Becoming D'Vaire (D'Vaire, Book 11) Read online

  “Nikolai didn’t flirt with girls.”

  Irina gave the love of her life a baleful stare. “That’s because he’s gay.”

  Alexei shrugged. “Maybe Grigori’s gay.”

  “How could he know? He’s not likely to find a cute boy sitting in the lab.”

  “Irina, what do you want me to do? Drag him out kicking and screaming? He loves being in there, scribbling formulas and experimenting. I go in and I don’t have a clue what the kid’s talking about. Grigori’s brilliant. Of course he’s going to be different.”

  “I don’t care if he’s different. I want him happy.”

  “I assure you he is.”

  Irina wanted to argue Alexei’s point, but there was a rap on their bedroom door. It was ten o’clock, and she thought everyone in the household had gone to their private areas of the large condo. Alexei rose from the sofa where he’d been lounging and opened it to reveal the subject of their argument.

  Irina fixed her youngest child with a stern glare. “Grigori, I told you to go to bed. You have school in the morning.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. I laid down but then—”

  “Numbers popped into your head,” Irina finished for him. His brain had been full of figures since he’d learned to count. “It could have waited until morning, Grigori. Rules are rules for a reason. You can’t concentrate at school if you’re tired. Now go to bed.”

  “Okay, but wait. I finished my project.”

  “What project?” Alexei asked.

  “The one I’ve been working on for a while in my lab,” Grigori explained. His pale blue eyes, a mirror of Irina’s own, were alight with intelligence and excitement.

  “You might as well tell us what it is, then it’s off to bed with you.”

  “Sure, Mom.” Grigori thrust a piece of paper toward her. “Here’s the formula I came up with. I tested it really quick and it worked.”

  Irina took the sheet of loose-leaf from him and glanced down. With an inner roll of her eyes, she let out a chuckle. “Maybe you should explain it, Grigori. I’m afraid my mind isn’t quite as brilliant as yours. What does this all mean, honey?”

  “Do you remember a few weeks ago when they found that family in the house, and they were all dead?”

  With a sigh, Irina recalled exactly what Grigori was referring to. An entire family had perished because they’d lacked access to blood. Her people required it to live, and not everyone had the money to purchase the bagged kind they relied upon. Since joining the Council of Sorcery and Shifters, they were forced into accepting a treaty with the humans.

  They couldn’t feed from them without their permission and for most, it came at a price. There were not always enough willing donors, which ramped up the cost. Although she did her best to fund programs to help vampires without money, not everyone took advantage of them. It broke her heart each time a vampire died, and Grigori found her that day crying over the loss of that beautiful family. “I remember.”

  “You said if we could find a way to make blood easier to get, it would mean less people would die.”

  “Yes I did, and I hope someday we can achieve that goal.”

  “I did.”

  Her brow creased in confusion. “What?”

  Grigori took the paper from her hand and waved it. “This is a formula for synthetic blood. Well, almost synthetic blood. It takes some real blood but basically, I figured out how to multiply the cells to make massive quantities. I think with some tweaking, I can reduce the amount of blood needed or figure out how to make it really synthetic, but this should work for now.”

  “Grigori.”

  “Yeah, Mom?”

  “Synthetic blood?”

  “See, Irina? He’s not wasting one damn minute in that lab of his,” Alexei said.

  Irina rose from her chair and tugged Grigori into her arms. He patted her back awkwardly.

  “You okay, Mom? You aren’t going to cry again, are you?”

  “You’re fourteen years old. How did you figure out how to make synthetic blood?” she asked as she tried her best to contain her emotions. While she was worrying over his welfare, he’d been devoting his time, helping to save their people, working to give them better access to the one thing they could not live without.

  Grigori pulled out of her embrace and cocked his head to the side. “You really want me to go into how I discovered my formula? Because when I talk about math and science, you get this real weird look on your face.”

  Irina smoothed a chunk of dark hair off his forehead. “You need a haircut, and that’s because you’re way smarter than me.”

  “Yeah, right. You’ve ruled the Vampyr Clutch for thousands of years.”

  “That just makes me old.”

  “Can I give my formula to Nikolai? Umpyr could mass-produce it,” Grigori asked. Her eldest son’s company—one he’d founded at the age of eighteen—was a massive conglomerate of different businesses. Nikolai had used Grigori’s formulas before to produce flavor additives vampires could use to enhance blood, but she imagined her oldest son would be ecstatic to create something that would literally change the way her people lived. Somehow the genius she gave birth to fourteen years ago had accomplished the impossible, and Irina could barely wrap her head around it.

  “In the morning, okay?”

  “Think he’ll be excited?” Grigori asked.

  “Nikolai’s going to be ecstatic,” Alexei assured him. “I know I am. I’m so proud of you.”

  “Me too. I don’t even know what to say to you, Grigori. This is an incredible gift you’ve given to vampires.”

  “I want Nikolai’s scientists to test it and make sure it’s right.”

  “You haven’t given them any duds yet, but I’m sure your brother will make sure it’s thoroughly tested,” Alexei said. “Irina, are you still concerned about our son’s time in the lab?”

