Maurianna's POV
We have been in the truck for hours now. I am still bound at the feet, but Demon broke the chains on my hands so that I could sit more comfortably. The other man (whose name I learned is Garrett) is now driving us to our destination, and Demon is sitting next to me, holding my mother’s head in his lap. She wakes up every so often, screaming, and Demon gives her some of his blood to calm her down. I haven’t found the courage to ask him why yet. Every so often, Garrett will ask him for directions, but other than that, it’s been a pretty quiet trip.
I’m still terrified, to say the least. I keep getting tidbits of memories back that were stolen from me. Apparently, Demon and I were close. I trusted him when I was a child, and he always protected me.
I remember the first time he compelled me. One of the men who he sent to protect me one night tried to bite me. Demon got there just in time and ripped the man’s heart from his chest. He rocked me in his arms until I stopped crying and then compelled me to forget what happened. I was only four.
Mom wakes up and starts to cry again, hysterically. When she looks over at me, her eyes change to the color red, and black veins appear on her face. Demon wraps his legs around her, holding her to the ground, and offers her his blood once more. She drinks for a while, the whole time staring into his eyes, and then passes out again.
“Why does she keep doing that?” I finally ask.
It’s so odd to me. I grew up around humans. I believed the creatures who lurked in the darkness were some types of strange humans… not blood-drinking vampires from a nightmare.
“She is transitioning into a vampire. Every memory I ever took from her is flooding her mind. The ones I protected her from are the ones that keep waking her. I am sedating her with my blood. She will need to feed as soon as we get back to our castle. She is becoming more aware now of her senses, and she knows you are a human. You will not be safe around her for a few days,” he explains this situation while he rubs my mother’s hair.
The way he looks at her and how he is caring for her makes me happy for her, in a weird, twisted way. But she is transitioning into a vampire and wants to eat her child. What kind of life is that?
“So, she wants to suck my blood mmwwahhhhaaahaaahhaahh?” I sing out my question, trying to sound like Dracula on Halloween night. Garrett laughs from the front seat, and Demon snickers.
“Why did you turn her into a vampire?” I ask him, serious now.
“Because I will not make the same mistakes as last time.”
***
“Get up.” A gruff voice is in my ear, and something keeps poking me in the side. I open my eyes to see Garrett glaring down at me. “Get up. Stay quiet and follow me,” he demands.
It is only him and me left in the back of the meat truck. I stand, and he yanks me out of the back of the truck. He puts the handcuffs around my wrists again and replaces the ties with chains around my ankles so that I can walk. He puts the bag back over my head and grabs my arm roughly, pulling me along a dark path.
“Prisoner 349 in transport, sir.” He calls out to someone. Something chimes on a speaker, and I hear iron clank together. We walk for some time before he stops again.
“Garrett Thorndale – Sired to Demon Saulsmen, leader of the Mara Clan.” Another chime makes my ears ring, and then the iron clanking follows again.
After we enter a few more doors, Garret finally takes the sack off my head and uncuffs my hands and feet. The room we are in is immaculate. I immediately step onto the balcony and peer around. It does not even look like we are on the northern hemisphere anymore. There are two castles close by that look identical to this one. Off in the distance, built into the side of a mountain, is an even bigger castle made from black rock. It is beautiful.
I hear footsteps behind me and turn to see Demon. “Where are we?” I ask him.
“This is the city of Ambrose.”
“How far is that from Seattle?” I ask him, pulling a chuckle from his chest.
“Why are there four castles?” I ask and turn back around to gaze upon the magnificent structures.
“Ambrose is the city of the vampires. If you choose to live here, you are placed with your sired clan. There is the Mara Clan, of which I am the leader. The second clan is the Agrona Clan, which is run by Lilith, and lastly, is the youngest clan called Exitium, run by Alaris. We each have a castle to house us and our followers.” He points to the big castle in the distance. “That castle belongs to Seth, our king. Seth is the first vampire who sired us three leaders. He owns everything and everybody in Ambrose.”
“So, Seth is like my grandfather?” I hear a laugh come from behind Demon when Garrett joins us on the balcony.
“The king is anything but a grandfather. He is Demon's sire. He is the one who turned him into a vampire. Demon is my sire; he turned me into a vampire. Vampires cannot procreate. If we want more vampires, we have to turn them like Demon turned Liv.” Garrett tells me. Demon looks at Garrett uncomfortably.
They can’t procreate.
“Wait, vampires cannot have children?” I begin to back away but run into the balustrade along the balcony.
If vampires cannot procreate, then how am I Demon's daughter?
“I am the only vampire to ever have a child. That is why you have been a secret all this time. That is one reason why Olivia left when she found out she was pregnant. She thought that I would have accused her of cheating. She thought that I would kill her,” Demon tells me.
Are these vampires stupid? If they cannot procreate, what makes them so sure that my mother did not cheat?
“She obviously cheated… if vampires have never been able to have children, then why suddenly would one have a child? Mom told me I could have been the daughter of one of three men. So, my dad is bound to be one of the other two. Sorry to disappoint you.” My attitude is not hidden in my tone.
If he changed my mother into a vampire for no reason because he is too stupid to understand infertility, then we are going to have a big problem.
“It is not possible for your mother to have cheated on me. You are my daughter.” His words are confident, and I laugh.
