A Shade Of Blood(30)

Each clan didn’t necessarily consist of blood relatives. New members were added to a clan when a new vampire was “sired” by one of the other members of the clan.
When I went to sleep, only sixty-five vampires – including me – composed the Elite. The number Eli mentioned meant that through the centuries, forty-five humans were turned into vampires. As far as I was concerned, that was a staggeringly great number. The largest vampire clan was that of the Vaughns, with Xavier as head of the clan and their representative at the council. Their clan numbered fifteen. On the other hand, the smallest clan was that of Claudia’s. Her clan only had one member – herself.
After his report on the Elite, Eli moved on to talking about the Lodgers. The Lodgers were vampire clans who didn’t belong to the original twenty clans. They were composed of those who swore fealty to The Shade in exchange for the security of becoming one of the island’s citizens. The number Eli uttered made my mind reel. “One thousand three hundred and twenty six.”
“What?!” I exclaimed, unable to keep myself from reacting. “We didn’t even have three hundred when I went to sleep.”
“That was four centuries ago, Derek,” Vivienne reminded me. “Many have sought refuge at The Shade since.”
At that, I kept my mouth shut, but one question kept circling my mind as Eli prodded on with his report. How much human blood had to be shed to sustain all these vampires?
“Among the Elite, twenty-five are Knights,” Eli continued, referring to warriors who belonged to the Elite, “while among the Lodgers, we have three-hundred and fifteen guards and fifty scouts.” Guards were warriors who belonged to the Lodgers, while scouts were mainly vampires authorized to leave the island, specifically to retrieve necessary materials from the outside or to take human slaves. Scouts were only allowed to leave the island under the supervision of at least one knight.
“That concludes my report.” Eli gave me a curt nod to indicate he was done.
“Done? And what of the slaves? How many humans are living in The Shade?”
He looked at his feet uncomfortably. “I didn’t think they were to be included in the census.”
“Why not? Are they not under the kingdom’s jurisdiction?”
The silence spoke volumes. After all, why keep track of the population of humans when hundreds of them were lost and replaced on a regular basis?
It was a cold thing to say, but Xavier said it best when he leaned back in his council seat and nonchalantly shrugged a shoulder, “Keeping track of the humans is arguably equivalent to keeping track of The Shade’s food consumption.”
It was a shocking portrayal of how depraved we’d become over the years. A lot of us had begun long ago to see humans as something akin to cattle. Guilt knotted in the pit of my stomach, because I knew full well what hand I played in the culture we managed to create at The Shade. Thus, though I hated to force the council – or even myself – to get into the nitty-gritty of this logistical nightmare, I couldn’t ignore the issue either.
“I want a full accounting of every human who lives at The Shade, starting with those residing at the Black Heights, all the way to the slaves living with vampires.” Another figment of our past began to haunt me. “We can’t afford another uprising.”
“I think there’s someone who can help with this,” Vivienne spoke up.
I stared, waiting for her to speak further. She seemed hesitant but eventually revealed whom she was referring to.
“Corrine.”
I was surprised, but if there was anything we vampires had an abundance of, it was time. “Have her brought here then.”
Within minutes, one of the guards was sent to the Sanctuary to escort the witch back to the dome. When Corrine arrived, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Her uncanny resemblance to her ancestor, Cora, always managed to knock some breath out of me.
“What do you want?” She demanded, making it clear that she was brought there against her will.
“Vivienne says you’ll be able to help with a dilemma we have regarding how many humans are currently residing at The Shade.”
Her brow rose. “You want to know because…?”
“It’s high time we figured out the actual state of this island and its residents, don’t you think?”#p#分页标题#e#
This seemed to take the witch by surprise. She studied me as though trying to figure out if I had some sort of angle, but she eventually took her place at the stand, straightened to her full height, and began to address the issue at hand.
“The numbers fluctuate constantly – as you might well expect…” She glared as if to accuse every single one of us for the crimes we knew we were guilty of. “However, the number of Naturals doesn’t change much. It’s the Migrates who come and go depending on your vampire nature’s whims.”