Bloodlines

We walked down hallways lined with gold fringed tapestries. A lot of the pictures were scenic, but some were actually of vampires. It was discreet of course, one merely being a man kissing a woman's neck, but my enhanced eyes could see the slight shadow of a fang on the woman's neck as the vampire leaned in to drink from his meal. Sadly, the picture made me hungry.

Teren clutched my hand hard as we walked behind Gabriel and Starla. Glancing at him, I could see that his jaw was tight. He was nervous and excited and most of all, struggling with impatience. My upcoming birthday was like a death toll, gonging in his head. Rubbing my stomach with my free hand, I checked my physical state. Aside from slightly swollen feet and a mild case of heartburn, I felt fine. Not about to have a heart attack or anything.

I leaned into Teren's side and he looked down on me, concern replacing anxiousness in his pale eyes. I smiled encouragingly and he gave me a nervous smile in return.

Jacen from behind us, snorted. "You two act like we're marching you to the gallows. Stop being so dramatic."

Teren frowned at the man, but Gabriel in the lead, stopped and looked back at him, clear displeasure in his striking face. Starla beside him laughed and smacked her gum. I heard Jacen swallow, but my attention was all on Gabriel.

Narrowing his eyes, he calmly said, "I expect immaturity from Starla, she is only twenty-two, after all." Starla beside him harrumphed at that. I nearly expected her to stomp her pricey high heels too, but she refrained. Gabriel continued, ignoring her. "You, Jacen, are over one hundred twenty." He raised his eyebrows. "Start acting like it."

From behind us, I heard Jacen sigh and slump. "Sorry, Father."

My head swung around to stare at Jacen after he said that. Father? Jacen was staring at his shoes, admonished under his father's stern gaze. Confused, I looked back at Starla. She'd called him father as well, but he'd also just said she was twenty-two. I didn't understand how he'd had children one hundred years apart? I was under the impression that that wasn't possible.

"Teren, how did he...?" I didn't know how to finish that sentence, so I didn't try. I didn't need to either. Gabriel swung his green eyes back to me and smiled warmly.

Understanding my vague question, he answered with, "They are not my blood children." His eyes glanced at Starla, attached to his arm, and Jacen and Jordan behind us. "The title is honorific, I suppose." He shrugged and indicated us to keep walking. As we approached a set of marble staircases, leading down into even more levels, he continued with his speech. I was grateful for it. His deep voice was a soothing distraction from the feeling that we were headed towards the dungeons.

"All of my actual children have converted and moved on, to start their own nests around the world. I miss them, but I can sense them through the bloodline, and take comfort in that." He looked down at Starla, fatherly pride on his face. "As for my new family, well, I take in what mixed I can, giving them a home and a safe place to changeover, if they still need to. They are free to come and go as they like, but many have decided to stay here with me. Safety in numbers." He looked back at Teren and me. "They gave me the appellation, out of respect."

Starla grinned back at us, blowing a big bubble. With a slight clearing of his throat, Gabriel held his hand out to her. Pouting like a child being reprimanded unfairly by a parent, she spit her gum in his hand. Jacen behind us laughed softly and Starla shot him a glare. While not technically related, the two sure acted like squabbling siblings.

As we descended to a hallway, deep under the main level we'd started out on, I noticed that the luxuries continued on even down here. Plush carpet replaced the granite flooring from upstairs and I nearly wanted to shuck off my shoes and let my aching toes sink into the fibers. The hallway we were walking down had several closed doors in it, almost like a dorm. I wondered if we'd traveled down into the living area of the mixed. I wondered if the full vampires stayed down her too, but while dark and underground, it wasn't as lightproof as Halina's rooms. Maybe they were the next floor down. As we padded along, Starla still pouting, Teren stepped up to walk beside Gabriel. There was enough room in that hallway that I was able to stay beside him, and the four of us walked along.

