Chosen by Blood (7 page)

Anger swiftly followed. “Damn them,” Knox growled. When his mother moved away, he stood and paced in front of her while raking his hands through his hair. “Damn them all for creating that filthy vaccine.”

“They were scared, Knox. They didn’t know—”

“They knew,” he roared, immediately feeling ashamed when she winced. Bending on one knee in front of her, he took her hands in his. “They knew, Mother,” he said quietly. “Their whole purpose in creating the vaccine was to eliminate our food supply, which would naturally eliminate us—our strength, and thus any threat we posed.”

“They did what they thought they needed to do to protect themselves. Kyle—the FBI—has committed significant resources to finding a cure.”

“That doesn’t mean they’ll succeed.” Knox sighed and straightened. He’d have to tell her about the antidote and his agreement with Mahone at some point, but he had to take care. He didn’t want to raise her hopes for a cure—both for herself and Zeph, as well as the clan she loved—until he knew more. “Mother, yesterday I met with—” His words came to an abrupt stop when he saw the caramels on the cherry side table. He stiffened, walked toward the table, and picked up the small box.

Felicia had been here.

In disbelief, he turned to his mother, who raised her chin defiantly.

“She came the day after you left for France,” she said softly.

Picking up one of the candies, Knox shook his head. She’d been in this very room, yet he hadn’t sensed her. Hadn’t smelled her. Perhaps his own powers were dwindling faster than he’d thought. “How did she get inside the Dome without my approval?”

His mother lifted an imperious brow. “You may rule it, Knox, but only with my permission. I am still the Queen of this clan. I’m allowed to have visitors.”

“You’re allowed to, yes,” Knox gritted. “I’m quite aware that it’s only because of my strength that I rule.”

“You rule because you carry royal blood. Because you are my eldest heir, a descendent of the first vampires to walk the earth. You rule because of your inner strength as well as your physical strength.”

“But it’s the physical strength that makes the clan tolerate my rule, even if that strength is a result of sharing the blood of a traitor.”

His mother gasped, but at which part of his statement he wasn’t sure. Holding up a hand to forestall her protest, Knox carefully replaced the box, but pocketed the single piece of candy. “But that doesn’t explain why you’d keep news of her visit from me.”

“You were gone.”

“Which is the only reason she came.”

His mother’s gaze remained steady on his, but only for a few seconds. She looked away. “She asked me not to tell you.”

His lips flattened. His anger was swift and automatic. Before he could stop himself, he said, “ And of course, your loyalty lies with her, a human, rather than with me?”

His mother’s eyes rounded with hurt before they narrowed. She pointed toward her door. Both of them pretended not to see her arm shaking with the effort to hold it up. “Don’t forget you’re half-human, too. And if you’re going to accuse me of disloyalty, you can—”

“I’m sorry,” Knox interrupted, gritting his teeth in frustration. “I didn’t mean—I wasn’t referring to the past or to—to
him
. But I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me. I could have been here before she left.”

The anger in his mother’s face softened. “And that’s why I didn’t tell you. She deserves a fighting chance against you.”

Stunned, he stepped back. “You make it sound like I want to hurt her,” Knox growled.

“What you are, what she can never be, will hurt her.” A distant look swept over her as she stared at something on the coffee table. Reaching out, she picked up a dried rose carefully preserved between two small squares of glass. “Trust me on this,” she said softly. “I know.”

“Don’t compare Felicia to him,” he warned.

“Why not? Your father was human, Knox.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, you’re hoping to marry Michelle Burgeon and have Felicia, too.”

“It’s the way of vampires. We don’t swear an oath of fidelity upon marrying.”

“But it’s not the way of humans. It’s not Felicia’s way. Your father—although it was hard for him—he was able to share me for a time with Zeph’s father. Felicia isn’t willing to do the same. Why do you think things will end any better for you than they did for me? Why won’t you accept that a relationship with Felicia will hurt you, and thus hurt the clan?”

