The Vampire Legacy; The New Queen Rises (10 page)

I put both my hands on his cheek and pulled
him close to me, kissing him softly on the lips. He opened his eyes
slowly when he moved away and then smiled. He quickly wrapped his
arms around me and kissed me again. It was a hard, passionate kiss
and we both smiled when we parted this time.

"We have unresolved issues, you know?" He
laughed at me, picked me up and carried me to the edge of the
grass.

"And they are? "

"Well, you have no shoes on, should I carry
you or let you walk?" He didn't wait for an answer and continued to
walk to the house. "The others, I'm afraid, are a little more
serious."

"Do you want to talk about them now, or
later?" I asked him.

"Later, when I get you alone in your room,"
he said before he kissed me. He then put me down and ushered me
into the door. That evening Cleo and I received invitations to meet
the four of them out on the patio for dinner at six. Cleo ran to my
room holding the note and a beautiful red dress in her hands and
asked me if I had received the same thing. My dress was black and
it looked like it was going to be quite tight to get into.

Cleo and I met in the lobby, under the
chandeliers, dressed in the evening gowns that had been left for
us. She smiled at the way I looked and said that Julian had a knack
for clothes. I smiled at her and whispered about how uneasy this
house made me feel. She told me that Michael had revealed some
deep, dark secrets about the place when he visited her earlier that
day in her room. As we spoke, Cleo and I walked out of the back
door and looked at the garden to the left of us. We debated on
going over and looking at it or just finding the guys. Our
uneasiness won us over and we turned to the right to head toward
what the note had called the patio.

I had to admire this house though. It was
very beautiful and the patio was no different. It was oval shaped,
much like the driveway, and had a walk that cut through the three
long patches of multicolored flowers and bushes, making the three
oblong patches into six smaller ones, each about fifty feet long
and eight feet wide. In the middle of these greens was a small,
circular fountain where a small statue of a naked boy poured clear
water into the pool below. On one end of the patio was a stairway
that led out, through more multicolored bushes and flowers, to the
lush green grass of the back yard.

On the other end stood a pagoda, a U-shaped
structure that resembled some sort of coliseum. Pillars formed the
L-shaped walkway on either side and its roof seemed to be made out
of thick vines that were lush with green leaves. Both sides of this
structure mirrored one another and meet in the middle where a round
building, which resembled a stone gazebo, sat. Its roof was made of
solid stone, instead of vines. In the middle of this gazebo a round
table was set for us with six candles lit. Michael and David sat at
the table, sipping on what looked like red wine, and they stood as
we approached.

Cleo sat down next to Michael and then looked
at me as I looked around the patio. She smiled at me and then took
my hand.

"He's probably just getting ready," she
whispered to me.

"What's going on?" David asked.

"She's looking for Julian," Cleo said and
watched Michael pour her a glass of the dark, red wine.

"I'm right here." Julian's voice filled the
night. We all looked at him, the three at the table stood. He was
dressed in a black suit, one of the ones with the collars that
buttoned at the neck, leaving no place for a tie. He wore a black
coat that matched the rest of him perfectly. He nodded at Michael
and David, then walked over and kissed Cleo on the hand. He then
turned and looked at Quinn, who approached from the darkness. The
two nodded and I suddenly felt out of place. He turned and looked
at me, as if sensing my unease. "You look radiant."

"Thank you." I smiled at him and he leaned
down and kissed me on the neck. My mind suddenly flashed a memory
of someone sinking his or her fangs into my neck and I pushed him
away and smiled oddly. "Sorry, very ticklish."

"What is it Ash?" Julian asked. I looked down
at my hands, trying to find the words, then up at him and shook my
head.

"This is all very nice Jules,” I started to
say then cleared my throat and continued, “and, I don't mean to be
a downer, but I'm really worried about Jack and I don't know what
to do." I caught myself before I started to cry, but it was just a
bit late. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Ash, your son is important to
you and that is how it should be." Julian sighed and raised my head
by pushing up gently on my chin. I looked at him. "I promise you
that he is fine, they won't hurt him." And, I believed these words.
"Come on, let's eat."

