Bloods Gem

This is a work of fiction. Characters, places
and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental or used
fictitiously.

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2012 Gloria Conway

No part of this work may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without the written permission of the
publisher, except where permitted by law.

To my boys—husband and son. I couldn't have
done this without you.

I'd like to thank Eric Glenn for his work on
the fabulous cover, Carla R. Herrera for her editing, though I
didn't take most of the advice and Consuelo Parra for the cover
image and Model: Amber Ornelas.

Ill-suen

The Ill-suen is a half-breed vampire and
spiritual shape-shifter. The rare combination makes for a powerful
creature unlike any other. Strength increases with age, wisdom, and
life experience. They are known to be great tricksters and may take
on human form when they reach the age of one-hundred. They have the
ability to clone the appearance of an individual, and can shift
into an individual’s body. Manifesting into dreams, creating
elaborate illusions perceived as reality, mind control, flying and
incredible speed are among their abilities. They also experience
regular out of body episodes to communicate with their own kind
across vast distances.

Before the eighteenth year, abilities
are limited to shape-shifting and mind control. Male Ill-suen
reaches manhood in the eighteenth year of life, when they
begin
transformation.

This is a painful and
frightening process, as the entire body and mind breaks when the
transformation begins. Their mind resets in order for their new
abilities to set in. The bones in their body break and new ones are
made. Making them stronger. Be
coming thirsty and
uncontrollable, they are held in isolation.

If they live through the transformation,
they are trained to control abilities and hunger. At their
hundredth year, if they are able to retain human form and complete
training, they are sent out into the world to find their 'gem'.
Once found, they 'Unold' their gem. Bonding them forever, or until
they express a death wish before conceiving.

Many male Ill-suen are sterile. On occasion
when a male Ill-suen mates, their gem will die in child birth along
with the child, or miscarry. No one knows why such unfortunate
circumstances surround these rare creatures, but those born and
manage to live are considered valuable to their community.

They
are also
on the brink of extinction from not only their limited ability to
reproduce, but also being hunted r
egularly by the
hunters also known as the shifters.

The Ill-suen could not defeat hunters on
their own. The Ill-suen took refuge with vampires and coexist. The
vampires outnumbered the Ill-suen and therefore protect them from
extinction against the hunters. They were always fond of the
Ill-suens, as they too were an asset to them. They work well
together and accepted each other as family. They also live among
the human world to not only study them, but to live just like them,
all the while becoming immune to their hunger for human blood.

The Hunters aka Shifters

Shifters are the ancient first born. They
were on earth before the Ill-suen existed. Their appearance is
identical to the younger Ill-suen before their transformation. They
have fox like features. All of the shifters have blue eyes, long
nails, and perky fox ears. Some change their appearance by shape
shifting into their desired look. Their powers limited, not
exceeding the Ill-suen in strength, but mentally transcend the
Ill-suen. In a battle, the victor will always be the hunter,
because their illusions and ability to break the mind are much more
advanced than the Ill-suen. Not only do they confuse their enemy in
battle, but they drive their enemy to insanity long enough to
finish them off. On occasion, the Ill-suen will try to out trick
the hunters by blocking their minds to anyone around them, however,
the hunters can see their enemy before they advance, even if
blocked. It is impossible to catch the hunters off guard. The older
the shifter, the more advanced in ability.

The “elite” shifters settle on their
original land called, Gahaven, said to be located in central Peru.
A large number of shifters built a city there. This is where they
are trained to fight.

Shifters speak an unknown tongue, called
Ladish. Not even the Ill-suen can make sense of this language and
it's difficult to decipher.

Hunters don’t like anyone including
humans. If outsiders come into their territory they are immediately
killed, unless they have useful information about the shifter
enemy. Hunters believe they are the true inhabitants of earth and
everyone else on eart
h are invaders.
Therefore, they are justified in taking a life.

In recent years, shifters
have had a rare sickness affecting some of its people. Usually
taking out a l
arge number at once. They believe it’s
their creator displeased with them in some way. So once a month,
they sacrifice either an Ill-suen, or a human in repentance.
However, since the first sacrifice, nothing has changed. Their
hearts have become cold and their minds tainted by an unseen evil.
But still, they will not change.

Unolding

The unolding process takes place when the
Ill-suen finds his gem. This process occurs so that the Ill-suen
can protect himself and his gem. The Ill-suen’s spirit leaps into
the gem and embraces the gems spirit, leaving a part of his spirit
with hers. Their spirits intertwine creating a bond that last’s
forever. After the unolding is complete, they are then able to
communicate fully through their minds and fully read each others
thoughts. They become stronger mentally and physically and together
are a stronger force.

Gem

For every male Ill-suen
born, a “gem” born.
The gem is the person whom they
will take as their mate. For some, it can take a long time to find
their gem so they seek them out before the gem grows too old or
dies. If the gem dies before being unold, the Ill-suen dies too. If
the gem dies after their infant Ill-suen’s born, the Ill-suen male
will not die, because the bond is transferred to the child when the
gem dies.