“There’s no reason we can’t be together,” Knox insisted stubbornly. “She’s stubborn. She’s idealistic. But she’s not a traitor.”

For an instant, his mother’s eyes flashed red, startling him. “Neither was your father,” she said fiercely, “no matter what the Council thought.”

“It’s what everyone thought,” Knox pointed out. “Quite rightly, since he confessed.”

As fast as his mother’s temper ignited, it left just as quickly. She actually cowered away from him, making him curse. “I’m sorry,” he said stiffly, “but I believed him. I still do.”

“I know,” she whispered, her voice clipped now. She set the rose down and folded her hands in her lap. “And I’m sure he forgave you anyway.”

Knox sighed wearily. How often had they had this argument? How often had his mother protested his father’s innocence despite all the damning evidence to the contrary? “I don’t want to argue with you, Mother.”

“Then let’s not. Argue, that is.” She closed her eyes and tilted her head back on the chaise. Several seconds ticked by and Knox wondered if she’d fallen asleep.

“Mother . . .”

Wearily, she raised her head. Then she patted the cushion again and forced herself to smile. “Tell me about your visit and then you can tell me what evil plan you’ve cooked up for Felicia.”

Wary now, Knox cocked a brow and sat beside her. “What makes you think there’s an evil plan? I only want to do my duty and have Felicia, too.”

His mother—his elegant, refined, royal mother—actually snorted. “I don’t have to read your mind to read you, Knox. I’ve known it was only a matter of time before you went after Felicia with full force. You are, after all, your father’s son, capable of deep and committed love. I only regret that so much responsibility has been placed upon you. Not only the need to rule in my stead, but the belief you must have yet more children with a vampire in order to prove your allegiance to the clan.”

Knox frowned. “My need to mate with a vampire is fact, not belief. Our numbers are dwindling—”

“And stopping that must fall on you? Even given your other responsibilities?”

“I—If I can help, I must. Felicia will come to accept that.”

“ And she might suffer even more as a result.”

Knox struggled against another twinge of guilt. Of course he didn’t want Felicia to suffer. But what else could he do? Even when he’d been married to a vampire he’d thought he could fall in love with, Knox hadn’t been able to stop wanting Felicia. He needed her. And now that Noella was gone, he was going to have her. Like it or not, he, like his mother, had fallen in love with a human.

But, he told himself, there the similarity would end.

Knox would cherish and protect Felicia as long as she lived, but Knox wouldn’t marry her the way his mother had married his father. Nor would he allow his love for her to endanger his clan or take precedence over his duty as its leader. He was a member of an immortal race, one that had never been hampered with conservative notions about sex. To vamps, marriages built on fidelity—even love, for that matter—were a luxury. He couldn’t afford to cater to Felicia’s softer sensibilities. He was no longer married, but he still had a duty to ensure that his clan proliferated, now more than ever. Understandably, it was for those reasons that Felicia continued to deny him. Fair or not, he was willing to do everything short of coercion or force to change her mind. He was counting on his deal with Mahone to up the ante.

Knox stood. “If you’ll excuse me, Mother, I have an important appointment that starts shortly. I need to—”

“What will you do when you’re forced to choose between your love and your duty?”

Refusing to believe such a possibility existed, Knox shook his head. “There’s no reason I’ll have to choose—”

“What
if
, Knox?”

“Felicia isn’t a traitor. She would never betray any of us. But,” he emphasized, “if at any point she poses a threat to this clan, I’ll do what I have to do to protect it.”

“Does that include killing her?”

He didn’t flinch. “Yes,” he said, meaning it, although the only reason he even contemplated such an absurd thought was because his faith in Felicia was unwavering.

Still, as he stared at the first rose his father had given his mother, Knox tried to imagine being put in the position his mother was suggesting.

