Bloodgifted Read online

  ‘No! This is too much! I’m not listening to any more!’ I started running back to the house.

  ‘Laura! Please—’

  The catch in my aunt’s voice stopped me. I turned to see her running after me. ‘I’m not lying to you and I’m not mad!’

  I stood there.

  ‘Look at me, Laura!’ she said as she reached my side. ‘Do I look terrified or hurt or damaged in any way?’

  I shook my head.

  ‘You’ve known me your entire life. At any time did I appear to you afraid or unhappy?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then trust me in this.’

  I loved my aunt almost as my own mother and if all this was true then I had to do just that. ‘What do you want from me?’

  My aunt took hold of my right hand. ‘I hoped the Serpent Ring would convince you if I couldn’t.’ She turned it to the light. ‘It’s your destiny, dear, as it was once mine, and for the record, being bitten isn’t as horrific as it sounds. Actually, the experience can be quite pleasant.’ She smiled.

  Before I had a chance to come to terms with that incredible statement, she added, ‘There’s no one else but you, Laura. I can’t continue. It’s forbidden. My blood is losing its potency, unlike yours which has just reached its full strength.’

  A small period of silence ensued as she let me digest that last shocker.

  ‘I have no choice then.’

  ‘No, dear, you don’t,’ she said and squeezed my hand. ‘Just like I didn’t, nor your grandfather, nor the countless number of Dantonvilles before us who carried this rare mutation. At our coming-of-age a hormone is released into our bloodstream that vampires alone can smell. They home in on it like hounds on a scent. And if you don’t have a guardian, they’ll swarm here and fight amongst themselves to claim you. So whether you like it or not, you need a guardian to protect you.’

  ‘And in return, you allow him to bite you? Is that how it works?’ Talk about a bargain from hell! ‘Then why aren’t you a vampire?’

  ‘It doesn’t work that way. Don’t believe what you see in the movies. Blood has to be shared between donor and recipient. A vampire has to practically empty a person of all their blood then let their own be taken in return. A few bites here and there won’t transform anyone, otherwise half the population would be vampire.’

  ‘Oh, right. Okay.’ I really had no idea what to say.

  ‘And one other thing.’ Her eyes travelled to the Serpent Ring on my finger. ‘This has the ability to shield your presence from other vampires.’

  ‘Shield? As in… invisible?’ I stared at the beautiful serpent ring on my finger and the golden scales appeared to shimmer as if knowing it was the subject of our conversation.

  ‘Not exactly. Vampires have a type of sixth sense that enables them to detect the presence of others long before they see them. The ring blocks that. I’d love to tell you more, but unfortunately we need to get back before it gets dark.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘As of this night, your blood is like a pheromone to any vampire within a ten mile radius. And I don’t want to be out here when they rise.’

  ‘This is all like a dream.’ Nightmare, more like it.

  ‘I know this has come as a shock, but it’s going to be an integral part of your life from now on.’

  ‘Understatement,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, Laura, I know it seems frightening, but believe me when I say Alec will help you.’ Her eyes warmed when she spoke his name, making me wonder what sort of relationship she had with him. ‘As I said earlier, a meeting has been arranged for tonight. It’s best you and he get to know each other before the change over. There are some practical details you both need to discuss.’

  ‘Are you sure he’s not just some sicko who believes himself to be a vampire?’ Somehow I knew I was clutching at straws. The golden serpent coiled around my finger was proof of that.

  ‘No dear, he hasn’t aged a day in the half century I’ve known him. And before you ask, no, it has nothing to do with botox or plastic surgery.’ She shook her head.

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. How on earth was I going to explain this to Matt? ‘Aunt Judy, did you ever share this with anyone else?’

  ‘Good heavens, no dear! I could never tell anyone. Who’d believe me?’ Her eyes widened and she had the look of someone speaking to an idiot!

  ‘Yet you’re expecting me to!’

  ‘It’s the world we belong to,’ she answered emphatically.

