by Aja James
The Dozen: see Royal Zodiac.
The Elite: six royal personal guards of the Pure Queen.
Eternal Mate: the destined partner to a given soul. Each soul only has one mate across time, across various incarnations of life. Quotation from the Zodiac Scrolls describing the bond: “His body is the Nourishment of life. Her energy is the Sustenance of soul.”
Fall/Fallen: process or condition of a Pure One having infused his/her partner with life force through sexual intercourse in the act of falling in love. If the love is unreturned in equal measure, the Pure One will enter into Decline and die within thirty days.
Gift: supernatural power bestowed upon Pure Ones by the Goddess. Usually an enhanced physical or mental ability such as telekinesis, superhuman strength and telepathy.
The Goddess: supernatural being who is credited with the creation of the Pure Ones. She is a deity to which Pure Ones devote themselves. She protects the Universal Balance.
Healer of the Race: the one Pure One with the Gift to heal others, even bring people back from the dead in some rare cases. The Healer is typically a Pure-female, and she requires the Nourishment of a Consort to provide her with enough energy to heal others. She selects her Consort through the Rite of the Phoenix and takes Nourishment from him during the course of the thirty-day Phoenix Cycle. The bond between Healer and Consort is the only exception to the Sacred Laws.
Hive: society of vampires with a matriarch, the Queen, at the head.
Horde: small groups of vampires with no Queen, typically composed of Rogues who band together for ease of hunting.
Jade Lotus Society: society of females devoted to healing arts.
Nourishment: the strength that Mated Pure-females take from the Pure-males’ body and blood. Once Mated, the Pure-female becomes dependent upon the Pure-male for sustaining her life. If her Mate dies before her, she too will perish. In equal exchange, the Pure-female provides Sustenance. See also Sustenance.
Orb of Prophesies: orb that harnesses powers of precognition, interpreted or channeled through the Seer.
Phoenix Bonding Ritual: bonding ceremony between Healer and Consort. Similar to the bonding between a Pure One and his/her Eternal Mate. Difference being that the bond between Healer and Consort is temporary, with no promise of the future. See also Bonding Ritual.
Phoenix Cycle: thirty-day period in which the Healer rejuvenates her powers through her chosen Consort. The Consort would become her sole source of Nourishment for the duration and provide the reserve she would need to carry out her role as the Pure Ones’ Healer for the next ten years.
Phoenix Mate: another name for the Healer’s Consort. The Healer’s temporary Mate. See also Consort and Healer of the Race.
Pure One: supernatural being who is eternally youthful, typically endowed with heightened senses or powers called the Gift. In possession of a pure soul and blessed with more than one chance at life by the Goddess, chosen as one of Her immortal race that defends the Universal Balance.
Rite of the Phoenix: process by which, every ten years, the Healer of the Race chooses a new Consort.
Rites of Passage: decadal three-day trial in which six chosen unmated, qualified Pure-males undergo three final tests to apply as the Healer’s Consort. The first day tests the Pure-males’ strength and vitality. The second day tests their endurance for pain and ability to heal. The third day tests their sexual compatibility with the Healer.
Rogue: lone vampire who does not belong to an organized vampire society or Hive.
The Royal Zodiac: twelve-member collective of the Elite, the Circlet and the Queen of the Pure Ones.
Sacred Laws: One, thou shalt protect the purity, innocence and goodness of humankind and the Universal Balance to which all souls contribute. Two, thou shalt maintain the secrecy of the Race. And three, thou shalt not engage in sexual intercourse with someone who is not thy Eternal Mate. Also known as the Cardinal Rule.
Sanctuary: physical seat or residence of the Healer during the time she presides over the Jade Lotus Society.
Service: the contract between the Healer of the Race and her Consort. The Consort’s provision of Nourishment to the Healer over the course of the thirty-day Phoenix Cycle.
Shield: referred to as the base of the Royal Zodiac, wherever it may be. Not necessarily a physical location.
Sustenance: the strength that Mated Pure-Males take from the Pure-females’ spirit. Once Mated, the Pure-male becomes dependent upon the Pure-female for sustaining his life. If his Mate dies before him, he too will perish. In equal exchange, the Pure-male provides Nourishment. See Nourishment.
Universal Balance: underlying order that is essential for the continuation of time. The idea that everything exists in cycles or pairs—good and evil, darkness and light, past and future, right and wrong, male and female, life and death, etc. Disruption to this balance leads to destruction, chaos, and eventually, the implosion of time and space.
