Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (12 page)

“
What
was something?” I asked, still completely lost.

“
She
doesn’t know yet, Zander. Remember, no one has told her
anything. And I don't think she made it that far in the Historia
Lamia” Chloe sat there shaking her head. For as young as she
was I believed that she was the only person who understand how lost I
felt.

“
My
apologies,” Zander inclined his head in a gesture of
repentance. “You were very angry a moment ago, correct?”

“
Yes.
I was thinking about my foster mother…how she basically sold
me out.”

“
Yes,
well, that anger filled the room and began to suck the air out of it.
All of the St. Clairs are Elementals of some sort. It is our
attribute. Each of us with varying degrees of power. Once you are
Embraced you may be able to stop air circulation all together but we
can’t be sure. It is a very rare and dangerous gift.”

Here we go again, I
thought. Another wild tale I was supposed to buy into. I didn’t
think I could take anymore. Shaking my head, I began to stand up and
walk away when I felt the air rush out of my lungs. I tried to inhale
but there was almost no air to be found. I grabbed at my throat
trying to rip it open to let oxygen in when my lungs suddenly
inflated again. I fell to my knees for the second time in as many
days, gasping for breath. Zander put a hand on my arm to help me up
and I looked straight into Chloe’s eyes.

“
See?”
she asked. “See how dangerous we can be?”

It wasn’t that
Chloe had caused me any pain. My physical body hadn’t been
touched at all. She had changed the amount of oxygen in the air by
merely thinking about it. There was definitely more reading to be
done because that shouldn't have been possible.

I was wondering how she
could have pulled off that trick when Artemis and Apollo came in
followed closely by several people in red uniforms. Each person went
up to a member of my Vampiric family and took off their chokers to
exposed their necks. Red was not just the color of their uniforms, it
was symbolic of what they were.

Food.

Chapter 8

Chloe walked me back
to my rooms after the reception. She stayed close to the door, as if
she was not quite ready to leave. I recognized the loneliness in her
eyes and held my arms open wide. We both fell onto the couch as she
hit me with an embrace that could have downed a line backer. Several
minutes passed and we were still on the couch holding onto each other
for dear life. Her silence had allowed me to think about the night’s
events.

“
You
want to know what’s going on, don’t you?” Chloe
asked, breaking my reverie. “It’s easy to explain but
hard to believe. If you want to know, I’ll tell you. I don’t
care what Efia thinks.”

Her defiance was
adorable and I squeezed her once before letting go.

“
Yes,
I want to know everything about these attributes, but let's start
with those walking blood banks.”

Chloe’s laugh was
a magical sound. She laughed so hard that she fell off the couch. I
wasn’t sure what she was laughing at but it was almost too
infectious to resist. She got up from the floor and went over to the
intercom system on the wall, calling down to the kitchen asking for
tea to be brought up before coming back to the couch.

“
They
are called Sanguine Fare. It is loosely translated Latin for Blood
Vessel. We call them Fare for short.”

“
So,
the letter on the choker?”

“
It
helps visitors know who belongs to whom.” Chloe was way too
nonchalant for me.

We had just watched
people have their necks bitten and she saw no problem with it whereas
I didn’t understand any of it. Why didn’t they put up a
fight.

Our tea arrived,
delivered by a woman dressed in black but not one of those I knew to
be a Vampire.

“
So
the red uniforms are Sanguine Fare and the black uniforms are for
Vampires. But she's not a Vampire, right?”

“
She,
my dear sister, is a Steward. They are the people who take care of
everything for us. Hollywood calls them Drones, Ghouls or hunchbacks
like Igor, but, as you can see, they are nothing like that.”

“
Stewards
are almost human, well most definitely more human than Vampires. They
have their own government and social structure that governs
themselves and the Fare. Their primary objective in life is to watch
over Vampires and Fare alike. It's not exactly a servant race, being
a Steward is an honorable title.”

