Chapter 5 Blood Heritage

• Lyra POV
• "You're lying," I said, backing away from Jason until my shoulders hit the palace wall. "I'm not a vampire. That's impossible."
• Jason's eyes held mine, patient as stone. "Is it? Think about it, Lyra. Your silver eyes that glow in darkness. Your unnatural beauty makes people uncomfortable. The way you've never quite fit in anywhere."
• "Those could be anything," I snapped. "Witch magic, werewolf mutation, I don't know. But not a vampire. Vampires are monsters."
• "Like werewolves are beasts and witches are demons?" His voice was gentle, but the words cut deep. "Everything you've been taught to believe about my people, you've been taught to believe about vampires too."
• I wanted to argue, but my chest felt tight. "Prove it then. If I'm really a vampire, prove it."
• "I will." He pushed himself off the tree where he'd been leaning. "But not here. This requires sacred ground."
• Twenty minutes later, Jason led me through corridors carved from living wood, deeper into the palace than I thought possible. The air grew thicker the further we went, heavy with magic and something else. Something that made my skin prickle with recognition.
• "Where are we going?" I asked.
• "The Crimson Library," Jason replied. "It's where we keep the blood records of every vampire bloodline in existence."
• We stopped before massive doors made of black wood inlaid with silver symbols. Jason pressed his palm against the center, and the doors swung open silently.
• The room beyond took my breath away. Shelves stretched impossibly high, filled with books bound in materials I didn't recognize. Crystal orbs floated through the air, glowing with soft red light. And in the center of it all stood an altar made of what looked like solid blood.
• "This is beautiful," I whispered to myself.
• "And dangerous," Jason added. "The blood altar can reveal anyone's true heritage, but the process..." He hesitated. "It's not pleasant."
• "How not pleasant?"
• "It will force your vampire nature to the surface. All of it. The hunger, the fangs, the bloodlust. Everything you've been suppressing your entire life will hit you at once."
• I stared at the altar, fear and curiosity warring in my chest. "What if you're wrong? What if I'm just a werewolf with strange eyes?"
• "Then nothing will happen, and I'll apologize for wasting your time." Jason moved closer, his voice soft. "But if I'm right, Lyra, if you really are what I think you are, then you're the most important person in either kingdom."
• The way he said it made my stomach flutter. "Why?"
• "Because vampire-werewolf hybrids haven't existed for over three hundred years. The bloodlines were thought to be extinct." His eyes held mine. "You could be the key to ending this war forever."
• I looked at the altar again. The surface rippled like liquid, calling to something deep in my bones. "Will it hurt?"
• "Yes," Jason said honestly. "But I'll be here. I won't let anything happen to you."
• "Promise?"
• "I promise."
• I walked to the altar on shaking legs. The moment I placed my hands on the surface, it began to glow. The light was warm at first, almost comforting. Then it started to burn.
• "Jason," I gasped as pain shot up my arms.
• "I'm here," he said, moving to stand beside me. "Just breathe. Let it happen."
• The burning spread through my body like wildfire. My bones felt like they were breaking and reforming. My skin stretched and pulled in ways that shouldn't be possible.
• Then came the hunger.
• It hit me like a physical blow, so intense I doubled over gasping. Not hunger for food, but for something warm and red and vital. The scent of Jason's blood, just feet away, became the most intoxicating thing I'd ever smelled.
• "Lyra, your eyes," Jason breathed.
• I looked up at him, and even through the pain I could see my reflection in his shocked gaze. My silver eyes were glowing like stars, and my canine teeth were extending into sharp fangs.
• "Make it stop," I whimpered.
• "I can't. It has to run its course."
• The hunger grew stronger. Jason's pulse was so loud I could hear it echoing off the library walls. His blood smelled like honey and spice and everything I'd ever craved without knowing it.
• I lunged at him.
• Jason tried to dodge, but I was faster than either of us expected. My fangs sank into his neck before I could stop myself, and the taste of his blood exploded across my tongue like liquid fire.
• He was so warm, so alive, so perfect.
• "Lyra, stop," he gasped, but his hands were gentle on my shoulders. "You have to stop."
• I couldn't. The hunger was everything, consuming every thought except the need for more. I drank deeper, feeling his life force flow into me, making me stronger.
