“I am your queen!”
Duvessa’s hands came up suddenly and she began to lunge toward Raina when the deafening pop of the first gunshot sounded. The Grand Duchess jerked but did not stop as her hands found Raina’s throat one last time. Her thumbs and fingers were like iron spikes as they dug in, tearing flesh, stabbing in upon either side of her trachea and around the muscles above her collarbones. More shots came. Raina could feel the shots punching through Duvessa as she jerked with every bullet that entered her body, though from her position, Raina could not see the wounds. She could see only Duvessa’s face, those bloodshot eyes, and those bared and bloody fangs. Something smacked Raina’s forearm as she tried to push her away, and something else wet and hot sprayed into her face forcefully, blinding her. The noise had deafened her so severely that, by then, the gunshots only sounded like muffled pops. She felt Duvessa’s thumbs withdraw from the flesh of her throat and her inner shoulders. Raina rolled away to her left, not only to distance herself from Duvessa but also to seek an opportunity to wipe the blood from her eyes, and she felt the Grand Duchess’s legs fall upon her own. She blindly kicked her off as she scooted away upon the floor, cradling her wounded left forearm as well as her already bloodied right arm to her chest. Not knowing else what to do, she drew up into a fetal position upon her side while the world around her seemed to be exploding into a thousand pieces.
The gunshots stopped. For several long, still seconds, only white noise rang in her ears as she waited for something else to happen. Raina tried to wipe the blood from her eyes with her left hand, but her fingers would not quite work right, and she was barely able to perform the task with her right hand. Squinting through the burning discomfort, she tried to raise her head to look back, but the damage done to her neck and shoulders was too crippling. She was not choking upon her own blood, and she was able to draw breath, so she counted that as a good sign as she lay there upon the cold linoleum floor. However, feeling the warm ooze of blood trailing from her wounds and onto the floor, she wondered if she would instead die of exsanguination rather than choking to death upon her own blood as she saw a growing trail of blood running away from herself. Duvessa had torn something vital open with her bare hands, perhaps her jugular vein. She was bleeding out. It was both a scary and a comforting realization at once.
So, this is how it ends, Raina thought to herself. Okay, then. Let’s get it over with. She closed her eyes, swallowed painfully, and relaxed. Take me, God. Hurry up and take me away from this. I’m done here. My work is done. I did what I had to do. It’s time for me to go home. I know I had my doubts about you, and I’m really sorry for that, but I get it now. I totally get it. I had to stick around long enough to do this. But I’m done now, okay? So, c’mon, already. Take me home. Take me to Brenna.
Raina waited … and waited. There was no white light. There were no angels. There was no ultimately loving, comforting embrace from God – not yet, at least. She felt someone grab her shoulder and force her to roll onto her back, but she did not open her eyes. She was not going to give up on dying, not yet. She told herself, Give it time. You still need to bleed out. You’re not dead yet, but you are dying, don’t worry. Just give it a little bit more time, and it’ll be all over. This will be the last time you’ll have to go through with this. Just be patient. It’ll be worth the wait. You’ll see…
* * * *
Epilogue
GNN HARRY BING LIVE
Interview with Grand Duchess Raina Fallamhain; Fundamentalist Group SAVIOR
Aired October 30th – 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. IT MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HARRY BING, HOST: Tonight, Grand Duchess Raina Fallamhain sounds off on the controversy surrounding her Change, her public duel with Countess Wilhelmina von Reichenbach, and the death of her predecessor, Grand Duchess Duvessa Fallamhain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAND DUCHESS DUVESSA FALLAMHAIN: I have come to your land in peace to accept one of your own as one of my own, and to help bring to justice the rogue vampire whose crimes have recently been committed against your people, as well as my own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BING: What does she think of being portrayed as too young and too inexperienced to lead the International Vampiric Council?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAND DUCHESS RAINA FALLAMHAIN: I never asked for this responsibility, and I hate the fact that a lot of people died to put me into this position. But frankly, I’m not going to dishonor their memory by walking away from it just because some people don’t like me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BING: And then, SAVIOR – fundamentalist Christian organization, or vigilante lynch mob?
Special Agent Schweider of the FBI’s Bureau of Vampire Affairs and Christian conservative lobbyist Eric Lahn discuss recent the violence.
It’s all right now on HARRY BING LIVE.
We welcome to HARRY BING LIVE Grand Duchess Raina Fallamhain, the leader of the International Vampiric Council also known as the IVC, and the Mistress of the House of Fallamhain. She will be publicly addressing a special assembly of the IVC Elders on the night of Halloween this weekend in New York to propose several significant official changes to The Code. Some IVC Elders have already begun to speak out against these changes before they have even been announced. We’ll get to that in a moment.
