Black Blood

Any welcoming air Claude had about him had vanished. He had turned completely serious, just like that, once we had entered the building. He greeted the secretary at the desk, who only nodded back and waved him off.

We were led down the corridor to a room at the end of the hall. Adrian and I exchanged a glance before stepping inside after Claude. There were only three other people in the room, but somehow I felt like I should have expected that.

Two were male, one was female. The two males looked up at Claude and waved, while the female looked me up and down with a sneer. I shifted from one foot to the other.

"Claude," the woman said once she had finally torn her gaze from me. "What have you done, bringing a human here?"

Claude draped an arm around my shoulders, guiding me to the table the others sat around, and leaving Adrian to stand awkwardly by himself in the doorway. I shot him a look for help, but he clearly didn't want to be near me. He raised his hands and shook his head.

"This is no ordinary human, Clair," Claude said. "I'm not sure she actually is entirely human anymore, at this point."

"A Blackblood," one of the males, a brunette, said. His accent made him sound as if he was from somewhere in the U.K., instead of France. Claude nodded to him and grinned. Clair stiffened.

"You brought a human Blackblood here?" she said. She pushed her chair back, standing up and slamming her hands down onto the table. "Why? You know how dangerous one can be. We're supposed to kill them on sight."

"But this one is different," the other male said. He had been quietly observing the entire time, and ran a hand through his blond hair. "It's faint, and fading. Can't you smell it?" He turned to Clair, who turned red.

"No, Jean, I can't," she said in a low voice.

"Easy, now," the brunette said. He stood too, making his way over to Clair and placing a hand on her shoulder. "He wasn't trying to mock your disability. It's easily forgotten, with how recent it is."

Clair pulled quickly away from the brunette, turning a steely glare on him. The room dropped several degrees in temperature, and an indigo blue glow rolled off of Clair. The brunette raised his hands in defense.

"Whatever," Clair growled.

She muttered something in French before turning to leave. She paused as she passed Claude, giving him the same steely glare she gave the brunette. Claude ran a hand through his green hair, letting go of me and watching her go.

The room exploded in conversation, the remaining males firing off questions to Claude in French. I groaned and pulled out a chair to sit at the table. Adrian came over and followed suit, chuckling, while Claude answered the questions as quickly as they were fired off.

"They're arguing over what to do with you," Adrian said. I looked over to him. He had his cheek resting against his fist, his elbow on the table to support him.

"Thanks, captain obvious," I said and rolled my eyes. Adrian tilted his head a little and raised a brow. "I mean, I gathered as much. All the vampires are obsessed with me, in one way or another."

Adrian opened his mouth to reply, but the door flew back open in that moment. A much taller woman with long, black hair pulled back in a braid stepped into the room, Clair not too far behind her. Claude and the other males were immediately quiet.

"Ami," Claude greeted with a grin. Ami marched right up to him and struck his cheek with the back of her hand. Adrian and I straightened in our seats, and my jaw fell open.

Claude muttered something in French, and then faced her again, smiling. It was the same smile that was nearly always present on his face. The one that I couldn't decide whether or not was unnerving, or calming.

"I deserved that," Claude said, switching to English.

"Of course you did," Ami nodded.

Her gaze, and Clair's, landed on me. Clair seemed angrier than earlier. Ami eyed me with a sense of awe. I sank into my chair, suddenly wishing one of my abilities was the power to turn invisible. Powers or no I was still human, and turning invisible or simply vanishing into thin air were things I simply could not do.

"The human Blackblood," Ami whispered, a heavy accent lacing her words.

She approached me with steady steps. Adrian reached his arms around me, holding his hands out as if to stop Ami. Ami shoved her hand into Adrian's face, pushing him back. Adrian shook himself free of her.

"She's dangerous," he warned. Ami looked at him, for the first time since entering the room.

"I know," she said. "I do not plan on drinking her blood."

"No, I mean-" Adrian trailed off. I looked from him, to Ami, to Claude, and then back again. Adrian looked around the room, and then leaned in close to Ami to whisper, "Don't get close to her mouth. She'll suck out your soul."

Ami backhanded a person for the second time that day. I almost wanted to laugh at how Adrian was acting, completely different to how he had been when I had first met him. But I remained composed. I had long since learned my lesson about insulting vampires.

"Idiot," Ami said. "You don't get close to me. And why would I go anywhere near a human's mouth?"

Claude cleared his throat while Adrian held his cheek. Ami and I both looked up at Claude.

"That one has more than just poisonous blood," Claude said. He had the attention of everyone in the room now. Even Clair seemed to be interested in learning about what made me so special.

"She can drain your energy, essentially killing you," Claude said. His gaze locked onto mine. "She can even drain leftover energy from corpses. It would be ill-advised to be anywhere near her, should she perceive you as a threat."

"So, why not kill her?" Clair said. Everyone turned to look at her. "Put an end to the threat before she kills us all. You know what happened the last time we let a human Blackblood live for a period of time."

"Because," Ami said. "She may be the key to taking down Edward Blackblood."