Kindred

By Nicola Claire

Copyright © 2012, Nicola Claire

All Rights Reserved

Kindle Edition

ISBN:
978-0-473-21429-6

http://nicolaclaire.blog.com/

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

For Tony:

My editor, my proofreader, my cheering squad.

My kindred.

Accord
–
A blood binding agreement, often between two parties of equal power; cannot be broken.

Alliance –
A word of honour agreement; has varying degrees of binding, some alliances cannot be broken.

Blood Bond –
A binding connection between master and servant, requiring the exchange of blood to seal. It can only be broken by someone more powerful than the master who created it. A blood bond establishes a close relationship between the blood bonded. The master provides safety and protection, the servant offers obedience and loyalty.

Bond –
The connection between joined kindred Nosferatu and Nosferatin; reflects the emotional and psychological relationship. Enables both parties to find each other over distance; to perform whatever is required to get to that person, overcoming any obstacle; to direct thoughts to each other; to feed off the life force of each other. It is always an equal exchange.

Command –
A directive given by a Master vampire to one of his line. It requires
Sanguis Vitam
in order to enforce obedience. It cannot be ignored.

Dream Walk –
A Nosferatin power, enabling the Nosferatin to appear in a different location. The Dream Walker is invisible, cannot be sensed or smelled, and only heard if they talk when in this realm. They can, however, interact and be harmed. The only exception to a Dream Walker's invisibility is another Nosferatin. Two Dream Walks in a 24 hour period results in prolonged unconsciousness once the Dream Walker returns to their body. A very rare power.

Final death –
The true death of a Nosferatu. There can be no survival from the final death.

Glaze –
The ability to influence another. It requires direct eye contact and
Sanguis Vitam
to insert the influence. Usually a Nosferatu skill, allowing a vampire to influence a human.

Hapū
–
(Maori) Tribe; sub-tribe – e.g. the Westside Hapū of Taniwha is the local Auckland sub-tribe of New Zealand Taniwha.

Iunctio –
(Latin). The Nosferatu connection and governing power. All vampires are connected to one another via this supernatural information exchange highway; enabling sharing of rules, locations of safe havens and hot spots to avoid. It is powered by both Nosferatu and Nosferatin
Sanguis Vitam
, but is operated by the Nosferatu in Paris. There are twelve members of the
Iunctio
council, headed by the Champion. The
Iunctio
is tasked with policing all supernaturals throughout the world.

Joining –
The marriage of a kindred Nosferatu with a kindred Nosferatin. Upon joining the Nosferatu will double their
Sanguis Vitam
and the Nosferatin will come into their powers, but for the Nosferatin, their powers will only manifest  after reaching maturity; the age of 25. The joining will also make the Nosferatin immortal. A symbiotic relationship, should one member of the joining die, the other will too. Without a joining, the Nosferatin would die one month past their 25
th
birthday. The joining also increases the power of the
Iunctio
and Nosferatu as a whole.

Kaitiaki –
(Maori) New Zealand shape shifter (Taniwha) name for Nosferatin. Meaning protective guardian of people and places.

Kindred –
A Nosferatu or Nosferatin sacred match, a suitable partner for a joining. To be a kindred there must exist a connection between the Nosferatu and Nosferatin; only those suitably compatible will be kindred to the other.

Line –
The family of a Master Vampire, all members of which have been turned by the Master, or accepted via blood bond into the fold.

Master –
A Nosferatu with the highest level of
Sanguis Vitam.
There are five levels of Master, from level five – the lowest on the
Sanguis Vitam
scale, to level one – the highest on
the
Sanguis Vitam
scale. Only level one Masters can head a line of their own. Some Nosferatu may never become Masters.

Master of the City –
A level one Master in control of a territory; a city.

Norm –
A human unaware of the supernaturals who walk the Earth. They also do not have any supernatural abilities themselves.

Nosferatu –
A vampire. The Nosferatu turned towards the Dark, when their kin, the Nosferatin turned towards the Light. They require blood to survive and can be harmed by UV exposure and silver. They do not need to breathe or have a heartbeat. They are considered the undead.

Pull –
The Nosferatin sense of evil. Guides a hunter to a Dark vampire; sometimes, but not always a rogue, who is about to feed off an innocent.

Rākaunui
– (Maori) Full Moon.

Rogue –
A vampire no longer controlled by a master, full of evil and Darkness, feeding indiscriminately and uncontrolled.

Sanguis Vitam –
(Latin) The Blood Life or life force of a Nosferatu. It represents the power they possess. There are varying degrees of
Sanguis Vitam
.

Taniwha –
(Maori) New Zealand shape shifter. Dangerous, predatory beings. The Taniwha have an alliance with the Nosferatins.

