With that the heavy vibe of vampire lightened.
“Thanks,” Jessie said.
“No problem,” Alice said, jerking her chin at a spiky blond-haired vampire across the room. Then she pointed with two fingers toward her eyes before jabbing them at him.
He smirked, then nodded at Jessie. “Hello Jessica.”
“Just ignore Garrison,” Alice said. “He’s a shit.”
“I can hear you,” the spiky-haired vampire said.
“Yeah, I know,” Alice said.
Serge cleared his throat. “As I was saying we’ve been able to unravel part of Raymond Tyrone’s web of deceit using information provided by the Stevens family.”
The lights dimmed against the wall and two slides, marked Patricia Stevens appeared. One, dated two years before Jessie’s birth and one, dated weeks before Patricia’s death.
“If not for Jessica, I’d have never known what powerful information we possessed,” Serge said.
These slides had been among thousands catalogued in The Guard’s laboratory. Before he left Panthera Matt had hidden them among the slides used to study cancer research and given them to Serge for safe keeping. After one of the memory retrieval sessions with Rafe the crew scoured the archives to find them.
Jessie’s heart raced as she observed the difference in the cells. Over the last few days she’d spent hours studying the slides with the scientists and learning what her mother had been forced to endure as an incubator to create Joshua.
“Patricia was infected with the vampire carcinosanguine cell. This is the cell that makes us what we are. It kills all human cells until the only cells left to exist are other carcinosanguine cells. At which point the mutating stops and the suspended life endures.” Serge used a laser pointer to show the normal human cell, then the cell being attacked and overtaken by the carcinosanguine cell, and finally the mature carcinosanguine cell.
“This process as it occurs for a human transforming to vampire takes roughly twenty-four hours, and as most of us know, is an agonizing experience.” Serge clicked a button, making the slide on the screen change. “For Patricia, this experience did not simply last one full cycle of the sun, but rather she endured its continued effects for not less than four years.”
The tenor in the room chilled as though everyone’s hearts stopped beating. Jessie felt a hand on her back and turned to see a giant, well-muscled vampire wearing sunglasses sitting behind her.
“I’m sorry about your mom. She was a great lady.”
Jessie watched him nod and struggle to swallow. She understood saying the words had taken great effort. “Thank you.”
“That’s Oz,” Alice leaned in and whispered. “I’m pretty sure everyone feels the same.”
“Patricia was used as an incubator for another, more powerful incubator.” At this point a picture of Joshua appeared on the screen. “Tyrone caused her body to maintain a pregnancy of a child he had helped to mutate from a healthy baby into a superbly strong carcinosanguine being, though not a true vampire.”
Audible gasps sounded and a few statements of “you’ve got to be kidding” and “how is it possible?” were said.
“That’s a great question,” Serge said, bringing up another slide. “We continue to research the answer to how Patricia was able to survive as long as she did in this condition. For certain we should assume in Tyrone’s absence Rollins will try this again on another woman of childbearing years, which will mean he will have another incubator like Joshua.”
The idea of another person suffering like either her mother or brother was gut wrenching. Jessie couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else living with all that Joshua had experienced in his short lifetime.
“From our research we suspect Joshua was not the source of revenant juice, but rather used as a filtration system prior to injecting the juice into the revenants we’ve seen to date,” Serge stated.
“Wait a minute.” A vampire across the room stood. “Are you implying that whatever was used to create those revenants passed through Joshua, but didn’t come from him? Where did it come from?”
Jessie saw the worried expression on Lawrie’s face when she looked at Reade. Reade looked at the Barones with the same anxiety flashing in his eyes. Both Gabe and Rafe flinched, their mates leaning in closer to them.
Serge flicked the slides, bringing up three more they’d compared countless times. “The original serum, infecting both Patricia and Joshua came from within our ranks.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ricard had long suspected the source of the revenant juice. Years of research and first hand knowledge had been confirmed only the night before.
“Was it from Lawrie? With access to her for twenty years, knowing she had consumed Reade’s blood in her infancy she must have been treated like a lab rat,” one of the vampires asked.
“That means it’s Reade’s blood that’s been used in the revenant juice,” another said.
“Damn Tyrone!” someone shouted.
The disgust and disbelief were clear in their voices. The idea of Tyrone’s madness to terrorize innocent humans and create his own army of superbly strong beings was disturbing to every vampire in the room.
“Please, allow me to explain,” Serge interrupted before the meeting became boisterous.
“Our research indicates it was not Reade’s blood. In fact we are certain Raymond did not know of Lawrie consuming Reade’s blood, not the first time, nor any time thereafter.”
Lawrie’s cheeks flushed at the mention of her personal experiments, though she managed to keep her head held high.
“Within our ranks we have three generations of a vampire line, two of those generations are from the same human bloodline, thus making their lineage more powerful than most.” Serge used the laser pointer to direct everyone’s attention to the picture projected on the wall.
Three slides of blood cells labeled B1, B2, B3 lay side by side for comparison.
“This is the Barone bloodline. Rafe is B1, Gabe is B2, and Aurelia is B3. From these cells you can see there is nearly no difference between B1 and B2, and very minor differences between B2 and B3, though the differences between B1 and B3 are greater, they still are minimal.”
