Madison looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"
Cory stood up and paced the floor. She needed to know about his father, and there was no turning back. "Maddie, my dad is a warrior and the descendent of royal blood. He’s known as the warrior's warrior. His father was a king, as well as a warrior and began a camp for young vampires in Florence. They would train other vampire warriors to protect the Medici coven. When Shade became king after his father was killed, he built this empire, and his reputation, on training warriors. There is a distinct hierarchy in the vampire community, and you’re born into your role. So, just as my dad was born a warrior, so will Lorenzo be a warrior.
“Dad has acquired territory all over the world, and once he met Kate, he began expanding his territory here in the United States. Right now, on this property, there’s a huge warrior camp where he trains young vampires to be deadly warriors. Medici warriors are known all over the world as the best. He supplies warriors to other masters who are allies to the Medici coven, as well as warriors to protect our own.
“Luca is a warrior. It’s a job, and you get promoted like any other job. Luca is assigned as protector to Kate and to any children she and Shade have. I actually work for my dad, making custom leathers and weapon holders for all his warriors. That’s why I couldn’t show you my shop. It sits in the middle of the damn camp. Shannon and my biological mom are the only mortals who’ve ever been inside the walls of the camp.
“My dad is the Master of Virginia, he rules all the vampires in this state. He’s also Master of California, where Kate has an inn. And yes, everywhere you go, there are warriors. Just about everyone you meet here, besides the house servants, are warriors."
Madison pulled her knees to her chest and watched him, as he paced and talked. "So, those...vampires, those people I saw coming out of his office, the ones dressed all in leather, they were some of his warriors?"
Cory nodded without looking at her. "Yeah. Those were some of his top warriors. Right now, he’s protecting the Master of D.C.'s territory. So, we need a lot of warriors who go out at night and take care of bad vampires."
He scratched his head, wondering how best to help her understand. "Let me explain. There are such things as rogue vampires. A rogue vampire is one who’s broken away from his coven, who refuses to submit to his master. They’ll feed indiscriminately on mortals, draining them, leaving their bodies behind. They risk exposing the rest of us. My dad provides warriors to other masters to combat the rogues, or in the case of the Master of D.C., he’s hired to constantly survey and get rid of the rogues. The warriors will do whatever they must to protect their territory from being taken over by other vampires looking for a land grab. My dad and his warriors don’t kill innocent people. Please understand that. A rogue vampire is someone gone bad. This must sound like some Halloween horror movie to you."
Madison listened to his explanation of bad vampires, warriors and killing. This didn’t fit the picture she saw of the people in this house, but then, the memory of his father with glowing eyes and fangs flashed through her head, and she had no doubt he could kill. "I think I'd like a little more wine, please."
Cory quickly grabbed the corkscrew and opened the bottle, pouring her a glass of white wine. A half opened bottle of Midnight sat on the coffee table and he poured himself one. He crouched in front of her, laying his hands on her thighs, looking up at her through his long dark hair. "Maddie, please don’t be afraid of me, or of anyone here. I’m not a warrior. As a half-breed, I don’t have the same strength or agility. And you’re in the safest place you could ever be in this house with all of us. No one would ever harm you here. You just startled my dad, he wasn’t expecting to see you standing there and that was my fault. I should have never let you go anywhere alone in the house. All of this is my fault."
She could feel his desperation, his need to have her understand and accept him. She took the glass he offered and took a gulp of the wine, feeling it calm her nerves. "I'm not afraid. I'm really not. I can feel your father's intention, and Kate, she’s so kind. It's not an act. I don't feel like I'm being duped or anything, Cory. It just takes some...processing. So, this immortal thing, how does that work? In the books, vampires live, well, forever. So, how old is your dad?"
Her words gave Cory hope. Most girls would be running for the hills by now. Flopping back down on the couch, he smiled over at her. "Vampires of full blood live for centuries, they age but extremely slowly. My dad is about 500 years old in human years. But he looks like he might be late 30’s. I’m different. Because I’m a half-breed, I’ll live longer than normal humans. There aren’t many of us, so it’s hard to say how long I’ll live, but 120 to 150 is about it for me. If we’re together, and I’m hoping after all of this we still are because that’s what I really want, you’ll die before me. I can’t turn you. You won’t become a vampire. You won’t have fangs. You and I can live like normal people, for the most part. Work and have lives like everyone else."
She looked at him quizzically as she absorbed the information that his father was 500 years old. "So, how old are you then?"
"I’m twenty-three." Cory grinned and pulled on the shoestring of his sneakers, as he crossed his leg over his knee. "Yeah, I’m not going to look like my dad when I’m fifty. Sorry about that, but I’ll look younger than you once we start to get older, does that bother you?"
Madison smiled back at him and shook her head. "Not unless you have a mid-life crisis and start chasing after younger girls. Is it going to bother you that I look older?"
Cory played with his shoestrings. “I don’t chase girls, Maddie, just you. I have you, and I’m not letting you go unless you want to go. And nothing about age or looks will ever matter to me when it comes to us. I love you because of your heart and who you are. You’re beautiful and you always will be to me."
Madison accepted the compliment and kissed his cheek.
Cory laid his head back on the cushions of the sofa and sighed. “They kept telling me, as a vampire, I’d know when I meet my mate, and they were right, because I knew when I met you that you were the one. Kate had a lot of trouble adapting in the beginning too. She had trouble accepting the female warriors, and the feeders."
Madison took another sip of the wine. "The what? What's a feeder?"
Cory closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. "Yeah, feeders. Okay, let me see if I can explain this so it makes sense to you."
He poured more Midnight and sipped at it while he tried to formulate a response that would make sense to her. "Vampires need to feed on blood. Now, we can hunt, which means, basically, we can go out and mingle with humans and use skills to sort of trick them, seduce them, so to speak, so they don’t know we’re going to feed from them. You saw a little bit of this with my dad. He used his power with his eyes to hold you, immobilize you, like stunning you. We also can use shadowing, which allows a vampire to cloak themselves from the view of humans. But most importantly, we use seduction, and if the mortal isn’t willing, we don’t force them. The experience of feeding will be very pleasurable for both the mortal and the vampire. The feeding is very sexual, and the mortal won’t be hurt by the experience. Once the vampire feeds, they’ll wipe the mortal’s memory. The mortal will remember some of the encounter, just not all the details.