BloodGifted Read Online Free PDF

You’re its owner now. Stop trying to remove it.’ She placed both hands on my wrists.
    ‘What is it and why can’t I take it off?’
    ‘It’s called the Serpent Ring—for obvious reasons. It was mine for fifty years and now it’s yours.’
    I gazed at it in horrified fascination as its two blood-red eyes stared back at me. Whether they were either garnets or rubies I had no idea, but they looked alive, almost as if they knew me. It was the oddest sensation.
    ‘It’s the symbol of the Ingenii or Bloodgifted—the name by which we are known,’ my aunt said.
    ‘What’s going on?’
    ‘Exactly as I’ve told you. That’ —she pointed to the ring— ‘was no trick. I’d never deceive you, Laura. This is just too important and you mean too much to me.’
    ‘No, no… I can’t…’ There’s no such thing as vampires and magic rings, my poor brain was telling me. Pity the rest of my senses weren’t listening.
    She grasped me by the shoulders. ‘My dear, dear girl, there are things in this world that are beyond explanation and we—you and I—are a part of that. This is something you can’t ignore or run away from and if you don’t accept what I’m preparing you for tonight, your life will be in danger and not even Matt will be able to protect you.’
    I pulled out of her grasp. ‘What do you mean, danger?’
    ‘Unless you have a protector, every vampire will try to claim you. Our blood contains a substance that enhances their already considerable strength and power, but above all, it gives them the ability to daywalk. For creatures of the night, this is a coveted gift.’
    I was shocked into stunned silence as my rational mind struggled to accept my aunt’s words. Yet there was no denying what I had just witnessed. The ring felt warm on my finger, its unnatural eyes gave off a slight glow in the slowly darkening sky.
    There’s no place to fit batteries, if it is a trick, I thought as I examined the ring from all directions. But my aunt would never play such a sick joke on me, that much I knew for certain.
    ‘It’s all true, Laura,’ she softly said. ‘I would never do that to you.’
    ‘You read minds, too?’
    ‘Your face, dear, and if it’s any consolation, I reacted exactly the same way when I was told.’
    ‘When was that?’ My throat constricted.
    ‘The age you are now—fifty. It’s known as our coming-of-age.’ She paused before going on. ‘I’ve rehearsed this scene a thousand times in my mind; exactly what I would say to you when the time came. You think this is easy for me, Laura? It’s not very flattering when my favourite girl looks at me like I’m an idiot or bordering on dementia!’
    I bit my lip for that’s exactly what I believed! ‘ It’s just that… this whole thing…’
    ‘I know, I know. This doesn’t happen in the real world, but Laura dear, for the Dan tonvilles down through the ages this has been our reality.’
    She paused momentarily, then as if speaking to a child, said slowly, ‘because w e are descended from a vampire—an individual who was cursed into that form. His altered genetic structure has been passed down through the generations to us. That’s why our blood is unique. In the human world it’s not even classified, as you well know, and the reason we don’t age as everyone else.’
    Now I understood the term, being struck dumb! I had no a nswer to this latest revelation.
    ‘Our g uardian,’ she continued, ‘is also descended from our ancestor, but in a different way—a parallel family line. But you’ll learn more of that when the time comes. Suffice to say, our blood also provides him with further enhanced supernatural qualities such as strength and more acute senses so he can protect us from others of their kind; those who would use us to wipe out their enemies and use humans as vampire fodder. He has striven to reign in the more bloodthirsty ones and impose laws to protect humankind.’ She paused in thought. ‘Almost like a kind of