With a mixture of wonder and respect in his tone, Teren asked, "If I may, sir, how old are you?" I widened my eyes curiously at that. If Jacen was over one-twenty, and deferred to this man, he must be even older.

Gabriel smiled, a calm wisdom in his emerald eyes that only decades of experience can give you. It was still odd to me to see so much life experience in the eyes of people who looked younger than me. With a shrug he stated, "Six hundred eleven."

Teren's jaw fell open, as did mine. A low whistle escaped my lips before I could stop it. Wow. He'd been around for the actual medieval times. I couldn't even begin to comprehend everything he'd seen.

He smiled softly, and for just a moment, I saw the weariness behind his eyes. Wisdom did come with a price. As Alanna had told me once, immortality wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"Oh," Teren said softly, looking like was trying to process that as well. Nearly in a whisper he added, "I wasn't even sure if we would live that long." He looked down when he said that, his ignorance on his own kind seemingly embarrassing him.

Gabriel put a hand on his shoulder. "There is much that you don't know." Teren looked up at him as Gabriel sighed, almost regretfully. "I sort of blame myself for that." Teren scrunched his face, confused by that statement. Gabriel sighed again. "Your nest came to my attention a few years ago." My jaw dropped way open at that. My teeth popped out too, before I embarrassingly pulled them back in. Only Starla noticed, giggling at me.

Gabriel continued, looking chagrined at Teren's surprise. "You all looked so peacefully content at your little ranch. A blissfully ignorant little family." He smiled with a corner of his mouth and shook his head. "I didn't want to interfere."

Teren started sputtering and ran a hand through his hair. "We didn't know...we thought we were alone. Why...? How...?" Calming himself, he took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as well. "We would have been honored to meet you. You should have come by."

Gabriel sighed again and looked forward. We approached a 'T' in the hallway and he turned the group to the right. Behind us, I could hear Jacen and Jordan silently following. They listened, but didn't interrupt their master. I had no idea what they felt about the matter. Starla seemed...bored. She had released herself from Gabriel's side and was examining her nails again buffing out a spot with her thumb while we continued down yet another long hallway.

Gabriel glanced over at Teren with the corner of his eye. "Well, you all seemed to have everything under control." His eyes flicked over to me, and then my stomach. "Until you started knocking over every vampire nest you could find." His eyes went back to Teren's, his eyebrows raised. "Annoying our brethren, is not a good way to remain unnoticed, or alive."

Teren looked down at the floor for a second before raising his eyes back to Gabriel, an almost defiant look on his face. "I had no choice. I didn't know how else to find you."

Gabriel smirked at the look on his face and then nodded. We finally approached the end of the hall. Looking behind us, behind Jacen and Jordan, I could see that the hallway we'd been walking down wasn't a straight one, it had angled some, and I could no longer see much of where we'd been. That thought didn't exactly please me.

Twisting back to the front, I took in the set of double doors before us. The handles were gold, with a gold inlay around the trim, highlighting a red octagonal pattern set into each panel. Teren swallowed as Gabriel smiled and pulled down the handle. I wasn't sure what we were walking into, but I was sure it held the answers we were looking for. I clutched Teren's arm, attaching to his side.

Gabriel swung open the door and we looked into a room that was set up like...well, a laboratory. Confused, Teren and I entered the odd-for-a-mansion room. It was straight out of a horror movie and I even found myself looking around for the mad scientist. All I found was Gabriel, walking up to some steaming beakers and sniffing them. Smiling, he turned down a burner under one. Jordan walked into the room and joined Gabriel's side, examining a batch of some pinkish fluid resting in vials under a heat lamp. He seemed to eye the room with the casual air of someone who came down here a lot. Jordan probably assisted the ancient mixed...in whatever they were doing down here.

Jacen stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. Instantly, I felt the difference. Teren and I glanced at each other and I could tell he sensed it to - this room was soundproof. And not just any sort of soundproof, this room was vampire-soundproof. That was saying something. As the background noise of people rustling, low conversations, objects moving, and keyboards clacking, instantly silenced, my nerves spiked a bit. The smell of chemicals, steam, propane, and the faint sweetness of blood in the air, suddenly seemed cloying.

