Ash(30)

“Hey, what happens when a human receives the virus?” If my question startled Lucas, he didn’t show it. “How come some take a really long time to turn, and isn’t it illegal? How are new vampires still being made?” The longer I spent in the Hive, the more I wished I’d taken the classes on vamps in school.

Lucas paused outside of a door, one of the few that didn’t have a massive viewing window. “It is illegal to make new vampires without Quorum permission. If you want to turn someone, you must apply. We grant very few of these. We must monitor our populations growth, and keep from starting another war with the humans.”

Right, they didn’t want to outgrow their food source or the Hive. I shuddered. I also knew there was a special branch of the human military devoted strictly to keeping vampire and ash at bay. We lived only because the humans allowed it. Nothing could stop them if they wanted to drop a nuke on the Hive in the middle of the night. On every Hive in the world. The vampire rights groups were the only thing keeping the fragile peace between our two races right now.

Lucas continued to answer my questions, and I had a brief thought of why he was so forthcoming with information. Probably this was all common knowledge for anybody who had actually attended the Virus 101 classes.

“The virus is generally fast acting, but we have known of some cases where it was dormant for years.”

“And ash…” I prompted.

“Strictly forbidden, but we understand that sometimes things are outside of the humans’ control.” Ugh, was he talking about rape? “So we allow a small number of ash to survive each year.”

Yeah, they were regular saints. The culling was their way of taking care of the problem without actually getting their hands dirty. It really didn’t seem fair that the majority of vampires were allowed to live, but ash were culled like freaking animals.

I tried to dial down some of the simmering anger which was always close to the surface. “Why are there no female ash?” Lucas’ eyes lingered on me for a few long moments. “I mean besides me.”

“The virus destroys much of our reproductive system. Female vampires are unable to have children. No eggs remain intact. For the males, only the sperm which carry the Y chromosome survive. Which makes your existence all the more unusual.”

He was telling me that even science dictated that my existence was impossible. So how the hell was I an ash?

Apparently question and answer time was over. He opened the door and gestured for me to step through first. There were two vampires dressed in lab coats waiting for me on the other side. They stood on either side of a chair, each holding a stack of charts.

“Please have a seat, Charlene,” said the very blond female. She was all sharp angles and pointy nose, interesting to look at, but not beautiful. There was more variation in vampires than in ash. Vampires were turned from humans, so they still retained much of their human looks, just all smoothed out. Ash were actually grown from mutated sperm, so it was ingrained into their DNA. Therefore, they were sexier.

I didn’t like being surrounded or towered over, but in a room of three vampires I was not going to be able to fight myself out. Might as well do what they wanted. Lucas gave me a small smile, as if he’d heard my inner thoughts. I realized that the second vampire, the male with rows of black braids tightly woven to his head, was talking to me.

“…initial DNA test was inconclusive. Something must have tainted the sample, so we will need another one.”

“What do you have to do?” I asked, suspicious. Mom always said my college major should have been investigating, not marketing.

“Cheek swab, hair sample, and we will also need some blood. We need a detailed DNA sequence to find your ancestry and place you in the proper house of ten.”

I swallowed, but forced myself not to react. “Sure, poke away,” I finally said.

I wasn’t sure I quite believed their story, but I did not have a choice here. At no point had any of them asked my permission, so I knew this was part of the Hive protocol. Or maybe just for me because I was a special girl-ash.

The doctors were fast – benefits of the vampire virus. After swabbing my cheek and taking some hair, they pricked my finger. The moment my red blood beaded at the tip, the blond vampire inhaled deeply and hissed, her fangs extending.

An unusual scent slammed into me, and I realized it was my blood. What the hell was up with its potency? Shit, I almost wanted to bite myself. Lucas frowned and grabbed the woman’s arm. I scanned each one of them as their eyes pulsed silver, green, silver, green.

I quickly wiped my bleeding finger on the test strip and placed it in my mouth. An odd taste washed across my tongue, but my finger healed before I could really sense why it was strange. Lucas led the female out of the room, and returned alone. He was staring at me like I was a complicated chess game. What Jayden had said about the allure of my blood was true, even for vamps.