A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,6
the one in charge of keeping you alive give it to you... Yes?” His voice becomes frothy, full of amusement.
Seething, I reply, “You are mistaken. I know why you won’t give it to me. Because you’re a vampire. Heartless and cold and unable to empathize with another’s suffering.”
“Oh?” He laughs at me as I cough again. “Unable to empathize, hm? Now that sounds familiar. If you think on it enough, humans are not so different from vampires,” he states while analyzing the encased liquid in his hands. “This water that you humans need to survive… is it not something that you would kill for? Is it not something that you would drop your morals for if so little were freely given to you?”
He pauses just long enough for me to inhale a useless breath.
“I thought so. Humans, like every other living thing, are selfish, but that is a requirement to survive. Likewise, in order for us vampires to live, we need human blood. Though here you are, telling me that we are heartless simply because we want to survive. Please, do explain.”
“It’s how you handle our lives that’s heartless,” I hiss. “You cage us and treat us like cattle so that you can use us for whatever you want. I may have it better because I belong to an elite, but once he’s done with me, he’ll send me off to the breeders so that I can spend the rest of my life making more miserable humans that I’ll never name or know. I could never do that to anyone, human or vampire.”
His huge, clawed hand flies out and grabs me by the hair. I yelp, the pores of my scalp blistering from his yank as he brings his face close to mine. Smiling, he growls. “You must have come from the outside, which explains your pitiful ideologies.”
His nostrils flare when I continue to eye him. “Tell me, do you truly think that if you lived a free life you would give your blood to a vampire in need? Even if it left you bed-ridden for hours, could you find yourself selfless enough to do so?”
I scowl at him and whisper, “In all honesty, I have never been granted enough freedom to indulge such a thought.”
He frowns. “Well, let me assure you that you would not. To do so is simply not in your nature. Humans are prey. They only run, fight, or submit to the inevitable. And if they are unable do any of those, then they die at the hands of their predators.”
I blink away his intimidation attempt. “I don’t submit. I only run and fight.”
He releases my hair to lift the water over my face once more.
“Your generation of humans are lucky... for your existence upon this earth is spared only by the impending extinction of your race. You should be grateful that your masters have become less predatory and more parasitic over the last century.”
With these last few words he releases the dam of the spout, letting water spill over my face. Although I’m ashamed by the position I’m in, I open my mouth and struggle to funnel the refreshing droplets onto my tongue. After about half the bag is emptied, a faint chime sounds, and the vampire turns toward the dim silhouette of a door.
I only stare at the ceiling when he leaves, his words refusing to dissipate from the forefront of my mind. The blood and the water. In that moment he made them interchangeable. A need versus a need. My brows dip as I continue to stare in a daze at the blue light above me. I don’t buy it, though. If vampires were not so vile and threatening, if they would leave me the hell alone after the fact—I believe I would willingly give up my blood so they could live. I think.
That being said, because of everything they’ve done to me thus far, because of everything they’ve taken away, right now I can’t even imagine being nice to one.
The vampire returns, refusing me more water.
“Three hours until the Distribution, aberrant. First, you will go to the preparation with the rest of your gender and class. Though it will be all to waste, your dormitory mothers are here to escort you.”
Excitement pulses through me. I will soon be in the same room as my entire class from Nightingale. That means I will reunite with Savvy, the one person on this earth that I love more than food. She’s my best friend, and