Blood Born (3 page)

“I’m sorry, Ava,” Chance said from behind me. I could tell without even looking at him that he meant it, though I’m sure he wasn’t happy about being told to apologize.

“It’s okay, really.” I felt bad for Chance, I honestly did. But somehow I couldn’t look away from Aldric.

“Ava?” Aldric said. “Well, please forgive me again,
Ava
. I was unaware of your preferred epithet.” Aldric’s smile felt sinister, almost evil. A chill crawled my spine and settled into the back of my mind, warning me not to trust him; no problem there. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, shall we move on to what’s important?” He dropped my hand and stepped away from me. As soon as he did, I noticed his missing presence. I hated the feeling. He stood with his back to me for a moment before flashing over to where Chance stood. My eyes couldn’t move fast enough to follow him without making my stomach turn. By the time they caught up to him, he had Chance lifted off the ground by his throat.

“Stop it!” I screamed, running over and pulling on Aldric’s arm. I could feel a surge of strength pulsing through my veins, strength that was both foreign and familiar to me. Suddenly I felt like I could do anything— except make Aldric let Chance go. His arm was hard as stone and immovable, like trying to knock down a brick wall. “Leave him alone!” I shouted again.

Though I was getting nowhere, I didn’t let up. I kept pulling on Aldric’s arm and hitting him and kicking him, doing whatever I could to keep him from killing Chance, who clearly was close to dying. His face was blood red and he was grasping desperately at Aldric’s large, firm hands clenched around his throat. His legs kicked wildly in the air, trying to find the ground below. A whiff of his blood flooded my nostrils and made me weak-kneed; apparently intense emotion or stress made the smell—and
craving—
more intense. Just what I needed.

“He must be punished,” Aldric said, his stance unwavering. The way he stood motionless, hard and rigid like a statue, sent shivers down my spine. His fiery eyes remained locked on Chance’s distorted face. I had a sinking feeling that I was about to become witness to a murder.

“Killing him is a bit much for punishment, don’t you think?” I couldn’t believe such a calm statement came out of my mouth. Inside, I was raw nerves and energy, feeling like I would burst if touched. “Let him go, Aldric. I’m sure he’s sorry.” Without realizing it, I had stopped assaulting Aldric and simply stood docile behind him, like I somehow knew that he would do what I said. After a few more seconds of choking the life out of Chance, he did.

“Lucky for you, Mr. Caldon, Ava is sympathetic. Try to remember that I’m not.” Aldric dropped Chance like trash into a can. He crumpled to the ground and began coughing intensely. I wanted to kneel down and make sure he was okay, but Aldric’s angry temper told me that would be a mistake, so I resisted.

“Now, I’m sure Ava has many questions, yes?” Aldric looked from Chance to me, and I don’t know why, but I smiled.

“I do, I guess.” The affect he was having on me was really confusing me and making it difficult to focus. I honestly couldn’t remember a single thing I wanted answers to. I looked over at Chance—mainly to buy some time—and was relieved that he seemed a bit better. The color was slowly coming back to his face and he had stopped coughing. I allowed myself to calm down a bit, and questions began flooding my mind.

“Where am I?” I asked, not recognizing any of my surroundings.

“A small town outside of Boston,” Aldric answered. “Wellesley. Such a beautiful name, no? Pity the environment doesn’t quite live up to it.” Aldric’s smugness was revolting, but I didn’t have the time to teach him politeness—not that it would’ve made a difference, I’m sure.

“Am I from here?”

“More or less.” Aldric smiled again, that creepy, crooked smile he had already flashed more than once. I wanted to keep pressing, force him to tell me everything I knew he was keeping from me, but I moved on.

“Am I a vampire?” I asked. Aldric’s wild eyes were intoxicating, fighting hard to draw me in again.

“Yes, but not in the capacity that I am a vampire. You are very special.”

“Special how?”

