Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (15 page)

Insulted and
infuriated, the princess attacked Grigor right there. She had almost
torn his throat out when the elder Lord Vladimir Oleander came into
the room. A Vampire warrior held him back while the others struggled
to pull the princess off of his son. The princess waltzed over to the
elder Lord with his son’s blood running down her chin and
laughed. She told him that if his son wanted to act like a Vampire it
was only fair that he live like one. Before the others could stop
her, the princess had bit open the vein in her wrist and forced it
into Grigor’s opened mouth.

About a week later,
Grigor emerged from his residence a new man. Most of the burns to his
skin were faded and he felt better than he ever had. His father had
warned him not to speak of what happened to him for fear of death and
Grigor agreed. He saw this as his chance for a better life. Grigor
decided that he should travel the world before he took his father’s
place as Lord of the village. He was gone for 10 years when he was
stricken ill and forced to return.

The village physician
informed Grigor and his father that his blood disease appeared to be
worse and that he would not live long. Lord Vladimir Oleander
dismissed the doctor and sent several mercenaries to find the Vampire
princess. It took 6 years for word to return that the princess would
not come. She did not care if Grigor lived or died. She was upset
that his blood had caused her to be sick and she had traveled to her
African homeland to recuperate. Lord Vladimir Oleander was distraught
and felt he had nowhere to turn until the messenger said that he knew
where the princess went.

In Lord Vladimir
Oleander’s mind, Africa was a land of savages and it was
fitting that the princess called it home. He sold everything he had
and packed Grigor into a carriage and traveled to Africa. Along the
way, Lord Vladimir Oleander found people for his son to feed upon,
every time disposing of the bodies so as not to attract attention.
After each feeding, Grigor would get better for two or three days,
but fall ill again.

By the time they had
reached the western coast of the large savage land, Grigor had
drained thousands of bodies and his father had aged many years. It
was only chance that brought the pair to a village in what is now
known as Ghana. The villagers were eager to see the pale skinned
visitors and helped them to get water and food. For many weeks they
slept a mile from the village, out of energy and without any leads.

Every night the
villagers sang around the fire and every morning the children would
run and play near the watering hole. The activities of the villagers
were so routine that it took the Lords by surprise when their routine
changed. One night, after a long hot day of hunting and gathering,
the villagers quietly prepared a large feast and welcomed visitors.
Grigor, having just fed on a warrior returning from the day's hunt,
was sitting in a tree when he saw the Vampire princess and her
warriors arrive to the feast. He could see that she was hugging and
kissing certain members of the village as if they were her own.

Nearly falling out of
the tree, Grigor rushed to tell his father, but found the man near
the end of his life. He told his father to hold on because he could
fix it and he ran to the village to confront the princess. Every step
he took to the village brought a smell that made Grigor’s mouth
water. He could not pinpoint the exact source of the smell but he
knew that it was appealing to him.

He stepped into the
clearing in time to see the princess lift her head from the wrist of
the village chief. He had never known that you could drink without
killing because he had never had the desire to stop. The blood that
was dripping from the wrist of the chief smelled delicious. The
strong smell of metal was coming from him and Grigor sprung forward
to claim it.

He reached the chief
and his wonderful smelling blood only to have the princess lift him
into the air by the throat. He was suspended there, salivating over
the blood that still stained the teeth of the princess. He struggled
against her grip but it only caused her to dig her nails deeper into
his flesh. She was about to rip his head off when she heard people
screaming in the distance. Near the edge of the clearing stood the
elderly Lord Vladimir Oleander and in his arms lay a village child
with a knife to her throat.

The princess, against
the wishes of her warriors, laid her life down for the life of the
little village girl. The girl was, after all, her great
great-grandchild, Efia.

In the end, Grigor,
with the aid of his father, killed the Princess with fire and a few
of her warriors that didn't flee. Then he drained the chief of his
blood. There was something different about his blood for Grigor felt
instantly better than he had in many years. He decided to turn his
father into a Vampire as well and they would rule the world. Or so
was the plan.

