Chapter Twenty-Three

Billy Torres did not even try to hide his relief to be leaving the secret encampment when Anton Two Moons escorted him back down to his truck at the base of the mountain. It was obvious how nervous it made him to be up on the Superstitions at night, even though his position as a Clan Society member insured his safety when he was there. One of Drago’s grandsons always accompanied him up and down the mountain to make sure he didn’t encounter any problems with wildlife or anything else that could cause him injury along the narrow rocky trails.

He only came to the village at night if he had something extremely important to talk to Drago about. Learning about other stillborn births in Blood Clans around the world was urgent enough for him to travel to the village late in the day, which meant he wouldn’t be off the mountain until after the sun went down.

They had received news that several dhampyres had been born dead in four different clans in other parts of the world. One unfortunate clan in Alaska had two stillborn births just a couple weeks apart. All but one of the deceased infants had been cremated. Only a female child who was stillborn in Switzerland had been preserved. Her body was taken to a doctor who was the brother of a Clan Society member in Geneva and could be trusted to conduct tests on the dead infant without revealing any secrets regarding the child’s parents.

A discreet autopsy revealed the baby’s blood had been infected by a strange virus that invaded her body, most likely right before or during her birth. Although, the Swiss doctor didn’t know what caused the infection, he hoped he would be able to develop an antidote from the blood he extracted. But it was going to take time and there could be more tragic deaths until he had it perfected. It wasn’t the best news, but at the very least, it was some sort of an explanation.

After hearing Billy’s news, Rafael apologized to Mateo for blaming him for the death of his son. For the first time since this tragedy happened, Mateo felt a renewed sense of hope for his clan, and a huge relief the bad feelings between him and his brother were gone.

Now, he had to get to his beautiful mate, because he couldn’t wait to see her again. But before he could get out of the village, his grandfather approached him and detained him even further.

“It has been a while since you have been going down to meet with your mate in her world,” Drago said as he motioned for his grandson to sit with him beside the fire.

Mateo nodded and reluctantly sat down cross-legged next to his grandfather. Dawn told him she would be waiting at the condo tonight and he had been dreaming of holding her in his arms on the big bed with the velvet bedspread since the second he opened his eyes at sunset this evening.

“Yes, Grandfather,” he said trying not to sound irritated. “It is going much better than I hoped. My mate is—”

“It is time,” Drago interrupted. “Time to bring her here and end this nonsense.”

He stared wordlessly at his grandfather. “I don’t understand? Has something else happened?”

“Your mate has to come up here to the mountain as soon as possible. It is too risky for her and for all of us.”

A heavy disappointment settled in Mateo’s chest. He knew time was running out, but he kept hoping there would be a way to make his time in Dawn’s world last a little longer.

“There is no immediate danger, Grandfather.”

Drago drew in a heavy sigh and glanced toward the big cave which held the darkest secrets of the Clan. “Anton said the woman your father brought to the cave recently was a friend to your mate.”

His grandfather’s remark surprised him. He knew Anton had not disclosed this information with any thought of malice, but it certainly did not help in his quest to delay bringing Dawn up to the village.

“My mate has no idea what happened to her friend,” he lied. “The woman my father brought here was a lifelong gold seeker. It is believed she fell to her death somewhere on the mountain while looking for the gold mine.” He shrugged and hoped his nervousness was not apparent to his grandfather. “The same as all the others in the past.”

For a moment, Drago was silent. A thoughtful frown held his face in a stoic expression. He reached down and played idly with the material of his white loincloth, the only article of clothing covering his muscled and youthful three-hundred-year-old body.

“There is big change in the air for our kind. I feel it in the wind that whispers along the tops of the highest ridges. The death of Rafael’s child and all the other babies in different clans are proof we are not as invincible as we have always believed.”

Mateo felt a numbing sensation grip his insides. “A change, Grandfather? What do you mean?”

A heavy sigh escaped from the older vampire. “I first felt it years ago, when you began to seek more knowledge of the real ones and their world below. Although our kind has always been somewhat curious of the real ones, you were the most insistent one, the one who always wanted more than to read the books and learn their languages and spend more than an occasional night among them.” He smiled wistfully at his grandson. “But I knew you wouldn’t be the last.”

Confusion filled Mateo’s mind. He shook his head and shrugged.

“Anton’s eldest son,” Drago continued, “He is very much like you. Maybe even more curious than you are.”

“Chaz?” Mateo questioned. “What do you mean?”

“Yes, Chaz is full of inquisitiveness. He asked his father to allow him to spend more time with the real ones on the reservation and to explore the world below the mountain. Just like you did when you were his age, Grandson.”

