Chapter 6

• An Unbelievable Truth
• Though it looked like a small cave, it was nothing near the description of small. Avellana smirked, a feeling of pride surging into her, as this was her idea. The rocky texture was still there, and yes, it was bulky, but it carried a large space. It was like an arena filled with holes somewhat like a maze. In the front area, there was a training place. Knives, guns, swords, any weapon was scattered on the floor.
• There were twenty or so people already practicing their kicks and punches, using their weapons, or working on their powers if ever they had gotten one.
• She put her hands deep inside her pockets, continuing to walk and making sure that not a strand of hair would move out of place. God, if the mark was seen from any people-or vampire in this manner, she would not survive a day without being bombarded by questions.
• She strode to the inner part of the cave and took a left. There they were. Bars in front of them, the new recruits were either standing or sitting like they were prisoners with a chalk enlisting how many days they had been here. She glanced at the four combatants. From what she had gathered, they were the only ones who knew about Lizzie-knew that she was a child. Maybe she could ask a witch to wipe their memory, but who knows, the witches have close ties with the necromancers.
• "I'll handle them," Avellana said, eyeing them all when they bowed their heads. "You may leave, even get a midnight snack if you want to." They didn't really need any more words to come out of her mouth as they were already off before she could even say 'go'. She walked to the new vampires with raised eyebrows.
• "Who are you?" The pointy-nosed redhead asked, narrowing her eyes.
• "Avellana Rivers. Really, didn't anybody teach you some manners? Guess you have to learn them on your own," she said coolly, not even batting an eyelid. Lizzie waved at her, as if the ordeal that happened two hours ago was forgotten. The redhead just scowled at her.
• "Introduce yourselves. I'm not going to magically know your names."
• None answered. She raised her eyebrow. Hadn't she already given them an order? Her gaze went to Lizzie who stood up with a smile plastered on her face. The others were really testing her temper. "I'm Lizzie!"
• "Rebecca," the blunt woman said, the scowl still etched on her face.
• "Julie," Avellana turned to the blonde in the corner. Her brown eyes were wide with curiosity as she glanced from left to right, hugging her knees.
• The man at the other end was standing, his grey eyes staring at her once more. Avellana dug her fingers into her palm when his name sounded, "Blake." There was no mark in his neck. Honestly, she wasn't that surprised by the ordeal. There must be something blocking him...
• Her thoughts were cut out when another man stepped forward and gave a winning smile. "Mike," he said in a suave tone. "I would love to spend an eternity with you beautiful."
• She sneered and scoffed at his arrogance, ignoring the way he put his hand out to shake hers. She walked to the side, leaning against the rocky wall. "You already know that you're vampires and you all know about the clans?" They nodded. "Summarize them to me, then."
• Her lips twitched up, but she settled to keep her face as neutral as possible. She remembered how a new vampire was changed. He was annoying, threatening to call the cops, and all that shit. He was so impulsive and ignorant that she had to rip his throat out, not being able to take anymore of his yapping mouth.
• She tapped her foot on the floor, waiting for words to come out of their mouth.
• The first one to speak was Mike, the smile still there, but this time, his hands were crossed on his chest. "You can't turn people into vampires. You can't turn children into vampires. We're not allowed to show our faces to the human worlds. We are considered dead. And we must also not come in contact with human friends or any other connections. We are also faster than humans now with heightened senses."
• "If ever one is turned into a vampire, that vampire would have five months till he or she would go to a clan that he would be good in. The four clans are Potestatem, Intelligentia, Firmis, Iudicium," it was Julie who started to speak, her eyes trained on the floor. "You go to Potestatem if you value power and leadership more than anything. You go to Intelligentia if you value wisdom and learning. You go to Firmis if you value relationships, and... loyalty, yes. You go to Iudicium if you value judgment and truth."
• "In a clan, there are messengers, healers, combatants, wielders, and one leader." It was Blake this time, his deep voice sounding.
• Avellana wanted to laugh at how nervous they were feeling. She told them to summarize it, not recite them word per word like they were some wikipedia site or anything.
• "We burn in the sun. We could be killed by werewolf blood and we could also be sent into a coma if we drink animal blood," Rebecca chewed her lips. "Our blood is also poisoned now."
• Their blood, unlike humans, was pure black. They could blush and lose blood, sure, but not the reddish kind-it would look like someone had gotten coal and thrown it at both ends of one's cheek or dark tar kept flowing out of your body.
• "By the way, are vampires born with powers?" Rebecca said.
• "You've been hearing one too many myths already," Avellana flicked her hand. "A witch will give the power to a vampire, but it's rare. Even if you have a power or two you won't be able to use them as much as you would've wanted. They drain your energy out. Use them too much, you die."
• She, luckily, had two powers. She could hypnotize people or bring them into insanity. The problem was the fact that no matter how tempting it was to use them, she couldn't, especially the latter on. It would drain her energy to none, and using those, she should be prepared to have a hundred percent chance of winning. That was why she almost never used it in battles, better left not knowing what her circumstances will be if she used it.
• Avellana took one more glance at Blake who was sighing. "We left out on the mates part," the blond man said, and she could feel herself gulping. How was she going to explain this?
• "Mates are partners. They have this mark, very different from the others. Every mark is unique," she drawled, keeping her voice monotonous. "Mates don't really come easily. Most died before they meet each other. Mates could be best friends, but usually the pull between them would require them to become lovers. If one dies, the pain would be so intense that the other one dies with him usually."
• That was all they needed to know about it, because merde, she didn't need any distractions right now.
• "Anymore questions?"
• "That would be all, beautiful."
• Avellana conjured up all of her willpower to not strangle him right then and there. The ecstasy she'd have in five months to kill him and cherish his death. A small, amused smile slipped into her lips as she walked out of the cell, locking it behind her.
• "Combatants," she called and the same people appeared in front of her. Their clothes were smeared and their hair were far from clean. "Hide the kid from the other clans. Frederick will take care of this problem. Anyone of you who would dare spread this child out to anybody in or out of this clan would face my wrath."
• Her eyes glazed at them, and they nodded in return.
• One thing she liked about becoming a vampire was the fact that she could rule people. It never got old. They shook at the sound of her voice; some even hid to avoid her. She wasn't like Frederick who tried to please every single one of them with his emotional self. And that was why she held superiority.
• This is what she was good at anyway.
• Avellana ran out of their way, taking left and right turns before stopping when Frederick was right in front of her. He was muttering swearwords left and right, punching a wall that was beside him, obviously stressed out. He had this dubious expression on his face, making her tilt her head. What was he keeping this time? "What matter seemed to be bothering you?"
• Frederick jumped at the sound of her voice, his mouth stretching into a shape of an 'o'. He stuttered to get a word out. "Deep breaths, brother," she rolled her eyes. "Do get a hold of yourself."
• "There's something that one of the vampires discovered after the autopsy of Victor's body," he said, hesitating.
• "Well? Do you know why he died?"
• "That's just the thing, Avellana! He isn't dead. He's alive-very much alive," he shook. "Somebody forced a sleeping draught down his throat. It could only be made by a witch!"
• Her eyes widened when Frederick shouted at her. This was unlike him, but then she furrowed her eyebrows at the news. "A sleeping draught? That doesn't affect us. They need one more ingredient for that to work," she pointed out. "And it was lost centuries ago."
• "Well they found it! And as far as I know, there's only one thing to cure it, and it was the same thing that caused it."
• Avellana gasped, "No... It's supposed to be gone!"
• "Well, it is true," he snapped before calming himself down quickly after taking another deep breath. "Avellana, we need to find the everlasting stone."