Page 2 of The Vampire King's Gift

He let out a huff of laughter himself. “Not quite the same thing. Unless you defined yourself by believing that Vampires weren’t real before.”

“Curiously, I’m wondering if I did. Their very existence opens up questions that I had thought answered. At least for myself,” she admitted, her expression going thoughtful.

Julian was drawn out of his own concerns and asked her, “What questions?”

“Ones about whether there’s something after our deaths. Though I suppose, since Daemon isn’t from this earth, he is more akin to an alien than a demon or an angel. Isn’t he? Yet I am now thinking of God and the Devil!” She waved a hand through the air and gave a slightly self-conscious laugh. “I thought that was pure poppycock. I thought that once we died that was it. Now I can’t quite believe that.”

“Let me totally blow your mind. Therearesouls, Elizabeth,” he told her. “Daemon was going to bring someone back from the dead.”

Elizabeth’s forehead furrowed. “Yes, yes, Balthazar told me something about that last night.”

“There’s a whole Bloodline of Vampires whose gift involves using the dead and souls to power their magic. And, Daemon, has assured me that there is something after this.” He left out that he, too, might be able to raise the dead himself. That might be a step too far for her to contemplate.

As he spoke to her about this, he realized that he hadn’t quite thought of the implications of it all. Being a Vampire meant that he might actually be excluded from what came next.

Unless I am given my Second Death, which I hope not! But then maybe I’d join my parents. Or what if the afterlife is like our most primitive concepts of it? Are Vampires allowed in Heaven?

“It’s just that the world seemed so understandable before. Somewhat boring in a way, in the sense that it was predictable,” Elizabeth admitted with a soft laugh. “But that left more time for the studies of esoteric things. But now, my most basic understanding of the world is wrong. How can I study minutia when I don’t even understand the macro?”

She gestured to the night sky above them in the glorious gardens surrounding them and the little girl who was thousands of years old collecting flowers just a few feet away.

“All the years that Christian I looked for evidence of magic and monsters, I thought I’d be prepared for actuallyfindingthem. And I’m still… I don’t know.” Julian grinned. “I should be in shock.”

“You should be!” She shook her head and sighed. “But you’re not. You’re excited. I can tell.”

Julian couldn’t help but show his enthusiasm, “I can’t wait for this trouble to be over so that I can find out more! There are endless things to learn about. And endless years to do it.”

His voice drifted off. He was looking down at Elizabeth and, for a moment, he thought he could see her skull beneath her skin. He shivered. And Sophia looked back at him at that moment. Their eyes met and he could hear her thoughts. One thought really.

You have all the gifts, Julian. Including that of my Mistress.

Julian blanched.

The back of Elizabeth’s hand was suddenly against his cheek and she was looking up at him gravely. “Julian, something else is wrong now? You can’t hide these things from me.”

He opened his mouth to answer her, to tell her it was nothing, but the words wouldn’t come. Was he seeing that she would die? Did that mean that she wouldn’t become a Vampire like they were? That she would reject the gift of immortality? Or maybe she wouldn’t even be given the choice, that chance, because someone else would take it from her?

At that moment, he was spared from even trying to speak as Elena burst out of the back door, yelling at the top of her lungs, “You took my fledgling away from me! Why should you be allowed to have the happiness that I am now denied?”

Ridley was racing after her in sleep wear: a pair of flowy silk shorts and a crop top. “Mistress! Please stop! Please!”

Elena’s gaze scoured the garden until it landed upon him. Her right hand shot out and pointed directly at him. He felt almost physically speared by it. He stopped walking and simply stared at her. Elena was thinner than before. Her face was gaunt in a way that reminded him of a living skeleton with skin pulled too tightly over the bones.

“Is that the woman who lost her fledgling?” Elizabeth asked, drawing near to him.

“Yes.” Julian stepped in front of Elizabeth and called, “Sophia, protect Elizabeth, please,”

“Of course, but Masters are always near in times of trouble,” Sophia said, but a quick glance behind him showed that Sophia was directly by Elizabeth’s side. She’d put down her basket of flowers so that both of her hands were free.

Julian turned back his attention fully onto the furious Vampire approaching him. She was so weak, she’d stumbled on the stone path. He could smell her blood when she skinned her knee. She shouldn’t have been hurt and, even if she had been by such a minor fall, she should have healed immediately. But she hadn’t. She was starving.

“You are the cause of my Heath’s Second Death! You are–” Elena cried, spittal coating her lips.

“Mistress, stop!”

Ridley put her hands on her Mistress’ upper arms and tried to hold her. But, with a sudden burst of unnatural strength, Elena burst away from her and towards Julian. He had faced many people in fights in darkened alleys, on rooftops and in questionable watering holes. So Julian wasn’t afraid of fighting. But he didn’t want to fight Elena. He didn’t want to hurt her. She was starving and out of her mind.

“Mistress, no!” Ridley repeated. She’d fallen back, but quickly jumped to her feet and was grabbing at her Mistress again.

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