by AJ Tipton
Distantly he heard their audience murmuring to themselves, nodding heads of agreement and tones of consideration surround them.
Christopher smiled. "The entire kingdom sees you for what you are."
"I am a king! I'm the savior of our people!"
"You're a weak, terrified coward."
Rhys screamed in mindless fury, swinging his axe in a wild arc. Christopher raised one arm, blocking the down-swing of Rhys's axe on his metal arm-guard while he leapt in a roundhouse kick, connecting with Rhys's head.
The sound of Rhys's body hitting the ground was the most satisfying thud Christopher had heard in ages. Christopher snapped cuffs on his brother's hands and stepped back. Rhys lay sprawled across the red carpet like a broken doll.
"Long live the vampire king," Margot's impressed voice rang out uncomfortably loud in the now-silent throne room.
“Is that it?” Danny asked from his perch atop a guard’s back.
“We did it!” Alice ran to Christopher, wrapping her arms around his neck. She stood on tiptoe and brought her lips to his.
He smiled against Alice’s lips as he pressed into her, his tongue roaming her mouth with the same ferocity his hands roamed her body.
“Let’s go take the former-prince and the other prisoners to the dungeon.” Margot shouted across the hall with a laugh. “Our new king is busy making out.”
Alice decided she liked sitting on a throne. The throne room was absolutely stunning now that Margot had insisted on redecorating. Alice never thought she'd ever feel so at home. Ruling had taken a few months to get used to, especially as Christopher and his sire line were busy writing new policies, ferreting out Rhys's remaining supporters, and building up new allies to solidify their rule. It still boggled Alice's mind that when Christopher talked about his rule, he meant centuries. There were moments when she still couldn't quite believe only a few months ago she'd been a photographer whose most ambitious dream was to financially support herself with her art. Now she was the acting Queen of the Vampires. Submitting her resignation letter at her old day job had been nearly as satisfying as helping defeat Rhys.
A group of vampires knelt below her in the throne room, heads bowed. A female vampire who looked like she was in her mid-twenties, but was probably older than Alice's great-grandmother, stepped forward. She made a small cut on her finger, raising the blood toward Alice. Since Alice's impromptu move during the coronation that betrayed Rhys's malicious intentions, small gestures of bloodletting when making a request to the court had become standard practice.
"We have come to make a formal petition to the court to break our hortari." The woman's blood stank of terror, long-held grudges, and a spirit nearly broken to pieces. The others huddled behind the leader made small cuts as well. All women, Alice noticed, with a sense of unease. Since it was known that Alice wasn't bound to Christopher any more, vampire women coming forward and asking her to break their own bonds was distressingly common.
"Unfortunately, the hortari isn't something that I or anyone else has the power to lift," Alice said. "I broke mine because I was desperate to save the people I loved. With sufficient will and training, you can do the same."
"Please, teach us," the woman in front said. "Our sire is a sadistic bastard. We were only able to get away by tricking and gagging him. We must break our bond to him before he finds us." The others behind her nodded.
A sinking feeling filled Alice's chest. There was so much still to do, so much left to fix. Having no accountability for sires for so long had kept so many awful practices in the dark. Regulating how sires treated their sirelings was the first step towards trying to make things right. It's a good thing we have time.
"You have sanctuary here for as long as you need," Alice said. "And I will teach you as best I can." She beckoned to one of the stewards to take them to the wing they were refurnishing specifically for guests. "Take them to clean rooms and collect statements about their sire and who else might still be under his thrall. We'll send out Danny to lead a team to question and detain the sire."
Alice kept an expression of royal serenity on her face until the last woman left the room, then sunk against the back of the door.
"That was well done," Margot said, approaching from the side of the room where she'd been watching the proceedings.
Alice rubbed her forehead. "I still don't know why it's me who has to do this. I'm not the one who fought my evil brother in order to become the ruler." An evil brother pouting in the dungeon for at least the next millennia, Alice thought. It was only Christopher's belief that Rhys could someday change that had stayed his execution for treason.
Margot gave Alice a pat on the shoulder that would have been heavy enough to bruise if Alice had still been human.
"You're a natural. And you're learning the rest. Christopher is out getting to know the people and enforcing the rules, which only he has the centuries of experience to do. And you're new to being a vampire, so you don't have all the baggage that the rest of us carry."
"I guess." Alice looked at Margot and saw a wealth of understanding in the woman's brown eyes. "I just miss him."
"Anyone who told you that ruling a scattered nation of blood-sucking immortals was going to be easy was having you on."
"Haha. Funny."
"And I happen to know that a certain king arrived a few minutes ago through the side entrance and might be hogging up the hot water to make himself look presentable for his queen."
"Christopher is home?" Alice jumped off the throne and started to run toward the stairs before turning back around to look at Margot. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"
Margot grinned. "It's my prerogative as your Princess of Intelligence. I get to decide when and how you know things. Trust me, you wanted to give him a few minutes to wash off before you saw him."
