Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,54
are under undue strain—obesity, malnutrition, stress. Nothing is more intense than existing on the brink of death—more stressful to the body. No matter what our minds yearn for, our bodies are in constant state of battle. You’ll find that most Vissimo traits can be explained if you remember we continually exist in those frantic moments before death.” She pushed number fifty and we descended.
I saw a hole straightaway. “Kyros is strong.”
“We are never stronger than when our lives are threatened,” she said. “Nor faster. Our senses are heightened, every part of us ready to fight.”
“I’m following you,” I said after a beat. “But there has to be an element of magic. Like, how do you guys exist?”
The elevator slowed and dinged again.
Angelica’s delicate laughter rang like chimes as we left the lift.
“How do humans exist?” she challenged.
“Depends who you ask.”
Angelica gestured down a wide hall to the right. “There is a Vissimo clan whose existence is dedicated to exploring our origins. But alas, nothing concrete. However, it is really no more of a mystery than the presence of humans. A mouse looking at you would think you possessed magic too.”
If a mouse could think like that. And I’d been demoted from monkey to mouse.
“I guess so,” I mused aloud. My mind needed a few minutes to process that. “How many clans are there?”
“Twelve.”
“How many vampires?”
“More than two hundred thousand during our last census.”
They had a census. “Is that a clan thing then? To have a purpose? You mentioned a clan who is interested in Vissimo origins.”
She smiled as we entered a cafeteria. “Correct. Each new clan forms around a powerful alpha male who is titled king when he has more than five thousand Vissimo under his care. When Vissimo join his clan, they also join his cause.”
What was the reason for Kyros Sky then? What on earth did their cause have to do with rolling dice and owning a real estate agency that only purchased properties and didn’t appear to sell them?
“Are there queens too?” I frowned. “How does that work with the harems?”
“If a king chooses a queen from amongst his harem, she gains royal status. Any young she has born of the king gain automatic royal status too. With regards to children from his harem, a king can choose which babies he wishes to grant royal status to. These royal children enter into the king’s care and that of his queen.”
“Whoa, mothers give up their children just like that? Are they still allowed to see them?”
Angelica’s lips twitched. “Their offspring become royal, Miss Tetley. The granted status announces to everyone the child is extremely powerful. It’s considered a great honour—but only a king has the power to separate a mother and child. A few decades after harems became the mode, another clan released evidence that it was best for the birth mother to remain completely apart from the royal family. It was easier for her, the queen, and most importantly, the child, in the long run.”
That seemed so cold. My human mind couldn’t compute. “So in general, babies stay with their mothers?”
“They do. And the mother declares who the father is.”
I exhaled slowly. “Right. Sounds like drama waiting to happen to me.” Wouldn’t everyone just fight over the babies?
Angelica glanced at me. “It’s not. Usually. Her word is law.”
The hall opened into a huge space dotted with hundreds of tables.
“If you are hungry, come to Level 50 to eat,” she said. “The food is free and available twenty-four hours. Though everyone is at their work stations upstairs right now.” She pointed out how everything worked, but I barely listened, my mind on our previous conversation. Which was saying something because I hadn’t eaten since the world imploded around me.
My situation stole away every speck of my appetite though I did eye a rack of wine with longing.
Wine, I could go for.
“Don’t worry about laundry or cleaning,” Angelica was saying. “Our Indebted handle that. Just leave any dirty clothing out. It won’t get lost and will return clean.”
Her showing me all this stuff was nice and all. That she’d take the trouble to do so surprised me—especially because I didn’t think guilt was the only thing driving her to reach out. I mean, I doubted I could repeat anything through the constraints of the compulsion, but she was practically pushing a Vissimo guidebook into my hands. Was the guidebook Kyros-approved? He was in control here, and while there might be a faint strain of favouritism for Angelica, she answered