  Grigori rolled his eyes. “Mom, we’ve talked about this before. I love my lab. I like science. I’m happy making formulas and shit.”

  “Watch your mouth, mister, and it’s just that I want you to enjoy being a teenager. Flirting with girls and all of that.”

  “I’m gay,” Grigori answered in a bored tone.

  Irina laughed. “Leave it to you to throw it out there without any fanfare.”

  “Nikolai’s gay, so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to you guys,” Grigori said with a nonchalant shrug.

  “It’s not, Grigori. It’s the kind of thing we like to know as your parents. You know, so your mother doesn’t start inviting girls into your lab, so you’ll have a social life.”

  “Mom.”

  “I wasn’t going to invite anyone into your lab. Relax.”

  “I’m not like the other kids. Besides they’re all older than me.”

  “We know you’re not like other kids. Does it bother you being in classes with students three years older than you? We can put you back with people your age,” Irina asked.

  “Are you kidding? I’m already bored out of my mind at school. It’s all stuff I already know. I like reading and learning on my own. If I had it my way, I’d be done with school and working in my lab all the time.”

  “None of your classes are challenging?”

  Grigori’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Uh…no. Not at all. School’s a waste of time.”

  “Irina, we should speak with the Prism Wizard. We need to find another solution for Grigori’s education.”

  “I need a PhD, Mom. I want to be a scientist, and I need credentials. I prefer Nikolai’s company to get all the credit for my stuff, but I want his people to know I’m not just some kid playing in a lab.”

  “Oh Grigori, you are a kid.”

  He squared his shoulders and his jaw twitched. “I don’t care. This is my life, and I should be able to make some of my own choices. Normal kids can’t figure out formulas like I can. I think I deserve to be able to learn what I want. I’m supposed to graduate high school at the end of this year anyway. Why should I have
to continue to wait for college? I’ve already looked through the curriculum of all the undergraduate and graduate programs I want to complete. I’m halfway through reading the required books for them.”

  “You’ve been doing all that studying on your own?”

  “Yeah, I used the gift card you gave me on my birthday to buy the last ones I haven’t read yet. I’m going to probably be finished with them by the end of next week. I hope so anyway. Unless I get another lame project at school where I have to write twenty poems like I did last month. That was the lamest thing ever. I suck at poetry.”

  “That gift card was meant for you to buy something you really wanted, not textbooks.”

  “I really wanted them.”

  “Birthday money is for frivolous things.”

  “I’m not a frivolous guy.”

  “Grigori, when did you grow up on me?”

  “I’m pretty sure I was an adult at five.”

  Irina put her arm around him. “I know. How did that happen?”

  “Probably because my parents are the strongest vampires alive. So there’s that.”

  “I love that you’re smart, Grigori.”

  “But no one likes a smartass,” he finished with a grin.

  “Go to bed, young man,” she ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Grigori allowed her to give him another hug; then he embraced his father. After Alexei released him, Grigori darted out of their room with his formula clutched in his hand.

  “My child just created synthetic blood at fourteen.”

  “Our son’s exceptional,” Alexei said. “But…”

  “But we need to fix his education.”

  “I know you don’t like it. I know you want him to have a normal teenage existence, but I’m afraid that’s not his destiny. He’s right, you know. He’s earned more.”

  “If we’re going to do this, then we do it right. His education will scale with him. If that means he’s got his PhD before he’s twenty, then so be it,” Irina declared. “He’s made it perfectly clear over the years that he prefers for the creator of his formulas to remain a mystery, so his name won’t be associated with anything he produces until he decides he’s ready to deal with the press and everything else. If the world finds out that he’s a genius, there may be a lot of demands on him.”

  “Especially since his mother rules the vampires.”

  “His parents rule the vampires.”

  Alexei strode across the room and trailed a finger up the gilded roses Fate put on her arm. Despite thousands of years together, Irina’s blood heated and goose bumps spread over her skin. “Last time I checked, Fate gave you this mark.”

  “She marked you as well.”

  “Not as intricately and not as boldly as she did you,” Alexei countered silkily as he took her into his arms. “And not until after I met you.”

  “How did that work out? Look at us. We have two children. Both are too smart for their own good.”

  “They take after their mother.”

  “If you think that’s a compliment, Alexei, you’re sorely mistaken.”

  “Maybe I should start working on some poetry with Grigori.”

  “Be sure and let me know how it goes.”

  He kissed her top lip. “I’ll get started on it after.”

  “After what?”

  “After we make genius number three.”

  Irina threw her head back and laughed. “It took us over a thousand years to get pregnant with both of our sons. You might be here for a while.”

  His handsome face turned up in a sexy smile. “I can live with that.” Irina kissed her mate and decided she could too.

  Chapter 3

  2013 AD

  “Well, Greggory, we did it,” Delaney told his familiar as he pulled off his graduation robe and placed it on a hanger. “First wizard to graduate at sixteen with the rank of Master. No one thought it could be done, but we knew it all along, didn’t we?”

