Page 21 of Eternally Bound
Ronan placed his hands on the mattress and lifted himself to a seated position against the headboard. He crossed his ankles as he stared at the blank wall across from him. She would leave here soon, and she couldn’t leave with too much knowledge of them, but better educating her about vampires might save a life in the future.
“Wedostop them,” he replied.
“Why?”
“Why does your kind hunt them?”
“Because they’re evil, and it is what hunters were created and are bred to do.”
He knew that was most likely what the hunters had been created to do. The world had a way of balancing itself out, and it had balanced the birth of the more demon-like vampires with the birth of the more human hunters.
“What do you mean by bred?” he inquired.
She shrugged and lifted her head onto her hand as she rolled toward him. Her fingers played with the stitching in the charcoal-colored blanket as she gazed at the wall behind him. “The hunter line must be kept strong,” she said. “The best available men and women are paired together to make sure of that.”
Ronan’s teeth grated together as she revealed this information. She had no ring on, her brother seemed to have been the one in charge of her, but he realized that one day she would be paired off too.
He’d lived through the days when women were married off like they were no better than cattle, and he hadn’t liked it then. He liked it less now. Female vampires, especially the purebred ones, always had a mind of their own and spoke it freely. Those were the type of women he’d grown up with and admired.
They hadn’t been mated or in love, but his mother had agreed to bear his father a child because with her second-generation purebred status and his father being the only fourth generation to ever exist, their offspring would be the most powerful vampire created. His mother had loved power and attention, and his birth brought her both of those things. After his creation, his parents had found other lovers, but they remained friends until the day they were both killed.
“I see,” he said.
“So not all vampires are Savage,” Kadence prodded in the hopes of getting him off the depressing topic of marriage.
“No, they are not. I believe you are right and hunters were created to stop Savages, but you weren’t given the whole story.”
“And that is?”
“That not all vampires are evil. It is only some who go bad, butallvampires are hunted indiscriminately by your kind.”
“We didn’t know that,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“Why weren’t we taught any of this? Why were we never told? Why would we be enemies from the very beginning if what you say is true?” she demanded.
CHAPTER 12
“Do you know how vampires and hunters were created?” he asked.
“At one point in time, a handful of demons escaped to freely roam the earth. Those demons were unable to tolerate the sun, were creatures of the night, immortal, and slaughtered humans to feast on their blood. When humans learned of their existence, they hunted them to the point where the greatly outnumbered demons were once again forced to seal themselves away in what many believe to be Hell,” Kadence recited from her studies on the subject.
“While they were here, the demons also mated with some humans,” she continued. “The first vampires were born from those humans. Like the demons, they had a thirst for blood, eternal life, and many other demon capabilities such as the power to bend another to their will or cloak their presences. Unlike the demons, they were more human in appearance, had a heartbeat, breathed, and passed as human. Over time, they came to be known as vampires. Vampires discovered that, by sharing their blood with a human, they could create more of their kind.”
“And hunters came about how?” Ronan inquired.
“They were created in the same way, only hunters took after the human species even more than vampires. We are the mortal version of a vampire. We have many of your abilities, such as enhanced strength, senses, and extended lifespans, but not your thirst for blood or immortality. Your powers of persuasion and cloaking do not work on those of us who are born hunters, but we do not possess them.”
The hunters also didn’t have the restrictions vampires faced when they took too many innocent lives, but he didn’t tell her that. He also wouldn’t reveal to her that many vampires could walk freely through the day. If she went back and told her fellow hunters, which she most likely would, the revelation could make those of his kind who weren’t Savage more vulnerable to the ignorance of the hunters.
“The hunters have also figured out a way for the human allies they recruit to not be susceptible to our ability to change their minds,” he said.
Her lips compressed into a flat line, and he knew she wouldn’t confirm it. It didn’t matter; he’d already encountered an entirely human hunter who resisted a vampire’s ability to change her memories. A mixture of herbs and hunter blood had been given to the human to keep her mind blocked from a vampire’s mind control.
“Why do you and your friends kill the vampires who go wrong?” she asked.
Ronan draped his arm over his forehead as he lifted his gaze to the ceiling. “Humans aren’t the only ones who need protection from the vampires who turn Savage. The Savages attack other vampires too, for our blood gives them the most power and we are a far more thrilling kill than any mortal or hunter could ever be.”
