Vamps (16 page)

When Lilith had first crossed the New Blood's path, she had felt a deep and instant hatred. Most of the time when Lilith didn't like someone, it was because they were boring or weren't willing to do what she wanted. But the animosity she felt toward Cally was fueled by something far more primal: threat.

At first she couldn't understand why she should feel so intimidated by a mere New Blood, stormgatherer or not. After their fight in the grotto, she knew the answer to that question, and it did nothing to assuage the fears that had been haunting her.

Like all vampires, she could identify the blood of a kinsman by taste, even if it was no more than a pin-prick. The moment Cally's blood filled her mouth, Lilith was so shocked she dropped her guard, allowing her foe to get the upper hand. She had fully expected Cally to kill her then and there. But when she'd spared her life, Lilith realized that the other girl had no clue
about what was going on.

One of her father's favorite sayings was the one about knowledge being power. Now, after all these years, she was finally coming to appreciate what that meant. She had no intention of telling Cally the truth, and she wasn't going to let her father find out that she knew. She would use his secrets against him, just as he had planned to use them against her. She would have to be far more careful in the future, though—she didn't want to tip her hand by attacking again until she had figured out her father's agenda.

Looking out at the twinkling lights of the city, Lilith felt her own power surging. When the time came to act, she would do so—without mercy.

The marriage contract that Victor Todd had taken out with Jules's family was a simple one. All that was required was for a son of the de Lavals to marry a daughter of the Todds. And since there was only one son and one daughter, there had never been any doubt about what their destiny would be.

But now, where once there was one Todd daughter, suddenly there were two.

Ever since she was a little girl, Lilith had dreamed of the day when she would finally become the awesome real-life princess she always deserved to be. Being super-rich was one thing, but being an actual member of the Old Blood aristocracy was a totally different kind of power. Once she and Jules were married, her control
of everyone and everything in New York City would be complete and unchallenged. After all these years, there was no way she was going to allow her storybook ending to be ruined.

She heard Jules's footsteps coming closer as he returned with their drinks, and she tossed her fine hair defiantly. She was going to live happily ever after, damn them all; nobody had better get in her way—including Prince Charming!

BEREFT: Vampires who have had their bloodrights usurped are bereft. They have the choice of agreeing to serve as vassals to the usurper of their bloodright in exchange for protection, opting to start fresh as New Bloods, or becoming an instructor at one of the private schools.

 

BLOODRIGHT: The ability to control all the undead created by a particular bloodline is the bloodright. When the head of a vampire family dies, he or she passes along this bloodright to the appointed heir. To inherit, the heir must drain the blood of the dying patriarch or matriarch just before death, reducing the body to dust. Some bloodrights date back as far as ancient Sumer. This is how a vampire who might be only a hundred years old (or even younger) can end up
controlling vast legions of undead. The heir also gains command of all the humans under his or her parent's mental control. However, should vampires battle each other in hand-to-hand combat, the loser's bloodright can be taken or usurped. A bloodright also includes an increase in certain powers.

 

BOUND: Being bound is the equivalent of being married in human society. Vampire couples are bound relatively young, although their peak childbearing years are between 100 and 350. Childbirth is still a dangerous proposition for female vampires, and many of them still die in labor. Multiple births are rare, and few can produce more than two children in a lifetime. Of course, most male vampires remarry and reproduce more children after the death of a spouse. Old Blood marriages are arranged between the heads of the families as a means of consolidating power.

 

CELLAR: Living, captive donors are harvested in the cellar. Slang for a private blood bank.

 

CHTHONIC SCRIPT: The written language the original Founders of the vampire race brought with them from their home dimension is known as chthonic script. It is the written language of Hell.

 

CLOTS: If you want a derogatory term for humans, call them clots.

 

DEMI-SIBLINGS: Vampires who share one parent in common are demi-siblings. Given the high infant mortality rate and incidences of death during childbirth, it is common for vampire males to have a number of brides during their lifespan. Demi-siblings decades apart in age are common.

 

DONOR: A captive human who is used to produce blood on a daily basis, utilizing modern blood-banking technology, not unlike a milk cow.

 

EMPTIES: Depleted donors are empties.

 

FLEDGLING: A young vampire who has yet to fully mature. A vampire is a fledgling from birth until he or she is capable of creating undead, roughly anywhere from twenty-one to twenty-five years of age.