"You're the Head of Intelligence," Alice said, confused.
"Yes, and my sire is king, so I'm a princess." Margot waved a hand at Alice, effectively dismissing her.
Alice didn't bother to chastise her. Margot was usually right. And Christopher was waiting.
Alice raced up the stairs, memories of the first time Christopher and she raced to the bedroom as vampires flashing through her mind, warming her insides. She kicked open their bedroom door.
Christopher stood in the middle of the room wearing only a towel. His smile when he turned to face her was radiant. He held out her arms, the towel fell, and Alice jumped into his arms with so much enthusiasm, her crown fell off her head and rolled under the bed.
His kiss devoured her, as passionate as the first time he ever held her. He murmured into her mouth. "You look beautiful, your majesty. Are you wearing anything too precious to tear off of you right now? Because I really need you naked."
"Hmm, go slow, I want to savor this." Her hands slid across his skin, still slightly wet from his shower. "You look far too sexy to be king." She gripped his bare ass, amazed again that she'd somehow ended up with the perfect man. "Are you sure you're not some roguish, activist prince trying to change the world?"
"That was last year. What did you tell me the first time we met? Even those frozen in time can get redefined by context."
She laughed. "That doesn't sound like me."
He kissed her soundly as he unzipped the back of her dress, caressing along her spine. "It sounds eloquent, so it sounds exactly like you." His hands against the cool skin of her back felt divine.
Alice leaned back to look at her face. "I love you more than anything in this world, Christopher."
His hands paused. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about, Alice."
"Oh? Does this mean I have to stop getting undressed?" She pushed down the spray of nerves that jingled in her stomach.
He chuckled. "Heavens, no. Are you mad, woman? I would never stop you from getting undressed." As he spoke, he helped pull down her dress, unclasping her bra, and standing in awe for a long moment at her naked breasts. He walked her to the bed and lifted her
up, sitting beside her with a grave expression on his face as he played one of her nipples into an erect point.
"Alice," he breathed the word like a prayer, leaning over to latch his mouth around her breast as his fingers traced lines down her stomach to cup her mound. She arched her back into the exquisiteness of his touch, grabbing his hair to pull him closer. "You've been acting as queen in my stead for months now, but you've been the queen of my heart since we met." He lifted his mouth from her nipple to capture her mouth. "Please, make me the happiest being in all of time and space by agreeing to be my queen, my wife, in truth. Marry me."
Joy erupted through Alice's chest and up through her head in a rush. She rolled on top of Christopher's naked body, latching onto his mouth and then moving to his neck.
"I broke the hortari to be with you." She licked the musky sweat from his skin, savoring everything about her perfect king. "I want you as my husband."
He tilted his neck, baring his throat to her elongating teeth. "Then take me. Take me, my love." At his words, she sunk her teeth into his flesh, drinking deep. Christopher's essence flowed through her as she sucked his blood: his joy her joy, his love her love. His cock slid into her warmth as they moved together. She gasped with happiness as he bit deep into her shoulder, their feelings combined as they drank and rode each other in waves of pleasure that built like oncoming storms.
They came together, Alice feeling like she was floating on their shared ecstasy. She lay panting against his chest. Out there in the world, there would be many battles left to face. Injustice didn't end with the installation of one just monarch. Years of work lay ahead, as well as moments of wonder and awe and captured moments.
Her hand found the camera beside the bed and she snapped a picture of Christopher's sleeping face. She glanced at the frozen image in the viewfinder and sighed with contentment. Perhaps the context of the picture would change over time, but one thing would never change: she loved Christopher, and would love Christopher, for as long as immortality allowed.
Dear Reader,
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We hoped you enjoyed The Vampire’s Throne. We really love this world and creating more places and people to inhabit it. Many readers wrote asking; "What's up with Lola?" Well, stay tuned for more of Lola's mysterious meddling because the adventures at AUDREY’S (and the paranormal romantic interludes) aren’t over.
When we first published this series, we got a lot of emails from fans thanking us for these books. Some liked certain series and sets of characters more than others. As authors, we love feedback. Your appreciation for this world is the reason why we keep writing books in this world.
Reviews are increasingly tough to come by these days. You, the reader, have the power now to make or break a book. So, tell us what you like, what you loved, even what you hated. We'd love to hear from you.
Thank you so much for reading The Vampire’s Throne and for spending time with our wacky brains.
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Have fun, everybody
Annie & Jess ("AJ") Tipton
Meet AJ Tipton
AJ Tipton is the pseudonym of a writing team: Annie and Jess (Get it? "AJ." You get it). Corporate drones by day, we spend our evenings writing fantasies to astound, arouse, and amuse. Located in Brooklyn, we are total dorks and love it.
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Our ideas for future books--everything from sex robots to ghost brothels--will keep us busy for many years to come, so follow along for the fun and let us know what series you like best. We love to hear from readers.
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