“Let me demonstrate a spell for you,” said Dad. “It’s been a while since I’ve cast one, but I still know how to do it. Observe.”
Dad held up a hand. All of a sudden, a bright ball of light appeared in his hand from nowhere. Lucius looked away, covering his eyes with his hands, and even I had to raise my hands over my eyes to protect my vision. Still, I tried to look for a possible source for the light, but as far as I could tell, the light ball had just spontaneously and, dare I say it, magically appeared in Dad’s hand on his command.
The light suddenly went out and Dad lowered his hand. “See? And that’s just one of the simpler spells. I could do more, but like I said, I’ve been out of practice for years and I’d need to put in more practice before I could conjure spells of the same level that I could when I was a young man.”
I tried to think of a rational explanation for how Dad could do that, but my mind was unable to dispute what my eyes saw, so I said, “So magic is real and you can use it.”
“Right,” said Dad, nodding again. “But magic is like muscles. Although magic is natural and hereditary, it can atrophy if you don’t regularly practice and study. Just like how your muscles can atrophy if you don’t work out at the gym regularly.”
“Then I guess you better hit the magical gym, eh?” I said, which was my rather lame attempt at a joke.
But to my surprise, Dad tapped his chin and said, “You know, that may not be such a bad idea. Depending on how things go, I may have to get back to the magical gym.”
I had no idea if Dad was actually serious about the ‘magical gym’ or if that was just another Dad joke, and honestly I was afraid to ask. “So if you’re a sorcerer, was Mom a sorcerer, too?”
“Sorceress,” Dad corrected. “And no, she wasn’t. She was just an ordinary human, a Powerless, as we sorcerers call them. She knew I was a sorcerer, however, and was fully supportive of my efforts to hunt vampires, even though she thought it was extremely dangerous. But most Powerless humans don’t know about us or about vampires.”
“Why not?” I said. “Wouldn’t it be better if the world was more aware of this magical stuff so people could help take down the vampires?”
“Nope,” said Dad, shaking his head. “Early on, sorcerers and vampires were well-known in human civilization—which is where all of the myths and stories about vampires and wizards come from—but it soon became apparent to us that common knowledge about our powers was more of a liability than a help.”
“How so?”
Dad readjusted his glasses, a serious look in his eyes. “Some humans wanted to use our power not to defeat vampires or keep people safe, but to oppress others. Others wanted to profit off our powers for business reasons and still others wanted to wipe us out because they considered our mere existence a threat to their power. And don’t get me started on the dictators and tyrants who thought they could control vampires. Thus, sorcerers the world over have sworn an oath to the Secrecy Pact, which dictates that we will never reveal our existence to the ordinary human world except under the most extreme circumstances.”
“But you revealed your true nature to Mom,” I said. “Right?”
“Right, but we can make exceptions for certain Powerless allies,” said Dad. “We simply require that these allies swear by the Pact as well. And anyone who refuses to swear by it—or worse, outright breaks it—is killed, whether magical or Powerless.”
I bit my lower lip. “Killed? You can’t be serious.”
“I am,” said Dad. “We sorcerers take the Pact very seriously. We have no intention of being exploited, wiped out, or profited off of. We use our powers for the common good, even if the Powerless will never know.”
I could tell that Dad was being one hundred percent serious this time. He was perfectly willing to kill anyone who might break the Pact, a thought that disturbed me, because it contrasted pretty sharply with the kindly middle-aged pastor I used to know. I wondered if that was the same expression Dad wore whenever he fought vampires back in his youth.
Then another thought occurred to me and I said, “So, if magic is passed down via blood, does that mean that I am a sorcerer? Can I use magic, since you’re my dad and everything?”
Dad and Lucius exchanged quick looks that I didn’t like. It seemed as if they had just had a brief, but intense, conversation between themselves without saying a word.
