The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV (18 page)

“You son of a bitch! How could you do that to
me? After all this time, after all this bullshit! Why didn't you
just tell me, and if you say it was to protect me, I'm
leaving!”

Julian didn't say anything, in fact he kept
totally silent, and this made me clench my fist, and turned to
leave the room.

“I didn't say anything, and you're still
leaving.” Julian said, softly, which made me stop in the
doorway.

“You didn't have to say it.” I replied. “It
was written all over your face.”

I walked out of the room and down the hall
before I heard the light footsteps behind me, and I stopped near a
window and waited for whomever it was to catch up.

“He didn't tell you because we made a pact
not to.” Nick's voice whispered in my ear as his hand touched my
shoulder.

“Don't! Don't protect him; don't defend him.
He had no right to play with me like that, and my son, what he did
to him was...” I stopped my sentence and closed my eyes.

“So, you believe Julian is his father?” Nick
asked. I shook my head.

“I don't know what I believe, but what I know
is that I'm leaving, now!” I moved away from him, and continued
walking. I stopped at the stairs, looked up, hesitating, and then
kept walking towards the front door.

I moved out into the early morning light,
hugging myself as I moved across the lawn towards the side of the
house. The long wooden walkway that made a path through the dunes
clicked under my feet and besides the crashing waves that I was
moving closer to, it was the only sound I heard. I stopped at the
end of the walk and looked out over the ocean as the sun reflected
off from it.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” A voice picked up from
behind me. I straightened up, knowing the person that the voice
belonged to was not one of my favorite people. Slowly, I turned and
looked at Creolas, who walked up to stand beside me. He looked
straight ahead as he held his hands behind his back. “It's quite
tranquil.”

“What do you want?” I asked, snapping at him.
Creolas looked over at me with those red eyes.

“Ooh, feisty aren't you?” He smiled. “Did
your lover scorn you?”

“Look, Creolas, I'm not in the mood, really.”
I sighed, calming, myself. “What do you want?”

“They did what they had too.” He answered;
his voice took a soft tone, as he turned to look back at the
ocean.

“So, now you’re defending them, taking their
side?” I asked him. Creolas smiled, and then shook his head. “Then,
why did you say something like that?”

“To let you know that whatever they did, it
was to keep you from harm.”

“Oh, yeah, and right now I could be in a lot
of trouble because I'm standing here with a man who drew blood at
least twice and tried to seduce me, which, by the way, was the most
pathetic attempt I've ever seen, and where are they?” I hollered.
“Moping around in the house.”

“You won't defeat Klamara.” He whispered as I
walked off the walkway onto the sand. Slowly, I turned to look at
him, at his red hair blowing in the breeze, and started to ask him
how he knew this when he put up his hand. “I was listening to you
explain your little memory trip and I thought I'd be honest with
you. You can't kill him; he's already dead. You can't destroy him,
he's thousands of years old and his anger is larger than anything
you and those two baboons can conjure up.”

“What do you care?” I asked him honestly. The
smile faded from his face and his eyes grew dark. I watched him
shift in the spot he stood in, then he looked up at me, his
expression was one of pure hatred. “What did he do to you,
Creolas?”

“Nothing.” He said and turned to go.

“That's it?” I asked, shrugging as he took a
few steps up the walk. “After all of your warnings about how we
can't do this or that to him, you're just going to say nothing and
walk away?”

“I don't know what I came out here for,
O'Neal.”

“Now you just sound like Nick.” I replied,
crossing my arms. “Did he hurt you? Did he make you realize what a
bastard you are for taking advantage of young women by pretending
to be someone else?”

“No.” He said, as his anger mounted.

“Then, what did he do?” I asked, again. “What
do you care what happens to us?”

“I don't care what happens to them.” He
replied, and looked at me, his eyes glowing.

I watched him come closer, and then he
grabbed me by the back of the head and held me there. I didn't even
bother to try and move away from him, because, at that point, I
didn't care either.

I stared at him, into those red eyes and it
suddenly occurred to me exactly what Creolas was so hateful
about.

