“How do you know?” I ask. “That we are from these bloodlines?”
“Ludari. He is a Keeper,” Abigail says. “He has kept our ancestors hidden and safe for many generations.”
“Like a literal record Keeper,” I say. Henri has sat silent the entire time my mother has told me this insane story. I glance his way. “And you knew all this?”
He looks scared to respond, as he should be. “Yes,” he says quietly.
I have to swallow around the tightness in my chest. Henri has known all along. He has lived here, with my mother, with secrets. He has worked with my father, researching genes and vampires. Daddy. I shake my head. I can’t go there.
“Why did you come here?” I ask Abigail.
“I grew up, just as everyone in our family, knowing of this life. I didn’t want my girls to grow up this way,” she says. “Ludari and Ashur wanted to bring you and Emily here when you turned eighteen. I asked them to let you live in Florida a while longer and wait until you both were finished with school. He allowed you both to stay until your twenty-fifth birthday.”
The birthday Emily tried to kill me. I rub my face with my hands. It is all too much. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“I came here, Charlotte, to help keep you safe,” she says. “When it was time to bring you here. Emily was dead. I couldn’t put all this on you. You needed time to heal.”
“Why did you leave us?” I ask. My voice is tearing. “Especially if we were in danger. You left us alone.”
“As long as you have Ashur and Ludari’s protection, you are safe,” she says.
I can feel the tears forming. They sting behind my eyes, and there is no way I can keep them back any longer.
“I left, Charlotte, because I had to,” Abigail says. “I made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“You and Emily were to stay in Florida with your father, and remain under Ashur’s protection.” Her voice is low, and she is refusing to look at me. “But, only if I agreed to come to France and live with Ashur, as his mate.”
Chapter Twenty
Henri sits at the table in the library, bent over a large book. The night is cool, the windows of the library open, letting in a soft breeze. I have spent the last day in my room, simply put; freaking out. I keep expecting Dr. Gregory to come cart me away. Part of me hopes he does. My brain is swirling with images of my childhood, my mother’s face, Emily’s twisted words and attempt on my life. I can’t seem to process everything that I learned the night before. It lies heavy, a weight on my chest, constricting my breaths.
“I see you are ready to face everyone,” Henri says, cautiously.
“Emily found out, didn’t she?” She had hinted to it the night she crashed the car, but now I suspect she had known the truth. Every shred of craziness.
“Yes, she found out. She was constantly eavesdropping.” Henri stands from the table. The pain that comes off of him is piercing. “She couldn’t do what you are capable of doing.”
“What?”
“She couldn’t read people like you, that’s what you call it, right?” Henri’s eyes search mine.
“What do you mean?” My brain trips over his words. Emily could, she told me so. Of course, she could. We were a match.
“She told me that she wasn’t able to feel people’s emotions, their inner soul,” Henri says. He presses his fingers to his eyes. “She hated that she couldn’t. It drove her mad.”
Oh Henri, you have no idea.
“This is the supposed power of some ancient gene that I inherited?”
“Yes. Usually, only vampires are able to feel people’s emotions, Charlotte, but you can. It is amazing.”
I think of Aydin. “I can’t control people Henri.”
“No, I know you can’t. Actually, Aydin is the only vampire that I have met that can control people’s emotions.”
Because he has met so many vampires. Maybe he has.
“He can control thoughts?”
“Not, so much thoughts, their emotions. How they feel,” Henri says. His face betrays him, his mouth twisting at the mention of Aydin. “I’m not sure why. He used to be very powerful, but I can see he is still able to control people. He can you.”
They can feel my emotions. Aydin can feel me, just as well as I can. Well, not all of them, just Aydin. But, they don’t know this.
“And this Organization wants me for my genes. And this is what you are studying? These family genes and what? Vampire genes?”
“Yes.”
This just keeps getting better. I almost look around for the good doctor.
“What did you discover?” I ask.
“Medicine that can be manipulated to correct any genetic mutation. It can be coded and used for so many different diseases. It is astounding.”
“Is this from them?” Vampires, but he knows what I mean.
“In short, yes.”
My miraculous recovery and short hospital stay... “Is this what was used on me in the hospital?”
“No,” he looks away. “This is a lot to take in. Ask questions. Everyone will talk to you. It may seem strange, but this is your family.”
I chuckle at that, and walkout to go have some wine with the wicked witch of the west, because this insane world is now my new normal.
-----------
My heart races, my stomach is in knots. What I really want to do is go back to my room and stay there for the rest of my life. Instead, I sit in the parlor and wait for the sun to go down. I figure Claudette will be crawling the depths of the underworld around then, coming to warm her ice soul by the fire as she does every night.
She is right on time.
When Claudette walks in, she doesn’t seem the least bit surprised to find me here. Every time I see her, my hands itch to slap her. It is an awful feeling, to be so disgusted with someone. But Claudette isn’t a someone. She isn’t even human.
Oh, good lord.
