Page 50 of Crimson Born

“Call me Mother.” Her tone went frosty. “I’ll be insulted if you don’t.”

“I told you... Mother, that’s not the kind of vampire I want to be.”

“You don’t have a choice in the matter—thisis who we are. It’s whoyouare.”

“There are some vampires who live a different way.”

She flicked her wrist as if waving away an unpleasant smell. “I don’t want to hear about those pacifist wimps. It’s unnatural. And unsustainable. Why can’t you see that? You’re my child.”

She seemed so distraught I actually felt sorry for her. Harkening back to my parents’ teachings, I tried to put myself in her shoes.

Maybe if I’d been the one who’d done the turning, who’d saved the life of a girl I could just as easily have drained and left on the highway that night, I’d feel the same way she apparently did now.

Rejected. Maybe even betrayed.

“Why me?” I asked the question I’d always wondered. “Why did you choose me? There’s nothing special about me.”

“Oh, but you’re wrong. I haven’t elected to create a child in a hundred years, and I had no intention to do so anytime soon. But that night as you lay dying on the asphalt, there was something about you. A rare quality. I couldn’t let it perish. As I’ve told you before, Abigail, I see great potential in you. With me there to guide you every step of the way, you could become a very powerful immortal, perhaps one of the greatest. One day several millennia from now when I’m ready to pass on my crown... I want to see it onyourhead Abigail.”

I couldn’t help but be flattered and even touched. But my mind hadn’t changed. In fact, I was more certain than ever. I couldn’t imagine myself ever wearing a crown. And I certainly couldn’t see myself leading a community like the Bastion.

“Imogen—I mean Mother—thank you. I do appreciate all you’ve done for me. But that’s not my vision for my life. I told you before... I don’t intend to ever bite a human again.”

The glass in her hand flew across the room and smashed against the stone wall, causing it to run with streaks of blood.

But that was nothing compared to the red fury in Imogen’s eyes.

“I’d hoped after spending time here, you’d have come to your senses. What kind of vampire refuses to feed from humans?” she demanded.

“The peaceful kind,” I said. “I’m sorry. I know you must be very disappointed, but I’ve made up my mind, and there’s nothing that could change it.”

She let out a snort that was half-laugh half-growl. “You may go now—as you so obviously want to. I have another meeting.”

With a quick head nod, I turned and left the room. When I stepped out into the hall, Kannon was there waiting his turn.

“Hi,” I whispered, nodding toward the door. “Get ready. She isnotin a good mood.”

“Oh really?” He laughed. “Did you play the rebellious teenager card and question her orders?”

“Worse. I told her I wasn’t going to bite any humans.”

He winced. “Oooh. That’ll do it. Well, thanks for the warning. See ya later kiddo.”

He ducked into the room, and I went to my own. I needed to pack.

I was going to get Reece released from the clinic and leave with him.

Tonight.

It was what he wanted, and now, it was what I wanted too. As he’d said, this was no place for either of us.

He was almost fully recovered, and there was no way I could stay here with Imogen’s constant pressure to become the kind of vampire she wanted me to be.

A vampire like her.

If this was going to be my new life, I had to figure out a way to live with myself. I had transformed, but deep inside I was stillme.

There had to be a way to survive while also leading a life that was worth living.

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