The rest of the evening went by without much
incident, then it started to drag on and I decided that it was time
for bed. The rest retired for the night, but Julian took my hand
before I closed my door. He touched my cheek and kissed me gently,
and then he smiled and walked away.

Later that night, sometime after eleven, as I
sat in my bed strange feelings started to come over me. I felt
tingly all over and I started to get very edgy. My maid came in and
started to tidy up around my room. I watched her and slowly her
body turned to heat, red and blue, like an infrared would pick up.
My eyes saw her that way, my ears heard her heart beat, louder and
louder, and then she screamed, and ran out of the room.

David was the closest of the four and entered
the room shortly after the maid left screaming and he stared at me.
I was backed into the corner near the fireplace, scared of what I
might do. He stretched out his hand, trying to get close to me, but
I grabbed his hand and practically threw him across the room. He
came crashing down on one of the end tables, shortly after that
Quinn and Julian came in. Quinn went to David and looked over at me
as I sat with my knees pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapped
around me, my eyes peeking out from above my arms.

"Jesus," he said softly, a sound that seemed
to echo in my ears. I watched as he moved closer to me.

No
! I yelled with my mind.
Stay
away from me, Quinn. I don’t want to hurt you
!

Julian appeared in my vision and I shrank
back in the corner. He reached out and took my arms away from my
face. He tilted my head back and looked at my teeth, as my
breathing quickened and I looked at the maid who came back in the
room to ask if I was all right. The scent of what I could only
assume was her blood filled my nose and I stared at her as if she
was something I had never seen before.

I jumped toward her, watched her jump back,
and felt strong arms around me. I heard the low growl of what might
have been a cat and realized that it had come from me. Quinn
ushered the woman out of the room and came back to help Julian hold
me. I stared at him.

"Her eyes are so red," Quinn said and touched
my face. I snapped at him, then turned and looked at Julian,
reached out with my fingers and touched his blue face. "What's
going on?"

What is happening to me
? I asked him.
That woman, bring her back in here, I want her
.

"No, you can't touch her," Julian told me. He
pulled me up and walked me toward the bed, passing the mirror on
the way by. I noticed what they were all looking at, and I stopped
Julian to look. My eyes were red, bright red, and the skin around
them was swollen. My teeth had become those of a vampire and I
almost wanted to faint when I touched them and found out that they
were real.

Julian sat me on the bed and I looked at him.
As the blue color started to fade, the flesh color returned to his
face. I didn't want to look at him and I didn't want him looking at
me, so I turned away and hid my face in my hands. I suddenly stood
up and moved away from them, totally confused and not knowing where
I was going. I felt Julian and the others following me, but only
Julian followed me out the back door and across the patio. I looked
back to see if I was being followed, and I spotted Julian, who
stopped, not knowing what to do. I know he was wondering if he
should run up and grab me or just let me go where I wanted, but he
didn't move until I was already walking again.

I walked down and ducked under the tree
branches, and opened the large black door that lead into the
darkness of the cellar under the house. I walked on into the
darkness and then I stopped and looked back. Julian stood less than
a few feet away from me and I stared at him.

"My parents were vampires," I told him
sternly. He didn't seem at all surprised, but his eyes showed the
confusion. "I found out the summer that I left that my biological
parents were vampires and that they were killed, one before I was
born, and one after. I knew this the whole time and I let my son be
born into this life. He is a vampire also, a prince, and now his
life is in danger because of my stupidity."

"You knew all this time who your parents were
and you never told me?" Julian asked me, stepping closer.

"I wanted to protect you," I told him. "I
needed to protect you. Why do you think that I never talked to you
when I saw you standing there the summers we came back to visit?
Why do you think I made them think I forgot?"

