Royal Blood (10 page)

The amazing part is that it tasted unlike anything I ever had before. It was delicious. It pumped through my body like adrenaline, and I could already feel my body
succumbing to the strength and speed and heightened senses that were spreading through my body. The feeling was euphoric. For the first time in my life, I felt my fangs as they emerged and drowned themselves in his blood. It was a strange feeling.

Alumit let out a howl and spun around and threw me off of him. I saw him run out the door and began to chase after him until visions started flowing through my mind.

Pictures of another world, another time. Alumit. Pictures of Alumit. Not pictures, but memories. His memories were flooding my mind. I screamed out loud when I saw a vision of him and Damascus holding down my father in his bed—draining and killing him. “Alex!” I screamed.

I ran back into my house and slammed the door. I finally heard and smelled Alex as he approached the house. He opened the door and horror washed over his face as he saw me covered in blood and frightened in the corner of the living room.

“
What the hell happened, Chris?” He was frantic. He ran over and picked me up by my shoulders and wrapped my face in his hands. “What happened, Christina?”

“
Alumit,” I managed, “he tried to kill me.”

At that moment another smell crept its way toward us, and I hissed. It wasn’t a bad smell, and much more familiar, but it was strong. And it wasn’t alone. It was more than half a dozen different smells, and as it got closer, Alex finally caught it.

“
It’s just the guard. I’ll meet them. Stay here.”

“
No, don’t leave me!” I cried.

He put his hand to my face, “You will never be out of my sight. Never again.” He turned and walked out just a few yards. A few seconds later, they emerged from the tree line, all of them—Demitri, Nebula, Calpurnia, Duncan, and Marius. Lillith and Amasia were with them as well.

“
Alex! What happened?” Demitri exclaimed. He ran over to me and put his hands to my face. Calpurnia wrapped her arms around me and buried my face into her chest.

“
Alumit,” she snarled.

“
How did you know?” I whispered and freed my face from her embrace.

“
I overheard,” she frowned. “I’m so sorry, Christina. I should have listened to you.”

“
Overheard what?” I asked.

“
I overheard that Damascus planned to come here to kill you tonight.”

I looked at everyone’s faces. “I already knew.” I looked at Calpurnia’s and ran through the night’s events in my head, even the memories that I had gained from Alumit.

She gasped when she saw the plans for them to lure me into the woods. That was
where Damascus was waiting with over a dozen other vampires to make sure the job was done. A single tear rolled down our faces in synchronization when the memory of my father’s death flowed through our minds.

“
You were right, Princess. You were always right. He killed King Azariah.” Gasps came from every mouth that was present. “I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me.” She fell to the ground at my feet.

I bent down and gripped her face, “It’s not your fault. He tricked us all, Cali. That is his gift.”

“
His gift?” three voices said at the same time.

“
Yes. I saw it. Through Alumit’s memories. Damascus can cloud everyone’s thoughts, make you see, feel, and think whatever he wants you to. Alumit knew it. That’s why Calpurnia couldn’t hear him. He knew her gift too.” I looked back to her and picked her up. “Please don’t beat yourself up.
You got here, didn’t you? I’m still alive.”

“
So what do we do?” Alex asked.

“
We fight,” I said.

“
But who is next in line? Who will take Damascus’ place?” Nebula said.

“
I will,” I smiled. The faces around me gazed at me questioningly, but I knew there was no other way.

“
Are you sure about that, Princess?” Demitri asked.

“
For years I have lived in a world where I didn’t belong, didn’t fit in. I was protected by people that I didn’t even know to keep my life—the one I was born to live in—a secret from me. No matter how I try to fight it, it’s in my blood, and I will not watch anyone else screw it up but me. Okay, that’s not quite what I meant, but you know what I mean.” I looked at Alex’s face and then to Demitri and the others. “It’s what my father wanted. I have never been a
ble to give
anything to him..
.and he has done so much for me. So, if you all will stand beside me and fight as you have fought beside him, I’ll do it.”

Ten

Even though I was surrounded by so many vampires willing to lay down their lives to restore me to my throne, I was scared. I watched as they deliberated and talked strategy, only half listening to what was being said.

My eyes found and studied every single face surrounding me. These people I was just getting to know and love…would they die? Already, I’d started to care for them, and I wasn’t sure if I could survive the guilt. Death was by no means new to me. I’d been to my share of funerals, but that had been in an entirely different life. The circumstances couldn’t be any more different. Battling for reign over a kingdom—for
my
kingdom? When was the last time
that
happened?

My eyes finally found and rested on Alex. He didn’t notice my gawking, or, if he did, he ignored it. The thought made my heart clench for a moment, but I took a deep breath and forced it away. I had to let it go.

My mind had already accepted what he had done and why, but my heart wasn’t so hasty to forgive.

I licked my lips and found myself imagining his unbelievably sweet taste. My heart began to hammer at memories, and before I could pull myself back down to
earth, I was aware of Alex’s head turning to meet my gaze. Before I could react, there was a brief connection, and I was struck by how cold and flat his eyes were as they examined me.