“Yes and no,” said Dad slowly. “Prior to being bitten by that vamp, I would have said yes. Even though you’ve never used magic, you probably still had the potential to use it, given proper training, but afterward …”
“It’s complicated,” said Lucius. “Vampires usually target normal humans, the ones you call Powerless, for conversion, because sorcerers are usually too strong for us to turn. Plus, we hate sorcerers and want them dead, so we usually try to kill them instead of converting them. That you were bitten and have undergone some minor transformation of some sort is evident, but your lucid awareness is more human than vampire.”
“You mean you’ve never heard of a sorcerer being turned into a vampire before?” I said, putting my hands on my chest. “I still feel alive, but I also feel … thirsty. For blood.”
I hated to admit it aloud, but I had to. Dad looked stricken when I said that, while Lucius was stroking his chin thoughtfully, as if considering what I said.
“Like I said, it’s very rare for vampires to even attempt to convert sorcerers,” said Lucius. “But I believe there is a vampire legend regarding such a person. It’s an obscure legend, one that even many vampires don’t know, but I read about it once in a book.”
“Then tell me about it,” I said. I leaned forward. “Tell me what I am.”
“All right,” said Lucius. He pointed at me. “You’re neither vampire nor sorcerer. You are a half-vampire … and you shouldn’t even exist.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“I shouldn’t exist?” I repeated indignantly. “That’s not very nice to say, you know.”
“It’s not an insult,” said Lucius in annoyance. “I’m just stating a fact. Half-vampires are not supposed to exist. You’re either human or vampire. Not both.”
I looked at Dad. “Dad, do you know what he’s talking about? Have you heard of these ‘half-vampires,’ as he calls them?”
“Yes, I have,” said Dad, nodding slowly. “Supposedly, if a sorcerer is bitten by a vampire, they don’t transform entirely. Instead, they take on characteristics of both sorcerers and vampires, becoming both and neither at the same time. Like Lucius said, I always thought it was just a legend, but given what happened to you, I’m now inclined to believe that there’s more truth to those old legends than I used to give them credit for.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “How could I possibly be both a sorcerer and a vampire at the same time? If a vampire bites someone, doesn’t that person become a vampire? I thought that was how it worked.”
“Sorcerers aren’t normal humans,” Lucius said. “I don’t quite understand it myself, but I suspect that there is something within sorcerer blood that defends sorcerers from being turned into vampires. Something in your blood or genetics defends your body from the virus that vampires infect Powerless humans with, but it obviously can’t counteract the effects of the virus entirely, given how you are still showing vampiric symptoms.”
“I agree with Lucius,” said Dad. “There’s a reason vamps have a tendency to attack normal humans and it isn’t necessarily because they’re weaker than us. Personally, I think the Origin has something to do with it.”
“The Origin?” I said. “What’s that?”
“The source of our magical power,” said Dad. “You remember how I told you about the Darkness, which was the evil spirit that corrupted the first vampires? Well, we sorcerers have our own spirit, a good one, named the Origin, who gave us our magical powers in order to fight the vampires created by the Darkness at the dawn of time.”
“Is the Origin God?” I said. “Like how you said the Darkness is Satan?”<
br />
“I think the Origin is more likely a servant of God, rather than God himself,” said Dad. “An angel, in a sense, though I don’t know for sure because I’ve had so little contact with it.”
“Don’t look at me,” said Lucius. “Being a vampire, I’ve had even less experience with the Origin than you.”
“Anyway,” said Dad, “I believe that the Origin’s power is what protects our bodies and souls from being corrupted by vampire bites. That’s why sorcerers can’t be fully turned into vampires.”
“So you mean I’m not going to become a mindless vampire that wants to suck everyone’s blood?” I said hopefully. “There’s hope for me?”
Lucius frowned. “I wouldn’t quite put it that way myself. The legend of the half-vampire states that such people are destined to be forever torn between their sorcerer half and their vampire half. The two halves are constantly warring with each other in all half-vampires and half-vampires are destined to be consumed by their vampire half at some point in their lives.”
I gasped. “Dad, is that true?”
