Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (10 page)

"Hey, what
about Lovac?" I asked, suddenly.

"What about
us?"

"Do any of
those myths apply towards us? Can... Can we have children?" I already knew
the answer to that last question since I didn't see any council members or
older Lovac running around with children. I didn't really want to ask, but I
needed to know for sure.

Felix wouldn't
meet my gaze. "Lovac are unable to have children, unfortunately. The
combination of the human gene and the Zhulik gene barely create a functioning
person. I don't think adding another kind of completely different gene to that
mix would do a child any good. Lovac can try all they want, but it's never
happened. We're basically sterile."

"You seem a
lot more depressed about that then I thought you would." For some reason,
I couldn't see Felix ever wanting to have a child that would have the same kind
of life as he did.

"I never
thought I would've wanted kids but every time we go rescue a Lovac baby it
depresses me more and more. Not that I'll never have kids but that I was never
given the choice to have them. Lovac get the short end of the stick every
time."

Without thinking
I reached out and placed my hand over his. "You should really stop being
so negative all the time."

He stared at my
hand and muttered something I couldn't understand before snatching his hand
away. We both made eye contact and blushed as we turned away.

"Sorry. I
don't know why I did that," I said.

"Don't
worry about it."

"So, what
about the other Vampire myths?" I asked, trying to change the subject
quickly. "Do any of them affect Lovac?"

"Not
really. You know that we can go out in the sunlight, we just burn a little
easier than humans."

"I always
thought that was because of how pale I am."

"It is but
that's because all Lovac are a lot paler than humans unless they have a darker
skin gene from their mother like Riley has.  She's part Italian but she's
not nearly as dark as most Italians."

"I thought
it was weird that a Vampire was tan."

He smiled
slightly but didn't laugh at my attempt at a joke. "You might not want to
call us Vampires. Some Nesmyr and Lovac get offended by the term since Zhulik
are the ones that created all of the stereotypes of a modern Vampire."

"Oh. I'm
sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Don't
worry about it. You didn't know. Just be careful from now on."

"I
will."

"Well, we
should probably start our tour for the evening if you're done with your
dinner?"

I nodded and we
cleaned up our table before leaving the cafeteria. I felt like I should have
left some tip money on the table but Felix assured me that all of the staff
here were very well paid.

Felix had
explained that the facility levels were set up in order of importance according
to the Nesmyr council. The Nesmyr council members had the top floor all to
themselves, much like the Lovac council members had the third floor. The fourth
floor was reserved for upper class Nesmyr and other creatures that were
visiting. That’s where most of the families that came for the adoption
stayed. The second floor was where all of the training Lovac and any graduated
Lovac that didn't already have their own place stayed. The first floor was
where meeting rooms and group event rooms were located. Felix also told me
there was a basement where the staff lived.

The Lovac and
staff floors were always the busiest. There were only ever five or so council
members on either of their floors at a time, along with their spouses, and
there were only ever visitors on special occasions. The Lovac and staff were
here almost year round.

This place was
literally set up in order of who the Nesmyr thought were most important. 
I was really starting to dislike the Nesmyr. I hadn't actually been introduced
to any of them specifically but Felix made the upper class Nesmyr sound like
superficial money-hungry people.

"Where do
you want to start?" Felix asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"I don't
care. Either from the top down or the bottom up."

"Let's
start with the basement. The staff is really friendly and they occasionally
have power wars."

"Power
wars?"

"Nesmyr all
have the ability to control minds. Some of the not so wealthy Nesmyr have
secret games where they see who can push into another's mind faster. It's like
the Nesmyr version of poker. They take bids on who has the strongest mind and
some people win a lot of money. It's really interesting to watch. I bet you'll
be able to sense it the second we get down there if anything is
happening."

"Will they
get in trouble if I point them out to you?"

"No. A lot
of them know me. The upper class Nesmyr are the ones that would scold them for
it. It's not illegal, just frowned upon."

"Well let's
go then."

I was expecting
the basement to look like a dungeon, with dark, damp walls and rats everywhere.
What was actually in the basement looked just as nice and fancy as the rest of
what I've seen in this building. There was a decent sized sitting room right at
the bottom of the stairs and few people were gathered around tables talking.
They glanced at us when we entered but only gave us curious looks.

The tingling
sensation didn't start as soon as we were down there but once we started
walking along the hallways it crept up on me. I didn't let Felix know. I wanted
to see if I could lead us to where it was coming from before I said anything.
We walked in silence most of the time but Felix mentioned what was in a few
rooms. There was a game room down here, a small library and a few other
recreational rooms.

We came to a
spot in the hallway that led off in four different directions. I paused and
tried to "listen" to the tingling. Sure enough I could feel it coming
a little stronger from the hallway on the left.

"Can we go
this way?" I asked.

Felix gave me a
confused look but shrugged. I think he knew that I was sensing something but he
wasn't going to mention it until I did.

I tuned Felix
out and concentrated on finding where the power I was sensing was coming from.
It was definitely getting stronger. My guess was it was coming from a room only
a few doors down. I stopped in the middle of the hallway when it felt
strongest. I looked to the door on the left and then the one on the right. Then
my eyebrows drew together. They both felt equally strong.

"It's
coming from both of these doors," I told Felix, hoping he would know what
I was talking about.