• "Lyra, please."
• Something in his voice broke through the haze. I jerked back, horrified, Jason's blood staining my lips and fangs. He staggered, one hand pressed to his bleeding neck.
• "Oh God," I whispered. "Oh God, what did I do?"
• "It's okay," Jason said, though his face was pale. "It's okay. That was the bloodlust. It's normal for new vampires."
• "I'm not a vampire!" I screamed, backing away from him. "I'm not a monster!"
• "You're not a monster, Lyra. You're something extraordinary."
• The library doors opened, and an elderly woman entered. Her silver hair was braided with crystals, and her eyes held the depth of centuries. She took one look at Jason's bleeding neck and my fanged mouth, and nodded.
• "So it's true then," she said calmly. "The Nightshade bloodline survives."
• "Who are you?" I demanded, though my voice came out distorted by the fangs.
• "I am Morgana, Elder of the Red River Coven. And you, child, are exactly what we've been waiting for." She moved to Jason, pressing her hands to his neck. Golden light flowed from her fingers, healing the bite marks I'd left.
• "Waiting for?" I managed.
• "A Blood Bridge. The child of two worlds." Morgana's ancient eyes fixed on me. "Tell me, what do you know of your parents?"
• "Nothing. Selene found me during a Blood Moon attack. They were already dead."
• "Dead, yes. But not forgotten." Morgana waved her hand, and the air above the altar shimmered. Images began to form a woman with my silver eyes and a man with golden ones. "Your mother was Isabella Nightshade, last of the vampire noble houses. Your father was Alexander Moonborn, heir to the strongest werewolf pack in the northern territories."
• The images moved like memories. I watched my parents meet, fall in love, fight against families who forbade their union.
• "They loved each other," I whispered.
• "More than life itself," Morgana confirmed. "Their union was supposed to bring peace between our peoples. Instead, it sparked the current war. Both families declared the other responsible for corrupting their heir."
• The images showed angry crowds, burning buildings, and the love story turning into a nightmare.
• "They died protecting you," Morgana continued. "Isabella used the last of her strength to hide you among the werewolves, hoping you'd be safe until your powers awakened."
• Tears ran down my cheeks, mixing with the taste of Jason's blood still on my lips. "They died because of me."
• "They died because of fear and hatred," Jason said firmly. His color was returning now that Morgana had healed him. "Not because of you."
• "There's more," Morgana said quietly. "Isabella was pregnant with twins when she died."
• The world stopped.
• "Twins?" I repeated.
• "Yes. You had a sister, child. Born at the same moment as you." Morgana's expression grew troubled. "But when Isabella hid you with the werewolves, she was forced to send your sister elsewhere. Somewhere she thought would be safe."
• "Where?" I demanded. "Where is she now?"
• Morgana and Jason exchanged a look that made my blood turn cold.
• "We don't know," Morgana admitted. "She was lost in the chaos of that night. We've been searching for twenty years, but..." She trailed off.
• "But what?"
• "But if she survived, if she's anything like you, then her powers would have awakened by now too." Morgana's voice was heavy with worry. "And if she was raised by the wrong people, if she was taught to hate instead of love..."
• The implication hit me like a physical blow. Somewhere out there was my twin sister. Someone who shared my blood, my powers, my parents' legacy. Someone who might be everything I wasn't.
• "She could be our greatest ally," Jason said quietly. "Or our most dangerous enemy."
• I sank to my knees as the weight of everything crashed down on me. I was a vampire-werewolf hybrid. My parents had died for love. I had a twin sister who was missing. And somewhere in all of this was the key to ending a war that had raged for decades.
• The fangs in my mouth slowly retracted, but the hunger remained, a constant ache that I knew would never fully go away.
• "What happens now?" I asked.
• "Now," Morgana said, "we teach you to control what you are. And we find your sister before someone else does."
• "And if we're too late? If she's already chosen a side?"
• Jason knelt beside me, his hand gentle on my shoulder despite what I'd done to him. "Then we hope that blood is stronger than whatever they taught her to believe."
• I looked up at the images of my parents still floating above the altar, frozen in a moment of perfect happiness before everything went wrong.
• Maybe it was too late for them. But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too late for me and the sister I'd never known existed.
• The question was: would she see me as family, or as just another enemy to destroy?