The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV

The Kingdom of the Nine

The Vampire Legacy IV

Dawn Gray

Copyright 2011 Dawn Gray

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Thank you for respecting the hard work of
this author.

This book is dedicated to my trio, without
them I would have nothing.

To my family and friends who still stand
behind me.

To Mrs. Canning, Mary Lacasse, and Ronald
Bleau for the time they put into this work.

For Scott, may you have enough adventures to
keep you cooking, for the world is your kitchen, and you are a man
with the knowledge of how to use it. To your dreams, my friend.

The light knock on the door told me that the
guest that I was expecting had arrived and with the small
nine-month-old girl in my arms, I walked quickly to answer it. The
two of them stood in the darkness of the doorway, like two looming
statues and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my
face.

“Come in, please.” I invited and watched as
they both stepped through the doorway and followed me to the
library, where I set my child down in the play pen and gestured to
the seats next to them. “Have a seat, make yourself
comfortable.”

I watched the two of them, her bright eyes
and his dark ones scanned over the shelves that surrounded us and
landed back on me. Both smiled warmly, hand in hand, as they waited
in the uncomfortable silence.

“Well, you said you wanted to know about me
and my connection with Julian.” I sighed and scratched my forehead.
“I suppose it would be best to start with the arrival of the
queen.”

* * * * *

I looked at him, while I reclined in his
chair, as he stood facing the window in his “office”. Smiling, as
my eyes scanned over the back view of his body. He was in his usual
attire, a casual business suit with the coat hanging over the back
of his chair. His black hair, which he had recently cut short,
still was long enough to reflect colors from it when he stood in
the sunlight, and when he turned to look at me, his green eyes said
all that I needed to know.

“She's coming, isn't she?” I asked, sitting
up. Julian nodded and sighed. “So, I finally get to meet the woman
who has your mind in such a jumble.”

“I'm sorry, Cait.” Julian sighed. “I've
waited a year for her to come back and now, with you here, I'm not
sure how to feel. On one hand, I still love her, and want to
protect her, like I always have, but on the other, I have you.”

“And, that's bad.” I asked, smiling.

“You don't understand, Caitlyn, our love is
different then the one I feel with Ashley. It's more...I don't know
how to explain it.” He sighed.

“It's out of reach.” I answered. Julian
nodded, and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Does Robert know why you insisted on moving
down here? Does he know it was to be closer to me?” Julian
questioned.

“Does Ashley know why you were gone all those
times when she first came back to you, after her son was taken?” I
asked him. Julian sighed.

“That's not fair, Cait.” He replied and
walked over to me. I looked up at him, as he towered above me and I
smiled. “If you weren't so important to me, Caitlyn, I would really
consider kicking your butt.”

“Yeah, well, I'm really scared.” I answered
and turned towards the door. Julian grabbed me by the shoulders and
pulled me back against him. I could feel his breath, warm and
erotic against my cheek as his lips left little kisses there. “I
have to go, Julian.”

“I know.” He whispered to me, wrapping his
arms around me, holding me tightly. “Tell your husband that you're
working late tonight and come to dinner with me.”

“I can't.” I sighed, turning in his arms to
face him. “It's his only night off and I promised him that I
wouldn't be working so that he could spend some time with Damien
and myself. He's going on nonstop rounds starting tomorrow that
will last for at least two weeks.”

“Wow, he has a hard life.” Julian rolled his
eyes, sarcastically. “Being the pilot of a private jet that travels
to the Bahamas every other week must be so tiring, especially with
a wife and child at home.”

“Stop being such a jerk, Julian.” I said,
playfully, patting him on the chest. Julian sighed and nodded.

“I know, he pays the bills and that's what
counts.” Julian said, stepping back.

“Just think of it this way, Jules, at least
you get me the rest of the time and Damien loves coming over to see
you and the boys.” I smiled and grabbed my coat off the couch.
“What's going to happen to us after Ashley comes home?” I asked
him.

“I don't see anything changing.” Julian
replied, sitting down at the desk. He looked up at me as I grabbed
his hand and held it, and then he pulled me down to sit on his
lap.

“I do.” I whispered. “It's not going to work
if Damien and I are here, especially when she thinks you've been
all hers for so many years. How is it going to look to her to have
another woman and her son over all the time, not to mention the
response it would get when she found out I was pregnant?”

“Well,” he started to respond, then the words
stopped and he looked at me. My eyes focused on his green ones,
holding them in a stare. “You're pregnant?” He asked, quietly. I
nodded and watched the light slowly fade in his bright eyes. “It's
Robert's?”

“Who else’s would it be, Jules?” I asked,
softly. Julian looked down, quickly, and then looked back up at me.
“We'll figure out any details after she arrives, since we're not
sure when she's coming.”

“I don't want this to hurt you, Caitlyn.” He
whispered, holding me there on his lap. This was one of Julian's
many sides that I loved to see, soft, sensitive and unwilling to
let go. I kissed his cheek and slipped out of his arms.

“We're still together, Julian, and we will
be, no matter what.” I replied, grabbing my briefcase from the
table, and then winked at him. “This can't hurt me, Jules, because
it won't hurt us.”

With that, I walked out the door, closing it
behind me. As I unlocked my car, Quinn cornered me in the garage. I
smiled at him as he looked over at the house, then back at me and
put his hands in the pockets of his pants.

“What happened in there?” He asked me.

“Nothing, we were discussing the Ashley
problem again.” I answered, placing my black briefcase in the car.
Quinn nodded, his face seemed quite sad. “What is it, Quinny?”