Could he kill Felicia if it meant saving his clan? Maybe. But even though he’d spent the last decade with only snatches of time with her, none of them more intimate than a brief dance and one stolen kiss, thoughts of her had kept him going during the worst moments of the War. It was as if the mere knowledge of her existence, coupled with his determination to be with her one day, was as important to him as breathing. If he killed her, he’d be giving himself a death sentence.

He would die without her.

“Please tell the children I’d enjoy seeing them today.”

Knox shook himself from thoughts of betrayal and killing, and kissed his mother’s cheek. “I will, Mother, just as soon as I see them.”

An hour later, Knox watched Mara Jacobs’s parents lead the young dharmire out of his office. If he’d known the identity of the human who’d shot her full of drugs, he’d have hunted him down and killed him. Fortunately or not, he didn’t, but at least Felicia had pumped a bullet into the bastard. That was some small consolation.

“You were a little harsh with her, don’t you think?”

Stiffening, Knox turned toward his younger brother, Zeph, who was in the same stance he’d adopted since Mara had first entered the room. Arms crossed over his chest, he leaned against a bookshelf, glowering at him.

“You’d rather I’d held back and risk her doing something foolish again?”

“She’s young. Curious. She doesn’t like being confined to this Dome any more than the rest of us.”

“‘This Dome’ provides us protection. I’m fortunate that with a simple application of sunblock, dharmires can withstand the sun. This Dome enables full vampires to be active during the day. It’s not a prison, it’s a haven. And Mara will have plenty of time to explore when she’s older and more knowledgeable about how things are.”

“ And how are things, besides screwed up? This Dome isn’t keeping us from growing weaker with every day that passes . . .” Several harsh coughs racked Zeph’s body, clearly taking their toll. He closed his eyes for several seconds, and the dark circles beneath them had Knox’s pulse hammering out of control.

“You should be resting,” he snapped. The product of Bianca’s only mating-union, something commonly expected of vamp females—single, married, or widowed—due to the vamp clan’s low attrition rate, Zeph was just ten years younger than Knox. Because he was a full vampire, however, the effects of the vamp vaccine had hit him hard, while Knox’s dharmire status had mostly protected him thus far. Compared to the elders in their clan, like his mother, Zeph’s youth had delayed the effects of malnourishment somewhat. However, the speed of his decline in the past month wasn’t encouraging.

Zeph slowly opened his eyes. “All I ever do is rest. I’m tired of resting. I’m tired period.”

“Meaning what?”

His brother said nothing.

Knox growled, “Damn it, Zeph—”

“Oh, relax,” Zeph grumbled. “I’m not going to try and kill myself or anything stupid like that. If Mother can bear it, then so can I.”

Although he was relieved his brother didn’t have thoughts of suicide in mind, helpless fury made Knox’s limbs tremble. Once more, he thought how twisted Fate was. His mother and half brother were full vampires, with the blood of their powerful ancestors running through their veins, and yet Knox, who only carried half that blood, was virtually immune to the weakness that was slowly destroying them. “Have you visited her today? I know she’d love to see you.”

“Not today. Truthfully, I’ve been avoiding her. We’ve been butting heads and I don’t want to contribute to her feeling any worse than she does. Although I’m beginning to think she’s feeling more like herself. Arrogant and stubborn, just like you.”

Knox snorted. “As opposed to you being what? Your father isn’t exactly the most humble vamp I’ve ever met.” That was putting it mildly. Dante Prime was an arrogant vamp whose arrogance had simply magnified after Bianca had chosen him for a mating-pair. The fact that he’d cared more for the honor of being chosen than for Bianca herself or the son they’d produced had been more than obvious to everyone—including Zeph.

That was why, when his brother smiled, there was a trace of bitterness to it. “Good point and one my father would be quite pleased to hear. As a member of the Vamp Council, the last thing my father wants is to appear humble. The Council’s diminished capacity is humiliating enough as far as he’s concerned.”