The Rising Fire (The Witch in the Woman Book One)

by Stacey Criswell

  Chapter 17:

  Aldric starts out of the tent also, but Bliss calls after him. "What?" He asks.

  "You know I can read your thoughts. It's against the law, your laws." She presses.

  "I don't know what you're talking about." Aldric says.

  "Don't lie to me. You kissed her. It is against the law for a vampire to be with a human. A law you made when you became leader. Do you remember why you made the law?" Bliss asks.

  Aldric takes a deep breath, "I don't want to talk about it."

  "I don't care. You made the law, because when your wife died she was a human. Do you want to relive it? He's going to kill her. If not him then someone else will. You can't fall in love again. If you do, do it with someone who can defend herself. If your people know you have broken your own law, they will no longer respect you."

  "I know! You don't think I know that? I wish I could control the feelings I have for her, but I don't think I can." He says.

  Bliss sits beside him, "I know you can't control your feelings for her, but you can control what you do about them. Control yourself."

  "Fine," He says, and storms out of the tent. He goes over to where Allison is training. "How are you doing?" He asks.

  "Don't act like you care. Go talk to your star pupil." She says defiantly.

  "Get over being jealous, if you ruin this you will regret it. Don't test me." She just glares at him. He glares right back; finally her self-consciousness makes her look away. He goes over to Ren?e. "How is everything going?"

  "Fine, what happened in there? You look like you're about to kill anything that moves." She says.

  He really doesn't know how to tell her about the law, but then again, she may not care if he can't be with her. "It's nothing. We'll talk later." She reluctantly nods. "Are you ready for this?"

  "I guess so. I hope I do something."

  "I hope you do too, but no pressure." He says sarcastically. She smiles weakly. "Hey, you'll do fine." He assures.

  She looks up at him, "I don't know. Hey, I'm sorry?about last night."

  "It doesn't matter. I'm going to go get ready. Chris will take you to someone who will you put your armor on." He has to walk away. It is when she feels so bad, that he wants to just hold her.

  He goes through the door to his personal room, opens his closet, and gets his armor out, then puts on the thick pants, with guarding up and down his legs, and the black shirt, then his armor that goes across his chest.

  Across the chest is the vampire symbol, the symbol of the families that created vampires. It's the infinity sign with a triangle around it. The infinity sign symbolizing long life, and the triangle symbolizing the three beginning families. The top point of the triangle being the most powerful family is the Claret family line. The word Claret is the dark red color of blood, referring to the fact that they drink blood. The second strongest family, on the left point of the triangle, is the Kwaad family, Kwaad meaning evil, referring to the way vampires acted back then. The third strongest family, on the right point of the triangle, is the Asura family line. Asura meaning demon, because people thought that anyone who could kill so easily must have had a demon possessing them, and they did. All vampires in this family had demon blood in the DNA.

  All these names represent the extreme dark side of the families that began the line of vampires. There are many immediate people from the families still alive today, but when asked if they would help us they responded, "I'm not getting in on your childish games. You disgrace the vampire race by being so weak."

  He wonders if really was disgracing his race. But, he is doing what needed to be done, right? He almost doesn't know anymore.