Blood Mate: A Paranormal Romance (10 page)

Nana gripped Bryn's face in
both her hands and thumbed away her tears. “My Bryn,”
she whispered fiercely, her eyes shining. “I would never have
let you die. Never.”

Bryn smiled through her tears.

Nana was the strongest, most
incredible woman she knew. Nana never gave up. She never gave up on
Bryn. And she had refused to let Bryn give up on life.

Bryn gazed into her
grandmother's eyes, and in a blink, she was brought back to that
terrible, harrowing night.

The night she tried to kill
herself.

Six years ago.

It was Nana who discovered
her, lying in a pool of blood in her bedroom.

She had been barely conscious,
barely alive when her grandmother broke down the door and stumbled
into her room. She couldn't remember hearing Nana's screams but she
saw the stark horror and grief on Nana's face.

But despite her shock and
terror, Nana remained strong. Nana knelt in that spreading pool of
blood and gathered Bryn in her thin arms. She struggled and fumbled
under Bryn's dead weight but she wouldn't allow herself to fall. She
didn't drop Bryn even when she slipped and skidded on her
granddaughter's blood. Leaving bloody prints all over the house,
Nana mustered all her strength and staggered out of the house,
bellowing and raging like a bull.

She had lost her only daughter
and son-in-law so many years ago. She would not lose her grandchild
this night!

Nana raised her head and
screamed into the night, waking all the neighbors and catching the
attention of a passing Master vampire. Glenn Constantine, the Master
vampire on the Council, was on his way to the PAC Headquarters, when
he heard Nana's soul-shattering scream. Hearing the pure anguish and
wrath in her cry, Glenn had misted to her side in a hurry. The
Master vampire had assumed that he would be rescuing a lady who was
being attacked by a horde of vicious rogues in the street. Nana's
scream and the scent of Bryn's blood led him straight to them.

Glenn materialized in front of
Nana, preparing to defend her from her attackers.

But there were no rogues.

There was only Nana kneeling
on the pavement, cradling Bryn in her arms.

One look and Glenn knew what
the teenage girl had done. Her wrists were slashed, and her face was
stained with dried tears and blood.

Glenn tried to help Nana up,
but Nana refused to let go of Bryn. She clutched her dying
granddaughter to her chest and wailed, “Save her! Please,
please save my grandbaby!”

But Bryn had lost too much
blood. There was no way to save her. She could not be saved. She
could only be turned.

Glenn Constantine allowed his
fangs to push out past his lips. “Ma'am.”

Nana didn't flinch, didn't
hesitate when she saw what Glenn was.

“
Vampire,” she
croaked, struggling towards Glenn on her knees. “Please,
please save her! I beg you, sir! Save my granddaughter!”

“
Ma'am, I cannot save
her. I can only turn her. If I turn her, she will rise as a
vampire. Do you understand?” Glenn spoke slowly, clearly,
trying to get Nana to understand fully what Bryn would become.

“
Yes! Yes, I know. I
understand. I accept. Please, turn her. She'll be a vampire, but
she'll be alive. That's all that matters. She's so young. She's
too young to die. She has too much life, too much love, to die.
Please...please don't let her die. Please...”

Glenn had stared for a moment
into Nana's eyes, and saw her clear understanding and deep love for
her granddaughter. Her granddaughter would become a vampire, and she
would love her all the same, all the more.

With a grim nod, Glenn took
Bryn from Nana's arms and strode back into the house. “Come.
I will do what I can. The rest is up to her.”

When Glenn had laid her out on
her bed, he glanced at Nana. From the determined look on Nana's
face, he knew that he wouldn't succeed in persuading her to leave her
granddaughter's side. He made Nana sit down. Then he lifted Bryn's
slit wrists to his mouth and drained the rest of her blood quickly.
Just before she took her last breath, he tilted her head back and
bled into her mouth, forcing his blood down her throat.

