CHAPTER 4 #2
Dani held out her bare wrist, examining it in the light. “How do they know for sure that no one has taken my vein?”
“When vampires feed, they take your blood. At the same time, their venom also enters your bloodstream, marking you. Every vampire who feeds from you will be able to taste the faintest trace of the males who have taken your vein before.” She brushed out Dani’s hair while the iron heated up.
“It’s why the most powerful males will pay a premium for sanguines whose veins are unmarked.
They prefer exclusive feeding arrangements. ”
“How do they verify?” Dani touched her throat.
“They’ll cut your finger once you go in so they can confirm your blood is still pure.” She reached for the curling iron. “If you’ve given blood before—”
“I haven’t.”
Giselle wound a long strand of blonde hair around the rod. “The purpose of the cut is twofold. It establishes who a sanguine has fed before, and also releases the bouquet of your blood to the room. Vampires have their own tastes, just like we do.”
The section of hair fell away from the iron to drape across Dani’s shoulder in a fat, loose curl.
“How many times have you done this?” Carefully, Dani began touching up the smoky eye she’d applied before leaving their flat. She wanted to ask what had driven Giselle to this point, curious if she, too, had a sick sister at home, but didn’t dare ask.
Giselle smiled a little sadly, seeming to understand what she was really asking all the same. “After compulsory school, I received a scholarship to continue on at a university and study nursing.”
Dani was instantly envious. Those scholarships were so rare, so desperately fought for, because everyone knew they were a golden ticket to a better life.
She and Evan had applied, of course, and their grades had been good, but only twenty applicants were chosen that year out of the entire city, most of them from moderately wealthy families who probably could have paid the tuition fees anyway.
Just as soon as that uncharitable thought struck her, she was flooded with guilt. Giselle would never have been sitting beside her, prepared to risk her future selling her blood, if this story had a happy ending.
“What happened?” she said softly.
“As you can imagine, the vast majority of students enrolled at the university were vampires. My parents sat me down before I ever set foot on campus and warned me that I was not to interact with them, not to even talk to one of them. I was to attend my classes, listen to the lectures and come straight home, where I’d complete my homework assignments.
They were terrified about what exposure to their world could mean, the risks to me having to interact with them, even though they knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. ”
“Were you able to stay close to the other scholarship students from that year?”
“I tried.” Giselle draped another curled section of hair in front of her shoulder.
“But there were lab sessions, study groups… it was all so much. I was a good student and attended one of the better high schools in the city. But all the vampires were so far ahead in math and science that I wanted to cry. When I tried to explain to my parents, they just got angry. They said I was ungrateful. They thought I was blaming my teachers from compulsory school for my lack of preparation, and by extension, them. But that wasn’t it.
How could my teachers have been expected to follow the same curriculum when our school was constantly getting closed early due to raids at the city walls, or heating oil shortages? ”
“The vampire schools are all located closer to the city center where it’s safer.” And they never had to worry about shortages, since they got access to rations first.
“I met a vampire boy in a study group. The others were all quietly cruel, changing the meeting time without telling me, exchanging little smirks when I struggled with a concept. There were so many times I cried in the library reference section when our sessions were over. But I refused to drop out. I knew how much this could mean for my family if I could get a position at one of the hospitals.”
Dani nodded. Not only were nurses better paid, but the health insurance and better housing vouchers would have been a huge advantage.
“We were spending so much time together, that when he eventually leaned across our notes and laced his fingers with mine, I had been lying awake at night for weeks, fantasizing that it might happen, and never dreaming that it really would. Things progressed very quickly after that.”
Dani paused from carefully pressing powder onto her cheeks, seeking Giselle’s eyes in the mirror. Following a few highly publicized vampire-human matings that had attracted media attention and debate and curiosity from humans and vampires alike, the king had banned the practice entirely.
Turning, she took her friend’s hand. “Did he hurt you?”
“Not like you’re thinking. He didn’t force me.
