Crimson Born - Amy Patrick Page 0,24

fascination with books about old Hollywood, and Imogen bore an uncanny resemblance to pictures I’d seen of one of its biggest stars, Audrey Hepburn.

She was even more beautiful than she’d been a few nights ago. Though her skin was unlined and her hair was smooth and shining, I had the sense she was much older than she appeared to be.

The women I’d known all my life looked nothing like this—certainly not the mothers. But I picked up a very strong maternal vibe from Imogen.

Though I’d only seen her once, and briefly at that, I felt an instant kinship with her. She came around the table and approached me, taking my hands in both of hers in a motherly gesture.

“How have you been? I was concerned when Kannon told me you weren’t where he left you. I understand you went back to your village.”

“Yes,” I managed to say past the instant lump in my throat. “But I won’t be going there again.”

She nodded sympathetically.

“I heard things didn’t go so well. I’m sorry. The beginnings of this life can be hard. But you will see, there is so much more to it than hardship. You won’t miss your human existence at all, I promise. Before long, you’ll rarely even think of it. And you’ll have a community even stronger than the one you came from. The familial bond between vampires is the strongest you’ll ever experience.”

She summoned another female vampire and assigned her to take me to my quarters and find me some clothes.

“You’ll feel better after a bath and a good meal,” Imogen assured me as I was led from the room. “And when you’re ready in a day or two, your training will begin. Don’t worry, you’ll soon feel at home here and make lots of new friends.”

At her last words a memory resurfaced—Reece, running away from the scene of the car crash.

I stopped walking with my escort and turned back.

“Imogen... if I may ask... I thought I saw... well, I thought I saw you bite someone else at the crash site. A young man, the driver of the car?”

She smiled beatifically. “Yes. I honored your request and saved his life as well.”

For the first time in days I felt something resembling hope.

“He’s here then?”

Her smile fell. “No, I’m afraid not. He fled the scene, and my Bloodbound haven’t been able to locate him. Never fear, dear. He’ll show up, and when he does, you’ll be the first to know.”

Contrary to Imogen’s promise, I didn’t feel at home at the Bastion, even three weeks later.

I tried. I listened carefully to all my instructors about safety precautions and dietary resources. I learned the cave system inside and out. I studied vampire history and even brushed up on the current events I’d been so blissfully unaware of while living with my Amish community.

The Crimson Accord that Kannon had mentioned was a particular focus.

The twenty-point document had been drafted in 1962 and signed by vampire and human leaders, including John F. Kennedy, who’d been the American president at the time, and Sadie Aldritch, the leader of the Vampire-Human Coalition.

It spelled out the rules that had allowed vampires to come out into human society and had kept the peace among the species since then.

The only humans who were bitten or turned these days were those who chose to be. Vampires held jobs, paid taxes, and voted.

All of it was interesting and even a little awe-inspiring. I’d grown up with no knowledge the vampire race was so ancient and accomplished, and it seemed foolish to me now that my family and even Josiah himself had considered them to be “monsters.”

I even enjoyed the opportunity to study and learn again, something I’d missed since my schooling had ended at home.

But I didn’t make lots of friends as Imogen had promised. Whether it was because of my upbringing or something else, I never could manage to feel like I fit in at the Bastion.

The other vampires were polite, but other than Kannon, no one seemed interested in befriending me.

How could I blame them? Everyone here was so much cooler than me, more worldly, and apparently far more satisfied with the way their lives had turned out.

They spoke freely of feeding from humans and seemed to enjoy their new powers and lifestyle. If they were ever sad, they didn’t show it.

The only exception was when people discussed what was happening in the world beyond the confines of this safe haven, of the increasing discrimination against vampire-kind and the