Dangerous Love (16 page)

“Y-Yes,” she stammered as she grasped his hand in hers and shook it. The coldness of his skin was a bit of a shock to her, since she was used t
o Vayna’s body temperature. It was surprising to realize that Vayna’s body temperature was significantly higher than the vampire before her. She found the fact that he was being nice to her a bit more shocking than how cold he was, though. She thought all of the council members hated humans. A great deal of them seemed to.

“Kaunan,”
the older vampire who previously cuffed the young female vampire upside the head said warningly and the vampire let go of her hand slowly. He turned and frowned at the older gentleman as he moved away from them and took a seat. Once everyone was completely seated and drinks were passed around, the same man said, “Vayna, thank you for meeting with us.”

“Like I had a choice,” she replied idly as she took a sip of her own cup of blood. Her arm drew h
er human lover around and into her lap. Sage sat there awkwardly for a moment as she got many glares from the vampires around them before Vayna pressed against her stomach more, urging her to relax against her.

Several of the
vampires looked at them in disgust, not bothering to hide the looks on their faces. Only the friendly girl, the dog vampire, and the Lolita looked at them with mild curiosity and disguised amusement. Sage kept her eyes on the friendly vampire that waved to her before, intrigued by such a unique person.

“Of course you did,” he said patronizingly. He waved his hand in a dismissing manner, ignoring the look of annoyance that crossed Vayna’s face as he continued to speak, “You didn’t have to meet us. You could’ve sent a message saying so.”

“And you would’ve let it go at that?” she asked as she looked at him challengingly. She really wanted this to be done and over with, regardless of what happened. She just wanted to go home finally and enjoy the time she had with her human lover.

“Yes, of course,” he replied with a shocked look on his face. If
Sage didn’t know any better, she could’ve sworn that the shock was fake and that he was just saying it to please her. Both women knew that he never would’ve let it go at that. No matter what he claimed otherwise. He gave Vayna a mildly reproachful look as he said, “You are the Pharaoh. We will listen to you no matter what.”

“I am not
Pharaoh,” she all but growled out as she glared at him heatedly. She really hated being called Pharaoh. That was a title she gave up years ago! There was no need for them to keep calling her that, worshipping her like she was some kind of Goddess.

“Now mother…” the
vampire that gave Sage a blank look started to say.

“Do not “mother” me,” Vayna said as she turned her harsh gaze on the young woman. The
vampire flinched and looked away, a troubled look on her face. Vayna leaned forward a little bit, a rather difficult thing to do because of Sage being her lap, but she managed it as she said, “I may be the first of our kind, but I am not your mother nor am I your Pharaoh.”

“We want you to be, though!” Kaunan protested as he looked between her and the other
vampires. He turned in his seat toward her as he continued to speak, “You created our sires. You are our mother and we want you as our Pharaoh, Vayna. Please, won’t you consider it?”

“No, Kaunan,” she replied with a shake of her head as she sat back. She gave him a small, sad smile as she sighed softly, “I don’t want to be
Pharaoh anymore. I haven’t for quite a long time. It’s no longer a job I want. And I’m not the one to give birth to you. Your mother is still alive, actually. I saw her a few days ago.”

“How is she,” he asked, a soft tone of nostalgia in his voice. He looked down, not wanting to let anyone see the sad look in his eyes.

“She looked good,” Vayna replied as she smiled encouragingly at him. She knew how tough it was to watch your loved ones dying. His mother actually looked like she was on her death bed, or would be there soon. She wanted to give the young vampire peace of mind as she murmured, “She’s older, but she looks rather healthy for her age.”

“Good,” he said with a nod. He knew that she was lying, but he really didn’t mind. It was comforting to hear the lie anyways, regar
dless of what it meant about his human mother. He was just glad that Vayna cared enough to lie to him.

