“This half-breed was assumed to come from the mating of a male Vampire to a human female, as it is physically impossible for a female Vampire to become pregnant or bear a child. Her body is in stasis once she is turned, unable to make the changes necessary to sustain a new life inside it. The theory is that a recently turned male Vampire still has viable er, sperm in, er… well…. you know.”
Gabi bit back amusement at Julius’s reluctance to speak of things like testicles in front of her.
“His nutsack,” Alexander finished dryly for him, obviously having no aversion to using coarse language in front of a woman.
“Thank you, Lex. I think I had the picture already,” she told him quellingly.
Alexander smiled with feigned innocence.
Julius cleared his throat and continued. “A bit like when a human male goes for a vasectomy and there is still a chance he could get a partner pregnant for a few weeks after the operation. Thus it was considered possible for a ‘young’ male Vampire to impregnate a human woman, and the child of that conception would be born with a combination of human and Vampire traits and abilities. Legend calls this child a Dhampir. They were reputed to grow quicker than normal, and be almost as fast and as strong as a Vampire, have better hearing, smell and eyesight as well as faster healing than a human, and would often have the same special ability of their sire, if their sire had one, though the power would be somewhat diluted.”
“You’re talking about an ability like yours to control Vampires, or Danté’s to control Demons, right?” Gabi asked.
“Yes,” Julius affirmed. “There are some other powers as well; such as the ability to completely bend a human to their will, not just the ‘stock-standard’ ability of ours to wipe or alter human memories or make them look the other way, a skilled Vampire like that can make a human commit suicide or murder their own child. Then there is telepathy, telekinesis and the ability to control animals.”
Gabi bit her lip to stop herself butting in again.
“A Dhampir was supposed to be able to subsist on a diet of either human food or blood but did best on a combination of the two. They aged much slower than humans, but did age, and were resistant to sickness and disease that affected humans. They were not limited by the day and could walk in sunlight like a human without sustaining the damage that full Vampires do. They were also reported to be susceptible to the Red Rage throughout their lives, not just in their young days.”
Gabi now found herself under the intense scrutiny of all three men and glared back at them each in turn, then she brusquely indicated to Julius to carry on.
“Many Vampires have tried to create Dhampirs in the belief that they could produce an army to protect them during the day, or loyal staff to run their businesses without drawing undue attention from humans and Magi. In fact, there are still those who are trying to find a way to create them. As far as any of us know, no one has every done it successfully. There have been a number of reported pregnancies from these attempts, but most of the children have been born perfectly normal indicating a human sperm donor rather than a Vampire one. A few have been stillborn, and some have had horrible physical birth defects and mental deficiencies and have not survived long. These latter ones seem more likely to have been progeny of a Vampire donor. It seems that the change does somehow affect the pre-existing sperm, but not in a good way.”
Julius paused and Alexander took over the story.
“So for many years Julius and I, and on some occasions other friends, have speculated on how else a Dhampir could have been created. Within most myths and legend there is a thread of truth, you know the old adage ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’.”
“And now you think you’ve found the fire,” Kyle said in a flat voice.
“Gabi,” Julius said softly, “do you know the circumstances of your conception and birth, what gave you your unusual abilities?”
“Yes I do, but if I tell you, what are you going to do with the knowledge?” she demanded, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Are you going to try and create an army of Dhampirs? Are you going to go around doing horrible things to unwilling human women?”
Julius leaned forward and looked her straight in the eye. “I swear to you, we wouldn’t do anything like that. We need to protect this knowledge, keep it from others. Not all Vampires have the same moral code as us. This is a part of the reason we have to have the facts; we need to be ready and able to spread disinformation about your abilities and your birth. It’s only a matter of time before someone else questions your Vampire-like characteristics and works out the truth like we have.”
“Will that make other Vampires more likely to try and harm or kill her?” Kyle asked.
