“I am right here, you know,” I said, glaring at them.
Drake nodded. “I apologize. You should know as well.
The drink Cryder is preparing for you is what’s kept you alive
and well during recent days.”
“Okay,” I said. “I get that. I mean, I do always feel better
after I drink it. But what is it? Vitamins?”
“Not exactly.”
Cryder joined us at the table and placed a cup before
me. “I don’t know if she’s ready to hear this, Drake.”
“She has to,” he said evenly. “It’s time.”
Cryder nodded slowly. “Rena, that cup contains a blood
mixture. It’s half human blood and half my blood.”
I stared.
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
“It’s important that you drink it,” he said anxiously.
“Human blood?” I could barely form the words on my
lips.
“Rena…”
“How did you get that? Did you kill someone?”
“No. No, of course not. And I promise I’ll explain
everything if you give me time, but right now, please, just
drink. You’ll get sick again if you don’t.”
“Drink blood.”
Cecile, who was standing with her back to the wall,
spoke up. “It’s what you’ve been drinking this whole time,” she
said, softly.
I lifted the cup slowly to my lips, tipped it, and let the
liquid touch my tongue. I was prepared to gag…
But it was delicious.
Suddenly I was ravenous. I swallowed the drink in great
gulps, consumed by how wonderful it tasted and felt going
down. It was only once the cup was empty that my thoughts
returned to the fact that I was drinking blood. I shivered a little.
Cryder’s hand covered mine gently. “Good job,” he said. “I
knew you could do it.”
“You didn’t know she could do it,” Drake said. “You
thought she wasn’t ready. I knew she could do it.”
“Guys,” Cecile snapped. “Tell her the rest now.”
“The rest?” I looked from one of them to the next.
Cryder sighed. “Rena, you’re one of us now.”
“One of you?”
“A vampire.”
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I pulled my hand back. I knew it. “You’re vampires.”
“I don’t think you’re surprised to hear that.”
“The fangs. The speed and strength.”
“Yes,” Drake said. “All of that. But some of what you
might have seen and read isn’t real.”
“What, you don’t turn shiny in sunlight?”
“We don’t do anything in sunlight. Sunlight doesn’t
affect us. We can go into churches, and into private homes
without being invited. You don’t need to stake us in the heart
to kill us. We don’t sleep in coffins. We aren’t monsters.”
“Bristol?”
“He’s a murderer. There are human murderers, too.”
“But you drink blood.”
“There are ways to acquire blood without killing,”
Cryder said. “Donors, for example.”
“But—but you eat food,” I stammered. I was
remembering our date. “I’ve seen you eat food.”
“Sure,” Cryder said. “I like food. But I require blood to
survive.” He met my eyes. “And so, do you, Rena.”
“No,” I said automatically. “I’m not a vampire.”
“You are,” Cecile said. “We all are.”
“You are?”
“You’re the one who let it happen. You gave Drake
permission to turn me. He told me all about it,” she said,
registering the look of surprise on my face. “You gave him
permission because you knew I would have died otherwise.”
“Cecile…”
“It’s all right. I told you before, it was the right choice. I
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
would have done the same thing. But I do wish he had been
clearer with us about exactly what would happen.” Cecile
glared at Drake, but there was no heat behind it. She wasn’t
really angry. If I knew her, she was just planning to hold this
against Drake long enough to make him feel that he owed her
one.
“But wait,” I said, as the realization hit me. “I wasn’t
bitten, was I? How did I become a vampire?”
Cryder’s hand found mine again. “You’ve always been
one.”
“What? No. I can’t have. I’m a human.”
“You were born to a human father and vampire
mother,” Drake explained. “As you’ve come of age, your
vampire side has developed and is now fully manifested. That’s
why we came looking for you.”
“To get me to join your. .coven? Den? Whatever?”
Cryder and Drake looked at each other and laughed.
“We aren’t bats,” Drake said. “Cryder is the heir in a royal
bloodline. I am his cousin and bodyguard.”
“You’re royals?” This was too much. Not only was
Cryder a vampire, he was a prince?
“And so are you,” Cryder said.
“What?”
“Your family, too, is extremely powerful. And from the
day you were born, Rena, you and I have been intended for
each other.”
I blinked at him. “We’re betrothed?”
“Something like that,” Drake said. “Your families have
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been great allies for millennia. You two were destined to unite
your houses and rule together. As such, your blood is
extremely powerful.”