My stomach twists tighter, rising bile in my throat. Henri has slept with the un-dead. A soulless creature that preys on the innocent. I knew I didn't like her. I’m pretty sure I’m going to pass out, my head is spinning so fast. I pour myself a glass of wine, sucking it down. Abigail follows closely behind her. I wonder where Aydin is off too, probably still watching all his cameras.
“He is with Ashur, they are discussing your security,” Claudette says and pours me more wine. I start to make a face and ask how she knows I am curious of Aydin’s whereabouts when my mother chimes in.
“We can read your emotions. Whenever a human thinks of someone, it carries an emotion with it. That and it was written all over your face,” Abigail says.
Henri is right, vampires can read my emotions. Great.
“What about thoughts?” I ask. My mind starts racing, picturing all the personal details I never want people to know: My memories with Henri, the kiss in the villa, the one in his room. How I stole a CD from a store when I was fifteen. I still feel guilt over that one.
“We aren’t mind readers,” Claudette laughs. “We can’t take information from your brain, but we can make a suggestion on how you see a situation, how you feel about something. We are even able to share some experience’s. We feel what you are feeling and right now you are panicking.”
I try to relax, rolling my head on my shoulders and sip my wine. Maybe that is why she is always feeding me booze. To help me relax. Keep my brain numb so I don’t notice they can sit perfectly still.
“What else do you want to know?” Abigail asks. I have been watching her, openly staring. A quiet has settled over the room without me even realizing it.
“When you are turned into ... a... you know.” I am still having a hard time with the vampire part. I gesture to her. “Do you change, I mean you get stronger, right? But what else? You look exactly the same.”
“When a person is turned, you stay as you were when you were human,” she says.
Human.
“Only, you become a more enhanced versi
on of yourself,” she continues. “Vastly improved eyesight, smell and hearing. All the senses are magnified. We are faster. The older you are, the more powerful.”
“You get brought back to life?” I can’t help the high pitch of my voice. Every person knows the legends of vampires. Their bodies reanimated, stalking their prey in the night. Long evil teeth. I can’t seem to turn off the nagging voice of reason in the back of my mind.
“No, we are alive, but with a different force than those of humans,” she says it again. Like she is something different. She doesn’t look any different. Well, except healthier.
“Aren't you dead?” I ask.
“More like reborn,” Abigail says. “When a vampire is created, the blood is drained until right before the heart beats it’s very last. Their soul is still attached, the last breath hanging, suspended, clinging to life. So you see, we never die.”
My mind is a jumble of questions. Logic keeps trying to intervene, and save me from this conversation. I want to poke holes in what she as telling me, but well, she is sitting right in front of me. The perfect picture of .... I can’t go there.
“Do you breathe?” I think of Aydin, his deep breaths and rushes of laughter.
“It’s not necessary,” Abigail says. “We don’t require oxygen. Everything we need is absorbed into the blood that flows through us.”
“So your heart beats?” I don’t want to know any of this.
“Yes, it keeps the blood moving through us. If it stops we don’t die, simply after a while we remain still,” she says.
“You stay alive regardless?”
“Yes,” Claudette, says. “It takes a lot to kill us.”
“The man from the bar kept saying he had claimed me and that I wasn’t marked,” I say. “What does that mean?”
“Claiming is when a vampire says that he wants a human for himself. It’s like a dog pissing on his territory,” Claudette says. “Males do it more than females. Some piggish behavior never leaves, no matter how long they have lived.”
“I thought you all were supposed to be enlightened or something.”
“We are born human first. Behavior is learned, the older ones are the worst. Women meant nothing not so long ago. Only a way to bare sons and fulfill desires.”
No wonder Aydin had been so handsy, with his over the top male dominance routine, he had been trying to keep the rancher off me. “So then what does it mean to be marked?”
“It is when we leave a particular scent on a human. We do this when we want to keep them for ourselves. Only other vampires can detect it. Once the human is marked, no other vampire is allowed to touch them. Humans can’t feel it, so they aren’t affected in any way, ” Claudette says.
“A mark is a warning that the human belongs to another vampire. It is mostly for protection,” Abigail says softly.
“But mostly for our pleasure,” Claudette grins devilishly.
“Is Henri marked?” I really don’t want to know.
“Yes. I marked him,” Claudette smiles, smugly.
“So you really drink blood?” My stomach churns at the thought.
“Yes,” Claudette replies.
“It doesn’t hurt?”
“It can, if we want it to. But when we feed we associate it with something else. Usually sex,” she smiles, almost perversely.
Henri embraced by Claudette in the throws of passion makes my heart drop. My fingers grip the glass tighter. The fact that it doesn’t shatter into to million pieces is surprising.
It has been set in stone.
I fucking despise her.
“Think of it like a kiss,” Abigail offers. “It can be sweet and tender. Loving and protective.”
“Or passionate,” Claudette interjects. “Or possessive, or forceful, or violating.”
I look away, petty sure I’ve heard enough adjectives to last me awhile
“I thought vampires couldn’t control thoughts,” I say, my mind again on Aydin. It is becoming a problem I refuse to look at.
“We can’t control them no,” Abigail says. “We can influence, since we can feel what a person is feeling we are able to manipulate them. Like Claudette said, we are able to change the way humans perceive a situation.”