“No,” Julius said without hesitation. “You need to understand that if she is what we think she is, then she is like our version of the Holy Grail. Everyone would want to possess her, especially the oldest and most powerful.” He looked pensively across at Alexander. “This is going to complicate things.”
“Not if we can keep it quiet,” Alexander disagreed. “We have to keep it quiet.”
“It means we can’t let any of Danté’s entourage leave the country,” Julius said in a deadly serious voice. “They must never get to report back to the Princeps.”
A cold sliver of fear trickled down Gabi’s spine at the fervency in Julius’s voice when he said ‘never’.
“Alright,” Gabi said suddenly. “Order us some pizzas, and I’ll tell you.”
While Kyle placed their order for pizza and went to tell Gregory about the delivery, Gabi began retelling the story as she had heard it from Byron. Gabi reiterated that she only had the story third hand; her mom had always been reluctant to talk about it with Gabi. She recounted her mother’s attack in the alley, and how she’d swallowed a large quantity of the rescuer Vampire’s blood, while she was only weeks pregnant with Gabi. The two Vampires were enthralled; they seemed unable to get over how simple the answer to their mystery turned out to be. Julius questioned her about the two Vampires involved in the incident, but she didn’t have much to tell him, her mom had been the only one to clearly see both Vampires, and she wasn’t talking about the details to anyone. The rescuer Vampire had apparently been tall and sturdily-built with dark brown hair which fell to his shoulders but that was as much as her dad had told Byron. They had hoped to see him again one day, to thank him for the rescue, but had never come across him after that and assumed he’d left the area. Then she described her birth and early years through Byron’s eyes, briefly, as there wasn’t much of noteworthiness in the early years.
Pizzas arrived then; Gregory came in holding them at arm’s length, as though he were carrying boxes of live rattlesnakes, and deposited them on the table in front of the non-Vampires with a repulsive shudder. Julius dismissed him with an amused grin, and Gabi wasted no time opening the offering and shovelling mozzarella and Parma ham laden slices into her mouth ravenously.
Alexander and Julius curbed their impatience for the rest of the story and began throwing names at each other in an attempt to identify the Vampire who rescued her mother and who would ultimately be considered her ‘sire’. They seemed to know a lot of Vampires. Kyle ate slower than normal, worry for Gabi hanging over him like a persistent rain cloud.
Gabi cleaned her hands and mouth on a napkin and downed a can of Coke before continuing. She moved onto the years when her ‘differences’ started showing up, much of the story was from her own memories, but she also filled in things Byron had noted. She relayed everything about the amazing connection she had with animals, as well as her enhanced senses, and the weird ability to sense Vampires and other supernaturals, and when someone was using a supernatural power. She told them about her incredible, by human standards, physical abilities and growth spurts. Then she paused for a moment, a little uncertain about telling them this next part, but then she realised that Julius may actually be able to explain some of her abnormalities. His input may enable her to finally solve some of the m
ysteries of her own body. She drew a deep breath and plunged on.
“As I reached puberty, my non-human abilities increased enormously. All the usual stuff, just enhanced. Then the negative stuff started as well. My appetite became erratic, I started suffering periods of trembling and weakness in my muscles, my temper was always only a spark away from igniting,” she glared warningly at Kyle as his face lifted in a sardonic grin, “and I craved sugar all the time. My mom eventually gave up trying to feed me normally and allowed me to eat whatever I wanted, but the symptoms just got worse. There were days I couldn’t get out of bed.
