“Well that was weird,” Valeria murmured once they were out of earshot of their RA. Behind them she could hear the sound of Kamilah walking in the opposite direction, the older phoenix walked just as ungracefully as Ziana did.
“In all of the cycles that I’ve known her, Kamilah has never acted like that,” Ziana whispered sounding just as lost as Valeria was right now.
“Come one, let’s just get some food in us,” Valeria said, grabbing the phoenix’s arm, “We can deal with this later. Maybe Kamilah has just had a bad night.”
“Forget that,” Ziana snarled coming back to herself before she whirled around causing Valeria to spin with her. They took off back towards their dorm, presumably to get the journal back. When they got there, Kamilah was walking down the hallway going the opposite way. She was too far away for them to catch up, so there was only one thing to do.
“Ziana, get onto my back,” Valeria urged, pulling the phoenix behind her.
“No way, Princess,” The phoenix hissed pushing Valeria away from her.
“Stop being so dramatic and get on. We’ll catch up to Kamilah a lot faster and quieter than if your feet were bumbling down the hallway. This way she won’t hear us coming,” She insisted once again pulling Ziana towards her. The phoenix wrinkled her nose in disgust before she begrudgingly hopped onto Valeria’s back.
“And I’m not a Princess,” Valeria snapped, and before Ziana could respond, she used her vampiric speed to move them both through the hallways. Behind her, Ziana let out a surprised, and she held in her laughter as they ran. Kamilah had gotten pretty far ahead of them, but the phoenix was no match for a royal’s vampiric speed. Soon enough, they caught up with their RA, Kamilah was standing at the back entrance of the dorm building seemingly waiting for something. Valeria positioned them behind a pillar and loosened her grip on Ziana.
“Let me down,” Ziana murmured behind her back, but Valeria held her legs tighter.
“No, we may need to get away fast,” She whispered back, “Just hang tight for a second and quit squirming.”
Ziana let out an annoyed sigh but stayed where she was at, and Valeria smirked in victory before staring back at Kamilah. They didn’t have to wait long for something to happen. A small dark-clad figure appeared in the doorway moving almost as quickly as Valeria had moved through the hallways. She couldn’t see their face because of the hood, but the ominous presence made her think that this may be one of the voices from that day in the hallway. The two didn’t exchange words, Kamilah simply handed the cloaked figure the journal. Once they had the book in hand, they disappeared.
* * *
Chapter Nine
Blood Magic
“Rules are the first thing you need to learn,” Florence began in Vampiric as they entered one of the training rooms, Nebby had spent the whole time glaring at Valeria from her spot on her mother’s shoulder. The second Valeria had stepped onto Team A’s floor that night, she and Ziana had been told to suit up and prepare for training. In the room across from their own, Callan and Ziana were doing their own training. Florence set down her black bag against the wall before pulling out a purple crystal and setting it on the floor for it to start a projection. The training room had white walls and soft grey mats covering the floor, “but rules are only concepts, rules limit your practice of blood magic and are only put in place by the king to control our people. Know the laws but more importantly, know how to get around them.”
“Are you telling me to break the law?” Valeria questioned in disbelief, and her mother smirked at her. She looked down at her notebook that she had brought with her per Florence request and flipped it open.
“Not in the slightest,” The vampire replied, and the projection behind her shifted revealing a list of laws written in Vampiric, “There are two laws pertaining to blood magic.”
Blood Magic according to “The Laws of Old Blood and New”:
“The use of blood magic to practice necromancy is prohibited.”
“The use of blood magic to control the body of another being living or deceased is prohibited
Exceptions: Wartime, Demons/halflings, Self Defense.”
“That’s it?” Valeria questioned as she finished writing the laws in her book
“Correct. Both of these laws were instituted after the Fae War by King Dracul. Although laws were only recently put in place, blood magic has been around since the beginning of vampires. As you know, no records were kept during the Dark Ages. Only from word of mouth,” Florence went on, and behind her, the projection of a fierce looking woman appeared, “The first book on blood magic was published over seven hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-eight cycles from the present by a vampire by the name of Valeriana Dracul.”
“Blood magic can be used in various different capacities. An example being the Blood Trees in VT provide fruit infused with blood that allows vampires to sustain without hunting other creatures,” As Florence spoke images of Blood trees showed behind her. The trees had stark white bark with red leaves and red fruit hanging from their branches, “Blood magic is the reason we have these trees, they allow the blood from the dead to fill the fruit.”
“Healing is another use, blood magic can heal any wound much faster than medicine ever could,” Florence continued, and the projection changed again to show a vampire Healer tending wounds with blood magic, “It also has the ability to determine the status of a fetus.
“The most common and the oldest use of blood magic is for warriors. The technique is called blood armor, it is the collected blood of your enemies or your friends that lays dormant in your skin until manifested. During battle, you can summon the blood to harden around you and essentially make you a suit of armor. The next technique is blood weapons, weapons forged with both your blood and the blood you’ve collected in battle. Any weapon is available to you only if you know how to make it,” Florence demonstrated, blood oozed from her skin before it hardened and her entire body was covered in crimson armor that glinted in the lights. In her right hand was a crimson dagger that matched the suit, “Keeping the weapons hard and sharp is tricky at first, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes.”