“How did he do it?” I asked.

“Do what?” He growled as he moved closer to
my neck, baring his teeth as my heartbeat jumped into racing mode.
I reached out a hand and placed it on his chest, feeling him jump
back a bit and his muscles tense at that fact that I had touched
him.

“This.” I whispered, patting him there,
lightly. “Did he do this to you?”

His hand relaxed, letting go of my hair, and
he placed it gently on my neck. He didn't move back, but stayed
close to my ear as his breathing began to pick up its pace, and I
turned a bit to look at him as he eyes closed slowly.

“Tell me, Creolas.” I whispered.

“Why?” He asked, harshly, but reached up and
grabbed my hand, the one that rested on his chest and gave it a
gentle squeeze. “So you can take pity on me? So you can know just
what kind of an abomination I am?”

“To understand why you're warning me about
this man.” I replied. Creolas backed away this time, releasing me
totally, and he stood with his back to me.

“When I was mortal, I was seeing this girl in
secret.” He whispered after an odd moment of silence and he crossed
his arms over his chest. “Her father didn't like the fact that we
were involved, and I didn't realize the real reason until it was
too late. He didn't want me near her because he knew she was going
to die.

“Klamara came for her, the red clouds just
suddenly rolled in and I became protective. I wasn't going to let
him take her, so I got in the way, and put myself between him and
her when he let out that bolt of whatever it is that shoots out of
his hand. It hit me full force and rendered me unconscious. When I
woke up, I was like this and she was dead.” He looked down at his
hands, then clenched then into fists. “My hair and eyes had become
the color of blood, where they used to be dark like my brother's.
I've tried numerous times to stop him, even the last time you were
here.”

“I remembered it the other day.” I replied
and sighed, “But, it ended with me blacking out.”

“Maybe, it's better that way.” Creolas said,
softly.

The two of us looked up at the wooden walkway
as we heard footsteps approaching. Julian stopped just at the top
of the dunes and looked down at us. Creolas turned and stepped
closer to me.

“You're best bet, O'Neal, would be just to go
home and hide with your son. Being with them is dangerous.” He
whispered, looking deep into my eyes, staring at me with glowing
red ones of his own that I was suddenly, unafraid of.

“It seems being here with any of you is
dangerous.” I replied and watched him smile, then turn and walk
away, down the beach. I watched his red hair disappear around the
corner and slowly, I turned back to Julian. “I'm not speaking to
you, so, you might as well go back to the house.”

“Did he hurt you?” He asked, coming closer to
me, and then he stopped at the end of the walk.

“Nothing Creolas does now can hurt me as much
as you have.” I told him as I turned back towards the water.

“I know that I won't be able to apologize
enough for what I've done, but I had my reasons and I didn't really
have a say in it.”

“Oh, please, don't give me that.” I sighed,
rubbed my head and turned to look at him. “Go away.”

“Would you, please, just listen to me,
Caitlyn?” He asked and I started to walk by him.

“And, what would that get me? More lies, more
secrets?” I questioned. “I'm done talking now, Julian. Tomorrow
night is the full moon. If Klamara is coming for me, then so be it,
if not, I'll be leaving and not coming back.”

“You can't leave.” He said, grabbing my arm.
I snatched it away from him and looked him straight in the
eyes.

“Just try and stop me.” I replied and walked
away.

I sat on the bed in my room thinking about
all that had happened to me and all that I had found out about my
son. Nothing made much sense to me right then and I wasn't sure it
would ever make sense again.

Julian had hurt me, but the more I thought
about things, the more I realized that what he had done had, in
fact, insured my son's safety from Klamara's revenge. If Damien was
indeed Julian's son, then the fact that he was also part of the
Kingdom would protect him. All of the children, whether their
mothers know or not, are part vampire. According to the prophecy,
one made long before even Larado was born, back in the beginning,
the princes were to be of “no mortal man's blood”, which meant that
they were indeed vampires and protected by forces that no one
understood.

