Page 42 of Eternally Bound
“I can and I will, but there are many who have remained scattered over the years. Many who don’t even know their true heritage, or that there are Defenders amongst them, or that the ones who fall to the bloodlust are called Savages. As long as a vampire doesn’t turn Savage, they have no reason to know we work to keep them safe from the worst of our kind.”
He hadn’t helped with the lack of knowledge most vampires possessed. Because they had become so scattered over the years, he hadn’t bothered to regroup them or try to educate them. He simply hadn’t seen a reason to inform the turned vampires he knew, and the purebreds who knew all their history and their ways were Defenders.
However, those who did know of his existence looked to him as their leader. He was the eldest of their kind, the most powerful, and not just because of his age, but also his breeding and lineage. No other purebred such as himself had ever existed in the history of vampires.
“They know nothing of what you do, yet you still protect them,” she said.
“And I will until the day I die.”Or have to be destroyed,but he kept that to himself.
“You are one of these Defenders?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“From the time I was old enough to learn how, I’ve been trained in fighting and war and how to protect my kind. Defenders are the best trained purebred warriors who uphold the vampire laws, and they track down the Savages in order to keep the innocents safe.”
“So, you have sacrificed your freedom and happiness for the vampires, and they don’t even know it,” she whispered.
“I have sacrificed nothing; I have chosen my course in life. I may not be the king as my father was, but I will keep vampires and humans protected from the Savages. I don’t have to be king to fulfill that duty.”
“How old were you when the battle against the Savages happened?”
“It was less than a year after I reached maturity, so twenty-eight.”
“What do you mean by reached maturity?”
“When a purebred stops aging and starts to really come into their vampire powers. I stopped aging later than most vampires do, but I was more powerful than many of them before then.”
“I see,” she said. “How old are you now?”
“I was born a vampire one thousand twenty-three years ago.”
Kadence gawked at him. “You’re exactly a thousand years older than me!”
“I feel every one of those thousand years,” he replied.
“Amazing,” she murmured. “In all that time, you have never felt the sun on your skin without pain. Have you ever seen it?”
The sadness in her tone tugged at his heart. He opened his mouth to tell her he could walk freely through the day, but stopped himself. She would most likely still be going back to her brother. “I have seen the sun,” he replied, unwilling to lie to her.
“Would you like me to tell you about it?” she asked.
His heart leapt in his chest as he gazed at her. Despite the rod of steel going down her spine, she was achingly sweet and innocent. He had never imagined anyone could be like her. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her throwing his life into a tailspin, but he was suddenly thankful she had.
“Maybe someday, but not tonight.”
She crossed her hands before her, but he was not fooled by the demure gesture. There was nothing demure about this little hunter.
“It is only the five of you who fight?” she inquired.
“No, there are others who are not Defenders who also fight the Savages. Some of them train with us to become better at it, and others do it on their own.”
“Why has your family always led? Why were you supposed to lead?”
“Like your bloodline amongst the hunters, my line is the strongest and I am also the only vampire still alive who can trace my line back to the original demon offspring. I am the first vampire in existence that is fifth generation purebred. Most are only first generation purebreds, some are two, and a couple are three, but that is all.”
“I see,” she murmured.