“Aydin is able to,” Claudette says, quietly. I am pretty sure she is lying about the reading the minds part as his face refuses to leave my thoughts. “He is able to make a person feel anything. He is also able to control thoughts. It is not just a small influence. That is why when he touched you, you became completely calm. If you were angry, he could force you to feel happy. Or vise-versa. He could force you to feel anything, for anyone.”
Is that what is wrong with me? Has he made me feel his presence? I don’t like that he had forced me to remain calm. My skin crawls at the thought he may have been using super mind powers on me.
“He only did it to help you.” Abigail’s voice is soft
They have to be lying.
His thin face flashes again in my mind. Thin. Wait. He is a vampire.
“He’s not sick,” I say, flatly. Abigail shifts in her seat. She and Claudette exchange a look. “Why is he so thin? Was he sick when he was turned?”
“No. He was very healthy,” Claudette says. Her face shows actual admiration, and another more pronounced emotion that makes me want to slap her. Lust. “Beautiful, really. The most powerful force anyone has ever seen.”
“You told me he can’t eat. Is that true? Do you all eat food?” I am getting off track, but I want to know.
“Small amounts yes, but it does nothing for us.”
“Can he not drink blood?” My mouth turns down at the thought. Maybe that’s why he watches me all the time. His vampire stomach is growling. I almost laugh at the thought, but I worry I may never stop.
Claudette and my mother again look at each other. Claudette glances away. Wow, they should really be better liars.
“That is something you will have to ask him,” Abigail says. She runs her hands down the legs of her pants. She used to do this right before one of Daddy’s dinner parties. To wipe sweat, or maybe convince herself she was calm.
“He will never tell her, Abigail,” Claudette whispers to her.
“It is not our place.”
“Who are you protecting?” I ask.
Abigail looks at me then. Her face is pained, her eyes sad. “It’s not my place to say, Charlotte, that is only for Aydin to reveal.”
------------
It is 3 ‘o clock in the morning, but I can’t sleep. Questions roll around my head, refusing to let me rest. My nerves are frayed, leaving me jumpy and anxious. Everything I have thought about life, Earth and its inhabitants is gone. Dashed away by a secret world. I still doubt my sanity. They all look so normal. Expect Aydin and his metal eyes. And the fact that he can run his finger over my cheek, and I melt like a warm marshmallow. And that, my mother, of course, is only a few years older than me.
Henri sits with Abigail in the parlor where I had left her earlier. I take a seat next to my mother. Henri looks away, almost wounded, but I’d rather sit next to her than him. Liar that he is. We all look up as Aydin saunters in. He stands in the center of the room, his eyes on mine.
“May I, Miss Charlotte?”
“By all means, Mr. Thanos.” I gesture to his chair by the fire.
Even though I have glimpsed at his savage power, it is hard to see him differently. He is so stoic. Yet he has let me see a small layer that lay underneath, a flash of brutality and glimpse of softness. It is such a stark contrast, it’s hard to imagine they are both inside him. I can’t get Abigail’s words out of my head, he has secrets as well.
“I have a question,” I say to him.
“What it is you would like to know?” Aydin asks, coolly. He leans back in the seat, his arm resting over the chair’s back. He looks like some business tycoon in his crisp, charcoal gray suit. Images keep flashing of his fingers over my lip in the bar, and how they dug in deep, almost piercing the rancher’s neck.
His force and raw power when he threw the man down.
I have to tear my eyes off of him and see my mother’s brow turned down. They can tell what I am thinking, more importantly who I am thinking of and how it makes me feel. My eyes shoot back to Aydin, who is trying to hide a smile.
“I would like to know what the Organization is, exactly,” I say, regaining my composure. Thank goodness Henri doesn’t know what I’m thinking.
“The Organization is a group of Elders, vampires. A representative from different parts of the world holds a seat. They are in charge of making the big decisions,” Aydin says.
“Like the United Nations.”
“In a way, yes. The Organization has control over the laws of our world. They created these laws to protect vampires and humans alike. Each Region is assigned, by the choosing of the Elders, a Sovereign and they enforce these laws. These Sovereigns or Presidents, so to speak, then assign their own Cabinet members, and so on, until each region has its own small government system.”
“Whose Region are we in now?”
“Ludari is our regions President. He is in charge of keeping our area free of crimes against humans. Ashur is the Premiere, or you would be more familiar with the term, Vice President.”
“So, this government wants Henri’s research,” I say.
“Not as a whole. Over time, it has become corrupted. There is a handful that want more power,” Aydin sits back. “If what Henri has suggested is true, that he and Stephan could possibly have a cure for human diseases, that, Charlotte, would be very powerful.”
“Someone inside, at the top wants this information? Not only for money, but for power? Over what? People?” I ask. I still can’t say human, it places them, my mother, too distant and I’m not ready for that yet.
“Very good, you are smart.”
I give Aydin a wry look. “I get it, if you control a medicine, it can control the population, keep a people weak. They would do anything to get their hands on it.”
In the Shadow of Angels: The Guardian Series 1 Page 16
