Tattoos and Cupcakes (Amulet of Queens Book 1)

by Everly Taylor

  “I bet Selena does. Don’t you, Cupcake?” Adrien asked, as I cleaned up my station.

  “Well…” I sputtered, making them both laugh. I glared at them. “Ha, ha, very funny. If we’re done laughing at Selena, then we can wrap this up,” I replied, taking out cling film to apply over his new ink, holding it in place with tape.

  Pulling off my gloves, I tossed them into the trash and walked toward the counter, leaving them to follow. I wasn't normally so standoffish toward clients, but geez these two were really getting to me.

  They trailed after me as Adrien slipped his shirt over his head, moving around to the front of the counter. Laying his jacket on the surface, Adrien leaned over as he put the money for the work in my hand, his lips right next to my ear, and his deep voice whispering over my skin. “That was the best tattoo I’ve ever had.” He turned without another word, the door jingling as they left.

  I stared after them in humiliation, shock, and I just don’t even freaking know. Racing around the counter to the front of the store, I tried to get one last glance at these unreal sex gods who graced my shop. It’s my birthday after all.

  The two stood next to a silver sports car arguing back and forth. Neither really looked angry, they both had grins on their faces. I was about to turn around and give them their privacy when Damien reached out so fast I barely saw it, and backhanded Adrien directly in the crotch, making him double over. Damien walked around the car laughing. Pausing, he looked right at me through the front of the store and gave me a wink.

  That jerk knew! He knew the whole time about his friend’s hard-on. They knew why I had been laughing and let me look like an idiot. Just my freaking luck, I had two hot ass guys in front of me and made a complete idiot out of myself. Even on my birthday I couldn’t manage to be cool about shit. Birthdays really were overrated.

  Chapter Three

  Valentina

  “Valentina, you need to feed.”

  “Aldrich, I will be fine for a bit longer. Don’t worry.”

  “You’re getting weaker. You can’t keep going on like this,” Aldrich pressed, pushing his hair back out of his face.

  “I know, we will find a solution soon. Don’t concern yourself too much over this. Help me to my bed. I’m going to rest for a while now and feed later.” Standing slowly, I reached for his arm and he escorted me across the room to my bed. As I sat down, I watched him bow low before straightening again. I gave him a nod of assent and he left my chamber.

  I lay back against the pillows as the door shut. Growing weaker by the day, my body was barely surviving. Feeding was becoming more frequent and no longer providing me the power I needed to protect the clan.

  My advisors grew more worried as they watched me deteriorate. As they well should. The weaker I became, the stronger the threat was from rival clans. They had always wanted as much power as they could amass and ours was the largest clan in the country. They would jump at the opportunity to overthrow my seat. I was sure by now the rumors of my weakness had made its way back to them. If they were to try to attack in my condition, then there was no way I could protect my people.

  The guilt ate at me. While everyone searched for a solution to my declining state, I knew the answer. I had always known what could save me, what could save us all. Yet I had remained silent, in fear and in guilt.

  How do I explain what had happened so long ago? I needed to figure out a way to fix everything and make them understand how it had all gone so wrong. I sat up a little straighter against my pillows. I was a queen, and it was time I acted like it. I needed to protect my people. The time had come to reveal the truth, regardless of how it affected me.

  It was time to call in my advisors and expose the secret I had kept for so many years. The secret that hopefully would save us, not destroy us.

  Sending out a thought, I summoned all three of them to me. They would come, they were bound by blood to me and I to them. Almost instantly Aldrich was knocking at the door, he must not have gone too far. “Enter, Aldrich.”

  “You called, my queen?”

  “Yes Aldrich, we’ll wait for the other two to arrive.” I gestured toward the chairs near my bed knowing he would remain standing as he always did.

  “Are you ready to feed now?” Concern still etched his face from earlier as he saw that my brief rest had not helped.

  “Not yet, there is something I need to speak with you three about, but I would rather explain when the other two arrive.” I smiled reassuringly at him. He was not usually one to be concerned, however, lately my health had everyone on edge. “Ah, here we are,” I commented, as the other two entered my open door, looking me over worriedly as Aldrich had, both wondering why they had been called.

  “Damien, Adrien, thank you for coming so quickly.” I again motioned for them to seat themselves. They joined Aldrich next to my bed, bowing before taking their seats.

  “Of course my queen. How may we help?” Damien asked.

  “I first need to apologize, to you and to the clan. But most of all to the three of you.” Holding up my hand I cut off their protests. “No, I must apologize. As a queen I believe that it is imperative to be forthcoming with information to protect my people. I have not been completely honest with the clan or you, my trusted advisors.” I looked between them, confusion flickering across their faces as I continued.

  “I have allowed you all to search for a solution to my illness. You have endlessly searched, hoping to find some sort of way to save our people. I have encouraged you to look in vain, knowing you would locate nothing.” I glanced away, not able to look at them as they registered that I had lied to them.

  “My queen,” Adrien started, “if there’s a solution, we’ll find it. You cannot give up hope.”

  Smiling sadly I looked back at him. “You are ever the optimist, aren’t you? That’s what makes this even worse. You all have held onto such hope, and I have hidden this from you.”