“Nothing can pierce blood armor, right?” Valeria questioned, her eyes flickering over the suit of blood in wonder.
“Incorrect,” Florence answered, “There is only one thing that I have encountered that could pierce blood armor, a phoenix’s Blood Dagger. The dagger is a weapon forged of silver, phoenix blood and phoenix fire. As you know phoenix flames are fatal to a vampire, but if treated the inflicted could survive. If stabbed with this dagger, there is no chance of survival. The flames combined with the phoenix’s blood acts as venom and will spread rapidly, burning you from the inside out.”
“So it just burns through the armor?” Valeria inquired her eyes wide.
“Correct,” Florence responded,” Luckily, that weapon was banned after the Fae War, so it is unlikely for you to ever encounter it.”
“As I was saying, blood magic can also be used for blood barriers, blood ties, blood protection, and much more. You can read further on it later, but for now, let’s focus on the basics of blood magic. What it is,” Florence said and her blood armor melted back into her skin as the screen changed again to a new slide the words she spoke appearing on the screen, “Blood magic can only be wielded by very few vampires, it is a magical inclination you’re born with and even those born to it, struggle for control. To be able to master it, there are three components; mindset, sight, and currents.
“Mindset; the concept is to master oneself, your emotions are directly correlated to how well your magic will behave. For example, if you believe you cannot do it, you won’t be able to. Confidence in yourself and in your ability will determine how powerful your magic will be.
“Sight; Those who are able to wield blood magic have the ability to see their own. Sight is a crucial part of understanding your magic and how it flows. Whatever magic you use, whoever you tie yourself to, you will b
e able to see the cord. Vampire mothers have blood ties to their children, which allow them to know if they’re still alive and they can follow the tie to them. Some, admittedly very few have the ability to see others magical aura,” Florence paused as Valeria scribbled down every word.
“Can you see other beasts aura?” Valeria asked, and her mother smiled at her before nodding.
“Currents: As opposed to the other two components, vampires find this the most difficult. Currents are the magical flow from your magical core, it flows through our blood. All beasts have magical currents, and within every magical practice, there is required an understanding of your personal currents. To be able to access your blood magic, you need to find the flow of your own current,” Florence said before moving to sit on the floor and motioning for Valeria to do the same, “Now let’s start with a simple technique, close your eyes, clear your mind and focus on your core.”
Valeria closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her core. She felt something, a warmth in her stomach.
“Now open your eyes,” Florence instructed, and Valeria did, looking down at her hands, expecting to see something but there was nothing.
“There isn’t anything there. I don’t see anything,” Valeria responded, looking up at her mom with a frown who gave her a patient smile.
“Try again,” Florence replied, and Valeria closed her eyes again, focusing on the warmth in her stomach before opening her eyes again, she saw thin wispy red light around her fingertips and around her arms before they were gone again.
“I saw something! It’s gone now, but I saw something,” Valeria exclaimed in excitement and Florence gave her a proud smile.
“Well done, Valeria. Now make it last longer,” Her mom encouraged, and Valeria tried again, this time it lasted thirty seconds, then the next time it lasted a minute and every time after the wisps lasted longer. It was becoming easier to find the warmth within her, and soon she was watching her aura, swirl around her. The red feather-like ropes, twisting over her arms and legs. It surrounded her, and she was grinning widely as she watched the magic whirl around her.
“It’s beautiful,” Valeria breathed as she examined the crimson tendrils that tickled across her fingers.
“Yes, it is,” Florence agreed, watching her with a fond look in her eyes.
“Can I try to see yours?” Valeria questioned.
“Of course,” Florence responded before taking Valeria is hand in her own, “I’m going to project my aura onto you so that you’ll be able to see it.”
“Okay,” Valeria murmured as she closed her eyes and she felt something push against the wisps surrounding her, when she opened her eyes she saw black tendrils surrounding her mother, “It’s black.”
“Quite right,” Florence left out an amused laugh, “Beasts aura are the same color of their mate marks, my aura used to be blue.”
“Really?” Valeria asked in amazement, watching the looping strands before she noticed a swirled red and black thread connecting Valeria’s core to Florence’s, “What’s this?”
“It is my maternal tie to you, you have a part of my core within you because you’re my child,” Florence responded, tugging softly on the thread and Valeria gasped, “These other ties are to your siblings.”
Valeria looked over at the four threads including her own, one was a purple/black thread, then a green/black thread, and there was another thread, but it wasn’t a swirl of color, it was just black, “What is the black one?”
“It is my tie to Emalia. She is not my biological child, so all I could do was tie my aura to hers,” Florence replied as her fingers brushed gently over the threads.
“Why isn’t it white though, like her mate mark?”
“It does not work that way, love,” Florence responded, “She is another species and cannot tie her aura to mine.”
“Oh,” Valeria replied, not taking her eyes from the inky aura that surrounded her mother, it didn’t look daunting or evil, but it seemed sad, “Are you okay?”
“What?”
“Your aura seems sad.”