The older grey haired
vampire interrupted them again as he coughed pointedly. Both vampires and Sage looked at him as he said, “We will come back to the talk about you being our Pharaoh. Right now we need to talk about what you’re doing, My Pharaoh.”

She growled when he called her that. She really hated being called
Pharaoh. She wasn’t one anymore and she didn’t want to be called one at all! She was just a normal, everyday vampire who had a few more powers than everyone else did. That was all there was to it. There was no need to call her Pharaoh. Gritting her teeth, she looked at him steadily as she said, “What I am doing is no business of the council’s.”

“Don’t be silly,” he replied
as he looked at the two of them. Being one of the oldest vampires in the room, he was easily able to keep the disgust off of his face. That didn’t stop him from feeling it, however. It was a bit hypocritical, he knew, since he was a human once. Shortly after his turning, he realized how much more superior vampires were to humans and turned his back on his mortal heritage ever since. Humans were weak, pathetic things. He wanted nothing to do with them. Which was why the thought of his Pharaoh dating a human disgusted him. He frowned as he said, “You are our Pharaoh. Everything you do is our business.”

Vayna gently guided
Sage off of her lap and to the side as she stood up. Her eyes flashed crimson as she slammed her hands down onto the table, making several of the vampires jump as she growled, “I am not, nor will I ever be your Pharaoh again. Leave me and my human alone, Brade.”

Brade…
Sage finally had a name to call the man. It wasn’t a name she was familiar with, but it seemed to fit him. She only knew 2 of the 10 vampires names so far. Kaunan and now Brade. She decided right then and there that she didn’t like him or his name. As for the rest of the vampires… she really hoped she’d learn their names before they left. She wanted to be able to recognize them when the time came.

“
Lord Brade…” the friendly vampire said as she looked over at him. She wore a slightly perplexed look on her face as she looked around the room and said, “Perhaps we should just let this drop…”

“No,
Kári. Whether or not she wants to recognize it, she did give birth to our race,” Brade said as he folded his hands together and glared at the ancient vampire. With each knew sentence he said, Sage learned each vampire’s name. As they continued to argue back and forth, she learned Bryanna was the name of the vampire with the blank look, and Jesse was the name of the red haired vampire who growled at Sage. She learned that the vampire in the leather coat was called Erik and the one who cursed humans was named Lucius. Lastly the bearded man’s name was Frostflower. She guessed that was his last name and not his first, but she wasn’t entirely sure.

She tried hard to keep track of what each person was called, but she knew she probably wasn’t going to be able to keep the names straight in her head. As long as she
could remember the names, she wouldn’t worry so much about whose name was what. She stared openly at Brade as he said, “You should be the one in my place. You were the one who created our people.”

“
So hate me, curse me, shun my existence!” she exclaimed in a tired, but angry voice. She really hated being called that. She was Pharaoh once, but she wasn’t any longer. She was just herself, a royal vampire trying to make a living like a normal one.

“Miss Vayna…
please…” he said in a soft tone, begging her to accept who and what she really was. He knew how much she hated being called that, but it was true! She was Pharaoh, whether she liked it or not. She was the one who created their race, and that made her ruler of them. She was the first, the supreme, and the one with the most powers between all existing vampires. She was Pharaoh and sooner or later she would have to accept that.

“No, Brade,” she replied with a shake of her head. She was getting very tired of their nagging and wanted to just get over with the meeting before anything else happened to them. Sighing softly, she said, “No.”

“Fine then. There is still a matter to attend to…” he said as he straightened his back and met her gaze head on. She could see the determination in his eyes and fought the urge to rub her temples.

She straightened up and crossed her arms as she
looked at him. She worked with the older man long enough to know what his signals were for being nervous and she could easily tell how scared he was at that moment. Looking at him warily, she said, “And that would be…?”

“The matter of what to do with your human,” he said as he lifted a long, tapered hand and pointed to
Sage.