When the Ill-suen gets closer to finding his
gem, she begins to acquire powers. These powers can be a verity of
things from mind reading to being able to see the future. No one
knows what the powers will be except the gem herself as she gains
them.

The quest to the gem to most is very long;
the Ill-suen will travel the world to find her by letting his
instincts be his guide. He knows when his gem is close when he
becomes weak, thirsty and unable to control his natural instincts
for blood.

Bloods Gem: The Beginning

Hundreds of years before the first Ill-suen
were born, a tragedy brewed in the villages of the Fastine people.
The Fastine were shape-shifting spiritual beings with the power of
illusion.

Ahbu, the king of the western village was
possessed by a terrible evil. Ruling his people for hundreds of
years his powers surpassed most in the surrounding villages. His
training to become a leader began at three years old. Fortunately,
leaders fall. And when they fall, they fall head first.

One night a prophet came to see the king.
The seer said he saw Ahbu ruling all the people in and out of the
nation. If the king did not take charge, another would rise to take
his place as leader who would rule all the people.

Ahbu dreamed of ruling everyone. His greed
for power caused people to notice. Instead of praising workers, he
criticized. Instead of walking through the village, he was carried.
Rather than give his people a great leader, he inspired
resentment.

Ahbu ruled all the villages of the nation
with an iron fist. Every village he came upon, he demanded they
kneel and worship him as a new god. Most villages resisted, so in a
rage he gathered them one by one, women children and men and burned
them together. Though some cried in fear, others felt helpless, so
they bore his mark.

The symbol of a pitchfork burned into their
hands was the only way for the helpless to survive, but designated
them as followers of Ahbu. Unknowingly, this also marked them for
death.

Ahbu and his followers returned through the
villages to insure there were no survivors. But they stumbled upon
a girl, whose eyes were like fire, her body charred, but still
alive. Enraged to see the sight of this girl standing, Ahbu went to
strike her down with his pitch fork and with one look he turned to
ash. His followers went after the girl and one by one they too
followed him in death. As she turned the last follower to ash, she
rose into the air as a radiant light shone from above. A voice
broke through the light telling her her destiny was as the
butterfly woman.

Her wings glistened with
purple, fading into pink and yellow as they grew. Her charred body
healed, her skin transformed into a pale pink that sparkled as the
light reflected upon it. Her beautiful long dark hair
caressed the front of her body as she rose into the
sky.

She flew over the land crying at the charred
bodies of her people. Her tears fell below producing gems all
colors imaginable. As the gems dropped they shattered into millions
of pieces, drawing out the souls of the dead. The souls returned to
their new bodies that were created for them, creating a new
generation of spiritual shape-shifters. They were called, “The
blessed ones” because to the end, they stayed true, denying evil
before them and maintaining faith in their god, until their last
breath.

Those saved saw the butterfly woman and
witnessed her power. The last soul restored, she smiled down upon
them, and disappeared.

The Blessed Ones created a book about the
events that took place at that time. They told of her features and
the mark the woman bore. As she turned to leave, some saw she wore
the mark of a butterfly on her lower back. They believed she would
one day return, but only in their greatest time of need. They would
watch and wait for that moment to see the butterfly woman once
again.

Demons of the night

December 1920 Eastern Europe

Dr. Luke Syphron and his mistress, Mary Sue
McKay, a volunteer nurse at St. Andrews Hospital decided to take a
midnight stroll. They turned East on Loops End to head to the
nearest inn.

It was a dark night and they did not see the
man until he appeared in front of them, barring their path.
Paralyzed with fear, neither moved. The man held up his hand,
gesturing for Mary to come to him. As if a spell had been placed
upon her, the nurse went to him.

Realizing the danger, his mistress was in,
Luke leaped forward, immediately regretting it. The man dug his
teeth into the woman’s neck, dropped her, smiled at Dr. Luke and
disappeared.

At the hospital but was unable to talk, the
doctor pointed the nurses in the direction where Mary Ann’s body
lay on the ground, drained. Several days passed before the Doctor
was able to write what happened to Mary Ann, only to be met with
disbelief. He was assigned his own private room at the St. Andrews
Insane Asylum. But then it happened again.

January, 1928 Eastern Europe-

Struggling with her jacket, Edith put the
handle of her bag in her mouth, freeing a hand so she could pull
her arm through into the sorely missed warmth. She told her cat
Gracie goodbye and ran to her motor car, in a hurry to make it to
dinner on time at the Cisco.

The restaurant had opened two weeks prior
and locals were sure to wait as long as it took to get a seat.
Sometimes there would be a line outside for hours. Gwen and Rudy
would save her a place in line, but she wouldn’t rule out the
possibility of hostile costumers trying to take the spot.

Already late and in an effort to shave a few
minutes from the drive, Edith took back roads to East Main and
Tiny--a much shorter route. Though she was new to driving, she
enjoyed the independence and felt confident in her abilities. She
grinned at the harsh looks she received, knowing some people
resented female drivers without a male chaperone.