Gabriel looked up from a pot of liquid to look at me, hearing my reaction. "Don't fret, child. I find that the silence helps me think." He smiled, looking tired again. "Sometimes, a little quiet is nice."

I nodded and tried to relax my body, exhaling slowly. Jacen looked around the room after closing the door. He did not look like he came down here very often, and his eyes were interested, but obviously confused. He didn't know what this stuff was, anymore than I did. Starla seemed to have a better idea.

She walked up to Gabriel and sat on a stool in front of him. Lifting her arm, she exposed the inside of her elbow to him. Teren and I walked up to them, still confused. Gabriel held his hand out to Jordan, who handed him a pink vial. The stuff vaguely looked familiar to me, but I wasn't sure why. We watched in silent awe as Gabriel stuck a syringe in the vial, extracted a small amount, and then injected it into Starla's arm. She flinched a little, but didn't seem overly concerned about the matter.

My mouth dropped open again, but it was Teren who spoke. "What was that?" There was a strange edge of apprehension to his voice.

Gabriel handed the empty syringe to Jordan, patting Starla's arm as she hopped off the stool. Not directly answering Teren, he said, "When my heart was still beating, my human wife and I had three children." He smiled, looking at the floor for a moment. "The two girls grew up, had children of their own, converted, and then left my care." His reminiscent smile evaporated and he raised his eyes to Teren's. "My son..." He swallowed and I could clearly see the ancient sadness bubbling in him. "He didn't survive the conversion. The hunger consumed him..."

He sighed and looked down. I swallowed and clutched Teren's arm tighter. I peeked up as Teren looked back at me, his jaw tight. He'd nearly been consumed by that hunger too. Picking up a full vial, Gabriel began shifting it back and forth in his hand, the liquid inside sloshing from one side to the other. "After my wife passed, I spent the next five hundred years, trying to find a way to stop the conversion."

His eyes left the liquid to look back to Teren. "To stop the human side of our kind from prematurely dying. To let the vampire have a choice in when and where, they go through their conversion. I want them to have children when they want to, to have a heartbeat as long as they want to, to enjoy humanity as long as they want to. I want to give our kind a choice - to be reborn as an undead creature, or live and die a purely human life. A choice my son...never had."

Teren took an excited step forward, and I could tell he was itching with the restraint to not scream questions at this man. Gabriel held the vial up to him as he took another step forward. Teren released my hand and grabbed the vial, holding it like it was somehow sacred. Gabriel continued, while Teren and I looked confused. "I concocted this. It's a derivative of our mixed blood." In a whisper, he said, "Among other things, it slows the vampiric blood inside us, eases the strain placed on the human heart, allowing it to beat for much longer than normal."

Teren's eyes snapped up. "Does it work?"

Gabriel glanced over at Starla, now standing beside him. "I haven't been able to test it on as many living-mixed as I'd like, but Starla here has been taking it for the past six months or so." She grinned at Gabriel's affectionate look and leaned back on her hip.

I frowned. "But she's only twenty two. You won't really know if it works on her for years." Starla frowned at me bursting her prideful bubble.

Gabriel smiled, but didn't answer me. He turned to Jordan and in a not audible for human level, said, "Bring Samuel here."

Jordan nodded and blurred from the room. Teren and I watched him leave, our brows still scrunched. Finally Teren shook his head. "This...may save her?" His eyes were watering; there was so much hope in them.

Gabriel sighed. "To be honest, I don't know. The treatment doesn't take for everyone." He raised an eyebrow at me as my shoulders slumped. "But, then again, you lived through a vampire attack." He smiled widely, pointing at the telltale scar on my neck. "The fact that you are not dead and gone is quite astounding, my dear."

