“I mean?—”
“Star…”
“Sorry.”
“Not accessible?” Bjørn questioned, calling my attention to him.
“No. It’s like part of my mind, of my being, is shrouded in a dense fog or darkness that keeps it and Natasha from me.”
“Can you call to that darkness with your own?”
“Can you remove it?”
Hannes and André asked Dante, their thoughts immediately aligned.
“No,” Our Vampir Mother answered before Dante could even open his mouth. “He can’t remove it because it is not the same darkness he wields.”
She walked around the table, making her way to me in an emerald-green outfit that made her pale skin and red hair seem magical and otherworldly.
The others moved away when she approached, giving her space, and I couldn’t help but find it surreal that to unknowing eyes, she simply looked like a beautiful young woman. Nothing else. Only, for me, it took one look into the unending wisdom swirling in her stormy grey eyes to see that she had lived thousands of lives.
Countess Dariah was eternally nineteen, but even as she stopped before me and I kept a tight hold on my senses, the waves of her power brushed my skin, making the little hairs on my arms stand on end.
Nonetheless, her power extended far beyond her nature.
“I know that darkness,” she confessed, her Romanian accent flaring with each word. “I know it because it once clouded my memories too.” Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the door. “Savino, you know where Georgette is, yah?” she addressed one of her private guards.
“Yes, Countess. She is finishing a voluntary examination.”
“She hasn’t taken any rest yet?”
“Not yet.”
Genuine concern captured her face, but she reluctantly nodded. “Go find her and tell her that is enough for today. To freshen up and meet us here in the dining room. Thank you.”
“Gratitude is not needed. It is my pleasure to serve you.” The man’s words echoed with reverence before he left the room, eager to complete his task.
“They say that every time. It’s so annoying.” Humor flashed in her eyes briefly but never reached her lips. Taking my hand,she guided me to the table, motioning for me to sit beside her. “We’ll need to wait for Georgette to arrive before we can find out. For now, we eat. You need sustenance too.”
“Bitch… Maybe it is that bad.”
Taking a hardening breath, I did as my Vampir Mother asked and sat beside her while the smell of roasted meat and potatoes danced in my nose. Unfortunately for me, all hunger left me while I wondered what exactly I needed to remember that had everyone so distressed, but I still took the first bite.
Hopefully, whoever Georgette was, would be able to help.
7
Eating the last piece of potatoes on my plate, I tried my best to enjoy the feeling of fullness. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but my body sure appreciated being nourished. Nonetheless, it was hard to enjoy anything with the intense looks sneaking my way every so often throughout the entire meal.
Most were just concerned about Natasha, so I didn’t hold it against them, but André was starting to piss me off.
“Wine?” one of the servers offered Countess Dariah, and she nodded.
“A glass for Natalia too,” she requested, and the woman smiled at me, filling my glass.
Once she placed the wine bottle back on her tray, she retrieved a small glass vessel from it, poured some of its crimson contents into the Countess’s wine, and offered it to me.
“It’s blood,” Mother explained. “It makes our drinksspicier.” She smiled. “But most importantly, it provides the minimum nourishment our Vampiri nature requires without us needing to fully feed on it.”
