Page 31 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

Novalie took the question seriously, her brows furrowing as she thought through whatever information she had stored away in her brain. "No," she said decisively. "Werewolves aren't a thing."

I wasn't sure why the answer disappointed me so much but when she continued on, the relief I felt was shocking.

"But vampire shifters do exist—it says it right here," she said, pointing to the genealogy book. "Some vampires can change form. "

I thought back to Rowan reading Dracula and nearly smiled. "Like a bat?"

"I guess? The most notable is the wolf—apparently the royals could all shift into a large wolf-like form. I think there have been some outliers throughout vampiric history, but the power to shift runs through the monarch line."

Could it be coincidence? What if my wolf was the missing heir? I wasn't sure how I could even check, I only knew that there had been something otherworldly about the wolf I'd seen twice now.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," I murmured and she turned back to the book on the bed.

"There's a pretty comprehensive list in here of some of the gifts that run through lines, or extra gifts vampires have reportedly experienced. "

There was an excitement in her voice that was contagious and I couldn't help my smile. "Anything cool?"

"This guy," she said, handing the book to me as I walked over to sit next to her. "He could apparently fly."

"You could do that with the air element though," I pointed out and she nodded distractedly, already looking back through the book for more cool abilities to covet. "What about this one?" It was gruesome, but there was no doubt it could come in handy. "This girl could apparently cause people to implode."

"Gross." Novalie wrinkled her nose while I laughed. "How many times would you have exploded Hayes already if you had that power?"

I snorted. "I wish. The bond doesn't let us hurt each other. Not mortally anyway."

"Probably a good thing," Novalie said with a grin. "If killing each other is off the table you'll have to channel all that energy into something more practical."

I threw her a dirty look and she laughed harder. "You're lucky I can't explode you right now."

"Very," she agreed and we laughed again.

"Does anything run in your family line?" I asked as I flipped the pages and she looked surprised. "I mean, you don't need to tell me if you'd prefer not to."

"No," she said and then smiled a little. "I was just surprised you remembered. As far as I know, nothing runs in the family."

"I guess I'll have to wait and see if anything runs in mine."

“Do you remember anything about them? Your parents?”

I gave the question some serious consideration but shook my head. “Not really. I don’t remember my dad at all, but my mum… I can remember her hair. I don’t think she hugged me often, but when she did, I used to hold her hair in my tiny fist and marvel at it because it was so shiny and soft. I’d been jealous because my hair was curly and I wanted long, straight hair like hers.”

Novalie smiled slightly. “Maybe you’ll find her again one day.”

“Maybe.” Though I wasn't holding my breath that I would be claimed at the debut. But if I wasn't, it was fine. I could carve a place for myself out of this world if I had to, with enough room for Hayes by my side.

"You have the strangest look on your face right now," Novalie said thoughtfully and I smiled, letting more than a hint of fang show.

"Just thinking about burning the world down."

ChapterSeventeen

I was supposedto be meeting up with Novalie, Hayes and Rowan in the late afternoon to head out to see the mage, but it was overcast and there was more grey fog than sunshine. I figured we could go a little earlier, potentially giving us more time to get there and back and also to stop at a shopping centre where I could pick out some clothes.

Hayes was on one of the upper floors somewhere, the throb in my chest tugging me in his direction when I suddenly spotted Rowan.

I didn’t think I’d seen him since the night in the library where we'd almost... kissed? Bitten each other? I wasn't sure, but something about the way he'd neglected to mention it or seek me out since then made it feel like we'd done something wrong. Was it frowned upon for vampires to have more than one 'chosen'? Or was it just because Hayes had a history with him?

---