The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV (20 page)

“It changes nothing, Larado. It will be
another seven centuries before she's born.” Julian smiled, and then
looked down at me. “But, I can already tell that she's
special.”

“I am so sick of being special, can I just go
home?” I asked, then turned and walked away. I heard footsteps
approach me, then they stopped and others began. After a while, I
turned and looked at who had followed me, and it turned out to be
Julian. “In my time, to us you and your brother are only two
hundred years old. In my time, people have died to protect you, and
I've spent the last week trying to remember why. Now, I know why.
You time jump, yet you change nothing to fix the future. You're a
prince, one of nine, born to rule the Kingdom of the vampires. I
find it very strange that you’re even involved in any part of the
queen's conception.”

I watched Julian look away from me, his lips
turned into a thin line, showing his aggravation.

“It's true then, what I feel, what I know
about you and ‘Jessa’. You're her father, aren't you?” I
questioned. Julian looked down at his feet, then back up at me as
he crossed his arms. “You don't have to answer, Julian. I know the
truth.”

“Do you know her?” He whispered, leaning
against the wall.

“I know of her.” I replied. “I know of things
that happen between you and her.”

“What happens?” He asked, quietly. I
shrugged.

“I know that it's a love that is never
consummated.” I replied and turned back to the tunnel ahead of me.
“I know that this is the oddest question you’re probably ever going
to hear, but what the hell were you thinking?”

“Now or then?” He asked.

“Either time?” I replied, then turned back to
face him. “She could be your blood.”

“But, on the other hand, there's the
possibility that she's won't be. Her father, Jessa's husband, is a
vampire also.” He replied.

“Julian, please, I think I know what I'm
talking about when I ask you these things.” I sighed. He stepped up
to me and looked down into my eyes.

“In the future, do you have this same fire in
your eyes?” He asked. I smiled at him, and then stepped back.
“There's something between us, isn't there?”

“There's something between you and a lot of
girls, Julian. Neither Ashley, nor I, are any different.” I
replied, then turned and walked back towards Larado.

“I beg to differ.” I heard Julian reply.
“There is something much different about you.”

I smiled as I closed my eyes and stepped into
the darkness of the cave.

16

Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around
the room. Julian's strangely painted room was bright with sunlight,
and I caught the movement of a shadow on the wall. Taking my time,
I turned over on the bed and looked at Julian's back as he stared
out the window.

“The sun seems to like you.” I smiled and
watched him turn to face me. Julian smiled and walked over towards
me. He sat on the bed, took my hand, and held it tightly. “Seven
centuries is a long time to wait for someone to appear again, isn't
it?”

“You have no idea.” Julian smiled, then
leaned down and kissed me. “So, now you know it all.”

“No, not all of it. There are things that you
need to explain to me in a little more detail, than what I got from
that little memory trip.” I replied.

* * * * *

“I happen to agree with that.” Ashley's voice
interrupted me again. I turned away from Julian's eyes and looked
over at Ashley. Her eyes were locked on Julian. “You're my
father?”

“No.” He said, softly. “I'm not.” He stepped
away from the wall and walked over to lean against the chair in
front of him. “It turned out that your father is Jessa's
husband.”

“Okay, then what about this whole thing about
you being a prince?” She questioned.

“That's self explanatory, isn't it?” Quinn
asked. Ashley looked at him. “Julian and I were born two hundred
years ago; we were the last in the line of princes born to that
generation. Our power to jump is what classifies us as princes, not
the order of our birth.”

“So, all that stuff about Victor is a lie?”
She questioned.

“No, it's still the truth. Victor is my
father.” Quinn said and then looked at Julian. “And, Auron is
Julian's.”

“Auron?” Michael asked. “As in Klamara's
Auron?”

“Yes.” Julian replied and looked at the
people who surrounded him, and then he looked at me and smiled.
“You see, Auron was our mother's husband. He was immortal, blessed
with the power to jump through time. He met our mother, and fell in
love, so, I was conceived and that's when things happened with
Victor, several years later, Quinn was born and neither of them
knew that Quinn was Victor's biological son.”