Finally, Byron took me to a doctor he could trust, this guy wasn’t a member of the Society, but he helped out when he could. It was much easier back then to get blood tests done without anyone knowing who they were for. So they took a chance and sent them to a regular laboratory. The test results showed severe anaemia, an unusually high antibody count and several other anomalies. The anomalies were so pronounced that the doctor had to make up a story about the blood being contaminated to stop the panic at the laboratory. You’d have to ask Byron for the exact details of the anomalies, medical stuff all goes over my head. We’ve pretty much been working on controlling these symptoms ever since. I need large doses of iron on a regular basis, and my blood sugar levels never quite seem to stabilise. My metabolism seems to run at hyper speed, chewing through energy like a shark through sardines, hence my unwomanly appetite. As a teen I was obnoxious about taking my iron pills, so Byron eventually found a pharmacist who devised a way to make lollipops containing the iron supplement. They satisfied some of my sugar craving at the same time, so I gave in and ate them. It’s become a habit now, and Byron still has the lollipops made up for me, I think he sneaks other things into them, but I pretend not to know,” she said with a rueful smile.
The three men waited in silence for her to continue in her own time. Alexander got up and went to the bar, coming back with a bottle of South African Merlot, a bottle of Jack Daniels and four glasses. Sitting down, he poured two glasses of wine and two bourbons. Kyle grabbed one of the bourbons, adding ice and the remainder of his can of Coke, grinning when Alexander shook his head in dismay. Gabi picked up a glass of wine without really looking at it and took a large fortifying gulp.
“There is also an odd problem when I get injured,” she finally continued. “For two or three days after a serious injury, I lose a lot of my extra speed and strength. My acute senses stay about the same, including the ability to sense Vamps and Demons, and my ability with animals doesn’t seem affected either, but I’m not much faster or stronger than a normal human.”
“How bad do the injuries need to be to affect you?” Julius asked.
“It’s usually worst if I’ve lost blood, though badly broken bones aren’t good either. Bumps and bruises don’t worry me much,” she told him. “Byron has a theory that my body sends all available energy to heal the injury, withdrawing energy from other physical activity until the initial danger period is over. The weakness doesn’t set in immediately; usually only some time after I’m out of whatever situation caused the injury, I suppose once the adrenalin has stopped pumping.”
“Hmm,” Julius mused, “The theory does make sense. It would explain why your other senses and control over animals doesn’t diminish, those don’t require physical energy. So the weakness doesn’t last until you’re fully recovered?”
“No, usually only a few days at most,” she answered.
“You obviously heal faster than a full human, but nowhere near as fast as a Vampire or Werewolf, is there a norm to the time it takes you to heal?”
Kyle lightened enough to crack a smile at that question.
“Sore point,” he drawled, grinning at Gabi. “She hates that I heal quicker than her, as I have far less down time and rarely need hospital treatment. It just pisses her off no end.”
Gabi just growled at him in annoyance, looking around for something to throw at him. Fortunately, there was nothing close at hand.
“Kyle,” Julius said warningly. “We don’t need another Rage incident right now.”
“Right, sorry,” Kyle replied with mock contrition. “She does heal quicker than normal though. Usually Ian, our resident doctor, works on about one third of the time it would take a full human to heal, but if she doesn’t rest and eat properly in the first few days it can take longer. She’s pretty stubborn about resting,” he said with a resigned glance at her.
She gave him a sarcastic pretence of a smile.
“And the Rage?” Alexander asked, “Has she ever been in that kind of rage before?”
“No,” both Gabi and Kyle said emphatically.
“I mean, she loses her temper on a regular enough basis,” Kyle went on. “Sorry Gabs, but you know it’s true,” he said with a brotherly smile to her narrow eyed glare. Then he turned back to the others. “But she’s never gone to the degree that you were talking about, and I’ve never seen her eyes turn red or anything. Not even in a fight with Demons.” He turned back to Gabi. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“No,” Gabi growled, “I can’t remember experiencing anything like that before. I’ve never been so angry that I’ve lost control of my own actions.”
