The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV

by Dawn Gray

  “Caitlyn, drop it.” His voice snarled, but I couldn't see his face.

  “What aren't you telling me, Creolas?” I stepped closer to him, and then reached out to touch his shoulder, but he turned quickly and grabbed my wrist, holding it tightly. His eyes shone a bright red color and it took my breath away. “I'm not afraid of you.”

  “You really should be.” He replied, drawing me closer to him. “I'm not a nice man.”

  “I've seen your other side.” I replied, placing my other hand on his chest, a gestured he tried to back away from, but soon found out he was trapped, between me, and a wall. “On the beach, when you told me about Klamara, you let down your guard and I saw right through this act.”

  “It's not an act, and if you keep talking, you're liable to get hurt.”

  “Was it you that stopped him?”

  “Why are you doing this?” He questioned, looking down into my eyes. “Do you want me to hurt you? Do you get a kick from it?”

  “You wouldn't hurt me, not like this.” I replied, confident that I knew his motives.

  “What makes you so sure?” He asked.

  “Well, think about it, you've never done it before without a purpose.” I stepped back to give him some space but his arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me back. “You weren't trying to hurt me before, when you did those things; you were trying to get them to take me away, just like now.”

  “What am I doing now?” He said, smiling.

  “Why are you always asking me to explain everything?” I questioned him, but watched as he came closer to my face. I reached my hands up and put them against his chest, holding him back. “You're trying to get to Julian, through me, by holding me like this, to make him mad at you, mad enough to take me out of this house.”

  “Do you think if he saw us like this, he would?”

  “I don't think so.” Julian's voice spoke up. I felt Creolas let me go and I backed away from him, quickly, then stood there looking between the two of them. Creolas smiled, slyly, as he put his hands in the pockets of his black pants, and then he glanced at me. “I thought I told you to leave.”

  “I couldn't go without saying goodbye to Caitlyn.” He replied and casually looked out the window. “I wanted to plead with her one last time to confess to you what special kind of bond the two of us share.”

  “Save your stories for the road, Creolas. I don't believe a word of it, in fact, I was standing in the doorway the whole time.” Julian replied then looked me dead in the eyes. “Come on Caitlyn, Creolas needs his space to start packing. He's leaving tonight.”

  “Take my advice, Julian.” Creolas spoke up as the two of us turned to leave the room. “If you want her to live, you'll take her far away from this place, and those rings. They only bring death with them when they appear.”

  “Duly noted, but Creolas, I don't hold much worth in what you say, so don't count on it.” Julian moved from the doorway, taking my hand as he began to walk away, pulling me with him.

  I stopped him in the hallway, just before we reached the door to my room and turned to face him. His eyes told me that he really wasn't sure what he had seen in that room.

  “You lied to him.” I told him, making him look at me in disbelief that I would even say that to him. “You weren't standing in the doorway, and you have no idea what was going on in there.”

  “You're right, I don't, so, why don't you explain to me why he was holding you like that, and why it's the second time I've found you that way.” He answered; the anger in his voice was obvious.

  “I will explain everything after you tell me exactly what happened the day that Klamara came for me.” I replied, crossing my arms. Julian closed his eyes, and then shook his head as he turned away from me. “You can't keep it a secret forever, Julian. Someday, I will find out what happened; I just hope it doesn't hurt whatever it is that we have together.”

  “What do we have, Caitlyn? It's obviously something less important to you if you're off in the arms of another man.”

  “Oh, please, Julian. Would you listen to yourself? The arms of another man, Creolas, please.” I sighed and walked over to my door, which I opened and gestured for him to enter. Julian looked at me, then crossed his arms and looked away briefly. “This is it then? This is how it's going to end? With us fighting over something that doesn't exist.”

  “You were with Creolas, twice in as many days, what am I suppose to believe?” Julian asked.

  “Me, you're supposed to believe me, because I want to tell you the truth, because I love you and you love me.” I replied then shook my head as I looked into my room. “Fine, believe what you want, but if you actually want an explanation, then the door is open, if not...well...”

  I left it at that and walked into my room, where I got comfortable on the chair and stared out at the window. It was only about ten minutes later that the door opened slowly, and Julian walked in. He looked at me, quietly, as I glanced over his way and watched him close the door.

  “I'm sorry.” He whispered and sat down on the bed across from me. “I walked in on something that I couldn't explain, that I thought I would never see someone I love with Creolas, demon of the underworld.”

  “He's not that bad.” I replied and looked back out the window, trying to avoid that look he had in his eyes. “In fact, I think he had other motives, every time he tried to seduce me, or bite me, which ever you want to call it.”

  “I still don't understand why you're defending him.” He said and shook his head, and then he looked at me, at the expression of aggravation on my face. “But, if you think there's something more to him, I'll listen to what you have to say.”

  I moved from the chair to the bed and sat sideways to look at Julian, and then I licked my lips and sighed, getting comfortable. I wasn't sure how to start, so I stumbled a bit getting my words together, when Julian took my hand. It was at that touch that everything fell into place.

