Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (13 page)

One afternoon, when I
was sure that I was going to die in training, Violeta came at me with
that feline grace of hers. She was so quick and elegant that I
thought, “At least my death will be pretty”. And then, in
the same moment I thought it unfair that I was so close to meeting my
real mom that I couldn’t let anything happen to me. I was
getting stronger everyday, I thought, at the exact moment that
Violeta jumped into the air. I looked up at her and inhaled quickly
causing her to stop midair. Confusion flashed on her face in slow
motion until it was replaced with pride. I had never seen that look
from her and I wanted to bask in its warmth. I smiled up at her and,
at the same time, exhaled…forgetting to move out of her way.

Violeta’s feet
slammed into me and she sat on my chest, holding me down until I
caught my breath. Through my eyelashes I could see concern on her
face and decided to lie there a bit longer, but my breathing calmed
and she saw through my rouse.

“
Get
up, you brat”, she growled. But I thought I saw a hint of a
smile.

By the end of our third
week of training, she switched to cardio-conditioning in which I was
supposed to run 10 miles a day in order to get ready for the next set
of skills. In the middle of my first 10 mile run, Tabitha joined me
near the edge of the property. I had known that someone was following
me but had seen several Stewards hanging around and thought it was
one of them. When she reached my side, she slowed to match my pace
and smiled up at me. I knew she was making every effort to mend the
bridge between us and get us back to where we had been. Even though I
knew that she was forced to keep secrets from me, it didn’t
change my feeling of betrayal. Something inside of me thought that
she should have told me the truth. But, regardless of all of her
deception, she was still my best friend and I missed hanging out with
her.

We finished the 10 mile
loop with a sprint to the end. Tabitha beat me, of course, without
even a hint of breathlessness, and was pouring me a glass of water
when I finally reached the back deck. The Stewards must have set a
table outside so that we could have breakfast and I was grateful for
the variety of fruits and muffins. Veronica, Tabitha’s Fare,
was also waiting for us near the table in case Tabitha needed more
sustenance than fruit.

I loved having Veronica
around. She knew several different languages and was funnier than
all-get-out. In the few hours that I was not training or sleeping,
Veronica would join me and Chloe in my rooms to help educate me on
the ways of my Vampire family. There was a lot of history and
protocol that I needed to be aware of. Also, as the descendant of a
Vampire Queen, I had to consider everything I said and did as a
reflection on the family as a whole. It was all so overwhelming that
I nearly asked if I could take the blue pill and go back into the
Matrix where I belonged. But, ironically, I continued to take the red
pill and live in my new reality.

One afternoon, I walked
into my rooms to rest in between Violeta’s intervals from hell
to find Veronica and Chloe explaining the red and blue pill joke to
Efia. When they were finished, Efia threw her head back and laughed
with such unabashed amusement that we all joined in. Veronica stood
to leave, received hugs from Efia and Chloe, and gave me her
wonderfully crooked smile and a pat on the shoulder in an act of
solidarity. I only hoped that my Fare would be as personable as
Tabitha’s.

Efia was still
recovering from her laughter when I reached the couch. She wiped at
the tears that were running down her face and fought to catch her
breath. These moments of pure joy were so rare that I didn’t
want to do anything to ruin it, so I stood silently while she
composed herself. Chloe had poured me a glass of juice that I was
sure was spiked with Efia’s blood and I drank it greedily. My
reflexes had gotten a lot better, but Violeta had been a Vampire for
a long time and she was always just a tad bit quicker.

Earlier that week, just
when I thought that I was gaining ground in our training, Violeta
made it blatantly clear that I'd never had a chance at besting her.
She told me that she allowed me to get close in order to keep me
encouraged. I supposed she thought that I was encouraged enough to
know that I would only be able to beat her after my Embrace and
possibly not even then. She prided herself in being the best warrior
that Efia had and I was going to learn from her even if it killed me.
And it just might!

