Right Kind of Wrong
By: Delilah deSora

Chapter 5

Cain waited until Shido was seated beside him, his back straight and his green eyes staring at him with such rapt attention it almost made him nervous. With a soft sigh he turned to stare into the fire.

“Have you heard of the velassi?”

Beside him Shido frowned as the word stirred something within him. “It seems familiar. I remember . . . I remember hearing two vampires speak of it before we went away. They called them the ‘living vampires’ though I do not understand why.”

Cain nodded thoughtfully. “Almost no vampires know of the name and it is completely unknown among any of the other races, for good reason. There are very few velassi left in the world and because of this they guard their secrets and existence well, even from each other.”

“What are they?” Shido asked.

Cain fixed him with a piercing stare that he could not look away from. “You must promise me first, Shido. You must promise me that you will speak of this to no one. As your memories return you will understand the importance of this once again but until then I must have your word that you will not speak of it with anyone else but Adrian or I.”

Shido licked his lips nervously and nodded. “I promise.”

His mate sat back in the chair, one leg crossing over the other as he sighed. “The ‘living vampires’ is an apt term for the velassi for in a sense that is what they are. Much of their history is lost, even to them, but once there were more of them. Not very many when you consider the number of humans and vampires today but enough for them to build a society of their own. It was the society that vampires emulate today for it is believed that vampires arose from them. Their bite and their blood can turn a human into a vampire. Like vampires the velassi must drink blood, sleep hidden away from the sun, and are weak during the daylight hours but they possess powers that vampires do not. Powers over the mind. Powers over nature. Powers over the body.”

“The body?” Shido asked, sitting forward, “Like the ability to change form?”

Cain shook his head. “No. Even they cannot change form but they can create life. Their bite can make a human a vampire but it cannot change them into a velassi. They can sire and bear children, something that vampires cannot do. It is very important for a velassi can be born to only velassi parents.”

Shido blinked as he considered the words. “The living vampires.” He whispered.

Cain nodded. “Yes. Where vampires can only be created through death a velassi can only be created through the very act that gives humans life. They are born into this world as velassi.”

He paused a moment, allowing his mate to come to terms with this bit of information, so strange to one who had thought that the blood thirst came only through death. Finally he continued.

“I am a velassi,” he admitted, “My parents were velassi and had come together as a mated couple.”

Shido stared at him for a moment before reaching out and touching his hair. “You were born this way?” He asked.

Cain laughed. “I was but a child a when I was taken from my father’s body.”

Green eyes widened. “Your father?”

He chuckled softly. “Ah, I forgot. The velassi are all male, as humans determine gender. If ever there were females we do not know nor do we care for there are none now.”

“But . . . how do two men . . .” Shido was forced to stop, a frown tugging at his lips.

“As there are two genders in the human world the velassi have something of the same thing. They are both male physically but mentally, and to a lesser extent emotionally, they are as different as male and female.”

“Like master vampires and non-masters?” Shido asked.

Cain hesitated. “Somewhat. We have chosen to distinguish them as sires and fathers. The sire is the sexually dominant male. The one who protects and provides.”

“Like you.” Shido murmured, a slight flush creeping over his face.

Cain smiled. “Yes, like me. The father on the other hand is the one who . . . ah how to say this to keep from sounding as though the fathers are lesser than the sires . . . they are the more domestic ones. They maintain the home and seek out new sources of food. I am doing this poorly for you must understand that the father can be every bit as strong and dominant as the sire but sexually they are the ones who receive the sire’s seed and carry the child while the sire protects and feeds his mate during this time.”

“How does that work, exactly?” Shido asked, fascinated.

“If the sires seed takes root the father becomes pregnant. He will carry the child inside of him until it is too large and requires more blood than he can spare. When that time comes the child will be born. The father will continue to feed off of his mate while the child feeds from him until it is independent enough to be left with the sire long enough for the father to hunt on his own.”

“So you were born a baby.”

Cain shook his head. “Not like human babies. I was able to crawl and was aware of things such as danger, hunger, and safety. I was able to recognize and manipulate the bond I had with my father to communicate my needs to him. If I was hungry I would stare at him and let the feeling wash through me and he would feel it as well and know what I needed.”

