Sventés, however, couldn’t boast of much. Our vampiric gifts were mostly defensive rather than offensive, and we didn’t have super strength or a bewitching allure. Still, we were stronger and faster than humans and had incredible agility. We didn’t have visible markings – no fangs, no glowing irises – and our bloodlust wasn’t overpowering. All of that enabled us to blend well with humans, and therein lay our power. But the other two breeds didn’t perceive that as strength. To them, Sventés were inferior in that we were tame and too human-like as opposed to the ultimate predator.
Although Jared overcame his prejudice and wasn’t the narrow-minded arsehole he’d once been, the vampire community hadn’t been keen on me Binding with him. As Antonio’s Heir, Jared was destined to one day hold the position; to rule and protect vampires worldwide. As his mate, I would share that position as ruler. The vampires needed to be secure in the knowledge that their rulers could protect them. As such, having a Sventé as a ruler hadn’t been an attractive idea to them.
It was only the fact that I was very powerful as a Feeder – a gift that should technically only run in Pagori lines – that had stopped a riot from occurring. Instead, the guests had spent the week approaching the ceremony testing my patience and strength. Fate had decided it would be funny for me to be weak at the time. Yep, thanks to two vampire scientists, I had been gradually altering while at the same time weakening. No one had known how I was altering or what the bloody hell would happen. We had found out pretty quickly. The sociopathic scientists had been trying to create a hybrid – a mix of all three vampire breeds.
The wackos had also succeeded.
Thanks to them, I was now the only hybrid in the world. In addition to having the Sventé manageable bloodlust, I also had the hypnotic allure of a Keja, and the strength of a Pagori. Nonetheless, I was a Sventé at heart.
A side effect of this hybrid business was the new mercury tinges to my irises – tinges that glowed when, yes you guessed it, I was thirsty, angry, or horny. Jared swore they looked beautiful, but I personally believed he was talking tripe and I rather missed having normal eyes.
Some might think it would be fabulous to be a hybrid, to be so strong. But the very few of us who knew about it were all set on keeping it secret, coming up with bullshit reasons for the new mercury ring to my irises and my sudden increase in power. Everyone believed Antonio’s excuses as they had no reason not to; they trusted him. If they knew the truth, they might not be too comfortable with letting me live. After all, if hybrids became a breed in their own right, they would be stronger than the other three, messing with the current dynamics. Pagoris would lose their ‘throne’, Kejas would be knocked down a notch, and Sventés would be even more vulnerable than before. No one would like that.
Less than ten minutes later, Jared and I were ready to leave. Before going to meet with the squad, Jared unfortunately lived up to his word and teleported my presents out of the apartment and hid them somewhere. It was probably for the best. I was addicted to the ‘Vampire Nation’ game, so there was a high chance that I would have dug it out and played with it again before my birthday came around.
Finally arriving at our destination, we found six of the squad gathered at the long bar, ordering drinks. Damien, Salem, Butch, Stuart, and Denny were making a huge fuss of David, who had proven to be the most valuable member on this particular assignment – they were like a football team, ecstatic with a player who had ‘scored the winning goal’. The youngest of the squad was actually the strongest; David’s gift was to produce a psionic boom that could cause such extreme pressure on the skull that it totally overwhelmed the brain and led to a temporary coma.
“It wasn’t all me,” I heard David say as Jared and I approached. “We’re a team. Plus, if it wasn’t for Butch, I wouldn’t have got close enough to the building to get inside.”
That was true. Butch used his ability to negate or deflect anything that came at him to produce a shield and protect David – being so powerful meant that David was always an immediate target. When the others turned to Butch and made the same fuss of him, he smiled and nodded. One thing I had noticed about Butch was that his crooked grins never quite reached his eerily dark eyes. Whether that meant he wasn’t good with emotion or that he was simply a sociopath that experienced none, I wasn’t sure. Given how creative he could be with his kills, it could very well be the latter. But I didn’t have much room to judge.
Noticing Jared and me, they all turned and greeted us with pats on the back. Yeah, they thought of me as one of the boys. I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or touched. Even out of work hours, they all called me ‘Coach’ rather than Sam. Of course, that didn’t stop Damien dishing out a compliment purely to annoy Jared.
“Coach, you’re looking good.” Seeing the murderous glint in Jared’s eyes, Damien’s dark skin paled slightly, but he was still as amused as always by Jared’s degree of possessiveness.
Groaning at Damien, Salem nudged him. “Maybe you should astral project onto the dance floor before you say something else that will endanger your life.”
Damien snorted. “No way. The last time I left my body alone with you bastards, I got back to find myself naked with some of Chico’s thorns stuck in the cheeks of my ass. My body didn’t wake up for, like, three hours.” Chico’s gift allowed him to release poisonous thorns that caused a victim to temporarily lose consciousness.
“Where is Chico?” I asked. He was usually at the centre of the group, since he was kind of like the ‘chief’ in a social sense.
Denny flashed me his dimply smile – he had the most adorable baby-face and guiltless blue eyes – and pointed to a spot behind me. “On the dance floor.”
Turning, I saw Chico dancing with Jude. The female Sventé had remained at The Hollow after we had helped her get justice on a criminal organisation that had been snatching human babies and selling them to vampire couples. One of those babies had been hers. On becoming a vampire, she had tried hunting the people responsible but hadn’t gotten very far all alone.
I noticed that the final three members of the squad – Max, Reuben, and Harvey – were standing near Chico, talking with members of other squads. There were, all in all, ten squads in Antonio’s legion. I also noticed that my best friend, Fletcher, was dancing with his boyfriend, Norm – both looked more like they were hyperventilating. Spotting me, they waved. Fletcher also happened to be mine and Jared’s personal assistant. And I absolutely loved the camp sod.
The energy in the place and the almost electric atmosphere was affecting Dexter, who was now in his tattoo form once more. I could always sense his mood without even looking at his colouring. Right now, he was feeling energised.
“No Evan?” Stuart asked.
I shook my head. Being Jared’s twin and a fellow commander, Evan often joined us to celebrate. Lately, though, he hadn’t been his usual playful self and had taken to brooding. He had been in a foul mood since the day after the Binding ceremony when all the guests had left. One of those guests had been a consort of one of the High Masters. As Bran was actually gay but simply too private to announce it publically, his female consorts were nothing but a smokescreen. Evan had been pursuing one of those consorts, Alora.
Evan had actually seen Alora in a vision long before he met her, thanks to Luther whose gift of precognition allowed him to make others have a vision of their own. Evan had been waiting impatiently for her to finally appear in his life. It had been obvious to everyone that she wanted Evan. For whatever reason, however, she had resisted him. I’d asked him about it several times, but he refused to speak of it – even to Jared.