The Dark Gifts Birthright by Willow Cross Read Free Book Online

to be or take anything she wanted. As the
darkness inside her once again reared, Liz shut it down. I will
be me. Just me and no one else.
    Michael could see that Liz had come to a
breaking point. He did not need to read her mind to understand the
look on her face. “Look, let’s just focus on what is ahead this
evening. We have a long night before us and we need to get going.
The Council will meet at midnight and we have several hundred miles
to go.”
    “I’m scared,” she whispered.
    Michael reached out and took her hand. He
held it with an almost reverent gentleness, but the sensation of
muted raw power radiated from his touch. Once again, her body
jumped into overdrive.
    “I know you are, but if you’ll allow me, I
can explain things easier and faster in your mind than I can
vocally. We have to get going if we are to get there in time.”
    The old shed behind the cabin doubled as a
garage for Michael’s car. It didn’t really look like much, just an
old beat up Nova. At one time it might have been orange with black
racing stripes up the hood, but the paint was so weathered it was
hard to be sure. It was fast, too fast.
    In her current stressed state, she found it
hard to concentrate. The images appeared fuzzy and unclear.
Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes, leaned back against the
leather seat, and relaxed. The fuzz smoothed into vivid pictures
that flashed through her mind. The sounds and smells that
accompanied them eerily made it seem like she was there.
    There were too many young ones running wild
and wreaking havoc on the rest of the world, and several old ones
who refused to be bothered with secrecy, or the sanctity of human
lives. The Great Plague had nothing to do with rats, but an
overabundance of hungry young vampires. The many ships that lost
entire crews to scurvy were another vamp problem. The Salem Witch
Hunts began because of vampires. Liz quickly discovered that
vampires were most assuredly the monsters legends claimed them to
be.
    “Wait. Stop. You're going too fast.” Liz said
as she rubbed her temples.
    “There's a lot to tell and not much
time.”
    She shook her head. “You'll have to make
time. Witch hunts? Scurvy? How am I supposed to process this junk?
I mean seriously, we're talking the dark ages here.”
    Eyes focused on the road, Michael answered,
“Yes, we are talking dark ages and beyond. You need to focus. Empty
your mind. Allow the visions to flow into you.”
    “But this can't be real. I mean...it just
can't. How did your people manage to keep this a secret for so
long?” Liz moved her hands across her denim clad legs, nervously
picking lint and debris from the fibers.
    He thought a moment before answering,
“Mortals, back then, did not believe vampires were myth. Stories
handed down over the centuries, eventually became published. In
some places, they were considered a matter of public record. Then
the extermination began. Tired of constantly being hunted by humans
and moving from their nests, the oldest and strongest of the
remaining vampires came together to form the Council.
    “As the Council gained control, the others
either joined them or were destroyed. The Council made no
concessions; the law was written in stone. The foremost of these
rules was keeping the secret. Every other law was built on that
primary law. For the first time in history, peace replaced chaos,
and vampires lived in anonymity.”
    “That’s pretty vague.”
    Raising an eyebrow, he glanced at her. “The
dead don't tell stories, Liz. Any who are defiant enough to prove
our existence to mortals, is put to death. And any mortal having
definite proof...”
    Turning away, Liz gazed out the window. “So
you just murdered anyone who knew you were real. Wow. Some Council
you have there. I can see how that's so much better than the
previous situation.”
    Michael sighed. “You need to try to
understand. In the modern world they call it collateral damage. And
there weren't all that many who died