Embrace The Dawning (The Covenant Series Book 1) (7 page)

Kayci slowly lifted her head and met Rosemary’s gaze. “As strange as it is, it is almost a relief to have an explanation for my healing and strength, along with the answer to the question I’ve been asking for twenty-seven years: Why was I put up for adoption by my father? My parents told me that all they knew was that my mother had died giving birth to me and that my father was unable to care for me.”

“If your father was a vampire, he may still be alive.”

“Then why didn’t he ever come find me?” The tears welled up in her eyes.

“That leads me to the next detail you need to know. Kayci, my dear, you can’t tell anyone what you are.”

Kayci could hear the concern in Rosemary’s tone. Kayci stared at her.

“Your father likely put you up for adoption with humans so you would stay hidden. The Covenant cannot find out you exist. They are very strict about vampires being created. If the Covenant found out about you, you could be in danger. I imagine that is why your father never came back for you.”

“Why would the Covenant care about a half-breed vampire? I’m nobody important.”

“You’re a new threat to them. You’re something they don’t understand, that they can’t control, and you send a message that other vampires can produce offspring. There would be an influx of vampires trying to have vampire children, by force if they deemed necessary. The Covenant would undoubtedly fear losing their control over vampires. A new species would be created, and the vampires would not take well to that. Believe me, I know. Witches are responsible for the creation of werewolves.”

Kayci’s emotions ranged from surprise to curiosity.

Rosemary continued. “More than a millennium ago, a sorceress used a spell to create a weapon against vampires that consequently created what we now know as werewolves. There was a time when vampires and witches were equally being threatened by humans. Vampires decided the best way for them to avoid persecution was to increase the humans’ fear of witches and to align themselves with humans by aiding them in battles. The vampires made themselves a part of major societal alliances. Blamed the witches for sickness, the loss of crops, the loss of battles, infertility, and anything else the humans were gullible enough to believe. After years of utilizing witches’ gifts, the humans turned on them quickly and painfully. The vampires, now regarded as great allies and warriors, headed the witch hunts themselves. Many witches were persecuted. Some of them were dark witches, but most were not. Even innocent humans were murdered because they were mistakenly believed to be witches.

“The death of many witches was not taken lightly and fueled the wrath of a powerful sorceress by the name of Kresimira. She belonged to a tribe called the Neuri peoples. Angered by the fact that some of her own coven and tribal members had been persecuted by the vampires, Kresimira sought to create a weapon that would end the vampires’ tyranny. Kresimira used the moon’s power and energy to create a dark spell that would transform the men of her tribe into wolflike creatures during each full moon. The men no longer appeared human. They now shared characteristics like the wolf brethren they envied. They became stronger, developed longer, leaner legs for swift running, grew longer and sharper nails from their enlarged hands, and now displayed the head of a wolf that gave them the teeth and ferocity to tear into the flesh of vampires. Each full moon, the dog-headed men, as they were often referred to throughout history, would turn into the wolflike creatures and slaughter as many vampires as they could find.”

Kayci cringed from the violent images that danced around in her mind.

“Vampires had gone years without any kind of opposition in regards to strength, stealth, and ferocity. This new predator worried them. This is how the Covenant came to be. Older, wiser vampires came out of hiding and developed the Covenant to organize and lead vampires to ensure their existence was not exterminated and that the feud with the witches came to an end. The Covenant requested that Kresimira end the spell and eliminate the wolfmen, and in exchange the Covenant would execute the vampires responsible for the witch slayings and guarantee that no witch would be harmed by a vampire ever again.”

“Did she?” Kayci asked, her curiosity apparent.

