Until Dawn

by brett hicks

  For even domain lords and ladies cannot freely enter each other’s domains. Not without some diplomatic documentation, and even that limits them to what they can do while in another’s territory.

  Seri took Brooklyn Kingdom for herself in a bid to stay free. Dean could not kidnap another domain lord, or lady, so she was safe from him. That did not mean Seri had been safe from all the others who lusted after her prime real estate. None had expected her to hold Brooklyn Kingdom for over two centuries. Many had come thinking the young vampiress a prime target and her kingdom ripe for the picking. Just like Dean had been left dissatisfied all those years before, she left all her challengers in ruins. What’s worse, is she left most of them alive, suffering humiliation and defeat and unable to ever raise a hand against her a second time. After a while, challengers stopped coming forth, seeing that the girl was like the siren, luring hapless men to their deaths.

  “I commend you on breeching my defenses undetected Dean, however, your plans will not turn out as you wish them. In addition, the only way your seed will be anywhere near my body is if you manage to kill me. You shall never know me in such a way while I draw breath.”

  Dean’s cruel smile widened.

  “You forget that death would never stop one such as me, Seraphina Herrington.”

  Seri’s skin crawled with the disgust and the implied violation he promised. Necromancers could raise the dead in more than one form, one of those being revenants. Beings that could think, speak, and act as a living person and retained all their memories from life, but were physically incapable of opposing the necromancer who raised them.

  Dean’s threat was a new level of sick, even for him!

  “Tell me; are willing partners so few and far between that you must stoop to such desperation? Perhaps if you just learned to treat a woman with some dignity, they might be willing to endure your megalomaniacal behavior. You know mortal men often take to reading How-To books, guides, or even magazines with the dating advice columns.”

  Seri smiled coldly at Dean showing her strength of character and her unwillingness to bow in fear. She had held her head high all her life and she had blazed her own path. She would put an end to Dean’s current scheme and execute that silly little witch who was helping him, who had been manipulating her kin.

  “You shall rue this day Seraphina.”

  She pointed to her door and made shooing motion. Dean looked affronted to be dismissed so casually. Seri was the only person besides her father who could enrage him so, but unlike her father, she would be his.

  “Dean, one last thing, you have crossed my domain for the final time. My proclamation of the Crown Princess of Earth, you are formally outlawed from New York. Any kingdom that tries to shelter you shall face my full wrath. I will tell my father the same, so keep this in mind. You will no longer be free to hide behind daddy’s skirt. I do hope he likes you enough to challenge my power now that I have established myself, over a pauper such as yourself. What do you think his response would be?”

  She gave him a satisfied smile as his face turned tomato red.

  “This shall not be forgiven.”

  His voice was gravely, and his threat was lethal. Seri flicked her fingers at him in silent dismissal.

  “be gone before I sick all the wolves of New York on your heels. They would relish the chance to hunt down a filthy necro once more.”

  His jaw ticked, and he nearly collided with Liam, as he exited. Seri’s heart leapt into her throat at the sight of Liam in her door. She didn’t say a word, she felt her building, and she waited to feel the pop in her mind as Dean slithered out of her wards.

  “Where is she, is she safe?”

  Liam walked in and closed the door, Bix followed him in and Liam helped himself to Seri’s private stash of scotch. He poured three tall glasses full of amber liquid.

  “Oh, she’s safe, but we have a real problem. Someone, I can guess who now, considering the arsehole I spotted leaving, tried to have Thea kidnapped.”

  Seri’s breath fled her body and she stilled like a vampire did when hunting her prey. She looked at Liam, willing herself not to lash out at her most trusted friend.

  “Tell me everything Liam and explain why she is not with you.”

  Liam turned up the tall glass and gulped down the contents in one go.

  “Because she blew off the head of her attacker with a single blast her power. Seri, I have never seen one in person, but I know the stories, your kin is First Born. I armed her, and I did not stop her from fleeing her own way, to hide where she was sure no immortal would think to find her.”

  Seraphina’s heart clenched. Her kin first born?! Seri could believe this to be truth, even with a half-mortal parent; Thea had been far too powerful and far too strong for a normal mortal being. Unless she had been the daughter of the origin, First Born. One of her parents was a true necromancer, and the other was a part human witch-born necromancer. Seri had tasted as much in her blood, but she too had never experienced First Born before now. She had heard her father’s tales of them. Thea was now all immortal and would be coming into the full potency of her heritage, the heritage of the Lost Empire.

  “I must find her! Liam burn everything and leave no trace of her powers. This must not escape this room; do I make myself clear?!”

  Liam nodded, and Bix threw back her own alcohol, realizing why Liam had laid it out now. Bix slammed her glass down with a thump.

  “You must remain here and fortify our kingdom against that snake bastard. He is circling the wagons. I shall find your missing kin my Princess. I give you my word as a noble wood elf that no one shall learn of your kin through me. I would sooner die, than to betray the only worthy ruler in this entire shattered kingdom of earth.”

  Seri walked over, her anger forgotten for the moment and she pulled her good friend into her arms and hugged the much taller woman warmly.

