Free Tainted Crimson by Tarisa Marie

friends. I think he was testing her. Anyway he got the best of me with a big fire explosion and I ended up in the morgue. I wonder who called and warned me about Marco but I have a feeling that I’ll never know,” Dad grunts.
    “Well, where are we going?” Jacob asks, changing the subject when he notices my wide eyes.
    “We’re off to Canada,” my father replies seriously.
    D chuckles. “I was just there yesterday, guys. Seriously? Please don’t tell me the rocky mountains, because that would be one heck of a coincidence.”
    “What the hell were you doing in Canada?” my dad asks still gruff but with a bit of humor in his voice.
    “You know me, I was getting babes,” D says with his usual smirk.
    My dad chuckles and then an awkward silence settles and I notice everyone taking glances at me now and then. Probably wondering if I’m about to crack. I finally can’t take the stares any longer and I close my eyes. I wait for the flurry of emotions to hit me but it doesn’t. Am I in shock? I heave a deep sigh and bang my head back against the seat as if trying to knock my feelings loose. Why am I not feeling anything? Shouldn’t I be hyperventilating or something? I mean I did just find out that my mother was a vampire, I might not even be human, I have a brother, my father is immortal, my prom date was a vampire, there’s an evil witch out there looking for me, and god knows what else.
    “Are you okay, Ariella?” my dad finally asks.
    “Fine,” I answer. “It’s just a lot.”
    “I know. I’m sorry,” he amends.
    “Do you have any questions?” Jacob asks sounding bored.
    I think about it for a moment. Of course I do. Millions.
    “What is an immortal ?” It’s hard for me to muster the words because it feels like something out of a fantasy novel. The words seem awkward coming out of my mouth. “I mean, what makes them different from humans?”
    It’s D who clears his throat. “They live forever. They don’t age. They can’t be killed. At least, I’ve never heard of one being killed. They’re faster than humans, stronger, more agile, and smarter. That’s about it. Vampires are basically the exact same thing except they live off of other people’s life sources. They need blood to live because the life force in those people is what gives them life. They will go crazy and lose complete control if they don’t get it and will be out of control until they get it. They can even dry out into a nasty old corpse if they don’t get it. It won’t kill them but they will remain that way until or if they get blood. White witches and warlocks, Arianna’s line, can live forever if they’re given the opportunity, but they can also be killed fairly easily. They don’t have the immortal qualities that immortals and vampires have. Basically anything that could kill a human, could kill a witch. I mean most of the time we can stop it from happening. You know, if a car is racing towards us, we can stop it. If a plane is crashing, we can have it land safely. Basically the more powerful a witch is, the more ‘unkillable’ they are. Black witches and warlocks, Marco’s line, are the same only they must suck their power from humans, animals, other witches, and use it to power themselves. That’s why it took the god damn holocaust for Marco to be able to create the existence of the vampire but took Arianna only a vast amount of her strength to create the immortals. Usually when a White Witch becomes low on power, it takes them a while to refuel. Some witches, can suck power in from nature on their own regard. I haven’t yet mastered this but I haven’t ever really needed to so I haven’t spent a lot of time practicing. Black witches have to kill to get their strength back,” he explains and then looks at me to see if I’m following.
    “So they drink blood too? Like vampires?” I ask disgusted.
    “No, they just kill. The blood thing is just the vampires. That’s how Marco created them. The legend of