The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV (26 page)

My eyes, still blurry from the drug that had
been on the dart, focused in and out, bringing the stars into clear
view. I moaned, involuntarily, as I turned my head to the right and
spotted the three large wooden poles that stood before me. With the
help of a small bonfire that sat just before the edge of the
property, before it fell into the ocean, I made out the shapes of
each man tied to the poles.

This made my body move and I got up, on
unsteady legs, to make my way over to them. The one closet to me
was Creolas, who was still unconscious, his head was down so that I
couldn't see his face, but as I reached up to move his hair, I
could feel the stickiness on it before I saw the blood that covered
the side of his face.

The wound where the blood had come from had
healed shortly after it happened but his face seemed whiter then
usual. Gently, I stroked his face with my fingers, feeling the
smoothness beneath them. I hadn't expected a response, but it still
made me a bit nervous that I had woken up before him.

Slowly, I moved away, walking to the last man
in the line, Nick, who was staring at me with narrowed eyes. He
seemed to not have any strength because he could barely look up
when I put my hands on his chest.

“Connie?” He whispered, and at first, I
thought he might have been asking if I were her, but then the tone
of his voice was one of concern, which made me realize he was
asking about her.

“She's safe, Nick.” I replied, touching his
cheek. He gave a weak nod, then closed his eyes and slipped into
unconsciousness.

“You shouldn't be here.” Julian's voice spoke
strangely to me. I moved to him, as he looked up in my direction.
Julian was the man in the middle and I stood directly in front of
him, looking up at those strong green eyes. “You should leave,
now.”

“Julian, if Creolas couldn't order me to
leave the night we faced Klamara; you certainly aren't going to get
me to move being tied to a pole.” I smiled at him and watched him
roll his eyes.

“Now is not the time to be cocky. You're not
immortal, you know.” He said, sternly. I moved around behind him
and began to work at the knot in the rope, when I felt the hand on
the back of my neck.

It squeezed tightly, making me freeze as if I
were a cat caught by the skin of its neck. Whoever was behind me
pushed me out towards the spot that I had woken up in, then turned
me to face the three boys. I watched Julian's face, still not
having seen the person who held me prisoner, but I knew one thing,
he, or she, was definitely a vampire.

“Hello, Julian.” The voice seemed to boom up
behind me. It was familiar in a strange way, then slowly, in my
mind, the voice connected to a face, but before I could comprehend
the thought of who I was seeing, Julian ended my guessing.

“Auron; let her go.” He demanded, struggling
against the ropes that held him.

“That's a bit disrespectful, don't you think?
Addressing me in such a common way.” Auron released me and stepped
up a few feet to my side. “I'm your father, Julian, you should show
some respect.”

I watched him move in a half circle, making
his way from one prisoner around behind me to the other, before he
stood beside me again, and looked at Julian.

“Why are you holding us like this?” Julian
demanding to know.

“In due time.” Auron replied and turned to
me. Slowly, I turned to face him also. “My, my, what do we have
here? Why, it's Larado's little stray. How did you last the
centuries?” I watched him step closer, staring me in the eyes. “Ah,
still so defiant.” He grabbed me by the hair on the back of my head
and pulled my head back. “Cast your eyes away, peasant!”

“Oh, grow up!” I told him.

“Caitlyn!” Julian scolded. I grabbed Auron's
arm and tugged at it, trying to make him let go, but I couldn't
budge it. He sneered at me then whipped his arm, tossing me to the
ground. I sat there, in the dirt, staring up at him.

“On to your question, why am I doing this?”
Auron crossed his arms and paced back and forth, keeping me in
close proximity to him. “I received word that about two weeks ago,
the four of you destroyed my father.”

“It was long overdue!” I answered then felt
the back of Auron's hand across my face.

“It's what you wanted, isn't it?” Julian
asked.

“Yes, but I wanted to be the one who did it.”
He said, like a spoiled child who hadn't gotten what he wanted.
“I've been searching for him for centuries to destroy him for what
he had done to my mother. If he hadn't made the deal with that
witch, my mother would have never become a vampire.”

