Crimson Dawn (2 page)

I have two older brothers and one younger one, but only by ten minutes. Valerian Donatello Trumaine, Vedo, is my twin and, at the moment, he looked about as happy as Irulan did. That meant he was here in a working capacity. Valerian is a junior vice president and chief counselor in the legal division at Trumaine Enterprises. My father was also grooming him for a spot on the Vampire Council.

I wasn’t on our company’s payroll, so that meant they were here for the latter, which wasn’t any better. I was tired and didn't need any Council drama at this time of the morning. All I wanted was sleep, but my father’s presence pretty much guaranteed I was about to get drama in spades.

I shook off my surprise and went to give my father a hug, but he caught my face in his hand and twisted it from side to side. "You've been away from your family too long, Valeria. You're not feeding enough, your face looks thinner every time I lay eyes on you, and what did you do to your hair?"

Here we go with this shit again. "I love you too, father, and you'll be pleased to know that I just got through eating. As for my hair, Ire put a few burgundy streaks in it for me. You like 'em?” I twirled a strand of dark tresses on my finger as I looked up at him with a sideways grin. He dropped my face, stepped closer to me and leaned into my neck drawing in a deep breath.

My eyes fluttered closed as my father's aura washed over me causing my fangs to drop. How I hated the power he had over me. Unless a Pureblood is close to starving, it's damn near impossible to draw out our feral side against our will. Father could do it to us all, and he made sure we never forgot it.

When he looked up, both our eyes had become entirely black. He straightened his black silk tie, smoothly running his hand down the tie so that it lay flat against the grey silk of his shirt. I knew that motion. He was trying to control his emotions. Once the tie was perfectly in place, he looked at me and frowned, his disappointment evident. "I only smell Human blood running through your veins. You've been on your own five years now, more than enough time to strengthen yourself by feeding from a lower class."

It was an old argument and, frankly, one that I was so far beyond tired of hearing, that I didn’t even have the gumption to get mad. I simply sighed and shook my head. "Daddy, please, I've told you I want my blood to strengthen on its own. I don't want to take any more shortcuts. You should be proud of me for that."

My father’s eyes narrowed as he looked from me to my brother, also another old tactic. One would think he’d get tired of using it against me. He was constantly trying to get Valerian to side with him whenever we had a disagreement, but it was no use, my twin wouldn’t turn against me. He wouldn’t exactly side with me either. He didn’t have the balls to stand up to daddy. As far Valerian was concerned, he was neutral territory.

Vedo shrugged his shoulders and quickly put his back to the both of us. My father growled and sucked his teeth. "I can't take pride in weakness,” he finally huffed. “You're a Trumaine, my only daughter, and I expect you to live up to what that means. Trumaines aren't weak.”

The last time I checked I could toss a Caddy about a hundred feet. I didn't think that classified me as weak, but anyway... I threw my hands up in defeat and pushed past my father making my way up the few metal stairs that separated the garage and gym area from the living space. "Whatever! Listen, if the only reason the two of you came was to browbeat me about my grooming and eating habits, while it's been real, I have to wind down, so I can get some sleep. I'm on duty tonight."

I shed my shoes and socks the minute my feet hit the carpet of the living room and plopped down on the couch hoping they wouldn't follow me.

I had no such luck. My brother flashed by me and snatched the remote from the nearby table with his free hand, before I could turn on the TV. "Valeria, you know the both of us wouldn't show up here together if it weren't important.” He tossed my remote across the room and onto the metal framed recliner that sat in the corner. He opened his saddlebag and began rifling through it, flipping papers out of the way, as he looked for something. “There are a few matters that are going to be brought to your attention when you go in to work,” he said as he continued his quest. Work, in my case, was a position as a Sentinel within the Center for Multi-Species or CMS for short. In laymen's terms, I was a cop for the Extras community and an executioner when need be.

When he’d found what he was searching for, Valerian frowned as he dropped a black folder into my lap. "We need you to go over this information before your shift. It's about a kill order you're going to be issued."

I cut my eyes towards my father as I sliced the file open with the tip of a nail. I flipped through five or six pictures and glanced at the collection of personal information. "I get kill orders all the time, and it's never interested you before, why now?” I looked up at my father. If it was so important, I wanted to hear the answer from him.

"Take a look at the last picture, Valeria. I'm sure you'll recognize the mark.” I flipped to the end of the pile of papers and drew out a picture. Shit, staring back at me was the black haired, brown-eyed face of a man I had known intimately. It was Tristan Meriwether, my former fiancé, son of this region's Master Vampire, Thomas Meriwether, and grandson to Council Member, Eric Meriwether.

"This can't be right, Daddy. No way is Thomas going to allow this kill order to go through. He'll have it shut down before I even make it in tonight.” I dropped the pictures back into the file and tossed it at my father.

Valerian dropped an Atlanta, Georgia newspaper into my lap, followed by a copy of Newsweek, The New York Times and an issue of the Charlotte Observer. "I'm afraid it's out of the Master’s influence within the CMS already. The situation has gone national."

Across all four were pictures of Tristan with headlines ranging from, “Vampire From Prominent Family Goes Rogue, Who's Next?" to "Are We Really Safe With Extras Among Us?"

“
Double shit! This is far from good publicity. As far as the Human view of Extras is concerned, a situation like this could set us back twenty years or more.”

My father nodded, "Which is why I want you to carry out your duties to the best of your abilities. Tristan is marked. His actions have forgone any trial he may have been entitled to within the CMS's legal system. I want his death to be fast but non-brutal. There’s got to be a body to turn in so the public can be assured that we Vampires will not tolerate rogue behavior no matter who the perpetrator may be."

