failsafe. It’s—" I had to stop because the explanation was complex and my brain was trying to translate ancient magical theory on the fly. "It’s a tether. A way to transfer the binding to willing hybrid blood without ending the Blackthorn line. But it requires—"
I couldn’t finish because what it required was absolutely insane.
"Requires what?" Kael’s voice was tight. Controlled.
"A ritual." The words tasted like ash. "With the anchor stone. All four of my bonds. Draven’s blood willingly given. And—" This was the part that was going to make everyone lose their minds. "My death. Temporary death. Clinical death for exactly ninety seconds while the binding transfers. Then revival before brain death occurs."
Silence.
Then Kael’s voice, absolutely flat: "Absolutely not."
"It’s the only option that doesn’t involve Draven dying permanently or the demon winning." I kept reading because if I stopped I’d lose my nerve. "The binding transfers to me during clinical death—when I’m occupying the space between life and death, the literal threshold the binding exists in. Then you revive me and I can destroy the anchor from the inside because I’ll be the anchor."
I’ll be the anchor. So instead of Draven being corrupted by demon magic, I’d get to be corrupted by demon magic.
Fantastic. Why did every solution involve someone dying?
"How do we kill you temporarily?" Thorne’s rough voice was deceptively calm.
"Stopping the heart." Morgana was already calculating. "Medical death. Ninety seconds maximum before brain damage. Then restart with hybrid healing and—" She stopped. "This is insane. The margin for error is seconds. If the revival takes too long—"
"Then I stay dead and the binding dies with me." I finished for her. "But at least Draven survives and the demon loses its anchor."
At least Draven survives. That was—that was enough. Had to be enough.
"No." Four voices through the bonds, overwhelming in their united rejection.
"Do you have a better option?" The question came out harsher than I meant. "Because I’m listening. I would love a better option that doesn’t involve anyone dying."
Silence because we all knew there wasn’t a better option.
Draven’s eyes flickered to normal for just a second—barely long enough to register—and when he spoke his voice was his own. "Do it. The ritual. Transfer the binding. I’d rather—" The demon tried to take over again but he fought through it. "Rather you risk dying temporarily than me die permanently possessed."
Rather me risk dying. Because temporary death was so much better than permanent possession.
Except—he was right. This was our only shot.
"When?" The words came out smaller than I wanted.
"Tomorrow." Morgana was already making notes. "We need to prepare. Gather materials. Practice the revival procedure until it’s perfect. One mistake and—" freewebnovel.cσ๓
And I’d stay dead. Got it. Very motivating.
Tomorrow I was going to die.
Temporarily.
Hopefully.
No pressure at all.
