Page 93 of The Midnight Order
“Why would I need protection?” I ask them both, but all they do is share a look fraught with tension before ushering me out of the room and into the lab.
All I can think about while Corvin readies needles and whispers in hushed tones with Jasper in the corner of the room is how I got this far in life as an ancient vampire in the making?!
“What’s your first memory?”Corvin asks, pressing a cotton ball into my arm and taping over it, his touch lingering long enough to remind me of our shared moments.
Closing my eyes, I recall twirling in Central Park, leaves flowing down from the trees above, and someone calling my name as thunderclaps above us. This memory is precious to me, though, and I don’t want to share it.
It’s the one thing I’ve always had.
The one thing that drives away the dark nightmares.
I shrug.
“How old do you think you are?” he asks.
“Thirty-one.”
“Seems about right.”
I quirk a brow, and he sighs.
“Vampires that are born will naturally stop aging around the age of thirty. Your gene doesn’t need to be activated for that to happen; however, you’d typically have turned naturally at that point. In the old country, parents would celebrate the rites once the child was of sound mind and body, and thus able to make the change. You can probably surmise the issues a vampiric child could pose to the community, so they never awoke the gene before adulthood.”
“When did vampires stop being born?” I ask him, curiosity calming my nerves as he sits on a rolling chair and draws close to where I’m sitting beside the counter.
Tools are spread out far and wide, and the overwhelming scents of the lab remind me of the many years Corvin must’ve spent honing his craft to become this doctor for the undead.
“It was a slow dissolution of the bloodlines. More vampires mated with humans and turned them instead of mating within the faction, and humans that are turned aren’t fertile to pureblood kind.”
“So, somewhere, I have parents?”
His face grows dim. “Possibly. None of the original families have been spotted for many centuries.”
“What does your history say as to why?”
“I’ve never looked into it too deeply, as I was turned, and it’s not my lineage, but we can speak to Lowell about it. Whenever we find him, perhaps he’ll be more level-headed.” Corvin’s eyes grow haunted by the ghosts of trauma that belong to him.
It belongs to his friend.
“I’m sorry about what I said earlier. About shoving your cock in all my holes.” I fight a grin.
He spits a laugh. “I deserved it. I kept information from you.”
“Seems like more than just you kept information from me.”
“Do you know how you came to know Soliel as your great aunt?” he asks, his brows furrowing as he leans forward on his rolling chair.
I shake my head. “No, I just knew she was my only family, and I was hers.”
“Your parents are…” he leaves space open for me to fill in the blank.
“Dead? I don’t?—”
He senses my irritation building again and moves closer, placing his hands on my knees in a gesture of comfort. “Hey. It’s going to be fine. You’re not alone anymore. We’ll figure this out.”
I nod, and the space between us grows tense.
“I need to find Lowell.”