I looked up at the ceiling and listened to
the footfalls above my head. My eyes slowly closed as I worked up
the nerve to move from the spot on the bed where I sat. There was
something I decided needed to be said, not that I had made time to
think about it, and I knew just who I needed to say it too.

15

I made my way upstairs and stopped just in
front of the door to Julian's room. I thought about knocking but
decided against it and opened the door slowly. When I looked in,
standing in the doorway, I saw Julian sitting at the desk in the
corner of the room. He looked over at me, made a sour face and
looked back at his paperwork.

“I thought you were leaving.” He said,
softly.

“I have something to say.” I replied and
walked in the room. Julian turned in his seat and looked at me.

“Come in, make yourself at home.” He said in
a sarcastic tone. I raised my eyebrows at him and stood, leaning
against the footboard of his canopy bed. “So, let's hear it.”

“I'm never going to forget what happened,
Julian, or what you did to me.” I said, softly. He rolled his
eyes.

“I've heard this before, several times, I
think.” He replied. “So, unless there's something else.”

“There is.” I stuck my hands in my pants
pockets. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a short
moment, then looked at him and shrugged. “I was wrong.” I heard him
breathe in quickly and he closed his eyes. “I...I understand why
you did what you did. I know that you had knowledge of the prophecy
and that you felt you were protecting me, also I think there was a
higher power involved because of...our...son, and his involvement
in the Kingdom prophecy.”

“You wouldn't let me explain that part.” He
whispered and looked up at me.

“I know, and, like I said, I was wrong.” I
stood and walked over to the window, just to his left, glancing out
the window. “I realized that no matter what you did in the past and
no matter what happen in the future, I need you right now.” I
turned and looked at him only to find out that he had stood and was
coming closer to me. “It also made me realize just how deep my
feelings for you were.”

“So, what your saying is?” He asked, as a
smile played across his lips.

“I love you, Julian. I can't deny that, last
night was obvious of that point, but I also don't know what to do
about it.” I sighed. He leaned down and touched my cheek with his.
“Tomorrow night could be the end of everything and we still don't
know about our spirit.”

“Don't worry about it; these things seemed to
work themselves out in time.” I looked up into his eyes and smiled.
“What is it?”

“Not to ruin the moment, but, when I was
talking to Creolas, I got a strange insight into his anger, and all
the things that he's done.”

“All he's done is hurt you, and you don't
need any kind of insight to see that.” He replied and looked out
the window.

“Klamara made him like he is.” I whispered.
“He was trying to save some girl and was harmed in the
process.”

“And, you believed him.” I looked up at him,
quickly, and crossed my arms. Julian raised his hands as an
invisible barrier against the fire in my stare. “Sorry, I've never
been able to trust Creolas, especially with you, so it's hard for
me to believe anything he says, but, if you think he's telling the
truth, then maybe we can use this hatred he has towards the world
in our favor.”

“I may trust what he says, but he's still too
dangerous to be played around with.” I sighed and looked at my
hands. “His powers are...his powers are too strong to mess
with.”

“Okay, off the subject of Creolas and on to
another mood breaker.” Julian sighed as he backed up against the
desk. “Have you remembered anything else from the last time you
were here?”

“Not yet.” I sighed and walked over to sit on
the bed. Julian moved closer to me, stepping away from the desk. I
watched him stand over me, then lean down, trapping me between the
bed and his body. “What are you planning, Julian?”

“Nothing.” He smiled.

“Yeah, right, I can see a scheme brewing in
those green eyes of yours right now.” I laughed, moving backwards
on the bed. Julian came up to lie between my legs, pressing his
body against mine, as he placed his arms on either side of my head.
“Now, out with it.”

“Oh, it's just a small mood enhancer.” He
replied as his lips touched mine. I smiled against his lips and put
my hand on his hips. My eyes closed and I gave into the fire that
seemed to burn, quite heatedly, every time Julian touched me, but
that's when I felt it. Something touched my shoulders, but I knew
that the only one in the room with me was Julian. I moved away from
his lips as the touch became a grasp. “What is it?”