“You are only
half
vampire, Ava. You are also half human.” He paused for what I could only assume was dramatic effect—I was getting the feeling being overly dramatic was a vampire specialty. “This means that you, like all vampires, will need blood to survive, but you also have human traits as well. A very special case, indeed.” Aldric moved slowly toward me, much slower than earlier. If I hadn’t seen his feet actually touching the ground, I could’ve sworn he was floating across the cemetery.

“What does that mean?” I asked. Aldric smiled charmingly. I caught a glimpse of Chance in my peripheral. Pissed wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the look on his face.

“It means you possess both good and bad traits from each species. You are strong and immortal, like a vampire. But you are also emotional, and therefore vulnerable, like humans.”

“How can I be both immortal and vulnerable at the same time?” Aldric laughed at me, but not in a cruel way. Well, not in a
totally
cruel way. It was more like the way an older brother would laugh at his kid sister. Did Aldric see me that way? As his baby sister that he had to protect and show the ropes?

“The term ‘immortal’ only refers to the fact that we do not grow old and die. We can, however, be killed. The fact that you are part human is going to bring to you an entirely new set of threats that all other vampires cannot possibly imagine. Therein lies your vulnerability.” I lowered my eyes from his, totally freaking out over the fact that not only had I just been told I’m a vampire—okay,
half
, but still—but I was also told that my life was going to be in constant danger by things I would never see coming. Perfect.

“What about this ‘needing blood’ thing,” I went on. My mind was working overtime trying to process all I was hearing. “Am I going to have to drink it?” The thought made me sick—but also intrigued. I was officially disgusted by myself.

“You want it right now, don’t you?” Aldric’s eyes fixated on mine, like he and I were the only two beings on Earth. I could almost feel him reaching into my soul, or what was left of it, and touching me.

“Yes.” I quickly decided lying wasn’t in my best interest. I had to know what was going to happen to me now, no matter how badly I didn’t want to hear it.

Aldric waited a moment before continuing. “Yes,” he finally said. “You will have to drink. But not to live, like myself and others. You will need blood to fully realize your strength.”

“What does that mean?”

“Like I said before, you are a special case, Ava. The first of your kind, in fact. Soon others will discover your existence. Others that will want to, well,
meet
you, for lack of a better term.”

“
Kill
me, you mean?” Suddenly his words were making sense. “Other vampires will want to kill me because I’m, what, different?”

“Not just different,” Aldric answered, a slight lift in his normally somber tone—like this all excited him in some macabre way. “But better,” he went on. “You possess what every vampire wants.”

“What?”

“Humanity.”

“
Humanity
?” I asked, growing more and more confused.

Aldric’s face looked sad, almost defeated. “You still have your humanity, Ava. The one thing no other vampire will ever possess again. The one thing they all want. You are what we can never again be. You are
alive
.” I suddenly realized that Aldric himself was included in that group of “other” vampires. That was the look on his face I couldn’t quite explain—jealousy. A chill crawled my spine, and though I couldn’t really feel it, I shuddered anyway.

“Don’t let my words scare you, Ava.” I swear he was listening to my thoughts. “You will be fine.”

“And how do you know that?” I said, trying to hold back tears. “How do you know I’m not going to walk out of this cemetery and into a pack of crazed vampires on the hunt for humanity? You can’t promise that, can you?” I stared hard at Aldric, his face drawn and suddenly much older-looking than before, like he had experienced a lifetime of pain—which he probably had. I then realized that
I
was going to end up just like him, pained and worn and
eternal
. “I just want my old life back,” I added, feeling defeated. I felt a rogue tear jump ship and roll down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away, secretly praying that Chance hadn’t noticed. If he did, he didn’t show it. Aldric, on the other hand, wasn’t so considerate.

“Ah, there are those nasty human emotions I mentioned. They always have a way of showing up at the least desirable moments.” The callousness of his words made me want to claw his eyes out, which only made the tears threatening to pour from my eyes harder to contain. “Ava, please do not waste your energy on wishing for things that cannot be. Your life is with me now. With us.” He looked up at Chance—who was still standing off to my right, sulking—and smiled, seemingly over the fit of rage he held against him a few minutes ago. “Dreaming of a life that is over will do nothing but turn you bitter and fill you with contempt.”

