Free Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles by Paul A. Cagle

anything.”
    Schubert chuckled as Silas and Marcus entered the room.
    Schubert stuck the x-rays into holders on the wall and flipped the lights behind them on.   A quick intake of breath was all Alec heard.
    “This is…impossible,” Schubert finally said.
    “What is it?” Alec asked, afraid that something was terribly wrong.
    Schubert shook his head, but finally said, “Alec, you seem to have both sets of organs; human and vampire.”
    Silas and Marcus both approached and reviewed the x-rays.   Sure enough, sitting on the right side, attached to Alec’s heart, was what Schubert explained was the reservoir that moved blood quietly through a vampire’s system.   He’d never seen the like.   He finally turned to the second x-ray.   “Well Alec,” he said, “You also have fangs.”
    Alec studied the x-ray closely.   Sure enough, behind his gums was what appeared to be a set of very sharp looking fangs. He put his index finger in his mouth and felt around.   He thought he felt something there but wasn’t sure.   This was just too weird.   Alec had a set of fangs, and vampire organs along with human organs.   Sure, why not? a small part of his brain thought.
    Schubert had Silas and Marcus join him in the other room and then got several more x-rays of Alec’s chest from several different angles.   He then came back and told Alec he could get dressed.
    Schubert was talking quietly with Marcus and Silas while Alec slipped his cargo pants back on.   When Alec removed the gown and reached for his shirt, he looked over and found Marcus examining him.   Is he checking me out? he wondered.   Marcus didn’t act like he was embarrassed when he caught Alec looking at him, so he assumed it was the whole “male competition” thing.  
    Alec could tell by the tight shirt Marcus was wearing that his chest was better than Alec’s.   His pecs were well defined under the tight fabric of his shirt and stood out in stark definition, leaving very little to the imagination.   Alec just shook his head.   After all he had been told today, he was comparing his chest to Marcus’s.   His world truly had gone mad.
    When he looked back up, Marcus was smiling that cocky grin of his.  
    “Bring those back to the sitting room,” Silas said indicating the x-rays.   “Alec, come with me.   Don’t ask anything or say anything until we get back to the sitting room and the doors are closed.   Okay?”   Alec nodded mutely and then they started off, Silas in the lead, Alec in the middle, followed by Marcus.
    When they arrived and the doors were closed Silas explained, “This room is sound proof and swept for bugs on a regular bases.   It’s one of the few safe places to talk privately without being overheard.”
    Alec remembered Schubert answering Silas’s question of where they were.   Alec hadn’t heard a thing.   Vampire hearing must be pretty damn good!
    They sat back down on the couches as before, this time Marcus sitting to Silas’s left and waited for Schubert.   Marcus and Silas talked quietly while Alec pondered this turn of events.   He had fangs.   Alec Carson, a nobody who had grown up in an orphanage and who had never had anything happen to him in his life, had fangs.   And he was a… a what?   What did this make him?   He wasn’t a full vampire.   He also wasn’t human.   Something occurred to Alec and he interrupted Silas and Marcus.
    “Will I start craving human blood?   Will I kill people to feed?   What’s going to happen?”   It all came out quickly before he lost the nerve to ask.
    Silas shook his head and sighed.   “Alec I’m not sure if you will need human blood or not. Have you been craving it, or thinking about it?
    Alec shook his head no.
    “Then I’m not really sure.   As far as killing someone, killing humans is forbidden.   It’s part of our vampiric law.   Feeding on humans is forbidden without their permission.   Even with their permission it is frowned upon