Turned –
The action of changing a human into a vampire.

Vampyre –
Old term for vampire; used rarely in modern language.

“
There is so much light in this world,

we only have to open our eyes to see.”

Lucinda Monk

I knew things weren't quite going according to plan when his fist connected with my jaw. The pain sent a sharp stab up through my skull, making me grit my teeth, hear bells ringing in my head and my vision begin to blur. But, for the life of me, I could not understand why. Never one to dwell too long on the morose, I decided the best course of action was to come out guns blazing. As I don't actually own a gun, I settled on a taunt instead.

“Is that the best you've got?” I managed to squeeze out between my still clenched teeth. I shouldn't really be antagonising the nasty stinking creep in front of me, especially as I was still down on all fours spitting blood out of the side of my mouth, but I just can't help it. Call me a sucker for punishment, it's just how I work. Never let them see fear, that's my motto. So far, it's kind of worked.

Not so sure about that today though.

“Oh sweet Hunter, you think your witty repartee will distract me?”

Huh? Why do all the bad guys sound so freakishly prim and proper all of a sudden. Where's the good old,
take that you bitch
gone
? I don't know about you, but I kind of like the simplicity of an evil bad guy dropping his h's and missing his t's. It just goes with the territory,
ya know wot' I mean, luv?

And here comes the foot again, straight into my rib cage. I heard the crack this time, it sounded like a gun shot in the alley we were in. It reverberated around the brick walls on either side, or was that just inside my head? I couldn't tell, but breathing was suddenly a challenge. Oh God though, it hurt. And how
did
this upstart get the drop on me? I mean it all seemed so easy.

There he was, down the far end of the dark alley, against a dirty brick wall, like all good evil vampires should be, with his arm casually about the blonde's shoulders, looking into her eyes and mind fucking her, fangs down and glow on. It should have been a walk in the park, he was distracted, about to get his fill, no where to run, but somehow here I am on the ground struggling to inhale and there he is with a cocky grimace and the upper hand. What the?

“
They told me you were stronger than this, more clever too. Hmm, I guess they were wrong, my sweet. You are nothing but a little girl, playing
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
. Where is the big bad Hunter I have heard so much about, hmm? Where indeed.”

Where indeed sweetie? That's just what I was thinking. Not trying to be egotistical or anything, but usually my hunts go a hell of a lot better than this. And usually I don't have to battle more than one blood thirsty vampire in a night. This, however, is the third numbskull vamp to cross my path trying to feed off the innocent. I'd have to ask Michel about this influx of careless vampires, eating in such a public way, disregarding all of his rules when entering his city.

That's if I could get out of this little encounter alive. So far, the jury was still out on that one.

I rolled onto my back, feeling the wet muck of the alley seeping in through my light chiffon blouse. The stars were out tonight, no clouds in the sky from the earlier downpour, almost a Full Moon, but not quite. Old evil face was slowly stalking closer, if you could call it stalking. It's always more of a glide with the older vamps and this one was about 150 years, judging by the power level oozing off him like thick syrup. I could almost reach out and touch it, so thick and sweetly smelling. With a hint of rot underneath.

I had to stall him, get back on my feet. He had disarmed me as soon as I had approached; a simple flick of his wrist, a magical brush against my fingers and the stake was gone. It was now down the far end of the alley, by the entrance, where all of a sudden not a single soul was walking by. Go figure. Not that I'd want a Norm to get involved in this, but I did kind of feel alone right now. Even just the sound of late night “clubbers” would have been welcome, but no such luck.

Still, I haven't honed my skills over the past two years without arming myself with more than one weapon. I shifted slightly to my right, casually slipping my left arm into my belt at the top of my skirt, all the while making full eye contact with fang-face.

“
You seem awfully sure of yourself. What makes you think this isn't some kind of a trap?” I hedged, all the while watching him stalk ever closer; so slow, so predatory, so sure.

He glanced over his shoulder quickly at that though, I must have managed to ruffle his feathers, or cape. It was enough of a distraction to slip my little silver knife out of its sheath at my waist and hide it behind my wrist and arm.

“
I don't think so, Hunter. You work alone. I know a lot about you, you could say, your name is on the most wanted list with my kind. An all-points bulletin. We even study your moves.”

Huh? It was just one of those nights for surprises I guess. I didn't know I was that popular amongst the otherworldly nasties, but there you go.

“
It's always nice to be recognised for my efforts,” I replied, whilst lying perfectly still and taking small shallow breaths to ease the pain. It was just a constant ache now, no longer that sharp stabbing pain, as though a rib was about to pierce the side of my skin.

He noticed of course, they always do when you're injured. Something about the predator in them. They sense the weak, they sniff out the pain to use it against you. I'd have to time this just right. One shot and one shot only.