A grin touched Mateo’s lips. He remembered the consuming desire to know more about the real ones when he was Chaz’s age. “I would be happy to take him with me sometimes,” he suggested. But not tonight, he thought as the image of his beautiful flaxen haired woman floated through his mind.

Drago nodded as if he already knew his youngest grandson would extend the offer to show his oldest great-grandson the world beyond the mountain. “I’ll admit I have thought about denying Chaz’s request. It worries me that one of you might accidentally reveal something to the real ones about our clan.”

A sinking feeling worked its way through Mateo. To deny Chaz, or any of them, the right to leave and explore the world outside of this village would be incomprehensible. Yet, Drago was the leader of this clan, and his word would always be the final ruling. Although he fought an inner battle, wanting desperately to disagree with his grandfather, he was more afraid of saying something that would sway his grandfather to make a disastrous decision without further consideration.

“I know how you feel about this,” the older vampire stated when Mateo remained silent. “You are true to the clan, and I know you respect my position. I also know you are going to be the one who leads us to the next evolution of our kind.”

Mateo took a deep breath. “I only seek to make our world better for all of us.”

Drago’s head moved in agreement. “It is a fine line we tread, Grandson. You know I believe we have only survived this long by remaining hidden and not letting our secrets be known to anyone other than the Clan Society.” He chuckled slightly, adding, “Chaz actually believes we can expose ourselves to the sunlight, even past the crucial twenty-five-year mark.” He laughed and shook his head. “Who among the adult vampires here would want to risk testing his theory, and most likely, end up a pile of cinders on the ground?”

The breath stopped short in Mateo’s chest. His mind exploded with all the possibilities he considered through the years, especially after reading how dhampyres supposedly did not have the same weakness as full bred vampires. But then, he always had to wonder how the authors of those theories had come to these conclusions, since real ones didn’t know real vampires or dhampyres even existed.

He questioned why the books about so-called real vampires always assumed they had insatiable and uncontrollable urges to drink the blood of any human they could find. Unlike the Blood Clan, the imaginary vampires drank only blood; never eating food, drinking water, or needing any other sort of substance to survive.

The storybook vampires were supposed to have two retractable fangs which they used to pierce their victims in the neck and drain all the blood from their bodies. The Blood Clan had no such fangs, only teeth like real ones. Except for their mates, whom they bit during the mating process, when drinking from any other human blood source, they could either bite the person on any part of their body with all their front teeth, or they would drain blood from a vein and drink it from containers.

It was apparent virtually nothing was known about vampires. Maybe he and Chaz needed to discuss some of the theories they were both so curious about?

“I’ve wondered about such things, myself, Grandfather,” he admitted. “Have you ever thought about why the vampires described in books are so drastically different from our clan?”

Drago stared thoughtfully at his grandson for a moment. His head slowly began to nod. “Yes. I have wondered about many things. But I remind myself there are so few of us—the males who would carry on our bloodlines—if we were to test out any of these notions, and we ended up destroying ourselves, it could be disastrous. It is my responsibility to ensure this clan survives, so I have not been willing to risk losing even one of us to explore any of those speculations.”

“I understand,” Mateo agreed. He had never been brave enough to test out any of the concepts he thought about, either.

“So, we come back to the subject of your mate,” he said. “I assume you have been intimate with her?”

Mateo’s mouth gaped open. “Yes,” he finally mumbled.

Drago seemed oblivious to his grandson’s embarrassment. “She could be carrying a dhampyre already. It is imperative the process to make her your mate is completed so your woman, and hopefully, the male dhampyre she might carry, is made strong and healthy after the completion of the mating process.”

He reached out and rested his hand on Mateo’s forearm for a moment as he added, “She must be here under our protection. We have already lost a male dhampyre and who knows if the Swiss doctor will ever be able to find a cure. One thing is for certain, though, we cannot take any more unnecessary chances with the future of our clan.”

Mateo could only nod his head in agreement. As much as he hated to give up on his dreams of spending more time in Dawn’s world with her, his grandfather’s words made sense. He couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to his mate or their future offspring.

The fleeting memory of the pregnancy test laying on her nightstand passed through his mind. She said she wasn’t pregnant—yet. But it would happen. The Blood Clan believed their mates were chosen because they were fertile and could produce strong dhampyres, even though it sometimes took a woman many years to conceive and the births could be few and far between. Since the beginning of their kind, no barren woman had ever been chosen to be a mate. According to clan history, all this was preordained.

Mateo choked back the heaviness in his throat and glanced around at his surroundings. Night had completely engulfed the mountain and less than a half-moon was peeking out from in between the scattering of clouds.

