Descent Ch 1
Ch 1 You Scream, “Madness,” I Call back, “Purity!”
If anyone would have told me that I would meet my soulmate in an elevator, I would have laughed in their face. Me, a pureblood, but not just any pureblood. No, not just any. I’m from one of the three ancient families. I’m from the family known as the, “Purest of the Pure”, and for me to meet my forever in a mundane place such as an elevator? I’d scoff in that person’s face and walk away. But alas, fate has a strange way of sending even the most grounded of a person for a tailspin, and spin I did, round and round until the world changed right before my very eyes. But, truly, it wasn’t really the world that changed. No, the world though in constant flux couldn’t hold a candle to the pace at which I changed or rather at the pace at which my soulmate changed me. They told me I would rule one day, they told me everyone was beneath me, they told me to freeze my heart in a wall of ice so no one could control me, but they had obviously never met Mercer. She was the heat that melted me into a puddle at her feet and if you want to know the truth? I enjoyed every minute of it. One day I would rule, but I would do it with the heart of a leader and not the chill of an executioner. My name is Weiz White. I am from one of the three families. The purest at that. And I can honestly say, not even I know what fate has in store for me and honestly, I don’t really care. I’ll handle whatever is thrown at me so long as Mercer is by my side as ice is known to thaw in the presence of the sun.
“Lady White, we have arrived,” the driver called, pulling Weiz from her musings and her gaze away from the window of the limousine. She sighed as he climbed out and after only a few seconds, her door opened letting in the winter’s chill. She would have shivered if she were anyone but who she was. But, her blood had filled her veins with ice the moment she breathed her first breath and from that day forward winter had filled her body and the cold was a constant companion. She nodded at the driver absently. His name was James and he had been serving her family for decades. He was trustworthy, which was why her father assigned him to be her personal driver. The times were changing, and even she felt like she didn’t know who she could trust anymore. For beings that lived as long as they breathed, trust was sometimes the only currency of any true value and her pool of trustworthy friends was getting smaller as her enemies gained in numbers.
Her heels clacked against black ice, yet her balance was uninterrupted as she made her way up the stairs of White Tower. In a way, it was her father’s throne and he had promised it to her once she came of age. After all, she was now the heiress since her older sister had relinquished the title. Weiz sighed as she pushed through the lobby doors. Where one would have expected the heat to engulf them upon entry they would have been sadly disappointed as the building was nearly as cold as the temperature outside. She strutted past the security guards who welcomed her as she made her way to the elevator.
A man many years her senior pushed the button as soon as he saw her enter the building so by the time she reached him the bell dinged and after a stiff nod in his direction, she climbed on only to pause mid-step. A girl, who couldn’t be much younger than she was, met her eyes and Weiz gasped.
The girl smiled lightly and made to move around her. A sudden panic gripped Weiz’s heart and without a second thought, she reached out and grabbed the girl’s hand pulling her back onto the elevator as she simultaneously pushed the button for the doors to close and the button for the topmost floor. The girl squeaked after being manhandled, probably surprised at Weiz’s strength and turned around only to meet glowing powder blue eyes. She gasped, her mouth hanging open and her breath fanning over Weiz’s face smelling of sunshine and warmth. Weiz growled and pushed her up against the wall.
“Hey!”
“Who are you?” Weiz whispered in her ear and the girl shuddered.
“Let me go!”
Weiz had the girl’s hands trapped above her head by one of her own leaving the other to rest against her waist. She pushed into the girl’s body and a sudden warmth engulfed her. Weiz moaned at the heat as she rested her head on the girl’s shoulder.
“Please,” she begged. What the hell was wrong with her! She couldn’t think straight. All she knew was that she needed to get as close to this woman as she possibly could and getting her name was the first step towards that. Weiz White, an heiress to one of the richest men on Kain, didn’t beg. And yet here she was. begging for this strangers name.
“Um, could you let me go?”
“No,” Weiz mumbled as she trailed her nose along the girl’s throat up to her jaw breathing in the scent of roses. “What’s your name?”
“Hey, lady, I will tell you my name once you get off of me.”
Weiz pushed herself closer, the thought of being separated suddenly a sentence worse than death. She nipped lightly at the girl’s jaw, a punishment for even suggesting such an awful thing, and the girl gasped.
“Name?” Weiz lazily traced her nose back down to her pulse point and nuzzled her there.
The answer left the girl in a breathy sigh almost as if it was against her will, “Mercer.”
“Mercer,” Weiz was shocked at the husky quality of her voice, a cross between a growl and a moan. She’d never heard her voice so…seductive. She didn’t even know she knew how to seduce and yet her she was seducing! “I like that name. Rolls off the tongue,” as she said this her tongue snaked out to taste the skin at Mercer’s pulse point which was jumping beneath her skin. Weiz moaned, she tasted sweet and salty, like saltwater taffy. Weiz loved taffy.
