Promised in Blood: Chapter 11

“Ready for your next lesson, Cupcake?”

She ties her long pink hair up with a hairband and nods.

I grab her ponytail, yanking her head back and running my nose along the column of her throat. “You are such a fucking distraction, Ophelia.”

Her giggle is cut off by Alexandros’s deep voice. “This is not the kind of lesson we are teaching, Xavier.”

I glance over my shoulder, my fingers still tangled in Ophelia’s hair. “I didn’t realize you’d be joining us.”

He rolls up his shirt sleeves, revealing powerful forearms lined with thick veins. The kind I’d like to trace my tongue over before sinking my teeth into.

His dark eyes narrow. “I said you would be assisting me, did I not?”

“Yeah, but … I didn’t realize that meant we’d be teaching together.” I assumed he’d simply tell me what to do. I don’t voice that last part, but I figure he hears it anyway because he scowls at me.

“Before we start, there is something important to understand about your power, Ophelia, and that is its source. You and Malachi will research it more thoroughly. But before we start this part of your training, it would help you both to have a basic understanding of an elementai’s powers.”

I release her hair, and she nods, eyes wide with excitement.

“Take a seat.” He gestures to the sofa and sits in the armchair. “Tell me what you understand of an elementai. Either of you.”

Ophelia glances at me, so I answer first. “Only what Kai has told me. They don’t need spells like witches do because they channel magic directly from the elements.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought,” Ophelia says. “Except they don’t need the element to channel? That’s where I get confused.”

The whole thing confuses the hell out of me. “I don’t get how that makes them so powerful though. Demons and vampires are born with power. It’s inherent. So how is a being that has to channel power stronger than that?” I squeeze my girl’s hand in mine, and she flashes me a sweet smile.

“Yeah, I don’t get that either.”

Alexandros draws a breath through his nose, a deep one that makes his nostrils flare. “It is difficult to explain.” His eyes land on the ficus tree that Malachi lovingly tends to. He grabs it and places it on the coffee table between us. “The elements themselves are a source of great power. Tsunamis have been known to decimate entire cities. A tornado can wipe out everything in its path. Earthquakes and wildfires—all proof of the raw, inherent power to be found within the elements. Vampires are born with magic in their blood. This power is directly linked to one of the elements and comes from a bloodline so old that no one knows of its origin. But each vampire house has magic derived from their elemental bloodline. For House Drakos, our powers are borne from fire. For several millennia before I was born, this meant control over fire, but it evolved as we did. Now, for sons of House Drakos, it is more common to have power over the mind.”

I lean forward in my seat, my curiosity for our history piqued in a way that it never has been before. Learning about what makes us who we are brings me closer to knowing more about our girl, and that means I’m all in.

“How is that linked to fire?” Ophelia asks.

“Fire is emotion. Passion, anger, jealousy, destruction. To control someone’s mind is to control their emotions. And when a vampire bonds with an elementai, whichever power they have mastery over also permeates that bloodline. It was why elementai with mastery over two elements were so highly prized.”

Ophelia rubs her temples. “So their children would take on the power of the other elements too?”

He shakes his head. “No. Not for vampire or elementai children. My mother had mastery over air and water. However, this simply strengthens our bloodline powers rather than changes them. So House Drakos, which has all four elements in its bloodline, is much stronger than Houses Chó̱ma, Elira, and Thalassa, which only have two or three.”

I frown. “So elementai can cause natural disasters and stuff? Start fires? Knock someone over with a wave? I understand how they can make vampires stronger, but I still don’t get why that makes them these super powerful beings.”

“You are looking at this too literally, Xavier,” he explains. His tone is patient and calm, reminding me how good of a teacher he is. He takes a small amount of soil from the ficus pot and holds it in the palm of his hand. “Earth is inherently powerful. It gives life. It has a raging ball of energy at its core. Elementai who have mastery over earth have access to this power.” He runs a fingertip through the dirt in his palm. “Witches who can channel earth do so through the use of spells, but an elementai has it running through their veins.” He looks up at Ophelia. “The deep ancient power, the one that heals you when we bite you—do you feel that?”

She closes her eyes, and a smile spreads across her face. “Yes.”

“That is the earth line within you, Ophelia. Witches and elementai with mastery over earth are usually great healers.”

I knew there was something special about the cupcake, but I never for one minute imagined she had the kind of power the professor is talking about. And the way he’s speaking, the emotion in his eyes when he looks at her—I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this before. I never thought I’d bear witness to Alexandros Drakos being awed by anything, and yet here we are.