“So, you knew about the curse that Klamara
had placed on Auron and his mother?” Ashley asked.

“No, I didn't, not until after he had died in
the fire.” Julian sighed then sat down in the chair. “Everything
that we told you, about our parents dying, and how we went to
Victor that was all true, it just didn't happen when we said it
did. But what we possess is something that very few vampires can
do, and unfortunately it comes with a price. Our blood is toxic, no
human, no full mortal, can be changed by us, it would destroy
them.”

“After we were both changed, Julian decided
that he wanted to venture out on his own, to try and find out some
things, instead, he found Auron and Larado. They taught him how to
harness his power, to use it, and he taught me but we had our
limits, we couldn’t jump forward in time, couldn’t change future
events to prevent deaths we also couldn’t prevent past events from
taking place.” Quinn sighed, and held on to Lauren's hand. “My
children wouldn’t have suffered if we could have stopped it.”

“From the time he changed, Auron sought to
find someone like Larado, who wasn't going to be born for another
eleven hundred years. He found others that told him about the
Kingdom and then he found Larado and the knowledge that the two of
us were involved. It was then that he decided to find us.” Julian
sighed. “But, this has very little to do with the prophecy that was
about to come to a full boil that night.” I turned to look at him
and he smiled. “It's almost finished; maybe you should just
continue until it's done.”

“That sounds fine, and then we can all get on
with our lives.” I replied, as I turned and looked at the way the
sun reflected off the waves in the ocean.

* * * * *

The sun was at its highest point when I
stepped out of the house and lowered the sunglasses to block the
light from my sensitive eyes. Slowly, I made my way down the path
that led around the backyard. It followed the shoreline as it
circled the property and was high enough, above the beach so you
could see the people sunbathing, but they couldn't see you. That
was when I caught sight of a body moving in and out of the tide,
and stopped on the beach to watch for a moment.

The short dark hair and wide shoulders told
me that it could only be Nick as he swam, gracefully, moving as if
the world had disappeared at the shoreline. I watched him for
several minutes before I felt a person step up behind me, and I
turned to look at Quinn, who was looking out at the clouds, and
then he looked down at me and smiled.

“You realize that if he catches you spying on
him, he'll have quite a lot of not so very nice things to say to
you.” I nodded and looked back at the man in the water. “Your face
tells me that your curiosity is running away with you. Care to
vent?”

“Are there any ugly vampires in your world?”
I questioned as I suddenly turned to face him. Quinn laughed. “I
mean, are you guys like the Chippendales of the vampire race?”

“You flatter us.” Quinn replied, and shook
his head. “There are many different vampires, just like there are
many different people; however, I suspect that wasn't quite what
you were thinking about.”

“There was something Larado said to me that's
been bothering me.” I answered and put my hands in my pockets as I
studied the grass near my shoes.

“Larado?” Quinn asked. “Larado is dead; he
has been for a long time. How could he possibly say something to
you?”

“It's a long story; maybe I'll explain it to
you later, but what he said was that the last time Klamara came for
me he was stopped by something or someone. In my memories, Julian
was beside me and Klamara had reached out to flash whatever that
strange thing is that comes from his hands, and I know that if it
had hit me, I would be dead right now, but what stopped him, or
who?” I looked up at him, as if to ask him if he possibly knew, but
he shook his head and looked at me as if he were apologizing for
not knowing

“Have you asked Julian about it?” He
questioned.

“Neither of them wants to talk about it.” I
sighed. “It's strange, but I think the two of them aren't the only
two that know what went on that day.”

“Well, I know, and so do Michael and David.”
Quinn replied.

“I knew you might, but, I believe that one
other person was there who knows a bit more than he's saying.” I
rubbed my eyes, as a sudden tiredness swept threw me.

“And, who do you believe this person to
be?”

