Promised in Blood: Chapter 3

Xavier rests his chin on Ophelia’s shoulder, his blue eyes glued to my face as he listens, enraptured. It is unlike him to be so curious, and this side of him intrigues me. “So the fates of elementai and vampires are bound. But how?” he asks.

I run my fingers through my beard and suppress a heavy sigh. I never intended to reveal this part of myself to them, having foolishly convinced myself that my past had no place in my future—and, until now at least, it had been irrelevant. Still, this is not a conversation I am prepared for tonight. But when Ophelia catches my eye and smiles, I am reminded how much all our lives are about to change. My boys need to know everything. The whole story. Everything except Lucian. I lack the strength necessary to answer the inevitable questions that will arise concerning him.

I blow out a breath. “Elementai are the only creature strong enough to bear vampire children. That is why they were hunted to extinction and why no vampire has been born in over five hundred years.”

Axl and Xavier stare back at me in confusion, and it is Malachi, almost as curious as Ophelia, who probes further. “So who wiped out the elementai? And why didn’t the vampires stop them?”

“And why are witches taught that vampires were responsible for the genocide?” Ophelia asks, her eyes wide. “Cadence truly believes it was the vampires.”

I sink back against my chair and let out a long breath. “There are four vampire houses. Each of them tolerates the other, but they have never been willing to work together. Over a thousand years ago, three of the houses joined together under the guidance of my father, and vampires began to conquer territories and spaces that other species could only dream of. We infiltrated every organization, every government, every kingdom of any worth. But with the elementai eternally at our sides, the balance of our power was kept in check. Despite this, the witches, wolves, and demons grew more afraid as the centuries passed, and slowly, they began to plot our demise.” A fresh wave of despair washes over me, threatening to drown me. But once again, I find Ophelia’s bright-blue eyes fixed on mine, and the memory of her taste and her blood in my veins is enough to spur me on.

“In addition, there was a growing faction of bloodborne vampires, mostly from House Chó̱ma, who were unhappy with the new status quo and the power that House Drakos wielded with the support of Thalassa and Elira. That, along with a growing resentment within the sired vampire community of feeling powerless and being beholden to a master, was the perfect recipe for mutiny.” I avoid Ophelia’s gaze now. She is no doubt thinking of Lucian at this very moment, and I am beyond grateful to her for not mentioning his name. I have yet to discover exactly how much she learned of my son and his part in the elementai genocide, but that is a conversation we will need to have soon.

“That group of vampires, along with armies of witches, wolves, and demons banded together and targeted us at our weakest point—our eternal devotion to and our species’ reliance on the elementai. We were not enough to stop them.”

A tear rolls down my cheek, and I brush it away quickly, wishing they had not witnessed such an overt display of emotion from me. But the sting of that betrayal has not lessened during the last five centuries. In fact, the sting of my son’s betrayal has only grown.

“And you lost your family,” Axl says, his voice cracking with emotion.

I nod, still avoiding Ophelia’s gaze.

“Elena, Alyria, and Imogen?” Malachi adds.

To hear their names spoken aloud after so long … It brings me both pain and comfort. To my relief, Ophelia continues to keep my son’s name to herself. I am not ready to open that wound so freely.

“Your wife and daughters were all elementai?” Malachi asks.

“That is correct. Vampire and elementai are the feminine and the masculine in balance. Those who committed such atrocious acts were eventually dealt with, but the damage had already been done. And I truly believe that those who were responsible had no idea of the destruction they would cause, not only to elementai and vampires, but to all magical species.”

Malachi’s green eyes narrow. “All of them?”

“The elementai were the balance in this world. You cannot simply exterminate an entire species and expect there to be no consequences. Whilst there have been no vampires born, there have also been fewer witches, wolves, and demons. Each species is in decline. The power of the elementai is unmatched, and without their magic to splinter through the bloodlines of every species, then each of them will suffer … and ultimately end.”

“Surely not vampires though. Seeing as we don’t need to procreate to recreate.” Malachi silently implores me to confirm his statement.

“Whilst that is true, there will come a day when the last bloodborne vampire will die, and then so will the species.”

“So how does that explain Ophelia?” Xavier lifts his head from her shoulder. “How is she here if there are no elementai left?”

How to even begin to explain Ophelia Hart? It is an impossible task. My eyes fix on hers once again. “She is …” I wet my lips, searching for the right word. She is so many things. “An anomaly.”

Her cheeks flush pink. “I guess I’ve been called worse.”

“But why?” Malachi screws his eyes closed and shakes his head like this is all too much to comprehend. “I mean how can she be an anomaly? How is that possible?”

“There is an ancient bloodline which still carries traces of the elementai gene. Theoretically, it is possible for a witch or even a human to give birth to an elementai, but only if they carry a trace of the bloodline and their mate is incredibly powerful.”

“So my parents were powerful?” Ophelia’s eyes fill with tears.

“At least one of them was.”

“So why did they …? What happened to them?” she whispers.

I shake my head. “That I do not know. But I cannot imagine that they did not do everything in their power to protect you.”

Axl cuts in before she can respond to that. “So Ophelia is the only being in the entire world capable of carrying a vampire baby?”

Ophelia gasps, and it is unnecessary to tune into her thoughts for me to know that she is considering the potential consequences of that for the first time. Her heart rate doubles, and she sinks her fingernails into Xavier’s forearm.

I fervently wish that I could ease the anxiety snaking its way through her body, but there is no denying the truth any longer. “Yes. Which is why it is absolutely imperative that nobody discovers who or what you are, Ophelia. There are powerful vampires who, if they found out what you are, would think nothing of …”

Her blue eyes widen with horror, and I cannot bring myself to finish the sentence that would conjure the image of anyone defiling her in such a way.