Dad looked down at his lap, as if he couldn’t meet my gaze. “Sorcerers have a similar legend, but again, they’re just legends. It’s possible that you might not be consumed by your vampire side, but whether you’ll be able to live a normal life …”
Dad trailed off in a way that did nothing to reassure me. All it did was make me more anxious and afraid, because now I was facing the apparently real possibility that I would lose what little humanity I had left. I even thought I could feel my two natures fighting against each other in my soul, though whether that was because I was just imagining it or because Lucius was right, I didn’t know.
“What are we going to do?” I said. “Is there a way to reverse the transformation? Can I become normal again?”
Once again, Dad and Lucius exchanged brief looks, though this time, I couldn’t read them. I did, however, feel annoyed at their unwillingness to let me in on their private exchanges. It made me feel left out, a feeling I never enjoyed growing up in school and one I still didn’t enjoy as an adult.
“Normally, it is impossible to reverse a vampire transformation,” said Dad at last. “When someone is bitten by a vampire and they transform, the only way to free them from their suffering is to kill them outright.”
“Richard is correct once again,” said Lucius. “I should know, given how I was transformed myself centuries ago and have never heard of even one case of a successful reversal. The vampiric transformation is, by its very nature, complete and total.”
My shoulders slumped. “You mean I’m destined to remain this way forever, then.”
“Not necessarily,” said Lucius. “Half-vampires are an unusual case. It is possible that there may be a way to reverse the transformation of a half-vampire, given how you are not a full vampire, but there have been so few half-vampires throughout history that it impossible to know for sure what is and isn’t possible with your kind.”
That should have filled me with some hope, but instead, it just made me even more depressed. I lay back down on my bed, frowning deeply. I couldn’t deny it now. All of this magical stuff was one hundred percent real and I was unlucky enough to be stuck right in the middle of it. Having magical powers would have been cool if it hadn’t also come with the knowledge that I was destined to become a mindless, bloodsucking vampire who wanted to destroy humanity and all that was good in the world.
“What I don’t understand is why this happened,” said Dad, shaking his head. “Why did that Bloodseeker attack my daughter? I’ve done everything in my power to hide myself and my family from the vamps. Lucius, would you happen to know why that Bloodseeker attacked Tara?”
Lucius nodded. “Of course. In fact, that’s the whole reason I’m here. I’m here on orders from the Order of Vampires and have been tracking down this particular Bloodseeker for months.”
“What’s the Order of Vampires?” I said without raising my head.
“The Vampire Council’s intelligence agency,” Lucius replied. “In essence, we are the Vampire Council’s spies and do all sorts of espionage work for them. Most of that work is top secret, of course, but I think I can reveal my current mission to you two, because both of you have been dragged straight into the middle of it.”
I looked at Lucius suddenly. “Does that make you a vampire spy?”
“More or less,” said Lucius with another shrug. “But please, don’t call me James Bond. The work I do is very different from the work he does.”
I had been just about to ask him if that made him vampire James Bond, but kept my mouth shut when he said that. So I said instead, “What is the Vampire Council?”
“The ruling body of the vampire race,” said Lucius. “It is run by the three most powerful vampires in the world and regulates the behavior of vampires everywhere. The sorcerers have a similar ruling body, known as the Sorcerer Parliament, though I’m less familiar with it than I am with the Council.”
I looked at Dad. “Dad, can you tell me more about this Sorcerer Parliament? It sounds interesting.”
I must have said something wrong, because Dad just scowled and said, “A bunch of glory-hogging bastards who care more about petty political games than dealing with actual threats. You could say I don’t have a very high opinion of them.”
“Anyway, it doesn’t really matter who they are,” Lucius said, before I could ask Dad more questions about the Parliament. “What matters is that the Council ordered me to follow this Bloodseeker for months. Frankly, however, I had no idea what he was going to do until he attacked Tara. I knew he was planning to attack someone of magical descent, but if I had known that it was the daughter of the Hunter, I would have acted much sooner.”