His parents were cooking meat over a small fire pit at the entrance to the cave where they slept during the day. Rafael and Lydia’s three children were playing close by, but there was no sign of their parents. After Billy Torres left and Rafael made peace with Mateo, Rafael and his mate retreated to their cave. Mateo was sure Billy’s news about the other stillborn births affected them deeply and they needed some time alone to deal with their own grief.

Anton and Nita were having a dinner of venison stew with their six children. The entire family was sitting crossed legged around another small fire pit. All of them looked exactly like their ancestors looked centuries ago, except for Chaz, who appeared to have entered the modern age with his short haircut. Although he was bare-chested and wore no shoes on his feet, he was wearing a pair of denim jeans instead of the usual white loincloth the men and boys wore around the village. His full plate of food was sitting on a rock beside his feet. The teenager wore a headlamp around his head for light and held a book in his hand. All his concentration appeared to be focused on the words he was reading. Mateo smiled, remembering how he had been when he was young. How had he never noticed before now that Chaz was exactly like him?

He looked back at his grandfather. He hoped the time was right for him to ask this question again, and maybe this time he would receive an answer. “Grandfather? Why did you leave your original clan in Mexico and come here to find your mate, instead of waiting for her to come to you as has always been the custom of our clans?”

Drago’s mouth opened then closed. He blinked and looked away from his grandson for a moment. The silence before he answered was dense and heavy in the air. “I have always known I would have to answer that question eventually.” A poignant smile rested on his lips. “And I have thought many times how I was going to answer you. But there is only one story to tell.” He shook his head and focused his intense gaze on Mateo. “My clan in Mexico was strong. We had many male dhampyres in our village. My great-grandfather was our leader, and he was a kind and powerful man. He protected us always.”

Mateo grinned. “Like you.” Drago returned his smile.

“Thank you.” He stared off in the distance as his mind recalled the past. “I was just becoming a fully mature vampire—like you. I was very curious about the world of the real ones, too. Like you, and like Chaz.”

He could only stare at his grandfather in stunned silence. Never had he suspected his grandfather ever wondered about anything other than protecting the secrets of the Blood Clan.

“I would leave my village, hidden deep in the Chirallcula Mountains and explore the villages of the real ones down below.” He chuckled. “I was an impatient young vampire. I was anxious for my mate, your grandmother, to come to me.” He touched his bare chest above his heart and added, “Though she was far away, I felt her presence and somehow I knew she would be coming from the Jicarilla Apache tribe that lived at the base of the Superstitions.”

Drago glanced over at Raven. She was sitting by the fire with Anton and his family, but her gaze was focused on her mate as if she knew he was talking about her. Her mouth curved into a smile when she saw him look in her direction. His head nodded slightly as he smiled back. He looked away from her and settled his gaze back on his grandson.

“So, to answer your question. I don’t know why I decided to go against our customs and come here to get my mate instead of waiting for her to come to me. There was just this moment of clarification, and I knew it was time for me to leave Mexico and come here to start my own clan.” He glanced briefly at his mate again. “In my heart, I just knew.”

Mateo continued to stare at his grandfather as he digested all this new and surprising information. He could only begin to imagine the turmoil his grandfather must have endured when he made the decision to leave his family and original clan over two centuries ago. Although, he had always admired his grandfather, at this moment he realized just how strong and wise the ancient vampire truly was. His respect and love for his grandfather filled his heart and overflowed.

He rose to his feet as his grandfather followed him. The two vampires embraced, and when they parted, their gazes met. In the glow of the firelight, Mateo saw the depth of love and understanding his grandfather also felt for him.

“Thank you, Grandfather,” he said in an emotional tone. “Thank you for sharing your amazing story with me.”

Drago stepped back as he nodded and smiled. “Go to your mate now. I know you will make the right decision.”

Mateo glanced around the peaceful village and at the family he loved so much. A calm feeling settled over him. He had felt uncertainty about the future for so long now. Lately, he had mostly been worrying about forcing Dawn to give up her human life and live a life of obscurity as his eternal mate in the shadows of the rugged cliffs here on the Superstitions.

He desperately wanted to live in her world with her, because he always believed there was something more for his kind other than hiding in the caves and hoping they would not become extinct. Now, he was convinced there was so much more out there for his kind, more than he ever dreamed possible. He just knew it in his heart.

With a renewed sense of hope for the future, he began his descent down the mountain. He envisioned his beautiful blonde mate waiting for him in the luxurious condo in Apache Junction. They would spend the night making sensuous love in the big bed and he would cherish each and every moment they spent in one another’s arms while they were there, because whether they were in her world or his, all that mattered is they were together.

A smile claimed his lips and a feeling of excitement rushed through his body. Udaya. His Dawn. He would love her forever.