Aveline sat behind me on the bed brushing through my hair while I absently stared at a page of The Biology of Vampyre. It wasn’t that I didn’t find vampires interesting, in fact the book itself held a plethora of information about how vampires ticked and their feeding patterns and plenty more. But several passages were in Latin and a lot of the English bits were very complex with medical terms I couldn’t distinguish the definition of. The only parts I could understand were the ones in simple English, describing basics of vampires, and a lot of the pictures explained themselves.

It also didn’t help that I was confused about current events. Xander hadn’t come back from wherever he had disappeared to. I hadn’t showed any signs of amazing speed or things similar. Aveline hadn’t bothered to explain what had just happened. And I hadn’t gathered the courage to begin asking my questions, much less figured out what questions I did want to ask. Instead, I just let Aveline absently stroke my hair while I picked through what felt like a book in a completely different language.

From what I could gather, vampires were similar to humans in some ways. Their heart beat, though at a constant and slow rate. They didn’t need human food to survive or drinks. They only needed human blood, and even then could live for centuries without it though it would leave them in a crazed state. They had an infinite lifespan as long as they avoided the things that could kill them. The list of things vampires were susceptible to included: silver to the heart, beheading, fire, and sunlight. Silver did hurt them, but only kills if it strikes the heart or is used in a weapon to behead them. There were also herbs that can harm them, make them weak or sick, but none that are known to poison them to death.

The book described their fangs as being a layer of bone hiding over the canine teeth in the gum. They could extend the layer over their canine teeth at will, though sometimes it occured automatically. It’s associated with the senses, which causes the pupils to expand ridiculously large in order to maximize their senses completely. I imagined if one where to shine a light directly into a vampire’s black eyes, it would be especially irritating.

A vampire’s blood was described in extreme medical terms and twisted through pages of Latin. I could only find small bits of English that only stated it was powerful and could be used to heal humans in a form of life force sharing, similar to bonding. The book didn’t state more on it in simple terms.

The interesting part was what I learned about a vampire’s saliva when biting their victim. Apparently, a vampire could emit multiple types of venom through their saliva. It was similar to how some spiders can choose between their venom, whether to paralyze their prey for feasting or just to kill the prey completely. With vampires, they could choose levels at which their bite affects the victim. This included a spectrum on the pleasure and pain scale. Their venom also could decide whether they’re biting to feed or biting to turn. If the vampire wanted to turn a victim, they merely willed it into their venom, and when feeding their blood to the human it wouldn’t just heal the bite, it would complete the turn.

I was reading fertility in Royals versus infertility in turned vampires when I finally gathered the nerve to begin bothering Aveline with my questions. “Aveline?” I approached her name carefully, allowing her to silence me if she wished. I continued reading, learning shortly that Royals only remained fertile typically within the first century of their life, becoming infertile afterwards. Turned vampires were infertile for some reason, the turning of human life to vampire apparently damaging their ability to breed in the process.

“Go on, ask your questions,” Aveline sighed, already knowing it was coming. I still hesitated, not sure exactly which questions I wanted answers to first and knowing that I probably would only get the first few answered.

“Who was it Xander was speaking of? When he said him, did he mean Jacobi?” I asked.

Aveline didn’t answer for a while, only playing with my hair between her fingers. “He was speaking of his maker. A really… bad man. You would think Jacobi was an angel compared to him,” She finally said, “When turned ones are born into vampire, it is done so by their Maker and they become their maker’s kindred. Makers have a power over their kindred for some time while they adapt to the world. It allows them to control their kindred. In Xander’s case, his maker forced him to kill horribly until he aged enough to break free of his command. Xander isn’t cruel hearted; he views humans as more than food. I can’t recall the last time he’s killed one.”

I remembered his face steeling off of emotion, preparing to protect Aveline from me.

“Are Monets not human?” I asked suddenly. Aveline stopped moving, but I didn’t glance back at her. It was something I had begun to wonder now that I had that burst of speed. The sleepwalking wasn’t normal. I wasn’t asleep when it occurred. Sometimes the dreams told me things that would happen or possibly things that have happened. The dreams weren’t ever anything extensive, just a word or two or an image. It wasn’t normal, though. And if Xander didn’t harm humans but would kill a dangerous Monet, what’s to say a Monet is even human?

“They’re monsters,” Aveline only said quietly.

“Monsters as in human but horrible? Or monsters as in-“

“As in what, Elysia? Am I a monster because I am vampire?” She interrupted sharply.

I shut the book, putting it on the bed in front of me, and turned finally to look at her. “Am I a monster because I’m a Monet?” I asked her accusingly. “Do not look at me and act as though you walk around this place fearing for your life because of a name associated with yours! Don’t look at me and say I’m calling you a monster when just moments ago you looked at me like… like I’m a freak! When just the other day you were saying I was dangerous like a leopard, and every day you call me a tiger. But guess what, Aveline. I’ve never thrown someone five feet down a hallway and broken their bones. I’ve never shoved someone against a wall. I’ve never hurt anybody!” I turned away from her in anger.

I felt Aveline reach around to wrap her arms around me, and though I felt like I should shove her away I didn’t. I let her hug me and lay her head on my back affectionately. “I’m sorry,” She said sincerely, sounding quite moved, “I can get a bit caught up in protecting my kind, I forget it’s a matter of perspective. I can see how we’ve proved ourselves to be a monster to someone like you, due to our prejudice of your family name.”

I sighed in regret. “I don’t think your kind are monsters,” I replied quietly, “Just… angry.”

“Can I still call you my little tiger?”