"Are you
sure?" He raised his eyebrows in question.

I concentrated
on both rooms again. There was definitely a lot of power coming out of both of
these rooms. I could sense it a lot better than I sensed Felix using his power
on Rema earlier.

"Yes,"
I said at last.

"Good
job," he said. "This hallway is the one where most of these power
wars take place."

He quietly
opened one of the doors and we peeked inside. Sure enough there were two men
sitting at a table staring intently at each other with sweat dripping down
their faces. There was a small crowd packed into the room watching them. They
were all quiet but I could see them rooting for the men inside their heads. We
got a few glares for opening the door but no one said anything or looked
startled to see us.

Felix closed the
door and opened the other one. The scene behind this door was similar to other
one except there was a woman going against another man at the table. One of the
spectators saw Felix and motioned him in. Felix looked at me questioningly, I
shrugged, and we both stepped into the room, trying to be as quiet as possible.

We stood near
the Nesmyr that had motioned Felix in and watch the two competitors in silence.
I wanted to ask some questions but decided I might get beaten up if I did. I
could tell these people took these competitions seriously.

The man and
woman at the table were perfectly still. They were staring into each
other’s eyes but I noticed they weren't sweating nearly as much as the
men in the other room. They must have just started.

A man walked up
to us with a sign that read:
Bids?
and had two names underneath it.
There were a lot of scratch marks under the name Joseph, which I assumed was
the man and not very many for poor Serena. I concentrated on the two people,
expecting to feel more power from Joseph but that wasn't the case. I already
knew Serena was going to win. I could feel her power exploding around her. I
took out a few bills and handed them to the bidding man, pointing to Serena's
name. He gave me a confused look but accepted my bid. Felix was also giving me
a confused look. I just smiled and watched the rest of the match.

A few moments
later Joseph shot up out of his chair and spun around in a circle with his arms
flailing around. Everyone was speechless except for me and the few others who
had been rooting for Serena.

I didn't get a
chance to congratulate Serena because she was soon surrounded by people asking
her how she did it. The bidding man gave me the small chunk of money I won and
Felix ushered me out of the room and chaos.

"You knew
she was going to win." It wasn't a question but I nodded my head anyways.

"She was
radiating much more power than that Joseph guy." It felt like cheating but
since I only bid a few dollars, I didn’t feel too guilty.

"I'm
surprised. Serena is new and she's also upper class. She’s one of the few
Nesmyr who were actually turned and survived. She’s married to one of the
richer Nesmyr but she gets bored with their life so she sneaks down here. She's
only been doing these power wars for a short time and Joseph is pretty good.
She either got lucky or has been finding ways to strengthen her power."

"I think
she's had that much power but was holding back before. I don't think anyone
could get that powerful in a short time. I wish you could've felt what I
felt."

"Me too. It
sounds really cool."

"Really?"
I still had my hopes that there was more to my power but I was starting to
learn that it wasn’t as boring as I originally thought.

"Absolutely.
I know you're bummed that this might be all your power is but I think it's
pretty cool. If you can sense Zhulik power, too then you have double the
ability to find them. That can be very useful."

"How can I
sense Zhulik? I know you mentioned it before but what’s it feel
like?"

"You’ll
get a pretty bad headache anytime one is near. Most Lovac don’t ever have
a normal headache."

I froze in the
hallway and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. Throughout my entire life,
I was plagued by headaches every few months. It was always around the time my
mom and I had to move again. My whole life I had been sensing a Zhulik and
never knew it.

"Are you
okay?" Felix asked when he noticed I wasn’t following him down the
hallway. "You look like you’re going to be sick."

I took a shaky
breath and shook my head. "I’m fine." I tried to smile
convincingly and fell in step next to him.

Even though
there wasn’t much else to see in the basement we continued walking
through the rest of it. Felix kept giving me concerned side glances every few
minutes but I kept a smile plastered to my face. I refused to think about the
Zhulik that caused my headaches, who was no doubt Lucas.

After the tour
Felix walked me back to my room. We said our goodbyes and Felix promised to
wake me up bright and early the next morning before he gave me another
not-so-quick hug and left. I couldn’t wrap my thoughts around Felix this
time, I was still sick from the idea of Lucas stalking me my whole life.

I immediately
got ready for bed and hoped that sleep would calm my nerves and my thoughts. My
thoughts were on over-drive, though and I tossed and turned in bed before I
finally fell asleep.

Wake up
, I heard repeating in my
head.

They're going
to kill you
,
the voice in my head said.

I slowly opened
my eyes but didn't recognize where I was. The small room that I was in was
nothing like my room at home. I couldn't remember how I got there either. I
slowly stood up and moved to the door, testing to see if it was locked. To my
surprise, it wasn't. My captives weren't very smart if they left my door
unlocked and unguarded.

You must kill
them, all of them, before they find you
, said the voice. I didn't know why I was
hearing voices in my head but I felt like they were protecting me.

I stepped into
the hallway but didn't see anyone. To my left I could see a door that marked
the end of the hallway and to my right the hallway continued on beyond my view.
I chose to go right, hoping I would run in to someone. I wasn't sure where I
was going but I found myself knocking on a door that was quite a long way down
the hallway from mine.