Kiera Hudson & The Adoring Artist (Kiera Hudson Series Three Book 3) by Tim O'Rourke Page A
Authors: Tim O'Rourke
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sorry,” I whispered back, before bringing the rock crashing down against his skull.
He made a gawfing sound in the back of his throat before collapsing on top of me. I pushed him off, where he rolled unconscious on his back beneath the tree. At once my heart ached with guilt. But I’d had no other choice. Whatever I’d said to Potter – however much I had tried to get him to listen to reason, he would have gone back for the other Creeping Men. I didn’t have time if I was to save Nev, and I hadn’t been pushed so I could ignite an ancient war between the Vampyrus and Lycanthrope. I didn’t want to go to war with either of them. How could I possibly choose a side? It would be like tearing myself in half.
There was another way I could save my friend Nev without going to war. There was another way I could go down into that valley undetected. The wolves wouldn’t look twice at me if I looked like one of them. But Potter would have looked more than twice. His dead black eyes would have nearly popped from their sockets if he had seen what truly I was. I feared that he would hate me, just like he hated the other wolves. And I couldn’t bear the thought of Potter hating me – not this Potter or any other. Murphy would hate me too. Why wouldn’t he? He had hated Lilly Blu in this world so much that he had killed her and then discarded her remains to rot forevermore. She had been his lover once – the mother of his children. What hope did I have, then, of him showing me any leniency? I couldn’t risk that he might not.
I knew that the only way I was going to rescue Nev from the wolves was if I looked like one of them – became one of them. But I was also conscious of the fact that I’d only ever let the Vampyrus side of me come forward. I had never let the wolf consume me before. The thought of turning – becoming a wolf – terrified me deep down. Once I had fully accepted it as part of me – let it mold my flesh and bone into the shape of a wolf, would I not only change form but personality too? Would I become as cunning and sly as most of the wolves I had ever known? Would I become like my brother Jack – a cold-hearted killer? Cruel and heartless like my true mother, Kathy Seth? Both of them were a part of me, weren’t they? Just like I was a part of my Vampyrus father Frank Hudson.
But there was no one to ask. As far as I knew, as far as the Elders and Noah knew, I was the first and only living half and half. Did that make me some kind of an abomination? Some kind of creature that should have never been conceived, let alone given life? Was that why I had been born dead? Had nature feared me? Had nature viewed me as so unnatural that it had taken my life even before I’d taken my first true breath once free of my mother’s womb? Murphy had told me that he had taken my tiny lifeless corpse, wrapped it in his shirt, filled the pockets with stones, and had let me sink to the bottom of the dead waters that flowed from the Fountain of Souls. But it had been those red waters that had given me life somehow and I had lived. Hearing my cries, Murphy had returned and spirited me away to be raised in secret by my true father and adoptive mother Jessica Hudson. Both had been Vampyrus and I had known nothing of what I truly was until my brother Jack had told me.
I had struggled to accept that I was a Vampyrus. It had been terrifying for me to learn from Doctor Ravenwood that I had wings, fangs, and claws which lay hidden beneath what I had always believed to be human flesh. It had taken me a long time to accept that fact. But I didn’t have time now to dwell on how accepting that other side of me might make me feel – might change me in some way. I had no idea what it would be like to become the wolf.
Stepping away from where Potter lay unconscious at my feet, I pulled off my hoodie, jeans, boots, and underwear. Naked, I walked away. And even though Potter was out cold, I didn’t want him to be near me when I
He made a gawfing sound in the back of his throat before collapsing on top of me. I pushed him off, where he rolled unconscious on his back beneath the tree. At once my heart ached with guilt. But I’d had no other choice. Whatever I’d said to Potter – however much I had tried to get him to listen to reason, he would have gone back for the other Creeping Men. I didn’t have time if I was to save Nev, and I hadn’t been pushed so I could ignite an ancient war between the Vampyrus and Lycanthrope. I didn’t want to go to war with either of them. How could I possibly choose a side? It would be like tearing myself in half.
There was another way I could save my friend Nev without going to war. There was another way I could go down into that valley undetected. The wolves wouldn’t look twice at me if I looked like one of them. But Potter would have looked more than twice. His dead black eyes would have nearly popped from their sockets if he had seen what truly I was. I feared that he would hate me, just like he hated the other wolves. And I couldn’t bear the thought of Potter hating me – not this Potter or any other. Murphy would hate me too. Why wouldn’t he? He had hated Lilly Blu in this world so much that he had killed her and then discarded her remains to rot forevermore. She had been his lover once – the mother of his children. What hope did I have, then, of him showing me any leniency? I couldn’t risk that he might not.
I knew that the only way I was going to rescue Nev from the wolves was if I looked like one of them – became one of them. But I was also conscious of the fact that I’d only ever let the Vampyrus side of me come forward. I had never let the wolf consume me before. The thought of turning – becoming a wolf – terrified me deep down. Once I had fully accepted it as part of me – let it mold my flesh and bone into the shape of a wolf, would I not only change form but personality too? Would I become as cunning and sly as most of the wolves I had ever known? Would I become like my brother Jack – a cold-hearted killer? Cruel and heartless like my true mother, Kathy Seth? Both of them were a part of me, weren’t they? Just like I was a part of my Vampyrus father Frank Hudson.
But there was no one to ask. As far as I knew, as far as the Elders and Noah knew, I was the first and only living half and half. Did that make me some kind of an abomination? Some kind of creature that should have never been conceived, let alone given life? Was that why I had been born dead? Had nature feared me? Had nature viewed me as so unnatural that it had taken my life even before I’d taken my first true breath once free of my mother’s womb? Murphy had told me that he had taken my tiny lifeless corpse, wrapped it in his shirt, filled the pockets with stones, and had let me sink to the bottom of the dead waters that flowed from the Fountain of Souls. But it had been those red waters that had given me life somehow and I had lived. Hearing my cries, Murphy had returned and spirited me away to be raised in secret by my true father and adoptive mother Jessica Hudson. Both had been Vampyrus and I had known nothing of what I truly was until my brother Jack had told me.
I had struggled to accept that I was a Vampyrus. It had been terrifying for me to learn from Doctor Ravenwood that I had wings, fangs, and claws which lay hidden beneath what I had always believed to be human flesh. It had taken me a long time to accept that fact. But I didn’t have time now to dwell on how accepting that other side of me might make me feel – might change me in some way. I had no idea what it would be like to become the wolf.
Stepping away from where Potter lay unconscious at my feet, I pulled off my hoodie, jeans, boots, and underwear. Naked, I walked away. And even though Potter was out cold, I didn’t want him to be near me when I
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