I smiled wryly as Teren and I exchanged a brief glance. Teren smiled softly just as the door to the lab opened again. Amid the rush of noises reentering the room, I heard a definite heartbeat adding to mine and Starla's. Curious, I looked over. My jaw dropped straight down to the floor. Tall and dark Jordan was walking into the room with a man who was clearly older, approaching his forties, if not already there. The smell of the man, foreign, yet with a familiar note that I was coming to associate with partial vampires, filled me, and I stared at him in awe.

Teren gaped at him as well, walking over to see him more closely, his head cocked, like the sound of his still beating heart was mystifying. And it sort of was. I'd been so used to twenty-something mixed, that the sight of a graying haired man, his fangs extended to show us what he was, was stunning.

Teren twisted back to Gabriel, his smile glorious. "It works," he breathed.

Gabriel smiled and nodded at Samuel, indicating the stool. Samuel obediently walked over, lifting his arm in the same way Starla did. As Jordan prepared a second vial, Gabriel nodded at Teren. "In the ones that take to it, it has worked exceedingly well."

He frowned, his lips twisting in displeasure as he injected the fluid into Samuel's arm. "The first batch I created...did not." He was silent for a second and then he fixed his face into a more clinical expression, as he explained. "Conversions are an interesting process in mixed. In pure vampires, it happens when they are created. When a mixed is born, the element that completes the transformation from living to undead, stays dormant. But eventually, the strain of our free-flowing blood is too much, and somewhere between twenty-one and twenty-six, depending on the family history of the vampire, an event is triggered, and that element activates. The blood then accelerates to a point where the vampire's human body can no longer handle it. The heart burns out, the human side dies and the vampiric blood takes over, reanimating the creature."

I watched, fascinated, as he finished injecting Samuel and handed the empty syringe to Jordan. He glanced at our curious faces. "You see, the process of conversion isn't just the human side dying, it's also the vampiric side awakening. Kill a mixed vampire before that trait has a chance to awaken, and you kill the vampire as surely as you would kill a human. That genetic marker in the blood is the key to vampirism." He sighed and shook his head. "The first batch I created accidentally triggered that dormant element in the blood - revved it up and burnt out the heart within hours, jump-starting the process, regardless of the vampire's age." He shrugged and looked very sad as Samuel rubbed the injection site on his arm. "I accidentally converted quite a few vampires, much too soon." He shook his head sadly and I gasped audibly.

He flicked his eyes up to mine, seemingly concerned at my alarmed reaction. "I stopped. Once I realized what it was doing, that it was never going to work, I destroyed all of the samples, locked up my research. Don't worry, I adjusted the formula considerably." His eyes took on a look of a scientist as he said that, emotionally detached from what he'd done. Of course, he probably didn't understand the extent of what he'd actually done.

Teren gasped as well as he looked back at me. Locking eyes, we understood each other. Teren looked back at Gabriel. "I think you may have missed some." His voice was rough, hard with anger.

Gabriel blinked at hearing it. My eyes watered as I found Teren's hand. That man who'd kidnapped us had injected Teren with something that had killed him. It had revved up his blood and given him a heart attack. He'd claimed it as his own creation at the time, but it hadn't been. Somehow, he'd gotten a hold of Gabriel's samples and had tried to pawn it off as his own. I always suspected that the bastard hadn't been smart enough to come up with something like that. But I couldn't believe a mixed had come up with it. I wondered if Gabriel knew that a hunter had been out there, killing other mixed with his creation. By the startlement on his face as Teren described what had happened to him, I didn't think he knew. As Samuel stood from the stool, he heavily sat down into it.

"That's not possible...the only person who could have..." His voice trailed off as he left that thought unfinished.

Slight anger still in his voice, Teren cocked his head. "Who?"

Gabriel, still looking stunned, shook his head and looked back up at Teren. His face regaining his ancient composer, he smiled. "A family matter. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, but I will take it from here." Standing up, he cast a significant look back at Jordan, who nodded once and left the room. I had the feeling that someone was in a world of trouble.

