Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) by Beverly Toney Page B

had
become eerily silent except for Amelia’s clapping and laughter.
Everyone in the room was staring at me and I became really
self-conscious. After straightening my ponytail and stole, I rubbed
my finger on my teeth to make sure that no food had been left there.
I had no idea what was going on and that was a feeling I was starting
to resent.
    Amelia’s
jubilance was joined by Rachel’s and then Pleasant’s. I
watched as my grandmothers clapped and laughed and danced about the
room hugging anyone in their path. There was one person who didn't
join in the celebrations. Violeta. She was introduced to me as
Zander's fiance, although Chloe used a different word for it. Vampire
relationships were a bit more formal than those of humans. Violeta,
who was as quite possibly the most gorgeous person I had ever seen,
simply stared at me from the far corner of the room. Her attention
felt different than the others, less joyful. She simply wasn't happy
that I had been reunited with my family. Maybe she was jealous that
my brother's attentions were to be divided between yet another
sister.
    Chloe and Zander sat
next to me as I continued to wonder about Violeta..
    “ Well,
that was something,” Zander said. I thought I heard a bit of
pride in his voice.
    “ What
was something?” I asked, still completely lost.
    “ She
doesn’t know yet, Zander. Remember, no one has told her
anything. And I don't think she made it that far in the Historia
Lamia” Chloe sat there shaking her head. For as young as she
was I believed that she was the only person who understand how lost I
felt.
    “ My
apologies,” Zander inclined his head in a gesture of
repentance. “You were very angry a moment ago, correct?”
    “ Yes.
I was thinking about my foster mother…how she basically sold
me out.”
    “ Yes,
well, that anger filled the room and began to suck the air out of it.
All of the St. Clairs are Elementals of some sort. It is our
attribute. Each of us with varying degrees of power. Once you are
Embraced you may be able to stop air circulation all together but we
can’t be sure. It is a very rare and dangerous gift.”
    Here we go again, I
thought. Another wild tale I was supposed to buy into. I didn’t
think I could take anymore. Shaking my head, I began to stand up and
walk away when I felt the air rush out of my lungs. I tried to inhale
but there was almost no air to be found. I grabbed at my throat
trying to rip it open to let oxygen in when my lungs suddenly
inflated again. I fell to my knees for the second time in as many
days, gasping for breath. Zander put a hand on my arm to help me up
and I looked straight into Chloe’s eyes.
    “ See?”
she asked. “See how dangerous we can be?”
    It wasn’t that
Chloe had caused me any pain. My physical body hadn’t been
touched at all. She had changed the amount of oxygen in the air by
merely thinking about it. There was definitely more reading to be
done because that shouldn't have been possible.
    I was wondering how she
could have pulled off that trick when Artemis and Apollo came in
followed closely by several people in red uniforms. Each person went
up to a member of my Vampiric family and took off their chokers to
exposed their necks. Red was not just the color of their uniforms, it
was symbolic of what they were.
    Food.

Chapter 8

    Chloe walked me back
to my rooms after the reception. She stayed close to the door, as if
she was not quite ready to leave. I recognized the loneliness in her
eyes and held my arms open wide. We both fell onto the couch as she
hit me with an embrace that could have downed a line backer. Several
minutes passed and we were still on the couch holding onto each other
for dear life. Her silence had allowed me to think about the night’s
events.
    “ You
want to know what’s going on, don’t you?” Chloe
asked, breaking my reverie. “It’s easy to explain but
hard to believe. If you want to know, I’ll tell you. I don’t
care what Efia thinks.”
    Her