“What did you eat?”

“Blood, as all velassi do. At first I could only feed from my father but as I grew I was able to drink from my sire as well. As I got older they began to mix human blood with theirs until I was able to feed solely from humans. When I was nearly an adult my parents taught me to hunt as well as other things.

“Finally I stopped aging physically and my sire brought me to his court as his newest childe. I stayed there until the final change occurred within me. I began to feel restless and longed to travel. My sire explained to me that it was because I was like him and that I was being moved to seek a mate who would one day carry my own children.

“He sent me here, to Romania, to start my own court. Every few years he would tell me of other velassi he had found who were either unmated or had sons that were destined to be fathers.”

Cain hesitated when he noticed the confused look on Shido’s face. “Those of us who are sires leave our parents fairly soon after the final change because of the wanderlust it inspires within us. Fathers, however, are content to stay with their parents. Occasionally they too roam but for the most part we must seek them out.”

“I see,” Shido murmured, looking down at his hands, “But what does this have to do with my memory?”

Cain sighed, running his hands through his golden hair. “Patience, I am getting to that. Years went by and still I had not found a mate but I had made a strong court here. We often helped my sire’s court when a rival threatened them. So it was that we were called upon to help when another court wiped out one of my sire’s smaller courts in Germany. We brought that court to its knees and those that were not killed were brought before my sire in chains. For my service to him my sire offered me my choice of vampires from the prisoners.

“I walked among them until one caught my eye. He was pitifully weak but I felt drawn to him. I finally gave in to the urge and asked my sire for that vampire but when he saw who I had chosen he refused me. He told me that the one I had chosen must be destroyed. At his words I was filled with such rage that I attacked him. My father had to tear us apart and he took me away.

“He explained that the one I had chosen was a velassi, like us. Like him. It was only natural that I should be drawn to him. I exclaimed that it was perfect for none of the velassi I had met called to me as he did but my father denied me, telling me that his spirit and his mind had been broken.

“It was explained to me that he had been taken from his parents too young. When he was but a child his sire’s court had been attacked. They had lost and the master of that court had slain his parents and taken him as a novelty, a child turned into a vampire. Eventually, though, he noticed that the child was still growing and he realized that he had in his control a creature he had always thought of as a myth.

“He guarded the boy jealously and when the boy grew from child to man his fascination turned to lust. He took the velassi as his mate and forced him to exchange blood, bonding them together. When he’d died it had driven the velassi insane with grief for his death effected the velassi as if his own chosen mate had been slain, which is something that most velassi do not recover from.

“My parents had sent word of the problem to their fellow velassi and had asked for permission to kill him, for even in such a case to kill him was no small thing.

“I went to my sire and begged to be given the chance to try to draw him out of madness for I knew in my soul that he was to be my mate and already the instinct to protect him drove me beyond all reason. I told him that if he died I would be dragged into madness as surely as he had been. Finally he agreed to let me try though he warned me that the velassi must not be allowed to reveal our secrets to anyone.

“So I took him to my father for we believed that my father could sooth him since they were the same. Unfortunately we failed. All he did was scream and tear at himself until we were forced to tie him down. Finally my father took his memories and, as we had hoped, it calmed him.

“When he woke he was very fearful and childlike. I took him into my care and returned to Romania with him for instinct made him afraid of my sire and we feared that he would see another of the vampires from the other court and it would bring the memories back. I keep him away from the others and I lavished him with affection. We would sit in the garden for hours, him asking me questions and I answering as best I could.” Cain paused, his eyes distance as old memories played out in his mind.

“What was his name?” Shido asked.

Cain turned and reached out, running his knuckles over his cheek. “Shido.”

He frowned, pulling away. “You named me after him?”

The golden haired vampire shook his head. “No, lovely, you are him.”

Shido froze, staring at him.

“Eventually you wished to join the rest of my court and I agreed to it. However it woke the memories my father had suppressed and they flooded your mind. You begged me to stop them so we once again suppressed the memories. He taught me how to do it as well but it soon became apparent that we had to be far more thorough then we had been before.