“Our blood is powerful? Is all vampire blood powerful?”
“Not in the same way. For example, I am not destined
for anyone, even though I share Cryder’s royal lineage. My
blood doesn’t contain the power his does. That’s why I was
able to use it to change Cecile. Cryder’s blood is too precious
and dangerous for such a task.”
“Charmed, I’m sure,” Cecile said sardonically.
“That’s also why Cryder’s blood is able to revitalize you,
Rena. And that’s why Bristol was here.”
“He wanted my blood,” I remember.
“Your blood contains tremendous power. He would
have been able to access it.”
Cecile shuddered. “I’m glad he’s dead.”
“Others will come,” Drake warned. “Now that Rena is
fully vampire, many will hunt for her.”
“So, it’s just going to be like this from now on?
Forever?” I ask. “Vampires showing up wherever I go, trying to
kill me? What am I supposed to do? We barely escaped this
time! God forbid the next one brings a friend.”
Drake nodded. “I wanted you to understand all this
because there is a solution to the problem, and I believe it is
vital that you accept it.”
“What’s the solution?” I couldn’t believe there could be
anything I wouldn’t do to extricate myself from these
circumstances.
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
Drake looked to Cryder.
Cryder scooted his chair close to me. “The only way for
us to stay safe is to join together,” he said, taking my hands in his. “We must fulfill our collective destiny, assume the thrones, and rule together as King an
d Queen.”
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Chapter Fifteen
ALL I COULD DO FOR SEVERAL MINUTES was stare.
“You’re saying my choices are risk death at the hands of violent
beasts like Bristol or else marry you and
become...Queen of the Underworld?” I finally managed to
stammer.
“It’s hardly the underworld,” Drake said softly. His air
was that of a doctor telling a patient that she’s not going to die of the terrible thing that’s wrong with her, and I could see why
he would be a good person to have around. “We live
aboveground. The life vampires live day-to-day is surprisingly
similar to the life you already know, Rena.”
“What about the life of queens?”
“Well,” Drake chuckled a little, “that would probably
be a bit of an adjustment.”
“It could be pretty great, right?” Cecile said. I could tell
she was trying to look on the bright side. “We always used to
pretend we were princesses, Rena, remember?”
“That was you. I was always the knight.”
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
“Because I made you be the knight. Now you could be
the princess.”
I closed my eyes. Did I want to be a princess? It seemed
so...unreal. But then, what about everything else I’d just been
told?
My mother was a vampire.
I was becoming a vampire.
Cryder had been watching me my whole life. Keeping
me safe. Ever since the car accident that had changed my life
forever, he’d been ensuring that I would be protected, that I
would be ready when the time came. And now he was ready to
marry me, to share his life and his world with me. All I had to
do was say yes.
I wanted to.
But how could I know what I wanted so fast? It didn’t
make sense; I knew that much. I’d barely known Cryder for
weeks, and we’d only had a few significant conversations.
Today was probably the first time he’d been truly honest with
me. How could I be ready to say yes to his proposal?
I didn’t know. I only knew that I felt something deep
within me, something I was powerless to resist. Maybe it was
the blood connection we already shared, coursing through my
veins and filling my heart. Maybe it was the knowledge that he
had always been a presence in my life, even if I hadn’t realized
it. Maybe it was just those gorgeous blue eyes, watching me
from across the room. They pulled me in, magnetically, and
before I could even consider what I was doing I was crossing
the room, closing the distance between us, reaching up for him
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and bringing his lips to mine.
It was the most amazing kiss of my life. It was the first
kiss I’d ever initiated myself. Cryder seemed momentarily
surprised, then kissed me back with a gentle force that seemed
as if it belonged to nature, like the current of a river. I reached up and cupped his face with both hands, standing on my toes
to give us a better angle. His arms twined around my waist. He
could lift me off the ground, I knew, but he didn’t, and I was
glad. In this moment, possibly for the first time since I’d
known him, we were on a level playing field, each of us giving
and taking in equal measure.
Yes. I could be with him.
As we separated, our eyes met and I laughed a little,
awkwardly. Cryder wiped a tear from my cheek with his
thumb. I hadn’t realized I was crying.
“Was that okay?” Cryder asked, concern in his eyes.
I nodded, at a loss for words. We’d kissed before, of
course, but something was different now. I couldn’t put my
finger on it. “I’m just emotional…with the whole idea of
agreeing to marry you. Everything feels stronger, deeper, now
that I’m…what I am now.”
