Vampires can be like humans that can walk in light, have warm and tanned skin, and look relatively passable, despite teeth and red eyes. Does this also mean they can control the blood hunger? Don’t need it to survive and can ignore the impulse to feed? He seems controlled to me.
“The pure breeds are rare, Lorey. Compared to other species, they are still only in their hundreds globally….. Darrius here is from the house of Danesti, one of the oldest in the vampire hierarchy, second to Draculesti…. The high lord’s bloodline. Your bloodline.” Now that makes me snort and choke in disbelief as lame movies we watched in the orphanage appear in my head.
“You’re saying freaking Dracula was real? … I’m a descendant of some horror story vampire?” I blurt at the absurdity and laugh insanely with a head shake. The bubbling giggle of someone having a real hard time processing reality. Sure I’m having some sort of midlife crisis brought on by the trauma of my mate abandoning me to some stupid cursed fog. Or maybe I’ve had a mental break, and all of this is only happening in my mind.
“All stories come from somewhere and his bloodline was created long before his fable was. The house of Draculesti, well, they have ruled the vampires since the dawn of time…. It was the child of Draculesti that first started these troubles.” Darrius gazes off towards our truck and I follow, glimpsing both my femmes staring this way and eavesdropping in as best they can. Still immobile and I guess Leyanne is keeping them tied to their seats even now. Leyanne follows my line of vision and I hear her sigh before I look away and dismiss the sight of them.
That renders me mute, and I gulp down any kind of reaction. The memory of so long ago, Sierra telling me a story of a half breed child who died at the hands of the wolves… She was the child of the vampire king, and her blood was spilled by the Lycans. If she was Draculesti and I am too… the fates really are trying to redress the balance and put things back to rights. It’s all slotting into place and if this wasn’t about me, I would be fascinated and excited at the piecing of the puzzle, but instead I can’t breathe. I have to force my face back between my legs to catch it before I suffocate to death
“If this is all true, then you can end it… all you have to do is tell him?” Meadow’s voice startles me out of my stupor, and I snap my chin back up to see them moving closer to me. Her and Carmen have been let out now it’s obvious we are not in danger here and Leyanne trusts they will behave. Meadow comes to me in a flash to catch my hand and hold it tight. Giving me her strength, her support when she knows I’m struggling, and surrounds me with that sense of safe I need right now. “The fog…. if the vampires give up, the spell is taken back?” She nods towards Leyanne for confirmation of a possible solution to our own problem and I turn in expectation, seeing that she might be right.
“It’s not the simple. Lord Varro has been out there for a decade, no one knows where he is currently. And if we need to go to the high lord, we need proof of you …. That means my going back and letting the mind link show today’s events. That I saw you, that I know it’s you. If he’s to recall the vampires, it’s not a case of commanding a halt. His son leads the halflings, they won’t just come to heel without his say so. So, after carrying a message from his father, we then need to show Varro you lived, as he’s cut off any psychic linking from anyone who would stand in his way.” Jasper sits down beside me, answering for the witch. All eyes on me and slides his arm around me, getting a wary look from Meadow. The mistrust evident that a male is touching her Alpha’s woman. She stares at him for a long moment and then sighs, seemingly relenting that as my brother, he has a right to touch me without suspicion.
“I remember you… Jasper. Nice to see you alive, compadre.” Meadow reaches out and gives him an awkward handshake and he throws her a half smile and shrug back at her. It’s weird given the circumstances, but it’s also sweetly heartwarming. My brother who’s not really my brother, and my sister who’s not my sister, meeting properly for the first time ever. I doubt they knew each other back when we were younger as Santos and Whytes didn’t really interact.
“Meadow… and that’s Carmen.” She nods behind her at the hovering figure who edges closer with apprehension, and Jasper glances up, laying eyes on the new figure for the first time too. It’s an instinctual almost polite response to greet someone he’s being introduced to. Nothing in it other than reaction because he was raised with manners, but the next second sends everything into chaos. His whole body slams to an unnatural halt that sends a shiver through me as he’s touching my body with his and I feel it firsthand.
One moment, one look is all it takes.
The spark, the clap of tension, the forced eye lock as both open wide in shock. Bodies riveted to weird stiffness like an electric voltage has been administered. The hold of breath, the panicked gasp, and the sudden look of realization on both of their faces, seconds before both fall backwards in dramatic release and crumble to the ground panting. Like tumbling matchstick towers, both end up on the ground. Shell-shocked and crumpled, blinking at one another as though only each could hold the answer to what just went down. It’s a moment felt by all around. The heavy atmosphere zinging with emotional fall out that something major has just happened between them and the air zinging with electrical current.
Seeing it from this side is way less dramatic than being the one going through it, and it stirs up so many sudden emotions as I click on what this is. Colton shooting through my mind’s eye but also a low little inkling of warmth and joy. It doesn’t alter the shock factor none the less. Jasper just imprinted on Carmen and things just got a whole lot weirder and complex.
Fate
“What the hell was that.” The vampire growls, hauling my brother to his feet, seemingly irritated and almost violently dusts him down. No one seems to know how to react and Leyanne, well she chuckles and doesn’t seem shocked at all. No hint of surprise, just an ‘oh well’ attitude and a pretty smug expression.
“It’s called falling in love…. the wolf version anyway. Jasper just found his forever mate, and frankly, I do like a good bit of drama in the family. Well, isn’t this another layer to add to a seriously strange story.” Leyanne is cheery with the turn of events and Jasper is white and panic stricken and looks like he’s about to throw up. Meanwhile Carmen is on her ass, outright staring his way with a devastated air of freak out all over her and doesn’t seem to be able to respond in any kind of way at all.
“They imprinted?” Meadow is almost as speechless as me and quickly speeds over to help Carmen back to her feet. Deja Vue of a similar chaotic scene coming at me from months ago, being literally swept off my feet and the pain in my heart intensifies with the lack of his being here. Colton would be happy to know Carmen found her someone…. God he would be happy to know my brother lives. He would be ecstatic on all counts and probably be smothering me half to death with joy and kisses. All of this, he should be here to share all these things with me. The truths, the possibility to an end to the war. Seeing Carmen finally get a chance to move on and heal. That the fates never forgot her at all.
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