“We decided that telling you of the velassi would only weaken the bond upon your memories so my father gave you false memories of our first meeting so that when you woke you believed I had brought you across as my childe.”

Cain sighed. “I had intended to tell you all of this once we had fully bonded as mates but such a bond takes many years to form and we were happy. I did not wish to ruin that by reminding you of all that had come before.

“And then my sire was killed.

“A few vampires had disappeared and he’d gone to find out what had become of them. He was unable to escape the trap the humans had set for him and they killed him. I had to go back to Germany to take control of his court and try to keep my father from killing himself over his grief. I left you in Romania for I feared for your safety in the chaos of my sire’s court.

“It took me three years to gain complete control. I sent word to my court in Romania to have you join me in Germany only to discover that you were gone. You had traveled to England to learn the art of medicine. By the time I had managed to free myself to go there as well you had already returned. You brought across the child before I could stop you and she killed herself.

“You took her words to heart, thinking us to be evil. You turned to religion though I begged you to stop. You became convinced that we were unnatural and in a rage I told you of the velassi. I told you of how you had never been human and how our history was as long as that of the humans. Instead of curing you or your guilt it drove you away from me. You tried to kill yourself, claiming that we were nothing but the demons that the humans spoke of. That we should all return to the dark.

“I saved you and removed your memory on my own, something I had never done before. Obviously I was unable to remove them completely for the guilt once again began to grow within you. Germany was fast becoming too dangerous for our kind so I set up a false leader there and returned to Romania.

“The rest you must remember for I have not tried to alter your memories since then.”

Shido nodded thoughtfully.

“Now that you have heard the story the memories will begin to unlock. It . . . will not be pleasant.”

His head did indeed feel strange and Shido reached up to gently touch his temple. “You say that I was never human?” He asked.

Cain nodded. “Yes. You were born with the hunger and powers you now possess. It is why the fires of All Souls night drives so fiercely. For other vampires it is simply a night of pleasure, nothing more. For us, however, it is a night of bonding and the possible creation of life. It is not a day of play for us but rather one of necessity.

“If you had been allowed to grow with your parents you would know all of this. You would know that velassi rely heavily on instinct and that you must listen to what your senses tell you. You would have learned what it means to be as you are and you would have learned of the needs and desires that rule you. They would have taught you all of that and we would have had a proper courtship rather than what fate gave us.”

“What is the proper courtship?” Shido asked, unable to stop himself. He blushed slightly after the words escaped him, earning a chuckle from his mate.

“I would have joined your sire’s court, hovering about until I caught your eye. Eventually I would begin leaving tokens for you. If you were interested you would accept them, if not you would leave them be. We’d dance around each other until you chose to take it to the next step and spend the day with me. We would hunt together and sleep together until you were ready to return with me to my own court where we would become mates.”

“And the changes within me, they are because I am . . . velassi?”

Again Cain nodded. “Yes.”

Shido stood suddenly, his head bowed so that his long hair covered his face. “Thank  you for telling me this.” He murmured, moving towards the door.

Cain frowned. “Where are you going?”

“I need time to clear my thoughts.” He replied, reaching out to open the door.

Behind him he heard Cain stand. “You can not leave here, Shido.”

Green eyes peered at the golden haired vampire wearily. “Not now, Cain. I need to think about things. Besides, you know that I cannot stay with you while you are trying to eradicate the human race!”

“Then do not take part in it!” Cain snapped. “I would rather you not be a part of the danger anyway!”

“No! I am tired of being shut away from the world! I will leave here! I am not your prisoner!”

“No, you are not my prisoner.”

“Then I have the power to go as I please.”

“You need my blood.” Cain pointed out.

Shido grit his teeth as he glared at the vampire across the room. “I’ll survive without it!”

“You cannot leave.” His mate stated, his voice going from angry to suddenly tired.

“Why?” He demanded, “Why should I not leave? If I am not to be a prisoner in this place why can I not leave?”

Silence fell heavily upon the room for a long moment before Cain sighed and met his accusing glare steadily.

“You are with child, Shido.”