Revived by blood

Nervously, anticipating the pain, I positioned my arm just above Slither’s mouth and, taking the saber, made a quick cut into my flesh. The blade had been sharpened and sliced into my inner arm more deeply than I had intended. There was a sharp pain and a stinging sensation. And then my blood was falling like dark rain into the open mouth of the beast.

...

IT was my fifth sense, that of taste, which drew me up out of that dark pit into which I had fallen. My mouth was full of warm, sweet blood.

I choked and spluttered but then managed to swallow, and the rich liquid slid down into my belly, restoring me to life. My olfactory sense returned next. The inviting odor of the blood of a human female filled my nostrils. She was very close and was full of the same delicious blood that even now was filling my mouth.

The next sense to return was touch. It began with pins and needles in my extremities, which quickly became a fire, so that it felt as if my whole body were burning. It was then that my aural senses suddenly functioned once more, and hearing someone weeping, I opened my eyes and stared up in amazement at the figure of Nessa, who was crouching over me, tears running down her face. I saw the saber gripped in her right hand. My mind was sluggish, and for a moment I thought she meant to strike me with it.

I tried to bring up my arms to defend myself, but I was too weak and couldn’t even manage to roll away. But to my surprise she did not cut me. I lay there staring up at her, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Slowly I began to understand why she was holding the sword, finally linking its sharp edge to the blood falling toward me from the deep cut on her inner arm.

Then, as my memory returned, I recalled Nunc’s treachery … the bite of the water snake. I had died. Or so it had seemed. The blood was still falling into my mouth, but there was less of it now. I swallowed again, then reached up, trying to seize Nessa’s arm so that I could draw it down to my mouth. I needed more blood, but I moved too slowly, and with a look of disgust, she snatched her arm out of reach.

B11 C5