I laughed. “Yes, I guess you can.” Aveline moved away and rolled across the bed before patting the section next to her. I hesitated, but put aside the books and crawled next to her before lying down and getting comfortable. Well, as comfortable as I could get while wearing jeans. I’ve never been able to sleep easily in jeans. Aveline began petting my hair. I didn’t know if I should start feeling offended at being a pet just yet.

“Where were you guys all day? Or… night,” I asked curiously. I really couldn’t tell the difference in time these days… or nights.

“Well, we went for a snack because we didn’t want to steal it from you,” She poked my nose teasingly, “At least not until you’re willing to. Then we had to go to a meeting and were given an operation to assist in…”

“You have meetings?”

“A lot of the time we have meetings, sometimes about events in the coterie or problems members have. Sometimes it’s requests to turn companions or bond a new member. And sometimes it’s issues with other coteries. We had to assist the Master, Jacobi, to a neighboring coterie to help with a quarrel another coterie is having with them. It was all solved, though,” Aveline explained easily.

“Do other coteries depend on this one to help often or is it the same with all coteries?”

Aveline smiled at my curiosity. “No, we’re the leading wealthiest coterie in this country, so a lot of the other coteries request the help of our Master often. And when they aren’t, one or more of the Royal families are asking for an audience for one reason or another.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a drowsiness begin to slowly rest into me. Perhaps a nap wouldn’t be so bad after all. Just before I dozed off, I managed to ask, “Aveline, if the Raene bloodline was the oldest and most powerful of Royals, how is it they were killed off completely? I mean Eve was thousands of years old…” I let my eyes drift closed and waited for an answer that never came.

I was woken up by lips against mine. It was light enough that for a moment I thought I imagined it. Then I felt fingers brushing against the palm of my hands when the lips moved away. I opened my eyes slowly, confused, to find Xander leaning over me in the bed. Aveline was still in the same spot next to me, looking at Xander with affection.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, unsure if I should start panicking yet.

“I wish to apologize for my actions earlier,” Xander said determinedly, “And as repayment, I wish to offer you my protection in the purest way my kind can offer. If you can’t accept my apology, I would understand.” I froze, not sure what he meant but not wanting to offend him accidentally by speaking too hastily. The pause was enough of an answer for him and he pressed down on my hands, holding them to the bed and bent down to begin giving butterfly kisses across my cheek, lower to my neck, shoulders, then chest.

I gasped, heat rising to my face and rendering me completely speechless. His mouth moved from my collarbone to between my breasts. I felt him shift, moving between my legs as if it were the easiest thing in the world. When he pressed against me suggestively, I yelped in surprise, but he didn’t stop there. He let go of his grip on my hands, reaching for the bottom of my shirt before pushing it up my body and trailing his hands along the length of my ribs.

My heart began racing faster, panic starting to settle in between the confusion. What was he doing? Why wasn’t Aveline stopping him? I felt his lips move up and over my throat, followed by his tongue. When he pulled back for a moment, I saw his eyes had turned black and his fangs were extending. That was it for me. The second his hands moved from my ribs to reach for my wrists again, I was suddenly no longer under him.

In fact, I was in a complete frenzy of panic, very different from the usual fear I had felt since being here. The first thing I did was run completely against a wall, and when pushing myself away from it I ended up slamming against the table on the opposite side of the room nearly falling over. When trying to avoid falling, I ended up again on the opposite side of the room where I finally crashed into the full body mirror. It was with this mishap that I found myself showered with mirror glass and fallen on the floor.

I was now in complete terror of myself. Whimpers were periodically escaping my throat, holding back what I wanted to be a blood curdling scream. It wasn’t because I had injured myself by slamming full force into a mirror. It was because I couldn’t slow down. I, a person who was unable to jog more than two minutes without wanting to die two days ago, was now unable to simply walk across a room without crashing due to supernatural speed.

When I tried to push myself up to run away, I was stopped by strong hands holding me still. “Wait, Elysia, wait,” Xander said quickly, his eyes now normal and expression pained. “I’m sorry, I should have explained more. It’s okay, I won’t do it.”

“What’s wrong with me?!” I cried out, not really concerned with what had happened before I had begun sonic-the-hedgehogging about the room. I began hyperventilating and Xander just hugged me to him protectively.

“Monet’s are usually different…” Xander said slowly.

“Xander, don’t,” Aveline interrupted harshly. “She’s not ready for all of that.”

Xander hesitated, but continued to say, “You didn’t show any signs of being like them until now, I’m not sure why. They’re human, though, Elysia. You’re human. They just have… gifts.”

When I couldn’t quite process what that meant, I asked, “What were you doing? You were going to bite me!” I looked up at him accusingly.

“It is how we can ensure you won’t be harmed by any of the other vampires in our coterie. It’s a mark of… it’s a claiming. Corentine wouldn’t be able to touch you even if Jacobi ordered it. Only higher ups like the Master and Royals would be able to harm you. It was the best thing I could offer as an apology for attacking you,” Xander explained quickly, “I should have explained before; I just was trying to… alleviate my own guilt.”

I hesitated, and then lowered my head to lean against his chest. “I already had forgiven you, stupid, I don’t want to be claimed,” I pouted defensively. Then I sighed. “But thanks for the offer.” Vampires were so weird and complicated.

“Did you just… call me stupid?” Xander asked in confusion.

“No,” I said simply.

“Come, she should be able to walk normally now she’s calmed down,” Aveline ordered with concern, “I can smell her blood, she’s hurt.”

“Nothing a bit of medicine can’t fix,” Xander replied with a smirk. Oh boy.

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