Bringing his eyes back to Teren, he calmly asked. "Has the hunter been dealt with?"

Teren smiled with an edge of his mouth. He nodded slightly. "He didn't survive...my conversion." I knew for a fact that that knowledge actually greatly bothered Teren, but he wasn't about to show a hint of weakness amongst this house of supernaturally strong creatures.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and smiled at Teren. "Well, I can't say I'm sorry about that."

Teren raised his eyebrows, looking like he'd just mentally assembled some puzzle pieces together in his head. "He must have come to California for you." Gabriel gave him a curious expression and Teren shook his head. "The hunter left journals. They actually helped lead us to vampires. I think your nest was referenced in them. I think he was here for you, but he made a pit stop, when he stumbled across me."

Gabriel stared at Teren for long moments. "Interesting. It would seem that our lives started entwining before today." He frowned and shook his head. "I am terribly sorry for what happened to the both of you." He nodded at Teren, solemnly. "Because of you, he can no longer use my creation to harm anyone else. You have my gratitude for that."

He looked down, regret filling his ancient eyes. "As you were a mixed that had not converted yet, I was going to come out to your ranch, to offer you the shot, if you were interested." He peeked up at a shocked Teren. "I was obviously...too late." He shrugged. "When I had the time to come visit with you, word got back to me that you'd already converted. I didn't think anything of the circumstances surrounding your conversion. I regretted that I'd lost the chance to study you, but I moved on to other prospects." He stood and extended a hand to Teren. "You have my deepest apologies that I was in any way involved in your...unfortunate situation."

Teren and I looked at each other. If Gabriel had offered Teren the shot, and it had worked on him, we would have had all the time in the world to conceive our children. Even now, Teren's heart could have been beating. I let that thought tumble through me, then tumble out of me. What-ifs were all well and good, but it hadn't happened like that, and Teren was what he was now, and we were fine with it. My hand idly rubbed my stomach. We'd even managed the conception part just fine. Now, we just needed to make it to the birthing part.

Gabriel turned and then started packing several vials into a leather briefcase. He filled another one and then handed them both to Jacen, who looked happy at finally having an important task to do. Starla sighed and started twirling empty vials on the counter. Gabriel grinned at his "daughter" and then indicated the vial still in Teren's hand. "I've provided enough to get her through the pregnancy. Give her 4cc a day, every day. Don't give her more than that, don't give her less, and don't miss a day. It has to be exact, for it to work."

Teren stared at the vial, then his hand clenched around it. "How will we know if it's going to work on her?"

Gabriel stared at the ground, before looking back up. "Unfortunately, some things from the first batch still carried over." Teren and I looked at each other confused. Gabriel sighed, then explained. "If it is not going to work on her, it will almost immediately awaken the dormant trait within the vampiric blood, and her heart will stop, much like yours did. But while your body took hours to die after your shot, on her newly-exposed-to-the-blood body, it will happen fast. If her heart does not give out within several minutes of the first dose...you'll know it works."

Teren's mouth dropped and he stared over at me. I felt my chest stop breathing as my face paled. So that was it, all or nothing.

Gabriel's voice snapped us out of our stupor. "I'm sorry there is not a gentler way. I'm assuming she's close to conversion? You seemed desperate to find me."

Teren nodded, still numbly staring at me. "We have no choice, I guess." His eyes watered and I nodded at him. Yes, we had no choice. My heart would give out if we did nothing. If there was a chance to prolong that until after the birth, to save the children, we had to take it.

Looking back at Gabriel, Teren whispered, "If it doesn't work, and she starts the conversion...will she finish it. Will she survive? Is my mixed blood enough to fully change her?"

Gabriel looked at Teren for long seconds. I thought I could see the debate in his eyes, maybe judging whether being honest with Teren, would drive him over the edge. Finally, and without ever removing his eyes from Teren, he spoke to Starla, spinning on the stool in her boredom. "Starla, please help Jacen load the vials into your car."

