Bleeding Shadows

Chapter 27

I'm not a morning person. Actually the earlier someone wakes me up, the harder is it to shake the fog of sleep my from mind.

So it was extremely unusual for me to be woken up at 3 am and jerked almost fully awake instantly.

The cause of this was a terrified looking Gabe. Who was as far as I could tell, trying to get me to drink her blood so I didn't randomly attack her. Well that's what I thinks happening here anyway. Even though that reasoning really doesn't make much sense to me.

Gabe was standing at the end of my bed doing her best to expose her neck as much as possible. I didn't need vampire sight to see all the scars Alex had left on her from different feedings. She also had her eyes closed tightly, she obviously didn't want to look at what she thought was about to happen.

I just knew that it didn't matter what I said at this point, Gabe wasn't going to look at me as anything except a monster. So I had to show her with actions.

I got out of bed. Just to be clear, you have to be REALLY special to get me out of bed at 3 am. I went over to her and gently grabbed her head to guide it back into its normal position atop her head instead of the skewed angle she was holding it at.

I saw the fear flash through her face as I touched her, only to be replaced by confusion as I gently grabbed her hand and gently pulled her into a sitting position on my bed.

I looked directly at Gabe, not bothering to hide the glow in my eyes anymore as there really was no need. I waited until she finally decided to open her eyes to see what was taking so long so I could look her directly in her eye.

"We need to talk." Was what I said once our eyes made contact. "Please."

"What is there to talk about? You're a vampire and I'm your meal, just please don't kill me." Gabe replied, fear still radiating through her voice.

"Ok first, I'm not a freak of a vampire by choice and second, you are not, and have never been a meal to me. No one in this house ever has. In fact I rather hate the act of drinking blood. Luckily it seems I only need it occasionally from my children." I was trying to explain gently, but Gabe was confused.

"What do you actually know about Original vampires?" I asked of Gabe.

"Not a whole lot." She admitted truthfully. "I know that Rose is insisting you're something called an Ethereal and therefore not dangerous, but I spent too much time being drained by Alex to believe that."

"Ok, let's start at the beginning then." I decided. "Did you know that original vampires came to earth from another world and cultivated humans in much the same way that humans cultivate cattle?"

Gabe looked extremely shock at this, but I continued before she could start asking questions. "It was going well for the vampire overlords millions of years ago, they had as much food and as many slaves as they liked. However some of them decided to shack up with humans and spread a little of their DNA into the human species."

"Do you know that a little part of your DNA originates from another world?" I asked Gabe. Once again she couldn't answer so I continued. "Anyway, this is what caused humans to suddenly evolve so rapidly and gain the ability to fight back against their masters. The rest is history so they say."

"But here's the important part that pertains to me." I was still looking Gabe directly in the eyes so she knew I wasn't trying to lie to her. "There are two types of Original vampires. One are called Royals, that's what Alex is. They're blood sucking monsters that literally enslave the people around them to get what they want. Which is normally a steady supply of human blood"

"The second is an Original vampire is so rare that I'm the first one in 4,000 or so years. We're called Ethereals. We aren't really that different from humans in that I mainly survive on human food and the small amount of blood I need comes from my children. Instead of mindless slaves known as drones, my blood creates Ethereal children, so named because it creates a family like bond between us that's extremely strong. The complete opposite of a royal."

"I need you to understand that if ANYONE ever harms you again, they'll have me to deal with and if you'd allow it, I hope to be able to earn your trust and friendship back." Gabe's expression was now unreadable but she still hadn't said anything. "I'm still the same person you knew, the only thing that has changed is you know a bit more about me now. Nothing you saw of me was a lie."

"Do you promise?" Was all Gabe asked in a weak voice.

"Cross my heart and on my sister's life." I replied.

I'm not sure what I thought was going to happen next, but I was definitely not expecting Gabe to bury her face in my neck and start crying her eyes out.

I put my arms around the girl and held her gently as giant sobs racked through her. We stayed like that for what must have been fifteen or so minutes until Gabe had run out of tears and calmed down a little.

I let go of Gabe to go and get tissues and a face washer before coming back and gently cleaning up Gabe's tear streaked face.

She looked exhausted and I was quite sure that she hadn't slept since the night of her concert. Apparently letting all those emotions out a few minutes ago had left her nearly unconscious.

I gently laid her down in my massive king sized bed and tucked her in under the covers. Gabe was asleep almost before her head hit the pillows. I went around to the other side of the colossal bed and snuggled in to finished my beauty sleep that had been broken by the midnight visitor.

...

When I woke up Gabe was still fast asleep on the other side of the bed, god she was cute when she slept. Although she had wormed her way closer to me while we slept. Thank god this wasn't a normal double bed or we'd be on top of each other by now.

So as not to wake the sleeping girl I quietly got dressed and departed for the kitchen, only to find Rose in a frenzy.

"Where's Gabe?" She demanded, looking panicked. "I can't find her anywhere."

"Relax." I told my sister, grabbing her my her shoulders to stop her running around like a lunatic. "She came into my room early this morning to discuss some things with me, she scared the shit out of me while she was at it. But long story short, we had a good chat then she collapsed from exhaustion so I left her sleeping in my room. She's ok I promise you."

Rose calmed down a lot after hearing my explanation. "I'm just glad she's ok and she felt like she could talk to you."

"Well actually, she came to my room because she seemed convinced that she had to offer me blood. I was able to convince her that she will never be a food source for anyone here, but judging by the amount of puncture wounds on her, I'd say that this is a behavior that's been taught to her over a long period of time." I paused "Is Alex awake yet? I want to have a very ...pointed discussion with him."

"Unfortunately no, we're not sure how but it seems his healing ability is keeping him unconscious to repair the damage inflicted to him at the construction site. Also, when he wakes up there's already a line of people that want to hurt him so you'll have to take a number." Wow, this might be the first time ever that Rose wished pain on anyone or anything else. Ever.

"How did you go with your test results yesterday?" I asked turning to Leah and Audrey who were also present in the room at the time to change the topic before Rose became a murderer.

"I believe we can use your virus to break the hold on a drone. But it will be a long and very painful process for the victim. It will also depend on whether or not your virus sees the royal blood as something to be repaired." Leah said. Apparently this girl did not waste time when researching.

"Well if you want to try it on Gabe's brother then you're going to have to explain what it is you're trying to do and get her permission first. As well as the risks involved" I said.

"That's fair enough." Leah agreed.

"How is Gabe doing anyway?" It was Audrey that asked this time.

"Well she finally managed to cry and let some of those emotions out that she's been holding in. I just hope that she sleeps the day away and wakes up feeling far better than when she went to sleep. But be it for better or worse, I'll be there for her as long as she allows me to." I replied.

"We all will." Came a chorus from everyone in the room, Rhys and Mia included.

My heart was filling with pride at the people I called my family. I also knew that it didn't matter where Gabe had come from or what her past was, she had a family now. All she had to do was choose to accept it.