“
My human
has a name,” she said with a soft growl and glared at him. She was really getting angry with his disregarding of her lover. He was angry, she knew, that she had the audacity to bring a human to their meeting, but she didn’t care. She stopped caring about what the council thought about years ago, most especially Brade. She wrapped an arm around her as she said, “Her name is Sage, and there’s no matter to be had.”

“Come now, Vayna,” Lucius said as he looked at her. His expression was cautious, not wanting to incur her wrath. He a
lready knew that she was upset, and he didn’t want to make her any more angry than she already was. Not if he could help it. He swallowed hard as she glared at him and stammered, “Y-Y-You know what’s supposed to happen.”

“I will not turn her,” she ground out through gritted teeth. She wasn’t going to turn her lover, no matter what they said. This was something that would be
Sage’s decision, not theirs. She was determined to never ever turn another person against their will again. No matter what happened, that was her vow to herself. They would always chose for themselves whether they wanted to be turned or not.

Sage
clutched at her vampire’s shirt and every single vampire turned their eyes to her. They could smell her alarm at the thought of being forced to turn. Vayna looked down at her human and saw the fear in her eyes. She lightly cupped her face, stroking her cheek as she tried to convey with her eyes how she felt about it all. Sage nodded her head silently, understanding her vampire’s iron resolve in that matter even without words.

Most of the younger
vampires were astounded by this level of communication between the two. It was usually unheard of for a human to understand what a vampire was thinking without there being some sort of bond between them. It shocked them that the human was able to understand their Pharaoh so quickly after meeting her.

The older
vampires knew what they were seeing; they just didn’t say anything right then and there. Brade was one of them and he felt the anger rise within him at seeing such a thing occur. As far as he was concerned, no human was good enough for their Pharaoh! She was made to represent the vampire nation and only one with prestigious background like him should have the right to be her consort. Not some lowly human girl who didn’t even know who she was! He growled and demanded, “Vayna!”

She slowly tore her gaze away from her human’s, giving her a reassuring nod before looking up at him. Her eyes darkened to a fierce burgundy as she said firmly, “I am not turning her.”

“If you don’t turn her,” he said, his voice a deep growl as he glared at her. His eyes turned crimson as well, fueled the by the anger he was feeling. He bared his teeth at her and said, “She will be killed.”

The words elicited several responses from the group. A couple of them gave evil grins to each other while most of the others gasped in shock. Kári looked at her master in horror as she whispered, “Lord Brade…”

Vayna guided the young woman behind her back as she gave him a steady, but furious look. She subtly reached under the desk and pressed a hidden button that lay there. If she had the ability to kill with one look, he would’ve been dead as she said, “If you do that…”

“You’ll have to turn her now,” he said as he too stood up and pressed his hands upon the table.
He thought he won. There was no way she’d get out of this now. It was either turn her or the human would be killed. He grinned maliciously as he turned his crimson gaze toward Sage and said, “Or you can let me turn her…”

“You will not touch her. Not now, not ever,” she said as she stood up to her full height. She raised one arm
and held it out to the side, her palm facing the floor as she spoke in a strong, clear tone, “You leave me with no choice. I, Vayna Chronos, also known as Pharaoh Sheba, ruler of Upper and Lower Memphis, Morning Star and Evening star declare you and any that side with you an enemy of the Vampire Nation, Lord Graylan Brade.”

“I, Lord Graylan Brade, do hereby
understand and acknowledge your declaration and return your declaration with one of my own,” he said as he stood up, his face twisted into a mask of fury as he spoke, “We, the Council of Eden will meet the House of Chronos head on at war! Staring right now. Get them!”

Out of the 10 council members, only three reacted to his orders. Jesse, Tracie, and Erik all got up and advanced toward them. Kaunan and
Kári shot up onto their feet, ready to defend their Pharaoh, but Frostflower held them back with a single look. He knew those three were no match when it came to their Pharaoh. Her eyes flickered to his and he nodded his head minutely in understanding.