Tattoos and Cupcakes (Amulet of Queens Book 1)

by Everly Taylor

  “No, all of my wounds from the fight were completely healed before I had returned to the sanctuary. I didn’t even have a scratch left on me.” It hadn’t even occurred to me to try to use my newly acquired fangs to get back to my men when I had turned in for the night. Maybe it was the adrenaline rushing through me, the underlying exhaustion from the day, or deep down I could have known the importance of being here.

  “Wait,” I said as a thought occurred to me. “What do you mean pull me through worlds?”

  “Selena, you can’t possibly think all of this exists within your world, can you?” She furrowed her brow at me. “Think about it, we are all past queens, long deceased. We live in a place full of magic that allows or denies people entry of its own will. Not to mention, I’m sure you have noticed by now that it knows your preferences before you even realize it yourself.”

  She had a point. There was no way any of this could exist where I was from. Hell, if I hadn’t seen it all firsthand I would have sworn it was too far-fetched to be real.

  I nodded in agreement. “How do we find out who’s responsible? I can’t keep popping in and out of worlds like this. I’m certainly no expert, but that can’t possibly be good for you, can it? Like I’m going to end up with some terminal disease or pick up some kind of inter-world travel voodoo shit?”

  “It doesn’t work that way Selena.” Calledora smiled. “I have no clue who could be responsible for this, but I know who might.” She seemed to consider something for a minute before adding, “I think it’s time that you met someone.” She sounded resigned to the fact, and it didn’t give me the warm fuzzies, that was for sure.

  “Uh, okay?” I agreed hesitantly. “Are you going to share who that might be?” I asked as she stood from her seat.

  “Perhaps it’s better if you just meet her,” Calledora replied cryptically. Of course she did, because why else would I get a straight answer from her?

  Pushing my stool back, I stood with her and followed her out of the kitchen. We reached the sanctuary and I stopped for a minute, looking at the weird altar. Its black gleaming surface reflected my image back at me, slightly distorted and broken up from the veins running through it, but it was there all the same.

  Calledora paused and looked back at me, glancing between the platform and me. “You feel it too, don’t you?” she inquired.

  “What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure it was safe to tell her that it creeped me out.

  “Do you feel the pull to the altar?” she pressed.

  “No,” I answered bluntly. “I feel the exact opposite actually. While I am fascinated by it, I also don’t want to be anywhere near it,” I explained, dragging my eyes from it to look over at her as her eyes widened in surprise.

  “What do you use this thing for anyways? Sacrificing virgin brides or something?” I joked. Well, kind of, I still hadn’t gotten that education so it was possible.

  “No, we prefer castrating virgin men on it instead,” Calledora quipped, her face completely serious.

  This time it was my turn to be shocked, my mouth dropping open as I stared at her. I quickly recovered and closed my mouth. “Are you serious?”

  Calledora started laughing, a full-bodied laugh that I hadn’t heard from her before. “No, I’m not serious Selena. We don’t kill people, I told you that.” She laughed again. “You should have seen the look on your face though. It was completely worth it.” Giggling, she wiped a tear from her cheek.

  I shook my head at her. “Wow, I didn’t think you had it in you Grandma,” I joked, making her smile at me. “So what is it, really?”

  “It’s the reason we are all here, and also a history lesson for another day. There are more pressing matters at the moment, let’s go,” she said and we started across the sanctuary, leaving the strange altar behind.

  We headed down the hallway I had come from before breakfast. As we stopped, I found myself standing in front of the door I had been eavesdropping next to. I glanced at Calledora and asked, “Here? Are you sure? I mean it was such a big deal I was here earlier. So why now?”

  “I felt it was best you wait until you had more training, but things are progressing much faster than I anticipated. It is time for us to seek out someone much wiser and more powerful than myself for answers.” She nodded toward the door, indicating the occupant I had heard earlier, I presumed.

  It still didn’t make me feel very good about this whole situation. From everything I had witnessed, Calledora knew a shit ton about a lot of things. The people I saw around her deferred to her for a reason. She was obviously intelligent and powerful enough for them to feel like out of all the queens, she was the one they turned to for leadership here in this magical place.

  That she now turned to someone she held in a higher regard than herself gave me a feeling of trepidation I didn’t welcome. “Who’s in there?” I inquired, worried about the answer. With vampires I still wasn’t sure I could trust them. Was the devil himself waiting on the other side? I guess I was about to find out.

  “The first fallen,” Calledora stated, the reverence in her voice ringing through the air before she swung the door open, allowing me to enter before her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Selena

  I entered the room, unsure of what awaited me on the other side of the door. The sitting room that greeted me was nicely decorated and very well lit. A beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling, spreading its warm light across the space. Smaller lamps were placed on tables in the corners, illuminating even the darkest spots.

  A large fireplace took up most of one wall, where a mantle held several beautiful candlestick holders of various sizes, reflected by a large gilded mirror atop it. Sofas faced each other, bright with their cheerful patterns, and looking soft and welcoming. Facing away from me was a large, high backed emerald green chair, which hid its occupant from my view.