“What do you want with us?” Julian asked,
getting aggravated as he fought against his restraints.

“I want the one who killed him. I want to
taste the blood of the victor. I want my closure.” Auron demanded.
“Now, tell me which one of you did it, or I'll kill this pitiful
human right in front of you.”

“I killed him.” I spoke up, standing up in
the spot where I had landed. Auron turned to me and laughed.

“So, now you have a stray fight your battles
for you, son?” He asked.

“Caitlyn, sit down!” Julian ordered.

“You're just a human; do you expect me to
believe that you defeated my father?” Auron stepped closer to me
until he stood only two feet away.

“With your simple mind, I don't expect you to
believe much.” I said, shrugging.

“Caitlyn, shut up!” I glanced over at Nick,
who had finally regained enough consciousness to yell at me and I
smiled, I knew what I was doing.

“I shoved a sword through his heart and
watched him crumble into dust.” I answered, and looked straight up
at Auron. “He was weak.”

“How dare you!” He snarled as if he were
offended by my insulting his father, then he grabbed me again.

“What are you going to do, Auron?” I asked,
suddenly feeling the fear that I had managed to keep under control.
“After all, I'm just a stray.”

He attacked me, bringing me to the ground
with his weight just off to my side. His teeth seemed to be within
centimeters of my neck but I held him off just long enough to reach
into the pockets of my dress pants, the ones I had worn to the club
and pulled out the small stake that I carried every night since
Creolas had arrived, when I thought he was a threat.

It was at that point, while gripping the
stake in my fist that I thought about how much I couldn't lose any
one of them. They had in that short amount of time, become my life
once again and I would do anything, even place my own life on the
line, to keep them part of it.

“Larado should have let me kill you when I
first saw you. Stop putting up a fight and die like the stray that
you are!” He ordered.

“My
name
is Caitlyn!” I screamed and
drove the small five inch stake as deep into his heart as I could
manage. At first, I didn't think it was deep enough because he just
lay there, staring at me, but then I felt his weight change and his
body began to crumble.

I put my head back on the ground and watched
as he disappeared into ashes that seemed to be carried away with
the wind. When I felt it was safe to breathe a sigh of relief, I
turned over and looked at Julian, who had managed to get untied as
he released Nick and the two of them came over.

“That was, by far, the stupidest, most
self-destructive thing I've ever seen.” Julian said, scolding me as
he wrapped his arms tightly around me. Nick smiled, and then
winked.

“Are you two okay?” I asked, watching them
nod. “Then, maybe we should check on Creolas.”

* * * * *

“He had regained enough of himself to stand
when we untied him, but it took until the next morning for him to
get completely back to normal.” I sighed and looked at the people
who surrounded me. “So, now you know everything, are there any
questions?”

“Where are Creolas and Nick, now?” Lauren
asked.

“Right here.” Nick volunteered as he stepped
out of the darkness to my right and came up to the patio. He looked
down at me and winked. “Creolas is still unsure of coming out. It
seems that he feels an unsettling around that bothers him.”

“What I said was it bothers me that so many
people are uneasy sitting here listening to one woman tell a
story.” Creolas said, correcting him. I watched the expression on
Ashley's face and smiled at the fact that she was stunned to see
that I hadn't made it all up. Creolas kissed my cheek and looked at
Julian, who nodded.

“Well, now that this is all over,” I said and
looked at all of them, “may I go home now?”

“Are you or are you not in love with Julian?”
Ashley asked, standing up. I sighed and turned back from Creolas,
to look at her one last time. He took my hand to try and stop me
but I moved out of his reach and stood in front of her.

“Let me inform you of something. I love him,
I always have and I always will. He is my friend, a very, very good
friend, one who comes if I need him and one that I go to if he
needs me. If this arrangement that we have is going to interfere
with your relationship with him, I suggest that you drop it now, or
give it up.” I paused, waiting for her to respond but she didn't
even move. “One last thing, you will hurt him, in the future. This
isn't something I can change, but when you do, you better think
about leaving the state, because if I catch you, vampire or not,
I'll kick your ass.”

