The Crystal Jade: Book 1 of the IceBrood Chronicles

Chapter 10: The Futility of Life & Death

I stormed out of the library in anger. How dare Howard belittle the entire human race! He couldn't have known about my father and his family history.

Not unless he had met one of my ancestors before. 

Well, did he?

I did not care to know the answer to that question. 

I returned to the room where Howard stayed and began crying. This was so unfair! Who did he think he was, anyway?

I tried to calm down and think about this rationally. There was no way Howard knew about my father's family, not unless he had met one of dad's ancestors years ago. Even then, it would be years BEFORE the theft of the crystal jade occurred.

Now, that had perplexed me, if nothing else did. I was so sure that grandma would had mentioned something like that during her lessons, or I would have never known about it.

Anyway, I'm done trying to learn about the Icebrood Clan. I don't care what Howard says or does. I'm going back home whether he likes it or not!

Just then, I heard a knock. I stood up and walked to the door. I opened it and there he was. He had an angry look on his face. "Hollie Devine," Howard snapped as he stared at me. "You have made me very angry. I don't like to be angry."

"Well, you're not very nice, now are you?" I snapped back at him. "In fact, you yell at me, slap me, and degrade my family! What do you expect?"

Howard laughed and said, "You may possess a strong spirit, but you really need to let your guard down, Hollie. You can't survive here for much longer if you keep behaving like this."

"And how do you expect me to survive living in your castle?" I snapped at him in shock and anger. "You'll never be able to keep me here forever!"

"Yes I can and I will," Howard said in kind. "You won't be leaving this castle, so you might as well make this place your home."

"And why would I want to do that?" I snapped at him. "You do know that I have to go to school. The teachers won't believe you if you told them about the crystal jade. Now let me go home!"

"All these excuses won't work," Howard laughed at me as he sat down in a chair. "You have so much to learn about vampires, Hollie. You will learn about our clan and be happy about it."

I couldn't believe him; he had some serious nerve to tell me what to do. My mother had always stressed to me the importance of independence; she had been a fiercely independent woman before she met my father. My grandmother never liked my mother's sense of independence; she tried to stamp that from me since I was a child.

Howard continued, "You have a wild steak, I'll give you that. But now comes the time for you to put aside your wild ways and grow up. We vampires are more cultured than the richest human, and we expect you to learn some proper etiquette in order to function as a member of the Icebrood Clan."

"And what if I say no?" I snapped at him.

"You wouldn't," said Howard. "Not unless you don't value your own life. You will stay here and learn to function as a proper member of the Icebrood Clan whether you like it or not."

I glared at him, but I knew that he was right. I would have to live as a member of his clan. I didn't have any other choice.

"Your silence tells me that you agree to the terms," said Howard. "Anyway, you must be hungry; I will have a meal prepared to the two of us."

He immediately called a servant and told the servant to bring us our meal. I shuddered, knowing that the meal would be a loaf of bread, at least for me. I'm not looking forward to eating bread once again.