Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“Hence some of these breeding programs out there,” Sasha mumbled.
“Exactly. Vampires won’t voluntarily be seen as vulnerable, especially royal don’t want to show that to turned vampires. But populations were dwindling. Councils and committees were formed. You all know the gist.”
Tristan leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.
“So, you’re suggesting that the breeding programs are important. But yet your coalition is trying to dismantle them?” Kyla asked.
“We don’t want to dismantle them. We want them in the right hands. We want royal vampires to have the choice to be put into the breeding program, the choice to meet and potentially mate with another compatible vampire. Not be put into these programs against their will, not be watched their whole life and turned at a royal council’s will and with that royal council determining who they’ll breed with. The North American breeding councils are out of control.”
“So it should kinda be like a vampire match.com?” Kyla asked and everyone but Tristan laughed.
“What about you? You’re here alone. How do you feed?” Kyla asked.
Sergey smiled, “I searched the world for a hundred years until I found her, the one I wanted to be mated with. I had over 250 years with her. But she was murdered. We couldn’t have children and had a rough time of it but had many beautiful years together despite that. They killed her 36 years ago and I’m withering. I’ll start rapidly aging very soon. I might have five to ten years left at most. Because of my age and my lineage I won’t start to age and desecrate for another 2-3 years. I have no desire to drink blood from anyone else and I won’t thrive without her blood.”
Kyla looked at Tristan and knew he’d feel the same.
“Dirty water,” Kyla whispered.
Tristan squeezed her hand.
“I don’t share this information freely as I’ll continue to weaken. As you know, vampires prey on weakness. That’s another reason this type of bond is kept quiet. If you want to kill a powerful vampire you could do it in a roundabout way by killing his mate. When the time comes that I begin to weaken, I want to end my life rather than live through the agony of slow withering and decaying,” he said, “The last few decades have been difficult enough. But in the meantime, I would like to partner with you, Tristan, to right some wrongs in the world for vampires. We’ll never be in a position to live out in the open, that’s not what I want, but I want to bring together work of some of our greatest minds and strongest vampires to pave the way for a better future. One where vampires can have children without putting their mates at risk, perhaps. One where vampires who cannot breed won’t self-destruct. One where female vampires can choose to breed, mate, or perhaps be medicated so that they can be even-tempered instead of at the whim of their overactive hormones. One where control freaks such as Adrian Constantin are not allowed to have the power to treat younger vamps or vamps with less vamp DNA like puppets. There are few vampires as strong as we are and very few mated with an enchanted person with a vampire marriage and I cannot tell you how to live your life but I recommend the bond with you and Kyla stays secret. Maybe once things are different, there will be vampires like us who can choose to come out of the shadows. But it’s dangerous.”
“I agree,” Sasha chimed in.
Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Wow,” Kyla whispered. So before this, she was bound to Tristan. But now he was bound to her, too. And she was unbreakably bound to him and needed his blood to survive. But the thing was, she could survive, could be around a whole heckuva long time!
Tristan looked at her. She couldn’t help but think outloud, “So a bunch of threats that have been plaguing us have been taken away by Tristan binding himself to me but then before we even get a chance to get excited about it, immediately we realize we’re still under threat.”
Sergey gave her a nod, “Basically. But work with us and you have me, my parents, and our network of vampires in the Ukraine, Romania, Greece, and several other countries who all want the same things.”
Tristan was filled with anxious energy all of a sudden.
“I need sustenance. And not this,” Sam pointed at the table after a long beat of silence.
He got up to go to the fridge and pulled out a blood bag.
“I’ll make pizza,” Sasha mumbled and started fiddling with the oven.
“I’ll do it,” Sam intercepted, “Sit.”
“Any questions so far?” Sergey asked Tristan.
Tristan looked thoughtful.
“I’m sure you’ll want to think on all this.”
Tristan gave him a short nod.
Sergey’s voice lowered as Sam and Sasha moved back to the oven but Kyla could hear him clearly as he leaned forward toward Tristan.