But we’ve all heard a lot of controversy surrounding how, exactly, you came to become Grand Duchess, as well as your public duel with Countess Wilhelmina von Reichenbach. It has been almost six months since those events took place, and we haven’t heard you speak out about it yet. The conspiracy theorists are accusing you of secretly working with the Countess and Senator Daniels to overthrow the Grand Duchess and then killing the Countess to take the throne for yourself.
What do you make of that?
GRAND DUCHESS RAINA FALLAMHAIN: Well, there are always people that will manage to find conspiracies hidden in everything. Elvis faked his own death, the Magic Bullet and the Grassy Knoll shooter were real, the whole lunar landing was filmed in a television studio, and a massive terrorist attack was actually a government inside job. You know, people with really vivid imaginations.
However, frankly, I think the issue has already been beat to death a hundred times over. The facts have already been laid out as plain as day. As I’ve said before, I never asked to become Grand Duchess. The idea that I came to be in this position through a bunch of cloak-and-dagger nonsense is completely insulting, not only to myself but to the memory of everyone that died.
BING: So you do take the accusations personally?
FALLAMHAIN: Of course, yes. In a way, I can understand how people would automatically come to the sorts of conclusions that they do about the kind of person that I am. Part of that, I’m sure, is based on the things that were said and done by Duvessa and her daughter. I certainly can’t deny the fact that they both did some very, very horrible things. Neither of them were saints, to say the least. And while I’m certainly no angel, myself, at least I can say that nothing I ever said or did as a human led to anyone else being tortured or killed.
BING: You did, however … and I mean no offense in bringing this up, but … you did kill Countess Wilhelmina in a public sword duel.
FALLAMHAIN: Yes, I did. I’m sure you have seen at least some of the footage from the whole event, since there were, like, a hundred cameras recording it at every possible angle the entire time. The Countess confronted the House of Fallamhain in that hotel and challenged Duvessa to a fight. Instead of fighting her directly, Duvessa chose to let everyone else fight the Countess for her, including me. She later called it a “proxy war.” I don’t agree with the idea of having others fight and die for your personal battles, but I still feel that I did the right thing by challenging the Countess and killing her. She was a terrible, ruthless, cruel individual. She was so hell-bent on exacting her revenge that she killed anyone she felt would keep her from carrying that out. She was
a classic example of a rogue vampire.
BING: One of the people that she killed was Lady Brenna Fallamhain. You have credited her as having been one of your Makers. That fact, in itself, has been a matter of controversy in many circles. There are many who believe it is wrong for someone such as yourself, a multiracial vampire, to reign as the leader of the IVC that, as I understand it, is exclusively comprised of pureblooded High Court vampires.
In fact, until the recent expansion of your bloodline, you were actually the only vampire of your kind in the entire world. Doctors and geneticists have confirmed that your genetic makeup is actually so unique that you are, in fact, the first member of an entirely new race of vampire, something now called the Fallamhain race. You have exhibited traits of both the High Court and Commoner races of vampire, and even some human traits.
FALLAMHAIN: Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself human. I mean, I’m not a space alien and I’m not some kind of monster or demon or anything. Before I got involved in any of this stuff, I was just as human as you are sitting right across this desk from me. And I honestly still feel human, aside from a few obvious differences. I still function like a human. I still brush my teeth twice a day. I still eat food like anyone else, although I have to be careful to avoid anything with garlic. When I go to sleep, I still dream. I still laugh and joke and love. I do just about everything the same as I did as a human.
The biggest differences are obviously the physical details. I’ve got sharp teeth, pointy ears, pale skin, and I’m hairless from the neck down, I’m allergic to garlic and silver, and I’m a little sensitive to ultraviolet light. I’m physically faster and stronger than most humans, although I wouldn’t say I’m the strongest person alive. And while I do have a genetic predisposition to crave things like blood and sex, I don’t let that rule my life or override my sense of judgment. The only trick to living successfully as a vampire is learning how to adapt and how to manage your lifestyle very carefully.
I’ve heard others compare it to being diabetic. If you really let yourself go and don’t take care of your health, you can wind up in seizures or a coma, just like a person with diabetes. Obviously, though, bloodlust is a unique condition that’s dangerous not only for yourself but to everyone around you. But really, the same could be said for a diabetic with really low blood sugar getting behind the wheel of a car.
You have to watch what you eat, and when you eat. You have to avoid extreme emotional stress. Having a partner is essential because they can help you keep yourself on track. You have to learn to satisfy those cravings and urges so they don’t become overwhelming. I know a lot of people out there are either going to laugh at this or get all offended, but quite frankly, masturbation is pretty much a fact of life for a single vampire. Honestly, even when you do have a partner, it’s still necessary.
