Page 8 of Blood Ties
I stiffened at the mention of his name and felt a cold chill wash over me. Anton’s death was of my doing. I knew I had just cause for the action I took against him, since he had tried to execute my mate for no reason other than his desire for me. Still I didn’t take his death lightly.
“How?” I wondered, rubbing my hands up my arms trying to warm the eerie feeling that was running through me. Noticing my reaction, Grayson made his way to me, replacing my hands with his.
“When his life ended, all those he created felt it.”
“But there was only you and…”
“Ava.” She finished for me, looking both sad and sympathetic. “It is not good Gabriella. Ava became enraged with grief. The only saving grace is that I, as the eldest of his children, was named as his successor. Ava does not care for our laws and is out for blood and will stop at nothing to get it.”
I shook my head. “But I’m the daughter of the first vampire. I took on Anton and he was Ava’s sire, plus he had how many years on her? Surely she has to know that if she comes after me, I’ll kill her.”
“Your arrogance will be your destruction if you continue being so sure of yourself!” My mother jumped to her feet. “Do you think that she does not know this about you? Your origins have been made public, but the nest believes that to harm you would bring down the wrath of Damien.”
“Damien?”
“Your father.” Wow! Twenty three years and I’m just finding out my father’s name. Fan-freaking-tastic.
“That’s a good thing, right? I mean they won’t try to eliminate me because of my father and they’ll leave us alone.”
She was shaking her head before I even finished. “As the new leader, I know that your actions were warranted, but Ava… she believes it is because you are my daughter that I dropped your charges.” Her gaze dropped and her face contoured like her sorrow was manifesting itself in physical pain. “She has left the nest.” My mother spoke so softly that if I’d been human I would not have heard her. “She will not come at you directly Gabriella.” Her sights shifted to Grayson and mine followed suit. I immediately knew how she would attempt to hurt me.
“She can try,” I hissed. I’d been through too much to lose Grayson over a love stricken, grief ridden psychopath who wasn’t even aware that the man she loved didn’t care for her.
“For this reason and several more, I believe that you both should move into the nest and be under its protection.”
I had spent twenty three years trying to find my place in the world, outside the vampire nest. A few weeks out and she was already trying to pull me back in. No thank you. I was finally feeling independent.
I looked to Grayson. His expression matched what I was thinking. He didn’t want to give up what we had here either.
“It’s not that we don’t appreciate the offer, but no.”
“Gabriella,” she spoke gently to me as if I was a child. It was the way she had so many times before when she believed I was being irrational. “You are young and have not had nearly as many years as a vampire as some have before they become sires. You both will need help navigating this new path you are on. The nest will help.”
“I’m sorry mother, but the answer is still no. Living at the nest did nothing but cause me problems. I think we’ll be better on our own. We’ll handle Ava if she tries anything.”
“Do not be foolish, Gabriella. He is a new vampire and would be no match for one as old as Ava. You also know how vampire politics work. You are in the territory of the nest. You both must pledge loyalty.”
“Of course we’ll pledge our loyalty,” I replied looking at Grayson who seemed unsure over what I was offering. “But as far as Grayson not being able to handle Ava, I don’t know if that’s true,” I mumbled. Grayson and I shared a look.
“What is it?” my mother demanded, her eyes darting back and forth between us.
“We just spent the day in the sun.”
A moment passed in utter silence. “Impossible,” she declared disbelief swimming in her eyes as they locked on Grayson like she was seeing him for the first time.
“It’s true,” Grayson stated.
“Only Damien can walk in the sun,” she spoke to herself trying to make sense of the information she was being given. Good luck to her. I had been trying for the better half of the day.
“Yet I do. I’m his daughter, but that doesn’t make meThe First Vampire.”
“True. But you have a direct blood tie to him that no one in the world shares. Even if he converts a human to vampire directly, which he obviously has, the transition is still the same. So what did you do differently?”
I shook my head thinking over her words. “I didn’t take his blood into me. He was bleeding out, but there was nothing else.”
“No,” she dipped her head, “that is nothing unusual. We feed from them to make sure we have the blood to transfuse back. It is not necessary. As long as their entire blood supply is removed and replaced with vampire blood, the transition will happen just the same.”
“I don’t understand. Not that I’m complaining, but something would have had to cause it,” Grayson chimed in. “Like you said, if this was the norm for any vampire created by the first then there would be a lot more day walkers out there right?”