“
You
turned me bitter and filled me with contempt, Aldric. You did this to me.” Though he was an expert at hiding emotion, I knew what I said affected him; I could sense it. “And I don’t want any part of this life or of you and your sick idea of happily ever after.” I blinked away tears as the sadness over my new
un
life turned to silent resignation.

“I’m afraid you really have no other choice, Ava. It is either this or death.” Aldric’s words struck a chord somewhere in me, giving me the escape I had been looking for since waking up in that coffin.

“Fine, then that’s what I want,” I said, turning to look at Chance as I spoke. Our eyes locked for a brief second before I told him what I was sure he didn’t want to hear. “I want you to kill me.”

3

Chance’s face twisted in horror. The emerald green of his eyes instantly faded, distinguishing the warmth I had seen there. I hated saying that to him. I didn’t know him that well—not at
all
, actually—but he had rescued me by digging me up. Hurting him wasn’t my plan, but I had to save myself. Save my
soul
.

“Don’t talk like that, Ava.” I could hear the pain in his words, like saying them sent daggers through his chest, through his heart. He kept his eyes locked on mine. I suddenly felt a connection between us, faint and confusing. And even though I wanted so desperately to get away from Aldric and this monstrous new life, I knew at that moment that dying wasn’t going to be the way. At least not by Chance’s hands.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. That warm light once again filled Chance’s eyes, though dimmer than before. He smiled at me and brushed a hand over mine. The electric shock his touch created made my head spin. I wanted to stay in that moment forever, safe and happy and
not
a vampire, but I knew that was impossible. I pulled my hand away from his and turned to face Aldric.

“So what about sunlight?” I asked, doing my best to control the growing anger I was feeling toward him. “Am I going to burst into flame in the morning?” I had no idea how I knew that about vampires, but I did. Where was I from? No clue. Did sunlight hurt the walking dead? Yep, that I remembered.

Aldric’s cryptic laugh was unsettling. “Ah, Ava,” he said, his gleaming white smile softening his hard jaw. “You manage to keep your humor in even the direst circumstances.”

He stopped speaking and simply stared at me. It took me a moment to realize he was waiting for me to laugh or agree with him; I had no intention of doing either. “No,” he continued. “Sunlight doesn’t hurt us or you. That is merely an urban legend created by storytellers and filmmakers. The sun can’t kill us any more than it can kill a human. It isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world with this pale skin, as I’m sure you can imagine. But definitely not deadly. That is fiction.”

“I thought
vampires
were fiction,” I quipped. “They turned out to be true. Or, well,
we
.” I was having trouble remembering that I was a vampire now, too. Hooray for me. “Okay, so I’m good to go out in the sun. But do I seriously have to drink blood?” Even though the thought of it kind of made me sick, a much stronger urge to experience the taste of it was fighting for control. I wanted it but didn’t want it at the same time. Ugh.

“You don’t have to,” Aldric said. “But you may need to one day.”

“Is she in danger, Aldric?” Chance spoke up from behind me.

“Not now. But I can’t promise that won’t change. She needs to be ready for that.”

“
She
is standing right here,” I said, aggravated at being spoken of in third person. “And I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

“No one has doubted your ability to survive, Ava,” Aldric said apologetically. “But fighting humans and fighting vampires are two very different things. Your safety is all that matters.” His tone was secretive at best. I knew instantly that he wasn’t being completely honest with me.

“One more question,” I said. Aldric simply smiled. “Why did you do this to me?” I didn’t bother trying to hide my anger. I used it to block out the tingling feeling I got when I looked at him. No way did I want to let him get inside my head again.

“I did this to you because I had to,” Aldric said, a seriousness I had yet to see on his face. “You would have died had I not.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, more confused by each of his answers. “I was dying?” I had zero recollection of being in danger, or sick, or
dying
. I had no clue if he was telling the truth.

