"I feel like I'll be sore for the rest of my life but I think I can handle it."
Chapter 10
We headed down to the main level where the cafeteria was. We had picked up some lunch from there earlier but ate in the gym. This time we actually ate there and it felt like a five star restaurant as opposed to a cafeteria. There were waiters at our table every five minutes to check on us and the food was astounding. Everyone that worked there were Nesmyr.
"Why are Nesmyr working here?" I asked. "I thought they were all rich."
"There are a lot more Nesmyr families than the ones you saw at the adoption. Those were the rich families. There are lower class Nesmyr too. The only way to be part of the upper class is to be born into it or fight your way up the ranks."
"How is it that Nesmyr are able to have children when all the myths about Vampires say they can't?"
"Nesmyr are only descendants of the Vampire. All of the myths that you hear about Vampires hardly apply to Nesmyr. Zhulik are the ones who ended up with most of the bad qualities that the Nosferatu had, with a few exceptions. Neither race can go out in the sun. Nesmyr won't immediately burst into flames but it does a lot of damage. Zhulik can't even see sunlight without some kind of damage."
"What about religious symbols and garlic?"
"Those are both complete myths. Neither affect Nesmyr or Zhulik. The religious symbol myth was started by humans that thought both races were related to demons. Demons will burn if they touch religious symbols but it's not powerful enough to destroy them."
"What about the garlic myth? How did that start?"
"My suspicion is that Nesmyr have a heightened sense of smell and garlic can sometimes be too strong so they avoid it but they can still eat it. Zhulik can eat it just fine, too."
"Hey, what about Lovac?" I asked, suddenly.
"What about us?"
"Do any of those myths apply towards us? Can... Can we have children?" I already knew the answer to that last question since I didn't see any council members or older Lovac running around with children. I didn't really want to ask, but I needed to know for sure.
Felix wouldn't meet my gaze. "Lovac are unable to have children, unfortunately. The combination of the human gene and the Zhulik gene barely create a functioning person. I don't think adding another kind of completely different gene to that mix would do a child any good. Lovac can try all they want, but it's never happened. We're basically sterile."
"You seem a lot more depressed about that then I thought you would." For some reason, I couldn't see Felix ever wanting to have a child that would have the same kind of life as he did.
"I never thought I would've wanted kids but every time we go rescue a Lovac baby it depresses me more and more. Not that I'll never have kids but that I was never given the choice to have them. Lovac get the short end of the stick every time."
Without thinking I reached out and placed my hand over his. "You should really stop being so negative all the time."
He stared at my hand and muttered something I couldn't understand before snatching his hand away. We both made eye contact and blushed as we turned away.
"Sorry. I don't know why I did that," I said.
"Don't worry about it."
"So, what about the other Vampire myths?" I asked, trying to change the subject quickly. "Do any of them affect Lovac?"
"Not really. You know that we can go out in the sunlight, we just burn a little easier than humans."
"I always thought that was because of how pale I am."
"It is but that's because all Lovac are a lot paler than humans unless they have a darker skin gene from their mother like Riley has. She's part Italian but she's not nearly as dark as most Italians."
"I thought it was weird that a Vampire was tan."
He smiled slightly but didn't laugh at my attempt at a joke. "You might not want to call us Vampires. Some Nesmyr and Lovac get offended by the term since Zhulik are the ones that created all of the stereotypes of a modern Vampire."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"Don't worry about it. You didn't know. Just be careful from now on."
"I will."
"Well, we should probably start our tour for the evening if you're done with your dinner?"
I nodded and we cleaned up our table before leaving the cafeteria. I felt like I should have left some tip money on the table but Felix assured me that all of the staff here were very well paid.
Felix had explained that the facility levels were set up in order of importance according to the Nesmyr council. The Nesmyr council members had the top floor all to themselves, much like the Lovac council members had the third floor. The fourth floor was reserved for upper class Nesmyr and other creatures that were visiting. That’s where most of the families that came for the adoption stayed. The second floor was where all of the training Lovac and any graduated Lovac that didn't already have their own place stayed. The first floor was where meeting rooms and group event rooms were located. Felix also told me there was a basement where the staff lived.
The Lovac and staff floors were always the busiest. There were only ever five or so council members on either of their floors at a time, along with their spouses, and there were only ever visitors on special occasions. The Lovac and staff were here almost year round.
This place was literally set up in order of who the Nesmyr thought were most important. I was really starting to dislike the Nesmyr. I hadn't actually been introduced to any of them specifically but Felix made the upper class Nesmyr sound like superficial money-hungry people.
"Where do you want to start?" Felix asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"I don't care. Either from the top down or the bottom up."
"Let's start with the basement. The staff is really friendly and they occasionally have power wars."
"Power wars?"
"Nesmyr all have the ability to control minds. Some of the not so wealthy Nesmyr have secret games where they see who can push into another's mind faster. It's like the Nesmyr version of poker. They take bids on who has the strongest mind and some people win a lot of money. It's really interesting to watch. I bet you'll be able to sense it the second we get down there if anything is happening."
