Blood Song: Blood Wisp, #2

By Sarina Langer

Joining the Seven is not what Yua always imagined.

 

They are the most powerful sorceresses in the world, but Yua still doesn't have any magic, she still can't control the Mist demon in her blackened veins, she's barely controlling her thirst for blood, and she's definitely not a sorceress or powerful. She's nothing but a curiosity that fascinates the Seven, offered this position so they can better study her.

 

But it was this or death, so Yua chose life. She chose knowledge, like any Seven would. And it's not all bad: Shizue is slowly teaching her control over her Shadow. The lessons are exhausting, though; Yua doesn't know how much more she can push herself.

When another Blood Wisp arrives at the coven, newly turned and terrified, Yua needs to push herself further still. Neither the Seven nor the young man know who's responsible, but Yua suspects one thing:

She'll find answers in the Mists.

 

But will her Shadow betray their fragile co-operation the moment they enter, and can she pull it off without drawing the Dark One's attention?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sarina Langer
• Release date: Jul 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201529178

Book preview

Table of Contents

Map

Content Warning

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

All Books by the Author

Thank you

Like Freebies?

Let’s Connect

Acknowledgements

About the Author

All books by this author

Relics of Ar’Zac

Rise of the Sparrows

Wardens of Archos

Blood of the Dragon

Shadow in Ar’Sanciond (#0.5)

The Relics of Ar’Zac Box Set

Darkened Light

Darkened Light

Brightened Shadows

Blood Wisp

Blood Wisp

Blood Song

Blood Vow (coming 2023)

Chaos of Esta Anderson

A Dream of Death and Magic

Find out more about Sarina’s books at:

sarinalanger.com

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Content Warning

Please be aware that Blood Song contains scenes of violence (some self-inflicted), blood, intrusive thoughts, and one brief mention of infanticide (nothing graphic).

To everyone who is brave enough to face their

Shadows and embrace them.

A cloud of smoke Description automatically generated with low confidence

The Shadow inside Yua turned her nails into claws and her heart into stone. It moved her hands towards Shizue, wanted to tear at her bleeding teacher’s throat, but Great Dragon O-Yu give her strength, she would be stronger. She had to be, because if she wasn’t, she’d kill Shizue, and then her magic being unique wouldn’t save her after all.

Surrender, her Shadow whispered.

Yua screamed. Her Shadow had grown her teeth into fangs and dried her tongue, and it made talking impossible.

‘You’re doing well, Yua. Push it back.’

Yua wanted to scoff, but it came out as a low growl. So what if Shizue was the only expert on the Mists in Midoka, if not everywhere? She had no idea what it was like to have a sliver of the Mists inside her, devouring her senses. Overpowering them. The cut on Shizue’s finger was so bright. The fresh drop of blood that had blossomed on her skin was running down her hand and wrist, so plump and inviting. And the smell…

O-Yu help her. The smell.

The throbbing in Yua’s ears got louder. It had been faint at first, but it had been there from the moment Shizue had cut herself to prove that Yua was stronger than her weakness. Now it nearly deafened her.

Take what’s yours, her Shadow teased through imagined gritted teeth. She doesn’t need to teach you—you have me. Just one drop.

Yua screamed again and slowly, painfully, forced the fangs and claws back into regular teeth and nails. Her tongue remained dry. Her teeth ached and would continue to hurt until she tore into something. But this was progress, and she was proud of it.

Shizue smiled. ‘Well done. How do you feel?’

Yua panted like she’d run all day. ‘Hungry. Exhausted.’

Her chest rose and fell fast from the effort of suppressing the Mist demon in her blackened veins. The blank spaces between them that still looked human had filled in with the same starless midnight black, like her Shadow was leaking out of her the more she struggled.

We’re not separate, remember? Oh, no. We’re one. If I’m a demon, so are you.

Yua stared at the floor. ‘It was harder today. I didn’t think I’d be able to stop.’

‘But you did,’ Shizue said. ‘It’s been a week since your last feeding. This is no small feat.’

She wished Shizue would stop calling it that. Feeding was natural. Normal. It painted the picture of cats meowing at their humans until they gave them chicken chunks, preferably in gravy. Of dogs eating with their tails wagging. Parents feeding mush to their toddlers. What Yua did was anything but wholesome. Besides, she didn’t eat blood. She drank it. Calling it feeding didn’t make sense.

But Shizue was right: Yua had achieved much. Only three months ago she had attacked Kei and Ichiro—the woman who had adopted Yua thirteen years ago, and the young, innocent man who brought her tea—and nearly drained them. She’d had so little control then. She would never have lasted a whole week three months ago, let alone when tempted by blood right in front of her. She could even grow her teeth into fangs and her nails into claws with a little patience, and it got easier every time she did it. Still…

Nothing was easy when her thirsty Shadow tried to overpower her.

