Legacy of Blood Read Free Page A

sparring room of the basement.  I spun around and glanced back at the hidden door I had just come from.  So many secrets in this house , I mused unhappily as I turned again and flashed to the wall mirror by the stairs.
    The first thing I saw in my reflection was my disheveled, bloody appearance.  Dried blood was encrusted in my hair and all over my body.  I took a good look at my face and stopped cold.  My eyes were completely black.  There were no whites, no irises, just complete blackness.  My hand flew to my mouth as I gasped in horror.
    I heard Archer flash next to me and take a deep breath.  “Wow.  You’re fast.”
    “Huh?” I inquired in a daze as I pulled my gaze from my soulless black eyes and looked up at him.
    “I was commenting on your speed,” he answered gently as he put a comforting hand on my shoulder.  “You move very fast now; faster than I expected.  It’s unusual for a newborn vampire to be able to move so quickly.”
    “My eyes,” I screaked as I started to turn back to the mirror, but stopped and did an immediate double take back to Archer.  “Vampire?  You said vampire…”
    “I know,” he answered cautiously.  “There’s a lot we have to discuss, Skye.  There are things I must explain to y…”
    “Vampire,” I repeated in shock.  I knew deep down something wasn’t right; something felt very, very different about me.  But I was in such a state of shock/confusion/disbelief that nothing had made much sense to me since I awoke in that dark cell.
    “It’s okay,” Archer said soothingly.  “Take a deep breath.  I know this is a lot to handle, especially since you weren’t prepared ahead of time for this.  It’s going to be okay, baby, just breathe.”
    I fearfully thought back to my fuzzy memories and tried my hardest to remember anything before I woke up in the coffin.  Flashes of bloody vomit, screams, and Archer’s face looking down on me filled me.
    “What?!  I’m turning?   As in turning into a vampire?  Oh God no!  I don’t want to turn into a creature like them.  I don’t want to be a vampire at all!  Kill me.  Kill me now!”
    “I have to end your life.  I can’t let you become what he is.  I love you too much for that.  I’m sorry Skye.  I’m so sorry.”
    “You were supposed to kill me,” my brow furrowed with sudden fear and anger.  “I begged you to kill me.  Why didn’t you?  Why am I alive?  Why am I standing here still talking to you and not waiting in line at the pearly gates?”
    “ Páiste , please” Archer said sorrowfully.  “Don’t be angry with me.  I couldn’t end your existence…I just couldn’t.  I did the only other thing I could think of to save you…I gave you my blood.  I turned you.”
    “Why are my eyes black if I’m supposed to be like you?”  I asked, fearfully looking back into the mirror.  “These are not the eyes of a Day Walker, Archer.  These…these are the eyes of a monster.  I’m evil Archer.  I’m just like Amun.  You have to kill me.”
    “No, Skye,” he said firmly as he put his hand on my shoulder.  “You are not a monster.  If you had been, you would have attacked me a few moments ago when I walked into the room.  But you did not.  You remembered who you were and fought that urge.  You ARE a Day Walker.  You are NOT evil.  You are not like Amun.”
    I’m not like him…   I took a deep, calming breath and watched as the black instantly faded from my eyes.  In its place were shockingly white, colorless globes staring back at me.  The only spot of color in them were my black pupils.  “Oh dear.”
    “Well, that’s new,” Archer whispered in awe.
    “My eyes…”
    “It seems as though your eye color has changed,” Archer whispered as he pulled my back to his front and circled his arms around my waist, hugging me from behind.
    “They look just like yours do when you get mad,” I whispered as I stared in the mirror at them.  “Do you think