My father was happy about this kill order which meant this was gonna go bad for me, "Uh-uh, No! There’s more to it. You wouldn't show up here to discuss a kill order, no matter who the mark was. Tell me what's going on and how far up shit creek this is gonna land me."

I looked into my father’s pale blue eyes so like Valerian’s and felt a shiver run down my spine. "That's my girl, look past the obvious, and learn to read your adversaries. It was always harder to get things past you."

"Don't flatter me, Father. I know you, that's all.” I turned to my brother. He could never deny me anything I wanted. "Now please, Valerian, tell me what's going on.” I was growing tired of the bullshit damned quickly.

Valerian looked to our father and got his nod of approval before he continued. "You're right to assume Thomas and certain members of the Council don't support this kill. They'll be contacting you later with instructions to spare Tristan's life. Eric expects you to follow his instructions to the letter."

Duh, of course he did. "Exactly how am I supposed to do that? The media's made the Human population aware of the situation. They'll expect us to act swiftly and decisively, or this is gonna end badly for all Extras."

My father smiled, "Which is why I don't want you to deviate from your superior's orders. No one is above the law. Young Meriwether must be eliminated for the safety of the masses."

Saints preserve me. "That's going to put me at direct odds with the High Council. Do you know what they'll do to me, Father? My lifeblood..."

My father's eyes blacked out, and his facial features shifted for a brief moment, a sign of a loss of control. "No one on that Council will lay so much as a finger on you. Eric is one member. He can't speak for them all. Don't forget my grandfather Kemet is responsible for many of the charters that are in place today.”

He scowled and continued, "As for Thomas, he may be Master but I am the elder and more powerful between the two of us. He sits in his seat because of his father, not because he earned it."

Valerian's thoughts crept into my head. "Father thinks it's time for new leadership. This is the perfect opportunity for him to prove Thomas' incapability. Just play the dutiful daughter role
,
Val, one more time. No matter how ambitious he is, he's our father. He loves you and would never put you into a situation he didn't think you could handle."

Valerian shrugged as my father leaned towards me and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I trust you to make the right decision, Valeria. Now, if you'll excuse us.”

My father led Valerian towards the front door. "While your brother feeds properly and has a greater immunity from the sun than you do, I believe we've pushed it far enough.” My father pushed open the heavy iron door with one finger and waited for Valerian to leave before he nodded his final goodbye.

So much for a ‘quiet morning’ at home. Irulan slid the heavy locks on our front door into place and flopped down on the couch beside me. "Thanks for the warning, Ire. you could have let me know my father was here. I would have kept on driving.”

Irulan laughed and propped her feet up on my lap. "Exactly! What the hell did you expect me to do? He made it perfectly clear he wanted to surprise you. Besides, you weren't the one stuck here listening to your father tell Valerian about the short-term advantages of consuming fey blood.” Irulan nudged me with her foot, "Hell, Val, I was scared."

"I don't think so, nervous maybe, but in all the years I've known you, five of which we've been living together, I haven't seen much of anything scare you."

Irulan laughed and lobbed a pillow at my head. "You know you're right. The day any Sidhe is scared of a Vampire is the day I lose my magic."

Irulan wasn't just any Sidhe, and she knew it. She didn't act like it, but She’s one of the Tuatha De Danann, The Bright Ones, and powerful as hell.

I pushed her feet off my lap and got up off the couch. As I walked out of the living room, I picked up the black folder from the chair where daddy had dropped it. "No need to insult the entire race, Ire. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to try to get some sleep. I'm going to need my rest to deal with the disaster I'll be walking into when I get to work."

To my utter amazement, she let me get away without an argument. I padded my way down the wide hallway that leads to our kitchen and bedrooms. When we had the two empty stores converted into one large living area, Irulan was thrilled to find out that one of them had been a restaurant. As a result, we had an enormous state of the art kitchen/dining area, which was excellent since Irulan was a chef.

At first, I thought it was an odd occupation for a three hundred plus year old Faerie, but she's an excellent cook. She runs a catering business for the Extras community directly from our home. As an Extra herself, she isn't squeamish about rounding up willing donors for a Vampire cocktail party or gathering live animals for a Werewolf’s pack meeting. She made a killing, money-wise.

For a moment, I considered a shower but changed my mind. I passed by a bathroom, through the kitchen and gave my heavy iron bedroom door a shove. The florescent lights that filled the rest of the house weren't in my bedroom. Vampires have excellent night vision, no matter what class we are, but Purebloods had a slight edge.

Purebloods have night vision, but we're also able to see the body temperatures of our prey. A small film drops over our eyes allowing the infrared vision to work. It's immensely handy when hunting, but takes a lot of concentration to keep them in place for long periods.

In my case it's the opposite, I have permanent infrared/night vision. I can switch easily between the two. The films over my eyes allow me to see normally, so I have to keep them dropped about seventy-five percent of the time. Sunlight, light bulbs, they'd all hurt my eyes without the films. Because of my unique eyes, I keep my room lit with black lights so I can relax.

I sat down at my desk and pulled Tristan's image from the file. He was gorgeous; there was no doubt about it. His soft, bronze skin and chocolate bedroom eyes were a few of the things that first caught my attention. His six-foot frame, swimmers body, and movie star looks made women throw themselves at his feet. Tristan was also the poster boy for the phrase, 'looks aint everything'.