Mercy's Destiny: Montgomery's Vampires Trilogy (Book #3) (Montgomery's Vampires Series)

by Sloan Archer

  “Why have you been following me?” I asked. “And why did you never reveal yourself to me? And why are you so young?” There were so many things I wanted to know.

  “Which question would you like me to answer first?” Sebastian asked with a crooked grin. He seemed to appreciate and welcome my curiosity, which was a pleasant change from Richard, who had been aggravated to divulge more information than he absolutely had to.

  “How about the question that will take the least amount of time to answer?” I suggested. “And then we can work up from there.”

  “Sounds good,” he said. “Okay, so the reason I’ve been following you so much lately is because I suspected that Maxine and Richard were up to something. They’ve been under the impression that I’d vanished, but I’ve been keeping an eye on them for years and years.”

  “Why?”

  He asked, “If they told you about me, I’m assuming they told you about Richard’s hunting club?”

  “Yah. Psychos.”

  “Indeed. But you are more up to speed on things than I had expected, which is great,” he said. “Because of what I am—physically, I mean—I try to stay out of Nolan-vampire business as much as possible.”

  I asked, “So, what are you then? Are you not a vampire?”

  “I’ll get to that, but that question will have to be answered last—there’s a backstory to it.”

  “Okay.” I was dying to hear that story, since whatever species Sebastian was I might be it also.

  Sebastian said, “Keeping to myself has always been the safest course of action for me.”

  “Hence why you stay out of Nolan-vampire business,” I deduced.

  “Exactly.”

  “Is this because of what happened with Grams?”

  Sebastian thought for a moment. “Yes, partially, but also because of what my blood can do. My blood is like yours, Mercy. It can make vampires turn human. But the effect mine has is infinitely stronger than yours. And you and I are not the only kind out there with this mutation.”

  I sat up in the seat. “We’re not?”

  “No, but we are still scarce in numbers. There are far more vampires than there are us.” He paused. “Within our kind, there are two types of humans—and, yes, Mercy, we are human. There are those like myself who know what they are and have lived a life of secrecy. Then there are those like you—well, you up until very recently—who live their entire lives not knowing that their blood is unique.”

  “I can’t believe it,” I muttered.

  Sebastian glanced over at me. “You’re wondering why some of us know the secret and some of us don’t know.”

  I nodded. “I am.”

  “The reason some us know is almost by default,” he said. “As you can see, I’ve aged very slowly. I do age, however, at a very decelerated rate. My estimate is that I age one year for roughly every hundred and twenty years I’m on the planet.”

  “How can that be, though?” I asked. “I age and we’re related.”

  “Yes, you do, but you will age very well. You won’t have to worry about your hair turning grey until you’re seventy,” he smiled.

  I wanted to say that I wouldn’t have to worry about my hair turning grey at all if I could find a way to turn vampire. “That’s good to know. I’ll save lots of money on hair dye,” I chirped. “But why do I age and you don’t?”

  “The simplest way to put it is that your blood has been watered down. You might have turned out differently if Tilly was also what I am. But she was a regular human, as were your mother and father,” he explained. “This is why many of our kind have no idea that they have special blood—because they aren’t placed in situations that drive them to figure it out. You probably would not have figured it out, either, had you not started congregating with vampires. You have to remember that most humans have no idea that vampires exist, so what good would it do them if they knew their blood could turn a vampire into a human? They wouldn’t believe it regardless.”

  I asked, “How did you find out that our blood can make vampires become human?”

  “I didn’t know until I heard about the serum that was created in England with your blood.”

  “Oh, so you didn’t know until recently,” I said.

  “That’s right,” he confirmed, nodding. “Curious, I tested my own blood against a vampire’s. I wanted to see if my blood would have the same effect. It did.”

  “I’m surprised that it wasn’t discovered sooner—what our blood can do.”

  “I’m not,” Sebastian said. “Our kind doesn’t typically associate with vampires.”

