Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) by Beverly Toney

the fact that they actually existed would take some time. Next
came the illogical nature of their existence. I wasn't sure if I
wanted them to be reanimated corpses or people afflicted with
hemophilia. It turned out that both of those were wrong.
    The brain seemed to be
the key to the genetic differences between Vampires and humans. It
had been proven time and time again by world renowned scientists that
humans only used 10% of their brain. I had always thought it was a
waste and wondered how we could tap into the remaining 90%. Vampires,
I read, not only had a completely different cerebral make-up but they
enjoyed life with 100% brain function. With the brain working at full
capacity, vampires were more feral than humans. They had not evolved
in the same way that the Homo-Sapien had, rather they had gone a
route closer to that of the Lion. In the beginning, as the
Homo-Sapien foraged for fruits and vegetables, the Vampire hunted for
flesh. It wasn't known when the Vampire went from chewing to
drinking, but their historians wrote that the nutrients from blood
were more quickly adsorbed and utilized by the body. In fact, most
Vampires had never ingested flesh at all, choosing instead to live
off of a diet of fruits, vegetables and human blood.
    Through time, some
Vampires observed a type of hibernation to conserve their energy.
Originally it was easy since there were fewer dangers and Vampires
were able to sleep their days away in any available cave. The dangers
from animal threats were small due to the fact that Vampires seemed
to smell like predators themselves, keeping other predators away. And
the so-called caveman was too busy hunting and staying alive to cause
the Vampire any trouble. As a matter of fact, many cavemen became
food when they stumbled into the cave of a sleeping Vampire. Lions
and tigers and bears…and Vampires? Oh, my!
    So, if I was to believe
this tale of Vampires being real, I would have to accept that the
long held myths about them were false. The list of possible clues
that my best friend and her family were Vampires dwindled to nothing
if I used today’s explanation. Sunlight, religious items,
garlic; my time with Tabitha allowed me to cross all of them off of
my list. Tabitha had spent many days with me in the sun even though
her skin never seemed to burn or tan. She also ate regular food
although she very rarely ate meat. When she ate my spaghetti, she
used more sauce than meat and the strong smell of the garlic bread
always made her nose twitch. We had attended church and shopped for
silver crosses for my mother. Tabitha had held each and every one
with no burns or other aversions so that shot down two myths at once.
But, I never saw her wear any jewelry, not even earrings, and that
was strange for someone so fashionable.
    With my limited Vampire
myths obliterated I researched more of them. Tabitha was definitely
faster and stronger than humans and possessed keener hearing and
eyesight. They could bleed and even die, but they were not as fragile
as humans. The regeneration of their cells was so fast that the only
surefire way to kill one was to remove his or her head. Their
hyper-functioning brain was the key to life for the Vampire. Not even
a stake in the heart would kill them; they would simply lie in a form
of paralysis until it was removed, although it was not documented how
long they could remain that way. I ran through the list of myths and
found all of them lacking except one: the need to be invited into
someone’s home. I couldn’t prove or disprove this one
since it was simply good home training that had me invite Tabitha
into my home when we first met. I didn’t know of many people
who simply walked into someone else’s house without permission,
so that one had to stay on the ‘maybe’ list. But one
thing was certain, Vampires had supernatural attributes.
    Continued research
could not help me confirm nor deny their existence, which I was sure
was the point of the myths in the