“Nothing.” He replied and leaned against my
car. “Maybe it's the whole prospect of Ashley coming back.”

“You have Lauren, now, Quinn.” I shrugged,
and then crossed my arms in front of my chest. I turned towards him
and looked at my feet until I could find the right words. “Maybe,
it's none of my business, which it really isn't, and I want you to
just tell me to shut my trap if I'm about to say the wrong thing,
but if it's going to cause you and your brother so much pain, why
don't you just tell her not to come back?”

“We can't do that.” Quinn sighed and put an
arm on the roof of my car. “She's Michael's “fledgling”.”

“So? She's also the “Queen of the Vampires”,
big whooping deal, if it's going to hurt for her to be here than
tell her to stay away, obviously she knows enough about her
heritage to be on her own for a year.” I answered.

“You're right; it is the wrong thing to say.”
He said quietly, and then rubbed the bridge of his nose. “But, I
don't blame you for saying it. I personally, would rather see you
with Julian, then, him with her.”

“Why?” I laughed.

“Because you're totally loyal to him.”

“I'm married, Quinn, with children.” I
laughed.

“I know, and I know about the baby.” He
answered. I looked at him oddly, about to ask if he had been
eavesdropping, but he put his hand up. “I can feel things like
that, the difference in the way people feel when, suddenly, they're
not one soul, but two, and that's not what I meant by loyal. What I
meant was that you love him, unconditionally, never lessening,
always getting stronger, and that's what he needs. Ashley has never
given him that, even though she believes she has.

“When she left the first time, she broke his
heart to “protect” him, and she said that she loved him just the
same when she returned, but then she broke it again when she was
with me, lastly, she told him that she loved him again, then
thought it would be best to remove herself and her son from any
vampire influences. That is not loyalty, it's...it's hurtful, not
only to Julian but to me, because he's my brother.” Quinn sighed. I
could see that he was getting upset and I walked, slowly, over to
him. I placed my hand against his cheek and watched as he closed
his eyes, relaxing against my hand. “I don't want her here.”

“I know.” I sighed and took his hand. “But,
that's not something you can change now. Relax and just go with it.
It won't be long before you have other things to think about.”

“Are you becoming my brother, prophesying
everything?” He said, opening his eyes to smile at me.

“No, but knowing this family, Quinn, some
sort of adventure isn't all that far away.” I laughed, and then
looked passed him at the car that made its way around the oval
driveway. “Who's that?”

Quinn turned and looked at the car, also,
holding tightly to my hand, and the two of us watched as a young
woman got out of the driver's side door and walked over to the back
passenger’s side. She removed a young boy from the car seat and the
two of them walked towards the house.

“That's Ashley.” Quinn whispered, trying not
to draw attention to the two of us.

“Funny, she's not quite what I pictured a
queen to look like.” I laughed, watching the young woman with long
dark hair, dressed in blue jeans and a tee-shirt approach the
house. Quinn looked at me and smiled, then rubbed my head and
kissed the top of it. “Maybe, I should get going. I have to pick up
Damien from the babysitter's.”

“Yeah, and I have to find Lauren to let her
know that Ash is back.” Quinn smiled.

“No doubt she'll want to show off that rock
you gave her.” I replied, raising my eyebrows at him.

“You're funny.” He said and walked away.

As I got in my car, started it up and got
ready to back out, I noticed that my coat, which had important
papers for the babysitter in the pockets, and my purse, which held
my driver's license, weren't in the car.

“Aw, man.” I said, softly to myself, knowing
that if I went in there, I would have to go into the office, where
Julian, and no doubt, Ashley would be. After several minutes of
debating I decided that what I needed in there was important and
couldn't be left. I got up the nerve to walk into the house and
passed Ellen, who rose from her desk. “I'm just getting my coat,
Ellen.”

“But, Mrs. Moore, Julian isn't alone.” She
whispered to me. I stopped and thought about this a moment.

“Well, he's just going to have to get
disturbed, I need my stuff.” I replied and walked over to the door.
I knocked, quietly, knowing that nothing had to be done loudly in
that house, and waited for a response, which took several moments
to arrive. When I opened the door, I watched Julian take a step
back from Ashley as he looked at me with a dull ache in his eyes.
“Sorry, I forgot my coat and purse; I'll only be a moment.”

“Its okay, Cait.” Julian whispered. This
informal way of addressing me got a strange look from Ashley, who
looked from one of us to the other as we tried to avoid eye
contact.

“Julian?” Ashley asked, a bit of
suspiciousness in her voice. “Aren't you going to introduce your
friend?”

This made me look up. Friend? Who was she
kidding, I knew more about him then she did. I stepped forward. “My
name is Caitlyn Moore, but to most of your kind it's O'Neal, and
you must be Ashley Wolf. Julian's told me so much about you.”

“He has?” She asked. I nodded, glancing over
at Julian, who had a look of horror in his eyes, and his face had
turned white, almost a ghostly color. “Funny, he never mentioned
you before.”

“Well, I've got to go.” I replied and looked
at Julian. “Tomorrow, we'll finish your bookwork on the
Jackson-Marques files.”

“Yes.” He whispered, his voice seemed to
shake and I almost laughed to see a man so afraid of two women
facing off, almost. I looked over at Ashley and smiled.

“Good-bye.” I said and turned; my coat and
purse in hand, and walked out the door. I could hear Ashley ask him
who exactly I was before I left the house.