  “Still,” I reasoned, “imagine all the humans that have given plasma at blood banks tailored specifically for vampires. At minimum, you’d think at least one of our kind would have donated and then at least one vampire would have turned human.”

  “Who’s to say that a vampire hasn’t turned human?” Sebastian asked. “Maybe they did but kept it quiet. Or maybe they were out in the sun when the temporary humanness the blood had given them reversed. Also, you’re forgetting one very important detail.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I am very old,” Sebastian said simply.

  “I’m not following.”

  “I am the purest of our kind, but not the only one from my time,” my grandfather explained. “What I mean by this is that there were a few of us there at the beginning . . . during the incident. As the years progressed, we’ve migrated out and created families with regular humans, which is why our bloodline has lost potency. Considering my age, your blood is still very close to the origin. Most—dare I even say all—humans from our bloodline who are living currently are generations and generations removed from the source. I’m talking dozens of generations removed, Mercy. It makes my head hurt trying to do the math. Their blood, while technically different from the average human, would not be as potent as yours. So, if a vampire had consumed their blood, it would almost certainly have zero effect.”

  “Hmm. That makes sense,” I said. “I used to be a vampire decoy at a place called Dignitary, right?”

  “Yes, I know,” Sebastian said with a frown. “But now I’m the one not following.”

  “Well, there had been a few decoys, all human, who had become romantically involved with vampires,” I explained. “And when a vampire and a human are romantically involved, it’s pretty much given that the vampire will, uh, bite their partner.” I was a tad embarrassed to discuss such an intimate topic with my teenaged grandfather.

  “Yes, I imagine so,” Sebastian said, probably to stop me from elaborating. We both knew what I was getting at.

  “It never occurred to me that I might come from a special bloodline,” I continued. “But I did wonder what I might have in common with these decoys. One of my bosses at Dignitary, a vampire named Michael Graves, had tried to murder me because I was what he called a Cataclysmic.”

  “And what is a Cataclysmic?”

  “It was a term Michael had invented,” I answered. “He called a few other humans—the decoys at Dignitary who had dated vampires, specifically—Cataclysmics, too. It was Michael’s term for humans who were potentially responsible for ending the vampire race. Michael alleged that I was that the Cataclysmic in question. I wondered if Michael might have been right, because my blood turned vampires human when blood from other so-called Cataclysmics hadn’t.”

  “This is information I did not know,” Sebastian commented.

  “And this is why I’m concerned by the fact that my psychotic great-grandparents have my blood. No telling what they’re planning on doing with it.”

  Sebastian’s forehead creased. “We’ll find them. At their age, they won’t be able to run for long.”

  “I hope so,” I said, feeling my nerves come to life. I had to stop stressing; it couldn’t be very good for the baby. “What do you call what you are? Those who have blood as potent as yours?”

  “Partials.”

  I asked, “Partial what, though?”


  “Partial human and partial vampire. But we are predominantly human.”

  “But . . . But I thought you said that you aren’t vampire.” I wasn’t sure if it was because I was hungry or exhausted or pregnant—or all three—but I was perplexed. I hoped Sebastian wasn’t getting frustrated with my incessant questions.

  “We aren’t vampire, not in the traditional sense,” he said.

  I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I didn’t really know where to go from there.

  After a moment, Sebastian said, “I’ll first answer your question about why I didn’t make contact with you. And then I’ll tell the story of how Partials came to be. Sound good?”

  “Sounds great,” I smiled, thrilled that I’d now have some ancestral information to pass on to my child—

  I still couldn’t believe that I was going to have a baby! I’d start to forget that I was pregnant for a millisecond, and then it would dawn on me all over again, leaving me shell-shocked once more. I was actually pretty excited about the whole thing. I couldn’t wait to tell Robert—if Robert ever came home.

  Robert will come home. He will. Joseph will find him, I told myself. He had to.

  “Are you okay?” Sebastian asked. “You’re looking a little peaked.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Although . . .”

  “Yes?”