  “Thank you, my old friend.”

  She looked to Liam, “Thank you both.”

  Seri walked back to her desk, and she picked up the tall shot of scotch. She downed the burning amber beverage and exhaled a long haggard breath.

  War was coming, and so was the man who could call the storm to his every whim and will. Her kingdom would be left in ruins if she could not manage to placate a grieving Sky Lord. In his right mind, he would never raise a hand against Seri, but he was hardly in his right mind with his only daughter dead. She was not his heir, he had an older son, but Libby had been a miraculous child, after they believed her mother barren. She was his pride and joy, and his heart. Dean had picked the ripest target possible to level threat against her.

  Her options were to surrender her claim to Brooklyn Kingdom, or to watch the Sky Lord laid waste to her and millions of humans. However, as she had heard her kin say, she could be seven kinds of crazy. Seri was willing to thread the needle and find a third option. Being a true princess meant not cowling to anyone, never, not even when lives were at stake.

  Surrender was worse than a million deaths in this case, for with her surrender the entire kingdom of earth would fall to Dean’s whim and will. Her father would be soon to the grave, her mother with him. She hated her father at the best of times, but she needed him in charge, lest she be forced to take up the royal mantle. Seri enjoyed her freedom too much to covet her father’s seat of power. However, Dean was now pushing her closer and closer to the throne. She was going to have to put an end to this sooner rather than later.

  Fourteen:

  Seeping cold infused my very bones. A girl never realizes how good she has had it, until she is forced back into the cold of night.

  Crashing in Harlem, a veritable no-man's-land would have been insane, if I was not so street savvy. Lucky for me that in not looking for comfort, I found some semblance of refuge at the edge of a crack house. The mixed sweet and chemical scents tickled my nose, and the pungent undertone of burning rope—weed.

  The rickety building had once been an old apartment building. Now, the three acces
sible levels were flooded with users and undesirables. I had seen more than a few lost teens no different than I had been years before, sitting amongst the older users. Some of them were trading their bodies for protection in the area, a place to sleep for the night, and usually a hit of whatever their drug of choice had become.

  Welcome to the world of the mean streets of every major city in every large country! Seeing this as an adult now, it did something to me inside that I could not help these people that I was hiding amongst them, even though I had a roof over my head, and I had someone I could go back to if I had the metaphorical balls.

  While my self-loathing ate at me from the inside, the deep creep of the night crawled up my skin. I had packed lightly, knowing well I would be exposed to the elements no matter what shelter I found. I had packed a small blanket; it was common practice for true people of the streets. To not have something like a blanket packed would have made me stand out more amongst the sorted crowd.

  Lucky for me my no bullshit stare and my icy aura kept the men from bothering me. Predators had a deep sense of when they were biting off more than they could chew. A few eyed me with lust, but ultimately scrambled for easier prey. Life was primitive on the streets and in the dens of the undesirables.

  Being here reminded me of things I wished to forget form when I was sixteen. I might not like men, but I’m not untouched by the cruelty of the street. Like the girls around here, I once had nothing but my sex to keep me alive, and I am neither proud of this, nor ungrateful to still breathe.

  While I had been distracted for the moment by the mundane issues, I nearly forgot of the larger menace waiting for me in the darkness. Vampires had crashed into my apartment. There goes the whole invitations only theory. For once, I wished the damn myths were true!

  I might not be knowledgeable in the new world around me, the world of being inhuman, but I could gleam a lot from that attack, and Liam’s behavior afterwards.

  This shouldn’t be possible, and somehow people, inhuman people, were infiltrating Seri’s domain. Likely, they used the same rune magic that had allowed them to kill right under Seri’s nose in her own club. My stomach rolled in disgust, as I remembered my former best friend’s likely involvement.

  If these inhumans were breaching her territory at will now, then they were likely already on the streets looking for me. The very first thing I needed to do was get to ground and stay there, check. Next, I needed to figure out where they were coming in from and I needed to close the way. That proposed a new issue in and of itself. Every inhuman I knew currently, were all working directly for Seri, a royal princess, so not likely to help her disgraced kin.

  What I needed to do was to find someone neutral, willing to help me. I needed to fly under the radar. But how would I know who might sell me out, and who wouldn’t? How did I even know if there were such inhumans?

  I had more questions now than I had just hours ago. Hell, I feel as though I have had nothing but mounting questions since before this entire situation happened! Looking back now, I have lived a lifetime avoiding the truth that I saw, but refused to believe. I had thought I was prone to visual hallucinations. A girl doesn’t proclaim herself seven kinds of crazy without feeling the part!

  For many years, I just looked away until the monsters receded from my sight, never truly retreating. Part of me felt ridiculous that I had never pieced together the existence of the inhuman world, but part of me knew the real reason why I denied this world so strongly. To admit the existence of the inhuman would be to come to terms with my status as less than human or inhuman myself. I have been inhuman all my life, yet technically only for a single day and a half now.