"You didn't forget? Why didn't you try to
contact me?" He asked me. I sighed. "I lived in a dark world for
eight years because I thought that I had lost you forever, and now
you tell me that you didn't forget."

"I never forgot any of it, Julian. I just
chose not to remember," I told him sternly. "I heard my mother
speaking to an old woman and a priest the night I found out about
my parents. They said that they would kill you to keep us apart, if
I chose not to forget you. Do you think that I would ever let that
happen? I never forgot you Julian! You were in my thoughts every
waking minute of every day for the last eight years. I married Jack
because I thought I loved him, and I did, but not like you. I could
never love anyone like I did you, so don't hate me just because I
needed to protect you."

"I didn't need your protection, Ash! I needed
you," he said and I listened to the quiver in his voice.

"And I needed you, but it couldn't happen.
You said that yourself before I left, that now I knew your true
nature and it couldn't happen. Why? Because we were so different.
But we're not, are we? Not anymore, not ever." I turned to leave
but he rushed upon me and held me against the wall. I looked into
his eyes, which seemed to glow in the dark, and he stared at me,
love struck and sad. "You told me that I was beautiful before I
left and I told you that I wouldn't ever forget that, and I never
have."

"You make me crazy," he said softly, through
his teeth, trying to hold in his emotions. "You've just come back
to me and already you're driving me nuts. When I'm near you, all of
my senses are overloaded, my body doesn't know how to react, and my
mind spins in circles."

I smiled and shook myself from him. As I
began to move away, he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.
Julian wrapped his strong hands around me, leaned down and kissed
me, softly, on the lips. My body shivered from his touch, but as I
wrapped my arms around him, I knew that he was what I couldn't
resist. My knees weakened and we both sank to the ground. I moved
away from him, holding his face in my hands. I looked up at his
eyes, tried to catch my breath, and then stood. He held my hands
tightly, but then the grip loosened and he let go.

I walked back to the entrance and looked at
Julian, who now stood in the light only a few feet behind me. I
walked out and away from the house.

After standing by the edge of the ocean for
about an hour by myself, I felt a presence coming close to me. I
didn't want to turn, but as it neared, I wanted to make sure that
it didn't want to harm me. I looked at Quinn as he stuck his hands
in the pockets of his long tan coat and looked at me. The wind blew
his hair down around his face and, as he stood there, and I felt a
vibration from him that I had never felt before.

"What the hell did you do to me?" I asked
him. He looked confused and shrugged. "When you bit me, what the
hell did you do?"

"Ash, I don't know what you’re talking
about," he replied. I got annoyed and sighed. I wasn't supposed to
remember that, because he had tried to make me forget. I walked up
to him and pulled my hair back from my neck to show him the
light-colored marks on my neck. "Oh, Jesus."

"Yeah, my thought exactly," I told him. He
rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to me, stepping
closer as I turned away.

"I know you are, but I can't figure out if
that incident started off this chain reaction," I said and ran my
hands through my hair. "How come that never happened to me before,
why now and not before?"

"It did happen before, the morning after you
came here. Your eyes were silver and that's what happens to
vampires," Quinn said softly. He walked around and stood in front
of me. I tried to look away from him, but he turned my face toward
him. "Ash, the changes will pass, give it a week tops and you'll
feel better."

"Feel better Quinn?" I asked him and stepped
back from him. "Do you realize that I almost attacked a woman
tonight? I literally wanted to bite her! What about that will make
me feel better?" I questioned him. Suddenly, it hit me, and I
looked at him in shock. "Did someone tell you to do that?"

"What?" Quinn asked in a disbelieving
tone.

"Did someone tell you to bite me?" I asked
him.

"You did what?" A voice interrupted our
conversation. Both Quinn and I turned and looked at Julian, who was
standing less than five feet away.

"Julian ..." I started to say, but his eyes
were locked on his brother. "Julian, listen to me."