VA 2 - Blood Jewel Read Online Free Page A

and all.”
    He wove his fingers together and
placed them on top of his desk. “Allow me to give you forewarning.
If she is anything like my Ella, she will be persistent in her
pursuit for you to change her. She won’t be afraid to use her power
of persuasion on you. And by her power of persuasion, I mean she
will use your newfound sexual desire to her advantage.”
    I wasn’t opposed to that kind of
scheming on her part. It sounded like fun to me.
    I drifted back from thinking about
how Chansey would use her power of persuasion over me and heard
Sebastian continue, “I know you have your reasons and I support
your decision completely. I think it is a fine idea to let Chansey
see what vampirism is all about before she becomes one of
us.”
    “You mean if she becomes one of
us,” I corrected. “Have you considered the possibility that it
could be too much for her?”
    He shook his head at me. “No, I
haven’t and I highly doubt she has either. In fact, I believe you
are probably in that category by yourself. Gia and Lairah would do
it tonight if you’d allow it.”
    Although I might not have one
family member on my side, I had one weapon in my corner-Chansey’s
lack of knowledge. “She doesn’t know how bad the transformation
is.”
    “Don’t you think you should warn
her?” Sebastian questioned.
    “My goal isn’t to make it easy or
comfortable for her. I want her to see it for the hell it is so
there is no misconception about the process,” I
explained.
    “She is going to be terrified if
you don’t prepare her,” he warned.
    “Good. That’s what I’m counting on
and the way I want it,” I openly confessed, but only because we
were in a soundproof room, out of hearing range of the
others.

2
The Power of Persuasion
    Gia and Lairah forewent going to
bed as the sun rose as they held Chansey hostage for several hours
discussing wedding plans. I wanted some time with her that didn’t
include my family’s eavesdropping. The sun was high in the sky and
I took this opportunity to ensure we would be alone.
    “Would you take a walk on the
grounds with me? I’d love to show you the rest of the
property.”
    “Sure, I’d love to see it,” she
happily accepted.
    I tucked a blanket under my arm
before we walked outside and I took her hand in mine, as we started
our journey on the compound’s property. She wore a short, slightly
gothic, black baby doll dress. Her apparel told me it was Gia’s day
to dress her and despite her dark apparel, she was the brightest
light in my life.
    “It feels like we’re in the middle
of nowhere,” she said as we strolled toward a forest of trees
behind the house.
    “We sort of are because the house
is in the middle of about 5,000 acres. As you can imagine, we don’t
need curious neighbors,” I explained.
    “There’s no chance of that,” she
agreed.
    “We wanted to be close to New
Orleans without being in the middle of it, so we were quite pleased
when we found this place for sale. It was built by a manquadroon
for his legitimate family.”
    She wrinkled her brow in confusion
and laughed, “A man-qua what?”
    “A manquadroon. He would have been
a french creole man that took a light-skinned, free woman of color
as his mistress. He would set her up in a home and have children
with her before he married a French woman. The family he raised
with his wife was referred to as his legitimate family.”
    I saw the outrage on her face as
she said, “That’s a terrible thing to do.”
    “Terrible or not, that’s the way
it was. Most of the daughters born to a manquadroon and his
mistress were raised to be the next generation of mistresses for
Creole men, while the sons were often sent to Paris to be
educated.”
    “How could a mother raise her
daughter to become a mistress?” she asked with disgust on her
face.
    “It was the only life they knew,”
I explained.
    “My father’s family is French
Creole from New Orleans,” she whispered. She shook with a rigor.
“Can