With another click of the button a different slide appeared. This one compared a different bloodline, Ricard’s.
“Here is another, shorter comparison lineage. Ricard as the originating vampire is R1, and Ricard’s progeny, Genevieve R2. Notice the considerable differences from Ricard’s cells to Genevieve’s.”
The room remained dead silent except for the breathing of Joao and the seven human women seated beside their mates.
Ricard did not move. If ever he’d felt a moment of terror, this was that moment. He’d agreed to allow Serge to use his bloodline as the sample for this demonstration with complete knowledge he was sharing information that had remained secret for hundreds of years.
Together they had kept this covenant between them, never speaking of it to each other or anyone else. But now that Ricard had a second chance at love and the safety of so many humans depended upon the truth of this situation, he felt compelled to share.
“You were Genevieve’s master?” Gabe asked. “Rafe, did you know?”
“No.” Rafe stared at Ricard, unflinching and without any of the emotion flashing over his brother’s face.
“You couldn’t have mentioned this sooner? Why are we hearing this only now?” Gabe asked.
“Who was Genevieve?” Rachel, Brandt’s mate asked.
“I thought Aurelia was the only female vampire to exist,” Alice said.
“No, there’ve been a couple others, and Genevieve was a wild woman,” Hunter said.
As the hushed chatter broke out in the room, rising to a near deafening roar in his ears, Ricard rose and addressed Gabe, who sat between Aurelia and Rafe. “Yes, I was her master and her mate, and I did not tell you or anyone else because some things a man cannot do and maintain any of his humanity.”
&n
bsp; Neither brother moved. Ricard knew the shock of hearing he had been Genevieve’s mate and master was far worse for them than anyone else. For many years they’d known their father had killed his mate, but never had Ricard told them who his mate was. Until these last few days he had not once let slip one detail of her life.
If learning Genevieve had been his mate and progeny was not shocking enough for the members of The Vampire Guard, hearing the rest of this story would certainly be.
“I was also the father of her unborn child.” Ricard paused, pulling his attention from the brothers to ensure Jessica was not feeling over-burdened by this exposure.
He’d tried to give her some warning the night before but couldn’t bring himself to speak. Remembering had been painful enough, but talking about it with the woman who was his second chance at happiness had been impossible.
To his surprise as the room fell into crushing silence Jessica rose and stepped to his side, taking his hand in hers.
“As you all know a female vampire is a rare occurrence. A pregnant female vampire is practically a miracle, if one would call anything about a vampire miraculous.”
The wave of emotion Ricard had managed to keep buried deep behind a wall of secrets bubbled to the surface. To his surprise it was not the rage he’d felt about his mate being murdered at the hands of Raffaele Barone or the guilt he’d carried all these long years for turning his pregnant human wife into a vampire.
No, it was the deep sadness and tremendous grief at watching her slip into madness that nearly brought him to his knees in front of everyone.
“Why did you turn your mate? What made you ever attempt it?” Brandt asked.
“That’s madness, man. It’s a special female who can withstand the change. How could you expect a woman in such a delicate state to make it?” Oz asked.
“Well, that explains why she was crazy,” Garrison mumbled.
“How did you get her pregnant?” Aurelia all but screeched.
“Yeah, how?” Alice and Rachel asked at once, both leaping up from their seats.
Every mated vampire in the room jumped as the excitement of the women increased. The intensity of the men’s worry rose to match Ricard’s own anxiety.
In a flash the room went from perfect quiet to a cacophony of women questioning the possibility of having children while men tried desperately to quell the excitement with gentle reminders of the reality. Vampires simply didn’t procreate in the same way as humans.
Rapid-fire retorts shot back about if it happened once, it could happen again, and wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing. All around vampires tried to keep everyone calm, but there was no denying that even the men felt wary hopefulness.
Ricard’s body trembled with the memories of his failed love. He wished he had not agreed to share any of the details. He wished he had not been able to remember any of it. He wished he’d died with Genevieve the night Raffaele Barone took her.
Jessica’s fingers came to his chin, and he turned to look at her. “It’s all right, my love. Tell your story and be free.”
He nodded. It needed to be said. The Guard needed to understand.
Turning back to the now raucous room, he spoke softly, immediately grabbing the attention of every vampire and by extension their mates. “I turned her because she was dying, and I could not bear to lose her.” He scanned the room, making eye contact with every mated vampire. “You must understand that.”
Each man and Aurelia nodded.
“We had been mated several years, more than twenty, when she became pregnant. Such a rare occurrence, in fact I’ve searched for years and never found another nor any record of one prior to Genevieve. It was an anomaly, a dreadful anomaly. The pregnancy was killing her. A vampire’s spawn is not an easy thing for a woman to carry.” He glanced now at the women, willing them to understand their hope for babies was insane and would likely result in their deaths, which their mates would never allow.
“We thought of no other way to save her. We hoped it would work. Logically, we recognized the risk, we thought likely the baby might not make it, but that Genevieve would and then we could try again.” He looked down at his hand clasped with Jessica’s.