  The door clicked softly behind me and I made my way around to the other side of the chair. I noticed this room had tapestries covering some of the stone walls, bringing more color into the room and making me smile. It seemed whoever was in charge of this room was tired of the boring grey and chose to spread a splash of color through this area. I couldn’t say I really blamed them much, since it did get a bit dreary after a while.

  I rounded the chair and stared in awe at the woman who sat before me. She was poised, tall and regal in the chair. Her silver grey hair was swept back from her face in an elegant bun at the nape of her neck. Her green eyes watched me, bright with interest, giving me the impression that she didn’t miss a thing. The hands resting on her lap displayed several rings, which listened on her fingers, colorful and bright like the room surrounding us.

  This woman exuded confidence and strength, but there was something else about her that made me study her closer. The air around her seemed to hum, a slight buzz similar to what I felt from my amulet at times.

  Breaking my almost trance-like state, she held out her hand to me. “Selena, it is so nice to finally meet you.” Her voice had a slight rasp to it, an odd contrast to the stunning woman I stood in front of.

  I moved forward and reached for her hand, grasping it in mine. It felt a lot more fragile than I had expected. Almost like the old people in nursing homes, the kind with the bones jutting through their papery thin skin, making you fear that one wrong move would have them poking through, exposing the flesh underneath. Something wasn’t right here, but I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

  “I’m afraid I can’t say the same as I don’t know who you are,” I replied, meeting her gaze. I swear for a second she looked old with sunken in cheeks, her hair falling out, and her back hunched over. Before I could be sure she was the same regal woman holding my hand. It must have been my imagination, old people had always creeped me out anyways.

  She continued to watch me curiously, making me uncomfortable, but then laughed heartily, making me jump back a little as she finally released my hand. “Yes Selena, you will do nicely for us, w
on’t you?” she asked, grinning now from ear to ear.

  I looked to Calledora, who was still standing near the door, for some sort of direction. She just smiled knowingly back at me and shrugged. Had someone slipped something in the water and everyone was fucking loopy around here?

  The strange woman gestured to the sofa at her side. “Please Selena, sit, and let’s get you all caught up, shall we?”

  I moved to the sofa as Calledora joined us on the opposite couch. The coffee table between us held a teapot and cups, along with an assortment of cookies and plates. It looked like she expected this conversation to take more than a minute, which was good, because I wasn’t leaving here until I had all my answers for once.

  The silence in the room was deafening as she watched me, for what, I didn’t know. Finally, I broke the silence. “Let’s start with who are you, and why Calledora brought me to you, of all people, for answers.”

  “Forgive me, where are my manners? I, my dear, go by several titles depending on who you ask, or I suppose on what mood they are in at the moment too.” She paused and chuckled at her own joke. Normally I would have found her amusing, but right now her distracted old lady act was just annoying me. I came here to figure out what the hell was going on, not to listen to a half crazy old lady crack jokes at herself.

  She continued though, and explained, “I am known as The First Fallen, The Original Queen, La Regina Della Notte.” She waved those titles away. “You may call me Lamia, it is my preferred name and the one those closest to me call me. I do rather hope we become close.”

  “No offense meant, but that remains to be seen. Lately I’ve had a bit of a hard time trusting people, as I’m sure you can understand.” I didn’t want to give this woman false hope, but I would be dumb to anger her. There was no denying the power she held, it crackled through the air even now as we sat talking about mundane things.

  “I would question you if you didn’t, considering the things you have been through as of late. You are a strong child, and one who I think will serve our people well. Let’s start with the question you originally came to see me about. I can feel it burning on your mind,” she stated.

  “So what, the vampire thing is true? You can read minds and shit?” I asked.

  Calledora laughed from across the table. “She needs to brush up on what is lore and what is fact Lamia.” Turning back to me she said, “In this case certain vampires can read thoughts, others cannot.”

  “However it was not necessary for me to read your thoughts, it was fair for me to conclude that you came to me for a reason, and since you didn’t bring me scones to go with my tea I assumed that reason was a question,” Lamia added.

  My face blushed slightly, well now I felt dumb. You would think by now I would stop jumping to conclusions with them. I just couldn’t seem to help myself though, everything I had ever learned said that vampires were bad and to run. Now I learned that I was one, that there were good and bad ones, and let’s not forget the fight to protect humanity. It was fucking insanity.

  “Fair enough, I apologize for assuming that you would intrude on my thoughts.” When I was wrong, I was wrong, and owned up to it.

  “No apology necessary, if needed to I absolutely would,” she admitted, chuckling again and coughing a bit at the end. It reminded me of Valentina’s illness because of the loss of the amulet’s power, but surely Lamia couldn’t be suffering from the same effects, could she? My thoughts were interrupted when she asked her next question. “So what question did you have for me, dear?”

  “Right, I wanted to know if you knew who sent me back to my world for a night, only to pull me back here before I could let everyone know where I was going,” I informed her.

