He just gave me thatcheeky grin and waved me on. “I’ll be fine, you go and do your thing. I’ll seeyou back in our room.” The smile faltered a little as his eyes shifted acrossto the vampire at my side. Jayden was pretty up on the politics in the Hive andhe knew Lucas was a big deal. All of the Quorum members were. This was not arequest I could refuse, but he was worried for me all the same.
I wondered if I should bea little more worried myself. For someone who did not trust easily, who used togenuinely have a hate for anything to do with the Hive, I had come aroundawfully quick. But something about Ryder and Lucas gave me a sense of security.Like I knew they would not deliberately screw with me. Jayden was the same, andI was going to go with my gut on these three.
Lucas was silent as he led me through thecorridors and into the lower levels again. As we stepped off the elevator, Irecognized the zone. I was back in the whitewashed hospital wing, which wasapparently on level two. I hadn’t paid attention to the level the last time Iwas here.Shit… what was I doing here? My heart rate increased again.
“Mom?” I gasped. Even ifit was not a logical worry, I still had to ask. Lucas didn’t answer immediately.I breathed deeply, trying to slow the rapid pulse of my blood, before grabbingat his trench coat. I was prepared to make him tell me what the hell was goingon.
The vampire halted,surprise lighting up his eyes as I pulled him closer to me. We locked gazes foran extended moment, and just as I was about to shake him for information, heleaned closer to me.
“Your friend is right, youreyes are very silver when you feel strong emotions.”
Clearly he had beenstalking me even before those ash had approached us.
“And your mother isperfectly fine. We just need to run a few more tests. The first ones wereinconclusive, and without the results I cannot ascertain your lineage. It isneeded for the culling. I would like to do this quietly before the rest of theQuorum get wind of it.”
My lineage? As in who myfather was? I knew his name, but for some reason instinct kept me silent onthat. I realized then how close we were, my hands still tangled in his coat. Icould see every facet in his silver eyes, which seemed to be swirling andpulsing in the fluorescent light. My grip loosened on his trench coat, and as Istepped back he smoothed down the creases I’d created. He seemed a littleshaken, almost mesmerized in a manner, but before I noticed anything further hewas back to normal.
“Come,” he said,continuing along the path.
I tried not to breathetoo deeply as I followed. Something about the disinfectant smell in the air ofhospitals turned my stomach. And with developed ash senses, it was a hundredtimes worse. I hadn’t noticed it as much the last time I was here – probablybecause I was too freaked out with the whole “your-mom-banged-a-vampire”revelation. This time though I was seeing everything. Why the hell were thereso many rooms on this level? Was it really necessary? Surely, with our advancedhealing, hospitals were only needed for those occasional ash who popped up outof the woodwork.
“Hey, what happens when ahuman receives the virus?” If my question startled Lucas, he didn’t show it.“How come some take a really long time to turn, and isn’t it illegal? How arenew vampires still being made?” The longer I spent in the Hive, the more Iwished I’d taken the classes on vamps in school.
Lucas paused outside of adoor, one of the few that didn’t have a massive viewing window. “It is illegalto make new vampires without Quorum permission. If you want to turn someone,you must apply. We grant very few of these. We must monitor our populationsgrowth, and keep from starting another war with the humans.”
Right, they didn’t wantto outgrow their food source or the Hive. I shuddered. I also knew there was aspecial branch of the human military devoted strictly to keeping vampire andash at bay. We lived only because the humans allowed it. Nothing could stopthem if they wanted to drop a nuke on the Hive in the middle of the night. Onevery Hive in the world. The vampire rights groups were the only thing keepingthe fragile peace between our two races right now.
Lucas continued to answermy questions, and I had a brief thought of why he was so forthcoming withinformation. Probably this was all common knowledge for anybody who hadactually attended the Virus 101 classes.
“The virus is generallyfast acting, but we have known of some cases where it was dormant for years.”
“And ash…” I prompted.
“Strictly forbidden, butwe understand that sometimes things are outside of the humans’ control.” Ugh,was he talking about rape? “So we allow a small number of ash to survive eachyear.”
Yeah, they were regularsaints. The culling was their way of taking care of the problem withoutactually getting their hands dirty. It really didn’t seem fair that themajority of vampires were allowed to live, but ash were culled like freaking animals.
I tried to dial down someof the simmering anger which was always close to the surface. “Why are there nofemale ash?” Lucas’ eyes lingered on me for a few long moments. “I mean besidesme.”
“The virus destroys muchof our reproductive system. Female vampires are unable to have children. Noeggs remain intact. For the males, only the sperm which carry the Y chromosomesurvive. Which makes your existence all the more unusual.”
He was telling me thateven science dictated that my existence was impossible. So how the hell was Ian ash?
Apparently question andanswer time was over. He opened the door and gestured for me to step throughfirst. There were two vampires dressed in lab coats waiting for me on the otherside. They stood on either side of a chair, each holding a stack of charts.
“Please have a seat,Charlene,” said the very blond female. She was all sharp angles and pointy nose,interesting to look at, but not beautiful. There was more variation in vampiresthan in ash. Vampires were turned from humans, so they still retained much oftheir human looks, just all smoothed out. Ash were actually grown from mutatedsperm, so it was ingrained into their DNA. Therefore, they were sexier.
I didn’t like beingsurrounded or towered over, but in a room of three vampires I was not going tobe able to fight myself out. Might as well do what they wanted. Lucas gave me asmall smile, as if he’d heard my inner thoughts. I realized that the secondvampire, the male with rows of black braids tightly woven to his head, wastalking to me.
“…initial DNA test wasinconclusive. Something must have tainted the sample, so we will need anotherone.”
“What do you have to do?”I asked, suspicious. Mom always said my college major should have beeninvestigating, not marketing.
“Cheek swab, hair sample,and we will also need some blood. We need a detailed DNA sequence to find yourancestry and place you in the proper house of ten.”
I swallowed, but forcedmyself not to react. “Sure, poke away,” I finally said.
I wasn’t sure I quitebelieved their story, but I did not have a choice here. At no point had any ofthem asked my permission, so I knew this was part of the Hive protocol. Ormaybe just for me because I was a special girl-ash.