Ophelia claps her hands on her knees and leans forward in her seat, her excitement filling the room. “And how about water and air? Your mom’s powers?”

“To manipulate air is to be able to create forcefields or mask one’s presence. It is also linked to movement and speed. My brother’s power of teleportation is rooted in air magic he inherited from our mother. Water is life-giving. The root of creation. But all of the elements are a source of great magic, and if tapped into correctly, they are all a source of immense power.”

My mind is buzzing with so much new information it feels like it’s about to explode, and I suddenly realize why Ophelia never stops asking questions. The desire to know the answers is overwhelming. “And Ophelia has power over fire too, right?”

He nods. “Fire is often considered the most dangerous and therefore strongest element because of its raw, violent potential. It is why House Drakos has reigned in the vampire world for as long as our history has been recorded.”

I sense a hesitation and perhaps a sadness in him. “But you don’t think that though? About fire?”

He glances at the palm of his hand once more. “I believe that the earth is the key to the most ancient of powers. It was here before water, before fire, before air, and even when the earth as we know it is done, parts of it will live in the cosmos for eternity.”

I’m sure I see a glimpse of the man he was before he lost his family. An unexpected lump forms in my throat.

“That’s kind of beautiful,” Ophelia whispers.

Alexandros places the soil back into the pot and dusts off his hands. When he looks up again, his eyes are cold and unreadable. “Time to learn how to control those powers, little one. Once you know how to control them, there will be no limit to what you will be able to do.”

Shivers of excitement and fear race through my veins, lighting up my insides. My little cupcake is going to be unstoppable. My gaze rakes over the side of her face until it lands on the fluttering pulse in her throat. Flicking my tongue over my fangs, I bask in the vibrant memory of her power running through me when I bite her.

“But wait. You said the most sought-after elementai had power over two elements, right?” Ophelia asks, and I don’t miss the tremor in her voice.

He nods.

“But you think I can tap into all four?”

“Perhaps.” He sucks on his top lip, his brow furrowed. “But we will not know for sure until your training is underway. It may be that because your powers were bound for so long that the elements are somehow crossing over. Maybe you are only channeling one or two but it appears as four.”

“Has that ever happened to anyone before? Being able to channel all four?” I ask.

He’s silent for a few seconds. “Only once,” he finally says. “And that was Azezal himself.”

Holy shit! “The guy they named that Order after?”

Alexandros gives me a single shake of his head. “It was he who founded the Order. That is why it is so named.”

“So what happened to him? He wasn’t an elementai, because they’re only female, right?” Ophelia asks.

“He was a demon. He died almost two thousand years ago, and some say he was around three thousand years old when he finally perished.”

Ophelia gasps. “Demons can live that long?”

He steeples his hands beneath his chin. “Perhaps longer.”

My mind races with a billion questions, but I ask the most pressing first. “If he was so powerful, how did he die?”

The professor’s dark eyes narrow. “You are not so obtuse that you do not understand that the more power a being wields, the more enemies they curate, are you, Xavier?”

I growl, lacing my fingers through Ophelia’s and gripping her hand protectively in mine. I’m pissed at him for calling me stupid, but that’s overridden by the fear that comes with the realization that he’s right. How many will come after our girl once they know the kind of magic she possesses?

“So his enemies killed him?” Ophelia asks, her voice quiet but still full of awe.

Alexandros lets out a heavy sigh. “We are not here to discuss history. You will research the finer details with Malachi. But yes. Despite his power, Azezal was eventually betrayed and killed. Some would say …” He runs his tongue over his bottom lip and shakes his head.

I edge forward, needing more. “Some would say what?”

“Some would say that after three thousand years, he simply had enough of living. So he established the Order, and then he allowed his enemies to topple him.”

I blow out a breath, and we sit in silence for a moment. Alexandros stares at Ophelia, and I allow my eyes to wander to her too. She’s so fucking sweet, so kind and trusting, and while those are things I love about her, they’re not the kind of attributes that will serve her well in our world. Because our pint-sized little elementai is probably the most powerful creature who ever fucking lived, and we can pretend it might not be true, but we all know it is.

Ophelia’s mouth hangs open, and for the longest time, she only stares at him. Eventually, she speaks, and her voice is weak and quiet—the opposite of her. “But what does that mean? For me? For us?”

He stands and glares at her. “It means training, Ophelia. Lots and lots of training.”