  ‘I’ve got to tell Matt.’ I turned to look in the direction of the house. Matt was in there right now, watching the cricket, blissfully unaware that the world held creatures outside his sphere of reckoning. And up until tonight, so had I. Yet how could I keep this from him?

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We’ve been dating for a few months now. You think he won’t notice bite marks on my wrists? I won’t be able to fob it off on large mosquitoes forever!’

  ‘How serious is your relationship?’ she asked. Again I saw that concerned look in her eyes.

  ‘I think it is.’ I smiled when I thought of him.

  ‘I see.’ She linked our arms again and we headed back to the house. ‘Be warned, Laura. If you share this with him, it might cause him to act irrationally.’

  ‘You mean Matt might go and plant a stake in his heart or something?’ I asked hopefully. Isn’t that the traditional method used to kill a vampire? Now, there’s a way to end this so-called legacy! I thought with perverse glee.

  Aunt Judy gave me a disapproving look. ‘Laura, don’t even think of such a thing. Vampires are secretive creatures. They don’t like their existence to be known, for obvious reasons. If Alec believes Matt to be a danger he will act. If you’re… fond of Matt, you can’t tell him.’

  The old adage, between a rock and a hard place, came to mind.

  ‘So, where do I meet this Alec Munro?’ I sighed.

  ‘St Andrews Cathedral.’

  ‘In the city?’ I didn’t know what I expected, but not somewhere teeming with people.

  ‘It’s a convenient halfway meeting point for the two of you.’

  ‘Mmpphhh!’ I snorted. ‘Isn’t that rather ironic—meeting in a church?’ Weren’t vampires meant to be anti-Christian and allergic to holy water and crucifixes?

  ‘He’s not the Prince of Darkness, dear. A church is just another building. Walk in, he will find you.’

  ‘Swapping the old for the new is he?’ I couldn’t help but be a little bitchy with the whole situation.

  My aunt looked at me soberly, but said nothing. We reached my parent’s house and I was about to turn into the gate, when she softly laid her hand on my arm. ‘One last thing, a—delicate matter.’

  What new surprise is she going to spring on me? I thought.

  ‘Sex.’

  I raised my eyebrows at that one. ‘Go on,’ I said when she paused, searching for the appropriate words it seemed.

  ‘Part of your coming-of-age means your libido will substantially increase. You already know that we don’t normally have children until after fifty, that we simply can’t conceive before then. But that same hormone that kicks in now enables you to conceive. It’s part of being one of the Bloodgifted.’

  I nodded.

  ‘Laura dear, perhaps it’s time to consider… if you and Matt are in a sexual relationship—’

  ‘Aunt Judy!’

  ‘I’m just saying, that now with your coming-of-age, nothing will stop you conceiving. The Pill doesn’t work on us, dear, and condoms aren’t always reliable.’

  Oh crap!

  ‘Think carefully. Would you want any child of yours in this position?’

  ‘Is that why you never had children?’

  She looked long and thoughtfully at me and for just a moment I it appeared as if she were on the verge of tears. But then she smiled, almost wistfully, and cupping my cheek with her hand said, ‘You’re like a daughter to me, Laura. I didn’t really miss out.’

  I was touched and
again reminded why I loved her almost as much as my own mum.

  ‘Clever little mutation though, it skipped you and came via Dad.’ Our unusual gene usually passed from first-born to first-born, but it appeared my aunt wasn’t the carrier even though she was Dad’s older sister. Somehow, he inherited it instead and passed it onto me. Weird.

  She didn’t say any more as we re-entered the house.

  Mum waited for us on the back porch. Her hands gripped the wooden railing as if for support and it was impossible to miss the pained expression on her face. Her eyes darted from me to Aunt Judy then to the Serpent Ring on my hand.

  ‘Oh, Laura! You know.’ My mother’s lip trembled. ‘I’m so, so sorry. Having to keep the truth from you all these years… We promised not to reveal anything to you till the time came. And even then Judy was the only one who could properly explain it all to you.’

  ‘It’s all true, then! The vampires…’

  ‘Yes, my love. All of it.’

  ‘So, monsters really do exist!’ A tiny part of me still hoped it was nonsense.