BING: The same thing could be said about marriage.
FALLAMHAIN: Probably. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never actually been married.
BING: So, do you feel that your status as a multiracial vampire affects your ability to rule as Grand Duchess?
FALLAMHAIN: I have to deal with a lot of discrimination, but it’s really nothing that I hadn’t already experienced as a human. My father was Hispanic and my mother was mostly Caucasian, so I’ve had to put up with some prejudiced folks over the years. The only difference now is that instead of people accusing me of being a Mexican or whatever, we’re talking about the IVC. I can understand that these people have an issue with my race as a Fallamhain because they’re all pureblooded High Courts. They all have only had one Maker apiece. But I feel that I’ve already shown that my race as a Fallamhain isn’t a problem. It’s as irrelevant as the color of my skin or the kind of clothes that I wear.
I think that, if anything, my race is more of an asset than a liability when it comes to my ability to lead the IVC. I’ve got a higher resistance to sunlight. I can walk around all day long with just a little sunscreen and not turn into a piece of beef jerky. I can go places and do things that others normally could not do without a lot of special conditions. I’ve already had to appear before Congress to speak on a bill amending the Federal VIC statutes. Mind you, this was at nine o’clock in the morning on a clear, sunny day. I couldn’t very well ask everyone in Congress to wait around until ten o’clock at night to hear me give a speech. I understand that they have made accommodations like that in the past for other vampires, but if I don’t have a problem with sunlight, then I don’t need to ask for special treatment.
Being the Grand Duchess gives me an opportunity to do something good for other people, like improving human-vampire relations. I think the more that humans can see that I’m not so very different than them, I think maybe they’ll be less inclined to be so fearful of vampires as a whole.
BING: A lot of blogs and chat rooms and websites have been buzzing over the past few weeks with a lot of speculation about the expansion of your bloodline.
At the start of things, when the conflict between Grand Duchess Duvessa and Countess Wilhelmina turned violent, there were over twenty individuals officially named as members in the House of Fallamhain, not including humans employed by the Grand Duchess as servants. At the time of your predecessor’s death, that number had been drastically reduced to only about four or five.
Do you have any particular names in mind, or any specific type of person, for expanding your bloodline?
FALLAMHAIN: Well, obviously it’s not something that I can afford to take lightly for a number of reasons. This isn’t the same as hiring someone for a job, or nominating a Vice President. Offering someone the Communion of Blood is a permanently binding commitment. Even marriage isn’t as permanent as the bond between a Maker and their bloodspawn. You can’t divorce your Maker, just like you can’t divorce your own mother and father. You’ll always carry their blood in your veins.
BING: What about those who are already vampires, the ones you’ve already accepted as your own since you became Grand Duchess?
FALLAMHAIN: Well obviously, anyone that is already a vampire won’t have my blood in their veins in a literal sense. But traditionally, anyone swearing their eternal loyalty to the House of Fallamhain will take the Communion of Blood. If a vampire takes an oath to commit to the House of Fallamhain, then we treat them exactly the same as if I had been the one to start their Change. This is why we do the Communion of Blood exactly the same with a vampire as with a human.
I’m not going to put myself on a television reality show and choose anyone through a process of elimination. Would you believe I’ve actually had several people suggest that to me? They were dead-serious about it. I really don’t think people in today’s society understand or appreciate the whole concept of “till death do us part.” With vampires, it’s not just a figure of speech.
So, yeah, I’m picky. It’s not because I have impossible standards, and it’s not because I have some ridiculously inflated ego or anything. I’m very, very selective because we’re talking about a really, really heavy commitment.
Accepting someone as your consort is like getting married and conceiving a baby at the same time. You’re giving this person eternal youth and making them a part of your bloodline, you know, but you’re also binding yourself to them as, like – as a lover. I mean, ideally, it would be simpler for someone like me to just have one husband or one wife and just be monogamous, but it’s just not a realistic arrangement. You almost can’t be monogamous as a Fallamhain. It just doesn’t work. Between all of the physical needs and all of the places we all have to be at any given time, plus the constant threat of assassination, it’s just not practical. I used to think Duvessa kept a lot of guys around because she was just, you know, insatiable. But really, it’s just not reasonable to keep a ruling bloodline alive with only one or two people in it.
BING: Should the Grand Duchess rewrite The Code?
Vote now at GNN.COM/HARRYBING. It’s your chance to have a say.
But first, we’ll ask Grand Duchess Raina about the cha
nges she is proposing, coming up next. You’re watching HARRY BING LIVE.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BING: We’re back with Grand Duchess Raina Fallamhain, leader of the IVC and Mistress of the House of Fallamhain.
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