That splash of cold water had me fleeing from his stare. I quickly looked away and was surprised to see half a dozen pairs of eyes watching me intently. They all had some degree of concern on their faces, all but Calpurnia. I blinked and unconsciously took a step back, overwhelmed with the sudden attention.

“Princess, are you alright?”

I looked toward the source of the voice and found Demitri staring at me, worry etched into his forehead. I was in the middle of shaking my head when I realized why they were anxious. They’d heard my heart spike up abruptly. With the exception of Calpurnia, they probably thought I’d become scared from whatever they had said just said. What was that anyways? Damn it, I need to pay
more attention. I walked forward again, resuming my original place.

“I’m fine. Please continue.”

Determined to pay attention this time, I waited for the spotlight to move away from me. It didn’t take but a few seconds for them to shift back to the original topic. I was glad. I still wasn’t used to being such an asset to so many people. After a lifetime of being simple and unimportant, the sudden attention was unnerving.

“Our biggest advantage is that Damascus doesn’t know we are planning a coup. The more silent and subtle we can be, the better. Best case scenario, the shift of power will be virtually undetectable,” Duncan’s quiet but sure voice stretched through the entire room. From across the room, I saw Marius shaking his head.

“Surprised or not, Damascus will not go silently. He’s waited too long for this. He’s drunk with power and dangerous. I do not
doubt he will have to be ended. It’s the only way.”

I looked back to Duncan, waiting for a response, but the room shifted to Nebula instead.

“Perhaps not,” she disagreed. “If Damascus finds himself outnumbered so severely, even he would know it’s a lost cause.”

“Have you forgotten what he can do?”

“No, but—”

“He’ll do whatever it takes to target Princess Christina and kill her. We cannot allow that to happen.”

“
Well, he also doesn’t know Nebula’s gift,” Marius chimed in.

“
How is that possible?” I asked.

“
She hasn’t had to use it in about three hundred years.”

“
We’d better go before we lose the element of surprise,” Demitri finally stated. “Damascus won’t know yet that we’ve left.”

The drive there was tense. Alex and I were in one car and everyone else was split up in two more. There was so much to say, and yet I didn’t know where to start. What a change the day had made!

This morning we were headed to the beach, and now we were headed to bring a war to the man who killed my vampire father and had tried to kill me. Easy, right?

As hard as it was, the one thing I couldn’t say but thought about the most was how drastically everything had changed between Alex and me and how much I wanted
my
Alex back. I ached to have him love me again. To taste his kiss again. To just be
us
again. After today, I didn’t know if there would even be an “us” anymore. What we were going to do, this fight, who knew how it might end up. There was no surrender in this. People were going to die. People I knew and
loved. People like Ale…… No.

“
No!” I shouted.

“
Chris?”

“
You can’t die. Do you understand me?” Tears were coming down my face now. “You don’t have to love me anymore and you don’t have to pretend, but you have to stay alive. I can’t lose you, not ever, not like that.” I couldn’t look at his face because I knew what I would see there. Nothing. Exactly what he felt for me now.

Silent tears streamed down my face the rest of the car ride.

When we arrived at the church, everything turned all business. Demitri and Alex sat and talked for a few minutes, and then we all started in toward the city.

I don’t think anything could have
prepared me for what I was about to see—or any of us really.

The city from my dreams was waiting below, but unlike in my dreams that showed me a dead and empty city, the rooftops were covered with vampires. Vampires with one agenda—to kill me. There were dozens of them. Dozens. Terror shrilled within me.

“
Princess,” Calpurnia came to my side, “you don’t have to fight with us. I can stay here with you.”

“
There’s just so many…
.
” I gasped. “I can’t ask you to stay with me. You have to go with them. They need you.”
And I can’t lose Alex. You have to stay with him
, I added silently.

S
he nodded and turned to Demitri.
“It’s time.”

“
Nebula,” Demitri said.

I turned to Calpurnia and she flashed me a wicked grin.
I thought you never wanted
me to see this,
I thought. She winked, sunk back into her crouch, and bared her teeth to the awaiting surge.

Nebula was behind Calpurnia with her back to us. She glanced over her shoulder and in one effortless and fluid movement, she spun ever so slowly toward us. She floated through us and stopped between Alex and me. At an agonizing pace, she raised her right arm level to her shoulder and flipped her hand, palm up.

It looked like she was cupping something. She puckered her lips and blew out a gust of wind. What appeared to be diamonds flew from her hand down toward the city, like shards of crystals glittering in the moonlight, covering the earth below us.

She pulled her lips back, exposing her teeth, and with a blink of an eye all hell broke loose. Screams broke out in a chorus of pain below. The tiny fragments were dancing their way through the bodies of the vampires that wanted to kill me, slicing their skin
,
and
blood flowed freely on the rooftops.