“Honestly, I think Creolas might know about
it.” I turned towards him. “So, what brings you this way?” I asked
him, and then watched him shrug. “Usually, you boys have a reason
for doing things.”

“Well, actually, Julian saw Creolas walking
around the house, and was wondering where you were.” Quinn replied.
I nodded and smiled at him, as I glanced, quickly, at Nick, who was
still swimming, and then we both turned and walked back towards the
house. He turned to me as he stopped near the door, and listened,
and then he raised his eyebrows. “I can hear him; he's in the den
talking to someone.”

“Thanks.” I replied and waved as I turned and
walked away from him. The den was only around the corner and the
door was open just wide enough to let me see who Julian was talking
too. It was Creolas, his red hair was always a dead give away, and
it seemed that Julian was less afraid of this cousin than of Nick,
even though I really had to wonder just how much power the brothers
had, if Julian and Quinn were part of the previous Kingdom
generation.

I pressed against the wall, just beside the
door, out of sight, so that I could listen to what they were
talking about, and it turned out, it seemed to be about me.

“You don't seem to be listening to me and
that doesn't surprise me; no one thinks I know anything.” Creolas
said, calmly.

“I don't see why you care.” Julian whispered,
sitting in the chair behind the desk. “Since she's been here, both
times, you've done nothing but harm her.”

“I haven't touched her this time.” Creolas
growled. “You have to take her away from here, before sunset
tonight.”

“Again, why do you care?”

“Klamara will kill her, he'll rip her apart.
She is not strong enough to defeat him and you know it.” I peeked
into the room and watched as Julian flipped through papers, trying
to ignore him, but as Creolas leaned cross the desk to look into
his eyes, Julian couldn't ignore the desperation that seemed to
shine in his eyes, an emotion that I could see from where I stood.
“Either you take her out of here, or I will.”

“Touch her and I swear you'll never see the
light of day again.” Julian whispered.

“Where were you before?” Creolas asked,
smirking at him, egging him on to go through with his threat.
“You're going to lose her. Prince or not, there's nothing that you
can do to stop him from taking her.”

“Get out!” Julian said, sharply, and then
stood up from the desk. “Get out of my house, and don't ever come
back.”

“You're making a very big mistake.” Creolas
replied, his smile never leaving his face, as he moved closer to
the door. I backed away, and hid around the corner as the red
haired man left the room and began to walk passed me. I followed
him up the stairway to his room, which was down into what was once
the servant's quarters of the house. As he turned to go into his
bedroom, he glanced back down the hallway towards me, a move that I
hadn't anticipated, and stared at me for a long moment. “What are
you doing?”

“I need to ask you something.” I replied,
moving closer to him. Creolas shook his head, rolled his eyes, and
gestured with his hand to go into his room. I slipped passed him
and moved across the bare room to look out the window at the
backyard, and the two gold rings that had already formed in the
grass, then at the third faint ring that was beginning to appear
beside them. Creolas stepped up beside me, facing me, as I
continued to look out the window. “I don't remember much about last
time he came for me.”

“You should feel lucky.” Creolas smiled, and
brushed his chest against my arm, which made me look up at him.
“Most people don't survive him to even say that.”

“In my memories, there's a figure that I can
never make out. He moves towards the red smoke that surrounded
Klamara and then he just disappears.” I sighed, looking back out
the window. “I shouldn't have survived that attack, Creolas.” I
told him, looking up at him quickly, into those red eyes, the ones
that used to frighten me, but as I looked into them now, all I
could see was the strange emotions that seemed to settle there.
“Klamara had aimed for my heart, and I'm sure in the however many
millennia he's been taking lives, he's never failed to hit his
target.”

“So?” Creolas asked, stepping away from
me.

“So.” I said, looking at him. “Why am I still
alive today?”

“Maybe, you're lucky.” He smiled.

“Or, maybe someone interfered with his aim.”
I replied and turned completely towards him. “Larado said that he
takes people who know who and what they are and leaves the ones
that know nothing until later on in life. I knew exactly what I was
by then, so that means something or someone else happened.”