Poking the Vamp by Celia Kyle

Author:Celia Kyle [Kyle, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Joce’s heart nearly exploded from his chest, the words thrown to the ground between them. He’d never said them aloud, never admitted the truth to anyone. Not his parents, not Carac, not the rest of the ring. No one.

He’d been too afraid. Him. Knight Protector. Vampire.

Killer.

He stared at Katherine, drinking his fill as he gazed at her. Beautiful. Gorgeous. More than he deserved. Much more.

He wouldn’t return her though, he wouldn’t release her to another or allow anyone to touch a hair on her head. Tory had quietly pulled him aside, told him there might be a way to break their connection.

No. Never.

When she remained quiet, as if waiting for him to continue, he gave her the rest. Everything. Every painful morsel and every drop of blood.

“I was taught to heal. Never harm. Even then, all those years ago.” He shook his head, remembering how different his life was. “It was the 1300s. We worked in small, dirt-floored huts, but we did what we could for everyone who walked through the door. I did my best to heal who I could and assisted the passing of those I couldn’t.”

He padded forward, not stopping until he reached an exam table near her. She remained in place at the counter, and he lifted himself onto the shining metal. Eight feet separated them, but it might as well have been miles.

But she didn’t run. That was a plus. In fact, she mirrored his movement, pushing herself onto the clinic’s counter.

“My brother was the same. Mostly. We were born vampires, not turned.”

She frowned. “That can happen? Female vamps can get pregnant?”

He nodded. “Yes, not often, but it can. We live forever and the world would be overrun by us if it was as easy for vamps to procreate as it is for humans. But that means vampire children are coveted and cherished.” He remembered his mother’s smile and his father’s gruff manner. The way his father pushed and his mother coddled. “Amice delivered my brother and me. Twins. Always twins with vamps. Someone to go through our first Hunger with. Someone to lean on. Someone to support you when you doubt yourself. Parents provide love—”

“Siblings provide support,” she finished. “I have—had—a sister. My mother called us twins since she was about a year younger than me.”

“Had?”

She swallowed hard and nodded, a hint of moisture filling her eyes. He wanted to go to her, wipe away the growing tears because Katherine understood the loss, and that destroyed him.

“Baxter was older than me by five minutes. From then on, it was me and Bax. Going to school. Learning about being a vampire in a human world. Learning how to care for humans, ensuring their health and survival. If they died, we died.” He sighed. “It sounds horrible now, as if we treated them like cattle or something, but then it was just pure caring. My parents taught us. Humans sacrificed for us and deserved our respect in return. It was why Bax and I went into healing.

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