  “Isn’t that obvious?” she inquired. What was it with these cryptic dead ass vampires? Of course it wasn’t obvious or I wouldn’t be here.

  “Not really, or I guess I would have brought you scones, now wouldn’t I?” I asked, making her laugh again.

  “Yes, yes you will do nicely,” she repeated herself. I really wished she would stop saying that. “Dear, you are the one who sent yourself back to your men. You are also the one who brought yourself back here.”

  I stared at her for a minute before I recovered enough to speak. “There’s no way I did that. First, why the hell would I do something like that? I wanted to go back and stay back. No offense, but I had no desire to come back here. Second, if Calledora doesn’t have that kind of power, I certainly don’t.”

  “You are more powerful than you realize, another one of the things you will need to accept. While I cannot be one hundred percent positive on this, I believe when you fell asleep your subconscious brought you to your men, as that is where you wanted to be most in that moment. However, once that desire was sated, and very well I might add.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me, making me groan. Eww, she should not know that.

  “Again,” Lamia continued, “once that desire was satisfied, your subconscious knew that ultimately your training was not complete and you needed to return here, for answers as well as to finish your training.”

  I had no clue what to think about that. There was no way I could bring myself across worlds. Was there? What did that even mean, if that was possible?

  “What does this even mean?” I voiced the very question I was having such a hard time comprehending.

  “Selena, you are the most powerful vampire your world, or any other, has ever seen. Conceived on a night of great magic, you were born with more power than either Sylred or myself. Possibly more than both of us combined,” she added.

  I tried to process what she had said. If I was so powerful why had I not been able to stand up against Sylred that whole time? The amulet had done it for me, it wasn’t me at all. “If I am so powerful then why was I not able to defend myself against Sylred?” I asked.

  “You did though. Think back, you knocked him out when no other has been able to do so. You broke those chains, ones forged in Hell itself and designed to keep people like us from using magic of any kind, disintegrating them to the ashes from whence they came. You did all of that Selena,” Lamia explained.

  “That wasn’t me though, that was the amulet, I just happened to be there,” I argued.

  “Selena, the amulet doesn’t have that kind of power. It was designed to protect our people by acting as a conduit for the queen’s own magic. Most queens have a small amount of power, however they are unable to use it unless they have a way to channel that outward. The amulet provides that for them, focusing it and amplifying it to a degree. This is why it asks for blood in return, it provides that connection between the stone and the queen, allowing that power to pass through the stone.

  “You are special in two ways. First, the amount of magic you naturally possess and second, you do not need the amulet to unleash that power. It may be easier at first to learn to use your abilities with something to help you focus and channel it outward, but you will not need it once you understand how your magic works,” Lamia expounded.

  “Or I could be wrong about it all and you could try to use your magic and we all implode and die where we stand.” She shrugged her shoulders and I know an expression of terror passed over my face. She started cackling again, she actually started laughing about me freaking blowing everyone up. Holding up a hand she chuckled again. “I’m joking, I’m joking!” She continued to laugh. “Things were getting way too serious for my old bones.” She dissolved into a fit of coughs once more and I knew for sure the polished woman I saw sitting in front of me was a façade. It was quick and flickered briefly, but the hunched over woman took her place, with dull sunken eyes and pale skin.

  “Lamia, what’s going on?” I demanded.

  “I’m not sure what you mean?” She looked at me genuinely confused.

  “Why are you wearing a false cover? I saw what you really look like flicker underneath that…” I gestured up and down at her form sitting in the chair.

  The look of surprise was apparent on her face. “You
have more power than I had anticipated, and you should not be able to see that. The level of magic used to hide my true self at the moment is great, it should be well beyond your untrained eye,” she spoke, almost in awe as she finished.

  “Why are you hiding it?” I questioned. Calledora looked confused but stayed quiet, listening from her seat.

  “The amulet has always been meant for great power, protecting queens and channeling their energy. Valentina explained to you that the cost is blood. This much is true and two fold. It forms that bond with the amulet, however it also provides something good to counteract the bad that exists within the amulet.

  “When that price is not paid and the balance is disturbed, the darkness that exists within the amulet begins to grow. Eventually being unleashed on the worlds,” Lamia explained.

  “So, you’re saying that because Valentina left the amulet with me this darkness has been let free?” I summarized.

  “I believe so.” My face fell. This was my fault, if I had just made my decision quicker then these people would not be suffering. Lamia continued, “This is not your fault Selena, no one had any way of knowing. A lot of the knowledge concerning the amulet has been lost over time. Queens of the past neglected to pass on certain bits of information thinking it was for the best.

  “In the end it has caused more harm than good.” She hesitated. “I am at fault for that too, I am the very first one to not convey information. So I will tell you what I can now, the rest will come when it is time.” She looked sad for a moment, different from the cheerful old lady when we had first entered the room.

  It passed quickly and she started again. “The thread of magic that comes from the amulet has been disturbed, and is now not only providing power for good, but also for the bad that has come from within it. This is why Valentina is becoming ill so quickly. You are draining it as you use it to channel such a great amount of power.