Broken (The Captive #5.5)(9)

She stopped walking and turned to look at him. "Are the lines as old as some say?"

The branch slid back into place as he released it and moved to join her. She was tall for a female, at least a head taller than most, including Camille, but he made her feel small as he still had a good six or seven inches on her. Though he didn't seem to be aware of it, his hand rested upon her elbow again and he kept hold of it as they continued through the forest.

"I suppose some are even older than what you've heard."

"Truly?" She was unable to keep the awe from her voice. It must be an amazing thing to know how far ones line went, how old and pure their blood was. She had no idea of her history on her father's side. Marie was seventy-two, her grandmother was one hundred and fifty if she was still alive, and Marie's father would be one hundred, or so she had said once. Genny had never met either of her grandparents and Marie hadn't seen them since she was twenty years old. According to Marie, neither of them had known much about their own heritage as the vampires with lesser bloodlines rarely kept track of them. There really wasn't much of a reason to, and even if there had been a reason, many didn't know at least one of their parents, sometimes even both of them.

He smiled at her as he held back another branch aside for her. "Many of them go back thousands of years."

"Amazing," she murmured. "May I ask how far yours goes back?"

"To the beginning." Again his voice and tone didn't sound as if he was bragging, in fact he looked as if he had tasted something sour as he spoke the words.

Genny stopped walking as his words sank in. "To our beginning?"

He straightened his blue tunic and nodded briskly. "Yes. On my mother's side I am able to track my lineage back to the first vampire."

Genny didn't know much about the lines but she knew enough to understand what that meant. "You're of the last pure vampire line. The last of Lucifer's line?"

"If you believe that Lucifer is the one to have created us then yes, I am the last of the pure vampire line. At least until I have offspring."

She forced her mouth closed. "You don't believe it was Lucifer that created us?"

"I do actually. The legend of my mother's line is that after Lucifer created the first vampire, he created a woman vampire to keep him company and inflict more punishment upon the human race. My line is said to originate from that couple."

"And the aristocratic line originates from where?" she inquired.

"The aristocrats can trace their lines back to the first few humans that survived the change. Those turned humans then mated with each other, creating another pure vampire but one not as powerful as the original line."

"And us village vampires are from the lowly mating of a human and a vampire that produced a vampire offspring." This part was at least something she knew well.

He took hold of her arm and resumed their steady pace through the woods. "Of course it could all just be rumors started by my mother's line so that they could become a form of royalty amongst our kind. However, there is a reason why the vampires of my line are the most powerful amongst us and this legend would explain it."

Genny grappled to try and process everything he'd just told her as he stepped onto a boulder and helped her climb it. "So are they looking to you to be the next king?"

"I'm only just now being brought in on the meetings held amongst the nobles. They may consider me the prince of the bloodlines but I'm not ready to be a king. They all know it. I suppose one day they will look to me to fill the space."

"Most would sound more enthusiastic about that," she said as she lifted the heavy cloth of her tunic again to climb onto another boulder.

"I'm not most."

She lifted her head to find those clover eyes fixed on her. Something within his gaze seemed to be urging her to understand but she wasn't sure what it was that she was supposed to understand. That he was different from anyone she had ever known before was obvious, that he was different from the rest of their kind was something that she was just beginning to understand, but still she sensed it was more than that.

"You don't want it," she whispered with dawning comprehension.

"I don't want it," he confirmed.

"What are you going to do then?"

"I don't know."

He shook his head and went to turn away but he changed his mind and spun back to her. Genny froze when he took hold of the edges of her hood. He searched her face as he waited for her to tell him to stop, but she remained unmoving while he slid the hood away from her face. Mist still hung heavily in the air but the heaviest of the rain had stopped. She bit into her bottom lip as his fingers brushed over her cheeks and toward her hair.

Tugging her braid forward, he draped it over her shoulder. She was fascinated by his movements, entranced by the almost captivated look upon his face. No one had ever looked at her like all they wanted in the world was to kiss her, but that appeared to be exactly what he wanted to do as his eyes focused on her mouth. She was in over her head with him but she was going to have to become a stronger swimmer as she found herself lost to him. His fingers caused a shiver to go through her when they brushed over her lips and his eyes came back to hers.

As before, he seemed to be asking her permission but she wasn't sure it was even hers to give anymore. Her body seemed completely out of her control right now. It was the strangest sensation but not at all unpleasant. His eyes filled her vision as he bent over her and his lips pressed against hers. The earth dropped out from under her, she was tempted to grab him and pull him closer but just as tempted to push him away as confusion and need warred within her.