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We walked down hallways lined with gold fringed tapestries A lot of the pictures were scenic, but some were actually of va aa woht shadow of a fang on the woman&039;s neck as the vampire leaned in to drink frory

Teren clutchedat hiht He was nervous and excited andbirthday was like a death toll, gonging in his head Rubbing my stomach with htly swollen feet and a mild case of heartburn, I felt fine Not about to have a heart attack or anything

I leaned into Teren&039;s side and he looked down onanxiousness in his pale eyes I save me a nervous smile in return

Jacen fro you to the gallows Stop being so dramatic"

Teren frowned at the man, but Gabriel in the lead, stopped and looked back at hi face Starla beside hium I heard Jacen s, buthis eyes, he calmly said, "I expect immaturity from Starla, she is only twenty-two, after all" Starla beside him harruh heels too, but she refrained Gabriel continued, ignoring her "You, Jacen, are over one hundred twenty" He raised his eyebrows "Start acting like it"

Froh and slu around to stare at Jacen after he said that Father? Jacen was staring at his shoes, adaze Confused, I looked back at Starla She&039;d called him father as well, but he&039;d also just said she enty-two I didn&039;t understand how he&039;d had children one hundred years apart? I was under the impression that that wasn&039;t possible

"Teren, how did he?" I didn&039;t kno to finish that sentence, so I didn&039;t try I didn&039;t need to either Gabriel swung his green eyes back to ue question, he answered with, "They are not lanced at Starla, attached to his arm, and Jacen and Jordan behind us "The title is honorific, I suppose" He shrugged and indicated us to keep walking As we approached a set ofdown into even rateful for it His deep voice was a soothing distraction froeons

"All of my actual children have converted and moved on, to start their own nests around the world I h the bloodline, and take comfort in that" He looked down at Starla, fatherly pride on his face "As fortheeover, if they still need to They are free to coo as they like, but many have decided to stay here with me Safety in nuave rinned back at us, blowing a big bubble With a slight clearing of his throat, Gabriel held his hand out to her Pouting like a child being repriuhed softly and Starla shot hilare While not technically related, the two sure acted like squabbling siblings

As we descended to a hallway, deep under the main level we&039;d started out on, I noticed that the luxuries continued on even down here Plush carpet replaced the granite flooring from upstairs and I nearly wanted to shuck offtoes sink into the fibers The hallere walking down had several closed doors in it, almost like a dor area of the mixed I wondered if the full varound, it wasn&039;t as lightproof as Halina&039;s roo, Starla still pouting, Teren stepped up to walk beside Gabriel There was enough room in that hallway that I was able to stay beside hi

With a mixture of wonder and respect in his tone, Teren asked, "If I may, sir, how old are you?" I widened my eyes curiously at that If Jacen was over one-twenty, and deferred to this man, he must be even older

Gabriel smiled, a calm wisdoive you It was still odd to me to see so er thanhe stated, "Six hundred eleven"

Teren&039;s jaw fell open, as did mine A lohistle escaped my lips before I could stop it Wow He&039;d been around for the actual in to co he&039;d seen

He smiled softly, and for just a moment, I saw the weariness behind his eyes Wisdom did come with a price As Alanna had told me once, immortality wasn&039;t all it was cracked up to be

"Oh," Teren said softly, looking like was trying to process that as well Nearly in a whisper he added, "I wasn&039;t even sure if ould live that long" He looked dohen he said that, his ignorance on his own kind see him

Gabriel put a hand on his shoulder "There is much that you don&039;t know" Teren looked up at hiretfully "I sort of blame myself for that" Teren scrunched his face, confused by that stateain "Your nest cao" My jaw dropped way open at that My teeth popped out too, before I eling at rined at Teren&039;s surprise "You all looked so peacefully content at your little ranch A blissfully ignorant little family" He smiled with a corner of his mouth and shook his head "I didn&039;t want to interfere"

Teren started sputtering and ran a hand through his hair "We didn&039;t knoe thought ere alone Why? How?" Cal slowly as well "We would have been honored to ain and looked forward We approached a &039;T&039; in the hallway and he turned the group to the right Behind us, I could hear Jacen and Jordan silently following They listened, but didn&039;t interrupt their master I had no idea what they felt about the matter Starla seemedbored She had released herself froain buffing out a spot with her thu hallway

Gabriel glanced over at Teren with the corner of his eye "Well, you all see under control" His eyes flicked over toover every vampire nest you could find" His eyes went back to Teren&039;s, his eyebrows raised "Annoying our brethren, is not a good way to remain unnoticed, or alive"

Teren looked down at the floor for a second before raising his eyes back to Gabriel, an almost defiant look on his face "I had no choice I didn&039;t kno else to find you"

Gabriel smirked at the look on his face and then nodded We finally approached the end of the hall Looking behind us, behind Jacen and Jordan, I could see that the halle&039;d been walking doasn&039;t a straight one, it had angled soer see ht didn&039;t exactly pleaseback to the front, I took in the set of double doors before us The handles were gold, with a gold inlay around the trional pattern set into each panel Teren sed as Gabriel smiled and pulled down the handle I wasn&039;t sure ere walking into, but I was sure it held the ansere looking for I clutched Teren&039;s ar open the door and we looked into a room that was set up likewell, a laboratory Confused, Teren and I entered the odd-for-a-ht out of a horroraround for theup to so, he turned down a burner under one Jordan walked into the roo a batch of so in vials under a heat lamp He seemed to eye the room with the casual air of someone who came down here a lot Jordan probably assisted the ancientdown here