“Yes, you were. I saved you.” Aldric flashed a crooked smile, the stern look still present on his face. “But a thank you isn’t necessary.”

“I’d rather be dead.” I couldn’t lie about how I truly felt. A life as a monster was no life at all.

“You could choose death,” Aldric said. “Or you could choose to live.” He circled me like a wolf with its prey, staring me down with those piercing eyes. I felt awkward and self-conscious being on display. Aldric didn’t seem to notice…or didn’t care.

“Don’t you understand? I don’t
want
to live like this. I don’t want to have to kill people and drink their blood to survive. I won’t do it. And you can’t make me.” I followed him with my eyes as he wore a path into the tall grass surrounding us.

“You’re exactly right, I can’t make you. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, Ava. And I would never try.” I heard honesty in his voice. No way did I trust him, but I knew he meant what he was saying.

“Finally,” I said, rolling my eyes. Chance smirked under his breath. I looked over at him and smiled before reaching out and grabbing Aldric’s arm as he circled me for the tenth time. “You’re making me dizzy.”

“My apologies,” he offered. He even threw in a bow of the head to show he was sorry. I actually wanted to punch him.

“Quit apologizing,” I said. “I’m just glad you finally understand me.”

“Would you like me to end your life right now, or do you need time to handle your affairs first? You know, tie up loose ends?” The ease with which he said ‘end your life’ really creeped me out. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep from shivering. I focused in on his face, almost glowing in the strong moonlight. He didn’t appear to be joking.

“Why would you offer to end my life when you took the time to save it?” I decided to call his bluff.

“I chose to save your life because I thought that a child of such a young age would want to live. However, if you would prefer the alternative, who am I to stand in your way?”

“I’m not a child.”

“Then perhaps we should end this childish game?” Aldric’s face was fixed and stoic. Obviously he was done playing around.

“I don’t want this,” I said, my voice much calmer than before. Though I didn’t remember much about my past—okay, nothing really—I didn’t think I would be the type to back down from an argument. So I actually surprised myself with the amount of restraint I possessed. Of course, I’d never been arguing with a vampire, so that made a bit of a difference.

“I understand, Ava, honestly I do.” Aldric stared at me with what looked like concern in his eyes— though I doubted it was genuine. “And if there had been any other way I would have chosen it, believe me. But doing this was the only choice. The only way to keep you alive.” I wanted to believe that what he was saying was true—and if I would have just taken five minutes to sit down and allow my brain to process what all had happened I would have stopped talking. Unfortunately, I kept going.

“You could have let me die.” No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. “But instead you chose to turn me into a monster. A murderer.
You
.” I could tell that last word hurt. It was brief, but I definitely saw pain on Aldric’s face. It only took a second for him to refocus and return his expression to one of quiet indifference.

“I want to be human again,” I continued. “
All
human.” I couldn’t believe that I was actually standing in the middle of a cemetery having a conversation with a vampire about my humanity. Any other time, the irony of discussing life with the undead would have made me laugh.

“Well,” Aldric said, “I happen to know of a way you can get what you want.”

I wanted to believe what he was saying, but trusting a vampire just didn’t seem like a smart thing to do. Of course, most people would say that letting yourself get bitten by a vampire wasn’t exactly genius-level intelligence, either—though I don’t know if I
let
it happen to me or not. Both statements were probably true, but I didn’t really have the time or energy to worry about it. With no other options, trusting Aldric was my only hope.

“How?” I asked, looking over at Chance. I was hoping to see something in his eyes that would tell me to believe what Aldric was saying, but his face held nothing but deep concern. He tried to play it off with a smile, but I could tell he was worried too.

“I’m not really sure if you’re ready to hear it,” Aldric said, obviously toying with me. “Perhaps living with your new life for a while would make you more gracious when receiving my help.”

“Are all vampires this annoying?” I asked. “Or is it just your charm?”

Aldric laughed. “You could choose to remain a vampire and discover that for yourself.”

