Relics of Blood by Wolfheart (digital book reader .TXT) 📕

Chapter Two

Inheritance

By the time I realized I had turned into my parents' driveway it was too late. It was too close to dawn to retreat. In fact, I was feeling hot and anxious. Dawn was ten, maybe twenty minutes away. Getting out, I woke the other two up.
Please let them be asleep. I will be gone by dusk...just let them not check in my room.

Well...just in case, I led them to the basement instead.
"What the hell?" The girl asked.
"Shut up. This is temporary. I can't make it back to the place I've decided to live at yet. Dawn is too close."
"Fine. Whatever. So you two lovers living here or something?"
"Lover?" The boy asked. "Hell no. I don't even know her fucking name."
"He forced me to bite him. Now shut up

. My sister is right above us and will be up for school soon. There's a cot over there. You take it."
I told the girl. Then I pointed at a comfortable couch. "That couch is alright to sleep on. Don't mind the cat hair, though. My mom keeps the cats down here when we leave."
"What about you?" The girl asked. "Ms.I-won't-kill-my-prey-or-enemy."
"Go to bed."
"Fine."
She stomped off to the cot, got on it and was asleep in no time.
"We'll have to talk later, get to know one another. You'll want to sleep somewhere as far away from the sun as possible, by the way. New vampires are extremely weak to the sun."
"Only new vampires?"
He shrugged. "Depends on the vampire later." Then the boy rolled onto the couch and fell asleep.
After searching around a while, I found a small corner where I could pile blankets upon myself and crowd behind furniture. Then, strangely enough, I felt safe and comfortable. It wasn't long before I was asleep.

*****

It was around noon that the boy rose from his bed. He looked around and saw the vampire. He watched her sleep peacefully. Unlike a person, she didn't breathe. The venom from the vampire who'd abandoned her had stopped her heart soon after he'd fed and fled.
Her skin was already beginning to pale, though it wasn't white as paper quite yet. Her hair, just beyond her shoulders, was a reddish brown - for now. The color wouldn't keep for long, with the kind of vampire he already knew she was going to be.
It's been centuries since this has been attempted. A vampire who hunts her own kind...and forms a clan...

He would drive her into it simply by telling her that's the way it was. And he would gather other vampires like her and tell them the same thing. Hell, she'd end up changing the girl - and probably more than her - eventually.
Sure, it'll be found out otherwise soon. But she'll be fine with it because the real world will be so much worse than the human morals that will stay engraved into her. Maybe the race can change. Maybe...I can change it.

"Hey." It was the other girl. Looking around, he put his finger to his lips.
Frowning, the girl turned away. It looked like she'd found a book.
He turned back to Alex. Then a thought hit him. She didn't know how to use magic yet. How had she gotten him here?
"How did we get here?" He whispered.
"You don't remember?" He shook his head. "She drove your blue car." She answered just as quietly. "Now, I'm trying to read."
The man shook his head and went over to the rookie. He covered her foot up with a pillow, worried about her burning.
"Now, this seems to be her house. Go find the sister. Change her; she's on the list too. Her parents are too old"
"What? Do you want her to hate me?"
She scoffed. "You don't have to like somebody to get hungry. I'll feed her sister. You feed her. That's the relationship."
"Do you understand what it's like to be bitten from as a vampire?"
"No. I was born a vampire, and I only drink from animals. Thankfully."
He laughed. "You have to come with me. She'll only attatch to her first meal."
They rose and snuck up the stairs. It wasn't long before they found the child Alex called her sister.
The boy covered her mouth and sunk his teeth deep into her neck.
Then he returned to the couch and waited for the sun to go down, hoping that the owners of this house so clearly not hers, since they were in a basement - didn't search for the owner of the vehicle parked in their driveway.
About three hours later, the girl returned with a very pale sixteen year old similar in appearance to Alex.
And I really hope they don't tow my car!

