Page 51 of The Star's Sword

“Cleo, they say you haven’t donated at all,” Sam said, handing the parchment over.

“Lying, fake Morningstar Candidate Fakes Blood Donation: Does She Have No Shame?”It said.

It felt like my heart had stopped, I felt so faint at what I’d been reading.

“But.” I looked at my arm, still feeling the knot where the large needle had been so many times. “How can they say that?”

“Apparently, someone saw you coming out of the underground where blood donation happened, but there is no record of you ever donating. Nor any blood recorded under your name.”

I felt like my heart had dropped lower than the floor, and sweat broke out on my forehead.

I’d sensed something odd at the ball with the vampires, but I hadn’t thought it could be anything like this.

I was no good with popularity, but I’d given so much to donate blood. It had made training so much harder, but I had truly loved being able to help the vampire population.

How could they think I was faking? How could there not be a record? I’d seen them label the barrels, hadn’t I?

Sam took my hands in his, and his warm touch calmed me as always. His golden gaze met mine. “We will get through this, Cleo. I swear it. We will figure out what is going on. But first we need to talk about your donation.”

“Okay,” I said.

“I’ve been there for most of them, so I can vouch for you,” he said. “Cayne is going to ask Simon to check into the records as well, and see why this happened.”

“But Vasara doesn’t even give blood,” I said.

Sam winced at that. “According to the gossip rags, she gives blood twice a week, and it’s of the highest quality. Apparently, the community gives her credit for the new health of the vampires in the past few months.”

I blinked. “That’s when I’ve been donating. I give double the normal limit once a week. It then takes a week to recover.” My teeth grated together. “She’s taking credit for my blood.”

“So it would appear,” Sam said.

I gathered both pieces of parchment in front of me, reading through the old-fashioned print. “They’re calling me the stray dog?”

Samael nodded. “I’m sorry, Cleo. I don’t follow gossip. I had no idea.”

I looked down. “So is it hopeless? How can I do anything when they think these things of me?” Tears bit at my eyes as I continued to read. “Well, I mean, I do have a rep, right? I’ve taken down a fifth-realm celestial with power equivalent to a ninth-realm celestial, and a fully rogue slayer, and come out of hell successfully.”

Sam coughed. “That’s the worst part.” He took the paper and turned it over. “It appears over the past few months Vasara has been telling your stories as if they were hers. Look.”

I turned over to see a section called,Vasara’s Amazing Feats, and saw a small cartoon of Vasara holding her sword up, facing a huge, blue, four-armed beast.

“Dellen,” I said, my throat catching. I stood, crumpling the paper, furious beyond belief at how she’d stolen such a difficult fight, such a heartbreaking situation.

“I guess she decided that since you kept to yourself and didn’t brag much, that she could tell your stories first and everyone would believe they were hers.” He shook his head. “Pretty devious.”

And everyone had just believed her.

“I need to tell them what she’s doing. I need to tell them she’s lying, that these are my stories.” I choked. “My blood.”

The workers who’d drawn my blood every week, surely they would vouch for me?

And my friends could verify I had the fight with Dellen.

I put my hands over my ears to calm the blood rushing through them.

Of all the things I thought would happen while I was focusing on saving the world and helping vampires, I could have never imagined this.

“How could they just believe whatever she tells them?” I asked, clenching my hands into fists at my side, trying to stay calm even though I was both scared as hell and sad as hell at the same time. “Someone can’t just take credit for everything you’ve done, right? People would ask for proof, right?” I stared at the parchment. “Who could just believe gossip?”

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