Deadman's Blood

• Title Page
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter Twenty
  
• Chapter Twenty One
  
• Chapter Twenty Two
  
• Chapter Twenty Three
  
• Chapter Twenty Four
  
• Chapter Twenty Five
  
• Chapter Twenty Six
  
• Chapter Twenty Seven
  
• Chapter Twenty Eight
  
• Epilogue
  
• About the Author
  

by T. Lynne Tolles

Troll Publishing

Copyright © 2011 T. Lynne Tolles

Version 2.1SW July 3, 2011

ISBN
978-1-4524-7471-7

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Publisher’s Note:

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are the work of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, locals or events is coincidental.

T. Lynne Tolles

Cover Graphics:

It’s Just the Wind – Tracy Bozikis

http://vandyla.deviantart.com/

Edited by: Erin Potter – Shamrock Editing

It was late and the house was quiet when Dominic sat at his desk in the library. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small key and unlocked the side drawer. He pulled out an object wrapped in a blue silk handkerchief and set it in front of him. Like a little boy at Christmas, Dominic’s eyes were like saucers as he slowly unwrapped the item.

As if picking up a piece of delicate glass, he held the object in front of him. Elbows on the desk and palms up, he held the item as if he were offering it to some ancient god. He marveled at the workmanship of the carvings. It appeared to be made of wood of some sort that did not irritate his vampire hands.

Vampires are allergic to wood, some types of wood more than others. That is why if stabbed with a stake, a vampire would be rendered immobile. A stake in the heart would be one of the few things that could kill a vampire. Some types of wood, however, can be tolerated if they have been treated with a special coating of oils. If needed, such treated wood could even be worn as a talisman, but this wood he held now did not seem to be treated with such a concoction.

The item was cylindrical in shape, but fluted at each end. With tendrils of what looked like ivy and four distinct animals, it was intricately hand-carved. The first animal was a lion, reared up on his back legs and front paws thrust forward as if holding himself against an invisible wall. The second was a large bird, maybe an eagle, wings widely extended and claws ready, looking like he was about to grab some unsuspecting prey. The third was a large bear in a leisurely stance on all fours, presumably a Grizzly or Kodiak. The fourth was a wolf standing relaxed, his piercing eyes full of wisdom beyond his years. All four animals wore crowns, all of them different, but beautifully noble.

What is this?
Dominic thought to himself. He had studied the item every chance he could since his return from the old crone’s altar room far below the castle on Heart Island. This was where he had found the item when the Bloodstone Heart was destroyed along with Dimitri.

Dominic was a professor of science but he was fascinated by artifacts relating to his vampiric lineage along with any other supernatural artifacts. He had become known as the ‘go to’ man for most ancient relics supernatural or not.

It had been almost a week since their ordeal with Dimitri and his small army of vampires. Dimitri was rebuilding the Order of the Black Orchids and the power that came with it from the Bloodstone Heart. Dimitri had kidnapped and nearly killed a sweet young woman with psychometry abilities, named Melanie, in order to get Josh to bring him the Bloodstone Heart he had accidentally found in an alley.

Hmmmm. Josh...Now there’s something I should be dealing with right now instead of staring at this artifact and wondering what it is
, Dominic thought to himself.

Josh Brenner, a powerful telepathic, had meandered his way through the lives and hearts of Dominic’s family in recent weeks. Through a series of mishaps and conversations, Dominic suspected that Josh might be his son. Though Dominic was not proud to have stolen a few pieces of hair from the sink in Josh’s bathroom a few weeks before, the DNA results had come back indicating his suspicions were right.

Dominic was meeting with Anton, his vampire son, in the morning to tell him of his findings. Once that was done and depending on how Anton took the news, he would then find the courage to explain things to Josh, though he was not looking forward to it. Aside from his telepathic abilities, Josh seemed to show no sign of his vampiric blue blood lineage, but as Dominic had explained to his nephew, Devon, several weeks ago, sometimes the genes mutate. Some children are born to werewolves that never go through the change, but other talents are accentuated instead, such as telepathy, heightened sensitivity to smell, or night vision. It’s the same with born vampires, especially if a human parent is involved such as Josh’s mother, Katerina Jannson.

Dominic’s blue blood family extended back as far as the ‘Ancient Ones’ who were thought to be the first vampires and were still considered royalty to the very old vampires and other supernatural beings. The Larsens kept their blood untainted through the centuries until Dominic’s sister, Abigail (Abby) Larsen, defied Dominic and the rest of the family, fell in love, and married Nathaniel Bloomington. Dominic’s nephews, Devon and Blake, were the results of that union. But Abby and Nathaniel were killed when Devon and Blake were young vampire boys, and it was then that Dominic felt he had begrudged his sister and her brave and loyal husband.