“No Valeria. That is merely the war clinging to my soul, Valeria. Tragedy clings to us, but it is not my identity, it’s part of who I am, but it is not the only thing I am,” Florence elaborated with a soft smile before pulling her hands from Valeria’s, and the aura faded away, “Let’s see if you can catch your current.”
“How do I do that?” Valeria inquired, and Florence swiftly stood before pulling Valeria to her feet.
“Look at your aura,” Florence said, and Valeria followed her instructions, watching the wisps, “Now follow it with your finger, touch it, find the way it’s moving. How fast is it going? What direction? Is the current strong or easy?”
Valeria watched her aura, concentrating on the warmth in her stomach and the swirls around her when she placed her hand on the tendril, all she could feel was warmth. She tried for several minutes to find a current but to no avail. She stopped after Florence placed a hand on her arm, and she looked at her mother with frustration.
“Relax,” Florence spoke softly, “You’re too tense. Clear your mind. You have the gift within you, all you have to do is access it.”
Valeria let out another sigh before taking a deep breath and attempting to clear her thoughts, but she still couldn’t feel her current. After almost twenty minutes of her attempting to feel the flow, she was ready to give up.
“Stop, Valeria. You look as if you are going to lose consciousness,” Florence said with amusement coloring her tone,” You’ll get there. No vampire has gotten it on the first try, everything takes time, and finding your current is specific to you. You are still young, my dear. Magic as intricate as this takes time to develop.”
“But I want to keep trying,” Valeria protested.
“You’ve practiced enough for tonight. Blood magic is strenuous, it is the same as a muscle. You need to build endurance, and yours is not very strong, yet,” Florence responded before going to her bag and pulling out a red leather bound journal that had a silver dragon embroidered on it.
“What’s that?” Valeria questioned, eyeing the journal with curiosity.
“This is the journal I kept over the cycles while developing my own blood magic. In this journal, there are all the techniques I created when I was the Necromancer,” Her mother explained as she gingerly ran her fingers over the cover, “The journal itself is almost two hundred and sixty cycles old, it was created with preserving magic so it can not be destroyed unless with magic as powerful as my own.”
Valeria gently took the journal from her mother and looked at the intricate binding mesmerized by its beauty, “But only sorcerers can do preservation spells.”
“Correct, this journal was a gift from a sorcerer,” Florence replied but didn’t seem keen on elaborating, “I put a blood bond on it so only my blood or the blood of my children can open it.”
“Like the drawer in your office?” Valeria questioned, looking up at her mother, who smiled and nodded.
“Prick your finger and place the drop on top of the dragon’s claw,” Florence instructed, and Valeria did so. As soon as the blood touched the dragon’s claw, it came to life and roared at her before the journal popped open.
“Awesome,” Valeria breathed in amazement at the small enchantment and scanned over the first line of the journal.
The journal of Florence Emalia Dracul
Blood Magic
“It’s written in Old Vampiric,” Valeria said looking up at her mother who nodded.
“An old tradition from the Elders, no words can be written or spoke in anything except Old Vampiric or Vampiric when revealing the secrets of our blood,” Florence explained and Valeria understood why they were only speaking in Vampiric, “There is no text on blood magic that will read in anything but Old Vampiric or Vampiric. This law was changed to accommodate the changing of times, but if you seek the true secrets of your blood, read the ones written in the old language.”
“Is that why the Dr
agon Core is solely in Old Vampiric?” Valeria asked, and her mother nodded silently.
“The Elders believe if one is not willing to read the old language they are not worthy of the old art,” Florence responded before taking Valeria’s hand, “The techniques in this book have never been read by another soul, except your father. I’m entrusting this to you. You possess my gift, and this journal will give you some guidance when I am not here anymore.”
“Are you giving this to me?” Valeria questioned in shock.
“Yes but if you do not want it…”
“No! I do. I want it,” Valeria quickly replied, clutching the journal and Florence smiled with amusement, “But I don’t understand why you’re giving it to me. Don’t you need it for your practice?”
“No, I’ve memorized everything in that journal. This journal is meant as a guide for you, I’ve discovered a great many things through blood magic and I want you to expand on them,” Florence said, squeezing Valeria’s hands in her own, “You have the power to do astonishing things but if you choose not to follow this course then so be it. This is your life Valeria, I want you to live it as you choose.”
“Thank you,” Valeria breathed, her chest filling with warmth at the words and hugged her mother. She felt special knowing her mother was entrusting this to her, and she couldn’t help feeling a bit smug as well.
“This does not mean you should not create your own journal. It is important to have your own journal. As I have said, your magic will be specific to you and will never be exactly the same as another’s,” Florence said as she pulled back from the hug and grabbed another journal from her bag before handing it to her, “Sorcerers call it a grimoire but you may call it whatever you like.”
Valeria took the journal in hand and examined the brown leather, it was soft to the touch, “Thank you.”
“It is important that you allow no one to read my notes, there are very powerful techniques written in them. I fear to know what would occur if it were to fall to someone less pure of heart,” Florence said seriously, drawing Valeria’s attention back to her, “Never share your findings unless you trust them absolutely.”
Beastmora- The Golden Six Page 13