Mercer jerked slightly at the touch but Weiz moved to match her movements to keep her pinned. “L-let go, ah!”
Weiz sucked the spot and suddenly, Mercer body released a smoldering heat along with one of the most amazing smells Weiz had ever been subjected to. Her body began to hum at the musky scent and she pushed herself between Mercer’s leg which easily allowed her entry. When her stomach met the heat between them she sucked in a raspy breath as Mercer moaned.
“God Mercer, what are you doing to me?” She whispered as her fangs dropped without her consent. She wanted the girl. Not only did she want her in her bed, with her legs wrapped around her panting her name, but she wanted her blood to fill her veins. Her abs clenched as she felt the woman’s heat and need stain through her underwear and through her dress to warm her belly. Weiz couldn’t stop as she rocked forward and pushed up Mercer’s skirt to feel more of her wetness touch her. She was so wet for her.
Weiz’s mind was hazy as she rocked forward once again and she growled at the breathy gasp Mercer released. Weiz could feel her inner beast taking over as she teased the flesh of Mercer’s neck with her fangs.
Weiz pushed Mercer’s skirt up further and cupped her butt cheek in her hand. Mercer wrapped her leg around her waist as Weiz rolled hard into her warmth making her cry out. She needed to get closer. She wanted to consume Mercer in every way possible and she wanted the world to know that Mercer was her’s so no one would try and take her away. She paused in her nuzzling and placed the tips of her fangs around Mercer’s throbbing pulse point. Her tongue rolled over the sweet flesh before her fangs began to sink in —
“Holy sh — I’m sorry, I’ll take the — ” the man didn’t even get to finish his sentence before he was slammed against the far wall outside of the elevator with Weiz’s fangs an inch from his face. Her powder blue eyes were glowing in harassed anger as she seethed at him. How dare he interrupt her? She should kill him!
“Please, Lady White! Don’t kill me!”
“Weiz?”
She glanced up at her father’s soothing voice but her glare didn’t lessen. He realized that she didn’t recognize him as he took slow steps towards her. She growled lowly in her chest in a warning.
“Weiz, I’m your father. Are you okay?”
Her glare lost some of its bite as she studied him. She was interrupted yet again when the elevator dinged and Mercer disappeared behind the closing doors. Her beast roared inside her head as she leaped but she wasn’t fast enough as the doors closed taking her mate away. Just as she was about to rip the doors open strong hands wrapped around her wrists and she was dragged back kicking and growling, legs flailing as the arms pulled her into a hard chest locking her in place.
“Weiz! Weiz! Come back to me, sweetheart! Don’t let the beast control you. Calm down!” Her father’s steady voice called to her but all she could process was that the tin contraption had taken her mate from her!
Suddenly, her head jerked to the side and her eyes came back into focus. She shook her head as she turned forward to see the worried face of her mother.
“Weiz?” She asked hesitantly.
“Mom?”
“Oh, thank god!” Her father released her and she stumbled into her mother’s arms.
“We thought we lost you,” her mother whispered against her head and she shuddered when she realized what had happened. There was only one sickness that could truly kill a pureblood and it was referred to simply as madness. It was when a vampire’s beast fully consumed them. For some reason, it only occurred among purebloods but when it happened there was no cure. It could happen at any age and at any time and the only cure was death by beheading.
Weiz’s mother pulled back and was happy to see that her daughter’s eyes were no longer glowing. “Weiz, honey, what happened?”
Weiz looked back towards the elevator only to release a sharp keening sound like a wounded animal as she tried to get past her mother. “She’s gone! I have to find her.”
“Weiz!”
She turned back to the concerned face of her mother only then realizing that she had almost succumbed to her beast again. She violently shook her head. “What’s wrong with me?”
She saw her mother glance at her father before looking back at her. “Who was on the elevator with you?”
Weiz had to think for a moment as the memories were scattered but she pulled a name from the jumble of words, “Mercer. Mom, I have to find her!”
“Mercer?”
Weiz bristled when another woman said her mate’s name, “She’s mine!”
Her mother looked surprised for a moment before her face settled into a look of understanding, “I know honey. I need you to calm down. Don’t let the beast control you, Weiz. You’re not an animal.”
She took a deep steadying breath and nodded her head. All this time her father had been holding her still in his vice-like grip and she only realized that he had been keeping her from running away once he released her. Her shoulders sagged before tears suddenly trailed down her cheeks. “What’s wrong with me, mom?”
“Oh Weiz, nothing is wrong with you! You’ve just found someone that’s going to be very special to you. I need you to come with us so we can explain some things to you.”
Her mother pulled her towards the office but her feet seemed to want to go in the opposite direction, towards the elevator.