  The little black dragon let out a happy growl of agreement as he used the footboard of Delaney’s bed like a catwalk, complete with twirls and flaps of his wings. Delaney laughed at his best friend’s antics and loosened the tie he hated to wear. He yanked it off and briefly considered torching it for choking him all day, but common sense prevailed. It was hung up in the small closet in his dormitory; then Delaney sat to remove his footwear. All he wanted to do was get into some jeans and sneakers, so he could figure out what the hell he was going to do.

  Now that his studies would be more independent as he worked toward High Arcanist, he wondered where he would live. Being so young and without family, he had zero money. He supposed he could get a job and find an apartment, but that would take time. Delaney’s only real choice was to talk to the Prism Wizard. Perhaps Vadimas might be able to help him find a building that would accept him on the promise of future income.

  “What kind of job should we get?” Delaney asked Greggory, who was still dancing around. “I guess it’s another thing we can ask Vadimas about. It might set back our timetable of reaching High Arcanist by nineteen, but we do have to eat.”

  Greggory stopped moving and let out a low growl. The dragon loved to eat and devoured sweets whenever Delaney could get his hands on any. It was a good thing Delaney had outgrown his own penchant for consuming every cookie in his path.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t starve,” Delaney told him as he gave his head a little pat. Shoes off, he quickly dispensed with the rest of his suit and tugged on a pair of old jeans. He threw on a black T-shirt, then shoved his feet into his sneakers. Delaney had just finished tying them when there was a knock on his door.

  “Hey, freak! The Prism Wizard’s downstairs and wants to talk to you,” Conrad yelled through it.

  “Well, we won’t miss him when we leave here, will we?” Delaney asked Greggory softly. Conrad was a student at the Academy of Wizards who was close in age to Delaney and, like most of his classmates, wasn’t accepting of Delaney’s differences.

  “Did you hear me, weirdo? The Prism Wizard’s waiting,” Conrad shouted.

  Delaney whipped open the door and glared at the perfect male specimen in front of him. Blond and blue-eyed, Conrad had a bevy of admirers wherever he went. “I heard you,” he muttered.

  “It’s rude to keep the Prism Wizard waiting,” Conrad stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Thanks for the lesson in manners, Conrad. Maybe you’ll remember to keep your own rude-ass comments to yourself the next time you’re conversing with someone. It’s impolite to refer to a person as freak or weirdo,” Delaney instructed as he strode out into the hall with Greggory flying just above him. He hadn’t left Greggory alone in the dorm since he’d returned from class one day to find him spray-painted and tied up.

  “You’re such an asshole,” Conrad taunted.

  “Right, because I care what you think,” Delaney grumbled as he headed into the stairwell to go and find out what Vadimas wanted. He was glad the wizard leader was still around. Though he would have liked to figure out what his next steps were on his own, he had uncharacteristically procrastinated all the way up to graduation and was now in a tight spot. No one at the school liked him enough to extend his time indefinitely, and Delaney had no wish to stay either.

  He trailed down the stairs and walked quickly down to the office the Prism Wizard kept at the school. When he arrived, the door was wide open and Vadimas noticed him immediately.

  “Delaney, congratulations again,” Vadimas offered as he hugged him.

  Delaney embraced him back and smiled. He always enjoyed any time he was lucky enough to spend with Vadimas. With perfect clarity, he recalled the first time he met him and as he’d promised, Vadimas had been a friend to him for the last twelve years. Besides Greggory, he was the only other person Delaney confided in. Of course he never told him about the bullying or teasing he endured, but Delaney was not the type of person who complained.

  “Thanks,” Delaney replied as Vadimas petted G
reggory.

  “And hello again to you, Greggory. You helped your wizard make history today. I’m so proud of you both. Now have a seat, Delaney. We have your future to figure out.”

  Delaney chose one of the old padded guest chairs as Vadimas lowered himself right next to him.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking about that upstairs. I should’ve been planning it for months now.”

  “You needed to keep your head clear and focused on your projects as well as passing the magical test for your Master title. Now that you’ve graduated, we need to get you settled. I’d like to know your thoughts about it.”

  Delaney shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to get a job, so I can afford an apartment. Maybe I could work in one of the Spectra Wizardry libraries or something. I think I’m probably too young to teach.”

  “You certainly have the know-how to educate others, but it might be awkward for a sixteen-year-old to instruct older students.”

  “I won’t have the time I do now, so it might slow down my rise to High Arcanist.”

  “There’s no rush for that—you may take all the time you need. The responsibilities that come with that title are no small burden. Once you get there, you’ll be expected to assume your role as part of the Council of Sorcery and Shifters leadership.”

  “I know, but it’s what I want. It’s what I’ve worked for since I was four years old. I want you to be proud of me. I want you to feel like you did the right thing by taking me out of that orphanage and bringing me here. You’ve overseen my education and have always made time to be my friend.”

  Vadimas’s brown eyes grew serious. “Delaney, I am proud of you. Look at what you’ve done. No one’s come close to graduating at sixteen. You’ve been breaking barriers since you were born, and you’ve done all of this within a population of people who are still adjusting to the idea of a dark wizard. If you decided right now to do nothing else with your life, I’d still be proud of you for the rest of your immortal existence. Do you understand?”

  Delaney shifted uncomfortably on the ancient chair. “I still feel like I can do more,” he answered honestly.