The Vampire Legacy; The New Queen Rises (12 page)

"We need to talk."

"We don't need to talk about anything," I
replied to him, but left the door open as I walked back into the
room. Quinn followed me and closed the door behind him. He had a
dark-blue dress shirt on and some dark pants that fit him well.

"I think we do," he said and sat on the bed.
I turned to look at him as I leaned against the dresser. "About
what happened in Boston?"

"Why are you bringing that up again?" I
questioned him and shook my head.

"You can't tell me that you didn't feel it."
He smiled at him. I looked into his dark eyes and the events of
that day seemed to flash in my mind, particularly the moment that I
started to feel the pulsing from him.

"It was just the static from the car," I told
him and rubbed my head.

"It was much more than that." He smiled and
stood up. He walked over to me and took my hand, then put it to his
chest and I felt the slow pulse emanating from him. I quickly
snatched my hand away and tried to step away from him, but he took
my arm and looked at me as he stood to my left. I looked straight
ahead, as he whispered in my ear. "You can't ignore it forever,
Wolf. It affects you the same way it affects me."

“I don't want to talk about this anymore,
Quinn," I said and sighed, then something caught my attention and I
was quiet suddenly.

"What is it, Ash?" Quinn asked in a serious
voice. I looked up at him from the point on the floor that I had
been suddenly begun staring at.

"It's ..." I paused. "It's Lauren, she's
outside the door."

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Quinn and I
walked down the stairs as Michael passed to answer it. Lauren
smiled at him and nodded when he invited her in. She looked around
the house then up at Quinn and I as we stepped down the last few
stairs. I stopped and smiled at her, stopping Quinn behind me.

"You're mother told me you might be down
here," she said and walked over. "What are you doing here?"

"I can explain everything, but first let me
introduce you." I smiled at her, which faded when David walked into
the room. "You know Michael," I said as I looked at him, then
looked at David. "This is David Tarrot."

"How do you do?" David said and bowed. Lauren
laughed at him. I looked up as Quinn stepped down and stood just to
my left.

"Lauren, meet my evil half, Quinn La Rouge,"
I said and introduced him, using the last name that he had told me
to, but I supposed it was because of Victor adopting them so young.
Lauren smiled at Quinn as he took her hand and held it gently. I
was about to continue when I watched Julian walk into the room.
"And, this is Julian."

Lauren looked up at him and then the two of
them caught each other's eyes. She stood confident and nodded to
him, slowly realizing that these were the men that we had spent a
lot of time talking about. She touched my shoulder and shook her
head.

"They're real," she said, in shock, and then
shook her head. "I mean, of course, they're real, it's just they've
never appeared to both of us at once." She whispered in my ear,
"Ashley, what is going on here?"

"It’s okay," I said and looked at her, then
back at the boys. "Gentlemen, we'll see you at dinner." I took
Lauren's hand and started to walk towards the back door, but Julian
grabbed my arm on the way by; I could feel just what he was
thinking. He was worried, wanting to tell me to be careful, both
Lauren and I. I smiled at him and touched his cheek. "Don't worry,
Jules, I will."

With that, Lauren and I walked out the door
and found a nice, quiet spot about ten feet from the edge of the
property, just before it met the ocean. She looked at me as I
pulled my knees towards my chest and wrapped my arms around
them.

"How much did my mom tell you?" I asked her.
She shook her head.

"She just said that you were probably down
here and that if you were to tell you to be careful and have that
boy take good care of you. Which boy?" Lauren asked. I smiled and
then giggled to myself.

"The year I was to turn fifteen, we moved
down here to that house, there, across the inlet. I met Julian
while walking on the beach. He knocked me over when he jumped off
the dune trying to get away from the other three. We started to
talk and, after that, we spent each day together. I loved him then
I think, but I wasn't sure until he left one day, sometime between
late September and early October. I waited for him for eight months
and, when he returned, he was different and so was I.”

