Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (29 page)

“
You
let Grigor’s mother into the compound?”

“
It
is not what you think. She is not like her son.”

“
Like
that she can be any better! So now we have a spy? How can all of you
be so calm?”

“
I
am anything but calm, my dear Cheyenne.”

Isidora was slowly
getting to her feet. She held her side with one hand as she limped
forward. She stopped when she was a few feet in front of me, clearly
not wanting to get within arm’s reach of me again. Tabitha was
at my side, my only constant, and grabbed my hand as if I was going
to need the support. This was a development that I was not expecting
and there was nothing anyone could say that would make life okay
again.

“
Chey,”
Tabitha said, “Isidora helped Violeta escape five years ago and
she is Efia’s sire. She even has a mole inside Grigor’s
compound.”

“
Not
any more. He has been discovered and his life has been forfeit.”

The perpetual smirk
left her face for a split second, but long enough for me to see that
she was truly sincere. I studied her face for a moment. She looked so
familiar, as if I had known her my entire life. If she were just a
lot younger she would be an identical match for…

The monster on the
slave ship had my ankle in a grip so tight that I could not shake it.
He pulled me down the ladder and onto the floor before releasing his
hold. As he stood over me the smell of blood was almost palatable. I
leaned over to the side and began to dry-heave until my body began to
shake. I knew that I was going to die today and there was nothing I
could do about it.

Just then I heard a
whimper coming from a nook under the ladder. I looked in and saw the
huge blue eyes of the young cabin maiden. She and I had done our best
to take care of each other so far in this journey. She had kept the
slavers entertained with jokes and dances when they began to show too
much interest in me and I provided her with a warm place to sleep and
find comfort. Now, neither one of us was in a position to help the
other. I reached down and extended my hand for her and pulled her to
me and we cried.

When I opened my eyes I
was looking into the face of that little cabin maiden. Isidora was
the girl on the slave ship; the girl in my recurring dreams about
Efia’s life. And they had affection for one another. What the
heck was going on?

“
Who
are you?” I asked. It was the only question that I could come
up with.

“
My
name was Izzy then. Or at least that is who I appeared to be to
others. You see, I am a mutation. My maker was an Elemental but my
human bloodline carried the Cerebralis trait; capable of making
people see what I want them to see. And I am also Efia’s sire.
I am here to protect her descendants.”

I knew what she was
going to say the second the words came out of her mouth. I felt as
connected to her as I did to Efia and the sensation was unnerving to
say the very least. I had refused to move from that spot until I had
heard the entire story; so tired of being asked to sit down and
relax. My life had been turned upside down and I was going to retain
as much control over this particular situation as I could.

Isidora had been
Embraced by a Vampire relative of Efia's, a member of the Vampire
clan that Grigor and his father destroyed. As she returned from
visiting a neighboring village she discovered the massacre of Efia’s
people. Efia was only 7 years old and had been Isidora’s
favorite; she found solace in her company and she had always planned
to offer her the Embrace once she hit maturity. After the massacre,
British slavers found Efia, her tribe’s sole survivor, and
placed her on a ship for the New World. The two Oleanders gained
passage by paying the slavers in gold and Isidora, using her Cereb
attribute, appeared as Izzy, a 5 year old orphan girl, and then snuck
aboard the slave ship while it was docked. She had no idea what she
would do next, only that she was going to follow Efia wherever she
went. As Izzy, Isidora played games that did not require the two to
speak the same language and they were able to occupy their minds
during the long days and nights through the Middle Passage.