Starla straightened and pouted, her perfectly painted lips disgruntled. "My car? Do I have to drive them back, Father? They live so far away...and do have any idea how annoyingly lovey-dovey they are?"

Gabriel looked at her from the corner of his eye and I heard Jacen suppressing a laugh. Starla immediately looked down and replied with, "Yes, Father."

She and Jacen twisted to leave the room, Starla smacking him across the back as Jacen snorted once. "Shut it, Jace," she muttered as she opened the door to leave. The sounds of the house rushed back in on me, and I swear, somewhere in the house, I heard what sounded like a muffled cry.

Samuel also seemed to hear that. "Father, I should get back to...that other situation."

Gabriel looked over at Samuel, who was eyeing us cautiously. I wasn't quite sure what situation he was referring to. Maybe Jordan had found the culprit already. Gabriel nodded at Samuel. "Please, make sure the vampires stay back. Zane needs it, not them. He is the one completing his conversion tonight." Samuel nodded, and then left through the open door, closing it behind him.

Once again encased in silence, I forgot our original conversation, and curiously asked, "You have someone here, converting?" I turned back to Gabriel, stepping forward to grab Teren's hand.

Gabriel gave me a sideways glance, also looking cautious. He straightened, his eyes emotionally detached again. "Yes. He chose to let his human side die. He should be awakening at any moment actually." Gabriel looked through the walls of the home, to where the seemingly dead person was changing. "I should be there for that." When he looked back at us, his face switched back to concern for his "family". "I always try to be there, to help the new ones." His eyes shifted over to Teren, and I clenched Teren's hand tighter. "That first moment can be quite...terrifying."

"What will he eat," Teren asked smoothly.

My eyes widened as pieces of the conversation fell into place. Gabriel cocked his head at Teren, twisting his lips. "You are not the only one that has come across hunters." Gabriel sighed, coming over to stand in front of us. Sitting on the edge of a table, he crossed his arms over his chest. "We found one a few nights ago, trying to...remove, one of my children." A hard edge was in his voice and my face paled.

"He's here, alive?" A shiver went through me, remembering the muffled cry I'd heard.

Gabriel shifted his cool, green eyes to me and nodded. "For a little while longer."

Knowing I sounded hypocritical, I sputtered, "You can't just feed him to a vampire. That's murder."

Gabriel stood and walked over to me. Tilting his head, his ageless, attractive face said, "If you found a predator at your ranch, picking off your cattle, what would you do with it?"

I shook my head. "It's not the same..." My voice was small and weak, knowing I was sort of condemning him for something I'd actually done myself, at one point in my life.

Gabriel, not knowing that part of our story, shook his head. "To us, it is. The people here rely on me to protect them. I can't do that, if I let him live. He could spread the word, tell others where we are." Walking up to me, he ran a finger through my hair. Teren stiffened, but did nothing to stop this powerful man who had agreed to try to help us. "I'm sorry if you don't approve of our methods, but our survival depends on secrecy."

"You have full vampires. You could wipe him? Take everything?" I tried again. I wasn't sure why I was fighting for the human. Maybe to atone for my own sins, or maybe because I still saw myself as completely human and I was campaigning for my species. But honestly, the man had chosen his own fate, when he'd started a fight with these people.

Gabriel shook his head. "I have hungry mouths to feed." He shrugged his shoulders, dropping his hand from my hair. His eyes rested on my stomach. "I'm...killing two birds with one stone." He looked up at me, a slight grin on his face.

I swallowed at seeing it, not entirely comfortable with this situation. Teren finally took back the conversation. Pulling me slightly behind him, he quietly said, "What you do with hunters...is your own business. We won't interfere." He squeezed my hand after he said that, non-verbally telling me to drop this. I bit my lip, not wanting to drop it, but not wanting to upset the man who may have potentially saved the lives of my children.