"I had grown up and I found him more
attractive than ever, and he told me that he loved me and wanted to
protect me." I smiled at Lauren and noticed her blushing. "I
thought we would spend every day together again, walking, talking,
and just enjoying each other." My smile faded and I sighed and
looked at the ocean. "I was wrong."

"What happened?" She asked me, almost as if
she had lost the last suspenseful chapter of a book.

"This is what you might not believe." I
sighed, and thought, but then again, you might. "I found out that I
was adopted and my real parents were, well, vampires, to put it
right out on the table."

"Vampires!" Lauren said and smiled. "You're
joking, right?"

"No," I said and shook my head. "I'm very
serious, and that was the reason that we left. My parents knew
about the four young men living over here, thanks to a priest and
some weird old woman. I was to either forget about him or have him
be destroyed. We moved after I turned sixteen. They thought they
had erased it all, but they hadn't even touched me. I pretended to
forget Julian, against every nerve in my body that wanted to reach
out and call to him, I had to put him in the back of my mind, like
he never existed."

My eyes filled with tears and my voice became
mumbled, but I wiped my eyes and continued with my story to her.
"Eight years has gone by, I had a husband and friends that cared
for me, and my baby boy. But I lost Jack first, to a reason I don't
know of, and then I lost my son. This was the only place I could
turn to for help, because I knew that others like us had to be
behind this."

"You'll find him, Ash." She smiled at me.

"I all ready have, it's just a matter of
time." I smiled. "I have to first get some information then I'll
get my son. If I leave for long periods, I'm not going to be able
to let you know where I am, but I'll let you know that I'm all
right." I looked to my side and spotted Quinn standing against the
tree watching us. He looked at me and smiled, then turned and
walked away.

At dinner, I watched as Lauren and Quinn
talked quietly together, and Michael and David whispered between
themselves. I looked to my side and saw that Cleo was desperately
trying to explain something to Julian, who looked down right
confused, and I quietly excused myself. I walked out into the east
garden, and found a spot in the middle, near a small fountain,
buried amongst large amounts of purple, pink, and yellow flowers,
to which I had no clue as to their names.

A breeze picked up around me and I looked to
my right to see Julian walking towards me. I smiled and looked up
at him as he came to sit down beside me then put and arm around my
shoulder and kissed my cheek.

"You always did look stunning in the
moonlight," he said softly. I took his hand and held it firmly.

"Have you ever been afraid of the night,
Julian?” I asked him. He smiled but nodded. "When?"

"After Victor changed me. I couldn't sleep in
the dark," Julian said. He smiled and looked at me. "I thought he
was going to come back and get me, but as I got older, I realized
that he didn't want anything to do with me anymore. So, I tried to
sleep little by little." He touched my face with his fingers. "Why
do you ask?"

"I never had a problem in the dark, but
lately, I see things that aren't really there." I sighed and rubbed
my eyes. "I see people that I don't know, doing things that I don't
want to see." I looked up at the twinkling stars and smiled. "Would
you like to go for a walk?"

Julian smiled at me and nodded, and the two
of us walked around the grounds for sometime before he walked me to
my bedroom and stood with me there, holding me.

"I have to leave in the morning, Ash. I have
a meeting in New York tomorrow night." Julian whispered in my ear,
"Stay near Quinn, he'll protect you if anything happens."

"You're not nervous about leaving us
together?" I asked him, just joking with him, but he answered
seriously.

"I trust my brother to do what's right and
protect you," he said and looked me in the eyes. "And I trust you
because I know that you'll put a stop to anything he tries before
it starts." I nodded and smiled at him. He leaned down and kissed
me softly on the lips. "Go to bed, I'll come in to say goodbye in
the morning."

"Goodnight, Julian," I said and kissed him
again, then walked into the room and closed the door. After I
changed for bed, there was a knock at the door, and Lauren peeked
her head in. She smiled at me as I waved her to come in. "You're up
late, aren't you?"

"I have to talk to you about Quinn," Lauren
replied and sat on the bed next to me.

"Quinn? What about him?" I questioned.

