The Ruby (The Hidden Gems Book 1)

by R. M. Getsee

  There had been many wars over the centuries as many of these vampires often grew greedy, a few of them had been the ones who had formed a group called the Elementals, a sort of cult who hated being ruled by the council and had tried to break the Accords, the treaty that the clan elders signed millennia ago that forbade vampires from revealing themselves to the world of humans.

  Instead they had to integrate themselves into human society and blend in.

  To the outside world Vladimir academy was a prestigious private school that was impossible to get into.

  The whole advanced group worked together and created a small storm just outside the window to finish their demonstration, leaving all of us in a state of slight awe, and then retreated to the back of the class to watch as Mr. Carlisle used the roll to call up students one at a time to the front of the class to try out each element.

  The knot in the pit of my stomach once again tightened and grew as one after another the other vampires found their gifts.

  I fought to stop myself from cringing back into my seat as one guy stepped up and called on the elements, he could only call up a few sparks then a tiny flame and looked as if he were about to pass out.

  The whole class started jeering and laughing at him and it took another five minutes of Mr. Carlisle raising his voice before the room was quiet enough to continue down the list.

  As Emi was called she gave me a nervous smile and walked to the front of the class, she managed to make the water rise just above the glass before she lost control and it fell back onto the desk with a loud splash.

  She smiled as she went on to test earth and nothing happened. As she got to air though, a powerful gust of wind swept through the class. Mr. Carlisle announced to the class that she had a powerful affinity with air and connection with water also.

  That meant she would be placed in an advanced class as more than one affinity was rare. Athena looked pissed at this announcement and people started whispering. Apparently Emi’s gift was much more powerful than Athena’s was at this stage and it had taken the brunette almost a year of hard work to be placed in the advanced class.

  Finally it was time for me to be called up and as I rose shakily to my feet, I felt a cloying sensation of utter despair at the thought that the one friend I had managed to make was not going to be in my class.

  After this disaster I was surely once again going to become be the laughing stock of the school and I would not have anyone to hang out with or who had my back. I heard soft giggling and someone say in a very audible whisper that I looked as if I would pass out already.

  I looked behind me to find the origin of the whisper and of course it was Athena. I really didn’t like that girl. Rhea and Torah were also giggling softly too.

  As I reached the front of the class I felt like I was going to throw up.

  Mr. Carlisle looked at me. “Okay, Miss Morgan. Take a deep breath and close your eyes, feel the elements around you and call for them. If you get an elemental match keep going through them anyway in case you have an affinity for more than one.”

  I nodded, trying to hide how terrified I was, and I closed my eyes. Trying to calm myself I did as instructed and took a slow breath. I tried to relax and pretend that I wasn’t in class, in front of over fifty vampires.

  Suddenly I was in a place in my mind that was peaceful. I imagined feeling the energy of the world and seeing five different paths in front of me. One was a ruby red, the next a cool blue, then an earthy green, a clear purple and the last was a deep blood red. Each path shone and sparkled as if they were made of gems, I felt as if I had seen them before.

  I caught a glimpse of a path further away from the each of the colorful paths and I mentally cringed back from it. Unlike the others, which were brightly lit and felt warm and comforting this one was just…..black. That’s the only way I could describe it.

  It was cold and dark, though it had the same shine to it felt wrong somehow. It was twisted and creepy and looked as if dark shapes and shadows were twisting and writhing their way toward me.

  I felt as if I was being watched and I turned, walking quickly toward the other paths. I chose the one that shone like a ruby and I felt safe the moment I stepped onto it, I was an oddly comforted; it felt like I was home.

  As I travelled down the soft red dirt path, I felt a warm and familiar sensation settle into me and suddenly I just knew what to do.

  I opened my eyes and found the class in the exact same position as they were in before, waiting for me to discover my element. It was slightly unnerving to think that the whole thing was just in my head. It had just felt so real.

  I smiled as I called for water, and suddenly there was a geyser in the room, much more than what could have been in the glass was now rocketing upward and soaking the whole room.

  I called for earth and the room shook as the potted plant in the corner that was previously brown and withering away started to grow rapidly until the pot was hidden by a tiny forest.

  I called for air and a tornado five times bigger than Athena’s lifted up empty chairs and tables and flung them against the wall.

  I called for fire and two foot streams of flame shot forth from my hands. I marveled at the fact that I could feel the heat, but I didn’t feel any pain, my skin remaining unmarked. Then they too dissipated as I called the flame back.

  Suddenly a white hot pain seared through my head, blinding me to the world around as I saw the images from this morning again.

  Blood spattered on white lace, a ball flying at my head, and a face that I now knew to be Roman’s. And then I saw something new.

  I saw darkness, and in that darkness I could hear chains started to rattle. The rattling grew louder and louder filling my head with the noise that ricocheted against the inside of my skull until finally I heard the screeching of chains snapping, and there was nothing.

  There was absolute silence as whatever had just happened came to an end.