Vampire: supernatural being who prefers to live in the night and who gathers energy and prolongs his/her life by feeding off the blood, and sometimes souls, of others. Vampires are made, not born. Some vampires are Pure Ones who have chosen Darkness rather than death after they break the Cardinal Rule. See also Glossary in Dark Longing.
Zodiac Prophesies: events yet to come, foretold by the Seer of the Pure Ones through the Orb of Prophesies.
Zodiac Scrolls: events past, recorded by the Scribe of the Pure Ones.
Excerpt from Book #2: Dark Longing
He turned now to face the woman who had saved him.
Made him.
“You turned me into a… Dark One,” he stated, rather than asked.
She gave one slow nod, holding his gaze intently.
“How?”
She inhaled long and deeply and kept her position by the sliding doors, as if she wanted to run from him but knew that she had to stay. She seemed always to run from him.
“When you died, before your soul departed your body, I gave you my blood to keep you there.”
Said so matter-of-factly, without any inflection or change of expression. When you died. I gave you my blood.
“That’s all it takes to make vampires out of humans?” Gabriel wondered why there weren’t more bloodsuckers running around.
She shook her head. “A vampire would have to share a part of her soul with the human. In most cases, the human’s soul has already departed, because the process of forcing another consciousness into the body is very… arduous. The result of typical turnings is that the vampire loses part of herself in the human shell, and the new vampire is not quite whole. Both the creator and the creation could turn to madness if they do not control themselves, if the shared soul is not strong enough.”
“In most cases,” Gabriel picked up on her phrasing, “but not in mine.”
She did not reply for a long time. He did not prod her. If he was truly what they said he was, he could afford to keep waiting.
“Not in your case,” she finally agreed and said nothing more.
He continued to stare at her, but she did not seem to have the inclination or will to continue. Her eyes flickered as if she lacked the courage as well.
“And how does it work, exactly, if my body is now crowded with more than just my own soul?” he asked quietly. There was no way he would let her escape from answering.
She swallowed as her eyes lowered momentarily, her long, gold-tipped lashes fluttering as if she were fragile and vulnerable.
Gabriel clenched his jaw as the ridiculous desire to comfort her almost overwhelmed him.
When she looked back into his eyes, he saw a steely determination there, as if she were bracing herself for retribution against a wrong she’d committed but was not sorry for.
“We are Bonded, you and I, until one of us perishes,” she stated in a clear, steady voice. “In my Kind, we would be called Blooded Mates. In the human world, I suppose the closest thing would be marriage, except there is no divorce, no going back.”
I
ronic, that, Gabriel thought. Just a while ago, Benji had wished for their marriage.
“And I had no say in this?” his words were but a whisper, seemingly innocuous yet lethal.
Was it his imagination or did her deep blue eyes fill with unshed tears? Gabriel ground his back molars. There went that stupid instinct to protect her again, even against his own inquisition.
“I am sorry,” she said huskily, and he felt her pained contrition as if it were his own. “No, you did not choose this path consciously. You were beyond choice at that point. I am solely accountable for the decision.”
Gabriel took a step toward her, so that mere inches separated them.
He braced an arm beside her head, his hand on the sliding doors behind her, and leaned in so that she was barricaded by the lean, muscled wall of his body, his heat surrounding them both, his breath fogging the air between their faces.
“Why me,” the question was more of a statement, a low, rumbling rasp that raised the baby fine hairs all over her skin.
Inanna could have prevaricated.
She could have given him half-truths.
I saved you because Benji needs his father. I saved you because you could probably give us information about the fight clubs that would be the key to blowing up the scheme and capturing those responsible.
But the truth was none of those things.
When she Bonded him to her, Mated them to each other, she had been thinking of none of those things.
Only one word blocked out all else in her mind: Mine.
“I wanted you,” she said at last, holding his mesmerizing gaze. “So I claimed you.”
His pupils dilated at her words, fleeting expressions of confusion, fury and lust chasing each other across his face.
She closed the last bit of distance between them until they were flush against one another, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, the chunky heel of her combat boots giving her extra height to almost match his. Her lips were exactly level with his jawline, so she rested them there as her arms came around his back, her hands flattening against his spine, then traveling downwards until they each cupped one of his buttocks and exerted pressure enough to bring his groin into the notch between her legs.
“I want you,” she breathed against his throat, the whispered words like a vow that sealed their fates.
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Thank you for reading Pure Healing. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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Aja James