"Will they get in trouble if I point them out to you?"
"No. A lot of them know me. The upper class Nesmyr are the ones that would scold them for it. It's not illegal, just frowned upon."
"Well let's go then."
I was expecting the basement to look like a dungeon, with dark, damp walls and rats everywhere. What was actually in the basement looked just as nice and fancy as the rest of what I've seen in this building. There was a decent sized sitting room right at the bottom of the stairs and few people were gathered around tables talking. They glanced at us when we entered but only gave us curious looks.
The tingling sensation didn't start as soon as we were down there but once we started walking along the hallways it crept up on me. I didn't let Felix know. I wanted to see if I could lead us to where it was coming from before I said anything. We walked in silence most of the time but Felix mentioned what was in a few rooms. There was a game room down here, a small library and a few other recreational rooms.
We came to a spot in the hallway that led off in four different directions. I paused and tried to "listen" to the tingling. Sure enough I could feel it coming a little stronger from the hallway on the left.
"Can we go this way?" I asked.
Felix gave me a confused look but shrugged. I think he knew that I was sensing something but he wasn't going to mention it until I did.
I tuned Felix out and concentrated on finding where the power I was sensing was coming from. It was definitely getting stronger. My guess was it was coming from a room only a few doors down. I stopped in the middle of the hallway when it felt strongest. I looked to the door on the left and then the one on the right. Then my eyebrows drew together. They both felt equally strong.
"It's coming from both of these d
oors," I told Felix, hoping he would know what I was talking about.
"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows in question.
I concentrated on both rooms again. There was definitely a lot of power coming out of both of these rooms. I could sense it a lot better than I sensed Felix using his power on Rema earlier.
"Yes," I said at last.
"Good job," he said. "This hallway is the one where most of these power wars take place."
He quietly opened one of the doors and we peeked inside. Sure enough there were two men sitting at a table staring intently at each other with sweat dripping down their faces. There was a small crowd packed into the room watching them. They were all quiet but I could see them rooting for the men inside their heads. We got a few glares for opening the door but no one said anything or looked startled to see us.
Felix closed the door and opened the other one. The scene behind this door was similar to other one except there was a woman going against another man at the table. One of the spectators saw Felix and motioned him in. Felix looked at me questioningly, I shrugged, and we both stepped into the room, trying to be as quiet as possible.
We stood near the Nesmyr that had motioned Felix in and watch the two competitors in silence. I wanted to ask some questions but decided I might get beaten up if I did. I could tell these people took these competitions seriously.
The man and woman at the table were perfectly still. They were staring into each other’s eyes but I noticed they weren't sweating nearly as much as the men in the other room. They must have just started.
A man walked up to us with a sign that read: Bids? and had two names underneath it. There were a lot of scratch marks under the name Joseph, which I assumed was the man and not very many for poor Serena. I concentrated on the two people, expecting to feel more power from Joseph but that wasn't the case. I already knew Serena was going to win. I could feel her power exploding around her. I took out a few bills and handed them to the bidding man, pointing to Serena's name. He gave me a confused look but accepted my bid. Felix was also giving me a confused look. I just smiled and watched the rest of the match.
A few moments later Joseph shot up out of his chair and spun around in a circle with his arms flailing around. Everyone was speechless except for me and the few others who had been rooting for Serena.
I didn't get a chance to congratulate Serena because she was soon surrounded by people asking her how she did it. The bidding man gave me the small chunk of money I won and Felix ushered me out of the room and chaos.
"You knew she was going to win." It wasn't a question but I nodded my head anyways.
"She was radiating much more power than that Joseph guy." It felt like cheating but since I only bid a few dollars, I didn’t feel too guilty.
"I'm surprised. Serena is new and she's also upper class. She’s one of the few Nesmyr who were actually turned and survived. She’s married to one of the richer Nesmyr but she gets bored with their life so she sneaks down here. She's only been doing these power wars for a short time and Joseph is pretty good. She either got lucky or has been finding ways to strengthen her power."
"I think she's had that much power but was holding back before. I don't think anyone could get that powerful in a short time. I wish you could've felt what I felt."
"Me too. It sounds really cool."
"Really?" I still had my hopes that there was more to my power but I was starting to learn that it wasn’t as boring as I originally thought.
"Absolutely. I know you're bummed that this might be all your power is but I think it's pretty cool. If you can sense Zhulik power, too then you have double the ability to find them. That can be very useful."
"How can I sense Zhulik? I know you mentioned it before but what’s it feel like?"
"You’ll get a pretty bad headache anytime one is near. Most Lovac don’t ever have a normal headache."
I froze in the hallway and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. Throughout my entire life, I was plagued by headaches every few months. It was always around the time my mom and I had to move again. My whole life I had been sensing a Zhulik and never knew it.
"Are you okay?" Felix asked when he noticed I wasn’t following him down the hallway. "You look like you’re going to be sick."