‘I don’t know if I can last any longer,’ she said. The words felt heavy, like she had admitted defeat.

Shizue inclined her head. ‘I will call for Aza. After your feeding, you will resist an additional three days.’

Her Shadow growled. Don’t let her torture us like this! She doesn’t understand. She can’t understand, no matter how much she likes to pretend that she does. But we understand. Don’t let her ask too much. Don’t give her too much power over us. We should rule her, all of them, not—

Yua blinked and focussed on her breathing to drown out her inner panic. She hated to admit it, but her Shadow had a point. Her stomach twisted at the idea. It had worked so far, though. At first, Aza had stayed with her and Yua had… done what she did every day, even twice in the very beginning. They had slowly weaned her off, until Yua had managed an entire day without blood. Then two days. When she’d managed three, Aza had moved to Rifarne across the ocean to serve its queen and be with Desma, her sister. Aza had earned it, both for her friendship and simply for having been away from her sister for so long, but Yua missed her. Kei had hired her as a protector, but she had become more to Yua…

Only, what exactly they were to each other was a complicated question Yua had no answer to.

The distance helped clear her head a little. She and Aza had shared one night in each other’s arms, but things had been awkward between them since. Aza was so sure of herself. All Krymistians grew up with the blades they would sharpen when they came of age and then carry all their lives, but Aza was a Sand Blade on top of that. An assassin. A spy. A secret warrior. Her life had cut her into a confident woman just like their blacksmiths cut their blades into deadly weapons. Yua was none of that.

But then, no one had trained her to be deadly or even just useful. Her own family had forced this demon into her veins—or so she assumed, since no one had come for her—and it seemed she had killed them because of it. Kei had brought her to the coven in Maishi Hou, had taken her in and maybe even loved her, but she had also locked Yua away and asked specialists to study her, all because of something someone else had done to her.

Unlike Aza, Yua had been ashamed and scared of herself since that night that had changed everything. The demon inside her was an unknown variable, so the Seven—Midoka’s most powerful Mist Women—hadn’t wanted to risk anything by forcing Yua into a training she wasn’t ready for, and in turn, she had struggled to accept herself for the last thirteen years.

Until Aza had sauntered into her life and helped Yua see her worth.

Yua was beyond grateful to finally be allowed to study, but just like the source of her dark power, her lessons weren’t normal. The other novices learned how to heal wounds, how to behave at court and advise monarchs. Yua learned how to resist the desperate thirst inside her. When the other novices made a mistake, no one dared say anything because they were Mist Women, admired and feared in equal measures for their power. Yua was only feared. When she made a mistake, people died. Kei could have died. Innocent Ichiro could have died. All because she hadn’t been good enough, hadn’t focussed enough for even one second.

But they—the Seven who ruled over the Mist Women from this very coven—had spared her anyway. They didn’t see that Yua had nearly killed their leader. They saw that Yua had nearly killed their leader—an achievement they hadn’t believed possible. The one thing the Seven and any Mist Woman loved more than anything was knowledge, and Yua gave them the unique opportunity to study the Mists like they’d never been able to before. Shizue was their expert on the subject and therefore the only even mildly qualified teacher, but even she didn’t have the first-hand experience Yua had. She hadn’t said so yet, but Yua suspected they would want her to enter the Mists sooner or later. And why not? She had an actual part of the Mists living inside her. She was basically demon family. If Yua couldn’t walk in and take notes, no one could.

And then there was the issue of her war duties. If Midoka ever found itself in a war, Yua was expected to serve. She had no desire to become a weapon, but it was the price all Seven paid—the only difference was that Yua would be a unique weapon the other countries didn’t have, and she suspected this was another part of her promotion. If no one knew how to fight her infernal gifts, they would think twice about attacking. The Seven hadn’t said it in as many words when they had offered Yua the promotion, but she wasn’t naïve. It had never been about her. Mist Women, especially the older ones, didn’t make friends, they made allies.

But there hadn’t been a war in their part of the world in hundreds of years, and Yua prayed it would stay that way.

She shouldn’t complain, though. Being one of the Seven did give her the benefits she’d always wanted: She was free to attend other lessons if she wished—not that she had time for them. She had access to the dangerous tomes in the archives—the part of the library only the Seven and their most trusted students were allowed to enter. And she’d be allowed to travel without supervision, just as soon as Shizue deemed her strong enough to resist the call for blood that grated on her sanity every waking moment. Title aside, Yua didn’t feel like a Seven. The Seven taught, they weren’t students themselves. They made important decisions that affected whole countries, whereas Yua wasn’t convinced she should be in charge of anything. She hadn’t even been allowed control over her own life until recently, and that was still limited by her craving to rip other people’s throats open.

Yua sighed.

