Shadow of the Vampire (8 page)

         
Lowering her gaze to the gardens, a relaxed smile passed her lips. Marble statues of Goddess stood beside white pillars wider than the boles of the large trees stretching upward, trying to reach any light they could, artificial or natural. Tendrils of lush ivy embraced the whitewashed walls and myriad birds flew freely around the underground garden. A lazy path wound through the space, forking into two passageways. One led to the conference quarter, the other toward the Queen's bedchamber door.

         
Alexia followed the footpath toward the meeting room, pausing at a fountain for the divine hunter, Diana. The ivory Goddess stared with wide, vacant eyes at the water pooled at her feet. She held one palm up, as if waiting for some sort of offering to be fitted atop it. The other slim hand extended forward, pouring a pitcher of endless water into the rectangular pond stretched out before her. Alexia followed her gaze to the pool. Beneath the shimmering water lay an intricate scaled replica of Davna Vremena, a land far beyond the mists of the Fatum, deep in the olden lands of their foremothers.

         
Although she could not see the model, she remembered vague images of it from childhood. Her grandmother used to bring her here, used to raise the small city from the bottom of the pond and tell her stories of a peaceful world where every creature of light and dark lived in harmony. Alexia suddenly yearned to see the monument again, if only to prove that such a place had once existed.

         
Taking one last look at the fountain, Alexia continued down the path. A frown tugged her brow at the sound of voices lingering over the constant trickle of streaming water.

         
"I do not think she's ready," a male voice said.

         
"She has not yet ascended." Her mother's voice answered, weak but confident.

         
"Even then, I don't believe she will be ready for the throne."

         
"Lotharus, though you are an olden, you have not personally borne witness to a princess becoming a Queen. The power she'll gain when she ascends will rival the Goddess herself. Combined with the training you've given her, my daughter will have ten times the strength of any one of those soldiers you hold in such high esteem."

         
"It's not her strength I'm worried about," he said. "It is her will. Her ability to rule to the standard of our ancestors...."

         
Alexia stepped out from behind the foliage. "My ability should be none of your concern." Lotharus turned to face her. As usual, he wore tailored black clothes. Their starkness stood in striking contrast to his sallow skin tone, and noticeably different from her mother's Mediterranean complexion, pure white gown and raven-black hair.

         
Light and dark. Good and evil.

         
"Ah, Alexia dear, you're here." Catija stepped forward to greet her, but her footing faltered and she wobbled.

         
"Mother." Alexia hurried to her side. "Are you all right?"

         
"I'm fine," Catija dismissed with a wave. "Just a little dizzy."

         
Lotharus wound his arm around the Queen's waist, tucking her against him and pivoting her away from Alexia. "You need to feed, dear heart," Lotharus said, tightening his hold around her middle. "Come." He pivoted, walking them toward the council quarters.

         
Alexia trailed a few paces behind. Her gaze fixed on her mother's black hair, plaited down her back. The tip of her long mane brushed the spotless, shimmering floors like a broom, swaying side to side with each dip of her hips. She had such a youthful, vibrant body. No one could see that a silent yet threatening illness was plaguing her mind.

         
"The wedding and ascension are two days away, Alexia, and you have yet to select a gown," the Queen said over her shoulder.

         
Alexia opened her mouth, but promptly closed it. It was pointless to remind her mother they had selected the gown just last night. "I shall see to choosing a gown straight away," she replied instead.

         
"Good." Her mother smiled. "Lotharus tells me the community is eager to attend your ceremony. We wouldn't want them to be disappointed."

         
Alexia nodded, wondering exactly how her mother thought she should react. A group of strangers were excited to have an excused day off from work or labor. To them, the occasion of such fortune mattered little if at all. They came for the free food and spirits the festivities offered, not to wish her or her mother well. After all, she knew none of them, so it stood to reason none of them knew her.

         
Keeping her opinions to herself, Alexia followed the two of them into the conference room. The circular seating area reminded her of those Jacuzzis she'd seen humans use. However, this one was ten times the size and empty. Instead of water, the center bore a white stone table. It had a pedestal in the center and looked rather like a mushroom had grown from the ground, flattened and hardened in place.

         
After descending two steps into the circle, the Queen took a seat on the plush velvet cushions pillowing the bench. Her flowing white toga gown fanned out around her. The thick braid now rested over her shoulder, curling around her breasts to rest on her lap like a hairy python.

         
Alexia lowered to the floor, resting her hands on the table. Lotharus sat behind her, the fabric of his pants brushing the bare skin of her lower back. Shifting, Alexia sat up straighter, trying to keep from touching him. She glanced back to see him sitting with his legs open in a relaxed V, his elbows resting on the floor up behind him. His eyes regarded her with an eager tinge that sent bile rising in her throat before they flitted to a soldier perched in the corner.

         
"First things first." Lotharus snapped his fingers.

         
The soldier stepped forward. With awkward alacrity, he poured vintage blood from the royal cellar into three silver goblets. The Queen leaned forward, eagerly accepting and drinking her offer. By the masculine sound behind her, she knew Lotharus had swilled his down, as well. However, Alexia could not tear her eyes away from the goblet and decanter long enough to pick hers up.

         
Silver.

         
They were made of silver. Like the collar on his neck, eating through precious layers of his golden flesh....

