Captured (Vampire King Book 2) by Kenya Wright

in the end, it all
stems from our religions.”
    “How?
Don’t they believe the same thing?”
    “Vampire
religious texts state that Ambi first made the mages because he was alone, but
due to the mage’s selfishness, they ran away and never returned.” Ian held his
hands in front of his face, pushed out dark claws, chuckled to himself, and
then retracted them back into his flesh. “Next, Ambi created vampires and made
us dependent on his blood so that we would return to him. The sun goddess
showed up. They fell in love. And she made humans to feed vampires while the
two gods explored the universe.”
    “I
know the story.”

    “Yes.
But the mages believe differently. They think the sun goddess Ressi was on the
planet first. That she formed only humans from the soil and sun. At the time of
creation, there were no elfkins or mages around.”
    “What?”
I twisted my lips.
    “According
to them, Ambi showed up, spotted Ressi, and was overtaken by her beauty. He
desired her, but she refused him. And so one night when she was fast asleep
among the stars, Ambi attacked and raped her for sixty days and nights, filling
her body with seed.”
    I
held my hands to my chest.
    “And
when he finally finished, darkness bathed the world for seven days and vampires
clawed their way out of her womb, spilling onto the earth.”
    For
some reason, I thought of the moons’ cycles. It took the two moons sixty days
to complete their rotation around planet Dos. Darkness arrived for a full week
during the last phase when neither moon could be seen in the sky. On the first
night after the week of darkness, the two moons reappeared and brightened the
land. Vampires celebrated their reappearance as Lunation Day.
    “Do
the mages celebrate Lunation Day?” I asked.
    Ian
chuckled. “No, they hold candlelight ceremonies and do a whole lot of jumping
around and praying, begging Ressi to come back.”
    “So,
then I doubt the mages believe that the two gods ran off together on a lovely
adventure.”
    “Correct.”
He combed his fingers through his new blond hair. “I owe you so much for
bringing me back to my rightful body.”
    “Please,
continue. We don’t have a lot of time.”
    “Well,
due to so much raping and coming, Ambi fell asleep.” Ian laughed.
    I
frowned. “I don’t find any of this funny.”
    “It’s
not like this is a true story.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But I will continue
with complete seriousness.”
    I
rolled my eyes.
    “Ambi
was exhausted, so Ressi seized the opportunity to kill him. But a god can’t be
killed, only stopped by separating him. So, she filled him with light, which
for some backwards mage reason, paralyzed him.” Ian strolled over to the
porcelain sink next to me and trailed his fingers along the edge. “Then she
split him in two halves with her teeth, rolled him into two balls, and trapped
him among the stars.”
    “The
two moons are Ambi?”
    “Yes.
Apparently, the mages believe our glorious moons are two halves of a sadistic
rapist that is forever trying to form back together again.”
    Brie? Samuel’s voice entered my head.
I raised one finger to my lips to tell Ian to be quiet.
    Yes, I thought back to Samuel.
    Is everything okay? You’ve been
gone for a long time. Samuel’s voice held concern.
    I’m okay. I will be there soon.
Have you gathered more information from your sister? I hated lying to him, but I
didn’t think Ian would be so forthcoming with information around Samuel. And I
doubted Samuel would be willing to just stand by and watch as Ian drank from
me.
    Octavia knows nothing else. We’ll
have to deal with my mother tomorrow night. She should have answers, Samuel replied. We’re done for now. I’ll get Ty and
Victoria. Stay in the bathroom or go to the room with Octavia until I return.
    Okay.
    “Hurry.”
I directed my attention back to Ian. “Samuel will be here with Ty and Victoria
soon.”
    “We
have time.” Ian waved me away. “I watched those two go off into a