Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) by Laura R Cole

the man's throat.
The man clutched at the wound and gurgled as he fell to his knees
in an attempt at self-preservation. It was a futile attempt, and
the blood poured out in between his fingers, taking with it the
man's life.
    Nathair reached greedily for the power it
released. A more ritualistic blood-killing would have gotten him
much more, but that was time-consuming and Nathair was eager to
find what was down in the hole. He flicked his wrist to ignite the
body. He hated leaving evidence behind.
    He easily moved the boulder out of the way,
and sent a ball of light to illuminate his path as he made his way
carefully down into the passageway. The remains of a large beast
were squashed underneath one of the fallen sections of ceiling.
Nathair stepped over this carefully, though judging by the amount
of its insides littering the floor; it was unlikely to be going
anywhere anytime soon. There were remnants of spells around the
beast that appeared to have been blasted into oblivion when the
wave of unleashed power washed over the area, but he could detect
no others still intact. He was alert for additional dangers along
the way, but the long stone passageway appeared to now be devoid of
magic barriers or traps and seemed to draw him towards the end
welcomingly.
    It wants to be found .
    He came to the end of the passage, and his
ball of magical light revealed a door. He reached for it, but
before his hand touched it, it opened before him. He stepped
through excitedly.
    The room was largely empty, and a single
pedestal stood in the center. A shaft of light from above shone
straight down on the top of it, at first obscuring his view with
the bright reflection. Nathair squinted in the glare and moved his
head to the side to get a better view, and was awed at the
sight.
    It was the most perfect magestone he had ever
seen, the clarity and quality of it was flawless, and it shone a
brilliant bright red. It pulsed with power, power that invited him
to take it and Nathair reached for it.
    As his hand touched the stone, he felt a
tingle through his fingers and he held it before him, admiring it.
The door clicked shut behind him and he whirled around, clutching
his treasure to his chest, but stopped his attack before he started
it in amazement of what he saw.
    “Mother?” he asked incredulously.
    The woman bared her teeth. “Hello, Son,” she
greeted him and Nathair felt a sharp stab of pain in his cheek.

CHAPTER 4
     
    Gryffon stirred, and Layna rushed to his side
once more as he sat up. “Are you alright?” she asked worriedly.
    Gryffon nodded and gave her a wry grin. “I am
not having a good year. What the blazes happened? Are you two
alright? Did something happen with the border?”
    Layna nodded that they were alright and that
they had been successful taking the border down. Then she filled
him in on the bad news about his life-sucker, ending with the dead
end that she had just stumbled across with Aileen. “So it seems
that it must be from Jezebel, but since she's already dead...”
Layna trailed off, and shrugged her inability to explain.
    “Are you sure she was dead?” Gryffon asked
after a moment of thought.
    Layna cringed at the memory of Jezebel being
torn apart and answered, “I don't see how she could have survived
injuries like that. Besides, her magic was all burned out.”
    Aileen spoke up. “Having her magic burned out
wouldn't necessarily stop her. The spell is self-supportive once
it's cast, so it could have used Gryffon's life-energy to keep
itself active, even if she was badly injured and would continue to
do so even if she hasn't regained use of her magic.”
    “Is there any other possible person who could
have done this to you?” Layna asked desperately, not ready to face
the possibility of Jezebel having survived being ripped apart by
her own hellhounds.
    Gryffon raised his eyebrows as he wracked his
brain. “I don't think so, so let's assume for the moment that
somehow she did survive and it is from