Page 16 of How to Dump a Vampire

I lean forward intently. “We both know that is not the full truth. No simple tea could so thoroughly satiate a vampire’s thirst.” I keep my tone gentle, hoping to earn her trust. “Please, Thorn. I only wish to understand.”

With a weary sigh, Thorn’s composure wilts. She gazes into the flickering hearth as if seeking answers in its glowing embers.

“It’s called Asrbloom tea,” she says at last. “Made from the pollen of a rare crimson flower that only blooms under the full moon. Steeping a pinch invigorates a weakened vampire as potently as blood.”

I sit back, stunned. In all my centuries I’ve never heard of such a botanical marvel. “Asrbloom, you say? Remarkable. You discovered it yourself?”

Thorn shakes her head, raven braid swaying gently. “My mother was the gifted herbalist, not I. She unearthed the flower’s properties and passed the knowledge to me.”

“A family secret then. Intriguing.” My curiosity burns to know more about this mysterious flower.However, the subject clearly pains Thorn, so I hesitate to pry deeper.

We sip the fresh tea in silence until Thorn sets her cup down with decision. “Come. I will show you.”

Mystified, I follow her to a carved cabinet, watching as she retrieves a small linen pouch from its shadowed depths. Cradling it gently, she loosens the drawstring and tilts the contents into her palm. Crimson dust spills out, fine as ground jewels, catching the firelight in subtle shimmers.

“Asrbloom pollen,” Thorn murmurs. “Collected under last month’s full moon.”

I bend to examine it, awestruck. The translucent grains possess a pearlescent quality unlike any pollen I’ve seen, even in my long years.

Thorn lets me take a pinch between my fingers, watching closely as I study it. The particles feel cool and finely textured, seeming to hum with latent power. I half expect them to disintegrate from my touch.

“Incredible,” I breathe. “And such a tiny amount can satisfy a vampire’s thirst?”

“Yes, though I use sparingly. It’s quite precious. As far as I know, it only grows in this part of the world.”Thorn gently sweeps the glittering dust back into its pouch.

I nod thoughtfully as she returns the Asrbloom to its cabinet nook, my earlier doubts creeping back. “Something still puzzles me. You live alone here. Why keep such a supply on hand?”

Thorn goes very still, her back turned to me.

I press on gently. “Did you… hope to encounter my kind? To put this botanical discovery of your mother’s to use? Perhaps use it against a vampire?”

Thorn whirls to face me, cheeks flaming crimson. “Don’t be absurd. Do you think I wanted to harbor a starving vampire in my home?”

I lift my palms placatingly. “I only wondered—“

“I prepared it for myself!” Thorn interrupts. Eyes widening, she turns her back again.

Herself? What could she mean by that? Why would she need it?

“Thorn, please,” I implore gently. “Help me understand.”

After a long tense silence, she continues softly, “My mother created it long ago to help newly turned vampires control their rabid hunger when they had no other recourse. She hoped it could teach restraint andprevent senseless violence. When I was young, we lived in an area where noble vampires had a habit of hunting and allowing their thirst to overwhelm them so they turned vampires instead of using self-control and stopping before that point.”

I watch the rapid rise and fall of her shoulders, shame and defiance warring in her tense posture.

Stepping closer, I lay a tentative hand on her shoulder. “Thorn,” I ask quietly. “What are you not telling me? Were you turned?”

She shudders under my touch but does not pull away. At long last, she whispers, “The tea does not just revive vampires.”

I wait, breath suspended, as the fire crackles steadily behind us.

Thorn closes her eyes. “It helps… restrain cravings. For blood. It’s able to somehow supply everything that a vampire needs to survive without drinking blood directly. The results can be amplified with blood added to it, but it’s not needed.”

Stunned understanding sweeps over me. Thorn has had to protect herself from vampires alone. In a kingdom full of vampires. A safe haven for them whilea death sentence for her. Asrbloom is as much her refuge as mine.

My voice catches thickly in my throat. “You hide this truth to protect yourself from being turned or worse.”

From people like my brother and father, a fact I do not say aloud. I wouldn’t put it past them to be among those Thorn mentioned turning humans into vampires and leaving it to be someone else’s problem. They truly believe they are at the top of the food chain. The worst part is that they would still look down on and persecute any being that isn’t a natural-born vampire no matter how restrained they are or if they themselves created the being. From what I’ve read and heard, this was what Vivian, the vampire I’m looking for, was so against and why she was hellbent on taking down my family.

---