  “Creolas never meant to hurt me, I know he didn't, which is why he stopped each time, except that night when I thought he was you. I believe that time he saw me as something to claim, but the others, to me, seemed to have been a way to get your attention.” I shook my head, as I closed my eyes, then slowly opened them and looked at Julian.

  “Well, it worked.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “So, what do you think we should do about him?”

  “It's your house, Julian.” I replied and stood up. “That's up to you, but this, or at least most of it, ends tonight.” I looked back at him, as I stood against the wall and crossed my arms. “Your turn, could you tell me what happened the night Klamara came for me?”

  “Would you like to know everything that happened that day or just the end of it?” He asked, looking up at me, through his hair as he bent his head downwards. He folded his fingers together and then stood up, lifting his head up to look fully at me.

  “Is there more there than in my memory? Should I know more than I can see?” I questioned him.

  “It depends on how much you can handle.” I smiled at him as he stood there, looking down at me.

  “So, where do we start?” I watched that smile cross his lips, the one that told me I was about to find out every dirty little secret that this family has been holding and it was all going to come down to the one that's been haunting me since I arrived, the one that would tell me where the three missing years of my life went.

  17

  Julian and I stepped into the sitting room together. The feeling in the room seemed to be as if the King and Queen themselves had entered, everyone in the room, seemed to stand or turn in our direction and stare.

  I stood there, scanning the room with my eyes, taking in the expressions of the men who occupied it, as Julian stepped away from me and made his way towards the four large chairs that were set around the fireplace, and then he turned and looked at me.

  “Please, come in and sit down.” He asked me, softly. I moved towards him, passing the eyes that watched me, and then I stopped in fro
nt of one of the chairs, facing Julian and waited. There were FOUR chairs and I knew it meant we were having company.

  I turned back towards the door and watched Nick's dark clothed figure walk through and towards us. The fire seemed to bring out the darkness, the anger, in his eyes. He stopped in front of me, raised one eyebrow and glared at me. It was as if I were looking at a floating head, for Nick was dressed in a heavy black turtleneck and black pants. His hands were stuck into the pockets and he seemed quite uptight.

  “Relax, this isn't a firing squad.” I told him, and looked over at Julian, who gave a little shake of his head.

  “It might as well be.” Nick said and walked over to the seat furthest away from Julian, but closest to the fire.

  Quinn walked over next, and smiled, childishly at me before he, without a single word, grabbed the chair opposite of Nick. I sat down with Nick on my left and looked at Julian, who stood by the fire, then at the empty seat three feet away to my right.

  “Are we expecting company?' Nick inquired. Julian glanced at him, then back at the empty chair.

  “We may be.” He replied. “I've invited Creolas, but I'm not sure if he's going to show himself.”

  “Why would you want to have him here?” Quinn asked. There wasn't any anger or disapproval in his voice, but there was a bit of genuine curiosity in it, as if he wanted to know what his brother was up too.

  “Caitlyn would like to know what happened to her the day that Klamara came for her.” Julian replied as he looked down at the floor. “I believe Creolas knows more than he's saying.” He looked up at Quinn, his green eyes, which were usually bright, seemed dark. “But, if he's not here, we should get on with it.”

  “I have other questions.” I spoke up, which made Julian turn those green eyes on me. His face was questioning but his posture didn't change. He stood there, like the prince they claimed he was, sturdy and unwavering, staring as if he wanted to make me lower my eyes. “There are some things I think you should tell me.”

  “Do they have to do with that day?” He questioned.

  “They may, I mean, I don't know if they will have a direct connection but I think it will definitely give me insight into what I still don't remember.” I answered.

  “Start from the end and work your way back to the beginning, huh?” Nick asked.

  “No, if I had my choice, I'd start where I was suppose too, but it seems I don't and, if I'm right, I have very little time to find things out.”

  “And, this is what you chose to know?” He looked at me oddly.

  “It's my last day on Earth, Jules; I can ask what I want.” I replied and watched his guard break down and he shrugged, giving me the feeling that if that's what I wanted then whatever. “Good, then whenever you're ready, just let me know.”

  Julian paced for a moment, back and forth in front of the fireplace before Nick sat up, apparently disturbed by his pacing and looked at his cousin.

  “Do you have something to hide?” He questioned. Julian stopped and whipped around to look at Nick, through squinted eyes with fire burning in them, and then he regained his posture and shook his head. “Then, what are you waiting for. Let her ask her questions.”

  Julian looked over at me, that fire still burning in his eyes and I suddenly noticed that he had changed. Within the last hour, I had noticed the distance in his eyes. He nodded at me, and then looked away quickly, turning towards the fireplace.

  “Most of the legends that I know of say that vampires can't walk in the daylight, that the sun burns them.” I said, softly, then glanced from Quinn, to Nick, and finally set my eyes on Julian. “Why is your family different?”

  “It's not just our family,” Julian said, quietly. He turned to look at me, the flames from the fire gave his face a haunting look, one that enticed me to reach out and touch him. “There were nine kings, remember.”

  “That doesn't explain much to me.” I replied.

