Free The Blood Sigil (The Sigilord Chronicles Book 2) by Kevin Hoffman

stuffed two daggers into her belt and scooped up a cup of the sheep's blood. She hadn't been able to test the potency of the blood after so many days of resting in the bowl, but she was out of time and it was the only plan she had.
    She plucked a simple rope necklace from the sconce, a small red glass bottle suspended from a loop in the middle. That day she had decided to save Urus, when she had plunged her hands into his wounds and been covered in his blood, she had kept just a few drops for herself. She didn't know if she would need that kind of power again, but having it made her feel safe. She hoped she would not have to use the blood in the bottle, for everyone's sake. Urus's power had been too potent, too big for her to control.
    The glass bottle necklace clinked against the bloodstone pendant, now dark and cold, as she ran up to the range as fast as she could without spilling the sheep's blood. Just before she reached the plateau, she left the bowl of blood sitting on the ground.
    What she saw when she took the hill crest was exactly what she expected. Again the bloodstone necklace grew warm and glowed. Anderis and his cohort held Miss Orla, Woss, and Bayard captive, each sitting on the damp grass with their hands tied behind their back. Anderis and his companion stood over them, knives in hand, scanning the moonlit plain for Cailix.
    "Aerlissa!" shouted Anderis. She hated that voice, hated everything that came out of his mouth, and hated every drop of blood in his body. She would not hate killing him though.  
    "Let's get this over with, Anderis. You're here for me and now I'm here, so let them go."
    "That's far enough. I felt what you did to Merick back there. I know you're not stupid enough to try that on either of us."
    Anderis stood behind Bayard and Woss while his henchman held his blade near Miss Orla's face. Cailix would get one shot, and then chaos would be unleashed. If she gave in to her heart's desire and attacked Anderis first, then his man might kill Orla before she could attack again. If she tried to attack both of them, the Jepps might get caught up in the middle and she could end up killing them all.  
    She stroked the little bottle hanging from her neck and knew she couldn't risk using it; it could kill everyone on the southern half of the island.
    "Let them go and you can do what you want with me," Cailix said, having no intention of letting them do anything to her.
    "There was a time when all I wanted was to kill you," Anderis said. "But now I want much more than that. Now I want you to hurt, to take everything and everyone you love and destroy them."
    "You give me too much credit, Anderis. What makes you think I've learned how to care?" Cailix answered, stalling, waiting for the right moment.
    "Well, there's only one way to find out I suppose." Anderis gave his companion a slight nod.
    The blood mage tightened his grip on the knife, readying for a killing blow.
    Cailix's mind sought out the blood sitting in the bowl at the edge of the field. She drew it to her, and it pulled at her in return. She thrust her hand forward, and a spear made of solid blood rushed out of the bowl and soared through the air, plunging into the blood mage's chest just as he began to sink the knife into Orla's neck. Once embedded in his chest, it liquified and burst into flame, immolating him.
    He screamed and flailed, falling away from the captive family. Cailix charged.
    "Was that dead blood? No, Aerlissa, you can't—"  
    Cailix slammed shoulder-first into Anderis's chest, cutting off whatever he was going to say. Unlike like the last time she had tackled him, when his bones had broken like dry twigs, now it felt as if she had slammed into a brick wall. He went down, but just barely so.
    With no apparent effort, he threw her off and leapt back to his feet. It was too bad she was going to cut him into a thousand pieces, or she would interrogate him and find out the secret to his newfound vitality.
    Instead of attacking