*******

The strength was returning to me as the sun slowly moved across the sky. By the time it had set, I was anxious to leave and fully awake.
And I was famished.
"Let's go get you something." The boy said.
"Great. And on the way, we can add names."
Then my eyes met the waking form of my little sister. Her cat-green eyes met mine. The mark on her neck drew my gaze like magots to rotton meat.
"Sync..." I whispered.
Her eyes were cold.
"What...?"
She pointed at the boy. He didn't even have time to blink before I had him pinned to a wall.
"What the fuck did you do?!" I demanded. "Do you just like the taste of her blood?! And why the hell didn't you tell me you were a vampire!?"
"She was dying!" He screamed. "I thought you knew I was! You've bitten me!"
"What?"
"It's true." She whispered.
Facing her, I could only stare.
"I don't think he knew until he bit me, but I was dying." She looked at her feet. "I was going to tell you...but you disappeared..."
"When...?"
"A few months. Mom and dad didn't want to tell you; they said it was my decision..."
"...What was killing you?"
She shrugged. "The doctor said it was some mutation in my blood he couldn't explain. He'd seen it only in a few other people, and usually they weren't affected at all by it. But for some reason, it was killing me."
"We have to go." The girl I'd met surprised me. "Look, I'm sorry she was dying and that Mr. Waiter here couldn't wait for his next meal, but your folks won't be happy that both their daughters are the blood-sucking undead."
I turned and followed them out to the car. This time, I let the boy drive. The name Jinx kept coming to me, but I didn't know how I would know his name.
"Where to?" He asked, yawning.
"First, let's go to the best clothing district in the county." I replied. "I promised the child some new cloths, and I'd like some."
"Sure. My clan isn't going to take to me back..."
"You're the one doing this." I decided to test the name - and his reaction to it. "It's your fault, Jinx."
He glanced over at me, but didn't say anything.
"How do I know your name?" I asked, puzzled.
"You fed from me. The memories were engraved into your mind. You probably don't recall them flowing into you because of the first taste of blood."
"He's your first?" The girl asked.
"Yes." I stated as if it were obvious. "Keep up."
"R-right. Um...what is your name?"
"Yours first, sweet-heart." I said.
"...It's Sabre." My sister replied for her.
I glanced over. She shrugged. "Same thing, I guess."
"Didn't Jinx change you?"
"Yeah. But she came in and gave me blood."
"What?"
"Well...she wasn't happy when he did it, but he told her and..."
"Whatever."
We road for a time quietly. Then something hit my mind.
"So what were you saying about me knowing you're a vampire, Jinx? Because I bit you?"
"The whole memory thing...and the taste."
"Really? I've never had anybody else's."
"That's actually normal. Most vampires stick with the first person they bite. Very few feed from random people like the one who changed you..."
"Common. What's your name?" Sabre asked.
Should I really keep my name? I mean, I'm not me anymore...

"Well...my name was

Alexandra...but..."
"I understand." He said. "And your mentor - the one who changed you - was supposed to guide you. Show you the clan and such."
"Clan?" Now I was nervous.
"Yeah. Vampires live in blood clans."
"Oh."
"But you don't have one because he was probably a rogue who left his. Or maybe he was from a long line of vampires who never had a clan. But either way, you should choose your own name. And start a clan."
"Do I have that right?"
"Of course. Any vampire does. They break away and start new ones all the time, for different reasons. Usually its because they don't agree with new leaders or need more space."
"Oh."
"I've never heard of that..." Sync pipped up.
"I'm a vampire; I know this from experiance. Believe me; they don't let it get out. The vampire who bites you gives you its memories and such. That's a big problem. But let's change your name. I'm the vampire teaching you, so..."
"Don't make it lame."
We drove quietly in the thinning traffic. Though we were getting farther into the county and closer to the next city, Jinx stayed on as many side roads as possible.
My chest was getting really

tight. I glanced at his neck, remembering the taste of his blood, and shivered. It seemed to encourage the burn in my throat to just get worse.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "You getting hungry?"
Is that concern?

"Is this another attempt at forcing me to bite you?"
"Obviously, you liked it the first time."
"So?" I demanded stubbornly.
"There it is." Sabre pointed at the mall. "We can shop there."
Jinx pulled into the parking lot - completely empty, since it was so late. I looked at the clock and sighed. Ten o'clock already. It had taken two hours to get here.
"Would you rather feed from me, who you've already bitten once anyway, or some other person?"
I sighed. "Fine. Why don't you wait for us by the door?" I asked Sabre quietly. "I don't want anybody seeing me feed on him."
Sabre and Sync got out and hurried away. I could still see exactly where they were the entire way through. Then my eyes locked on Jinx.
"Why didn't you just let me die?" I demanded. "My sister will find her way to the place I chose. I may end up killing her, Sabre and other innocent people."
"Not with what I plan to do with you."
"What?"
"Training and blood is everything. Now bite me. I may not be a vampire, but memories are still in the blood. I know how vampires work."
Is he lying to me? If not, why does he keep looking away?

"Why should I bite?"
"Don't make me repeat the lesson about blood lust."
He offered his wrist. Taking it nervously - with a hunger that I despised - I brought it to my mouth and bit