  I took a deep breath and continued, “You are right of course Adrien, only I already have the answer and just haven’t told any of you. Out of shame, maybe out of guilt, out of fear? Honestly, it’s a bit of everything. I am sorry I have not told you all this before now. But I think that it is time I revealed the truth to you, so we may be able to save our clan.” In their shock they remained silent, so I pressed on.

  “Twenty-six years ago I decided that what I wanted as a woman was more important than what I needed to do as a future queen. I decided to take a man to my bed, a very powerful man. The two of us being together was forbidden and we knew it, yet we didn’t care and joined anyway. We joined on the night of the blood moon.” I paused as the three gasped in unison. It was common knowledge that it was a night filled with power for our kind, yet for a queen, no one knew what that kind of power held.

  “My mother was furious when she found out and she forbade me from ever seeing him again. Little did I know, that one decision would result in me being with child.” They were silent from their shock so I continued, my face grim, knowing it would only get worse.

  “Never before had our kind had a natural birth. No one knew if I would even be able to carry her full-term, what she would be like when she was delivered, or what it would mean for our clan. I was hidden away and the pregnancy was kept a secret from everyone.

  “When I was eight months along, my mother came to me and gave me an amulet. It was a deep red, and so beautiful. Magic hummed from within it, and just holding it I could sense how powerful it was. She told me that I must never tell anyone about its power, and I must always guard it with my life. It was the lifeblood of our clan, protecting us and providing the magic for our queens. Without it, the very essence of our clan and our queens would perish.

  “She dragged her fangs down my wrist and let my blood drip onto the amulet. The deep red stone began to glow one of the deepest shades of bloodred I had ever seen, before turning almost black. Suddenly the room filled with a blinding white light as the amulet absorbed the rest of my blood. My mother was
shocked, never before had it had that reaction. She assumed it was because I was pregnant and the amulet had never taken blood from two at once before.

  “After that, my mother started to withdraw from me, barely visiting, and when she did it was very short. We thought that I would carry as a human does and deliver after nine months’ time. Nine months passed and I still hadn’t delivered. My mother was too scared to ask anyone their opinion so I continued as if nothing was wrong. I still felt healthy and she was still very active inside of me, so there was no reason to be concerned.

  “One day, when I was almost twelve months along, my mother came in my room crying. I had never seen her like that before.” I paused, still remembering the tears rolling down her cheeks. Swallowing, I willed myself to push forward. They needed to understand what I had done.

  “She was inconsolable. Holding on to me she sobbed, saying how she was sorry and she should have been there for me, how she wished she had more time to explain things. I held her while she cried, while she pulled herself together. Finally, she sat next to me and explained. The amulet would not, could not, support more than two queens. As of the day I bled on it, she started feeling the drain, the pull of power from her as she struggled to protect my unborn child and me. She feared that when my child was born she would no longer be and she would turn to ash.” I stopped as tears rolled down my cheeks.

  Adrien shifted forward and took my hand. “You didn’t know.”

  “True, but I was so selfish. I wanted to have my freedom before I became queen, and to what end?” I looked at him, hoping for some sort of answer. He just stared back at me sadly. I knew there was no response to give. There was no excuse for my actions, now we could only choose to move forward from here. He squeezed my hand in comfort.

  “What happened, Valentina?” Aldrich asked.

  “My mother and I spent as much time as we could together after that day. We made plans for the child that I carried, to keep her protected as we knew she wouldn’t be safe with our clan. She was extremely powerful and we could both already feel that, even though she wasn’t born yet. I carried her exactly twelve months. On the day I delivered, my mother passed.

  “It was a very bittersweet day. I had never thought that I would deliver a child since I had been turned. Yet there I was, holding a child of my own, and on the same day I lost a woman that saved me and meant everything to me.

  “I knew that losing my mother couldn’t be for nothing. So I took the steps we had prepared to keep the child safe. I took her to an orphanage and left her with the amulet so she would be protected. It had enough blood from both of us to protect our clan and her for a time. As long as she had it, the amulet would still protect our people and serve to mask her power from anyone else. It would also keep the other clans unaware that anything had changed.”

  Looks exchanged between the three as they processed what I had said. All at once they began asking questions. I held up my hand. “One at a time, it’s a lot to take in, I understand. To move forward we have to do so calmly.”

  “What does this mean?” Damien asked, always the one taking charge.

  “I am assuming it means either she is separated from the amulet somehow, or our time is up. If the latter is the case, then the amulet needs more blood to continue its protection.”

  “So how do we know which one it is?” Adrien asked, looking hopeful now, yet still in disbelief over everything I just revealed.

  “Either way we have to find my daughter, your future queen.” I looked among them, before explaining, “This is delicate, no one must know and it must remain between the three of you.” They nod in agreement. “Also, she was raised with humans. She has no clue we exist, let alone that she is one of us. You need to tread very carefully with her.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Damien exploded. “How does our future queen not even know she’s a vampire, let alone not know that we even exist?”

  “You will not speak to your queen like that,” Aldrich chided, stepping in.

