◆ The Purebloods Of Umbria ◆

◇ KEL ◇

He must be thinking it was a sick joke.  An elaborate prank.  Or perhaps he thought I was gradually going insane?  And delusional.  Making up ludicrous stories that had festered in my head.

Yet he didn't laugh at the things I'd said.  Not even once.  Enzo didn't even crack a grin.

The look on his face when I mentioned "vampirars" and "dhampiricas" only varied between a deep scowl and a skeptical squint.  He sat still beside me as I recounted everything I witnessed in Umbria.

When I explained how I found out the Falcos supposedly became cursed with a genetic disease, he only stared at me,  as if words were too difficult to muster up.  "I know. I know how it sounds.  But, it happened." I sighed.  "And whenever I have questions, I call up Cloe.  Or I ask Miles sometimes."

"They're all...vampires?" Enzo's lips compressed into another frown.

Darn it.  How should I explain this part without sounding laughable or mentally deranged?

"Ricchar and Cloe said so." I smothered a sigh with my palm and inched closer to him.  We sat on the loveseat now, totally alone, the spacious living room as quiet as the rest of the house.  "Most people would use that term. But, I think it's much more interesting than what you usually think of them."

"And you just...  You believe all of it?" Enzo pulled back as he tried not to scowl again.  Apprehension and bemusement muted his deep voice, his heedful gaze never leaving my face.

Believe?  Well, I did see them drinking fresh blood with my own eyes...back in the estate when I first met Ricchar and Cloe.  I also saw how the disease slowly consumed Miles, pushing him to do things I'd never expected he would even try.

"Did Miles or Ricchar mention anything to you?" I murmured while Enzo's lips stayed pressed together.

"No. But I..." He cleared his throat and made a face.  "Couple months ago, I saw some videos of Stefano, and Leo." He glanced down and stared at his fist.  "With the girls."

Oh no.  Ugh.  Not those two creeps...

While I tried not to react, I stayed put and almost winced at the lewd images that formed in my head.

"The night before, Leo said, he...erm...shoots up vamp blood sometimes. 'Cause it's got a different kick." Enzo squinted at me.  "Is that even a thing?"

"Um...I dunno, love. Maybe."

"I seriously thought he was just blind drunk and blabbing nonsense."

Yikes.  We were going down a rabbit hole I wasn't sure we could dig ourselves out of...and I absolutely didn't want to keep talking about his brother and Stefano's depraved pastimes.  Eww.  "So you don't know anything about purebloods?"

Enzo blinked at me while his warm hand palmed my thigh.  "What's a pureblood?"

"It's, uh...   When a child's parents have the same genetic abnormalities.  Like Stefano and Eleana."

"Wait.  You mean,  it's essentially just a genetic condition?"

I nodded, ignoring the uneasiness blocking my throat.  "It's like a variation of CEP, but a rare kind. Very rare."

"CEP?"

"Congenital erythropoietic porphyria."

"Erythro? It's a blood disease?"  Squinting at me again, Enzo sighed when I nodded in reply.  "And they all have it? The Falcos?"

"CEP is an inherited metabolic disorder. Theirs is  different. It doesn't cause skin photosensitivity.  With Miles, his condition mostly causes sporadic stomach pains. And when they ingest other people's blood, I mean healthy people who don't have the same condition, the pain lessens significantly. Sometimes, Ricchar gets severe backaches. He says it's due to liver inflammation."

"That sounds...awful." Enzo frowned and shook his head faintly.

The rare disorder should be studied further, like most uncommon congenital diseases.  I definitely should do more research.  But from the get-go, Miles had always warned me not to get too involved.  Always telling me to keep their secrets to myself.   He said it would protect me and my family...or whatever he actually meant.

"They're all sick? Stefano and his entire family?" Enzo stroked my knee, murmuring his words again.

"I guess so." I looked away.  "Miles is, definitely. That's why he got hooked on opioids.  To manage the pain attacks."

"And he's always been sick?"

"Ricchar said, most of them start experiencing symptoms post-puberty. For those who haven't or don't have the same issues, they're probably just carriers of the defective gene. Or genes. I think it can affect the brain, too."

"Right.  Sure.  I mean, it sounds plausible,"  Enzo muttered with creased brows. He scratched the tip of his stubble when I kept staring at him.  "And you said, you're a dhampirica, like Cloe. What did you mean?"

"Sounds insane. I know." I shrugged when he grinned lopsidedly, perhaps still thinking it was just a load of bullcrap.  "Nicco said Ilya's a pureblood, like the Falcos. But Mommy isn't. I mean, she's perfectly healthy. No genetic abnormalities or anything."

"So, you're saying, you're half-vampire?"

"Maybe.  I'm not sure.  I don't know much about Ilya and his family's background. Nicco doesn't know a lot about the pureblood clans." I bit on my lip when Enzo let out a long sigh and covered his face with his palms.  "I mean, I assume he wouldn't lie to us about that."

Enzo reclined on the couch and combed back his hair with his fingers, the incredulity still evident in his wide eyes.

Shucks.  I shouldn't have opened the can of worms.  But I didn't want to lie to him again.  Or keep secrets that could ruin our relationship.  And he was the type to keep digging until he got the answers he wanted to hear.  Hopefully he didn't think I should be confined in a psychiatric facility.

"Hey. You okay?" I snuck my arm around his lower back.  I tried to keep up a pleasant face until the tension in his muscles ebbed away.

"So he did that to you? All the time?"

"No. No. That's not it.  It wasn't like that."  Jeez.

Now he thought Miles hurt me intentionally, and that I had no choice but to let Miles hurt me whenever he needed my blood.  Heck.  Enzo must be thinking I was nothing but a malignant masochist.

"It wasn't like that at all. He doesn't even like...doing it."

"Then why d'you have more than one scar?"

"I...uh..." I held back a sigh as I tried my best not to look away from his attentive eyes, the eagerness and grave concern in his tone gripping my heart.  "I told him, I wanna help him with the pain.  So he won't have to keep abusing pills.  And we only tried it thrice. Only 'cause it seemed to work the first time. It helped lessened his stomach pains."

"Does he do it to other people?"

"Yes."

"And to this day," Enzo droned on with another scowl, "you never told anyone else? That he did that to you?"

"No."  I pressed my cheek onto his arm.  I tried to hug him but he didn't budge.  "I mean, apart from his parents, Cloe, Ricchar, and Nicco...I don't think anyone else knows."

Enzo scoffed loudly after an awkward silence, then  shook his head while his fist clenched between his thighs.  "Not even your mom."

"No."

"Why not?"

"No. We shouldn't tell them. Just for now. Please, love?"

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