“That’s interesting,” said Julius. “I wonder what triggered it now? There must be something that’s changed to make you susceptible to the Rage. I’ll give it some thought, now that I have all the pieces of the puzzle. Alexander and I will also have to discuss what information to allow to leak to explain your abilities. Fortunately, many of them could be explained by a regular intake of Vampire blood. Some Vampires take, what we call, a ‘human servant’. This human will serve the Vampire in many ways, often including feeding the Vampire, and in return, the Vampire will share blood with the human, not enough to change them, but enough to ensure they never get sick, they age slower and they heal quicker. They also get enhanced speed, agility and strength, and heightened senses.” He glanced at Gabi. “Your mother would have experienced some of these after she ingested the Vampire blood.”
Gabi nodded in agreement, Byron had mentioned something like that.
Julius continued. “The effects only last a few weeks, so regular intake is needed to maintain them. I think this is a good basis for a story about your abilities. Alexander and I will throw some ideas together and come up with a feasible story and pass it by you and Kyle. You can also discuss it with Byron before we let the red-herring-cat out of the bag,” he said with a small smile. “But you also need to understand that it is important to keep the extent of your ability with animals and your Vampire sense as quiet as possible, even amongst my Clan members, and especially from any non-Clan members. My immediate guard and my household staff I trust with my life, and so with yours too, but beyond that anything is possible. Danté has already infiltrated my Clan, so it’s impossible to know who else we can trust with this.” He turned to Alexander. “You need to make sure the story of the Red Rage doesn’t filter through to the rest of the Clan. Go and speak to the guard now, as well as to Gregory and anyone else who was in the house, I’ll reinforce the order later.”
Alexander gave a short nod, knocked back the rest of his bourbon and rose gracefully to do Julius’s bidding.
“Now,” Gabi drawled as she reached for the wine bottle, “you two are going to tell me what you got up to tonight without me.”
Kyle and Julius filled her in on the discovery that Sebastian had found e-mails between Stephan and a source outside the Clan, leaking sensitive information about the Clan’s activities. The e-mails also confirmed that they were supposed to kill Gabi. Sebastian had traced the IP address of the e-mails sent to Stefan’s private computer, and the evening’s mission had been to search the address that the IP was registered to. While they’d hoped to find some occupants in the apartment, it was obviously only being used as a computer access point. They had lifted all the computer equipment to bring back for Sebastian to go over and had left monitoring equipmen
t to let them know when anyone entered the apartment again. A small contingent of guards would be waiting nearby every night to grab them when they returned, though it was possible they wouldn’t go back if they knew that Stephan and Genevieve had died the true death. This would rest on whether there were any other traitors in Julius’s Clan, and so far Sebastian hadn’t been able to find anything to indicate that there were others. The computer hard-drive from the apartment may hold something new, and Sebastian was working on it at that very moment. He was under orders to let Julius know immediately if he found anything relevant.
“I still do not appreciate being left out of the loop,” Gabi grumbled, sounding nothing more than peeved. Somehow she just couldn’t get herself anymore more riled up than that. A strange, warm lethargy seemed to have taken hold of her, and she couldn’t shake it.
“We’re sorry,” Julius said, sounding anything but. “You know why we did it though. You needed to recuperate, and we know you put in a full day on a filmset; it wasn’t that big a deal. We were going to call you as soon as we returned to discuss what we discovered; you just jumped the gun a little.”
“Did you drug my wine?” Gabi asked distractedly.
Julius raised his eyebrows in surprise at the abrupt change in topic.
“No, why?” he asked, his body coming to attention as his eyes ran over her, assessing for danger.
“I feel strange,” she said, “weightless, and languid.”
“Drowsy, confused?” Kyle asked, concern colouring his voice.
“No,” she replied. “Not even tired, and I should be by now. In fact, I even feel quite calm and relaxed. I would say maybe it’s how humans would feel when they talk about feeling mellow after a few drinks.”
Julius suddenly relaxed his anxious pose and smiled ruefully.
“I think you’re dead on Gabrielle,” he told her, “you are intoxicated.”
She frowned at him.
“Impossible, I’ve only had two glasses of wine, and I’ve never managed to get drunk, no matter how hard I’ve tried in the past.”
A Cat's Chance in Hell Page 24