There was one central
Steward and Fare community called the Coetus Essentialis. However
there were few who were allowed to live freely in the human word due
to special circumstances. Fare and Stewards seldom inter-married, but
every once in a while there would be a child born of this rare union
and the results were varied.

Solomon’s parents
were a mixed couple, one a human descendant of a Vampire and the
other a Steward. He was stronger and more intelligent than the others
as well as more loyal and territorial. But, not all of his siblings
were so lucky. He had an older sister who went insane once she
reached puberty and had to be institutionalized. Solomon’s
parents had their hearts broken three more times by stillbirths and
deformities. So, when he was born, Solomon was doted on like a
Prince.

On his 5th birthday,
his intelligence and physical attributes earned the attention of the
Royals and he was quickly promised to Efia upon completion of his
training and education. He came to her when he was 18 years old and
had been loyal to her ever since. Chloe wasn’t sure how old
Solomon was, exactly, but she knew that he had helped raise Zander
and Jordan.

Being in charge of the
St. Clair compound and family security, Solomon had selected all of
the Stewards who patrolled and secured the grounds. Even the
housekeeping staff were proud Stewards.

More than simple
servants, all of the Stewards were treated liked trusted members of
the family. At least that is how Efia treated hers. As a result,
Solomon was constantly being sent gifts from Steward parents in hopes
that their children would be selected to serve the St. Clair
Vampires.

Although it sounded
similar to indentured servitude, Chloe assured me that a Steward
could leave the household at any time. It was a disgrace, however,
for him or her to be asked to leave, but they were free citizens in
the Vampire world.

Since my DNA was
confirmed, Solomon had been researching the Steward families for new
prospects. He would need to recruit at least two more if I was going
to stay at the compound and possibly four if I intended to live
elsewhere. Likewise, if I chose to be Embraced and lived through it,
I would need to select two Fare of my own.

“
It
isn’t like you're going to go to the supermarket and pick out a
Thanksgiving turkey,” Chloe shook her head when I voiced my
dismay. “It's a very organized and dignified process.”

“
So,
they just line up for a taste test? That’s gross.”

“
No,
silly. You’ll see.”

Chloe leaned forward
and poured herself a cup of tea. She lifted a silver lid off of a
platter and held up a small glass of red liquid that looked
suspiciously like blood. Looking directly into my eyes, she emptied
exactly half of the contents into her cup and set it down. Slowly and
deliberately, she lifted the cup to her lips and drank, never
breaking eye contact with me.

“
Please
don’t tell me that was…you know.”

“
Look,
we are the human descendants of a very powerful Vampire Queen. Until
we are Embraced, we are vulnerable to kidnapping, assassination and
worse. I've been ingesting blood since I was born and it has helped
me to be less vulnerable.”

Chloe’s
matter-of-fact attitude made it equally easy and difficult to
comprehend what she had just said. It was true that she was far more
intelligent than any 15 year old I had ever met. And, that stunt in
the reception hall with the air was amazing. But, I was still waiting
to be woken up and told that this was all a dream and simply a result
of my vivid imagination.

“
You
should try some. This is from Efia. It will help you with your
training, and you’ll need it. Grigor's going to keep sending
people after you and you’re gonna need to know how to defend
yourself. Violeta's been assigned to be your trainer. She's to be
Zander’s mate and she is angry that he has put off their
ceremony until we found you.”

“
So,
do you think she’s gonna take it out on me in training?”

“
I
am absolutely positive that she is!”

“
Great!”

Chloe laughed and
poured my tea in the remaining cup. She hesitated with the small
container of blood before looking at me for approval. I sat there for
a long time thinking about what I was about to do. Becoming a Vampire
and drinking blood were not things on my to-do list for the year and
yet, there I was. If I were dreaming, then drinking the blood-laced
tea would mean nothing. If this was real, however, then my life was
going to be changing no matter what I drank. I had to trust someone
and Chloe was just as good a candidate as anyone else.

