Fight for Blood (Blood Origins Book 2)

by Tiffany Heiser

  right,” I said.

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  “This is Cecile,” Cryder said. “I wrote you about her.”

  “Ah, the human you turned,” Giorgia said to Drake. “This

  one doesn’t look frightened of me.”

  “Should I be?” Cecile asked, a bit more sass in her voice

  than I thought advisable.

  Giorgia laughed. “Of course, you shouldn’t,” she said.

  “You’re part of the family now, too. Samuele, come and meet Rena

  and Cecile.”

  The vampire I took to be Cryder’s father glided over as if he

  were on oiled casters. “It’s very nice to meet you both,” he rumbled.

  “We’ve anticipated your arrival for quite some time.”

  “We should let Rena get to bed,” Cryder said. “She’s had a

  long journey, and she’s tired.”

  Giorgia’s smile faded slightly. “We can’t send anyone to

  their quarters just yet,” she said.

  “Why not?” Cryder asked. “We came all the way from the

  States, Mother.

  “I know that,” Giorgia said. “But there’s the ceremony to

  think of, Cryder. Everyone has been awaiting your arrival.” She

  raised her voice ever so slightly. “Show them in, please.”

  Cryder’s hand tightened on my arm. “She isn’t prepared for

  this,” he said in a low, furious voice. “She wasn’t expecting it. It’s unfair to spring it on her.”

  My heart fluttered anxiously in my chest. What was being

  sprung on me? What was the ceremony? I remembered what Cryder had told me about the trials I would have to undergo as I joined the royal family. They would be painful, he’d said. Was that what was

  happening right now? He was right; I wasn’t ready!

  The courtyard surrounding the entrance to the palace was

  filling up with people. No, I reminded myself, not people. These were vampires. We were still in the town of La Oscurità, after all,

  right in the heart of it. And this was a place that repelled humans and welcomed vampires, so the newcomers clustered around me

  couldn’t be anything else.

  I pressed back against Cryder, terrified. Would they bite me?

  What were they here to do?

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  It was astonishing just how many of them managed to crowd

  their way into the courtyard. I wondered, in the back of my mind,

  the part of me that wasn’t panicking, whether this was something

  that happened often. Did the king and queen regularly open their

  doors to their subjects in this way, allowing them onto the palace

  grounds? If they did, it was no wonder everyone in La Oscurità was

  so loyal to the crown.

  “What’s happening?” Cecile whispered.

  “The townspeople are here to see their new rulers and to

  declare their allegiance as the power shifts from my parents to me

  and Rena,” Cryder said quietly. “It’s an important part of any shift in power. As rulers, we’re only as strong as we are supported by our

  people. It’s important that they know how much we value their

  approval, and it’s important for us to know we have it.”

  I found my voice. “That’s all it is? They’re just going to tell

  us if they approve or not?”

  He looked down at me, his hands firm and reassuring on my

  shoulders. “What did you think was about to happen?”

  “I didn’t know…”

  “Oh, honey.” He wrapped his arms around me. “You’re

  overwhelmed, aren’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “You’re alright,” he said quietly. “There’s nothing to be

  afraid of. You don’t have to do anything right now. They just want

  to see you, that’s all.”

  “But I’m a mess. I just got off a plane. My clothes are

  crappy, my hair is a disaster—”

  “That’s the kind of thing humans notice,” Cryder said.

  “That’s not what they’ll be looking for.”

  “What will they be looking for?”

  He hesitated. “Maybe you shouldn’t worry about that right

  now,” he suggested.

  “No,” I said. “I want you to tell me. If you don’t, I’ll just

  imagine it’s something worse than it really is.”

  He sighed. “Okay,” he said. “Well, part of it is your bearing.

  The way you carry yourself. They want to believe their rulers are

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  proud and confident.”

  “I’m not feeling very proud and confident.”

  “I know. It’s okay. A lot of what you need right now, you

  have naturally. It’s in your bloodline. You have your mother’s

  posture and proud chin. Now just look up—that’s it. Don’t look at

  your feet. You don’t want to show that you’re intimidated or afraid.”

  “Should I smile?”

  “It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “Smiling is a human

  gesture. It won’t mean much to most of them, unless they were only

  turned recently, like Cecile. But new vampires are still susceptible to the spell that protects the city.” He glanced at Cecile. “You saw that firsthand.”

  She nodded. “Do vampires really not smile?”

  “We can,” Cryder said. “But showing teeth tends to mean

  something a bit different in our culture.”

  “Your mother—”

  “My mother is a diplomat,” Cryder said. “That’s part of

  being a ruler. She smiled at you because she knew that was what

  would make you most comfortable.” Then he laughed. “Don’t

  worry. She was never going to eat you.”

  “I wasn’t worried about that,” I mumbled.