Through it all, Nana kept
stroking Bryn's face, murmuring to her, telling her how much she
loved her.

Glenn left the house just
before daybreak.

“
She'll need blood.
Lots of blood,” he'd told Nana before he left. “Go to
the nearest blood bar and buy up as many bottles of fresh blood as
you can. Avoid the caffeinated and alcoholic blood. For a new
vampire, undiluted, fresh blood is best. And keep her out of the
sun.”

Nana had gone and bought up
the whole store. She dragged the crates of blood home, and filled up
the entire refrigerator with dozens of thick, red bottles.

The first thing Bryn saw when
she opened her eyes was Nana looming over her with a tray filled with
warmed bottles of blood.

“
Drink,” Nana
ordered. “Finish every drop, Bryn.”

As she drank, Nana told her
everything. She didn't leave anything out. Nana told Bryn exactly
what happened, how it happened and why it had to happen.

“
I asked Glenn
Constantine to turn you into a vampire. It was the only way to save
you. So, I guess that makes him your Master,” Nana told her
matter-of-factly. “If you ever see him again, tell him I'll
bake him a blood pie. But...if he tries to control you, I'll stake
him!” Nana pounded her fist into her palm to let Bryn know
that it wasn't an empty threat.

That made Bryn snort and choke
on a mouthful of blood. Nana was many things but a vampire slayer
she was not.

With one foolish act, her life
as a human had ended. But because of Nana's courage and resolve, her
life as a vampire was just beginning.

It took her some time to
adjust to life as a vampire. She could no longer walk in the sun.
She felt terribly weak during the day and she had to sleep a lot. In
the first year, she found she needed to sleep and feed a lot, like a
baby. But she grew stronger quickly. She decided to hone her
vampire abilities, and began to train to increase her speed and
strength. She could see well in the dark, and she could detect
subtle scents in the air.

She had made a terrible
mistake. Yet, she had been given a second chance at life. She would
use this chance to atone for her mistake. She had squandered her
life as a human. But she would live her life fully and meaningfully
as a vampire.

Bryn had thought that Nana
would object when she decided to become an Enforcer. Hunting and
destroying rogues was a dangerous job, and many Enforcers had been
gravely injured or killed in the line of duty. If Nana had voiced
her objection, Bryn would have understood. After all, Nana had
nearly lost her just a few years ago. But to her surprise and
amazement, Nana had approved wholeheartedly. She had given Bryn her
blessings and her unequivocal support. “Choosing to give your
life for others is not the same as choosing to throw your life away.
These are two very, very different things,” Nana had told her.
“One is an act of courage and compassion. The other is the
height of cowardice and selfishness. Do you understand, Bryn?”

Bryn understood only too well.
She had been so weak and stupid as a teenage human girl. She had
caused her Nana so much pain and worry.

As a vampire, Bryn realized
how lucky she was. She had a good, honorable Master and she had a
brave, feisty grandmother who loved her so much.

Bryn had dreaded and feared
meeting her Master. Master vampires usually Called their vamps soon
after their turning. The Master could control and command his
vampires. But Glenn Constantine never Called Bryn. In fact, she
never heard from him after her turning. It was only three years
later that she bumped into him at the PAC Headquarters, when she
signed up for the PAC Enforcers' training program.

She had been so nervous and
jittery the first time she came face to face with Glenn Constantine.
But to her surprise and delight, she found that Glenn Constantine was
one of the coolest Master vampires around. He might be an ancient
vamp, but he wasn't old school and old fashioned, like most Master
vampires. He didn't believe in controlling and coercing his vamps.
He had turned her only to save her life, and to save her grandmother
from heartbreak.

“
I pretty much leave my
vamps alone,” he'd told her. “But if you ever turn
rogue,” he warned, “I'll come after you and stake you
myself.”

Not one to break her word,
Nana had baked Glenn Constantine the biggest and bloodiest pie ever.
Bryn had proudly presented that ginormous blood pie to her Master
when she passed the Final test on her second try and received her
Enforcer's Badge.