“I’ll pass.” I was past the point of impatient. I figured if it came down to it and I made Aldric mad enough to attack me, I’d get to find out how strong being a vampire really made me. Or, I’d be dead. Either way, an entertaining night. “Can you just tell me what I have to do to become human again?”

“It’s a simple task, really. One that I’m sure you’ll have no problem achieving.” Aldric paused and stared intently at me, his mesmerizing eyes burrowing under my skin. “To rid yourself of your immortal side, you have to rid the earth of immortals.” Again with the cryptic talk.

“In English, please.” My attitude was probably coming across as angry, which is how I intended it.

Chance spoke up from behind me. “He’s saying you have to kill vampires.” I spun around to look at him as he spoke, and there was a glimmer of something behind his eyes. Hope? Hope for my humanity, maybe? I wasn’t sure, but something had brightened his face just a bit.

“What?” I said, turning back to face Aldric. He couldn’t be serious. Me, kill something? No way could I do that. Taking the life of something else was not really on my to-do list.

“It’s the only way to become human again,” Aldric said, a sly smile on his face. I could tell he was enjoying seeing the fear in my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Within the last hour, I had been buried and resurrected, told I was some sort of futuristic vampire hybrid, and now that to become human again I had to go on a killing spree of the undead. All in all, the day pretty much sucked.

“So I have to kill vampires,” I stated. “All of them?”

Aldric laughed again, that same creepy laugh that made me both mad and scared at the same time. “Of course not.” He said it like everyone in the world should know that; I wanted to hit him.

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath to try and clear my mind. “What
exactly
do I have to do?” I couldn’t believe I was asking the question. But I so desperately wanted my old life back that I was willing to at least hear what Aldric had to say.

“According to the legend, you must kill one hundred vampires. That’s the only way to reverse what has been done to you.” I knew from the seriousness on Aldric’s face that he was telling the truth. I just didn’t want to believe him.

“What do you mean, ‘according to the legend? You’ve never done this before?” For some reason, I thought he would have at least heard of this happening somewhere in his life. Or death, or whatever. Ugh.

“As I said earlier,” Aldric stated calmly, “you are very special. The first of your kind, in fact. Legends in my world have spoken of your existence, but no vampire has ever seen a creature such as you. Until now.” He stared at me, making me feel self-conscious again. Thankfully, though, I didn’t feel heat rush to my cheeks. Maybe being a vampire meant I wouldn’t embarrass as easily as when I was human. Of course, I had gotten embarrassed when I first saw Chance’s face, so I had a feeling that theory wouldn’t be holding much weight.

“So how do you know it’ll work?” I asked, concern littering my words.

“I don’t,” Aldric answered honestly. “But every other legend in my world has come to pass. And you now exist, just as the legend said you would. So it stands to reason that this, too, will come true.” I really didn’t like the fact that Aldric had no clue if my killing a hundred people—okay, they were technically already dead, but still—would guarantee I would be human again, but what other choice did I have? Live the rest of my life—which now would be forever thanks to the whole immortal thing—as a vampire? Kill myself, or have someone else kill me? So I gave into the only option I had.

“Fine,” I said with defeat. “When do I start?” I watched Aldric’s face practically light up. I mean, it didn’t
really
light up, he’s dead. But it definitely was a much happier expression.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “On your first day of school.”

“On my first day of what?”

“School. You will be going to school tomorrow. Just like a normal teenager.”

“You’ve
got
to be kidding,” I snarled, my teeth clenched tight.

“I am very serious, Ava.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Did he honestly think that I would be going to school in this condition? And let other people, my friends —if I had any—see me like this?

“How am I supposed to go back to school when I’m a vampire?” Just saying the word out loud was too weird. I couldn’t imagine walking around in front of people with pale skin and fangs.

“Well,” Aldric said, taking a step in my direction. “You won’t actually be going
back
to school. At least not the way you think.” Again his statement confused me, but this time I only had to roll my eyes to get him to explain.