  “You didn't let me finish.” He smiled, but it was a sarcastic smile, almost menacing. I shrugged and waved at him to continue. “One of the kings, Tabora, sought out a sorceress, after learning that Imar and the other two brothers had defeated the evil that they had been fighting, unaware that they had been granted the gift of children, he asked for the curse of darkness to be lifted from them, so they could walk in the day light. The woman agreed but only on one condition. When the first mortal son was born; the mother would give the child to her. This was how Tabora learned of the children.”

  “But, I thought the original nine kings all died before the first generation was born.” I whispered.

  “They did, but since they knew all of the children would be boys, it was just a matter of time before the witch would get her hands on the child. Tabora had told the other kings what he had done and asked them to stand with him, agree with the woman's terms, and they all would walk in the light, but they said no, and warned the mothers about what Tabora had done.

  “Most of them left to have the children in a protected place, but one woman, who was not Tabora's “wife”, despite what you might think, strayed from the group on the way there. The witch captured her and waited until she went into labor before she took the baby, forcefully, from the mother. The witch named him Timmorack and used her magic to grant that child immortality in the light when he changed into a vampire.” Julian sat down on the floor, near the fireplace, and looked into the flame. “From him came one of the next generation, and that child had another, but it was Timmorack's offspring that carried the gift with it.”

  “To put it simply,” Quinn said, speaking up, which made me look over at him. “If you have any blood connection to any children of the kingdom, you're destined to become a vampire, but that doesn't mean that if you don't have one, you can't become one. It can be passed from maker to fledgling.”

  “Quinn and I are direct descendents of Timmorack.” Julian said, softly and looked at me. “He fathered a child after his change, one that became a prince of the kingdom, and that child fathered another, and so on until we were born.”

  “I thought you and Quinn had different fathers and that Klamara was Auron's father.”

  “We didn't tell you about the twins?” Quinn asked.

  “You're kidding, right?” I said, shaking my head.

  “Klamara was one of the kingdom’s nine princes and the woman you saw was pregnant with twins. Victor and Auron. We didn't find out, until recently, that Quinn's father was Victor, but it didn't matter, because Klamara wasn't a vampire when she was pregnant. Auron and Victor never became the next generation, they were just children.” Julian replied, coldly.

  “But, because their father was Klamara, and he had been a prince, when they were turned and you were both conceived, the next nine started with you.” I whispered to myself. Julian nodded then looked back at the fire. “It had never happened before, had it?”

  “What?” He whispered.

  “Two princes born to the same woman?” I asked. Quinn shook his head. “Have there ever been twin princes?”

  “Never, it was always nine separate children, but there were several cases of children being born to the same father, with different mothers. However, in the case of Louis and Jacob, who were not part of the kingdom, yes there can be twins.”Quinn answered.

  I nodded and sat back in the chair, where I thought in silence for a few minutes, thinking about nothing but the crackling of the fire, then a question did enter my thoughts and I turned to look at Julian again, who had pulled one leg up to his chest and had his chin on his knee. He looked over at me, his green eyes shadowed by the light.

  “Have you ever turned anyone into a vampire?”

  “Once.” He replied, honestly. “No, twice.”

  “Care to elaborate?” I whispered and watched him pick his head up, staring at the ceiling.

  “It was about 20 years after I had been turned Quinn had left me, because I couldn't drop the subject of our father, Auron, and I think he got sick of hearing me insist that the man was sti
ll alive. Of course, his blood and mine were mixed, and I could feel him calling me. It made me wonder why Quinn couldn't hear him.” I watched Julian close his eyes and relax.

  “Her name was Cleo and she had the oddest golden eyes I had ever seen.” He smiled as he thought about her. As he said the name, I suddenly found myself staring into the darkness of the room, looking at a woman with blond hair. It was just the image of her, but with its appearance came her name.

  “Danzeiger.” I whispered. Julian looked at me and nodded. “So, what happened?”

  “I was being hunted, nothing new in those days, but this time, I couldn't outrun the men with the torches. They captured me and tied me to a post, one that was made of oak, which I had learned was a wood that vampires were almost powerless against. The wood would splinter if it was jabbed into your heart or any other part of your skin, making it impossible to bear. Anyway, these men were just about to set the fire when Cleo came out of the woods. She was, supposedly a witch and the men were afraid of her. She wasn't one, though, but her family spoke a language that none of them understood, so they figured it was some sort of magic.

  “She released me, after chasing the men away, and she hid me in a cave near her home, fully aware of what I had become. She treated me like a mortal, and even brought me dinner once in a while, that consisted of some kind of animal she had captured. After several years of being with her and becoming very close friends, she became sick with a fever that just wouldn't let up.

  “On her death bed, as her heartbeat slowly began to grow weaker, I asked her if she would like to see eternity. I hadn’t figured out how to use my power yet, so my blood was still clean of the toxin.” Julian looked down at his hand and smiled. “She said she would love to, if it was possible, and so it was that Cleo and I became part of each other. We left after she turned fully and began adventuring out in the open. It was strange to see her as a vampire, because of her natural golden eyes. They made her look so beautiful, and at night she could see better than me.” Julian looked at me and sighed. “Anything else?”