  “It’s fine, Aldrich, the three of you may always speak freely with me. Emotions are high right now anyway. Damien, it was for the best. If she didn’t know we existed then she couldn’t go looking for answers, possibly revealing herself to anyone else. It was paramount she stay hidden to protect herself and us.”

  “Agreed,” Aldrich growled, glaring at Damien. “So logically we should start with the orphanage where you left her.”

  I handed Aldrich a piece of paper with the name and address of the orphanage printed on it. “I left her with the amulet and a letter letting them know her name was Selena, however, I am not positive they kept her name over the years or not.”

  “No fucking way,” Damien exclaimed, looking at Adrien. “There’s no way it can be the same girl from today, can it?”

  “I’m sure there’s more than one girl with the name Selena, Damien, and there’s no way she was a vampire. We would have known, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure we would have, especially since she’s our future queen. That would be one hell of a coincidence though,” Damien agreed, laughing.

  “Well then, start with the orphanage guys, and good luck. Thank you for understanding and keeping my secret,” I said to the three of them. “One more thing,” I added, slipping a piece of paper from my pocket. “This is a sketch of the amulet, so you might recognize it if you see it.” I passed it to Adrien and he showed it to the other two before slipping it in his pocket.

  “Thank you for your attention on this matter.”

  They bowed in unison before filing out of my room and leaving me lost in my thoughts from the past.

  Chapter Four

  Selena

  Groaning, I rolled over. This ringing and banging first thing in the morning has got to stop. Couldn’t a girl get a little sleep around here? Reaching blindly for my phone, I knocked it off the table. “Damn it,” I muttered as the ringing continued, now muffled in the clothes I had dropped next to my bed the night before.

  With my feet sticking in the air I leaned halfway over the bed, fumbling through the clothes as I looked for my phone. Finally, I found it hidden next to last night’s shirt. “Yes!” I yelled triumphantly, sliding my finger across the screen to answer, while trying to right myself again. “Hello?” I answered, my voice muffled as I still struggled to pull myself upright, failing miserably. As usual I didn’t think this through. I tumbled forward instead, falling off the bed and hitting the floor with a thud.

  “Lena? Are you okay?” I heard Sam ask, laughing from the other end.

  “Fuck. Yes,” I said loudly, so she could hear me as I leaned over and picked up my phone from where it had landed when I fell. “I fell off my bed,” I groaned. Sam just kept laughing. “What do you want? This is your fault, you know, if you hadn’t called I would have never fallen out of bed.” I sat up and leaned against the stand.

  “Oh, you’re no fun. I just want to make sure we’re still on for lunch today. You have an hour to get ready.”

  “I shouldn’t go to lunch with you after your stupid shit at dinner last night.”

  “Oh come on Lena, it was too good to just let it drop.”

  “Sam, you walked into my parents’ house and told them you were so happy our secret was finally out. Then you fucking insisted on holding my hand during dinner. Do you know how hard it is to eat with one hand? Oh, and let’s not forget your little closing act. My mother gushing with how pleased she was for us, and you deciding it was a great idea to kiss me. I’m never going to be able to convince her otherwise now,” I lamented in exasperation, as Sam burst out in fits of laughter.

  After her amusement died down, she promised, “I’ll make it up to you. So lunch then?”

  “Yeah I’ll be there,” I rolled my eyes, “bruised ass and all.”

  “And you have such a cute ass,” she teased.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I grinned into the phone. I couldn’t help but smile when I talked to her.

  “And you can tell me again all about t
hose sex gods in the shop yesterday.”

  “Bye Sam.” I rolled my eyes again and hung up on her. Of course I had told her about the two guys that came into the shop, humiliation and all. Sam being Sam, she ate that up like a freaking Christmas cookie and now has made it her mission to know every detail about them. She’s coming up with some elaborate plan to find them and turn it into some whirlwind romance. Fate, she says, brought us together and one of them has to be destined to be mine, or why else would they have acted like that?

  There is absolutely no way in hell that I will ever talk to either of them again after that embarrassment. If I saw either of them in public, I didn’t know if I would freeze or turn and run in the other direction. The jury was still out on that one.

  I rolled my eyes again when the phone rang, answering it without even glancing at the caller. “Sam, I told you I would be there,” I assured, laughing as I tried to sound annoyed, but I just couldn’t pull it off.

  “Honey, it’s Mom.” I stopped laughing instantly, hearing the tears through the phone.

  “Oh my God, Mom, what’s wrong? Is it Dad? What happened?” I asked, panicked.

  “No honey, your dad is fine. It’s your Uncle Grant,” she choked out. “He… he passed away this morning.”

  There was silence on the other end. “There was nothing wrong with him though,” I murmured in disbelief, tears welling up in my own eyes. Hearing my mom’s grief and feeling the loss of a man who was my uncle in every way that mattered was a lot to take in at once.

  “He was in an accident, a motorcycle accident. Someone,” she stopped as the words caught in her throat, “someone pulled out in front of him and he didn’t, he didn’t make it.” She started sobbing again.

  “Oh Mom, I’m so sorry. Is Dad with you right now?” I inquired. There was no answer on the other end. “Mom?”

  “Yes, sorry, honey. Yes, your dad is here.”