I squeezed his hand back to let him know I'd be good, and he continued, "What will happen to Emma? Have you ever tried to change someone?"

Gabriel shook his head, walking over to another table, where closed vials of pure red blood waited. He lifted one and my eyes tracked the movement of the sloshing liquid inside. Even though I'd had a pick-me-up in Starla's car, staring at a clear vial of the stuff, amped up the vampire reaction in me.

Not able to help myself, I dropped Teren's hand and stepped forward, a low growl leaving my chest.

Gabriel paused from examining the container and peeked up at me. With a tiny smile he said, "She is close, isn't she?" His smile dropped as he looked over at Teren. "I wouldn't wait too long to give her that first dose." He cocked his head as I stopped moving, stopped breathing. "We could do it now, here?"

My breathing started again, faster, and my heart matched pace. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to possibly die. I twisted to look at Teren, pleading in my eyes. He swallowed, torn between wanting to help, and not wanting to accidentally kill me. His eyes not leaving mine, he whispered. "We'll wait." In a calmer voice, he narrowed his eyes at me and added, "We'll do it at home...with our family."

My heart and breath relaxed, and I nodded. Teren's head turned back to Gabriel, still thoughtfully holding a container of blood. "You still haven't answered my question." I could hear some of that impatience creep back into his voice, and I held my hand out to him, silently encouraging him to relax. He exhaled as his cool hand clenched mine. I nearly sighed with relief; his impatience had gotten us into enough trouble lately.

Gabriel smirked at Teren's restraint and then finally answered him. "I have not done it myself, but I have seen it done." He sighed and raised the vial of blood to his eye. "Some mixed try and turn their spouses, try to keep their loved ones for eternity."

"And?" Teren whispered, taking a step towards the man who had all our answers.

Gabriel lowered the vial and sighed again. "It almost always leads to their loved one's death." His ancient eyes lost their detachment and seemed genuinely sad. "I have held many a vampire, who inadvertently destroyed their mate." He held the vial up to Teren, holding the top and bottom with his fingers. Controlling myself, I fought back another growl trying to rise up in me. My body really wanted that stuff he was holding.

With a cocked eyebrow, he said, "It is so rare for a human to be able to accept our blood." He lowered the vial and smiled at me. "As I said before, it is a miracle that you are even alive, my dear. A mixed successfully turning someone is not common." His focus shifted from me to Teren. "Especially from your blood." Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him. "What generation are you? Third at least, correct?" Teren feebly nodded, looking stunned and still a little confused. Gabriel's eyes came back to mine, his beautiful face still shining. "You are very rare, indeed."

"So I keep hearing," I muttered, still not sure what my fate was.

Gabriel cocked his head at me, the scientific detachment coming back to his expression. Completely serious, he said, "I'd love to study you."

My eyes widened at that and Teren shifted his stance to slightly stand in front of me. With his brow furrowed, he ignored Gabriel's comment. "So, what happened to her doesn't happen to most. But...what did happen to her?"

Gabriel set the blood filled vial back down into a tray containing other, similar vials. He tilted his head at Teren. "Fascinating creatures, mixed vampires. Not quite human, not quite vampire, we exist almost as a species all our own." He raised an eyebrow at Teren. "If you are interested, I could explain to you the difference between what happens when a pureblood vampire changes someone - how their blood completely eradicates every human cell and takes over." Gabriel smiled warmly and extended his hand to indicate Teren's body. "I could explain to you how a mixed vampire's blood works in a completely different way - bonding with any human cells left in the body, working in conjunction with whatever trace amounts of human genes are left."

He continued smiling, as I stared at him with what had to be a blank expression, my hormonal brain busy absorbing the distinction between the two seemingly similar species. Teren nodded, looking interested, but also impatient; more than a vampire biology lesson, he wanted to know my fate.

