Nobilitate Nobis by J. Manoa

Author:J. Manoa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABDO
Published: 2017-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Virgil grunted as he took another short step on his injured leg.

Riley peeked over her shoulder. It felt like they’d been walking only a few minutes, yet the clearing was long gone behind them. Not a trace of the wolves since they’d left. Not a trace of Dove either, nor Carolyn or their brother. Just the two of them, walking far slower than she had expected they would.

Virgil grunted once more.

“The deep ones don’t heal as quickly as they used to,” he said, breathing out heavily.

He took a moment to shake his head. He turned to her. A calm had come over his face. The cracks were as deep as ever, yet smoothed. They seemed more designed than grown at random. He nodded as she stepped even to him.

“Even we get older, Riley. We can’t . . . do the things we used to.” His view drifted up to the branches overhead. The leaves flapping in the wind were so constant they were little more than white noise in her ears, like the hum of a television behind the commotion on-screen. The corners of his mouth ticked up. “Never thought I’d last this long,” he said. He took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly. “Thought the corruption would have taken me long, long ago.”

Riley looked back the way they’d come. Still no sign of any pursuit, no wolves, no others, nothing. “How long?” she asked.

“Forever,” he replied. “All my life.”

“How old were you when you took the sacrament?”

He turned his focus to her. His eyes were faded almost to white. She knew he couldn’t see hers through the shadow which remained over them, the same darkness which allowed her to see his in the night.

“I don’t even remember,” he said after a quiet moment. “Long enough that the corruption has become my own.”

Riley tilted her head at this.

“We are bound now, you and I,” he said.

She blinked her gaze away. “By the blood.”

“No,” he dismissed, “by life. You saved me tonight, just as I once saved you.” There was a series of three pops. Riley looked over to see Virgil stretching his neck to the side, another three pops followed. “Perhaps this will not be the last time.”

“Perhaps,” she replied.

He laughed, low and quick.

“One day, Riley, if you’re very lucky, you’ll get to feel this way.” He nodded. “Someday. Long after my time is done.”

Virgil turned, still nodding. He took a step with his injured leg, a longer step than before.

“After I earn my chance to die.”

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