Shizue raised her eyebrows. ‘Would you like to wait longer than three days?’

‘No. That’s not what I meant.’

Despite the danger and awkwardness involved, she was excited to see Aza. Yua didn’t know where she wanted their relationship to go, but neither of them had brought it up again. Yua was grateful for it. She didn’t know what she’d say. She cared about Aza, but did she want more than friendship? There was something there, but she wasn’t sure what. What if she only thought she had feelings for Aza because she’d… tasted her blood? What if that had bonded them in a strange, twisted way? For all she knew, her feelings weren’t her own, and she didn’t want to start something if she didn’t mean it. Even if her feelings weren’t controlled by how much they’d shared, she didn’t want to rush into anything. They hadn’t known each other that long, just given in to the heat of the moment. Yua needed time to make sense of it.

Shizue smiled. ‘Then I will make the arrangements. You should rest, I can see how tired you are, and you will need to focus when Aza is here.’

Yua nodded. She waited for Shizue to leave before she fell back onto the floor and spread her arms. Newai, the cat who had adopted her, jumped into her room through the open window and onto her belly, where he sat straight and purred with narrowed eyes. Yua reached out with one arm and scratched his ears. He leaned into her but didn’t get up.

‘I don’t feel like sleeping.’

He huffed, and she smiled all her love at him. His life was so much easier, and infinitely more comfortable. He sniffed at her neck, his paws digging into her vitals as his weight shifted, and began to wash her.

Yua laughed. ‘I need a bath, do I?’ He purred into her ear as he worked his way up her neck. ‘Get off me and I’ll see about it.’

Newai straightened again, shook himself, and jumped onto her bed, where he curled up and fell asleep with another deep huff. She wished she could fall asleep that fast, but she got the hint. She’d take a bath, and by the time Aza arrived, she’d feel better and focus just fine, no danger involved.

But until then, her teeth still felt tight in her gums and her tongue was still dry.

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There were others like her. Yua saw only one, but she knew there were more. How many? She couldn’t say. She knew only that she felt their fear as if it were her own.

The girl before her cowered in a corner of a dark room, scared of herself and of the man who’d created her. Yua’s eyes fell on him as the girl’s fears intensified. She was starving. Not for cheeses or fine cuts of meat or sweet vegetables.

For blood.

Her eyes darted around, desperately looking for… what? Answers? Inner turmoil flooded her mind and her heart, too many things screaming over one another for Yua to clearly hear any one of them. She wanted to comfort the girl, tell her she’d be fine because Yua was fine and that meant there was a way out of this pain, but when she opened her mouth to reassure the girl, no words came out. The girl hugged herself and held her head as if to end a headache or quieten voices.

Yua knew that too well. Did the same darkness whisper to them both?

He’s a coward, her Shadow hissed at the man.

Tears ran down the girl’s face. The man in the background was coming for her, but he didn’t see Yua. He seemed scared, too, though she didn’t feel his fear like she felt the girl’s, only knew it with the certainty dreams brought.

Yua sighed in relief. If this was a dream, then it wasn’t happening. There weren’t more like her. No one was locked in a cage, tortured, and starved. If this was a dream, then—

The girl screamed, and Yua’s vision turned red.

Yua jolted awake. Next to her, Newai had curled up and glared at her for the rude awakening. She’d had similar dreams ever since Kei had brought her here, but she’d always been alone in them, and she had always been herself. She had never seen other Blood Wisps. Nothing in the dream had marked the girl beyond doubt as another Blood Wisp, but Yua had thought of her as one. She had been sure in her dream. And the way the girl had shivered and cowered, her eyes flitting around the room for a way out…

Maybe she was a representation of Yua—a young girl, scared of everyone, including herself. But the details on the girl’s face had been too sharp, too precise. Yua had never seen her before. Maybe she was a novice Yua had seen in passing? There were many young Mist Women here, and Yua had never got on with any of them. It could have been one of the many girls who had made fun of her and whispered behind her back. Maybe her Shadow wanted to show her that they needed to fear her.

But even that didn’t feel quite right. Something was missing. Who was the man? She hadn’t seen more than a silhouette. In the dream, Yua had known that he had created her—the girl, Blood Wisps in general—but that wasn’t possible. The group that had forced the Shadow into her all those years ago was dead. Kei had found her amongst their bloody remains.

She shivered. Her Shadow had called him a coward, but if it remembered something she didn’t, it didn’t share it with her. Could she have misheard? Was that possible in dreams? Maybe her Shadow hadn’t called him a coward but the coward. Maybe that’s who the man was. Maybe he was the father whose features she didn’t remember. Maybe he was just another dark shadow in her memor—

She froze.

Her Shadow came from the Mists—they’d established that beyond any doubt. That Shadow made her the Blood Wisp, made her want to drink blood, made her want to kill. And in her dream, that same darkness had come from a man she hadn’t been able to focus on, a man obscured in dark mists.