  “I am a mite hungry,” I admitted. “The Nolans were far from generous with their feeding times.”

  “I really do despise those people,” Sebastian declared with a scowl. “I’ll pull off as soon as I see a sign for something to eat.”

  “Uh . . .” I raised my hand at my sides: I got nothing.

  “My treat, of course,” he said. “I can see that you don’t have shoes, so I didn’t expect you to have money.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate it. I’m starving.”

  “No problem.” Getting back to the original topic, my grandfather said, “There are a few reasons why I never revealed myself to you and Tilly. The first reason was that I’d made a deal with the Nolans. The second reason was that I was trying to avoid getting you, your mother, and Tilly involved in all this Partial-vampire-Nolan business. I was hoping to spare you the danger and the aggravation. As you’ve probably gathered, once you let vampires into your world, life becomes a whole lot more complicated.”

  “You can say that again,” I chuckled.

  “The last reason is more practical. I was supposed to be about eighteen when Tilly and I met in 1974. She knew naught about what I was, and if I had gone to see in her in recent years, I should have been in my mid-fifties. And obviously . . .” Sebastian shrugged.

  “She died, you know,” I told him.

  “I know,” he said. “I went to the funeral.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes, but I was careful that I went unnoticed. I didn’t stay long. I visit your mother’s grave every so often, too. And I went to your Dewhurst graduation. Again, I didn’t stay long, but I went.”

  “I had no idea,” I said. “I’m touched, Sebastian.”

  He asked, “And I’m hoping that now you know about me, you’ll let me be in your life more?”

  “I’d like that very much,” I smiled. “I didn’t have any family left after Grams died. It would be nice to have some family again. Except the Nolans. They can stay away.”

  Sebastian laughed. “What did they do with you while you were there? Sorry I couldn’t break you out sooner. I was planning on getting you out right away, but when that giant ape wasn’t standing guard at your door, the Nolans had company.”

  “Medical types?” I asked.

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “They want to use my blood to hurt vampires.” I hung my head. “And they got some of it. I tried to resist, but it was three against one.”

  “You mustn’t blame yourself, Granddaughter.” It was so weird, having somebody who looked like he could still be in high school call me Granddaughter.

  “What do you think will happen?” I asked.

  “I honestly don’t know. But perhaps you can alert some of your powerful vampire friends. I’m afraid I can’t offer assistance in that department. I don’t operate within a network. I’ve been on my own for many centuries.”

  “Do I have more family out there? Did you, uh . . . ?” What was the polite way to say knock up any more women?

  Sebastian knew what I was getting at. “No, Tilly was the only one. It wasn’t intended, which I’m sure you’ve gathered. I fell in love with her while keeping tabs on Richard. But I don’t regret what happened. I really did adore Tilly, and you and your mother were created from the union that I’d had with her. Of course, I do wish that things could have turned out better . . .”

  It made me sad, how lonely Sebastian seemed—all those centuries on his own. “I’m glad you’ve found me,” I said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know more about you.”

  “Me too.” He pointed towards an exit. “You good with hamburgers?”

  “Sebastian, I’m so flippin’ hungry that I’d be good with road kill right now!”

  My grandfather laughed. “I suspected that you were a bit of a dramatic.”

  I didn’t want to be greedy, since Sebastian was paying, so I ordered a plain hamburger. Sebastian made my hamburger a cheeseburger, and tacked on fries and a milkshake, “just in case” I was hungry for more. I ate it all.

  Sebastian made an admiring comment about how much food I could put away and I nearly revealed that I was eating for two. It didn’t seem fair, though, that anyone else should get to know the news of my pregnancy before Robert did (other than my psychotic captors, that is), so I remained tight-lipped. I would tell Sebastian and everyone else when the time was right. Though it would be tough, keeping the secret from Liz. Hopefully Robert would be found soon, so I wouldn’t have to keep the secret long.