Jacen stepped into the room and shut the door behind hilanced at each other and I could tell he sensed it to - this room was soundproof And not just any sort of soundproof, this roo As the background noise of people rustling, low conversations, objects , instantly silenced, my nerves spiked a bit The smell of chemicals, steam, propane, and the faint sweetness of blood in the air, suddenly see

Gabriel looked up fro my reaction "Don&039;t fret, child I find that the silence helps ain "Sometimes, a little quiet is nice"

I nodded and tried to relaxslowly Jacen looked around the roo the door He did not look like he came down here very often, and his eyes were interested, but obviously confused He didn&039;t knohat this stuff was, anymore than I did Starla seemed to have a better idea

She walked up to Gabriel and sat on a stool in front of hi her arm, she exposed the inside of her elbow to him Teren and I walked up to them, still confused Gabriel held his hand out to Jordan, who handed hiuely looked familiar to me, but I wasn&039;t sure why We watched in silent awe as Gabriel stuck a syringe in the vial, extracted a small amount, and then injected it into Starla&039;s arm She flinched a little, but didn&039;t seem overly concerned about the ain, but it was Teren who spoke "What was that?" There was a strange edge of apprehension to his voice

Gabriel handed the e Starla&039;s ar Teren, he said, "When ,at the floor for a rew up, had children of their own, converted, and then left my care" His reminiscent smile evaporated and he raised his eyes to Teren&039;s "My son" He sed and I could clearly see the ancient sadness bubbling in hier consuhed and looked down I sed and clutched Teren&039;s arht He&039;d nearly been consuan shifting it back and forth in his hand, the liquid inside sloshing from one side to the other "Afterto find a way to stop the conversion"

His eyes left the liquid to look back to Teren "To stop the hu To let the vah their conversion I want them to have children when they want to, to have a heartbeat as long as they want to, to enjoy huive our kind a choice - to be reborn as an undead creature, or live and die a purely human life A choice my sonnever had"

Teren took an excited step forward, and I could tell he was itching with the restraint to not scream questions at this man Gabriel held the vial up to him as he took another step forward Teren releasedit like it was somehow sacred Gabriel continued, while Teren and I looked confused "I concocted this It&039;s a derivative of our s, it slows the vampiric blood inside us, eases the strain placed on the huer than normal"

Teren&039;s eyes snapped up "Does it work?"

Gabriel glanced over at Starla, now standing beside hi- it for the past six rinned at Gabriel&039;s affectionate look and leaned back on her hip

I frowned "But she&039;s only twenty two You won&039;t really know if it works on her for years" Starla frowned ather prideful bubble

Gabriel smiled, but didn&039;t answer me He turned to Jordan and in a not audible for hu Samuel here"

Jordan nodded and blurred from the room Teren and I watched him leave, our brows still scrunched Finally Teren shook his head "This; there was so hed "To be honest, I don&039;t know The treatment doesn&039;t take for everyone" He raised an eyebrow at h a va at the telltale scar on one is quite astounding, lance Teren sain A the roo to mine and Starla&039;s Curious, I looked over My jaw dropped straight down to the floor Tall and dark Jordan alking into the roo his forties, if not already there The sn, yet with a fa to associate with partial vaaped at hi over to see him more closely, his head cocked, like the sound of his still beating heart wasAnd it sort of was I&039;d been so used to twenty-so haired

Teren twisted back to Gabriel, his slorious "It works," he breathed

Gabriel s the stool Sa his arm in the same way Starla did As Jordan prepared a second vial, Gabriel nodded at Teren "In the ones that take to it, it has worked exceedingly well"

He frowned, his lips twisting in displeasure as he injected the fluid into Samuel&039;s arm "The first batch I createddid not" He was silent for a second and then he fixed his face into a more clinical expression, as he explained "Conversions are an interesting process in mixed In pure vampires, it happens when they are created When a mixed is born, the ele to undead, stays dor blood is too much, and so on the faered, and that element activates The blood then accelerates to a point where the vaer handle it The heart burns out, the hu the creature"

I watched, fascinated, as he finished injecting Salanced at our curious faces "You see, the process of conversion isn&039;t just the hu Kill a mixed vampire before that trait has a chance to awaken, and you kill the vaenetic hed and shook his head "The first batch I created accidentally triggered that dormant element in the blood - revved it up and burnt out the heart within hours, jue" He shrugged and looked very sad as Samuel rubbed the injection site on his arm "I accidentally converted quite a few vaasped audibly

He flicked his eyes up to ly concerned at my alar, that it was never going to work, I destroyed all of the samples, locked up my research Don&039;t worry, I adjusted the formula considerably" His eyes took on a look of a scientist as he said that, emotionally detached from what he&039;d done Of course, he probably didn&039;t understand the extent of what he&039;d actually done

Teren gasped as well as he looked back ateyes, we understood each other Teren looked back at Gabriel "I think you er

Gabriel blinked at hearing it My eyes watered as I found Teren&039;s hand Thatthat had killed hiiven him a heart attack He&039;d claimed it as his own creation at the tiotten a hold of Gabriel&039;s samples and had tried to pawn it off as his own I always suspected that the bastard hadn&039;t been s like that But I couldn&039;t believe a mixed had come up with it I wondered if Gabriel knew that a hunter had been out there, killing other mixed with his creation By the startlement on his face as Teren described what had happened to him, I didn&039;t think he knew As Samuel stood from the stool, he heavily sat down into it

"That&039;s not possiblethe only person who could have" His voice trailed off as he left that thought unfinished

Slight anger still in his voice, Teren cocked his head "Who?"

Gabriel, still looking stunned, shook his head and looked back up at Teren His face regaining his ancient co it toup, he cast a significant look back at Jordan, who nodded once and left the roo that so his eyes back to Teren, he calmly asked "Has the hunter been dealt with?"