Rosemary nodded. “She agreed to a certain point. She altered her spell so that the wolfmen would no longer change every full moon, but would instead change once a year for a few days, near and during a full moon, as assurance that if the Covenant fell back on their word, the witches would still have their protection. After a timely debate, the Covenant finally agreed. Yet neither knew what the consequences of Kresimira’s spell would be. Time passed on, and so did Kresimira and her Neuri peoples. However, the descendants of the Neuri’s carried on the attributes of their ancestors. The power of the spell did not die with Kresimira. The power of the spell remained and continued to be fueled by the energy of the moon itself. Each generation, the descendants of the Neuri peoples were born stronger, faster, and more fierce. What’s more is that they no longer transformed once a year. They now were able to transform at will. They became improved versions of the former wolfmen. And with no longer having obligatory ties to the witches, the wolfmen became their own dominant species and renamed themselves werewolves, from the meaning of adult male human and wolf put together.”

“Incredible,” Kayci mumbled.

Rosemary continued, recognizing she still held Kayci’s interest.

“With the witches no longer having a hold on the werewolves, the Covenant soon became concerned of the threat of this new species, so the vampires again took advantage of humans’ fear and used them to try to exterminate the werewolf species. The werewolves turned out to be a more difficult enemy to kill than the vampires expected. They had formed several clans and dispersed themselves across the world. They hid well among humans and proved to be a dangerous nemesis to vampires because a werewolf’s bite could kill a vampire. Realizing the dangers of having a war with werewolves, the Covenant again stepped in and created a truce among vampires, witches, and werewolves. It was agreed that all three beings would not go to war against one another and would keep each other’s existence secret. All three groups have upheld their agreement for centuries, but any new threat is a risk to the Covenant. Especially if it is in-house. The Covenant does not tolerate threats. They eliminate them.”

Kayci’s eyes dropped to the cup she held tightly between her fingers. It was a lot of history to absorb, and she didn’t enjoy hearing herself referred to as a threat or something to be eliminated. She planned to continue to live her life keeping her attributes a secret, like she always had. She didn’t foresee any way she would ever be discovered. Her parents, Elise, and Rosemary were the only ones who knew about her abilities. She trusted that Rosemary had no desire to bring her harm, and she had nothing to worry about with her parents. Elise, of course, was not a concern. She had no one to tell or any reason to tell.

“How long will the Covenant be in Florida?” Kayci asked uncomfortably, the sound of her rapid heartbeat pulsing in her ears.

“I do not know for sure. They usually don’t stay in one area for too long. However, there have been recent vampire attacks on humans. The news of it is spreading quickly. It is unusual vampire activity, since vampires have adapted to feeding from humans without harming them. The Covenant likely has a rogue vampire creating fledgling vampires. I’m sure it won’t be long before the threat is averted and eliminated.” She said the last sentence in a reassuring tone, but hearing the word
eliminate
didn’t make Kayci feel any better. She was anxious for the Covenant to leave South Florida. The farther they were from her home, the more comfortable she would be.

“I’m sure the Covenant will send their vampire hunter out to dispatch of the rogue vampire, if they haven’t already. The Covenant doesn’t like to be tied to any area for too long or for a problem to linger.”

Kayci perked up at hearing
vampire hunter
. She remembered hearing the odorous bald-headed vampire call Adrian by that title.

“What is a vampire hunter?”

Rosemary smiled. She clearly enjoyed sharing her knowledge with Kayci. “Well, my dear, before I can explain what a vampire hunter is, I should explain your lineage.”

Kayci twitched. She didn’t like being referred to as a part of the vampire lineage. She felt no connection to them. To her, she was human.

“Vampires were created in ancient times, long before Christ and Christianity, when humans still worshipped spirits, demons, and many different gods and goddesses. The story as it has passed through the years is that a demon by the name of Nybbas, a lesser-respected demon who was the keeper of dreams, envied humans. He coveted what he could not have. He wanted so much to ravish in the pleasures of earthly possessions,
especially women
. That desire developed most likely because it was said that Nybbas was portly and grotesque and often turned the eyes of humans.

