The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(19)
After an hour of scanning and about half way through the book, I found something referring to vampire children.
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Although extremely rare, the natural-born offspring of vampires exist throughout the world. These rare beings are called the dhampir. Dhampir are usually the product of a vampire and mortal. The most common of these unions is a male vampire impregnating a mortal woman. Vampires, both male and female, are seductive in nature and some mortals came willingly to these unions. However, the majority of dhampir born were produced through an act of rape.
Solitary by nature, it is uncommon for a vampire to settle with any one mate for long. The children of vampires, the dhampir, more often than not exhibit all the characteristics of their vampire parent. The strength, speed and agility are the usual hereditary traits that the children develop. They are not always born with these traits but develop them as they grow into adulthood.
The dhampir are day walkers. Some of these children are sensitive to the sunlight but will not perish in the direct rays. Most have no sensitivity at all. Drinking the fresh blood of mortals is also not usually required of the dhampir; however, some have a liking for it. Very few actually need it to survive.
Most dhampir are rejected by the vampire species because of their mortality and weaknesses. Mortals often reject the dhampir, as well, due to their vampirism, so they frequently remain outcast.
Dhampir are known for becoming vampire killers. Their closeness to the vampires and their vampire characteristics make them powerful vampire hunters. The unique ability to track and kill vampires is specific to only the dhampir and the mythological race of vampire hunters.
Historically, dhampir became vampire hunters as a trade. Towns and villages became plagued by vampires who were terrorizing their homes and killing their people. The dhampir accepted contracts in exchange for monetary payment and used their likeness to their vampire counterparts to exterminate the vampires.
~~~
Holy crap, that was a lot to process. The more I read the passages, the more I understood that my being a hunter was more than my heritage; it was my history and my future. Everything about my bloodlines had hunters involved.
I slammed the book shut, not happy about the realization or any of the information the book had given me. Opening another book and scanning, I found a lot of the same information, only there was some new stuff about the legends of the dhampir originating in the Balkans. Apparently, in these histories of vampires, dhampirs were considered real, whereas a race of vampire hunters was considered mythological. To me, that sounded weird.
I spent the entire day reading through the books and taking notes. My hand began to hurt from all the writing I did. It was almost dinnertime when I realized how long I had been gone. So I packed my stuff, returned the books to their places and headed out.
“See you later, Linda, and thanks for your help.”
“Anytime, Chloe.” She waved as I passed the desk.
I couldn’t wait for Drew to get home so I could tell him all of this. I had to tell Luke, too. I’d rather tell them both at the same time than have to repeat all the information.
The sidewalks were so icy that I couldn’t walk on them. I stepped down onto the road and walked in the accumulated snow. It was slushy and brown from the passing cars. I was concentrating so hard on my footing, that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me.
“Chloe, wait up!”
My head snapped up, and I spun around. Well I tried to spin around, but, my foot stuck in the snow and the rest of my body tried to turn. Just as I saw Gavin Turner rushing toward me, I fell butt first into the slushy, dirty snow.
His hand was stretched out in front of me. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for you to fall.”
I grasped his hand, and he yanked me up out of the snow with ease. I could not believe this was happening. Gavin was one of the more popular guys at school, and I didn’t see him that often because he was a senior. I did see him enough to gawk at him and his dark-haired, green-eyed hotness from afar. Falling in front of him was complete agony.
I brushed at my soaked jeans. “Oh, no.”
“Are you okay?” he asked me, taking my bag from me so I could use both hands to uselessly brush at my clothes.
“Yeah, I’m all right. I guess I was just off in space, and you scared me a little. I didn’t hear you coming up behind me.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I do have a tendency to walk lightly. It’s a hunter trait.”
“Well, I don’t have it.” I told him. There was an awkward silence. We both stood there, facing each other without saying anything. Finally I asked, “Were you calling me for a reason?”
“Oh, yeah,” He handed me back my bag. “I was just wondering if you wanted to… uh, if you would like to come to the New Year’s Bash with me?”
Stupid took over my personality altogether. “Like a date?”
“Yeah, like a date.” He grinned.
The New Year’s Bash was a big deal in town. Drew had told me everyone in town always attended, and the dress was formal. And a formal occasion meant having to find a formal dress. “I’d love to go with you!” exploded past my lips. I wanted to sink into the ground. Why couldn’t I have said something cool like, ‘Sure’ with a dainty hair flip, and then called out ‘Pick me up at seven.’ No, I just wasn’t that good. I was a clumsy kid whose crush had just asked her out.