No one spoke as they ate. Chris helped himself to seconds before anyone else was even done. Cassie managed to choke down almost three quarters of her plate before putting it aside. Devon’s eyes were sharp on her, but he seemed satisfied with what she had consumed.
“I think everyone is ready Luther,” her grandmother said softly, drawing her small legs beneath her once more.
Luther nodded, pushing his glasses up on his nose. He rested one arm on the mantle, his gaze distant as he stared at the far side of the room. “About fifteen hundred years ago, vampires were beginning to run rampant in the world. They were not overly concerned about people knowing of their existence, why should they be when there was no one to stop them?
“At this time a group of humans gathered together, determined to hunt down the monsters and destroy as many of them as they could. They were determined to drive the vampires back in an attempt to try and regain some control of the earth.”
“They were the first Hunters?” Cassie inquired softly.
Luther looked slightly uneasy as he shifted slightly. “Sort of,” he hedged.
Cassie lifted an eyebrow at his “sort of,” not liking the way he responded to her question. “What do you mean, sort of?” Chris inquired, temporarily forgetting the plate of food still on his lap.
Luther and her grandmother exchanged a look; Devon rested his hand upon her knee. Melissa’s gaze was focused upon the floor, her shoulders stiff. Cassie’s frown deepened, she didn’t like the sudden tension in the room, the hesitation that grasped them all. It was becoming more apparent that she was not going to like what Luther had to say. In fact, she was certain that she didn’t want to hear it at all.
Luther heaved a large sigh. Sliding his glasses off, he cleaned them on his shirt before slipping them back on. Cassie’s eyes widened slightly as he began to pace nervously. Luther never paced, and he was never nervous. Her hand tightened around Devon’s as a growing knot of worry and fear began to twist in her body.
“As a group, the humans were able to do some damage against the vampires, but not much. And when they came up against a more powerful vampire, they were useless. They were getting slaughtered and the vampires were becoming stronger. As the years passed the vampire’s numbers grew, and the human fighters dwindled as most became afraid to continue the battle.
“That was when they recruited the help of an emerging group of scientists.”
The last sentence hung heavily in the air, the knot in Cassie’s stomach turned into a noose that spread up her throat, threatening to choke her. A chill of apprehension swept down her spine. Though Chris still looked confused, there was a dawning horror inside her.
“And what did these scientists do?” Chris inquired, placing his plate on the table, his appetite apparently gone.
Cassie fought the urge to cover her ears, wanting to block out whatever else Luther had to say. It may have been a childish urge, but it was one that she desperately wanted to fulfill. “Experiments. When they were able to, they began to keep the vampires that they hunted.”
“And they experimented on them?” Chris looked confused as he glanced around the room. It was not that he wasn’t grasping what Luther was saying, it was that he didn’t want to. Cassie didn’t blame him.
“Yes.”
Cassie’s breath came quicker, her heart pounded loudly. Her skin was suddenly clammy, cold. “What kind of experiments?” Chris demanded, his tone taking on a hard edge.
Luther sighed softly. “They wanted to know how vampires worked, how they functioned. Where their powers came from.”
“And did they succeed?” Cassie asked in a choked voice.
“Somewhat, but not completely. They learned that the source of a vampire’s power comes from their blood. To become a vampire an exchange of blood is needed, and death must occur.”
Cassie turned slightly toward Devon, these were things that she knew, but for the first time she truly realized that he had died. That someone had killed him. Or he may have willingly allowed himself to be changed, may have embraced death for the promise of eternal life. Her forehead furrowed as she once again recalled how very little she knew of him. And she wanted to know so much more. However, right now she was learning more than she had ever wanted too, and her curiosity about Devon was going to have to wait.
“During the exchange of blood, the demon that lurks within the vampire is passed on, its hunger and thirst handed over to its victim. This demon blood is thought to be the source of the vampire’s power; it was also the reason why everyone believed that all vampires must be monsters and murderers.”
His gaze turned briefly to Devon, his grey eyes flickered slightly. “Obviously we were wrong.”
Devon looked briefly at Cassie as he nodded subtly. His face was tight with tension, and Cassie knew he was thinking about his struggle to keep himself restrained around her. “It is hard, but it can be controlled. Most simply do not want to control it; they enjoy the hunt, the thrill, the power. They revel in the evil, or at least their darker side does, and they have no desire to suppress it. Others may not even know that it can be done, but there are still others who do control it.”
Luther nodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he pinched it tight. “Yes, I understand that now. We should have understood it earlier, but arrogance and fear go a long way in keeping the truth hidden.”
Cassie lifted an eyebrow, her gaze darted worriedly to Devon before she turned to Melissa and Chris; panic was growing inside of her. Melissa was not as composed as normal; it was obvious that though she knew where this was going, she didn’t like it. There was a pinched look around her mouth, her eyes were narrowed slightly. Her normally neat hair was disheveled, strands of it framed her pretty face. Her eyes, usually a sparkling onyx were now as dull and flat as coal.
Chris rose suddenly, knocking the coffee table slightly with his knee. It skittered back, but he made no move to fix it as he paced restlessly away. Running a hand through his hair, he turned sharply toward Luther, pinning him with his gaze. His jaw clenched tightly, his broad shoulders were set as if he awaited a fierce blow. Which Cassie was certain they were going to receive.
“Where did our abilities come from?” Chris asked softly.
“When they discovered the source of the vampire’s powers they began to try to isolate it, hoping to combat the growing threat of the vampires. They could never successfully isolate the gene, but they began to experiment with trying to harvest that power into humans.”