Everything we did was what I thought I wanted at the time.
” She looked down. “But when he found out I was expecting, that’s where everything got very complicated.
He came from an aristocratic family, you see.
Even if a mating between us wouldn’t have been forbidden by law, they never would have accepted me, or our child.
My parents kicked me out once my son was born. ”
“Your son is half vampire?”
Dani knew the laws. Any human blood meant someone was classed as human.
While the original generation of vampires had been turned by the second wave of the virus, the humans that had survived that mutation were mostly immune and couldn’t be turned by mere exposure to it in vampire blood.
It was possible for humans to be turned, but the exchange of blood and venom had to be done precisely, and even then, many did not survive.
“He’s six now.” Giselle began finger-combing Dani’s hair.
“After my parents threw me out and I lost access to the scholarship, I would have been out on the streets if it weren’t for my ex and his mother.
They helped me to get a small apartment.
For the first two years, I held out a tiny bit of hope.
They both came to see my son in secret, sent money.
He swore he wanted to be a part of our lives, that one day, if the laws were changed, we could be together for real. ”
“Do you think he really believed the king would change the laws?”
“It’s… complicated.” Her expression hardened.
“Everything changed when his father heard about the child. He’s…
very influential, and the idea that an illegitimate half-human grandson might show up at social functions and disgrace the family legacy meant that we were suddenly in danger.
His mother grew sick soon after, and I made the decision for my son’s safety to take the last of the money she’d given us and run.
For a few years we were able to live under assumed names.
My son passes well enough as human. But eventually, the money ran out.
That’s when I started selling my blood.”
A soft chime sounded. The other girls began lining up.
“Thank you.” Dani hugged her fiercely. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“When you go in, they’ll give you an injection,” Giselle said in a low voice. “It prevents pregnancy for three months.”
Dani felt her stomach go watery. “Do we have to let them—”
“No, and you shouldn’t. Not on the first night. Later, if you decide you want to do that, too, ask for more compensation.”
A woman with sharp features and brown hair that was pulled into a chignon entered the dressing room. “My name is Yvonne. I need the three new sanguines.”
“Wear your hair down,” Giselle instructed, sweeping Dani’s hair behind one shoulder. “They like long, flowing hair. But off to one side so half your neck is always exposed.”
Yvonne cleared her throat, and Dani hurried to follow the other two girls down a long, carpeted hallway.
Potted palm trees were tucked into the alcoves.
The air felt heavy and humid, despite the snow outside.
One of the girls was small and had very straight black hair.
Her dress was made of brightly patterned blue silk.
The other girl was slightly taller than her, and had a scattering of freckles across her nose.
Her dress was plain black, likely a server’s uniform, and she kept biting her thumbnail nervously.
At the end of the corridor, an access door led them into a small room.
There were a few chairs, along with some sound equipment.
Stretching nearly the entire length of one wall was a darkened pane of glass that faced out into a separate room, where she could see a sort of platform was set up.
She couldn’t make out much of the rest of the room due to the lighting, but it looked like there might be a bar and tables in back where it was darker.
The lighting was low, clearly adjusted for vampires, who were sickened by higher lumen levels, but there was no missing the focal point at the center of the platform.
This was where she was to be auctioned off.
Dani swallowed, hand automatically going to her throat.
“Hold out your arms,” Yvonne instructed briskly.
A female vampire in scrubs and a white coat approached the dark-haired girl and uncapped a needle. “This injection will prevent pregnancy for three months. After that, you’ll need another one for continued protection.”
Dani felt her breath catch as soon as she saw the woman’s auburn ponytail. Recognition shot through her.
Sera.
The vampire doctor gave the injections to the other two girls, then turned to her. When their eyes met, hers widened in surprise over her mask.
Dani started to speak, but Sera quickly shook her head.
Not here.
She reached for an alcohol swab to clean her arm, and Dani’s mind swirled with questions.
What was Sera doing here? And why didn’t she want anyone to know that they’d met before?