For so many years, Dominic had ridiculed and fought with his sister and her husband about how she had tainted the family’s blood with outsiders; it seemed trivial and shameful now. He was as proud of Abby’s boys as he was of his own son, Anton. And now, with Josh in the picture and all the friends and significant others of the boys, the family was bigger and happier than it had been in years.

Josh and Anton had become close over the previous weeks and Dominic hoped that with this new bit of news, the relationship would only become stronger. Blake felt a strong sense of responsibility towards Josh and Melanie (Lanie) since their stay in California with him and Rowan. Though Blake was a vampire and much older than Josh, in human years, they were much the same age, as vampires age approximately one year for every four human years.

Dominic chuckled to himself as he wrapped the cylindrical artifact up in the handkerchief and locked it safely in the drawer again.
Abby would be ribbing me something awful about befriending werewolves, let alone letting them stay in the house.
Had only several months gone by since Dominic was horrified by the thought of his family consorting with werewolves? So much had changed. He had to admit he liked Dean Wolfe very much...and Blakes’s girlfriend, Rowan, who was also a werewolf. Dominic had a soft spot in his heart for her. Besides, it wasn’t her fault she had been turned to a werewolf some months ago, but Dominic felt even if she had been born one, he would have warmed up to her eventually, as she had such a good heart.

Her sister, Darby, was now engaged to his nephew, Devon, and could do no wrong in Dominic’s eyes. To him, she was pure sunshine and sweetness, and he knew his sister, Abby, would have loved having her as a daughter-in-law if she were still alive. Darby too, was gifted. She and her sister were ancestral witches, but were never taught or nurtured in that fashion. Now that Darby knew more and had fallen into a friendship with another ancestral witch, Sally Keaton, who had been trained by her family in the art of witchcraft, it was possible that Darby would find powers she never knew she had.

A big smile settled on Dominic’s face as he thought on all these loved ones, presently sleeping under his roof in the quiet old house. With palms down, he patted the leather blotter on his desk, stood, and turned off the desk lamp.
Tomorrow I will talk to Anton and then, hopefully, Josh. Like Devon suggested, I shouldn’t let too much time pass - Josh’s acceptance into the family is the first priority, then I’ll show them the artifact.

Feeling content with his plan, he headed to bed.

After breakfast was cleared and all went their separate ways for the day, Dominic ran into Anton in the hall and asked him if he could have a word with him in the study at his convenience.

“Umm. Yeah, Dad. No problem. Meet you down there in five minutes. Is everything all right?”

“Oh sure! Yeah. Everything is fine, just need to let you in on something and get your opinion on it.”

“Okay then. Be down in a couple.”

“Good. Fine. Okay,” Dominic said as he went down the stairs.

Anton thought that seemed like a few too many assurances that things were fine, which made him think maybe things weren’t fine. Clearly, Dominic was preoccupied or nervous about something. If Anton had learned anything about his father, it was that he sometimes painted things to be ‘fine’ when they might not be - a fatherly protection thing, Anton supposed.

Whatever it was, he’d know about it in a few minutes. He went back to his room, made a quick business call to the gallery in New York to see if anything needed his attention, and then headed downstairs to the study.

He knocked on the door as he opened it to find Dominic at his desk with a manila folder in front of him.

“Come in, Son. Close the door, would you?”

“Sure. What’s up?” Anton said as he moved towards the chair on the opposite side of his father’s grand desk.

“Sit down, Anton. There’s something I need to tell you and as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I’m a bit nervous about your reaction.”

“Hmmm. That sounds ominous.”

“Well,” Dominic started, “it just changes some things and well...”

“Dad, just say what you have to say,” Anton replied.

“Of course, you’re right!” Dominic cleared his throat and stared at the manila folder on the desk in front of him. He was so nervous. He wasn’t one to talk much about his personal life, especially with his son. He just didn’t know where to start. He fumbled a few starts and then began to stutter.

Anton could see this was really bothering his father, so he said, “Dad? What is it?”

“Hmmm. I guess I just don’t know where to start or how to say this. I’m sorry. I’m just not very good at talking about personal things,” Dominic realized.

“Okkkaaaay! Why don’t you just start at the beginning?”

“Right! The beginning, yes. That’s a good place to start. But before I say anything I just want it to be said that I loved your mother very, very much. You know that, right?”

“Yeah…I mean, you don’t talk about her much, but yeah, I think I know that,” Anton said.

“Good,” Dominic replied,