“A Bloodseeker seems like a small thing to spend time following,” said Dad. “They’re a step above Newborns in terms of power, which makes me wonder why the Council ordered you to follow it.”
“Because that Bloodseeker wasn’t working on its own,” said Lucius. “That Bloodseeker was working for Lord Taranas, a powerful Vampire Lord. Have you heard of him?”
Dad nearly jumped out of his chair like someone had poked him with a branding iron. “Lord Taranas? You don’t mean the same Lord Taranas who gave the Sorcerer Parliament so much trouble thirty years ago?”
“The very same,” said Lucius, nodding. “As he himself always likes to put it, there is only one Lord Taranas.”
“I don’t know who he is,” I said. “And I don’t know what a Vampire Lord is, either.”
“Vampire Lords are at the very top of the Vampire Hierarchy, which is how we vampires organize ourselves,” Lucius explained. “They’re the strongest, oldest, and most powerful vampires. Not only do they have all the usual vampire powers, but they also have access to magic, including the spells used by sorcerers.”
“They’re extremely dangerous,” said Dad with a shudder. “Of the three Vampire Lords I fought in my youth, I only ever managed to kill one of them. They suffer all the same weaknesses that normal vamps do, but they’re so much stronger and faster than your average vamp that it takes a lot more to take them out. Hell, most vampire hunters I knew wouldn’t even take them on because they knew how outclassed they were. And Lord Taranas is one of the worst.”
“Indeed,” said Lucius. “He’s been dormant for the last thirty or so years, but recently he’s become active again and the Council believes that he is planning to overthrow them and make himself the king of the vampires.”
“Like Lady Hisara all those years back,” said Dad. “Right?”
“Right,” said Lucius. “Except unlike Lady Hisara, Lord Taranas is far more powerful. He’s already amassed a fairly large Horde, including some vampires who he didn’t even convert himself. It’s my job as a member of the Order to investigate him and find out what, exactly, he’s planning, but I’ve had little luck so far because Taranas is a deeply secretive and even paranoid Lord and has been very good at keeping his real plans a secret from everyone. It
helps that he has a tendency to kill his minions who learn his secrets before they have time to tell anyone else about them.”
I gulped. “Sounds like a bad boss, heh.”
Lucius looked at me as if I had just stated the obvious. “Yes, he is. But his Newborns follow him anyway because he created them and they have no choice.”
“Sounds like … uh … sounds depressing,” I said.
“It’s simply the nature of Newborns,” said Lucius. “I was much the same way when I first became a vampire. It took me a while to break away from my creator, and even then, it wasn’t easy.”
Before I could ask Lucius how it was possible for a vampire to break away from their creator, Dad said, “Then Lord Taranas is the reason why my daughter is now a half-vampire.”
“Looks like it,” said Lucius. “Personally, I think the Newborn was actually going after you, because you’re still known as the Hunter despite being retired, but he attacked Tara instead, most likely because her blood tastes better.”
“It does?” I said. I felt a little sick to my stomach. “Is there a difference in how blood tastes between humans or something?”
“Sure,” said Lucius, nodding. “While most vampires won’t turn away human blood no matter who it comes from, it’s well-known that taste varies according to age. Old human men, like your father, generally have bitter, dry blood, while the blood of young women tastes sweet and juicy. Likely, the Newborn somehow got a whiff of your blood and attacked you without even thinking about it.”
I didn’t know whether to be offended by Lucius essentially saying Dad’s blood tasted bad and mine tasted good or if I should be complimented. Then again, I was still confused about most of this vampire/sorcerer stuff and how it all worked.
“What should we do?” I said, trying to turn the conversation in a direction I understood. “Are we going to go after this Taranas guy or—”
Dad stood up and said, in a firm voice, “No. Lord Taranas is too dangerous for someone as untrained in magic as you to take on. I wouldn’t take him on even if I was back in my youthful body again.”
The Vampire Sword (Vampire Sorceress Book 1) Page 3