  I was brought back to reality with a ringing in my ears and looked around at the shocked faces in the room.

  The class room was a disaster, everything was thrown around. The chairs and tables were thrown around the room, a few had been reduces to kindling, the creamy walls had large chunks gouged out and little pieces of wood were still stuck in the plaster.

  Some of the other students were huddled under a desk as their seats had been swept away from them.

  I looked at the group from the advanced class, they all had a similar look of shock and a trace of fear, then I saw Roman, he looked concerned but gave me a small smile.

  “Wow,” I breathed, my head starting to spin as the buzzing sensation finally tapered out.

  And then I collapsed.

  Chapter Three

  I stirred as I heard a muffled voice through the darkness. As the voice grew louder and clearer I realized that it was singing something that was familiar to me. I groaned, the pounding in my head almost blinding me and making my ears ring with white noise.

  I felt a warm, soft hand on my head and I slowly opened my eyes, quickly squeezing them shut as I was blinded by brightness. The singing immediately paused and I saw my mom standing over me with a worried expression on her face.

  I blinked, still seeing dark spots in my vision and I couldn’t make out where I was. I remembered the song that I had heard and I realized that it was my mother who had been singing.

  My vision cleared slightly and I looked around the familiar room, my eyes picked out the ugly clown doll propped up on the dresser and I realized that I was in my room.

  The doll had been a present Jared had gotten me for my birthday years ago, my mother had freaked out because it was so creepy, and not in a good way. But I had loved it, it was weird and creepy and I felt as if I could relate to it in some way.

  I smiled slightly at the fond memory, I was so different from the rest of my family there weren't many moments where I could just be myself. As the confusion about how I had gotten here faded, the memories of what had happened ca
me flooding back.

  The place in my mind I went to where I had discovered the paths, my powers actually appearing, and then going crazy, the disturbing visions I had seen in my mind, and the haunting sounds of chains breaking that still echoed quietly in my mind.

  It was weird but for some reason that sound was what bothered me most of all, it filled me with a sinking dread, and somehow, I knew that something irrevocably bad had happened and my life was about to change dramatically. And it would happen very soon.

  Then I was distracted by the realization that I had just passed out in front of the whole class and I had freaked everyone out with my powers. It was impossible not to have done.

  I knew why, no one had ever had that strong an affinity to more than one element before. Only the Elementals could control more than two, with a much weaker affinity for the others, and most of the Elementals had been so powerful that they almost caused the destruction of their entire race.

  I had no idea how it even happened, usually if I were to try to practice any kind of elemental magic I would almost immediately get a migraine so bad that I had to stop or risk throwing up.

  So what was different this time? It was getting close to my eighteenth birthday, so maybe I was just a late bloomer, a really late bloomer.

  The moment of distraction while trying to figure out what had happened to make my powers go funky was over, and I was forced back to the harsh reality that I had fainted like a wilting flower in front of a room full of merciless vampires who would spot your weakness and go for the kill.

  And I had passed out in front of Roman. I didn’t know why him witnessing me at my freakiest bothered me so much more than everything else, but it did.

  I realized that my mom was still standing over me while I had been mentally processing what had gone on.

  She still had a concerned expression on her face as if she were trying to assess whether or not I had suffered brain damage.

  My mother finally snapped out of the daze she was in, and as if she had finally processed that I was awake and pretty much jumped on me.

  “Alexia, you’re finally awake!”

  "How did I get here?"

  My mother looked at me; the worry was probably going to be permanently etched on her flawless face if she kept up that stare.

  "You fainted after what I hear was a spectacular power display."

  "Damn. It would have been way cooler if I had stuck the landing," I joked weakly trying to ease some of the tension that was rolling off Nyssa in waves.

  It kind of worked as my mother’s lips quirked up at the corners.

  "I don’t know about that, everyone seemed pretty stunned by it. Apparently you have a strong affinity for all of the elements. Mr. Carlisle said that when you’re fully recuperated he wants you to be transferred into the advanced class immediately.”

  Nothing could have prepared me for this, I was so happy I could have screamed. I thought that I had freaked out every vamp in the school so much that I would have been kicked out, or worse arrested for property damage.

  “This is so great mom.” I said. I wasn’t even able to keep the elation out of my voice. “So apart from making a fool out of myself this day has actually been quite a good one.”

  As I took in my mom’s drawn features I trailed off slightly, concern lacing through me. “What is it mom?”

  “Alex,” my mom hesitated slightly. “You haven’t been unconscious for a day.”

  That all too familiar knot was forming in my stomach again as I looked at my mom.

  “How long has it been?”

  My mother sucked in a deep breath. “Alex, you have been in a coma for four weeks.

  *********

  It took a few days for me to adjust to losing a whole month of my life.

  As I caught up on the events that had followed me passing out I found out that after my power surge I collapsed and no one could wake me. Roman had actually been the one to carry me to his car and drive me to the emergency room.