Glenn had accepted the
homemade blood pie with pride and affection. “My youngest
vampire, all grown up and graduated,” Glenn had mused, sounding
too much like a proud parent.

It had been just six years ago
that she had been a foolish, teenage human girl. That was a lifetime
ago.

She was now a vampire, a PAC
Enforcer.

And she was still Nana's
grandbaby.

Bryn leaned her cheek against
Nana's wrinkled, bony hand. “Mom and Dad...” Bryn began
slowly. “They were killed by a rogue vampire. Yet...you let
me be turned into a vampire. Weren't you...scared?”

Nana snorted. “I wasn't
scared, Bryn. I was mad. I was furious! Beth died in my arms. I
will not have you die in my arms as well.”

Nana tilted Bryn's face up and
looked her straight in the eye. “Your turning only changes
what you are, not who you are. You are my granddaughter,” Nana
said emphatically. “You will always be my sweet little
grandbaby.”

“
Nana!”

After a while, Bryn muttered
softly, “He was never caught.”

“
No. They never caught
your parents' killer. I don't hate him, but—” Nana's
mouth was set in a tight line. “I will tie him up and watch
him burn in the sun if I ever catch him! I know what the murdering
coward looks like. The killer has a birthmark at the corner of his
left eye. Like dark red flames, Beth told me with her dying breath.”

Bryn stared out the window,
watching the sky change color ever so subtly. Nana started, “Oh!
It's almost light! You should be in bed! Come along, quickly now.”
Nana got up and shooed her towards her bedroom. “I'll tuck
you in. You've stayed up way past your bedtime!” Nana
scolded.

Bryn washed up quickly,
changed and crawled into bed. As Nana was tucking her in, Bryn
pulled her grandmother down for a quick hug.

“
Thank you,” she
whispered. “Thank you for everything you've done for me. I
love you, Nana.”

“
I just did what I
could,” Nana said, bending down to kiss her forehead. “You
did the rest yourself.”

Bryn's eyes were closed, but
her mind was swirling with thoughts and memories. Some happy, some
troubled. She could vaguely hear voices, but she couldn't be sure if
the voices were here in her present, or just echoes from her past.

Her body tended to shut down
during the daylight hours. Her strength just drained away, and it
took too much effort just to stay awake. Glenn hardly slept, but he
told her it was normal for young vampires to spend the day sleeping
and recharging. In fact, it was healthy for them to sleep a lot.
“Just like babies,” he'd quipped to her annoyance.

Even in her sleep, Bryn
thought she could sense the presence of an older vampire near her.
But it wasn't Glenn. Her limbs jerked as she fisted her sheets. She
was still sleeping but not really asleep. Her body was struggling to
wake up even though it was still daytime.

She could hear a voice, so
familiar but so distant. Bryn knew she needed to wake up. Someone
needed her, needed her help.

She tried to force her eyes
open, but something seemed to be pressing down on her lids. Bryn
gasped and felt a hand over her mouth.

“
Scream, and we'll kill
her,” a male voice said.

Kill her?

Nana?

“
No!” Bryn choked
out, her eyes flying wide open.

She heard a cry. It was Nana.
Nana was yelling and shouting, but her voice was growing weaker,
softer, moving further and further away from her.

Bryn let out a muffled sound
against the large hand over her mouth. She stared into a masked
face, and felt a blade against her neck.

“
Let me go, you bad, bad
man! Take your hands off me, I'm warning you!” Nana was
screeching down the corridor.

Bryn let her fangs stab out.
She bit hard through the leather glove and tasted blood.

Her eyes widened.

Vampire.

She saw red eyes glaring at
her from behind the mask. The black mask covered only the upper half
of his face, so she could see his long fangs pushing past his thin
lips. The vampire was strong, and vicious. With his gloved hand
over her mouth, he stabbed the silver blade into Bryn's neck.