“Weiz, you need to control yourself. We need to tell you something before we let you go.”
Weiz nodded and pulled at her beast shoving it back into her mental cage. When she opened her eyes again it had only felt like a few seconds but as she walked into her father’s office and glanced at the clock on his desk she realized it had taken her at least an hour or more to fight her inner demon. This scared her more than she’d like to admit. She took the seat in the leather chair next to her mother and stared down at her hands which she couldn’t seem to stop twisting nervously in her lap. She heard a sigh to her left then her mother’s hand covered her own drawing her gaze back up to her parents. Her father cleared his throat.
“Weiz, what do you know about mates?”
She frowned. “Soulmates? I know every vampire has one.”
He nodded then sighed. “Your mother and I should have had this conversation with you when you turned eighteen but we thought we would have more time. It seems fate has other plans for you. Most vampires take decades or even centuries before they find their soulmate. You’ve been dealt a hand that can either been seen as incredibly lucky or viciously horrible.”
“Weiz.”
Weiz turned back to her father only to realize that she had been looking at the door and towards the elevator. She sighed. “Sorry.”
Her mother’s hand tightened around her own before her father continued.
“You’ve found your soulmate, Weiz.”
She nodded. “Why is that unlucky?” she whispered.
Her father nodded. “Usually it’s been seen as the former but in the rare case that a vampire finds their soulmate before they come of age, well, things are a bit messier.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because as an immature vampire you don’t have to same control over your inner beat. And what happened a moment ago is how it ends up. Had we not managed to bring you back, Weiz, the madness could have taken you.” His voice lost some of its volume towards his admission and she couldn’t help the shudder that ran through her.
“What do I do then? I-I can’t stop this! It feels like I’ve been split in two! I know where she is, right now I can tell that she’s getting farther and farther from me this very moment and I feel like I need to go to her. I need to find her and make her mine!”
“Honey, calm down.” Her mother’s voice grounded her and she realized that hysteria had been creeping into her voice. She shook her head.
Her father spoke, “As purebloods, our inner demon is stronger than most. As such, when we meet our mates we react more violently than a normal vampire. Our need to claim is stronger and until we do so we won’t stop. This is what leads to our beasts gaining control easily.”
“So once I claim her this feeling will go away?” Weiz couldn’t keep the hope from her voice.
Her mother and father shared a look before her father met her gaze. “Yes and no.”
She frowned.
“Yes, once you claim her things will work out eventually. But, no the feeling of claim will never truly leave. You’ll just eventually learn to control it. This would be a much simpler task if you were of age.”
“What do you mean by eventually?”
Her mother answered when her father blushed slightly. “Well, honey, when a vampire meets their soulmate they usually go on, I guess you could call it, a honeymoon of sorts.”
“A honeymoon?”
Her mother nodded happily. “They can’t be separated for any long periods of time and share blood back and forth while having lots and lots of sex, to put it simply.”
If it was at all possible, Weiz’s already pale complexion lost whatever color she had managed to gain back. “Lot-”
“And lots,” her mother finished.
“But I don’t even know her!”
Her mother’s smile widened. “You will by the end of it all.”
“Mom!”
Her mother chuckled before her father cleared his throat. “All joking aside. Weiz, this is a very dangerous situation. Mercer-”
She growled deep within her chest and clenched her eyes. “Sorry. Just don’t say her name. It’s mine. Whatever that means?”
He nodded. “That girl is human. A hunter at that. She came here to report to me some of her findings on her latest hunt. She doesn’t stay in one place too long and I’m not sure how much she knows about purebloods as we try to keep things about us secret. She’s sharper than most but I’m not sure how informed she is. She may not even have known that you are a pureblood and just passed you off as being a really horny vampire that accosted her in an elevator.”
“What do I do then?”
“First you would have to mark her. Then turn her into a vampire. Only then could she be your equal. Otherwise, you might accidentally kill her during the mating process. The problem is if she refuses you.”
“Refuses me?” Weiz couldn’t stop the whine that left her. Her mother nodded. “She’s human, Weiz. She might not want to become a vampire but your instincts will demand that you make her into one. You might not be able to fight them and that would drive you inner beat crazy and it may bring on the madness if you can’t properly mate to her. But if you force this life on her she might hate you forever and that could also bring on the madness. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Weiz nodded but her face was the picture of tragedy. “I need her,” she whispered, “so I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Her mother gave her a sad smile, “I know you will honey. We will help you in whatever way we can.”
“So what can I do now? If I go to her now, I’m not sure I could control myself but if I don’t go to her now, I’m not sure I can stay sane.”
“We will go with you,” her father answered calmly.She nodded then stood. “Then let’s go. I’m not sure how long I can sit here before I lose it.”
Her parents stood and followed her out.