  With my mother’s words, that dissipated like mist on a hot summer’s day and I hugged her till the tears stopped. My mind reeled with tonight’s revelations and it wasn’t over yet.

  There was a pre-arranged meeting for me to keep and somehow I would have to persuade my detective boyfriend to stay behind while I went to keep a date with a vampire. And he isn’t going to like it, I thought.

  Oh, this was going to be interesting!

  ‘Happy Birthday Laura,’ I muttered to myself.

  Chapter 3

  Servitude

  ALEC

  Luc had asked me to come over at seven. I assumed it had to do with the coming ceremony since Judith’s time as Ingenii has finally ended. After parking my car near the front porch of his Vaucluse mansion, I went up to his study on the first landing.

  ‘Come in, Alec,’ he said as he sensed my presence in the house. Our hearing was such we could communicate in whispers, even up to several miles away.

  At his desk, laptop open, eyes glued to the screen as he perused the various figures of his many investments, sat Lucien Lebrettan, Arch Elder of the Brethren, husband to the outgoing Ingenii, Judith Dantonville, and my sire. His skill with the real-estate market made him a millionaire many times over, especially as he owned some of the city’s most prestigious buildings. He was also a generous benefactor to various charities, including the hospital and medical research lab I had established.

  ‘How much are you worth now?’ I asked as I stretched out on his dark green Chesterfield. It had been made to accommodate his six-foot-two frame. My legs just squeezed in as I had an extra inch on him.

  ‘About $755 million, I think.’

  ‘Not bad. Ever thought to buy yourself a decent place to live instead of this draughty, old mausoleum?’ I would have torn it down long ago to build something modern and less forbidding in appearance. Luc’s house was an old Victorian gothic mansion. It virtually screamed, “vampire!”

  ‘It’s big enough to house everyone.’

  ‘Luc, you have enough money to build whatever you want. Find a good architect to design one for you.’

  ‘I know,’ he chuckled, ‘but this place reminds me of home.’

  I rolled my eyes. It had the features he needed—at least a dozen bedrooms with ensuites, a large eat-in kitchen for the human staff and visitors, a well-stocked wine cellar beneath the house, a library, a reception room, and a newly refurbished gymnasium, which his men used on a daily basis. And there was also a grand ballroom on the top floor which, as far as I know, had been used on only one occasion. I was sure most of the household forgot it was there. But overall, the place was a cliché.

  Luc’s men occupied four of those bedrooms—the former soldiers who made up Marcus Antonius’s third century military command. Of the original ten, only four were now left—Sextus Terentius who goes by the name Terens. He dropped Sextus when some of the men jokingly started calling him “Sexy Terry” for short; Calixtus, who now goes by the name, Cal; Sempronius, or Sam and Justinus. He prefers to be called Jake.

  I never knew the others. Marcus said that two took their own lives. They had never adjusted to the change, while rampaging villagers killed the other two in the time of the First Rebellion, about a thousand years ago. They burned down the house during their day sleep.

  Luc lowered the lid of his laptop and reclined back in his leather chair. ‘Now, when was the last time you saw my little girl?’

  ‘Is that what you asked me here for? I thought it was to arrange things for, the Ritual?’ It was only three days away and although it would follow the same pattern as the previous one, fifty years ago, this occasion was going to be special as the incoming Ingenii was Luc’s daughter.

  ‘I’ll get to that. What I want to know is, have you seen her lately?’

  I turned my head to look at him. ‘No. Why should I?’

  He pursed his lips. ‘That’s what I thought.’

  My scalp began to prickle. Luc had something brewing and I had the distinct feeling I wasn’t going to like it. Nothing was ever straightforward when he was involved. ‘If it’s about Laura becoming the next Ingenii, we’ve already planned for that.’

  ‘Yes, yes, all that’s fine.’ He rubbed his chin with his hand again. I knew that sign. ‘I have a proposition for you.’

  ‘I knew it! Whatever it is, I’m not interested.’

  ‘Hear me out. It’s to your advantage.’