 

THE FOUNDERS: Venerated by their descendants as demigods in a form of ancestor worship, these are the original thirteen founders of the modern vampire race. The Founders were batlike demons born of Hell who were summoned to this dimension by a wizard over twenty thousand years ago. When the wizard died
unexpectedly, they found themselves stranded on this mortal plane. At first numbering a hundred, the “brothers” soon warred among themselves to decide who would become king of their new home. When only thirteen were left, they declared a truce and scattered to various corners of the globe so as not to compete with one another. Eventually they became the progenitors of the entire vampire race.

 

HALF-BLOOD: A true-born vampire who is of mixed-caste parentage, having one parent who is Old Blood and one who is New Blood.

 

HYBRID: The product of a human-vampire mating is a hybrid. Hybrids are distrusted by true-born vampires, as they are often used as living weapons by professional witch finders and vampire hunters, the most infamous example being the hated Pieter Van Helsing.

 

LACED BLOOD: Blood that has been taken from humans kept on a continuous feed of alcohol or drugs.

 

MINION: A weaker, less powerful vampire who attaches him-or herself to a more-powerful vampire in hopes of protection. Unlike vassals, minions have not been usurped and have willingly chosen to serve their liege lord.

 

NEG: Slang for
negative blood type
.

 

NEWBIE: Old Blood slang for
New Blood
.

 

NEW BLOODS: Those true-borns descended from vampires who have had their ancestral bloodrights usurped by outsiders and have chosen to try to rebuild their legacy from the ground up. Although they might have comparatively weak powers, New Bloods aren't necessarily poor; indeed, some are extremely wealthy. They simply don't have the millennia of passed-along genetic/blood-based power and bloodright that the Old Bloods enjoy.

 

OLD BLOODS: Those true-borns with long, unbroken bloodrights, some of which extend all the way back to original demon ancestors. Old Bloods command vast legions of undead servants and have powers that can include stormgathering, beast mastery, shapeshifting, and mind control as well as innate magical abilities that enable them to cast spells and make potions.

 

OLDIE: New Blood slang for
Old Blood
.

 

POZ: Slang for
positive blood type
.

 

PRIVATE STOCK: Blood “made to order” to suit the tastes of a particular client.

 

PROMISED: The equivalent of being betrothed in true-born vampire society. Vampire children are promised to each other by their elders, who usually draw up a bondage contract that lists how many children and of what gender shall marry between the families. However, New Blood families often break from this tradition, allowing their children to secure “love matches.”

 

RED: Slang for
blood
.

 

SCRIVENER'S TALON: A piece of wood or, in some cases, stone carved to resemble a crooked talon. It is the traditional writing instrument of the vampire race and is designed to resemble the claw of their ancestors.

 

SCRIVENERY: An underground bunker that is a cross between an archive and a library, where the legal documents, diaries, genealogies, and other writings of the vampire race are stored beyond the reach of humans. It also means a place where scriveners are employed making copies of pertinent documents by hand.

 

SLUMMING: The act of going to areas where the dregs of human society can be found with the intent of either feeding or amusing oneself by terrorizing them.

 

SPOD: Someone who is extremely studious; a nerd or a geek.

 

STAKED: Slang for being killed by vampire hunters.

 

STORMGATHERER: A true-born capable of gathering lightning, blizzards, tornadoes, and the like. While all vampires have this ability to some degree, it is rare to find one capable of gathering more than a heavy fog or drizzling rain.

 

STREGA: A supernatural criminal society that has its origins in ancient Rome and Greece. Although founded and run by vampires, the Strega employs witches, werewolves, and other assorted supernatural creatures as well. It is rumored that the Strega will sell their services to any and all willing to pay the price—including humans.

 

SYNOD: The governing body that oversees the laws and rituals of the true-born vampire race. The Synod is overseen by the Lord Chancellor, who serves as the final judge when it comes to deciding disputes between various families. The Lord Chancellor is also responsible for meting out punishment for those accused of breaking the laws of vampire society. The most grievous transgressions are those that expose its
existence to the world at large, whether by aggression, accident, or neglect.

 

TAP: Slang for drinking blood straight from the vein.

 

THRALL: A living human who is under the mental control of a vampire. Not all thralls are aware of their condition. Thralls can run the gamut from common servants needed to work during the daylight hours to such people as politicians, heads of state, clergymen, and leaders of finance.

 

TOTEM FORM: The animal shape a vampire takes when he or she shapeshifts. While the wolf is the most common, not all vampires share this totem. Depending on their ancestry, some turn into big cats, such as panthers, lions, and tigers, while others take the form of serpents, such as pythons, cobras, and anacondas.