She was still patiently
watching me as I ran through all of the different scenarios
available. Suddenly, she reached over and pinched my arm so hard that
it almost brought tears to my eyes.

“
What
the…?”

“
You’re
not dreaming, Chey. This is real! But you don’t have to drink
it if you don’t want to.”

I rubbed my arm several
times in order to get rid of the sting. If I had been dreaming that
pinch would have definitely woke me up. My confusion was being
replaced with resolve. The woman who gave me life was a prisoner of
an evil Vampire, the woman who raised me was prepared to sell me to
the highest bidder and the women who called me granddaughter were
offering me a home and immortality. I guess my choice was made. I
nodded for Chloe to pour the blood into my tea and I drank.

Chapter 9

Violeta was a drop
dead gorgeous brunette about three inches shorter than me who looked
like a scary female ninja. Her bobbed hairstyle and dark brown eyes
added to her lethal appearance. Picture Lucy Liu with an attitude and
you got Violeta! She smiled as she circled me like a predator circles
its prey. This was supposed to be the assessment portion of training.
We had to see just how much I needed to learn based on how much I
currently knew. I had tried to tell her that I knew very little about
fighting or self-defense, but she insisted on having a sparring match
to be certain.

Chloe’s words
came to my mind when Violeta pounced on me. She hated me and her
hands were around my throat. She didn’t squeeze, per se, but
she made it clear that she could rip my head off at my shoulders if
she wanted to.

“
Cheyenne,
you didn’t even try to defend yourself.”

“
You
moved too fast. I didn’t even see you coming.”

“
Have
you been drinking blood? It will help with your reflexes.”

“
Yeah.
A little bit.”

“
Well,
drink more!”

Violeta spent the next
three hours chasing me around the rooftop gym. The sun was beating
down on the glass ceiling and had turned the room into a sauna. I'd
asked if we could open a window, but she said no. She claimed that
the heat and the high altitude would help my training but I was
certain that she was just trying to kill me.

Thankfully, Zander came
into the gym right as I was about to die from dehydration. He carried
two towels and a tray full of refreshments. Violeta walked over to
the table, leaving me flat on the floor gasping for breath. I watched
as Zander kissed her sweetly on the top of the head before he walked
over and offered me his hand. His smile was just as amazing as
Jordan’s and I was instantly put at ease by his presence.

“
So,
how is the training going?”

“
Your
girlfriend is trying to kill me,” I whispered.

Zander let out the
loudest laugh that I had heard in a long time. If not for the fact
that I was dead serious, I would have joined him. I glanced over at
Violeta to see that she had an evil smirk on her face. If she wasn’t
trying to kill me then she was trying to get as close as possible.
Zander continued to laugh as he helped me to the table and poured me
a drink. I knew that he had laced my orange juice with blood because
I could taste a little bit of iron in it.

I'd been given the
blood of a few of my Vampire family members but Efia’s was
given more often. It had become easy to tell the difference between
them just by taste alone, but when I was given blood from Abraham or
Israel I got massive headaches. Efia said it was because their blood
was more potent than the others. So far, only Zander and Jordan had
been able to ingest their blood without headaches and nausea. But I
definitely knew that I was drinking orange juice ala Amelia.

Amelia was so proud of
Chloe and me that she was constantly supplying us with blood. She
wanted to insure that we had all of the advantages that she could
afford us. She even showed up this morning to wish me luck with my
training session with Violeta. I just wish she had told her that I
was a newbie and to take it easy on me.

For three hours each
morning and evening, Violeta put me through a vigorous training
session. She relentlessly stalked me through the gardens, attacking
me with an eagerness that was just plain wrong. I knew that I was
getting stronger, but she still over powered my every effort to fight
her off. She constantly told me to use my Elemental powers on her
even though I didn’t know how. Since she didn’t have the
same attribute she wasn’t able to tell me how, so she decided
to try to scare it out of me. And Violeta was scary!