  The guests to the palace had taken up positions in a ring

  around the courtyard. Now they were staring at me and Cryder. “Am

  I supposed to say something?” I asked.

  “No. Just let them see you. Let them understand who you

  are. And—”

  “And what?”

  But Cryder seemed unable to say anymore.

  “They’re scenting you,” Drake supplied.

  Cryder gave him a dark look.

  “Scenting?” I felt a shiver come over me. “What does that

  mean?” Cryder’s arms tightened around me. “Remember how Bristol

  was able to find you by smelling your blood? And so was I?”

  “Yes?”

  “They can do the same. They can tell by your scent what you

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  are and who your mother was.” He kissed the crown of my head.

  “Don’t worry. You’re perfectly safe. But if they’re going to accept

  you as their new queen, it’s something they need to know.”

  “Will it turn them against me?”

  “Not a bit,” Cryder assured me. “It will make them trust you

  more to know that you’re one of them.”

  But I wasn’t one of them, was I? Not really. All right, so

  maybe I had vampire blood. Maybe my mother had been a vampire.

  But I had been raised in the human world. Even though Cryder had

  been prepping me for months for my transition to vampire life, I still felt as human as they come.

  I knew Cecile had been through a bit of the same thing. We

  had talked about it the night before graduation, huddled in her

  bedroom and speculating about all the ways our lives were about to

  change. “At least you’ll be among your own
people,” I’d said.

  “You’ll be with pure vampires, like you.”

  She’d laughed. “I’m hardly pure vampire,” she’d said. “I

  mean, I am in all the basic ways, I suppose. I don’t sleep anymore.

  That’s pretty bizarre.”

  And the bloodlust. I hadn’t mentioned that aloud, though.

  Transitioning to a diet of blood had been strange enough for me, and I was just drinking cocktails of Cryder’s blood that he’d donated

  willingly. Cecile, I knew, had far more complicated feelings about

  her new diet, and I still didn’t know whether she was ready to talk

  about it. She would come to me, I supposed, in her own time.

  Until then, I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up. She

  had been doing a remarkable job adjusting, I thought. After all, this whole situation should never have been her problem in the first

  place. She wasn’t the one with a vampire for a mother. She wasn’t the one being hunted by an evil vampire hell-bent on taking her

  blood. Her life should have moved seamlessly from high school to

  college to career, and maybe to becoming a wife and mother.

  Well, she’d still have the chance to get married, I thought,

  noting Drake’s hand resting on her shoulder. If nothing else, she’d

  found love. And I knew from firsthand experience how valuable that

  could be in a trying time.

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  Cecile had punched her pillows into a supportive shape and

  leaned back on them. “I might be a pure-blooded vampire,” she’d

  said, “but I don’t belong in their world any more than you do.

  Probably less. At least your mother was one of them. Me, I’m just a

  random girl who got in the way of Bristol.”

  I’d hugged her. “You’re not random,” I’d told her firmly.

  “You’re my sister, practically. You’re my best friend. I need you

  with me, Cecile.”

  I was jerked back to the present as Samuele stepped forward

  and raised both of his hands above his head. All of the vampires

  standing around us fell silent, waiting to hear what their king would say. “Citizens of La Oscurità,” he began. I was surprised by how well his voice carried. It seemed as though the courtyard we were

  standing in had somehow been designed for its acoustics. The sound

  reverberated off the cobblestones.

  “Honored guests, beloved friends,” Samuele continued. “I

  welcome you with open arms and open heart to the palace today. We

  thank you for your attendance. We are humbled by your show of

  support for your new king and queen.”

  Cryder’s hand slid down to grip mine. It suddenly occurred

  to me to wonder whether he was nervous.

  I’d never seen Cryder nervous. At least, I didn’t think I had.

  But today wasn’t just a big deal for me, was it? He was about to

  succeed his parents as ruler of La Oscurità. He was stepping up to an enormous responsibility, something he’d probably been preparing

  for all his life. In a way, I was lucky. I was a newcomer to this

  world, and everyone knew it. No one would expect me to be very

  good at my new life right out the gate. I would be given time to

  learn, time to find my footing. But Cryder would have all these eyes watching every move he made.

  I squeezed his hand back. For the first time in our entire

  relationship, I felt like an equal partner. I was afraid, yes, but so was he. I could feel that we were drawing strength from each other.

  That was kind of amazing.

  He stepped forward, bringing me along with him, and lifted a

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  hand to wave at his congregated people.

  I waved too, thinking of photos I’d seen of royal couples

  together and feeling a little bit foolish. I wasn’t a real queen. It felt strange to be acting like one.

  Except that, actually, I was a real queen, wasn’t I? Just a

  couple of days ago, I’d been graduating from high school. Today I

  was greeting the town of La Oscurità as their new ruler.