"I find him really fascinating." She
giggled.

"Fascinating?" I smiled. She nodded and took
my hand.

"He's the best looking man I've seen in a
long time." Lauren smiled widely and then looked at my face, into
my eyes. "What is it, Ash?"

I had suddenly grown quiet and she noticed it
quickly. I could feel David leaving the house, felt his presence
fading away as he moved away from the house. I looked at Lauren and
sighed.

"I have to go into town." She watched me get
dressed, everything I wore was black, right down to the black
leather coat I pulled out of the closet and slid over my shoulders.
She smiled at me, knowing that I had a reason to go. I smiled back
and then walked out the door.

I looked at my old beat up car, and then at
Quinn's black Porsche, and I smiled evilly to myself as I opened
the door to the Porsche and slid in. The seats were quite
comfortable and it started quietly, almost no sound at all. I
pulled out of the garage, which used to be the carriage house, and
drove down the long driveway into town.

I followed the feeling that I got from David
all the way into the heart of New London, where I trailed him into
a large parking garage and then to a bar called The Venom. It was
dark in there and the music was quite Gothic, just the place to
find a vampire lounging about. I let David mingle for about an hour
as I moved in and out of the crowd, then I moved towards his seat
as the last of his acquaintances moved away. He looked up with fear
in his eyes as I slid into the chair in front of him.

"How did you find me?" David asked,
swallowing hard and looking around.

"Do they realize that you're the real thing?"
I asked him.

"What are you following me for?" David
insisted. I smiled and leaned back in my chair.

"So, which one of them have you taken blood
from? Then again, which ones have you not?" I questioned. I watched
him grow impatient then slam his hand down on the table.

"Answer me!" He demanded. I leaned forward
and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Where is my son?" I asked him, my voice full
of anger and annoyance. David sat back and I could feel the heat
from him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I
stood up and walked over to him, pushed the small table away and
stood directly in front of him. Slowly, I leaned down over him, my
hands resting on the back of his chair.

"Her heritage is coming out and you don't
have much time left," I told him. By the look in his eyes, he knew
what I had said were his own words, but he shook his head. "Don't
worry, David, old boy. Everything is under control." It seemed to
be coming back to him and I leaned closer, baring my teeth as I
did. "Even my wife."

"Ashley, I ..." David said.

"My son, David, where is he?" I asked him,
harshly. David shook his head and my anger mounted. I grabbed him
by the collar of his jacket and brought him to me. "Don't lie to
me, David; I'll rip out your heart."

"I don't know, but I did see him," David said
and stuttered. "I...I ran into Jack, your husband and I told him
you were worried about your baby. He blindfolded me and took me to
someplace where he's keeping him."

"You ran into Jack," I said and shook my
head. "Just nonchalantly ran into him."

"Yeah, sort of," David whined. I let him down
and leaned over him again.

"Well, here's the deal. Why don't you run
into him again and tell him I want my son? Tell him I want to see
him face to face to discuss this little business and I won't tell
Julian and Quinn that you're involved in this whole thing. Deal?" I
asked him. David nodded. "Two nights from tonight, David. That
means you have tomorrow night to arrange it and tell me if he'll do
it, understand?" Again, he nodded. "Good, I'm going home. Enjoy the
rest of the night."

With that, I turned and left the bar then
drove back to the mansion. I pulled in and parked the car, turned
it off, got out and made sure that everything was the way it was
suppose to be. When I looked up, Quinn was standing in the doorway,
leaning against the sill with his arms crossed, looking at me out
of the corner of his eyes.

"What?" I snapped and went to walk by him,
but he caught my arm and made me stop. He stood straight and looked
at the side of my face as I stared straight ahead. "I'm sorry I
took your car without asking, but I can explain."

"I don't want a bullshit explanation, Ash. I
want the truth," he said, in my ear.

"Are my explanations a lie?" I asked him and
looked at him quickly.

"No, but something has you very heated and
there is no way you would volunteer that kind of information
freely," he said to me. I snatched my arm away.