Free BloodGifted by Tima Maria Lacoba Page B

through the darkened ci ty streets behind the cathedral, where the homeless huddled in the doorways of the closed office buildings, and tried not to smell their fear. It didn’t help that I was still hungry even after that small bottle I downed at Luc’s. The days between Ingenii changeovers were the most dangerous, for I was at my weakest, and being so close to Laura tonight, inhaling her scent, hearing the power of her blood rushing beneath her skin was almost overwhelming. I could look, but not touch, nor taste. It was forbidden until the Coming-of-Age Ritual this coming Monday night. I was meant to have told her all that, but instead… I shook my head and berated myself.
    D amn the girl! She had a curious streak which overrode her sense and in my present weakness, I made a near-fatal error of judgement, risking exposure of our world to human eyes. I had no choice but to leave her there when she screamed.
    The blame was all mine.
    I thought back to the moment she’d walked through the Cathedral’s glass-front doors. It wasn’t only her scent which gave her away—the potent richness of the Ingenii —but her incredible resemblance to her father, Luc. Only her hair differed, as she had Judith’s rich, golden-copper locks rather than his pale blonde. The dappled light from the cathedral’s stained glass windows caught it perfectly and illuminated its fiery depths. Would it feel as silky as it looked ? I wondered.
    I ’d stood back in the shadow of the alcove and watched as she’d walked the length of both aisles, looking around the interior and stopping to listen to the choir at practise, totally oblivious to the effect she was having on some of the younger male choristers. The poor choirmaster had been forced to stop a few times to restore their concentration.
    As she came closer to where I ’d waited, the subdued cathedral lights subtly highlighted her ivory-fair complexion—not a hint of a tan. Her skin was smooth, creamy, flawless and the long dress she wore draped itself around her slim body revealing enticing feminine curves. Her long flame-coloured hair swayed as it lapped at the edges of her waist. She was, indeed, a beauty and combined with her Ingenii scent, it was proving to be an alluring combination.
    I thought further back to the last time I’d seen her. She’d been a baby, barely three months old. John, Judith’s brother, and his wife Eilene, were expecting their first child at the exact same time as Judith was expecting hers. Both women gave birth on the same day, in the same hospital.
    Sadly , Eilene’s baby died of SIDS three months later. Fearing for Laura’s safety, should the Brethren community learn of her unique bloodline, Luc used the unhappy circumstance to swap their living baby for the dead one. They hoped our world would believe Judith’s child dead, thereby giving Laura a chance to grow up in the relative safety of John’s family.
    The Ingenii blood was coveted for its powerful properties, but combined with Luc’s blood, she would be like catnip to any vampire. Any who sought to overthrow the Principate in order to abolish the rule of law and instigate their own murderous regime, had but to gain possession of the current Bloodgifted and no one would be able to withstand them. Even though her infant blood would have none of the strength of a mature Ingenii , simply having her in their control would ensure Luc’s—and the other Elders—co-operation. They could then feed on humans indiscriminately.
    It was a fearful scenario.
    So Laura grew up inconspicuously unaware of the parallel world to which she belonged and never knowing her true parents, although they were there all the time, hovering, watching, protecting.
    That was fifty years ago. Now everything was about to change for her and I suspected for me, also. I didn’t know what to expect when I met her, but she’d surprised me—smart and sharp-tongued that expressed precisely what she thought. What’s more, she