Page 56 of Kristin

Chapter 20 – Kristin

Cameron and Angelinaleft, and Hugh and I stared at one another for a long period of time. I felt the questions cranking around in his head, but I was too busy trying to answer my own.

How had I not picked up on his bloodline earlier? As I sat here, his scent filled the room and I could easily recognize it now. Was that only because I had sampled it and could put a taste to the scent?

That moment when his blood had coated my tongue, my senses had jumped higher than they had in a very long time. Liquid heat had rushed down my throat and the taste had almost electrified me. My first thought was that something was wrong, and that’s why I distanced myself. My second thought: This can’t be happening—no, it wasn’t possible.

But it was, and Hugh was one of us. Who would have thought that the reborn gene would pass through generation? Had anyone known that? If that was the truth, how many humans walked the earth that should be living among with us? Was that why Hugh and I had been drawn together?

I was attracted to him, but I believed his attraction was stronger for me. I felt a longing from him, a need to be near me—to have me. Was that because his vampire blood was screaming to come to life? Had it been dormant for so long that it was urging him on? Had I possibly lost my fucking mind?

“I’m not sure what to think right now.” He finally spoke, his voice husky.

I tried to smile, but I believe it was more of a grimace. I took a seat beside him on the couch and took his hand in mine. “I can understand that, to be honest, I’m a little confused too. What you have just learned is incredibly intense and will change your life forever. Knowing that you are one of us, or could be is heavy knowledge, but even heavier than that, is the knowledge that your current life has an expiration date.”

“You know, I was just thinking the other day that I felt like there was a ticking time bomb in my chest. It’s one of the reasons that I have gone in for physicals every three months for the last two years. I don’t want to die, Kristin.”

“You don’t have to now, Hugh.”

“But I’m not sure I wanted to be one of you either.”

I chuckled, “Yes, I’m sure. Our way of life is different, very different. You know, I was brought up as a human, too. I had no idea that I had vampire blood in me, much less reborn vampire blood running through my veins. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-thirties, and Julian and Alexander found me.”

“Who is Julian?”

I let go of his hand and went to retrieve a photo off the shelf. When I came back, I handed him the photo, “This was me back then, and of course, you know Alexander, that is his son, Trent and the other man is Julian.”

“I noticed he was in quite a few of the pictures, I wondered who he was. I thought maybe he was Alexander’s son.”

“No, he was sort of Alex’s best friend. In reality, Julian should have been the Master, but he passed that torch to Alexander.”

“Why?”

I shrugged, “I guess he just didn’t want the trouble. He preferred to be out on the road, working with the breed. He hated being cooped up.”

“Why do you sound so sad? Did you love him?”

I stared down at the image of Julian, “I think every person has a great love story, Julian was mine. Although it was never easy for us, and while people would think that we should have been together, we just weren’t right for each other. Something was always dividing us. It was like the timing was never quite right.”

“So you were never mated to him?”

“I was, a very long time ago, as Calista. Julian was Angelina’s father back when she was just the little girl that we called Anastasia.”

“That was your first life?”

“Yes. When I came back, I was almost identical to who I had once been. Although I was stronger, both physical and mentally. That is when I was a cop, and I was investigating a murder that turned out to be vampire related. Julian and Gabriel, another sentinel for the VMF, came to town to try and sweep it under the rug so humans wouldn’t learn of their existence. Only, I got in the way, and Julian immediately realized that I was his long-lost mate.”

The memories of that time crashed over me and I stood hastily. I returned the picture to the shelf and let my gaze drift over the other photos to give myself a moment. When I returned, I had myself back in control.

“The point of what I was trying to say was, I know how weird this must feel to you, I remember clearly the night that Alexander told me what I was. It was a bit overwhelming, but I bet if you look inside of yourself, a lot of things will make sense. They did to me. You are probably stronger than most people that you know, and you don’t need to work out as much as they do to retain that strength. You don’t get sick, and you don’t need as much sleep. You probably eat more red meat than any other kind, and when you do, those are the meals that you are most satisfied with.”

“Yes, to all of that. You know a few years ago when Homeland Security and ICE came together to form a task force to investigate vampires, I was the first to raise my hand. I was completely intrigued about them and felt like I had to learn everything that I could. There is so much that is not known, like being reborn. No one knows about that.”

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