The burning in Yua's throat felt like she had swallowed liquid copper mixed with crushed glass. Every time she breathed, the raw blue magic she had accidentally ingested from Kaelen's neck corroded her insides, slowing the natural regeneration that her vampire blood usually provided.
She pushed herself up from the seabed, her black dress torn to ribbons and stained with mud. Crimson blood—her own—dripped from dozens of clean, precise lacerations across her shoulders, thighs, and abdomen.
Vesper walked forward casually, her single eye locking onto Yua's trembling form. "You're slowing down, little leech. Your body is trying to heal, but without fresh blood to fuel your core, you're just burning through your own life force."
"Shut up," Yua rasped, wiping a dark line of blood from her chin.
