Page 69 of Desired for Her Blood
My stomach contracts, like it’s trying to escape through my spine, and Axe traces soft circles on my belly, trying to calm me. While it’s not one hundred percent calming, his caress is definitely doing something to my body.
But more importantly, I start to feel safe again. How could I not feel safe so close to Axe?
I turn in his arms to see his face. “You really didn’t drink human blood when you were turned?”
He shakes his head. “They brought in humans for some of the others in my clan.” His eyes shut. “Watching all that was horrible…” Axe’s voice trails off.
Zuben touches my knee, drawing my attention back to him. “Once a vampire is fully made, feedings are benign for humans. However, feedings done to facilitate transitions are often…less benign.”
“Oh.” My stomach twists. “Do you mean…are the humans killed or something?” I wince at the thought.
“No.” Zuben shakes his head. “Not typically.”
“Butsometimes.”
He nods. “And the feedings can be painful. Often a newborn vampire’s venom has not come in. And the change makes the baby ravenous. If their Maker does not diligently control the feeding, it can turn fatal if the baby vampire drains too much blood.”
“That’s horrible.”
Zuben nods. “Horrible, highly immoral and illegal. The sentence for killing a human is death. And in the case of a human death during transition, it is the Maker who is held accountable.”
“Is that why humans have horror stories about vampires? Because humans remember that kind of feeding?”
Zuben shakes his head. “Not from a typical transition, no. Just as the Maker should ensure the baby vampire does not feed excessively, the Maker should also bite the human once their baby is finished, transferring enough venom to remove the human’s memories and put them into a peaceful sleep.”
I turn toward Axe. “Did…when you watched them try to turn your family, did some of them accidentally kill the humans?” I’m wondering if that formed part of his hatred for vampires.
Axe shakes his head. “What I saw was much worse than that.”
Worse?“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, not sure I want to hear his story, but feeling I should if he needs to get it off his chest. Also, I’m trying to fully understand what I’m getting in to.
Axe stares toward the far wall of the cave. “The attempted transitions all failed,” he says softly, his voice deep. “But the one before me that came closest was my best friend, Angus.”
Axe shudders. “Angus already had been drained of his blood, and force fed three times, but still hadn’t become a vampire.”
“That is not abnormal,” Zuben interjects. “It often takes several attempts, sometimes over months.”
“The witch’s magic kept Angus contained in his cage,” Axe continues, “but after the first two times, the vampires that Octavia brought with her refused to feed him directly from their veins.”
“Why?” Zuben asks.
“Angus was losing his mind,” Axe continues. “He was thrashing about, spontaneously switching between human and grizzly forms.”
Axe’s eyes close, then reopen, filled with so much anger. “The pain those monsters put Angus through…”
“Go on,” Zuben says. “Please. This information could be important to Ember’s survival.”
Axe nods. “They drained Angus for the fourth time in as many days. They left him barely able to move, barely breathing. His heart rate was even lower than during hibernation. I was sure he was dead.”
Axe’s voice breaks, then he clears his throat. “But when Octavia and the other vampires returned, instead of feeding him from their veins, they placed a dish of vampire blood in his cage.”
“How did you know it was vampire blood?” Zuben asks.
“They told me.” Axe shrugs. “Told Angus, I should say, and he lapped it up. He immediately grew stronger, and after the next time they drained him, they brought in a human. A large man in a trance.”
“Probably Octavia’s spell of obedience,” Zuben adds.
The pain in Axe’s eyes shifts to anger. “Angus was close to unconscious when they put the human inside his cage. Sensing the man, Angus woke and he drank from him with such ferocity he nearly tore out his throat. The man screamed in agony, tried to fight back, and then, part way through the feeding…”
