I nod as I stare at my light’s home.
I do.
I know that my need for vengeance has now doubled in size.
The only way to put a dent in Nero's army, to possibly prevent war, is to go directly to the source.
My grandfather must die at my hand because it will bring the death of those he has illegitimately sired, the vampires he has created in unnatural ways.
We can convert humans. Change them. Turn them. But it is forbidden.
Forbidden by The Maker to create those in our image in a way other than reproduction or true mating.
With the possibility of vampiric offspring being fifty-fifty, some have taken it upon themselves to create a family, a following, in a way that is almost blasphemous amongst our kind.
To create a vampire from nothing more than a bite, one must drain the human—since only humans can turn— to within millimeters of life then force them to take the vampire's blood as replacement. It is painful, so painful, and generally causes the New One to become riddled with madness and an insatiable thirst for blood that can never be quenched. It is inhumane, cruel, and severely frowned upon amongst my kind.
Most try to conceive a family as normal, don't generally care if their offspring favor their vampire genetics or not.
And to say one turns their mate when they truly complete the bond isn't entirely accurate.
A vampire's mate will take on certain vampiric qualities—just as the vampire can take on certain human ones—which can include the development of fangs, a minor need for their mate's blood in the beginning, acute senses, and borderline ageless immortality with unnaturally long life. Those traits can also be passed down to a non-vampire child, despite not fully embracing their vampire genes.
What Nero has done is disgusting. His forced conversions will only create an army of half-crazed monsters out for blood with no regard as to how they get it. He has doomed those souls to a life of misery and never thought twice about it.
And because they were created at his fang, because his blood replaced what once filled their veins, the only way to stop them, to end them, is to end Nero. My grandfather’s toxic life force runs through the New Ones, his dark essence the only thing keeping them alive after he drained them and to destroy Nero and his essence is to destroy them as well.
I will have to kill him to protect my mate and now it seems I will have to kill him in order to protect the rest of my loved ones as well.
"You up for it?"
I turn to my friend, my brother, and blink. "Am I up for killing the creature responsible for destroying my life? For killing my love and causing her so much pain that I will never truly understand it?" Then I smirk. "Or am I up for possibly channeling a power I don't even know I have by killing one of my three remaining blood relatives?"
Andrej's brow lifts, the corner of his mouth twitches.
He knows that I struggle with this, struggle with the possibility that killing my own grandfather will activate some sort of darkness within me, transfer his negativity to me, and turn me into a monster because of it.
I have no proof that this will happen but my genetics are still such a mystery that I have no clue what will happen when I kill Nero.
He has always claimed there to be a darkness inside of me, said that because I am the only pure blood vampire to ever exist it must mean I was created to bring about destruction and misery.
That claim is why I've dedicated myself to proving him wrong.
It is why I was a vigilante a lifetime ago.
It is why I fight with my brothers.
It is why my light is the most important thing in my life.
I have always feared there is a darkness in me just lying in wait, dormant until an event triggers it and forces my hand to do unspeakable things.
My grandfather cited a prophecy of old when I was born and claimed it is my destiny to fill it.
But my light showed me that I am good, that I am not what I fear, and as long as I had her I never would be.
She is the light that will pierce my darkness.
My light, my savior.
