Katrina, The Beginning (4 page)

“Well,” I thought, “that’s
an unsettling subject to take a nap with.”

“Sarah, finish my hair and
get out a simple sheath for me. I won’t be able to rest now. I want
to go to see Nulla. Quinn said he would take me.”

“What else did he say he’d
do for you?”Sarah teased.

“Sarah, please. You know
it’s forbidden.”

“Yes,
I
remember,
Katrina. But do you? I know your feelings for him; after all, we
talked for hours on the way, if you recall. And I can see the look
on your face and the flush of your cheeks, so don’t act so innocent
with me.”

“Very well, but it’s our
secret—it has to be. All right, let’s get me dressed, and then go
ask that Joseph fellow to find Quinn, so he can escort me to the
stables.”

When Quinn arrived, I
guessed the other girls were resting, because there was no sound in
the common room.

“Thanks for coming a little
sooner than we planned.”

“Not at all, my Lady. It’s
my duty to be at your beck and call,” he said without
expression.

I rolled my eyes. He was
obviously making an effort to be more professional in front of
Joseph, who gave us a look and a smile, but said
nothing.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”
Quinn asked. “We’ve had quite a trip.”

“I wasn’t tired,” I said,
as we walked down the stairway and then across a small garden
courtyard.

“Sarah brought up the
situation Father faced with the fledglings in the Far East last
summer, and I knew I wasn’t about to sleep after that. And I really
do want to check on Nulla. Are you sure she’s going to be all
right?”

“They carefully extracted
the arrow, then cleaned and bandaged the wound, and she seems
comfortable. I even brought her carrots from the kitchen. She’ll be
fine.”

“How about Father and the
others?”

“They’ve been in Council
since we arrived. Everyone is a little shaken because of the attack
this morning. I don’t really understand the attackers’ motives
either; there have been no killings other than the ones they bring
on themselves. Maybe that’s what they are trying to do.”

“What do you
mean?”

“I mean, how can they get
rid of you—that is to say, us, all the clans—if they can’t blame
current unrest and murder across the continent on vampires? Without
the violence and killings, no one would believe you’re a threat,
and then they’d have no right to hunt you.”

“Well they don’t have any
right period. We
are
peaceful. We take care of our own
problems as they arise amongst ourselves, as we have for a hundred
years. Why do you think these Volator hate us so much—especially
the leader, whoever he is?”

“I don’t know, but I wager
your father does. Have you ever asked him?”

“When subjects like that
come up he always says ‘it’s Council business’ and tells me ‘not to
worry’ about it. He let me know this was one of the subjects not
suitable for discussion. It’s just like when I bring up my
mother.”

“Here we are the palace
stables. After you, my Lady.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,
I’ve been Kat for all the years you’ve been training to be my
Watcher, and now all of a sudden it’s ‘my Lady’?”

“It’s the proper way to
address you, especially around here.”

I turned to face him
then.

“What if I were to punch
you right in the gut?” I threatened. As I started to make a fist,
he threw his hands up in surrender and backed away a couple of
steps.

“Very well, Kat, but only
when we’re alone, all right?”

“All right, but that
doesn’t seem to be very often anymore,” I complained as we
continued on.

“Nulla, oh Nulla, there you
are.” I rushed to her stall.

She nuzzled my hand as I
reached out and then put my head against her cheek.

“Oh, Nulla, you scared me
half to death.”

I patted her neck, and she
bobbed her head up and down and shifted her weight, trying to get
closer to me. She was such a good friend and I loved her
dearly.

“See, she’s
fine.”

“We had quite a scare
today, and if anything ever happened to her, or you…or any of your
brothers, I’d be heartbroken.”

“Listen, Kat, this is what
we train for, and we’re very, very good at it, all
right?”

“I know it’s just
that…”

I paused and looked up into
his eyes.

“
. . . .I care very much
about…all of you.”

He moved closer to me and
took my chin in his hand; his fingers were warm against my cool
vampire skin. As I lifted my hand to brush away the hair that
always seemed to be in his eyes, he leaned forward, his lips
parting. I could smell the sweetness of his breath and…

“Excuse me, my
Lady.”

Damn it! Why does someone
always have to appear when I’m about to have the thing I want most,
a kiss from Quinn?

“Yes?” I responded, with
the most annoyed voice I could muster.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,
my Lady, but they have asked all of you to come to the great hall
for introductions, and Sarah said I’d find you here. I’m to tell
you that you must come to your room to change.”

“Tell her I’m coming right
along.” When he hesitated I pointed to the stable’s door, “Well, go
ahead. I’ll be right there.”

Quinn turned to
leave.

“No you don’t.” I pulled
him to me.

I was certainly not leaving
that stable without my kiss. I put my arms around his neck, rose up
on my tiptoes, and kissed him with all the pent-up passion that was
in me. Surprised at first, he relaxed into the kiss and with
matching passion, wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the
ground. The world disappeared in that moment, and nothing mattered
but Quinn and this kiss. When we reluctantly parted, a sigh left my
lips. I slowly opened my eyes, half expecting to be waking from a
dream, but he was gazing back at me. It
had
happened. We
both knew what we felt without having to say the words,
I love
you.

We hurried back across the
courtyards and gardens hand in hand. He left me at the entrance of
the hallway, as he too had to change and receive his
orders.

“Katrina Von Dracek, where
have you been?” Sarah demanded in a very annoyed voice.

“You know perfectly well
where I’ve been, or you wouldn’t have known where to send someone
to find me.” I responded in the same tone of voice.

“You know what I mean. What
took you so long to get back here? The other girls have already
been escorted down to the great hall.”