A man so dark and shrouded he was effectively darkness itself.

‘O-Yu help me.’

Yua stared towards the end of her bed, eyes glazing over, and reached out with one hand to pet Newai. He sat up and glared at her for daring to interrupt his nap as a shiver started in her shoulders and shook her all the way down to her feet. She hugged her legs to her chest, but it didn’t comfort her.

‘What if my darkness didn’t come from my parents?’ she whispered to herself. ‘What if—’

Someone knocked at her door. It flew open seconds later.

‘Yua! How are—’ Aza’s eyes fell on Yua… in her bed, with her hair dishevelled. ‘Oh. I didn’t know this would be that kind of meeting.’ Aza grinned, but Yua blushed. ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise you were sleeping. I can come back.’

Aza began to close the door.

No, her Shadow screamed inside her. Don’t let her leave. You’re alone—what more do you want? Drain her. You know you love how it makes you feel, how much better you are.

Yua shot to her feet and smoothed her clothes. Her Shadow’s desires aside, she was glad to see her friend.

‘No, it’s fine,’ Yua said. ‘I just woke up, that’s all.’

Seeing Aza chased away the last of the dream’s fears. It was probably nothing. She’d been exhausted, and now she thought about it, could she really say that the girl hadn’t been a version of herself? Some of her features had been different, but her sleeping mind could have tried to make a point that was lost on her. Now that Aza was here and Yua was on her feet, the dream had begun to fade like any other.

Just a normal dream then. Nothing to worry about.

Aza closed the door behind her. Newai jumped off the bed and walked over to her. Aza bent down to scratch his ears—he’d trained them both too well—and he stood on his hind legs to meet her halfway.

‘How are you doing?’ Aza asked.

Yua sat back down on her bed. She hadn’t bothered to get changed after her bath, so she still wore the same novices’ clothes she’d worn the rest of the day. She’d been determined to stay awake, but her bath had relaxed her, and she had been tired after the session with Shizue. Of course she’d fallen asleep.

‘I’ve now gone one week without.’ Yua smiled at Aza. In the wake of her strange dream, the gesture felt tired. She almost felt it tugging at the circles under her eyes. ‘I’m getting there.’

She was grateful that Aza didn’t make her spell it out—I’ve now gone one week without drinking anyone’s blood. They both knew what she meant, and she still wasn’t comfortable calling it what it was. She didn’t think she’d mind if she never got comfortable with it. Being troubled by it felt more natural.

Aza sat next to her. ‘I’m proud of you. How has it been today?’

Yua huffed. ‘Fine until Shizue tested my limits earlier.’

‘Did you attack her?’

‘No, but…’ The smell of Shizue’s blood lingered in her nostrils. Her mouth still watered at the memory. ‘It wasn’t easy.’

Aza took Yua’s hand in hers. ‘That’s a good thing. You need to know how much you can take before you break so you never have to reach that point.’

Yua stared at the floor instead of at Aza. Did Shizue know when to stop, or would she push Yua too far one day? What would happen then? The other Mist Women wouldn’t be able to stop her. Out of the Seven, only Shizue and Yua had any experience with her Mist magic, and experience stretched it with Shizue. Yua was the one with all the experience, whereas Shizue had untested theories and observations. If Yua killed her first, the others wouldn’t be able to defend themselves.

As it should be. We could take this whole coven, the entire country, if you tried.

‘Hey.’ Aza moved her head just below Yua’s so she couldn’t avoid her Sand Blade. ‘You’re doing great. Shizue said something about waiting an extra three days before I come back, but if it’s too much at once, I’ll come back in one week. She means well, but you know your limits better than she does.’

It was tempting.

Yua shook her head. ‘No, we’ll do what Shizue says. I need to get better at this.’

Aza nodded. ‘I trust your judgement. Oh, and Desma says she can jump in if I’m ever not well enough or need longer, so don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.’

Yua’s tired smile crept closer to her eyes. ‘Are all Sand Blades so fearless?’

‘I want to say yes, but…’ Aza grinned. ‘No, it’s just us.’

‘Tell her I appreciate it,’ Yua said, ‘but I won’t endanger more people than I have to.’

They should sustain you, her Shadow whispered. That’s their only purpose. Let them fulfil it.

Aza cocked her head. ‘That’s what I told her you’d say. The offer is there, though. Just in case, alright?’

Yua nodded. ‘Sure. Thank you.’ She really did appreciate it, but she also had no intention of drinking from anyone else. It was awkward enough with Aza, and they had built a rapport, a routine, where they each knew what the other needed. If Aza wasn’t well enough, Yua would just have to wait. Going without blood for longer was the goal, after all.

‘Are you ready?’ Aza asked. ‘I don’t want to keep you