He smiled. “We do. Fara and Bella seem to really like the stuff, so I tried making it. It’s okay, but not great. Have you ever had elven farewell tea, which is made from the leaves of a plant that devours fae whole? It’s delicious.”
“Ugh.”
He laughed. “I told you we were bred to fight. Ambrogio is Primus, the very first of our kind. He was a regular human and a warrior who fell in love with Selene, one of Apollo’s priestesses. Except she was actually Apollo’s sister, not just a human. Apollo found out about their love, didn’t approve, and cast Ambrogio away, dooming him to forever drink the blood of others, a monster, killed by sunlight.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Gods are dicks.” He nodded. “But Selene wasn’t having it. She fell with Ambrogio, gave him her blood, and they turned into the first vampires. Apparently, and I just learned this, they had a ton of kids, scattering them over the human world. But those kids were powerful, so the gods got together to curse them. Now we can only coexist peacefully in small groups. And we can only bear one child with one mate. No others.”
“Do you only have boys, since there are only male vampires?”
He frowned. “No. We don’t talk about it much, but female children leave with the mother. They aren’t allowed to live with us. Not that they’d fit in if they did. Female children don’t possess vampiric traits.”
“Isn’t that a biological impossibility?”
“We’re Of the Bloode. Regular rules don’t apply to us.”
“You have a point. So all the girls or women leave. Do your kind have any women around when you’re growing up?”
“No. A few magir accepted by the patriarch are allowed to visit. Some like to see if they’re compatible as breeders. It’s good money.”
She gaped. “Your clan pays for females to have children?”
“So what? Humans do it all the time with surrogacy. It’s legal here.”
“Well, I guess.” Actually, a friend of Diana and her dad had hired a surrogate, so she knew people did pay for babies. But the way he talked about it seemed so mercenary, not to bring new love and life into the world. “Do you ever adopt vampires from other clans?”
“It’s rare, but it has happened. But you’ll almost never find a vampire raised by a clan outside his own tribe.”
“Wow. That explains so much.”
He joined her at the counter. “How so?”
“It explains why vampires are so mean. You don’t have any softness in your lives.” She flushed. “Although I don’t mean to be sexist. Men can be soft too, I suppose.”
“Not vampires.”
Fascinated, she had so much more to ask. “What about relationships with people not vampire?”
“Lesser beings?” At her frown, he gave a chagrined apology. “Sorry. But that’s what we’ve always called non-vamps.”
“What about the mates living in the Night Bloode? I’m pretty sure they’re not lesser.”
“Kind of. Well, not to their mates. Varu would kill anyone who hurt his mate. But she’s fae, and she’s not offended by much. Not like your sister.” He huffed. “Our Bloode Witch takes compliments as insults. I told her she was crazy mad, and she zapped me. I mean, crazy mad is great where I’m from.”
She bit her lip not to laugh.
“She’s fierce. She would have given her life to save Duncan. Non-kin never do that.” He pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. “They’d rather look for weaknesses to obliterate my kind.”
He wasn’t wrong. She’d heard her roommates talk about what a problem vampires were. That the many worlds would be better off if vampires ceased to exist. She wondered if he knew that, and if he did, if that ever hurt his feelings. It would surely hurt hers. Bad enough people thought sea nymphs were nothing but empty-headed skanks too stupid to realize when they were being insulted.
“Can I ask another question?”
“Sure.” He watched her.
“Well, if mates aren’t supposed to live with clans, how is it Macy and Fara live with you guys?”
He paused. “Well, neither’s given birth yet. Though both Varu and Duncan seem enamored enough I don’t think babies will matter. It’s odd. But then, we’re a clan of six different tribes, and that’s unheard of. Plus, we have a dusk elf living with us who’s not mated. Not Fara, but her brother.”
