Page 12 of Blood Lovers

One boy—maybe in his early twenties—pushes past me, laughing and high on something. Blood, from the looks of it.

My blood.

The blood of my feeder.

But then he does does a double-take and he’s just about to open his mouth and scream my arrival when I beat him to it.

“Where is Lucia!” I bellow these words out.

People stop. Not all the people. Just the ones in the nearby rooms. Because my voice has shaken the house and the elaborate, dangerously heavy, chandeliers are swinging from the ceiling.

Slowly the partiers realize that something is amiss and they all stop their dancing and revelry and go quiet as the music continues to thump arounds us. I simply look around flashing rage with my eyes.

“My lord!” Lucia scurries out the crowd. She is wearing a long, elaborate black silk gown with layers upon layers of lace that drags on the floor behind her like a tail. Her look has always been overly sexual—her red hair, long and flowing almost to her knees, her full, crimson lips, those green eyes dotted with black, and her breasts. She is forever showing off those breasts. Right now, they are literally spilling out of the black corset top.

Her mouth is not ringed with blood, not the way that little halfbreed’s was, but there are traces of it on her lips. And now that I know what to look for, I see that they have all been drinking. Even a few humans.

“We weren’t expecting you, my lord.”

My lip curls up as Lucia comes up to me. “Apparently not.” I reach up and she cowers back, then looks embarrassed when all I do is wipe away a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth with the pad of my thumb. She glances over her shoulder and I know what she is thinking. I can practically read her mind.

She’s thinking… Did they see me cower?

Oh, they did, Lucia. They did.

She will never admit that I frighten her, but I can smell her fear. She has always been afraid of me. Ever since I first found her in the disgusting summer heat of the Roman catacombs five hundred years ago.

I have never struck her. Ever.

But I have never liked her, either. And she knows this. She feels my hate just as easily as I smell her fear.

I did, however, save her. I took her with me when I was cast out of Europe. Josep was there as well. He and I are… complicated. But… he has been worth the effort. And, I must reluctantly admit, so has Lucia.

They were both necessary companions in the beginning. Hundreds of years later, they bore me. They tire me. And if they were to die in front of me tonight, I would not weep.

I have my children now. They are not vampires, and they are not really mine, but I feel closer to them than these horrible creatures who live in my house and on my land.

Children are the only true vessels of joy left in this world. They are the closest thing to God. And watching them, in their innocence, brings me closer to my maker. Because I come from Him too. Just like all the other creatures on this earth. And one day I will find a path that leads to my maker and I will finally get my say.

But other than the children, and the chance of seeing God, the only reason to exist right now is Ryet. And he’s not even here.

If he were, this party would not be happening and my feeder would not be dying in that little house across the compound. I look over towards the other end of the kitchen, then realize there are still a few humans in here with us. I turn to the nearest halfbreed, who happens to be the infant I passed by earlier. Her name comes back to me in this moment. “Echo.”

“Yes, my lord?”

She’s brave, I’ll give her that. She could’ve run when she saw me. I was not looking for her and she knew it. She would not be blamed for this party.

But she stayed. So I give her a job to do. “Clear this house of humans.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“You can still have your party, but take it outside or to your own houses!” My voice gets louder as this sentence progresses and by the time I’m done, I’m bellowing like a raging fool.

“Yes, my lord!” Then Echo screams, “Everybody out! You heard him! Out, out, out!” Her voice is quite shrill, but she has a commanding presence for a halfbreed so young.

She leaves the kitchen, ushering humans in front of her. But not a single other halfbreed dares to move.

They are not all here, but the ones who are look at me with guilty eyes.