Allowing the memories of what happened when he changed Genevieve to crash into his mind dredged up such pain. It was several minutes before Ricard could speak. He turned over and over the memories, trying to find a way to share them that was not so gruesome, not so terrifying as to wound the hearts of these women, so full of hope for the future.
Feeling that buzz of excitement and knowing they were ignorant of that reality was tragic. Realizing the hopefulness was shared not only by the women, but by some of their mates, too, made the whole matter much worse.
He caught his breath and closed his eyes. “As the transformation began she experienced a miscarriage. The change took a few days, longer than most vampires and she was so weak when she awoke, too weak, in fact, to do anything but lie in our bed and think of our dead baby.” His voice was barely a whisper as he struggled to say the words.
“She became incoherent, consumed by grief, and anger, and hatred for me. She blamed me for our situation and said I should have let her die with our baby.”
Jessica sniffled and wrapped her free arm around Ricard. The feel of her body against his was more comfort than he deserved, but knowing this did not stop him from holding her.
“The loss of our baby is what drove her to madness. As she became physically stronger, she grew more and more unbalanced. I did not allow her to leave the house alone for fear she would be a wild rampage on the loose. Even escorting her beyond the wall of our villa was difficult, and she developed quite a reputation for her reckless impulses and violent responses. She snuck out a few times before I created an enclosure that could hold her. I hunted for us. I fed for two and then fed her. It was a very difficult time.” Ricard kissed Jessica’s head. “Though I would never have abandoned her. I loved her to the very end.”
“How did she die, Ricard? How does a woman strong enough to tolerate the change die?” Oz asked.
Of the mates in the room the only dry eyes were Rafe and Gabe. They knew what was to be said next, and Ricard was certain they dreaded hearing it as much as he dreaded saying the word.
“Raffaele Barone, the father or Rafe and Gabe, found her and murdered her while I hunted.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jessie felt the utter torture washing over Ricard. His guilt, grief, and desperation would have caused her knees to buckle and send her falling to the floor. But the drive to be strong for him kept her standing.
“Barone? Rafe and Gabe’s father killed your mate?” Disbelief rang in Brandt’s words. “How could a vampire kill another’s mate? How is that possible?” He clasped Rachel close to him. “Why would he want to?”
“Our father was a madman. It took me many years to understand he was mad as a human and becoming a vampire only heightened that insane drive for power,” Rafe said. His voice was so fueled with hatred Jessie wondered if he wouldn’t lash out.
“It’s likely he hoped to possess Genevieve, to steal her from Ricard.” Gabe looked at Aurelia, the woman he successfully turned vampire, and shook his head. “He couldn’t stand to see anyone with anything he did not have.”
The room seemed to become pressurized. Jessie felt the weight of several angry and distrusting vampires.
“How do you continue without her?” Oz asked.
“Tell us, Ricard. All these years having that bond broken, how do you continue?” Brandt asked. The large and deadly vampire looked down at the woman he held tightly, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. “How do you do it without her?”
“Until only days ago I could not answer. I did not know why I continued to rise with the evening. My body left me no choice but to go forward even though until recently I believed my heart to be dead.” The depth of Ricard’s love for Jessie shone in his dark, violet eyes. Beneath the unshed tears was a devotion and warmth she’d never felt bef
ore. It called to her like a secret voice in the night calling her out of a deep sleep and into the light of day.
It was at that moment that Jessie truly understood this new love, this bond Ricard had tried to explain. Watching so many men, more powerful than any she’d ever considered, cringe with the knowledge of what Ricard had experienced made it clear how much they loved these women.
She realized then just how much Ricard meant to her and that if the situation was reversed and if she had to go on without him, she would not survive. She knew as clear as she felt the warmth of his hand in hers that if she did not have him to love her every night and day, she would simply cease to exist.
“I’ve told you this information not to stir useless hopes in your mates and not to bring pity on me, but to show you the changes and similarities in the bloodlines. Two of us have turned women. One of us has done what we’ve always believed to be impossible, impregnating a woman. These are abilities Tyrone wanted more than any other, and these are bloodlines that are strong and powerful beyond others.”
Looking up at Ricard, Jessie watched how he worked to remain focused on the situation at hand, keeping himself from being sucked into the pit of despair swirling at the edge of his mind. She knew then that he’d managed to continue to exist after his tremendous loss by submerging himself in his research, by never allowing himself to be vulnerable, by always looking at love from a scientific perspective.
“Serge, the next slide, please.” He turned back to the wall where the slides of the Barone bloodline appeared. “As you can see the genetics of this bloodline are stronger than mine. This is why I believe Aurelia’s change worked and why she transformed in the exact way we all changed. The family genetics of the carcinosanguine cell were so powerful as to make it unstoppable.
“The brothers having been human brothers, one turned by their own human father, and the second turned by the older brother, kept every bit of genetics from both the human and the vampire lines in the family. We believe this is what makes the bloodline so strong.” Ricard used his own laser pointer to circle several sets of genes.
A Vampire's Purgatory (Romance In Central City Book 8) Page 15