Vampire, my mind whispered.
Could it be? I knew I must be more vampire—less
human—than I had been at the time of our last kiss. After all,
look what had happened to Cecile. A few drops of Drake’s
blood and she was as much a vampire as any of them. My case
was different than hers, of course. My transition had been
more gradual. I assumed that was because of my human father.
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
But now I had been drinking Cryder’s blood for weeks.
I’ve been drinking Cryder’s blood. To my astonishment,
the idea didn’t make me shudder. It actually made me feel
more bonded to him. I must be a vampire.
Regardless, I decided, whatever was making me feel this
way toward Cryder could only be a good thing, particularly if
it brought this extra element to the kisses we shared. I felt the love and the bond between us like a current, impossible to
resist, and I gave in and let myself drift back into his arms. “I’m good,” I whispered. “Everything’s so good.”
He smiled. “I think so too.”
I rested my head against his chest, unable to get over
how natural this felt. It was like coming home. It was more
than that. It was like discovering a home I’d always longed for,
but never known I had.
I could have stayed here forever. I felt utterly safe in his
arms, indifferent to the world around me, to the dangers
Cryder and Drake had just outlined. I even found myself
forgetting the other people in the room. But all too soon,
Cryder released me and stepped back. “There will be time,” he
said softly, and I understood what he meant. Now that we had
found each other—or, more accurately, now that I had found
him—we could spend as much time as necessary getting to
know each other. Learning each other. We didn’t have to cling
together in this room in front of our friends. Starting today, we would be together no matter where we were.
“What do we do now?” I asked him.
“What do you mean?”
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“I’m assuming we don’t...you know. Go on a date.” I
felt myself blushing. I didn’t even know how to ask a guy out
under normal circumstances, and these were anything but
normal. I had to admit, though, that the idea of a date was
incredibly appealing. How wonderful would it be to attend
prom with Cryder on my arm? How great would it be to go
out to a movie and share a tub of popcorn, cuddling together
and whispering about the actors and plot? Or a walk through
the woods? Of course, with other vampires chasing us for the
value of our blood, we could hardly go walking in the woods.
“I’m guessing we have to do something more official than that,
right? Go back to your home country? Or, do you even have a
home country? Are you American?” I realized how little I knew
about him. He certainly sounded American. Was all the
foreignness I picked up from these two simply a function of
their inhumanity? America didn’t have kings and queens,
though. That much, I was sure of.
Drake stepped forward. “You’re right in thinking we
have to leave the country, Rena. But it
has nothing to do with
making things official. As far as the customs of our people are
concerned, your acceptance of Cryder’s proposal is all that’s
needed. But now that the word is out that the two of you are
here, it’s no longer safe to put down roots on this continent.”
“Where will we go?” I asked. My mind was racing.
Leaving the country would mean leaving behind everything I
knew. But did I really have that many attachments here? The
few friends I’d made throughout school, I knew, would be easy
to leave behind. Cecile was the only one I couldn’t stand to say
BLOOD ORIGINS- BOOK ONE
goodbye to, and as a new vampire, she would likely be coming
with me. When I thought about it that way, suddenly the
future seemed full of hope and possibility. It was exciting.
Traveling to a foreign land, learning new customs and meeting
new people.. it was the kind of thing many high school
students dreamed about, but few were lucky enough to
experience. And I would be royalty, welcomed by the new
people I would meet. I would be their queen.
“You can finish out the school year,” Cryder said. “The
security measures we have in place ought to be enough to
protect you. And it will take time for word of Bristol’s death to spread, and for his clan to send more out after him. You have
only a few weeks left, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “I could probably leave now.”
“There’s no need. Graduate. Get your diploma. You’ll
be glad you did.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Do I need a degree to be a
vampire queen?”
“You never know when your education will come in
handy,” Drake said with a serious look.
“Okay, so fine. I’ll finish school. What happens after
that?”
“After that,” Cryder said, “the four of us will return to
my ancestral home.”
“Me too?” Cecile asked.
“Yes,” Cryder confirmed, and my heart soared a little. I
wouldn’t be alone in the days to come. “It’s not safe for you
here either anymore, now that you’re a known associate of
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Rena. And you belong among other vampires. We can guide
you as you learn to live your new life.”
“My family is here,” Cecile said, biting her lip.
“You’ll have a new family with us.”
“What happens when we get there?” I asked.
“You will undergo the dhampir rituals of our clan.”
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