  ‘Last time you said that I ended up Princeps.’ Which essentially made me guardian to an Ingenii—Judith, daughter of Owen Dantonville, the man I hated.

  He rose from behind the desk and stood in front of it. ‘Laura has a boyfriend; he’s human, a policeman. I’d like you to draw her away from him.’

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘Why should I do that?’

  ‘He’s unsuitable.’

  ‘Luc, this isn’t the Middle Ages in case you’re forgetting what century we’re in. She can date whomever she wants.’ As long as it’s not me, I thought.

  ‘She’s just come-of-age and you know what that means. She mustn’t bear the human’s child.’

  ‘What can I do about it?’

  ‘Seduce her and make sure any child she bears is yours.’

  It took a second or so before I burst out laughing. Even knowing Luc as well as I did, his request took me by surprise. ‘You’re not serious!’

  ‘You needn’t marry her. Only father a child together.’

  I sat up. ‘You are serious!’ He said nothing, just stared straight at me. ‘Forget it! If you need someone to seduce your daughter, ask Terens. They don’t call him “Sexy Terry” for nothing.’

  Terens had been a junior officer, or Tribune, in Marcus Antonius’s Roman patrol. On most nights, when not on guardian duty or in bed with a woman—or two—he can be found in the gym working out alone or sparring with Sam. Terens is a deadly swordsman and I’ve heard that his skill with the blade is only surpassed by his prowess with the opposite sex.

  ‘If Terens had any Pictish blood in him, believe me, I would have,’ Luc replied.

  For a moment there I was lost for words. But it was just too much and I laughed again. ‘And you think she’ll agree to it? Just like that!’ I snapped my fingers.

  ‘She doesn’t need to know about it.’

  I shook my head. Luc had done a lot of questionable things in the past, but even for him this was low. ‘You’re that desperate to end the curse, you’d do this to your own daughter? You’re unbelievable!’

  ‘I’m doing it for her.’

  ‘Or for yourself?’ I looked him in the eyes trying to see beyond his hard exterior. I had no doubt he loved Laura, but this was a cold-blooded way to protect her and end the damned legacy.

  ‘They’re the same.’

  ‘No, Luc. This is going too far.’

  ‘Do this for me and I’ll cancel what’s left of your servitude time.’

  It was the first time
he’d brought it up in many years. ‘I’ve only got five years to go. I can wait.’

  ‘Unless I decide to increase the time,’ he said slowly.

  He could do it, too. I stood up and faced him. ‘You know, you can be a real bastard!’

  I may be Princeps, but Luc was the power behind the throne. Newly made blood drinkers stayed in servitude to his or her maker for a century. It ensured they were fully trained and inducted into the Brethren community before being given their independence, for sires and dams were responsible for the actions of their juveniles. If deemed necessary, servitude time could be increased. Sometimes sires stuck to the maximum time as it provided them with free service. It was the closest thing to slavery in the Brethren world. Strictly, juveniles couldn’t be part of the eldership let alone Princeps, but Luc had somehow arranged it for me.

  ‘Alec, I wouldn’t ask this of you if there was any other way.’

  ‘You’re not asking me, you’re blackmailing me!’

  ‘Pedantics!’ He waved his hand.

  ‘Call it whatever you want, it amounts to the same thing. You get your way even if it means alienating those closest to you.’ Our friendship had grown over the years and sometimes it was easy to forget he was my sire, except the times he took advantage of his position and strained the easy comradeship we usually enjoyed.

  ‘It’s a risk I’m willing to take.’

  I went over to the window behind his desk and stared blindly out, trying to control my anger. Could I do this? If Laura bore my child and the curse were lifted there’d be a chance, just a mere chance, her blood could become normal and she’d have no need of a guardian. I’d be free.

  ‘Alec, you and Laura can end this curse.’ He joined me and placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘She’s my only child. Do you think I like the idea of her being food for one of our kind? If it must be, then at least let it be you. And it must end here. I want my grandchildren to be free. You can ensure that.’

  I turned to look at him. ‘I tolerated Judith for your sake even though I hated her father. Now you’re asking me to help produce another generation of them?’