Chapter 12

The three of us had
called down to the kitchen numerous times for tea and cookies. The
story of how Grigor became a Vampire was so interesting that I begged
the two of them not to stop when they got tired. We were on the verge
of being late to the Council meeting and needed to get changed. Our
dresses were simple; long medieval-like dresses with a plain gold
braided rope for a belt. The fact that Tabitha’s did not have
the same high collar as ours concerned me. It was also odd to me that
every other St. Clair would be dressed in red while she was in green
but it didn't seem the time to voice my confusion.

Solomon as standing in
front of the huge double doors of the ballroom when we arrived. He
was dressed in a long black tunic and loose fitting pants and
sensible looking footwear. Around his waist was a long sword hanging
from a blood red sash. As we came closer, I could see two pairs of
Stewards flanking each side of the doors. They were dressed
identically to Solomon and all five of them bowed deeply at our
approach. I wasn’t sure just what to do when people bowed at me
so I simply stopped walking. Chloe and Tabitha, on the other hand,
continued forward until they were standing a few feet from the doors.
Solomon and the other Stewards remained in the bowed positions until
Chloe waved me forward.

Solomon stood from his
bow and directed his men to open the doors. As we entered, we were
joined by Zander, Violeta and Jordan. My brothers were wearing the
same outfit as Solomon except in red and with the high collars that
Chloe and I had. Violeta had a purple dress that was identical to
mine and I began to wonder why hers had the collar and Tabitha’s
did not. I was contemplating the reasons when I looked up to see the
assembled Vampires.

The ballroom had been
converted to a Roman style Senate room with three-tiered coliseum
seats in a semi-circle around a raised stage with six high backed
chairs. The Council seats were filled with a variety of Vampires,
none of which I recognized. The Vampires in the front row must have
been the Elders as they were all dressed in white robes with red
stoles over their shoulders. None of them looked like they were any
older than 40 years old, all having wrinkle-free skin and long
healthy looking hair. Between the three of them, not one had the same
complexion. And I wondered if they were strategically seated to
emphasize the differences.

In the second and third
row of seats sat the two Senators and twenty-five Vampire Reps
dressed in modern business attire. It looked as if they were getting
ready to attend a corporate board meeting instead of a Vampire
Council meeting. Each of them wore a lily on their lapel and I
assumed it was to identify them as St. Clair subjects. I looked at
each of their faces to find that they, unlike the Elders, were
smiling and nodding their approval.

At the far end of the
room sat our family members. Efia was flanked by Pleasant and Abraham
while the rest sat behind them. They were in the shadow of the
candle-lit wall sconces and clearly not meant to be the focus of
tonight’s festivities.

The six of us walked to
the chairs in the center of the room and prepared to sit down. Before
I could sit down, however, the entire group of Vampires stood and
bowed and remained bowed until all of us were seated. I grasped the
arms of my chair as I felt my knees begin to shake. This was entirely
too much for me.

After I had taken my
seat, one of the Elders stepped forward. He smelled of old books and
hickory smoke, like a fireplace in a library. His eyes were as blue
and as clear as the pictures that you see on Caribbean Island
postcards but with a red ring around the iris. His nose was an
unexpected turned-up knob in the center of his face, making him look
like a toddler instead of the hundreds year old Vampire Elder that I
was certain he was. He bowed deeply in front of my siblings and me
and nodded towards Violeta and Tabitha.

“
St.
Clairs,” he began, with a voice so much higher than expected
that I started to wonder if I had gotten the gender wrong. “It
is a pleasure to be invited to your home even on such an occasion as
this.”

He stood from his bow
and returned to his seat.

“
Esteemed
Council, respected Senators and admired Representatives, welcome to
our home. It is a pleasure that you would consider our request worthy
of your time.”

