Free Revenant in Training (Blood and Snow series) by Rashelle Workman Page A

why? Why she chose you?”
    “Oh, right. Yes.” I leaned back in the chair, and clamped my twitchy hands in my lap.
    “ First a little history.”
    “Okay ,” I said , noting it’d become my word of the day .
    “ The Vampire Queen has been alive for thousands of years. By our best guess,” he eyed Kenmei, “we’d say more than seven thousand. Every thousand years she must ch ange bodies . Regardless, or because of her immortal properties, like a snake that sheds its skin every year, she too must escape the old body in lieu of a new, more healthy one . ”
    I shuddered at the thought of skin peeling away.
    Professor Pops continued, “ When the Queen is within twenty years of her need to shed, she sends out drone vampires.”
    I must have had a confused expression because he said, “Think about bees in a hive. There is one Queen, over fifty thousand bees, and one out of every hundred is a worker. They are also female. Then there are the drones, which are the mal es. Their job,” he shifted uncomfortably, “ is to mate with the Queen.”
    My jaw dropped .
    “ Within the hierarchy of the Vampire Queen ’s hive , we know within her army are many, many more females. We also know the male drone vampire’s job is …” he trailed off, and cleared his throat before continuing, “ slightly different. ”
    “C orrect,” Kenmei said, taking over . “ The drones are sent into the world searching for the most exquisite female humans . Once they find one, they mark her. ” Professor Pops leaned close; his hands hovered near my right arm.
    Without him lifting my shirtsleeve I knew what he hoped to find . I had a dark birthmark , near my shoulder, in the shape of a star. It’d appea red around my fifth birthday. I’d been getting dressed one morning, and believed the mark to be a bug, at first. Worried, I’d shown my mother . She’d said it was nothing to worry about. “A kiss from magical fairies,” had been her answer . At the thought of my mother, tears ga thered on my lashes .
    “May I?” Pops asked.
    I pulled up the sleeve . “ So a drone vampire marked me ?” I heard the raw pain in my voice, but pretended it didn’t matter , and moved my shoulder so he and Kenmei saw it.
    “Yes,” Kenmei said , his face growing soft .
    “Why don’ t I remember?” I let go of my sleeve, and tucked my hands under my legs. Keeping my eyes down, I stared at my white tube socks —boy socks .
    “You were young, and the mark was most likely placed on you in your sleep,” Professor Pops said.
    At his words, something clicked. “How do you know about all of th is?” My stomach clenched . Was Professor Pops ’ friendship only pretend? Was he somehow involved?
    Kenmei answered by moving his shirt. Where his shoulder met his arm an evil-looking blade had been tattooed.
    “What does that mean?” I asked after looking, and sitting back . My heart had begun to beat rapidly, which ma de me happy. I still had one .
    “When a drone vampire is chosen to be a Hunter by the Queen, she marks him with one of these.” He touched the blade hesitantly, before covering it.
    “D-did you mark me? Are you t he one who bit me?” I stood, jumped over the desk, and pulled open the door, before I gra sped what I’d done. Fear occupied my veins.
    “No, Shiryo-san.”
    Bo th Professor Pops and Kenmei rose in unison, as though their movements had been synchronized . Professor Pops had his arms o ut, a look of pleading on his face .
    “We were a part of the Queen’s hive many, many years ago, but we left. For me, it’s been over a thous and years. For Kenmei, almost six .”
    M y hand dropped from the handle. “S ix thou sand years? You’re so old. ” I also remembered the man who’d bitten me was much taller than Kenmei , his body firmer, younger . The way he’d smelled. Like Heaven, my mind whispered. I closed my eyes, trying to regain focus.
    He bowed. “Yes, Shiryo-san. I was the first Hunter. With my help the Queen