Page 40 of Those That Don't Exist
“Can you show me?” she adds, after I’ve been quiet for too long.
I think of the best way I can do this right now. I go with the most obvious. I will my fangs to extend, which is normally as natural as breathing, but it feels a little forced in this moment. It’s the only proof I’m willing to offer right now despite feeling my shadows itching to play. I look into her eyes and pull back my top lip, revealing the elongated canines. I see it, a flicker of fear. I quickly zip my lips again.
“You mentioned a pack?” Her voice is level but barely audible. Her questions are all over the place, but I roll with it. Now that she knows I want no more secrets between us. Anything she asks, I’ll tell her. Although there is one thing I’m still dreading to say.
“As I’m sure you know, even before the war many vampires lived in groups, we call it a pack – it's just a term which stuck. Packs offer protection and company. We’re bonded by blood.” I pause to try and read her reaction, again she isn’t giving me anything. “Before the war packs were generally run by mated couples or poly groups, they’d have several other vampires bonded to them, to form a pack. It’s an old behaviour from when vampires used to fight for territory. Blood bonds seem to stabilise and enhance our magical abilities.”
This information wasn’t shared widely even before the Fae broke through the veil but as she’s one of us I have no hesitance in telling her.
“We can't cast each other's powers but collectively it allows the magic to flow more freely, like having these bonds grounds us to wherever it is the power comes from. For the leaders it enhances their magic, but they have the responsibility to protect those they take on.”
“And you’re part of one of these packs?” It’s like she’s interviewing me for an article, I want to know what she’s feeling right now.
“Yes, I’m bound into the pack here in the city. It's got a single male leader. The war decimated so many of our mated vampires, solo leadership has become the norm.”
“And…” She takes a shaky breath this time. I know this is it, the one question I am dreading. “You think the accident changed me into one of you?”
Of course she’s already putting the puzzle pieces together.
I take a second to breathe deeply. This is it. The final secret that’s going to shatter her world.
“Your car crash last summer wasn’t an accident.” This sentence might be the hardest for her to hear, it's certainly the hardest for me to say. She lost her father. I wait to see if this isit, the moment she explodes, or crumbles. She does neither, but blinks as if expecting me to carry on, so I do.
“My pack leader, Adicious, has been trying to turn additional vampires in the last few years, to grow our numbers, and to stabilise the pack with a mate.” I pause as fury burns my insides for the victims that suffered at his experiments.
“In the decades since the war we’ve been struggling to survive, and several single males took over regions where packs no longer existed. The more established packs, those with mate bonds, are refusing to fully acknowledge those like mine as we rebuild our network.
Adicious has been experimenting for the last few years on females, trying to turn one so he can form a mate bond.”
“But female vampires have to be born,” Aurora interrupts me. It doesn't surprise me that she knows this. It was the main strategy of the war, to take out all female vampires. After all, if we couldn’t procreate we’d most likely die out eventually. Or our magic would at least be depleted as those of us born into the species are more gifted.
“Yes, they do. And the handful left are all mated already and in established packs.”
“And the crash?”
“Adicious orchestrated it so he could inject you with enough of his venom. He needed you to be left with no family and with enough injuries to cover the bite he gave you.”
She looks down at her wrist. At the fucking mark he left on her. It's not needed, he chose to scar the infection site.
“This?” she says, holding up her arm, wrist extended towards me. I tense against the pull that suckerpunches me, telling me to lean forward and replace his teeth marks with my own.
I nod, not trusting myself to unlock my jaw.
Thankfully, she pulls her wrist back, putting it in her lap.
“He killed my father?” Her voice cracks and I forget about biting her, the need to comfort her instead taking over. I reach out with my good hand, wanting to soothe her, but she quickly jerks back. I retreat at the rejection. I ignore the stab of pain in my chest.
“Yes, he killed your father and left you to die or turn. He knew the authorities would notice if you just disappeared. He had me keep watch over you to see if he succeeded. If you turned you’d join the pack, if not you could live your life.”
“Why me?” A single tear escapes, running down her cheek. I have to force myself to stay put, the instinct to cradle her into my body is a visceral thing.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” I wish I had this answer for her, I have been trying to figure it out myself. “Apart from your Fae heritage, meaning you already have magic, I don't know why he chose you.”
“I’m not like you though. It didn’t work.” She’s trembling but her voice is surprisingly even.
“Didn’t it?” I tilt my head and try to keep my voice soothing. “I’ve noticed small changes, your efforts at the gym are beyond a normal demi-Fae. I saw the blood lust on your face with that boy last weekend.”It's honestly hard to keep the jealousy out of my voice.“I’d been dismissing most things until the party. But now I’ve seen your true form I can’t deny it any longer. Aurora, you’re starving. You need blood.”
“No, I’m just recovering.” She shakes her head in denial. “I don't have fangs.”