  Apparently he had barely left the hospital in the four days I was having tests done. We were all lucky that a vampire physician was on call when I had been brought in as it would have been too risky to see a human doctor and risk exposure with our different physiology.

  It was a good thing anyway as the doctor who attended to me understood about using elemental magic, as it turned out I had burned myself out using so much magic so quickly.

  It took time for vampire’s to learn how to control their element without causing themselves harm.

  The doctor was astounded that I hadn’t been completely overwhelmed by the power and destroyed myself, it was a miracle that I woke up at all, and he couldn’t do anything himself as my body had to heal itself in its own time.

  My parents had been a wreck not knowing if or when I would wake up.

  It was strange thinking of my family showing that much emotion openly, and even my older brother Derek had flown home to see me.

  It was thought that openly showing affection meant showing weakness and god forbid the Morgan family ever showed any weakness to the world. My parents were on the council and they were high class vamps.

  We were one of the most powerful families in the U.S and around Europe, and my father was the head of our clan.

  I sighed as I got ready for dinner, unlike many of the human beliefs vampires needed real food for sustenance, only needing small amounts of blood every so often, mostly from animals, and we aged too, just not as quickly as humans after we reached our eighteenth birthday, having over twice the lifespan of a human.

  I would be starting back at school tomorrow and my parents had wanted a big family dinner to celebrate my return to full health.

  I was not looking forward to this. After the disaster with my powers my sisters felt that I had endangered them just to show off to the class and had barely spoken to me since I had woken up, though they had rarely talked to me before the accident anyway so I didn’t really notice much difference.

  While I was getting ready I decided that I would at least try to make an effort to appease them; they had always hated it when I tried to be plain and inconspicuous, saying that it embarrassed them to be seen in public with someone who looked so human, so I searched through my closet until I found something appropriate to wear.

  I applied some light makeup, just some subtle shadow to my eyes and I tried not to blind myself with the mascara wand as I layered some onto my already long dark lashes, and I slipped into a dress.

  Looking into the mirror I appraised myself with mild shock. I wore a simple soft, black lace, knee length dress with a high neck, and black ankle boots with a low heel.

  My hair was gathered in a loose knot at nape of my neck with two wisps of hair on either side of my bangs. The makeup I had applied really came together nicely to make my vivid green eyes pop, the bright emerald green was framed by a subtle dark, smoky shadow.

  But there was something off about them, they were different somehow. I frowned as I took a closer at my eyes and saw that there was a dark ring around the iris.

  I had no idea how it had happened, but it made my eyes look way bigger and more mysterious, and though it was extremely weird for it to have happened, I had to admit, as I studied them, they were freaking cool.

  I smiled at my reflection. I heard my mom calling from downstairs and, sighing once again, I reluctantly grabbed my purse and the soft leather jacket hanging on the back of my door and walked heavily downstairs, hoping that there was a chance that tonight would turn out okay and I could get along with the rest of my family for just one night.

  Chapter Four

  I slammed the bedroom door and kicked it hard.

  Dinner had taken a turn for the worst as soon as I had reached the bottom of the staircase.

  Torah and Rhea were already dressed and waiting in the foyer. They had both really dressed up for the occasion and for a moment I had gotten a warm feeling, thinking they had also put in more effort than usual to make amends for igno
ring me for the last week.

  It was almost laughable how wrong I had been.

  As soon as they saw me they both scowled.

  “I guess the freak finally decided to take some fashion advice,” Rhea said cuttingly.

  Torah let out a mocking laugh as she said, “Well it’s no surprise she dressed up, she was all over him the second she saw him.”

  I was confused, I had no idea what they were talking about but they seemed annoyed by it. And that meant trouble for me.

  I was saved from trying to figure it out and appease my confusion when the doorbell rang.

  Rhea squealed.

  “That’s got to be him,” Torah said excitedly and she dashed off to get the door, teetering in a pair of seven inch stiletto heels.

  When she returned I was surprised to see she was dragging Roman beside her. I felt my heart squeeze a little as I surveyed the fact that Torah was glued to his arm.

  My mother and father took that time to enter the room. When my father saw him, he walked over to the godlike vamp and clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Roman, it’s nice to see you again, I’m glad you could make it.”

  Roman smiled at him and shook his hand. “Thank you for inviting me Mr. Morgan, it’s great to see you again.”

  Jared trooped in just then, Derek had needed to fly back to London the day before as he had an important meeting, but it had been nice to see him, albeit briefly.

  Apart from Jared, Derek was the only other member of the family who I knew had my back.

  Jared looked at my sisters and grimaced. “Really girls?” he complained. “We’re going to dinner, not a strip club. At least Alex has some modesty.”

  The twins glared at them, tugging their dresses down slightly, however there was not enough fabric on them to make much difference.

  “Everyone knows how Alex has a little too much modesty.” Torah snapped. She looked over at Roman, who had managed to disentangle himself from her grip as people entered and her voice took on a sickly sweet tone. “You like what I’m wearing, don’t you Roman?”