James Rollins - Innocent Blood

All signs of my failure.

Weak as a kitten, he rolled to his back and reached to the inner pocket of his robe, to what lay heavily there. The Damnatus had charged him with this second task. The first was to grab the sibyl and imprison her here.

That duty had to be done before the sacrifice.

His second responsibility had to be done after .

He did not know if it mattered now, but he had sworn an oath, and he would not forsake it even now. From his pocket, he pulled out a cloudy green stone, a little larger than a deck of cards. It was a prized possession of the Damnatus, discovered in the Egyptian desert, traded by many hands, hidden and uncovered over and over until it ended up in the palms of the Betrayer of Christ.

And now into mine.

He lifted the stone to the light. He watched the darkness inside shiver and shrink from the brightness. When he moved the beam away, the blight inside grew, shimmering with dread force.

It was a thing of darkness.

Like myself.

He knew the rumors about this stone, how it was said to hold a single drop of Lucifer’s blood. He did not know if that was true. He only knew what he had been commanded to do with the stone.

But do I have the strength to accomplish it?

Over the past days, he had abided the darkness and pain, fed to sustain himself, growing incrementally stronger, hoping for the might of muscle and bone to fulfill the last task asked of him by the Damnatus . The necessity for such an act had never been revealed to him, but he knew that if he did not attempt it now, he would grow weaker from here on, starving slowly in the darkness.

He turned the stone to study the strange etching on one side, inscribed faintly into the crystal.

It was in the shape of a cup — or perhaps a chalice. But this was no cup from which Leopold had so often consumed the blood of Christ. He knew the cup depicted here was far older than even Christ Himself, and that this stone was but a sliver of that greater mystery, the key to its truth.

He lifted the stone high and brought his arm down hard, slamming the crystal to the rock floor. He succeeded in chipping it, but that was not enough.

Please, Lord, give me the strength.

Leopold repeated the action over and over again, weeping from frustration. He must not fail again. He raised his arm and crashed it down. This time, he felt the crystal break within his hand, splitting into rough halves.

Thank you…

He twisted his head enough to see. He turned his hand. The crystal had been broken through its heart. Black oil flowed across the emerald glass and found his skin.

He screamed as it touched him.

Not in pain, but in utter and complete rapture.

In that glorious moment, he knew the rumors were true.

He watched the drop of Lucifer’s blood sink into his flesh, claiming him, consuming him fully with its darkness, leaving behind only purpose.

And a new name.

He stood, full of dread strength now, his pale skin as black as ebony. He lifted his face and howled his new name at the world, shattering stones around him with his voice alone.

I am Legion, destroyer of worlds.

JAMES ROLLINSis the New York Times bestselling author of thrillers that have been translated into forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” ( New York Times ) and “hottest summer reads” ( People magazine). Acclaimed for his originality, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets at breakneck speed.

New York Times bestselling thriller author REBECCA CANTRELL’s novels include the award-winning Hannah Vogel mystery series and the critically acclaimed YA novel, iDrakula , which was nominated for the APPY award and listed on Booklist ’s Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. She, her husband, and son just left Hawaii’s sunny shores for adventures in Berlin.