Page 6 of Promised in Blood

“Whilst that is true, there will come a day when the last bloodborne vampire will die, and then so will the species.”

“So how does that explain Ophelia?” Xavier lifts his head from her shoulder. “How is she here if there are no elementai left?”

How to even begin to explain Ophelia Hart? It is an impossible task. My eyes fix on hers once again. “She is…” I wet my lips, searching for the right word. She is so many things. “An anomaly.”

Her cheeks flush pink. “I guess I’ve been called worse.”

“But why?” Malachi screws his eyes closed and shakes his head like this is all too much to comprehend. “I mean how can she be an anomaly? How is that possible?”

“There is an ancient bloodline which still carries traces of the elementai gene. Theoretically, it is possible for a witch or even a human to give birth to an elementai, but only if they carry a trace of the bloodline and their mate is incredibly powerful.”

“So my parents were powerful?” Ophelia’s eyes fill with tears.

“At least one of them was.”

“So why did they…? What happened to them?” she whispers.

I shake my head. “That I do not know. But I cannot imagine that they did not do everything in their power to protect you.”

Axl cuts in before she can respond to that. “So Ophelia is the only being in the entire world capable of carrying a vampire baby?”

Ophelia gasps, and it is unnecessary to tune into her thoughts for me to know that she is considering the potential consequences of that for the first time. Her heart rate doubles, and she sinks her fingernails into Xavier’s forearm.

I fervently wish that I could ease the anxiety snaking its way through her body, but there is no denying the truth any longer. “Yes. Which is why it is absolutely imperative that nobody discovers who or what you are, Ophelia. There are powerful vampires who, if they found out what you are, would think nothing of…”

Her blue eyes widen with horror, and I cannot bring myself to finish the sentence that would conjure the image of anyone defiling her in such a way.

Then her hand flies to her stomach, and her regret crashes over us both. “Butyoucould? Oh my god, we didn’t use any protection.” Her voice is little more than a whisper.

I hold out my hand and beckon her to me, and I am unable to stop my heart from swelling when, without hesitation, she climbs out of Xavier’s embrace and comes to me. I pull her onto my lap. “We have no need for protection,” I assure her. “I know when you are ovulating.”

She blinks. “But how?”

I run my nose over her hair, and her sweet candy-scented shampoo floods my senses. “Your scent changes.”

The blush on her cheeks races down her neck. “Oh. So you’d never… right?”

“Not without your consent, little one.”

She murmurs with relief and nestles herself against my chest. Her trust in me—which I have done little to earn—is both humbling and exhilarating at the same time.

“Is that why turned vampires are forbidden from turning their own?” Malachi asks, his brow still furrowed. He is trying to process all he has learned these past few minutes, which is perfectly understandable. It is a lot.

“Yes. That was another legacy of the aftermath. The rights of turned vampires were stripped even further to prevent another uprising. This ensured that power remains only with a select few.”

Ophelia wriggles on my lap. “But isn’t that counterproductive? All turned vampires are beholden to their sire, right? So the power remains with the sire anyway?”

“Imagine ripples on a pond,” I begin, channeling my inherent desire to educate. “All it takes is for one bloodborne vampire to decide to turn against his kind and allow his sireds to spawn armies of their own. All in service to him. But whilst all turned vampires are bound to the original sire of their bloodline, their strongest allegiance is always to their immediate sire. So the further one gets from the original bloodborne vampire, the thinner that bond becomes. It is believed that during the time of the elementai genocides, vampires were being turned in such great numbers that the bonds became so weak that they broke entirely.

“So if you think of that pond, those ripples begin to grow and distort exponentially, turning into waves and taking up all of the pond’s surface. In the right circumstances, it would not take long for chaos to ensue.”

“Wouldn’t more vampires be a good thing?” Xavier leans forward, his dark-blue eyes alight with a fascination that I so rarely see in him.

“Not necessarily. It is a fine balance to ensure our species thrives. Too few of us and we risk extinction. But the same is true if we grow too great in number. Nature keeps all species in balance for this very reason. If it did not, then the food chain would simply stop working. Whilst humans are doing their best to usurp this carefully constructed ecosystem, vampires are far more aware of the delicate balance of life.”

“But who enforces these laws though?” Ophelia lifts her head from my chest and blinks up at me. Having her in my arms like this feels warm and familiar and so very right.

“The four vampire houses separated once more after the genocide, but they are all bound by ancient vampire law. No matter our differences, we abide by these laws to ensure the ongoing survival of our species. The four heads of the houses along with their most trusted advisers are responsible for enforcing any new laws.”

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