  It didn’t feel like it could be real life. But it was, and the

  sooner I got my head around that fact, the happier we’d all be.

  “Welcome, Cryder!” Samuele said. “And welcome, Rena!”

  There was a moment of silence in which you could have

  heard a pin drop. My heart seemed to be pounding in my ears.

  Then a roar of applause broke over us like a wave. The

  vampires gathered in the courtyard around us were smiling and

  cheering, some of them even stamping their feet eagerly on the

  ground. Cryder wrapped his arm around me. “They approve,” he said

  quietly into my ear. “We pass the first test.”

  I laughed with nervous relief.

  But this had just been the beginning. I didn’t know what lay

  ahead for me, but I was fairly confident that gaining the approval of the vampires clustered here had been the easy part.

  Now the real trials would begin.

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  Fight for Blood

  Chapter Four

  We made our way into the castle, Cryder’s parents leading

  the way, the four of us following after. I did my best not to shrink back into Cryder’s arms, to look as though I was comfortable and

  confident and ready to face whatever was waiting for me inside, but

  the truth was that I was deeply shaken by what had just happened

  out in the courtyard

  At least I got their approval, I reminded myself. It could

  have been much worse. What if they’d all just stood there staring

  stone faced at me and Cryder? What if they’d refused to approve our

  union, or refused to accept me as queen? What would have

  happened then? I supposed I would have been put on a plane right

  back home. Which would mean heading back into danger. Back to a

  place where rogue vampires like Bristol could find me and hurt me.

  I wouldn’t have been able to go back to Cecile’s mother. Not

  after what had happened to Cecile herself. I wouldn’t be able to

  stand it if anyone else was hurt because of me, because of what I

  was. If the vampires hadn’t wanted me, I would have had to go on

  the run by myself. And I knew I wouldn’t have been able to fend off

  any attackers for very long. I wasn’t a fighter. I didn’t have those skills. Stop worrying about it, I told myself firmly. I had been approved. I had been accepted. I was here now, and I was to be

  allowed to stay, and that meant I didn’t have to think any more about where I would go if I couldn’t be here.

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  It was just that everything was happening so fast.

  A gasp from Cecile brought me back to the present. We were

  standing in a vast open foyer with a marble floor and high columns

  all the way around the perimeter. It must have been at least three

  stories high, to judge by the sweeping stone staircase that led up

  before forking in two divergent directions.

  “This is beautiful,” Cecile breathed.

  She was right. It was absolutely gorgeous. Everything in the

  foyer seemed to sparkle when the light from outside caught it. Was

  it all made of marble? It seemed as though it might be.

  “Are we really going to live here?” Cecile asked.

  “Not right here in the foyer,” Samuele laughed warmly.

  “You’ll have living quarters. But y
es, you’ll be residing in the

  palace, of course. This is where royalty lives.”

  “Even me, though?” Cecile asked. “I’m not royalty. I’m just

  a high school student.”

  “You graduated,” I reminded her. It seemed like something

  from another life. In a very real way, I guess it was.

  “Okay, I graduated,” she agreed. “That doesn’t make me

  royalty.”

  “Drake is royalty,” Cryder said, smiling at her. “He’s a part

  of my family.”

  “But again, what does that make me?” Cecile asked. “I’m

  just dating him. Are you sure I belong here?”

  “The palace is the safest place in La Oscurità,” Giorgia said.

  “Don’t you want to live here with us?”

  “Of course, I do! I just...it all seems too good to be true. A

  few months ago, I was taking the SATs and applying to state

  schools, and now this?”

  “Why don’t we show you around the place,” Giorgia

  suggested. “Perhaps it will begin to feel a bit more like home if you see a little more of it.”

  “A tour is a wonderful idea,” Cryder agreed. His arm rested

  on my shoulders, securing me to his side. “Shall we begin in the

  throne room?”

  The throne room! I supposed I had known there must be a

  throne room—this was a palace, after all, and Giorgia and Samuele

  were the king and queen—but to actually see it would make the

  whole thing real in a way it hadn’t been so far.

  Fight for Blood

  Samuele led the way through the foyer to a huge set of

  double doors. They were bigger than any doors I’d ever seen

  before—they seemed to stretch for miles above my head. I was sure

  they’d be too heavy to open, but Samuele managed them with

  apparent ease.

  This time I was the one who gasped.

  The throne room was a masterpiece. It was surrounded with

  stained glass, and the floor was made of tiny golden tiles. At the

  head of the room stood a raised dais, on which three thrones rested.

  The two in the center belonged to the king and queen, I was certain, but there was a smaller, slightly less ornate one off to one side. What was that for?

  It’s Cryder’s, I answered my own question. That’s Cryder’s throne. I pictured the three of them sitting there and felt slightly shivery. This was the royal family of La Oscurità. The royal family

  of the vampire world. My new world.