Kissed by a Dark Prince(55)

“Yes, Olivia?”

She glanced down at her hands, frowned, and then raised her gaze back to his. “You mentioned that elves were a forefather of vampires… did you mean… did vampires stem from elves?”

He nodded. “Long ago, our species divided. A faction of elves had turned dark, losing all good and becoming tainted.”

“How?” She snuggled closer and her breasts pressed against his chest.

He bit back a groan and commanded his body not to respond. His cock twitched regardless, ignoring his order. He ground his teeth and focused on what Olivia was asking, using the distasteful topic of conversation to extinguish his desire.

“Elves can survive on blood alone for extended periods, but—”

“You mean you can eat too?” Olivia jerked back, her eyes wide and filled with fascination that he could feel in her.

Loren felt fascinated too. He had never had a female interrupt him as often as Olivia did. In his world, she would have been punished severely several times already. He smiled to himself. The council weren’t going to know what to make of her and her treatment of him, her disregard for his position as a prince and ruler of a kingdom, when they met her.

His smile dropped from his face. They would never meet her. He had to stop thinking that there was a future for them, that this would somehow end in the way he wanted it to, with her forever in his arms as she was now.

He nodded. “Elves require food for sustenance. We eat mostly fruits and vegetables though, nourishing foods. Blood gives us strength and the energy we need to boost our abilities, such as healing and our psychic capabilities.”

“Wow. I figured you were like vampires and just survived on blood.”

He smiled at the twinkle in her eye, the one that told him she was cataloguing everything he said, filing it away in her mind. He had no doubt that she would be writing it down later. The council would be angry with him if they discovered he was giving knowledge on their species to a female aligned with demon hunters, but she had asked him a question and he could see in her eyes and feel in her heart that she needed to know the answers. She needed to know how vampires came to be, and how his species now differed from them.

“Elves can survive on blood for extended periods if absolutely necessary, but it is dangerous. It is very easy for us to feel the pull of darkness if we rely on blood too much. We only use it sparingly now, and it is because of the vampires.” Loren stroked her cheek, using the soft feel of it beneath his fingers to ground himself and calm his emotions. He didn’t want her to feel the anger and disgust he felt because of vampires, not when her brother had been one of the unfortunate ones, left to fend for himself and driven mad by what he had become. “Many millennia ago, some elves began to drink too deeply, killing hosts and surviving on blood-only diets. It changed them and we tried to find a way to undo what had happened because of their excess consumption of blood, but found we could not. As more and more of my people succumbed to this sort of bloodlust, I withdrew the untainted from the world of mortals, severing ties with those infected by darkness.”

He paused and stared deep into Olivia’s eyes, feeling her compassion and softer emotions flowing through the link between them. She felt sorry for him. She could feel his pain even though he had locked it deep within his heart, hoping to hide it from her and the world.

“Vampires became a separate species and with each generation, the dark took more of their talents and gave them terrible new ones. They gained the power to spread their wretched blood, poisoning mortals and turning them. But they lost many of their psychic powers, and the ability to eat food and walk in the sun.”

“So elves can’t make other elves?” Olivia said and he shook his head and then smiled.

“Only through procreation. Vampires can procreate with other vampires, but not with any other species, not to my knowledge at least.”

“And vampires can turn mortals, and procreate with those?”

He nodded.

“Can elves only procreate with other elves?” Her voice trembled the tiniest amount, betraying the nerves he could sense in her.

She knew he would think in terms of them and whether they could make children together. Was she thinking the same way, wondering if she could bear his child? The thought that she might be gave him the courage to dare hope that he could break down her defences and make her his.

“While elves can love other species, they can only produce offspring with other elves or with their mate after the bond has been completed and their mate has become immortal.”

A touch of colour climbed her cheeks and she looked down at their laps.