One night, when they
could see land on the horizon, Grigor and his father attacked and
killed all of the crew members. Efia was down below but Izzy had seen
it all. She recalled how the blood flowed out of the man’s
mouth and onto the wooden deck. Izzy scrambled to the hatch that led
below deck and hid behind the ladder. She was sure that she was safe
until the pair rushed below deck and began to slaughter the slaves.
But Izzy realized that the Grigor was not merely tearing their
throats out like he did with the crew. He was drinking from their
necks to the point of exsanguination. She was sickened by the memory
of the massacre of her and Efia’s families and wanted revenge,
but she knew that there were miles of ocean between her and any help.
Her mind immediately went to her young friend and wondered if she
would survive the trip. That is when she saw movement on the other
side of the ship and realized that it was Efia. She was slowly moving
away from the Vampire and made her way to the ladder.

Izzy wanted to call out
to her but she was afraid that she would draw the men’s
attention to both of them. She realized that Efia had no way of
knowing that every crew member was dead. By the time Izzy got up the
nerve to reach for her leg on the ladder, Grigor had already grabbed
her and began dragging her back down.

Izzy began to cry. She
saw his friend’s face bounce off of a ladder rung that caused
her bottom lip to split open. At the sight of blood, Grigor stopped
pulling her leg and raised his head to sniff the air. Izzy remembered
the look of ecstasy on the her son’s face and how it made her
vow to punish him for his acts. When she looked back at Efia, she had
her hand held out and she pulled Izzy into her lap and they both
cried.

Grigor and his father
tried to separate the two of them, but they held onto each other for
dear life. It was curious to Izzy that they did not simply force them
apart. These men had killed everyone on board save the two of them.
Surely they could separate two young children. They continued to
speak to the both of them in a language that Efia didn’t
understand and Izzy pretended not to.

In the 4 months or so
that they sailed, Izzy had been able to teach Efia some rudimentary
English. She began with simple words like sun, moon and stars. But
Izzy felt a sense of pride when she was able to teach her what a
chair and pistol were. She was less prideful, however, when Efia
asked her for the name for the shackles she was bound with.

Now they floated
towards an unknown land with two Vampires trying to communicate with
them. There were times when Izzy would respond to a phrase or two to
encourage the two men to continue with open communications. They had
also obviously picked up some words from the crew. They spent half of
their time reading the captain’s books and the rest of the time
staring at Efia like she was lunch. One afternoon, after spending the
entire morning reading, the man took the two of them into the
captain’s quarters and sat behind the big desk. He gestured for
both of them to sit but they refused. Standing there, Izzy heard the
first coherent English words leave the man’s mouth.

“
I
have a proposal for you,” he said slowly.

Izzy looked behind her
and then back at the man. She wondered what her son could possibly
have to offer them. They stared at each other for a long time before
she found the nerve to speak.

“
What
kind of offer?”

“
I
need this girl alive and safe. I need her to marry and produce
children. I need you to protect her until this day comes.”

Izzy’s mind was
running wild. How could she protect Efia without the clan? She was
just a young girl and had no guardians or money to her name. She
looked at Grigor as if he had certainly lost his mind.

“
I
am just a girl, Sir, without a penny to my name. I can no better take
care of my friend than I can myself.”

“
I
will take care of that,” was all he said before he stood and
walked out of the cabin door.

Three nights later the
slave ship crashed into a dock in the New Orleans harbor. It was just
dusk and Izzy could see people running toward the ship. Grigor and
his father stood on the deck, their long coats flapping in the wind.
Grigor turned and gestured for Izzy and Efia to join them as they
waited for the ship to be tied down and boarded. He placed his hand
on Izzy’s shoulder in a familial way as he sent a warning
glance toward Efia. The meaning was clear; play along or I kill the
girl. Efia nodded her understanding and remained silent.

Lord Vladimir Oleander,
had a satchel of jewels in addition to the ship’s ownership
papers. He claimed that his ship was attacked by privateers who
‘pressed’ the crew into military service for the crown.
The ship, he'd said, barely made it to shore and the lives of his son
and the two children were all he could manage to save.

Being nothing more than
fishermen, the welcoming party of New Orleans took what Lord Vladimir
Oleander said as the gospel truth and aided him in acquiring the
proper paper work for himself, his son and Izzy. Ownership paperwork
was also drawn up for Efia.