  Once I’d stowed the wrappers, Sebastian asked, “Would you like me to answer your final question? About my origins?”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “Uh, yah!”

  “It’s a long one. You sure you aren’t too tired?” he said with a sideways glance.

  “I promise you. I’m wide awake.” I couldn’t envision falling asleep ever again, actually.

  15

  “I was ten years old when the change took place,” said Sebastian. “The year was 952AD.”

  “Geez, so you’re . . .” I paused to do the calculation. “You’re a thousand sixty-one.”

  “Well, I’m technically a thousand seventy-one, if you also factor in the ten years that I’d already aged when I was changed over.”

  I chuckled. “Right. Sorry. I’m used to dealing with vampires, who usually state their ‘true’ age as the date they changed over.”

  “Once you hit my age, Mercy, ten years is nothing,” he smiled.

  “So, wait a minute. If you only age a year for every hundred twenty you’ve been alive, then that means—”

  “Yes, I was a ten-year-old boy for over a century. Give or take.” He winked. “If that’s what you were going to say.”

  It wasn’t, but that was . . . crazy. “Criminy! So, if you keep aging at this rate, you won’t die for—”

  “I try not thinking about,” Sebastian said with gently. “But, assuming that I’m not killed, we’re talking about thousands of years. Imagine what the world will be like by that time.”

  I asked, “So you can be killed?”

  “Yes, just like you can. I don’t have the same immunities that the vampires do.”

  “You must be extremely careful,” I commented.

  “Yes, very,” he said. “A few of our kind have died off because of accidents. But we’re immune to disease.”

  “That must be great, never getting sick. I’m sorry for the interruption—I know it’s probably getting annoying. There’s just so much I want to know.”

  “No worries,” Sebastian assured me. “We’ve got plenty of time to catch up.”

 
“You were saying about how you came to be?”

  Sebastian was quiet for a moment. “Before I continue on, I should mention that I heard much of this story via other villagers.”

  “Alright,” I acknowledged. “So, you’re saying it’s embellished?”

  “I wouldn’t say embellished, exactly. It seems to be true in its entirety. It’s more like legend, you could say.”

  “Got it. I won’t assume you’re a liar, then,” I teased.

  “That’s a relief,” my grandfather teased back before continuing. “When I was a boy, a beautiful girl named Violetta lived in the village. But she wasn’t only beautiful, Mercy; she was kind, loving, and intelligent—the ideal woman for any man, I should say.”

  “Sounds like you had a crush on her. Did you know her personally?”

  Sebastian nodded. “I did. She sometimes watched over my cousins and me—babysat us. Her parents had an orchard, and she’d bring fruit for us as a treat, if we were good. But we were always good for Violetta, because we loved her. She was very sweet.” He smiled at the memory. “Violetta was seventeen when Luther came to our tiny Italian village. She was instantly smitten. Luther was about a decade older than Violetta—so we believed—in his late twenties. But that wasn’t uncommon for the day, for a wealthy older man to take a younger woman as his lover.”

  “Lucky guys,” I said dryly.

  “Oh, no, it wasn’t an unsavory courtship, if that’s the idea I’ve given you. There is no doubt that Luther loved Violetta.”

  “So, he wasn’t just a creepy older dude preying on a teenager?” I said tactlessly. I hoped Sebastian didn’t think I thought the same thing about his association with Grams. In truth, when it came to their association, I didn’t know what to think. I was going to wait to hear the whole story before making up my mind. The man had saved my life, so I felt I owed him that minor courtesy.

  “Not in the slightest,” Sebastian said. “Perhaps the situation would have ended better for the whole village had Luther not loved Violetta so much.”

  “This does not sound like a happy fairytale ending kind of story,” I said.

  “It certainly isn’t,” Sebastian agreed. “Violetta had been promised to another man, which was also very common for the time. Marriages were often treated more like business deals, in order to keep land and money in the family name. And, because of her exceptional beauty, Violetta had been pledged to a man with a lot of money. She was marrying up, several ranks above her class.”