I returned her smile, but the man’s words kept echoing in my head. He was so adamant about Vampires being the good guys. “That is what Anastasia, André, and Vanessa were doing here, in New York. They were building a relationship with humans, coming out in the open slowly to merge the two races; to assimilate?”
Love colored her expression. “Yes, though it is my father’s legacy, not mine. That’s the world he envisioned once he truly understood who we were. One where Humans and Vampiri live in harmony, in a mutually fulfilling relationship. We heal and protect them, and they?—”
“Feed us?”
Chuckles escaped her at that.
“To put it bluntly, yes, but it is more than that. When we donate our blood for their survival, and they donate theirs for ours, a silent bond is crafted between us. One that will never be broken. We help each other with the understanding that we can’t survive without the other, and the respect and compassion that blood bond nurtures between us is priceless.”
“Sounds beautiful.”
“It is.” A genuine smile curved her red lips while she continued to fold the clothes into her suitcase. “I wish for you to visit me in Romania after all of this is over, yah? There, we walk among humans in the light. In all of Europe, Africa, Australia,and Asia so far. We have created a family; one Anastasia has been working towards developing here in the U.S.”
“And you have to protect it.”
“I will die before I let them destroy everything my family has built. We have worked so hard to change this world for the better in the past twenty years, and now we have to deal with those assholes sending crawlers to our territory to trick the humans into hating us. Antoine called me a few moments ago. He and Constantin found a group who still oppose my ways after all these years, and they believe are behind all of this with the RavenWolves.”
Sighing, she threw the robe on the bed.
“In any case, whatever else they might be planning needs to be stopped, now.” Grabbing something from the nightstand’s drawer, she handed it to me. “It’s one of the bracelets they are using to recreate our ancient powers with technology. Sloppy, but it allowed them to get here and kidnap your mother…” Pausing she glanced at me. “I’m glad they couldn’t take you, but they should have never been able to get so close.”
I turned the watch-looking bracelet in my hand, examining it. “I understand they want to have an all-you-can-eat, human blood buffet like they did before, but why would the RavenWolves join them?”
“They have an enemy in common. Because of Anastasia and Dresden being together and having you, they found themselves on the same side. Those who oppose me want to roam free, draining humans as they did before, but Anastasia came here to build a new extension of my dynasty. The RavenWolf want to keep hunting humans, and you defied them by escaping their hold and inadvertently uncovering their other packs.”
Her gentle hands grasped my shoulders, squeezing them affectionately.
“Their vendetta against your family is worse now that you can destroy them. This pact benefits them both.”
“And now they want my blood.”
“I think before they just wanted to create hybrids, but now that they saw your fire…” she shook her head. “If they replicate that, nothing will stop them.”
“I’m going to rescue my mother either way. But I swear to you that I won’t let them get to me. Neither will my mates,” I offered before she could tell me I needed to stay hidden and protected.
“I know you won’t, and I wouldn’t expect any less of André, Hannes, or Dante. Before you go after your mother, take a moment to look inside yourself and recognize your powers as well as your limits. We all have them. Knowing what they are and how far you can or can’t go will make you unstoppable.”
I knew what she meant. There were things I still needed to discover about my fire. “I will prepare. Do what I need to do so I can rescue Natasha’s mother,” I vowed.
Pride shone in her eyes with my words, and she smiled. “I know that when you are ready, you will teach them a lesson.” Turning, she took the box from the bed and presented it to me. “And this shall help once you are.”
My hands lifted in awe as I stared at the elegant black box with a velvet black ribbon. Pulling on its end, I opened it to find a fight suit neatly folded inside it. It was made of black leather just like the pair of knee-high boots.
A small gasp left my lips as I placed the box on the bed and pulled out the strapped corset and pants. It wasn’t so much that she was gifting me my first suit, it was the small indentations and scratches barely visible along the leather that revealed its true value.
“Is this….?”
“My old fight suit. I slayed many dragons with that one. Not actual dragons, of course.”
We chuckled.
Her hand slowly lifted to it, gently caressing it as though it held all the secrets of her past.
“You know, back when I didn’t know my true lineage, I never thought I’d be able to have children. And still, somewhere deep inside me, I wanted a daughter as strong as me, so I could pass everything on to her.”
Her nose wrinkled as she rethought her statement.
“Not that I wanted my daughter to have to fight any battles, I thought I had already won those for her. More as a testament to my past and everything I went through that brought me to her, yah?”