The four of them spent
the next few weeks securing land and making a suitable home befitting
a Lord. Izzy, being the only one who had mastered the English
language, quickly became the spokesperson for the group. She made
sure that the Oleanders were given the best of every luxury.
Believing that she could save Efia’s life if the Vampires were
sated, Izzy set out to obtain suitable sources of nutrition. With the
abundance of Africans to purchase, she believed that she had secured
Efia’s life. She was wrong, however, because Grigor never
seemed quite satisfied and always looked at Efia with hungry eyes.

After years of living
in fear, Izzy went to the Lords one evening. She found them near the
fire in the big house surrounded by servants, dead and alive. Thirst
burned her throat but she did her best to hide her hunger. She simply
sat in an elegant chair opposite the duo and waited to be
acknowledged.

“
Yes,
my child. What is on your mind?” The Lord Vladimir said, paying
more attention to the fire than the girl sitting next to him

“
I
want to know what you are? Why do you need the blood of so many?”

“
My
child, you are still so young but you have proven yourself to be
trustworthy and deserving of an explanation. You see, we are
Vampires.”

The Lord Vladimir
Oleander recalled the birth and upbringing of his son and the
incident that resulted in his becoming a Vampire. Izzy, having lived
through all of these events, sat on the edge of her seat. She hadn't
know the pain that her son suffered when his disease was exacerbated
with his Embrace. He told how they searched for a cure for nearly a
century before he encountered Efia’s people and the healing
nature of their blood. He was unable to restrain his son during the
first encounter. He realized that they needed to be able to replenish
the blood and found a suitable source.

Efia was the last
female with the blood that Grigor was dependent on for survival. Izzy
realized that Efia and any of her potential offspring were to be kept
as a food source. She had to get her to safety but was unsure if her
life in America would be more secure as food for Grigor or a slave on
another plantation. She decided that she was not the person to make
this decision and set out to find Efia.

The conversation did
not go well. Efia, still a young girl, was appalled and terrified.
She immediately wanted to return to Africa until she remembered that
every last member of her tribe had died at the hands of the Vampire
who was now her master. She looked into Izzy’s eyes and begged
to be saved.

The very next morning,
Izzy rode into town with Efia and sold her to a plantation on the
other side of the state. Her new mistress promised to care for her as
if she was her very own. Efia, relieved to escape Grigor, was sad to
leave her one and only friend behind. They embraced and cried until
it was time to go.

Isidora recalled the
pain of seeing Efia ride away with her new family, but she believed
she had just saved her life. For years to follow, Isidora used her
attributes to keep her son and husband from finding Efia. Her goal
was to keep Efia safe until she could offer her the Embrace and the
only way to insure that was to stay with the Oleanders.

One day while visiting
a neighboring plantation, the Grigor was notified of the location of
his former slave. He was pleased to hear that she had married and was
pregnant. Having his mind set on getting Efia back, he changed each
and every person on the plantation into a Vampire and devised a plan
of attack.

He was so arrogant that
he even included Izzy in the plan. Having created an illusion of
growth, Isidora appeared to be a gorgeous young woman. When Grigor
came to Embrace her she had to use her attributes to make him believe
Lord Vladimir Oleander had done so.

With their army of
loyal Vampires, both Grigor and his father traveled across Louisiana
and attacked the plantation where Efia lived and ordered it burned to
the ground. His followers were to kill everyone except for Efia as he
went through every outbuilding in search of her. The smell of fire
made it difficult to pinpoint exactly where she was located, but he
continued on until he thought he saw her on the rooftop balcony of
the big house. He rushed to the house only to find that her scent had
gone in the other direction. He gave chase at a sedate pace, knowing
that a pregnant girl could not outrun nor outwit a Vampire of his
caliber. He followed her into the woods behind the house and lost her
scent near the edge of a creek.