  Life happens unexpectedly, and it leads us to places we never imagined going. I never wanted to venture this deep into Harlem, not with all I knew of the mean side of Boston. Street smarts told me to steer clear, and to keep myself far, far away from this broken and forgotten part of the city. Forgotten by all who are considered “decent” despite the massive population of this borough of New York City.

  At least down here me not being a white girl actually worked in my favor. Most places I get looks, or clerks eyeing me like I’m going to lift something, but down here it is better than an easy-pass. However, if these people knew what I studied, or what I was planning to do for a living, they would throw me out on my head, or slit my throat.

  I’ve always had an amazing sixth-sense about danger, and I always knew when someone was watching me. Something innate inside me knew when I was being hunted or sized up. The tingling through my shoulder blades told me that this was the case now. Only now, I had my necromancer powers roaring to life, showing me the blue-spots in the room as I closed my eyes.

  Vampires, a dozen of them!

  My spine froze, and I opened my eyes and gave a casual glance around the room. Two sets of curious eyes were fixed on me, one was a skinny frail looking man, and the other was a little blonde girl clinging tightly to his side, as if scared to be caught alone—smart girl.

  The girl was six or seven, but I closed my eyes a second time and sure enough, her aura was blue. Her power was weaker than my own, but she had more spark to her life force than the man next to her. My instincts told me she would one day be strong, possibly like Liam.

  The man stiffened when he realized I had taken note of them. My power rushed around the room, encircling all the inhabitants. All the vampires looked up and their eyes widened in horror. They looked like a bunch of children caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie-jar.

  Lead them out of here Thea; you cannot have a real talk around these humans! Drugs will not keep them from talking about the crazy people with strange powers, or fangs!

  I folded my blanket back into my backpack and I packed up my battered novel I had next to me—always keep a good book with you to kill the boredom. That was how I kept myself clean and was able to avoid becoming a junkie when I lived on the streets. I used education and fantasy to keep my mind off the hell of my reality, or the nights I let much older men use me like a toy.

  Vampires have amazing hearing, I knew this since I had been forced to block out a lot of the cacophony of the world around me since I awakened with fangs and blood-hunger. I whispered in a powerful tone, one of the demanding tones I used when dealing with muggers or would-be rapists.

  “Follow me away from the humans, now.”

  The man looked fearful, but a blonde woman who was an adult mirror of the girl stood and nodded her comprehension. She had been feeding on one of the passed-out druggies nearby. Her lips were ruby with his blood, but he was still snoozing away, alive.

  I didn’t have time to process the scene anymore. I walked out the room drawing the eyes of a few of the Kings of Death dealers smoking a blunt in the next hallway. They were part of a Hispanic gang, a very nasty one by all accounts. I pulled my hoodie up tight around my face and I walked past them with a blank look. I made sure to look less coordinated and balanced in my steps, than I truly was. That was the trick I learned from a hooker in Boston, always let them think you’re off balance and weak, because then they are off guard when you knock them the fuck out!

  They whispered a bit, and I clutched one of my silver and cold iron daggers, one of Liam’s many parting gifts. I had it sheathed on my hip with my hoodie covering the leather sheath. I had a lot of weapons training, so I knew how to handle a knife or dagger. I even knew a bit about using swords, but I was far more practiced with smaller melee weapons. I had considered this a necessity of living in Boston. Life was harsh, so I had to know my way around pointed objects, lest someone attack me, and I be unable to protect myself.

  The lead guy got up and he walked by me extending his hand to bar my progress towards the upstairs.

  “Bonita, why don’t you come chill with us?”

  I stopped, and I looked up at him with my hardened amber gaze. I didn’t need vamp strength, or speed to deal with a jack-hole like this. I fixed him with my steely gaze and became very still.

 
; “Move.”

  He reached out to grab my arm and I felt my fangs descending.

  Fuck!

  “I said, MOVE!”

  A stream of power boomed from my throat, and I felt a strange fuzziness of some kind in my eyes. The man’s gaze glassed over more than it had been from the pot. He dumbly nodded, and I waved my hand toward his friends.

  “Go back to your friends please.”

  He complied wordlessly and sat down. He shook his head, as if trying to remember something just beyond his grasp. Then a blunt was passed to him and one of the other men clapped him on the shoulder. He took the blunt and began to smoke with his friends, laughing about something one of the others had done the day before. He was the boss, so none of them seemed too quick to mention him being shot down by a little twig of a Latin chick.

  Was that glamour?

  I wondered to myself, and I made my way up to the fifth floor, when I could now sense all the vampires gathered in a single place.

  Great, they all came…

  I tilted my head high and I pulled back my hoodie once more, letting them see my face as I walked in proudly. I had to remind myself that I was kin to a vampire princess, and I was a born necromancer of some powerful variety. I had to believe that my street smarts could carry over to parley with the undead or the inhuman rather.

  The blonde woman who reflected the potential beauty of the little seven-year-old stood tall and all the rest huddled behind her.

  Fifteen:

  Fifteen vampires and a Necrovamp walk into a dilapidated apartment room. Yep, this felt like some absurd joke told in a fairy bar.