         
"Are you not hungry?"

         
Startled, Alexia looked up at her mother's query. "No. I--I mean, yes." Recalling her weakness in the shower, she knew she should feed. However, her stomach rolled in protest.

         
When another minute ticked by and Alexia still hadn't taken the cup in hand, the Queen huffed out a breath and placed her empty goblet on the table. "Alexia, I know you heard us in the garden. But do not worry. Many have ascended before you, and many will make the journey after." Swiping a dainty wrist over her bloodred lips, she nodded her head and pointed to the tapestry hanging from floor to ceiling against the wall. "Your ancestors have long lived through much harder times than these and succeeded. You will, as well."

         
Alexia looked up at the family tree--a sickening reminder of her evil lineage and her utter lacking to keep up with it. Stretching up farther than even her keen eyes could discern were symbols and names of those who had come before her. Women who had overcome, ascended and conquered their fears and dominated those around them.

         
"For centuries, each female leader has been given a one-hundred-year incumbency to rule, and then the line passes on," the Queen continued. "This is the way it's been done since the dark times. The way it must be to keep this horde together, keep us strong. It will soon be your time, Alexia. Your obligation is to not only see us all through the next hundred years, but to keep our horde intact and in the seat of power amongst the other vampire clans."

         
I don't want to rule. Alexia nearly let the words fall from her lips. However, she did want to govern. Just not the way her mother had and especially not how Lotharus expected.

         
"Now." The Queen held out her hand. "Have you brought my crystal back, as I asked?"

         
Alexia stared at her open palm before blinking up at her mother. The words of her failure froze on her lips before she forced them out in a rush. "No, my Queen. It was lost."

         
"Lost?"

         
"Yes. But I have found something else."

         
Catija took her hand back and shook her head. "Let me guess, another Derkein. Lotharus, what on earth and sky should we do with her? I gave her one, simple task...."

         
"You worry without cause, my love," Lotharus said, a smile in his voice. "She will find the crystal and return it to you."

         
Catija offered him a lazy grin. "Only because you'll be there to guide her."

         
"Stop speaking about me like I'm not here," Alexia snapped, rising up to stand. "I managed to catch that dragon lord without his help."

         
Her mother's eyes flashed, color flushing her usually sallow cheeks. "Yes. However, you have obviously yet to retrieve anything useful from it. I need that crystal. More importantly, you will need that crystal."

         
"Why? Because he says so," Alexia said, pointing to Lotharus. "Our foremothers ruled without fulfilling that scroll's prophecy. You ruled without it. I fail to see why I cannot do the same."

         
"Enough!" The Queen stood. "You ask what good is the crystal, and I ask, what good is another dragon carcass stinking up my horde?"

         
"If I may," Lotharus said, easing up from his perch. The Queen nodded and placed a hand over her heaving chest in an attempt to catch her breath. "That dragon lord may be of use to us. He is not just any winged snake from the flock."

         
Catija's brow furrowed. "Go on."

         
With a knowing smile, Lotharus moved beside her.

         
"That Derkein your daughter captured is the only son of the dead King and Queen."

         
"What?" Alexia breathed.

         
The Queen's face instantly paled. "He wouldn't possibly have told you this. How do you know?"

         
"I saw something. Something I've only seen once before." His cold eyes settled on Alexia. Their heated focus slid to her neck, lingering there before he met her eyes again. "Would you care to tell her, or should I?"

         
Alexia thought about holding her tongue. If it was true, the ramifications, the possibilities overwhelmed her. But then she realized it mattered not what she said or didn't say. Lotharus would tell her mother if she didn't. She sighed. "The dragon lord has fangs, like us."

         
The Queen covered her mouth with her hand. "Goddess, then it is him."

         
Alexia's gaze fixed on the look of horror on her mother's face. Something was wrong. Her mother, the most vicious and bloodthirsty Queen of the horde in centuries, was not scared of anything. But right now, she was terrified.

         
"Lotharus, we must not harm him," she said, clutching his lapel tight. "We must set him free." Her mother's words came out in a whisper but Alexia heard them clear and true.

         
"Are you mad?" Lotharus asked. "We couldn't have asked for a better situation to fall in our lap. Think on it, my sweet. What better wedding gift to give our people than the head of their enemy? He is the last, the missing link that ensures our triumph. They have no other son, no other heir. He is the only remaining hope and now he is ours."

         
"Which is why we must set him loose," she said, her voice cracking.

         
"No." He nodded to the soldier, now standing next to the wall. The warrior stepped forward, filled the Queen's goblet to the rim and handed the chalice to Lotharus.

         
"You're weak, my love. If you were strong again, you would see." Lotharus settled the cup at her lips and urged her to drink. "Without this beast, the dragons will slip into nonexistence. You will go down as the most successful ruler of our time, and we will finally rule."

         
"You will rule," Alexia stated, although neither of them paid her any heed.

         
Catija took a deep swallow of blood before glancing up at him, a question in her eyes. "I don't know...."

         
"That is why you have me to think for you," he said into her ear before taking the shell between his lips. Her mother's eyes fluttered and a smile curved her lips as she took another drink.

         
Alexia didn't know what was going on. All she knew was if she didn't act fast, that dragon lord's fate was as good as sealed and, for some reason, her mother did not want it so.