“Sarah, calm down. Next to
the others, I will simply disappear anyway. They make me look like
plain white bread next to pastry.”

“That’s not true, Katrina,”
she challenged, as we hurried to get my sheath off and the new
dress on. It was my favorite red silk, with puffy sleeves to the
elbow, which then were fitted to the wrist, and with beautiful
silk-covered buttons adorning the sleeves. The same buttons
appeared again on the corset front, which pushed my breasts up and
out and made my waist look even smaller.

“Good thing we did your
hair earlier,” Sarah grumbled.

She pinched my cheeks and
whisked me to the door. I smiled and then stopped dead when I saw
Quinn. He had changed into formal attire and looked soooo handsome
that I felt my heart skip a beat.

“No time to gawk at each
other now. Go, go,” Sarah pushed me out the door.

“You look stunning
Kat.”

“Thank you. You clean up
nicely yourself,” I smiled as looked up at him.

We laughed. Here we were,
just two people in love, walking into the unknown; but we knew we
were going there together.

Father was waiting for me
at the door to the reception room.

“Finally,” he greeted me
impatiently. “We are one of the last to be introduced. Almost all
the others have arrived and have already taken their
places.”

When we got to the top of
the stairs, I looked back for Quinn. He smiled and at once I felt
better.

“Baron Fredrik Von Dracek
and Lady Katrina,” the liveried herald announced in somber
tones.

My Father made a head bow
and I a slight curtsey and we started down the stairs.
Don’t
trip, don’t trip, smile, don’t trip,
I thought.

I surveyed the room, hoping
to find a friendly face and located Eleanor, Rosa, and Letta with
their fathers. All three looked stunningly beautiful.

Eleanor was in a dark blue
gown, the color of a night sky. Rosalinda in teal, her black hair
braided around her head and down her back; and Letta wore red
satin, trimmed with black lace around the collar and down the front
and at the edges of her sleeves, her hair still the way I saw it
earlier. Of course with their beauty, all three could have worn
sacks and would have made them the new fashion. But having them all
smile at me helped me feel at ease.

Philepe and Gerhardt gave a
head bow of acknowledgement as we passed. My face burned as I
noticed Gerhardt’s gaze didn’t leave my chest. It is my best asset,
but it would have been polite for  him to remember I had a
face. As we took our place, I thought Father had been right; we
should have been here sooner. Being one of the last to be announced
was a big disadvantage, because now I didn’t know who anyone else
was. Except for the three I’d already met and Philepe and Gerhardt,
everyone else in the room was a complete stranger. I’d have to meet
up with the girls later in the evening, so they could help me put
names to faces.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let
me now introduce the High Regent, Count Petrovich Daminov, his
wife, the Countess Margarite, and his son, Damien, and daughter,
Luena.”

All eyes turned to the top
of the stairs. The Count was quite old, and his pure white hair
made his skin look even paler, but he was regal and handsome and in
no way frail looking. From one of the oldest known clans, Count
Daminov has been ruler of the vampires for over one hundred years,
since the clan wars ended and the Council began. Both feared and
respected, he’s ruled the clans with an iron fist and swift
justice. Some say it’s time for a change, but fear if his son
Damien came into power, the alliance between clans would break and
the ground would again turn red with the blood of both vampires and
humans. His wife, the Lady Margarite was his second wife, and it
was gossiped his first wife had disappeared under mysterious
circumstances, but this was before my time and I knew none of the
details.

Margarite looked lovely in
a silk gown, which seemed as if it had been spun from pure gold. It
was cinched in at the waist, with a full skirt billowing to the
staircase. The largest ruby I’d ever seen adorned her neck, and on
her ears were earrings to match—rubies circled with diamonds. Her
hair was piled beautifully atop her head and sparkled with a
diamond and ruby tiara.

The Count and Countess were
halfway down the stairs, when I looked past them at Damien and
Luena, now taking their turn on the stairway. As they descended,
they looked from side to side, acknowledging the crowd. I had heard
Luena adored her brother and would like nothing more than to see
him rule next, whatever the cost. Some even said the Count should
watch his back, as betrayal could come from within his own
family.

I watched as they came
closer and despite Damien’s flawless handsome features, a
combination of his shoulder-length brown hair, long sideburns,
square jaw line, and piercing dark eyes, there was something else;
a nagging feeling I struggled to grasp. I smiled to myself; he was
so good looking, from behind me in the hall, I heard the sounds of
women swooning. But, again there was that irritating feeling of
something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Just then the Count
and Countess reached the bottom of the stairs and greeted my
father, who then preformed my formal introduction.

“May I present my daughter,
The Lady Katrina Von Dracek.” I curtsied slowly, dropping low over
my foot.

“She’s lovely, Fredrik. So
much like her mother.”

Was I? I had no memory of
her, so I couldn’t know, but still it made me feel…proud. I wished
Father would talk about her. Introductions compete, the Count and
Countess moved on to meet the many others waiting to greet them.
Damien and Luena were now at the bottom of the stairway. I hadn’t
even looked at Luena until now. Like everyone else in her family,
she was breathtaking. Her dark brown eyes were set in porcelain
skin; her low-cut emerald-green silk gown shimmered in the
candlelight of the hall. Large emeralds, their color perfectly
matched to her gown, adorned her neck and ears. They made a
stunning pair, the brother and sister royal.

As I looked from Luena back
to Damien, I was shocked to see he was openly appraising me. Those
eyes…could he read my mind? I gasped, for just as I formed the
thought, he smiled at me, as if to confirm it!

“Baron Von Dracek! So nice
to see you again,” Damien, offered his hand.