“Caitlyn,” Creolas whispered in my ear, “come
on, we're going home.”

I backed away from her, a look of total
disbelief on her face and went inside to collect my son and my
belongings. Creolas had been standing in the doorway as I dressed
Damien to go home but I watched his shadow move and looked up to
see Julian coming in. He sat on the bed across from me as I slipped
shoes on my sleeping boy.

“I'm sorry if I upset you.” I told him, as I
looked away. “I've wanted to say that to her since we met.”

“Don't apologize.” He smiled. “I don't think
she's ever had anyone put her in her place like that, not totally
anyway.” He handed me one of Damien's toys. “So, ah, Creolas is
taking you home?”

“Yeah, he's been staying the nights that I'm
not over here working, during the time that Robert's gone.” I
answered and looked at him.

“You're relationship with Nick; I'm okay
with, but this thing with Creolas might take me a while.” He said,
shaking his head.

“I know.” I answered, picking up Damien and I
smiled down at him, before walking out the door. “Good night,
Julian.”

“Good night, Cait.” He replied and smiled as
I turned and left the house.

Prologue

Angel stared at me, as she sat forward on the
chair directly across the room. I smiled at the awe written there
on her face, and then I turned to Jason, who had quietly slipped
into the room not long ago. She licked her lips, as if to say
something, but then shook her head and smiled.

“Wow.” She whispered, which made me laugh
quietly. “That was amazing.”

“No, what is amazing is that in all this time
I’ve known Julian and Quinn, they’ve never told me about you.” I
replied. “One of these days, you’ll have to come back and let me
know just how you came about.”

“Well, you know about Jacob and Louis,
right?” She asked.

“Vaguely.” I replied. She nodded.

“Old family secret, huh?” Angel asked. I
smiled and glanced over at Jason.

“And, how is Cleo?” I inquired. Jason smiled,
and shrugged.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, but
she keeps in touch.” He replied, touching his forehead. “As far as
I know, she’s anticipating some company.”

“We all need to anticipate a change in the
way we see things.” I sighed, standing up, which made Angel move
from her seat. “Listen to me, both of you; you need to be aware of
your surroundings. There are things about to happen that all
vampires, and their associates, need to pay close attention
too.”

“What kind of thing?” Angel questioned.

“You’ll know when it happens.” I smiled, and
slowly escorted them to the door, but as they stepped out into the
darkness, Angel turned and looked at me.

“I’m sorry if being here has put you in any
danger.” She whispered, and glanced down at her hands. “Julian had
asked me not to come and see you, because of your family.”

“My children and I are safe, don’t worry
about that, and besides, I knew you were coming. Julian told me
about your interest in me.” I reached out and took her cold hand in
mine. “Angel, your family means the world to me, and now that I
know of you, and Jason, I hope that you will trust me enough to
come to me if you have any need. My home is a safe one.”

“Thank you.” She whispered, and then turned,
disappearing into the night.

As I closed the door, I felt the strong
presence behind me, and I smiled as I turned to face it. Creolas
stood, leaning against the wall, with his hands in his pants
pockets, staring at me for a short while before he smiled.

“It seems that you have cousins.” I smiled at
him, walking closer.

“What did you mean when you told them to be
aware?” Creolas asked.

“Things are going to change, for the better I
hope, but a powerful struggle is about to begin. I just hope he has
the strength to hold out and finish what was started centuries
ago.” I sighed, as he reached out and touched my cheek.

“You always speak in riddles.” He laughed. “I
hope I figure out this one sooner than I did when you told me you
were pregnant with Emily.”

“Oh, I think this one will come about sooner
than we think.” I tried to smile, but the overwhelming feeling in
my heart suppressed it. Things were about to get a little confusing
in this family, but fate and recent events proved that they were
strong enough to deal with it.

I just prayed that their luck held out.