“Why couldn’t she have cheated? Because she loved you?” I laugh at him.
What kind of conceited man is this to think that just because a woman is in love that she wouldn’t sleep around? Some women are just as bad as men.
“Because the day you were born, I got a DNA test done. You are mine.” He takes a long sigh and holds his forehead with his hand. “I’m afraid that your transition into a vampire may take a while. I need you to understand what to expect and what is expected as a vampire. This is why I brought you here so that you can learn our ways. However, humans are treated as animals here. They are either food, pets, or in better cases, servants. You cannot tell anybody what you are or that you are my daughter.”
“Am I in danger?” my question comes out as a surprise. Of course, I am in danger being here, I am a human surrounded by vampires. Why would I ask such a stupid question?
“Not in my castle. My men know who you are. They have watched over you since you were a baby, and they are all loyal to me. You are protected here, but outside these walls, I cannot protect you. You will only leave this castle with me from now on.”
Seth's POV
I have sent for Garrett. One of my servants informed me of a freshly-sired vampire who is currently in our hospital. She had been sired by Demon himself. Demon, Lilith, and Alaris are no longer allowed to sire vampires. They each have five who are sired directly underneath them, unless they plan on marrying those they have sired. I need to investigate to make sure that Demon does not need to be punished for breaking my rule. He is one of the smartest of my creations. He should know better than to go behind my back and sire someone without permission.
Garrett knocks on my door before he enters sheepishly. I get so tired of smelling fear on everyone who enters my home. I wish for once I would smell something more alluring like bravery or confidence.
“Sit down,” I demand him, and he does so quickly. I walk close to him and stare into his eyes. “Tell me, who did Demon last sire and when?”
“Olivia Saulsmen, sir, his bride. He sired her last night. She is in transition now.”
“From eighteen years ago? The one who escaped before their ceremony?”
“Yes, sir,” he answers.
I love compulsion. I thank Hecate for the ability often. It makes my life easier when getting the answers I need.
I remember Olivia very well. She was one of the most beautiful women to ever enter Ambrose. She loved Demon, and he deceived her. She did not know who or what he was, and when he showed her his life – our life - she did not accept him. So many times, I watched her try to escape him. There were several times when she came here and demanded that I make him let her return home. After a few years, I finally helped her leave – I have never told Demon that and compelled his lovely bride to forget about my involvement.
“Garrett, tell me, what is Demon's plan for Olivia?” I question because I find it odd that she has come back as a vampire after so many desperate attempts to escape him.
“He plans on making her his queen and making up for all his wrongdoings. He wants them to raise their child together.”
I have to replay Garret’s confession over in my brain several times to believe that what he just said, is really what he said.
“Child?” I’m dumbfounded by his words, and my tone sounds as if too.
“Yes, sir. A daughter. She turns eighteen tomorrow - Maurianna.”
“So, she is a stepchild to Demon then?” I ask him. Olivia must have run off to another man is all I can think.
“No sir. She shares the blood of Demon. She is half vampire half human – a living vampire.”
“Garrett, bring me the girl, I want to talk to her. Then invite Demon’s new family to my party tomorrow night. I would like to see them all together. Don’t tell him I know about his precious daughter.” I’d like to talk with Olivia before he gets back too.
A living Vampire. There has only ever been one other in history.
I drop the compulsion, and Garrett’s eyes go wide. “What are you going to do to her, sir?”
“I will do nothing to Maurianna. I’d like to see for myself that she is what you say she is, that’s all.”
When the doctors bring Olivia into my room, I recognize her instantly. She did not age one bit. She looks the same as she did eighteen years ago. She is in her early stages of transitioning, and I will be lucky to get something understandable out of her, but I will try. First, I give her my pet and let her fill her hunger. It’s a shame that she does not know when to stop feeding yet because I did like that pet, and now she’s dead.
Liv drained her dry within seconds. I cannot seem to keep a pet past a few days. Olivia’s eyes are wild when she recognizes my room.
“King.” she breaths out – breathless from her blood high. While she is transitioning all the compulsions will break away and she will remember everything. I can tell by the fearless look in her eye that she remembers what I did for her.
I get close to her and use my compulsion – my favorite trick.
“Tell me, who is the father of your daughter?” I ask her.
Her answer comes quickly. “Demon.”
“How is that possible, Liv?”
“I don’t know… I never understood.” Her eyes turn red again – she’s already ready to feed some more. She will be this way for a few more hours – hungry for blood.
I have an idea last minute. “Olivia, tell me, are you a full-blooded human?”
She shakes her head and fights to stay coherent. “There is a rumor in my family that we are descendants of a powerful Siren. The powers will skip generations, but Mauri has a way of influencing others. I am a full-blooded human, but she may be half Siren.”
Her eyes fade back as the ravenous demon who resides inside her, returns. She lunges for me but I’m quicker and pull her to the ground. The doctor rushes over and sticks a needle in her side – forcing the serum into her body. She immediately calms down and then thanks me… For what? I’m not sure.
Olivia being a descendant of a siren would mean that the girl is more than a living vampire. She is a beautiful vampire with the power to persuade any creature. She could be used as a weapon to persuade my enemies, or she could be used against me. I cannot let her secret get out. If she is a Siren… she is the last one left. How wonderful it must be to be to be both a Siren and a living vampire.