Explinations

Stares followed Beth, Mick, Adriana and Josef as they crossed the room. A guard opened a door and let them pass into a private room. Once in the room—with the door shut behind them— Mick stammered, "How…you were…but now you're..."

Adriana raised her hand to stop him; "I know you have many questions, so let's take them one at a time."

Mick continued to mouth wordlessly. Beth looked around more confused than she had been before.

It was Josef who finally asked, "Are you a human or a vampire?"

"Human." Adriana replied. Mick started to speak, but she continued over him, "And vampire. I am the closest thing to a half-breed there is." Now Josef stared with Mick in disbelief.

Beth raised her voices and shakily asked, "W-what does that mean?"

"It means I am neither human nor vampire. I was born… not turned. But both of my parents were vampires."

"Vampires can't sire children." Josef said quickly. He murmured to himself, under his breath, "Shit." Mick quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Well no… technically they can't," Adriana admitted—Josef breathed a sigh of relief and slipped his Blackberry back into his pocket discreetly— "But my parents had special circumstances. My father was turned by his employer. He turned feral and attacked his sire's daughter."

"Daughter? How did the sire have a daughter?" Beth asked.

"Actually it was his fourteenth great granddaughter. He had been protecting his mortal line since he was turned. She was the last of his decedents."

"Okay, but they were mortal, not vampire." Josef pointed out.

"Yes. My father attacked his sire's daughter, my mother, sexually. This is when I was conceived."

"But he was a vampire…" Josef trailed off.

"Yes, but a newly turned vampire." Josef looked quizzically at her, "It is like when a man has a vasectomy, he is still potent for a while after the operation." Adriana could see realization dawning in Josef and Mick's eyes. "After he raped her, her started to drain her. Luckily, his sire came in and pulled him off of her, killing him."

"But…why?" Beth asked.

"She was his sire's last remaining mortal descendent. He had hoped that she would continue his blood line."

"Didn't you say she was your mother? So didn't she continue his blood line?" Mick asked.

"Yes. She was my mother. The loss of blood was enormous, she was hospitalized."

"Why didn't he turn her?" Josef puzzled.

"Because he wanted to continue his line!" Adriana shouted. She regained her calm and continued, "She was hospitalized for months, the doctors had little hope of her recovery, but her father didn't want to believe it, all the while I was developing in her womb. Finally the doctors convinced her father to take her off life support. Her father turned her as a last resort, he didn't want to kill her, but there was no way for her to live." Adriana looked up from the couch cushion she had been absently playing with.

"She was dead? How did she stay pregnant?" Mick asked.

"As her father was finishing the job, he realized that she was pregnant."

"How-" Beth started to ask.

"You have a blood test to see if your pregnant, right?" Beth nodded, "Well vampires, can taste it in the blood." Beth eyes widened in understanding. "He immediately staked her."

"WHAT," Beth and Mick exclaimed.

"He staked her… to paralyze her…so that she couldn't move." Adriana tried to explain. "He put her back on life support, feeding her blood through an IV drip. She lived like that for the next six months… until I was born."

"What happened to her?" Josef asked quietly, a hint of concern in his voice.

"She died," Adriana stated dryly. "Childbirth is not an easy thing and that kind of pain makes vampires feral. She went crazy when she went into labor and her father killed her to keep her from killing me. He raised me as his own."

Mick sensed her lack of emotion was her own protection from a complete mental breakdown. It must be hard to be raised by the man who killed both your mother and father… and he was a vampire no less.

"Wow," Beth muttered as Adriana finished her story.

"Yeah," Adriana nodded in agreement. "So, now I am here…I am human, but I have vampire traits, like incredible fast healing, great night vision, fast reflexes, vampire charm and allure, extraordinary strength, allergies to silver, and other things…"

"What about daylight? And food?" Josef asked quizzically.

"I eat, but I have a taste for blood. Blutwursts are my favorite food. As for daylight, it doesn't hurt me like a vampire, but due to the lack of melanin in my skin I burn very easily.

"Okay…but what happened out there?" Mick finally asked.

Adriana smiled and looked down sheepishly, "I have a few…non-vampire traits too." Everyone stared at her. "I have this ability…it comes from my time in my vampire mother's womb. Her body was feeding off my blood, which wasn't a problem because I heal so fast, it was like it was never gone…"

"You mean-" Josef's eyes lit up with delight, but Mick cut him off. He wanted to hear Adriana's explanation.

Adriana nodded to Josef and continued, "As an embryo I feed off of her… a vampire, and well… I can… actually, need, to feed off vampires." She looked at Mick who was totally taken aback.

"So you drink vampire blood?" Beth asked.

'No…more like their essence, there power…their life-force. The vamp in the club, I drained him." Josef and Mick simultaneously stepped back from Adriana.

"Oh don't worry, I don't do that often, usually human food is enough to sustain me. I just drain dangerous vamps, it keeps me young…it makes me immortal..."