The First Male Read Free

enemy had it not been for the burning in her heart.
    We will raise him as a king of kings. How could you deny him that? He is your blood .
    Addie could not engage him in conversation. She had to concentrate. Sweat poured down her face and her hands violently shook.
    You cannot win .
    Addie steeled her disposition and connected with her ancestors. She felt their spirit, their ancient power. She chanted and channeled them as Rebecca continued to howl. Her frantic shrieks filled the airy space. Addie felt unprecedented power surge and swell within her blood. She tried to hold it back, to control it, as a dam would hold back raging water. Her power ignited the atmosphere, swirling about the room like a contained hurricane; visible sparks ignited indiscriminately around the room, like fireworks.
    â€œYou have no power here!” she shouted with more force than she knew. The strength of her voice rumbled deep into the sky and cast the shadows away, sending them hurling and screaming into the night. The circle of undead things broke as they scattered out of fear deep into the forest.
    Addie’s force hit the Shadowman hard, causing him to collapse to one knee, but it wasn’t enough to send him into retreat. It weakened him, but he did not flee. He could not flee. Now was his time and he would fight until the bitter end to claim what was promised to him.
    Addie’s expulsion of the shadows and undead things sent her power into a frenzy and her temperature rose, as if the power was too much for her body to contain. She thought she might explode and incinerate the entire room before she finished the ritual.
    Addie placed her hand gently on Rebecca’s forehead, as if to comfort her.
    â€œAre . . . you . . . gonna . . . help me?” Rebecca asked. Her words were broken and breathy. Addie smiled at her and placed a damp towel on her forehead.
    â€œYes, child. I am going to save us. You must push, child.”
    Addie took the sharp thumbnail on her right hand and dug it deeply into the vein of her left wrist until she drew blood. She winced. She took her wrist and forced it onto the mouth of the woman, who protested, but was too weak to put up a decent fight. The woman had to ingest Addie’s blood while the child was still in the womb in order for the binding spell to have any chance.
    Rebecca spat out the blood. “Stop!” Then, she wailed an unearthly cry. Addie knew the scream wasn’t from the woman—it was from the child.
    Addie removed the towel from the woman’s head and dipped her right forefinger in the blood that dripped from her wrist. She anointed the woman’s forehead with a single bloody red dot. The woman twisted and howled as if she had been set on fire.
    â€œPush, child! Push him out!”
    Addie anointed each one of the woman’s limbs with blood and marked the belly as she called upon the ancient power. The child was near. Addie ripped open the woman’s shirt—her breasts spilled out; she drew a symbol in blood on the woman’s chest, above her heart. Rebecca’s body bucked and twisted as Addie held her down.
    â€œPush!” Addie commanded of the woman. The woman pushed until the head of the child could be seen. “Push, child! Push!”
    Rebecca’s face was knotted with fear, but she pushed. And pushed. And pushed until the child was free. Rebecca immediately lost consciousness. Quickly, Addie cut the umbilical cord and fed the child her blood. She held the child—her grandchild—in her arms, and looked into his face. In the eyes of this child, she saw beauty personified. The sweetness of this infant could captivate the world and melt even the most hardened of hearts. The softnessof his skin and the shine in his eyes entranced her. The color of his mesmerizing eyes, which were an almost unnatural blue, enchanted her. She had never seen eyes as bright. She was almost mesmerized until she realized