I finished my drink
just as Efia finished her last bout of laughter. She kept mumbling to
herself about the blue pill as she straightened her dress and reached
for her glass of water. Every time I was in her presence I was
speechless. She was so beautiful and regal that I could hardly
believe that she was real, let alone a relative of mine. She sipped
her water with the elegance of a woman who had lived during a time
when manners and etiquette meant everything.

“
Come
and sit with me,” Efia said as she patted the couch next to
her. “You look like you could use some refreshments.”

“
I
could use about a week’s worth of sleep,” I said, slowly
lowering myself to sit.

My body was so sore
from the beating that Violeta had given me that I was sure I wouldn’t
be able to stand again without assistance. Efia patted my knee and
handed me a bowl of fruit. She ran her fingers through my tangled
locs and began to gently separate them from one another. This was the
third or fourth time she had groomed me in this way. I figured out
that the women in my family felt an affinity to each other through
grooming hair. Chloe often sat behind me while I studied and arranged
my locs into different elaborate styles. I felt myself relax and
started to enjoy the love I was being shown. I emptied the bowl of
fruit and placed it into Chloe’s outstretched hand before I
leaned back into Efia’s hug.

“
Did
you know that Violeta is trying to kill me?”

“
She
is not,” Efia laughed. “She is simply following my orders
and preparing you as thoroughly and quickly as possible.”

“
But
she's going overboard. She hates me, I know it.”

“
She
does not. Violeta was one of the people responsible for tracking you
down after Ms. Redding adopted you. She has wanted nothing more than
to reunite you with your family.”

“
No,
she really hates me!”

“
Violeta
is the best that I have. She has…experience in
life-threatening situations. Truly, she is far better than many that
the other families have at their disposal. It is a true gift, having
her choose us as her family. She had many other suitors, and yet she
chose Zander.”

“
Of
course she chose me,” Zander was leaning on the door jam and
smiling. He must have been standing there for quite some time because
he looked at me with a mixture of amusement and pity. He walked over
to my side and began to massage the knot out of my shoulder as he
continued to speak with Efia about the different weapons that I
should be trained on next. As the knot began to melt from my body I
heard Zander mention fencing and knife throwing and wondered how in
the world I was going to master any of those things in the next few
weeks.

I had been training
with Violeta for the last two months and didn’t feel like I
could do any more. In the morning we would do cardio which usually
involved some sort of obstacle course from hell. Violeta was always
jumping out of secret hiding places or throwing sharp objects toward
me at neck breaking speeds. It was near impossible to run 10 miles
and dodge flaming knives at the same time.

“
Definitely
fencing. She will start tomorrow.” Efia began to rise.

“
Tomorrow?
Please, Efia, I need a day off.”

“
You
can have a day when Violeta tells me you can.”

And with that, she was
gone.

Chapter 10

Zander sat in Efia’s
vacant spot and reached for some fruit. Chloe stood up and sat so
close to him that she might as well have been sitting in his lap. He
hugged her in the same way that he did every time he saw her. It was
clear to see that she worshipped him and he adored her. I was always
jealous when I was around the two of them and right now was no
different. I looked the other way when I felt the sting of unshed
tears in my eyes.

“
So,
Chey, Violeta tells me that you are doing great.”

I looked at Zander to
see if he was teasing me but he wasn’t. Chloe just shrugged her
shoulders and handed him another piece of fruit to eat.

“
She
IS trying to kill me.”

“
On
the contrary, she is trying to keep you from getting killed. Grigor
and his crew are much more brutal than Violeta and they won’t
hold back.”

“
Hold
back? Is that what she calls it? Today she threw a hatchet at my
head! And it was on fire!”

Zander laughed so hard
that he started to choke on the food in his mouth. He continued to
laugh as he moved Chloe out of his reach and threw a succession of
punches at my head. Instinct, fear and self-preservation kicked in
and I was able to block each and every one. I rolled off of the
couch, came up in a crouched position and shook my head to clear my
vision. Zander was on his feet before I knew it. He was coming at me
with round-house kicks and caw magraw moves while I blocked and
outmaneuvered him. He was moving so fast that I could barely see him
except for the blur of movement getting continually closer to my
body.