 

TOTENTANZ: The vampire equivalent of a funeral, although in practice it bears a closer resemblance to an Irish wake. Following the death of a vampire, friends and family gather for a ritual party that consists of feasting, dancing, and general roistering, basically defying death's hold. Mourning and tears are forbidden. The longer the party, the greater the tribute to the deceased. In ancient times, a totentanz could go on for weeks, if not months.

 

TRUE-BORN: Vampires distinguish themselves from the undead by calling themselves true-born. True-born are those who are born of vampire parents. It refers to both Old Blood and New Blood. True-borns are essentially living vampires. Although practically immune to all human diseases and capable of regenerating everything but a head or a heart, true-borns are not immortal. They can live up to eight hundred years, provided they are not killed by vampire hunters or, more likely, a rival vampire. During the first twenty-five years of their lives they age identically to humans, but when they finally mature into “adulthood,” their aging slows to one tenth of a human's. The last milestones that mark a true-born's maturation are first their inability to be photographed, followed by losing their reflections, and finally gaining the ability to produce undead with their bites. Infant mortality is still very high among the true-born, and every pregnancy is risky for the mother. Advances in fertility medicine are a recent development but one that might not work as well for them as hoped.

 

TRUE TONGUE: The ultrasonic language first spoken by the Founders.

 

UNDEAD: Humans killed by a vampire's bite come back to life as the undead. Although they have been altered into something no longer human, neither are they vampires.
Unlike their masters, the undead cannot shapeshift, nor can they fly. Most importantly, they cannot replicate themselves through biting humans. However, they are immortal, though they will spontaneously combust when exposed to direct sunlight. The undead are important to the vampires' daily existence because they do the scut work the true-born are loathe to do—laundry, shopping for essentials, household care, child care, gardening, bookkeeping, security, etc. They are utterly loyal to their masters because, like a queen bee and her beehive, should the vampire controlling them be killed by a vampire hunter, they die as well. Vampire families that have acquired numerous undead over the centuries have learned to warehouse their surplus, placing them in a form of suspended animation until they are needed. A vampire who is extremely wealthy but has few undead servants is socially inferior to one who might be considerably poorer but has numerous undead. Vampires take particular care in the management of their undead, and those who are viewed as being negligent in providing for their legions are dealt with harshly.

 

USURP: To take another vampire's bloodright by force. This occurs during hand-to-hand combat between rival vampires, when the stronger of the two drinks his or her opponent dry or tears his or her heart out of
the chest and devours it.

 

USURPER: A vampire who has taken a bloodright he or she has no recognized right to. Although a usurper can be from within the same family, such as a younger sibling or cousin, more often than not they are not directly related to the victim.

 

VAN HELSINGS: The slang term for vampire hunters and those who work for the Van Helsing Institute (VHI) in particular.

 

VASSAL: A vampire whose bloodrights were usurped and has sworn fealty to his or her usurper in exchange for protection and the possibility of being allowed to later remarry into the stolen bloodline.

 

VENDETTA: A running blood feud between either individuals or whole families. Vendettas are most often pursued by envious rivals, bereft vampires looking to reclaim stolen bloodrights, jilted lovers, or wronged friends.

 

VENDETTA-FREE ZONE: Designated areas where vendettas cannot be pursued are vendetta-free zones. One such universal vendetta-free zone is the school system. The various schools where vampires send their young
to be educated are off-limits. Pupils are considered off-limits too. They cannot be poached and are immune from long-standing family rivalries. Once they graduate—or drop out—the gloves come off. Any illegal attacks on school-age fledglings by adult vampires are cause for extreme measures by the Synod, the governing body that enforces the laws of the vampire race.

 

WEAK-BLOODED: Vampires deemed inferior and/or otherwise unsuited to assume the family bloodright are weak-blooded. When there is more than one child, the head of the family must choose which offspring is most fit to inherit. Parents place a high value on aggression as well as physical strength and stamina, followed by various supernatural abilities. Whichever child is deemed the strongest—and therefore most capable of defending the bloodright from usurpers—is appointed heir, while all others are deemed weak bloods. Weak-blooded siblings or demi-siblings must spend the rest of their lives supporting the chosen heir. They are forbidden to marry or reproduce (at least with other vampires). And when their time comes, they must surrender their blood—and whatever undead and personal wealth they've accumulated over the centuries—to either their strong-blooded sibling or their sibling's
heirs. The only variations occur when an anointed heir is destroyed before a bloodright can be passed along or when families wish to cement relations by marrying their weak-blooded children to another family's strong-blooded heirs.