Gabriel's emerald eyes still on mine, he said in that scientific voice, "I could go into an intricate amount of detail on how mixed blood needs the perfect balance of human blood left behind to work properly." He raised his hand and indicated a small amount with his finger and thumb. "Too little left leaves it with nothing to attach to, and too much," he opened his fingers and splayed his hands wide, "dilutes it to a point where the vampirism is ineffectual, and does nothing." He swished his fingers, miming nothingness.

While Teren looked like he was replaying the night of my attack, mentally recalling how much blood had been left in me, Gabriel shifted his stance, crossing his arms over his chest. Looking like a teacher tutoring a couple of students after class, he continued, since we hadn't interrupted. "I could explain all of this and so much more. How intricate and fascinating the fine line is for mixed turnings. As I already mentioned, how rare it is that a human has the genetic disposition to even accept the foreign blood entering it." He nodded his head at me, indicating my body, "It's like having to be the ultimate universal receiver." His hand flashed out from his chest to indicate Teren again. "How the chances are better, the closer to pure the mixed is, with the third generations being about the last that can do it, and even then, rarely."

His voice took on a look of wonder as he gestured in the air with that hand. "Like a masterful, complicated surgery, the act of a mixed vampire successfully changing over a human...is full of the potential for disaster. And usually is." He shrugged.

I tilted my head, feeling like I was back in human anatomy, only now all the rules were suddenly changed. Gabriel smiled at Teren and me, his captivated students, and continued. "I could explain all of that in excruciating detail...but..." He glanced at me. I could tell my brows were drawn into sharp points. This was a lot for my already strained pregnancy brain to try and take in all at once. He smiled wider. "I wouldn't want to confuse you anymore today, than you probably already are."

He crossed both arms over his chest again, looking elegant and undeniably intelligent. "Just know that a mixed turning creates what could easily be classified as another mixed. When a list of specific conditions are met, the new, nearly symbiotic blood, keeps the human body alive. That human then, for as much as you need to concern yourself with, becomes a near carbon copy of the mixed that created it."

I nodded, finally feeling like I was understanding some of it. It usually doesn't work...got it. When it does, a mixed creates another mixed...got it. Gabriel smiled at my comprehension, then frowned. "But, exactly like a mixed born into the world, the human side will wear down from the strain." He frowned further as his eyes turned sympathetic. "However, unlike born mixed, this will happen much, much faster for you. A pure human just hasn't had a lifetime to be conditioned to the strain, like a vampire born into it. As a result, their body wears out, and that dormant trait awakens, within a few months."

He sighed and shook his head, his gaze redirecting to Teren. "To my knowledge, most convert within a month or two of the initial blood transfer. I've yet to hear of one making it to three."

I paled at that, mentally calculating how much time had gone by since Teren had given me his blood. It had been awhile. I'd been secretly hoping that my stopwatch had started that night, and that my body could handle the strain for a full twenty-six years. But it would seem that Teren was closer to the truth, and my birthday was really my end game, since it was pretty close to two months after the attack. And he'd said "maybe". I guess I was pretty lucky that my heart was even still beating. Hoping that I'd make it to three months was probably pushing the limits of my "rareness".

Gabriel looked over my pallor and smiled warmly. Twisting back to Teren, he shrugged and said, "But, to answer your original question, if she has made it this far, I see no problems with your blood being enough to complete her conversion process."

Teren slumped down as relief washed over him. I could smell the fear evaporate as he covered his face with his hands. I watched his body vibrate and knew he was struggling to not break out in sobs. I smiled, my own relief filling me. It was like a shot of cold water to the face, suddenly believing that I may actually make it through this. I placed a hand on Teren's back and he instantly turned to sweep me into his arms. He grabbed my face and rested our heads together. Tears dripped off my cheeks as I watched his fill to the brim. "You're going to live, Emma."

The anxiety leaving my body came out in a nervous laugh. "Once I die," I added to his comment.

His anxiety left his body in small chuckles, and he leaned in to kiss me repeatedly.