I struggled to remember
my training and the different strategies that I had learned over the
past weeks. One thing that Violeta was trying to get me to learn was
to control my Elemental powers. This was the hardest part of the
training because she didn’t understand my power anymore that I
did. All that either of us knew was that it was brought on by my
emotions.

With that in mind, I
tried to summon any emotion other than an annoyed aggravation at
being attacked by my brother. I couldn’t believe that he was
really kicking at me. If I was too slow he would actually make
contact and the result would be painful. He should know better than
to play these types of games with his young human sister. I was
becoming angry at the thought of getting hurt and I stared straight
at him and gave a mental push. It's hard to explain how I did it, but
I had begun to see the part of my brain that controlled my attribute.
Once I could see it, I could use it..

Immediately Zander’s
eyes widened and his movements slowed. It was like he was caught in
Jello. I had succeeded. He smiled when he realized what I had done
and stopped trying to move, allowing his body to slowly come to rest
on the floor just inches from me. After a few moments of basking in
the glow of my accomplishment, I freed him from my version of
suspended animation.

“
Well
done, Sis.”

Zander extended his
hand to help me up and walked me back over to the couch. He put his
arm around my shoulder and squeezed before planting a brother kiss on
the top of my head. He was smiling from ear to ear when I looked up
at him and I could see that he was sweating from exertion. He had not
given me a break during our little battle. He had actually come at me
full force and I had held him off. He looked at me like a proud
father looked at his child.

“
The
key to your powers is to sustain them for long periods of time
without causing yourself harm. Since it seems that only you and Chloe
possess the ability to manipulate air that drastically, it has been
hard for the rest of us to determine exactly how to teach it to you.”

“
Can
you do it at all?”

“
I
can manipulate enough air to make my features indiscernible.”

“
You
mean blurry?”

I started running
through the random blurry images that I had seen last summer and on
the first day of school. I looked from Chloe to Zander and saw that
they both had guilty looks on their faces. Zander simply shrugged but
Chloe looked downright panicked.

“
I
guess you could say blurry,” Zander said.

“
So,
did you ever come to see me?” I made sure that I only looked at
Zander even though the question was clearly directed at both of them.

“
Yes.
Once Tabitha confirmed who you were I couldn’t help myself. We
have been looking for you for a very long time.”

I looked over at Chloe
and she nodded her head slightly. Now I had identified two of the
three blurry figures that had been stalking me in New Mexico. I
wondered who else was able to blur their features and was about to
ask when Tabitha and Solomon walked in. Solomon was carrying a
satchel so large that he was struggling under its weight.

“
What’s
in the bag, Sol?” Chloe asked, grateful for the chance to
change the focus of the conversation.

“
Weaponry.
We need to be ready for our attack on Grigor’s compound.”

Carefully placing the
bag on the coffee table, Solomon unzipped and unloaded its contents.
From all the talk about battling Grigor and his clan, I expected to
see grenades and torpedo launchers. Instead, there were an assortment
of swords, knives and hatchets. Each one was solid silver and sharp
enough to cut stone. I ran a finger down the blade of the sword
closest to me and had to fight back a feeling of dread. There was no
way that I would be able to handle this in a fight.

The reality of my new
life was sitting on my coffee table...sharp and lethal, and I would
be expected to handle each of them with the finesse of a seasoned
vet. Once Embraced, my senses would sharpen. I had been reading up on
all of the different abilities that I would have, all of them seeming
supernatural until I remembered that every other Vampire had them as
well. My limited free time had been spent reading as many Vampire
books as possible to try to find some way to relate to what was
happening to me. Starting with the most popular books then the older,
more historical accounts of Vampire life, I had built a comprehensive
list of things to expect.