I took a shaky breath and shook my head. "I’m fine." I tried to smile convincingly and fell in step next to him.
Even though there wasn’t much else to see in the basement we continued walking through the rest of it. Felix kept giving me concerned side glances every few minutes but I kept a smile plastered to my face. I refused to think about the Zhulik that caused my headaches, who was no doubt Lucas.
After the tour Felix walked me back to my room. We said our goodbyes and Felix promised to wake me up bright and early the next morning before he gave me another not-so-quick hug and left. I couldn’t wrap my thoughts around Felix this time, I was still sick from the idea of Lucas stalking me my whole life.
I immediately got ready for bed and hoped that sleep would calm my nerves and my thoughts. My thoughts were on over-drive, though and I tossed and turned in bed before I finally fell asleep.
Chapter 11
Wake up, I heard repeating in my head.
They're going to kill you, the voice in my head said.
I slowly opened my eyes but didn't recognize where I was. The small room that I was in was nothing like my room at home. I couldn't remember how I got there either. I slowly stood up and moved to the door, testing to see if it was locked. To my surprise, it wasn't. My captives weren't very smart if they left my door unlocked and unguarded.
You must kill them, all of them, before they find you, said the voice. I didn't know why I was hearing voices in my head but I felt like they were protecting me.
I stepped into the hallway but didn't see anyone. To my left I could see a door that marked the end of the hallway and to my right the hallway continued on beyond my view. I chose to go right, hoping I would run in to someone. I wasn't sure where I was going but I found myself knocking on a door that was quite a long way down the hallway from mine.
A blurry person opened the door. I blinked a few times to try to see who it was but my vision wouldn't clear. I could hear the deep male voice speaking but it sounded like I was underwater. Suddenly, I felt dizzy and I could feel my whole body tingling. The person reached for me and I jumped on him. I could hear the voice in my head urging me to kill him.
I landed with a thud on top of the person as we both feel to the ground. I started throwing punches but before I could do any damage, I heard another voice in my head; one that I didn't recognize.
Avery, concentrate. The darkness has you, you have to fight back, said the foreign voice.
Don't listen to him, the first voice said. He is the one holding you prisoner. You must kill him.
I continued attacking but all of the voices in my head were making it throb. I forced myself off of the person I was struggling with, closed my eyes and held the sides of my head with both hands. The voices kept arguing with each other, trying to push me in one direction or another. It was too much for me to handle and I screamed. Both voices stopped.
I needed to remember how I got here and what was going on before I could decide which voice I was going to listen to. The last thing I could remember was waking up in my bed at my mom's house.
My mom. There was something about my mom that was important but I couldn't grasp the thought. Was one of the voices I was hearing my mom? My mom had warned me that something evil was after me. But when?
Then everything came rushing back to me. My mom being killed. The demon. The Zhulik. Being a Lovac. Then I remembered about the darkness. I concentrated on finding it inside my head and sure enough, I could feel the slime in my brain. I felt myself get goose bumps and forced myself to concentrate on blocking the darkness out.
As soon as I unraveled it and threw up a wall I gasped. Noise and sight came back to me, crystal clear. I was curled in a ball on the ground and
my hands were wrapped around my still throbbing head. Whoever was in the room with me put a hand on my shoulder and tried to help me sit up. I looked around and saw Felix crouched next to me. He had a concerned and almost frightened look in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"What... What happened?" I muttered.
"You tell me. I just opened the door and you were staring at me with foggy eyes. When I went to touch you, you tackled me to the ground."
I shook my head and felt tears starting to form in my eyes. "I just remember waking up and not knowing where I was. A voice in my head told me I had to kill you. That you were holding me captive here. I couldn't even see who you were. You were blurring and when you spoke it sounded like I was under water."
"The darkness had a hold of you. I tried to influence you to take control back." He was speaking so calmly and running his hand along my back. His concern was making it harder to hold the tears back and they soon spilled over.
"I heard," I said and wiped my eyes. "Your voice and the other voice in my head made me confused. I couldn't figure out which one to choose."
"Well, I'm glad you chose the right one."
Thinking about the voices in my head and how unnatural it had felt made me rock back and forth in my huddled ball. When I spoke my voice sounded hysterical. "I felt like I was going crazy. I don't want to go crazy."
I looked at Felix with pleading eyes. I knew there was nothing he could do but I wanted him to tell me everything would be alright, that I wouldn’t go crazy and he would help me through it. Instead, he took my face in his hands, wiped some of the tears off of my cheek and kissed me.
I froze instantly. I had never been kissed before and Felix was the last person I imagined I would be kissing. My thoughts only made me hesitate for a moment though. I realized that I wanted this. If Felix did too, I wouldn’t deny him.
I unfolded myself from the fetal and wrapped my arms tightly around Felix’s neck. I had no idea how to kiss but Felix took control and gently eased my mouth open with his tongue. In seconds we were kissing passionately and I completely forgot about the outside world.
Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) Page 7
