Authors: Maya DeLeina
Steffan shook his head. “It doesn’t stop aging altogether, but it does dramatically slow the aging process. Hollywood swears by it and pays top dollar for a single drop. So you can imagine with that kind of profit, there are dealers all over the world.”
Anya shot her hands in the air. “Great, so I’m past the threat of rogues, but now I have to look out for dealers?” She cocked her head. “But why single Brynne out? Why not take Rhys? Why not you, the leader? Why not take anyone else in the family for that matter?”
“Brynne’s blood is very different from ours. She was on insulin for most of her life. Insulin is manufactured by genetic engineering, forming and splicing together combinations of DNA sequences—DNA
that does not exist naturally and would not normally occur together. The theory is that the blood of a vampire with this uncommon DNA strand
could provide immeasurable abilities for a human. But again, our blood in the purest form is too potent for consumption and is not made for the human palate. Instead, when it is mixed with the cannabis, the taste is extracted and all that’s left is a high like no other with the chemical properties ready to take action in the human cells. Basically, Blood Honey made with Brynne’s blood would be like drinking from the fountain of youth while acquiring superman strengths all at one time in a very, very pleasurable experience.
”
“How many vampires are out there like Brynne?”
“None that we know of. That’s why we had to destroy anyone who knew Brynne existed and no one but the immediate family knows about Brynne’s special blood.”
“Except for the one vampire who got away, right?” Anya asked quietly, carefully bringing the subject back into the conversation.
Steffan nodded but remained silent.
Anya took in a deep breath. “Well, Brynne sounds fascinating. I can’t wait to meet her.”
Steffan smiled and placed a kiss on Anya’s hand. “She’s excited about meeting you as well. In fact, the entire family is very anxious to meet you.”
“So, if Rhys was the only one to claim a human mate in the family, does that mean the other fated mates were already vampires?”
“Yes.”
“And in all of your years, you never came across a vampire who was a potential match for you?”
“I’ve had
relationships
, but none of them sparked a mate match. It’s only been you and will always remain you,” Steffan said as he brushed Anya’s cheek.
“Don’t ask me why, but I’m so drawn to your veins right now. It’s making me dizzy,” Anya revealed, abruptly changing the subject that sparked a bit of jealousy in her once again.
Steffan smiled. “It’s because your body is craving your first vampire kiss. Vampires have an acute craving to drink from their mate, a craving that goes beyond our need to feed from humans. It’s extremely decadent, ravishing, and deep—just like a kiss. That’s why they call it a vampire kiss.”
“May I ask when are we going to try this?”
“Soon, my love. Very soon,” Steffan stated. He took Anya’s hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb against her smooth skin. “Anya, there is something else you need to know. We’re supposed to be able to share in sensations now that we are mates. Like, if you eat something, I can taste it. If something touches you, I can feel it. This is one of the most powerful abilities for a vampire and can only be accomplished through mate claims.”
“So, you’re saying you can feel what I feel in my body?” Anya asked seductively, one eyebrow arching. She removed the pillow from Steffan’s lap to straddle his waist.
Steffan nodded, a devilish grin on his face. “And you can feel what I feel. Sex will be on a whole different level of sensation for us, and I want to try it with your fist vampire kiss so we can both experience each other’s taste.”
“Well then. I’m so glad Michelle will need her rest all day.” Anya flashed a wicked smile at Steffan. “But in the shower, why didn’t we feel each other’s sensations?”
“As the maker of the claim, I have to engage all of the connection threads for us. When we were in the shower, I started the process by engaging our basic communication thread. And while I was so tempted to do so, I didn’t want to overwhelm you with the sensation thread until I could fully explain what our abilities as mates are. Anya, with this sensation sharing that I’m about to engage, our bodies don’t even have to be physically together in order to feel each other.”
“You mean—”Anya trailed off as Steffan picked up her thoughts processing.
Steffan nodded. “It will be just like that day you were in my driveway and I was in the house, but we’ll be together in mind this time.”
“I just can’t believe this. It’s all so intense!” Anya said, flushed with excitement.
“We can break the threads between us temporarily when we need to. I mean, it’s a consuming ability for both of us, and if we need breathing room, privacy or just a break from the constant connection, we can do it. But we will both have to disengage. It’s not designed to be one-sided. In time, we will learn to adapt. If it will mean a better sleep tomorrow if you’re not overloaded with my thoughts, we can disengage temporarily.” Steffan smiled as he brushed Anya’s hair back from her face.
“No. I don’t want to disengage. I like having you completely. It’s just overwhelming to learn all of this at once. I don’t know what to try first!”
Steffan smiled in response. “We’ll try them all. But right now, I’m interested in knowing what unique abilities you’ve acquired with your turning.”
“All right.” Anya smiled as she sat tall, still straddling Steffan. “But how do I know if it’s just plain old vampire ability or a special ability I have?”
“Tell me what you feel or sense, and we’ll take it from there.”
“And you know of all of the different vampire abilities out there?”
