My Blood To Give by Paula Paradis Page A

and watched,” Reeva told her. “The Passageway is a magical portal to Sanctuary. There is so much power in it, humans are overwhelmed. You wouldn’t be able to find your way through it, no matter how hard you tried. Only vampires can traverse it.”
    Dara shuddered.
    “What’s wrong?” Reeva asked. “Are you still cold?”
    “The vampires,” Dara murmured. “You sound so matter of fact about them.”
    Reeva laughed. “I have been around vampires almost all my life.”
    Dara peered into the young woman’s face. “Are you a companion, too?”
    In answer, Reeva bent her head back to reveal the long curve of her graceful neck. For the first time, Dara noticed two round puncture wounds on her neck. Rings of purple surrounded the holes, and older green and yellow bruising discolored the skin farther away from the bite.
    Dara stiffened.
    “Why are you so shocked?” Reeva touched Dara’s neck where she still bore the fresh scabs of Andrei’s bite. “I can see Andrei has fed from you, too.”
    Dara closed her eyes and turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    Reeva went back to what she was doing. “You better learn to get used to it. You’re not in Kansas anymore.”
    Dara looked at her. “Is that where you’re from? Andrei said there are quite a few people born here.”
    “Yes, that’s true,” Reeva replied. “But I wasn’t. I’m from Pasadena, actually.”
    Dara frowned. “How did you get here, then?”
    “The same way you did,” Reeva replied. “I was bitten by a vampire, and she brought me here to be her companion.”
    “She?” Dara repeated.
    Reeva nodded. “What did you think? Did you think that being a vampire’s companion was a sexual thing? It isn’t like that at all. Anyone can be a companion to any vampire. It just means you give your blood to sustain them.”
    “He’s fed from me…” Dara couldn’t finish her sentence.
    Reeva shook her head. “It’s different with you and Andrei. He wouldn’t bring you here just to feed from. He wants you to be his queen and his consort. There’s more to your relationship than just feeding.”
    “How can you stand being nothing more than…” Dara struggled to find a way to say it without offending Reeva. “…cattle?”
    “I don’t think of it that way. I’m very happy where I am. I was a little girl the first time my benefactor bit me, and she was old. She was more of a grandmother to me than anything else. I lived with her for more than fifteen years before I was able to rise in position where I could serve the vampires of Royal Family.”
    Dara stared at her. Then she turned away. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand all this.”
    “You’ll figure it out.” Reeva took the final garment from the chair and held it up. “Now for the gown. Then we’ll do your hair and you’ll be ready to go downstairs.”
    The gown she held up glistened in the morning light. Threads of gold and silver ran through the fabric, and dainty pearls hung from the seams.
    Dara gasped when she saw it full length. “Am I supposed to wear that?”
    Reeva smiled. “It’s stunning, isn’t it? Did you know this gown has been in the Royal Family for more than a thousand years? All the queens and princesses have worn it.”
    “I don’t think I can wear anything that fine,” Dara breathed. “What if I damaged it?”
    “You don’t have to worry about that,” Reeva told her. “It’s been damaged many times before. Did you know Marlena De Valle went to the guillotine in this dress? She got blood stains all over the bodice.” Reeva laughed out loud. “She was quite vexed afterward.”
    “But you just said she went to the guillotine,” Dara said. “How could she be upset when her head was chopped off?”
    Reeva wagged her finger at Dara. “You’ve got a lot to learn. Nothing can kill a vampire. All that nonsense about stakes through the heart and sunlight and garlic and silver bullets—it’s all fiction. Vampires are immortal.