My hands shook. I shot to my feet, causing the chair to clatter against the floor behind me.
“You need to help get this thing away from me,” I said, my heart pounding. “Please.”
She looked at me calmly, then swallowed back the last of her water.
“I don’t know how to do that,” she said.
“What do you mean…” My voice trailed off as I paused, staring at her. “What do you see of my future?”
“I see your future clearly,” she said. “And I see only one path. The path you were destined for the night the Elder engulfed your soul with his.” She planted a hand on my shoulder, sadness taking hold of her soft features, before she spoke her final words to me:
“Whether you like it or not, Benjamin, the time has come for you to take your place. Your place as their soldier of shadows.”
Chapter 24: River
Listening to every horrifying word this oracle spoke, I couldn’t stand to remain outside the room any longer. Grabbing the handle, I forced the door open and rushed inside. Benjamin was standing at the opposite end of the room, looking stunned, his face paler than I’d ever seen it, while Hortencia stood a few feet away, holding a cup in her hands.
“Destiny can be changed,” I said, stumbling forward and clutching the woman’s shoulders.
It infuriated me when she didn’t respond. She just had a blank expression as she faced me.
I shook her, trying to force a response. “Am I not right? There must be some way out of this.”
Still, she didn’t respond. Her lips pressed together, forming a hard line.
Corrine entered the room after me, followed by Aisha. Corrine looked just as dumbstruck as I felt.
Seeing that the oracle was refusing to give me any relief, I rushed up to Ben and threw my arms around his shoulders. I pressed my head against his chest, shutting my eyes tight.
No. No. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. Not to Ben. My Ben.
Ben’s hands traveled down my arms until they slid to my hands and he detached me from him. I looked up at his face, hating how stoic it had become. He swallowed hard. He looked like a man who’d just been given his death sentence.
He remained staring at Hortencia for several moments, then nodded slightly toward her before taking my hand and leading me to the door. I dug my heels against the floor, trying to keep myself rooted to the spot. I didn’t want to leave this place until we had an answer from this woman.
Ben turned around. “River, let’s go.”
“How can we just go?” I said, my voice shaking. “After what you’ve just learned? We can’t just go. Dammit, I don’t believe Hortencia doesn’t have any answers.”
“You heard what she said,” he said, his voice deep. “She has already given me her answer.”
His gaze traveled to Corrine, who looked speechless, and then fell on Aisha, to whom he nodded briefly.
“Take us back to The Oasis.”
“No!”
But it was too late. The cave vanished, and we reappeared in the living room of Benjamin’s apartment back in the jinn’s atrium. Tears of panic moistened my eyes, my whole body trembling.
“Ben,” I gasped. “What are you going to do?”
He paused, his eyes darkening. “I need to abstain from consuming any more blood for as long as I possibly can. And I need to think.”
I looked desperately at Aisha and Corrine. “Don’t either of you have any idea how to get rid of that thing from Ben?”
Both of them looked at each other blankly before shaking their heads.
“I’ve never come across anything like this before,” Corrine croaked. “An Elder bonding with a human newborn, remaining with him all the way until adulthood, and then through your turning into a vampire… This is utterly unheard of to me.”
“As I said,” Ben said to me quietly. “I need to think… And I’d like to be alone for some time.”
“O-Okay,” I said. I motioned to leave the room along with Corrine and Aisha, but Ben caught my arm.
“No, River. I would like you to stay with me, but just… Corrine and Aisha, if you could give me some space.”
I was grateful that he’d held me back while the others left the room. I didn’t know that I could stand to be apart from him at a time like this.
After Corrine and Aisha left the apartment, Ben held my trembling hand in his. His hand was also shaking slightly, although I could see he was trying to hold steady. He walked with me to his bedroom. He sat on the edge of his bed. I inched closer to him. Standing between his legs and positioning his hands around me, I moved in to hug him. I held his head in my arms, resting it against my chest as I dropped silent tears into his hair. Breathing in his scent, I kissed the top of his head.
We remained silent—I wasn’t sure what either of us could say. We’d arrived at a dead end as far as I could see. From what Ben had revealed, it appeared that the only plan he had was to try to delay the Elder’s influence as long as possible. Avoid drinking more blood. But I knew how difficult that was for him. He wouldn’t be able to go without it for long before his bloodlust took hold of him and he went storming through the prison cells above until he’d quenched his thirst.
I lost track of how long I stood there, holding him in my arms as he held me. I was trying to draw some kind of strength from him, but it felt as though he was slipping through my fingers.
Finally I broke the silence.