Then her hand flies to her stomach, and her regret crashes over us both. “But you could? Oh my god, we didn’t use any protection.” Her voice is little more than a whisper.

I hold out my hand and beckon her to me, and I am unable to stop my heart from swelling when, without hesitation, she climbs out of Xavier’s embrace and comes to me. I pull her onto my lap. “We have no need for protection,” I assure her. “I know when you are ovulating.”

She blinks. “But how?”

I run my nose over her hair, and her sweet candy-scented shampoo floods my senses. “Your scent changes.”

The blush on her cheeks races down her neck. “Oh. So you’d never … right?”

“Not without your consent, little one.”

She murmurs with relief and nestles herself against my chest. Her trust in me—which I have done little to earn—is both humbling and exhilarating at the same time.

“Is that why turned vampires are forbidden from turning their own?” Malachi asks, his brow still furrowed. He is trying to process all he has learned these past few minutes, which is perfectly understandable. It is a lot.

“Yes. That was another legacy of the aftermath. The rights of turned vampires were stripped even further to prevent another uprising. This ensured that power remains only with a select few.”

Ophelia wriggles on my lap. “But isn’t that counterproductive? All turned vampires are beholden to their sire, right? So the power remains with the sire anyway?”

“Imagine ripples on a pond,” I begin, channeling my inherent desire to educate. “All it takes is for one bloodborne vampire to decide to turn against his kind and allow his sireds to spawn armies of their own. All in service to him. But whilst all turned vampires are bound to the original sire of their bloodline, their strongest allegiance is always to their immediate sire. So the further one gets from the original bloodborne vampire, the thinner that bond becomes. It is believed that during the time of the elementai genocides, vampires were being turned in such great numbers that the bonds became so weak that they broke entirely.

“So if you think of that pond, those ripples begin to grow and distort exponentially, turning into waves and taking up all of the pond’s surface. In the right circumstances, it would not take long for chaos to ensue.”

“Wouldn’t more vampires be a good thing?” Xavier leans forward, his dark-blue eyes alight with a fascination that I so rarely see in him.

“Not necessarily. It is a fine balance to ensure our species thrives. Too few of us and we risk extinction. But the same is true if we grow too great in number. Nature keeps all species in balance for this very reason. If it did not, then the food chain would simply stop working. Whilst humans are doing their best to usurp this carefully constructed ecosystem, vampires are far more aware of the delicate balance of life.”

“But who enforces these laws though?” Ophelia lifts her head from my chest and blinks up at me. Having her in my arms like this feels warm and familiar and so very right.

“The four vampire houses separated once more after the genocide, but they are all bound by ancient vampire law. No matter our differences, we abide by these laws to ensure the ongoing survival of our species. The four heads of the houses along with their most trusted advisers are responsible for enforcing any new laws.”

“So who is the head of your house?” she asks. “House Drakos?”

“My father.”

Ophelia blinks. “Your father?”

“You seem surprised that I have one.”

She shrugs, chewing on her lip. “Surprised he’s still alive, I guess. You’ve never spoken of him is all. I assumed you had no family left.”

I suppose I have never spoken of him or my brother with her. After all, this is so new, and I have spoken to her so very little. It should come as no surprise that I did not share with her details of my life that I have barely spoken of to the three vampires I have lived with for hundreds of years. “I have a brother also.”

Her eyes widen, and she looks from me to the guys, then back at me.

“Giorgios,” Malachi says.

“Yeah, we met him. But why have we never met your father?” Xavier asks, his voice dripping with suspicion.

“Because I do not wish for you to.” My tone makes it clear that I have no intention of discussing this issue further, but I can tell by Xavier’s expression—I would recognize that stubborn tilt of his jaw from a mile away—that he has no plan to drop it.

“Because you’re ashamed of us, right?” he demands, proving my instincts right.

I suppress both my frustration and annoyance even as they prickle beneath my skin. “Because he would tear your head off your shoulders if you gave him even half of the attitude you give me.”

Xavier’s right eye twitches as he glares at me.

Do not mistake my behavior toward the girl as any sign of weakness, Xavier, I warn him and him alone.

He cracks his neck. Yes sir!

Unaware of our private conversation, Malachi chimes in. “Is he a danger to Ophelia?”

I swallow the knot of anxiety that rolls up my throat, but Malachi’s question saves Xavier from my wrath. “Yes.” I cup her chin in my hand and tilt her head back until her sparkling blue eyes are fixed on my face. “Where you are concerned, he is the most dangerous creature that exists.”

“Why?”

“Because he would lock you in a cage and breed you for the next three millennia. He would exploit your power for his own ends, Ophelia. Do you understand me?”

She nods, her lip caught between her teeth. And now all I can think about is burying myself so deep inside her that I will not have to think of anything but her. I stand with her in my arms, and the immediate despair that radiates from my boys makes me pause for a second. Their fear that I will keep her for myself is so palpable I can taste it in the air. And I am so cruel I could do that to them without a moment’s hesitation.

Or could I?

I have never been the kind of father they deserve, but perhaps that is because I failed to be even a halfway decent father to my own son. If I had been better, then maybe he would not have betrayed his own blood so cruelly. But regardless of any of that, it is not something I could do to Ophelia. She has already bonded to them, and that means she needs them as much as they need her.

I crush her to my chest and walk toward the door. “Ophelia is staying with me tonight.” I have to force out the next words. “But that does not change what you all have.”

A current of relief runs through the room like an electric charge, but it is the smile on Ophelia’s face as she wraps her arms around my neck that makes the sacrifice of agreeing to share her with them worthwhile.