Page 55 of Blood Vows
“My brothers and I used to be close… close enough to believe that nothing could ever come between us… that nothing, not even when the darkness would pass down to us… could come between blood.” Silence fell between us, heavy and suffocating. The shadows around him seemed to pulse faintly in rhythm with his words, almost alive, like they too were listening.
I found myself whispering,
“And you… You’ve lived with that darkness ever since?”His voice dropped low, rough with something that sounded like regret.
“No, Nessa. I haven’t just lived with it.” His gaze locked on mine, dark and endless.
“I’ve become it.”
“And all because my father wanted power like no other Vampire the world had ever seen. He wanted recognition… a seat among the Fondatori.”
“The what?” I asked, frowning softly. He looked at me then, the faintest curve of his lips returning, though it held no humor.
“The Founders. An ancient council of the strongest vampires to ever walk this earth. Each ruled over a sector of the world, their territories spanning across continents. They were the first to master their hunger, the first to carve empires out of shadow. My father wanted to join them. To rule beside them… until one day, he wanted to take over it all.” I swallowed hard, listening as his voice dropped lower, the words thick with old resentment.
“He thought himself worthy, but he was nothing more than age old mortal ambition wrapped in immortal flesh. He sought them out, demanded his place. And they… amused, perhaps, or curious… granted him an audience. Then once they witnessed his power, one beyond comprehension and a strength that could rival gods, they were quick to submit to his demands.” He paused, his eyes flickering with memory.
“But it came at a cost.” Something in the way he said it made my pulse quicken. His voice had dropped lower, rougher, like the memory itself scraped against old scars. My chest tightened as I asked,
“What kind of cost?”
He drew a long, unsteady breath, his gaze fixed somewhere far beyond the room.
“A power that cannot be controlled comes with its own leash. What they gave him wasn’t a blessing, Nessa. It was a curse dressed in gold. The strength he craved… what he thought would make him untouchable…it was unstable.It turned on him when left unchecked, feeding on greed, cruelty, and blood. And the more he indulged it, the stronger it became. Until he was no longer the master of it… But its servant.” A chill crawled up my spine.
“So how could he stop it?” I asked quietly.
He finally looked at me, and though his tone was calm, his eyes burned with the ghosts of memory.
“He couldn’t,” Vas said.
“Not alone. The only thing that could temper the hunger… the only thing that could bind it…was balance.”
“Balance?” I echoed, frowning.
He gave a faint, mirthless smile.
“Love. Compassion. The heart of a Fated. True balance could only be found through the one destined to see the man beneath the darkness, to remind the beast of its humanity. Without that…the power consumes everything.”The words lingered between us like smoke, heavy and tragic. I felt the weight of them settle deep in my chest, as though some invisible thread had tightened between us.
“You sound like you have experienced it firsthand,” I braved to point out. His lips twitched, but it wasn’t quite a smile, more a shadow of one, faint and self-mocking.
“Experienced it?” he echoed, his voice low, distant.
“I’ve lived it, Nessa. Every moment since the night he died.” I sucked back a quick breath as I felt the weight of his words. The way the air shifted as he rose from his seat, the strength of his presence filling the room. He began to pace slowly, one hand dragging through his dark hair, the other clenching and releasing at his side as though even now the shadows were restless beneath his skin.
“When he fell, the power didn’t die with him like we all hoped it would,” he continued.
“It needed somewhere to go…something to anchor itself to. It passed to us. To me and my brothers, recognizing our blood as the next in line.” He stopped pacing, his gaze turning inward, haunted.
“At first, I didn’t understand what was happening. The strength, the speed, the shadows that whispered in my ears and obeyed our command. I thought it was a gift, my brothers no doubt believing it to be the same…We were fools.It wasn’t long before we realised that what gave us power… also demanded a price. The darkness inside us… inside me, it wanted more… more blood, more pain, more dominance and every time I gave it what it craved, it grew.” I swallowed hard, my voice soft.
“And the balance? You said your father never found his Fated… but what about you and me?” He laughed then, quiet and bitter, the sound slicing through the silence.
“I told myself for many years that it was just a myth. That fate wasn’t something meant for monsters like me. That if I ever did find her, she would only destroy me faster… but then…” he paused, shaking his head as if reminding himself of recent events.
“But then?” I questioned, and his gaze found mine, the raw honesty in his eyes leaving me breathless.
“But then…You happened.”I froze, the pulse in my throat fluttering wildly.He stepped closer, each measured stride a careful defiance of his own restraint.