“I’m sure none of us knows exactly everything that exists out there, but I’ve seen my share of vampires and read a great deal of documentation. When I first turned, learning all about different vampire abilities was a bit archaic. Back then, we had to resort to documenting things we saw in other vampires on our own or go through discarded diaries from vampires who had extinguished, if they bothered to document anything at all. But since the internet has come around, we can all access a bloodline report from various VFSN sites. Families around the world can file an entry to a public bloodline report if something is newly discovered and can be confirmed by a second party,” Steffan explained.
“What is VFSN?”
“Vampire-friendly social networking sites.”
“We have our own sites?”
“No. We utilize the same popular sites as everyone else. The Vampire-Friendly sites recognize our existence and allow us to download a private application platform and place a symbol on our profile page to signify our status. This reminds me, we’ll have to create your profile sometime today and update my relationship status as well.”
“So what’s the symbol?”
“It’s called the Eternity Eye. Basically, it’s all based around astrological symbols. It starts with the symbol for earth, a circle with a crosshair. Dead center is the image of a closed eye. At either side of the earth symbol are west- and east-facing crescent moons.”
“What’s the significance of the symbol?”
“From what I know, the symbol was created by a vampire in Greece centuries ago. He had it branded on his skin to signify what he was. Soon, vampires followed his lead, branding themselves with the symbol to reveal their identity to other vampires. Somewhere along the line, a witch caught a glimpse of the symbol on a known vampire and used it in black magic references early in its history. Now, you rarely see it used in texts as our kind has tried to erase any known images of it out there. When it’s broken down, it is really simple. Earth is used to signify our presence on the planet. The closed eye symbolizes our mind’s eye. And the crescent moons denote our evolution in spirit, from human to vampire.”
“Do vampires still brand themselves with this?”
Steffan turned around and lifted the hair from the back of his neck. There, etched in a deep-black tattoo, was the symbol. “When do you want to get yours?” he asked.
“Soon!” The thought of a secret symbol excited Anya.
“That’s my girl.”
“And what about this tattoo,” Anya asked as she touched Steffan’s right shoulder. “What is this?”
“This is my family’s…I mean,
was
my family’s coat of arms,” Steffan explained.
“Your family before Ambrose Heights?”
Steffan nodded, “Got it right before the war. There were stories of my ancestors displaying it on their shields in battle. I guess I thought it was fitting for what I was going to face.” Steffan paused and lightly chuckled, “Death. I was ready to face it. Instead, I became
this
.”
Anya was silent as she rubbed Steffan’s shoulder where the tattoo lay.
“So, let’s continue.” Steffan cleared his throat. “All vampires have heightened senses and increased strength, and we all possess the ability to manifest, place boundary, take flight, and enthrall humans. In some cases, these basic vampire abilities are heightened. Take Rhys for example, all vampires have strength. But with Rhys, this basic vampire strength is amplified, by like fifty times for him. This is why he was chosen as protector of Ambrose Heights.”
“Times fifty? Wow.”
“In other cases, inherited abilities are completely unique to our basic abilities.”
“For example?”
“Like in the case of manifestation, some vampires can cloak manifest, where they’re completely invisible in their surroundings. With enthralls, some vampires can enthrall both human and vampires. Then there are the unique abilities—shielding, detection, tracking, mood alterations, dreamscaping, telling, touch recognition, and telepathy without a mate connection to the host. In rare cases, kinesis and the ability to sense mate matches have been identified.”
“What are telling and touch recognition?”
“Telling abilities mean the vampire can elicit truth from either a human or vampire or both. They perform it through an enthrall. Touch recognition is where a vampire can touch a human, living or deceased, to understand their character and see certain events that happened in their life. In very rare cases, a vampire can do this with other vampires as well.”
“So my senses, they all seem to be heightened, but that’s normal right?” Anya asked.
“Yes.”
Anya squinted as she spoke. “Hmmm. Well, there is this new energy I’ve felt since turning.”
“Let’s see what it does,” Steffan said as he fixed his gaze intently on Anya.
Anya concentrated, staring at the rose petals that lay on the bed. Slowly, the petals lifted one by one until they swirled upward like a funnel cloud.
Steffan flattened his back on the headboard, shifting his position under Anya. “Well, that is certainly a rare ability. You have
kinesis on objects!” Steffan examined Anya as the petals dropped back down to the bed. “Anya, whatever you’re doing to move that, see if you can do it to me. Concentrate on my arm. Move it with the same energy thread you used on the petals.”
Anya nodded enthusiastically. “All right.”
Anya concentrated on Steffan’s arms and released her energy threads.
“Stop!” Steffan screamed. His body flinched and his face was etched in a look of pain.
“What? What is it?” Anya exclaimed.
“My arm started burning.” Steffan concentrated in deep thought. “I burned. I had a reaction from your kinesis, which means you do have some kind of control over it. Let’s try this. I’ll try to move my arm, and you try to hold it down this time.”
Anya repositioned herself back on the bed, next to Steffan’s side. Steffan arms sprawled out on the bed. He lifted both arms with the intent to guide them behind his head, but only his left arm moved. His right arm remained on the bed, pinned in place.