In My Blood

“The Darkness? What is that?” I ask, interrupting. I hate doing that, but I need to know.

“I—we think that you might be gifted in the Darkness. You can control the night and whatever comes out at night. Nocturnal creatures are known to be your animal, and you can control any breed of vampire. And you can control werewolves. Zombies will be like your servants,” Alex says. “You can control where the darkness goes and such.”

“Is this a bad thing?” I ask. I’m afraid that I might be hunt down because of this gift.

“No, you will be the strongest vampire. There hasn’t been a vampire, clan or lone, that has been gifted in the Darkness in around a million years ago,” Cain says.

“So what happened to that person who had it last?” I question them farther. I need to know everything about this.

“She was a clan queen. She didn’t want to be a clan queen though. She wanted to be human again. Her clan had either died from the lack of their queen’s blood or found a new clan. She barely knew how to use the Darkness, so she barely used it. When she did for the second time on purpose, she used too much at once, and it killed her,” Alex says softly. He seems really hurt about this.

“How do you know so much about her?” Cain asks Alex softly. Cain looks curious. He is looking for answers really.

“One of the members of that clan was my maker. He told me all about it. He wanted to tell me what could happen with a queen that had it forced upon her. She didn’t want it, and they didn’t listen to her blood screaming no. He was to out of control to listen to it,” Alex says. “They were cruel about changing her.”

“Is that why you insisted on Dillon waiting for her answer?” Cain asks. “And did you ever meet her?”

“I didn’t meet her. She had died before my maker even joined the clan that decided to take him in,” Alex says. “The Brightness Clan was always welcoming, but I never truly liked them. I mean they were nice to me, but the queen always tried to force me to drink her blood.”

“The Brightness Clan? Is that the last name or something?” I ask curiously.

“No, there are clans that do that, but the Council decides on if it goes by the queen’s last name or her gift. They are the Brightness Clan because the queen is gifted in the Brightness. I remember she always smelled of summer. She is the total opposite of you,” Alex elucidates. “You smell of the wonderful winter snow.”

“And about using the Darkness? Will it eventually kill me?” I ask.

“No, it wouldn’t do that! The broken queen, as clan vampires call queens like her, never used it, but once before on accident. And the first time she used it was when she learned that was her gift. The second time she tried to summon a werewolf to take her away from everyone, and it proved to be too much for her,” he explains farther.

I look at Alexander and realize that every bit of this is true. I should be comfortable with what I am gifted with. I look down and realized that there are shadows forming at my feet. They aren’t from anyone around me. I feel the Darkness wrap itself around me. I feel almost comforted until I breathe in and smell Cain’s shirt. The scent reminds me of the kiss which sent shivers down my back.

The broken queen? I didn’t understand her. I also don’t know how she could have not wanted to be a clan vampire. It has been the more safe as a clan vampire than as a human. Which is kind of sad. I can’t think of running from these boys. But they gave me a choice. They didn’t force me even though they wanted me to be their queen very badly. They let me have that choice which still amazes me.

“Are you okay?” Cain asks. He seems scared to come closer to me, but he still takes a step closer to me. “You seem to let the Darkness wrap around yourself. Are you scared?”

I look up at him and feel the shadows retreating from me. “Oh, I’m okay. I was just thinking. I think it is just a little bit too much too soon, you know? I guess I wasn’t realizing that I was allowing myself to using my gift. Sorry, I guess? Well, if we are done, can we go to sleep?” I ask, heading towards the bed. I see Cain reach out to me, and he pulls me closer to him. I wrap my arms around him and smile. I lean into his body.

He nods, leading me to the bed. He picks me up, pulls back the covers, and gently sets me down on the bed.