Zander, having stood,
sounded as if he were a King speaking to his subjects and the
audience of Vampires was acting as if they had just received such an
honor. Each of them began to speak at once, thanking us for the warm
welcome and for the pleasure of our hospitality. It felt strange
being at the receiving end of such adoration. I looked around and saw
that Chloe and Jordan were as unfazed as Zander and I immediately
felt alone. Violeta adjusted herself so that she could see my face.
She raised an eyebrow in question and mouthed 'breathe' to me.

On the other side of me
Tabitha had moved to place a hand on my shoulder and I immediately
began to feel better. I emptied my lungs of the breath I was holding
and glanced around the room to make sure that my fear had not caused
any damage. To my delight, Violeta and Tabitha appeared to be the
only people who noticed. But I wasn’t naïve enough to
think that the Elders felt nothing. All of the others, I was sure,
were too busy politicking to be bothered.

“
It
is customary for the Elders to verify the DNA of each newly found
member of a royal family. Being the current Council Magistrate, the
responsibility and the honor fall upon me.”

The blue-eyed Elder was
speaking again and I felt Tabitha’s hand tighten on my shoulder
as he placed a bib-like garment around his neck. Chloe had mentioned
that there had to be proof of my bloodline and yet, even knowing I
was dealing with Vampires, I had believed a simple trip to the doctor
would suffice. At least they could have sprung for Maury to say
“Cheyenne, you ARE a Vampire descendant.” No such luck.

My brothers and sister
stood, approached the Magistrate and presented their wrists to him.
As if in slow motion, the Magistrate dropped to his knees at the feet
of my siblings and pressed his mouth to each of their wrists in turn.
He didn’t seem to be doing anything at all but there was a
small amount of blood on his lips when he stood.

My mouth hung open as
Chloe returned to her seat, without turning in my direction or
acknowledging my presence at all. Jordan and Zander remained standing
near the Magistrate as Violeta stood and extended her hand toward me.
I stood, reluctantly, and walked forward, knowing for certain that I
didn’t want the Magistrate to touch me. I knew that this was my
rite of passage into the Vampire world, but I had been raised a human
and Vampires weren’t suppose to exist.

Standing between Zander
and Jordan, just as Chloe had, I recognized their tense stances from
the training I had received. They were there for my protection. If I
thought about it, the very few times when Chloe and I were in the
presence of Vampires who were not family, we were always accompanied
by others. Zander and Jordan were usually there, I was guessing, to
ensure that their sisters weren't drained by a Vampire with weak
willpower or a strong appetite.

Trying to relax, I
waited for the Magistrate to return to his knees before I extended my
wrist for him. His hands were not as cold as his skin looked but they
were every bit as stone-like. He looked up into my eyes and I saw an
eager hunger in them. I was about to pull my wrist out of his grasp
when I heard a low growl from my brothers causing the Magistrate to
close his eyes. Once he was composed, he returned his gaze to mine,
thoroughly chastised and apologetic. I nodded for him to proceed and
braced myself.

I felt his teeth pierce
my flesh and almost yanked my wrist out of his mouth. He pulled the
blood from my veins gently at first and then with more pressure. My
world began to rotate and my knees begin to buckle. Certain that the
Magistrate had taken too much blood, I began to panic. My breathing
became shallow and I turned to look at Jordan and then Zander who
both appeared relaxed and unaware of my distress. My gaze returned to
the Magistrate. His eyes had been replaced by onyx black orbs.

“
Cheyenne
St. Clair, you are the Prophesied One. You will unite all Vampires
into one clan and your family will rule over them. But your cousins
need you for they are in grave danger.” The voice of the
Magistrate was amplified in my ears but his mouth was still firmly on
my wrist, deliberately pulling plasma from my veins.

“
Cheyenne,”
the Magistrate said, this time having had his fill of my blood, “the
blood of your mother’s mother runs through your veins. It is my
esteemed pleasure to verify your DNA and pronounce you a St. Clair.”