“The demon Nybbas, being the charlatan and deceitful demon that he was, promised an attractive human man by the name of Vlastimir more land and wealth than he could imagine as long as the man agreed to let Nybbas inhabit his body while the man slept at night. Nybbas had to take advantage of the night, for that was when he was most powerful. The purification powers of the sun would expel Nybbas from the man’s body if he tried to enter Vlastimir’s body during the day.

“Vlastimir, being greedy and foolish, agreed to the arrangement. While he slept and dreamt of wealth and endless luxuries, Nybbas possessed his body. He used the man’s body for many nights to seduce the women of the village and indulge in as much food, drink, and herbal tonics as he could consume. Vlastimir, through his wife’s own behavior, came to realize that Nybbas had been seducing and taking pleasure in his wife in addition to the other women of the village. Realizing this, Vlastimir grew angry and jealous. He broke off his arrangement with Nybbas and told the demon that he could no longer inhabit his body. Nybbas sought revenge against Vlastimir for breaking their arrangement and took to terrorizing Vlastimir’s dreams. Vlastimir tried to avoid sleep, but eventually he grew weary and slept out of exhaustion. The torment and nightmares continued, and Vlastimir began to suffer physically and mentally. Vlastimir thought the only way to end his suffering and make penance for his sins was to be killed while the demon inhabited his body.”

Kayci grimaced. Rosemary rose from her chair, bringing the teakettle back to the table to refill their teacups. She set it aside and continued.

“Vlastimir begged and pleaded and ultimately convinced his brother, who’s own wife had succumbed to the charms of Nybbas, to kill Vlastimir while the demon inhabited his body. Nybbas, exuberant that Vlastimir had changed his mind and naïve to Vlastimir’s plans, possessed Vlastimir’s body and returned to his insatiable ways. That night, Vlastimir’s brother followed through on his promise, killing both Vlastimir and Nybbas. The night after, Vlastimir unexpectedly woke in his grave, with a horrible insatiable hunger for blood. Vlastimir dug himself out of his shallow grave, and with his new ravenous hunger, he fed on the livestock and then progressed to humans. The villagers, terrified of Vlastimir, cast him out of the village, claiming he had bonded himself blood and spirit with the demon Nybbas. The demon Nybbas could not have known what would become of him dying in a human man’s body. The result was the creation of the first vampire—blood monster, as the villagers referred to him.

“Vlastimir and the villagers also did not know that Vlastimir’s sloppy, insatiable feeding would unintentionally turn several of the villagers into the first coven of vampires. Thankfully, vampires have changed since the very first transformation. They have learned to control their feeding and have adapted to feeding from humans without killing them. It took centuries, but eventually the demon blood now referred to as vampirism became understood by vampires and therefore became
restrained
.”

“What happened to the original vampires?”

“They are believed to have perished from one source or another, most likely from being exposed to the sun, but not without creating more vampires beforehand.”

Kayci noticed Rosemary spoke of vampirism as if it was a disease that spread uncontrollably. It made her wonder how witches came to be, but she had other questions first.

“So vampires have attributes like mine?”

“Yes, dear, just like yours, and more. Demons all have abilities that surpass human abilities. Abilities like strength, speed, flying, causing illusions, better sensory skills, and others. When the demon Nybbas and the human Vlastimir became one, the creature that returned from the grave had a mixture of both human and demon abilities. Vampires have the ability to heal very quickly, exceptional strength, incredible running speed, and the ability to leap upward to great heights. Furthermore, they have heightened senses, heightened emotions, as well as having their insatiable hunger for blood.”

Kayci notated the similarities to her attributes—thankful she didn’t have the hunger for blood. Except for when she came in contact with the talisman, she remembered. A thought she needed to come back to.

“Do vampires have any weaknesses?”

“Oh yes. Vampires have a weakness to the sun. If they are exposed to the sun, they burn to ash. This is because the sun purifies the body, removing the demon portion of blood, body, and spirit and in turn kills the vampire. Vampires can be harmed and even killed by fire if the flames are strong enough. As well as a few other methods, which brings me back to your question of the vampire hunter.