Don't Kill Dinner (The Rules Trilogy) (3 page)

The next day was moving day. Arthur accompanied me to my apartment to grab my things and we spent the entire day talking about our future. It was going to be perfect, there was nothing we couldn’t accomplish together. Once we finished the move we headed back downstairs for another training session. This time we managed to not get sidetracked. He explained to me that because I was a new vampire I would be expected to visit the head of the coven and go over “the rules.” When I met Ihrin, I would be put to the test to prove I had taken the transformation well. That meant a lot of training.

The more we trained the more I learned. Having known some already it made training that much easier. During the days, we would walk around the city and talk out scenarios and then in the afternoons we would train followed by the hunt. I loved to hunt. The thrill of finding someone worth biting and the power that came with the blood was addictive. Thankfully I lived in a city filled with passer-by’s making it that much easier to get my fill.

After training we would go over the Vampire Code. While there were only three rules, there were endless codes. I had all of Arthur’s knowledge but it was not second hand and so we spent hours curled up on the couch in the library going over things like the hierarchy of vampires, groups to watch out for, and who our allies were.

In between all the training and the studying we still found time to spend with Becca. She was a little shocked at first that I moved in with Arthur after a week but once she saw us together she could tell I was happy and that is all that mattered. I was able to quit my job at the Café while I was training and we talked about me getting a job at one of the law firms in the area after my acceptance to the coven. About a month into training it was time to meet the Sef of the New Orleans Coven.

As we walked down the alley Arthur explained to me that while our coven was French, Vampires spoke Romanian during official business. Just another one of those codes I had to adhere to. After thinking about it for a few minutes I stopped and looked at him quizzically. He returned my gaze and lifted one eyebrow in a question of why I stopped. “So,” I said with a slight smirk, “a British guy and a Irish girl walk into a French Coven only to speak Romanian? Sounds like some Quentin Tarantino crap if you ask me. Is Uma Thurman going to jump from the rafters screaming in Japanese?” He just snorted and pulled me along.

When we finally reached the Coven stronghold I was slightly disturbed to find it in the warehouse district surrounded by graffiti and gutter punks. Arthur pounded on the large stainless steel door and a small rectangle slid open to reveal a pair of menacing eyes. Arthur smiled just wide enough for his fully elongated fangs to show and I followed suit. Once we were inside the warehouse it took me a second to catch my breath. It was a completely different building on the inside. The walls were made of a coarse grey stone and the floor was covered in plush black carpet. It was so soft it felt like you were walking on air. As Arthur led me down the hall I couldn’t help but relax. We finally came to a stop at a large arched wooden door. He grabbed my face with both hands and leaned in so our foreheads were touching. He then spoke in my mind, “Remember Kenna, use your Romanian, try not to be your cute sarcastic self and do not look her in the eyes.” I nodded, and he gave me a quick kiss on the lips that sent my stomach into a tizzy. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

This room was decorated far different than the rest of HQ, as I affectionately named it. This room had white walls and stainless steel sculptures hanging from them. The floor was bamboo plank with a green carpet running down the center stopping at a large white wing back chair. I walked slowly with purpose towards my Sef, yet another person who would tell me what to do. Once I approached the base of her throne, I bent on one knee as was the code for being in the presence of the Sef. “Creste,” she said to me with a voice much kinder than I expected. As I came back to standing Sef Ihrin spoke to me in Romanian, “How old are you young one.” I responded as rehearsed, “I was born into this life 35 days ago.”

“You are but a young one. Are you ready to swear your oath to this coven and your brethren?”

“It is both my honor and my duty to protect you and ours.”

“You will test two weeks from today for your ranking. I trust you will be well prepared?”

“The better to serve you, my Sef.”

She waved her hand to dismiss me and turned to Arthur who had been standing behind me the entire time. “She has studied well the code and hierarchy. I know she had a good teacher, are you sure she is ready to test?” She asked. He nodded just slightly and replied, “With my life I can attest to her readiness for the test.” After this she dismissed us and we raced back home.

Right when we walked in the door I turned to Arthur and asked, “So, How’d I do?” I wanted to badly to do well, to be told I was perfect. It was something I hadn’t heard out of anyone’s mouth since high school. He walked past me stoically and I felt my heart deflate. He moved into the library and I followed behind him like a sad lost puppy hoping
for a crumb. He reached for an old red leather bound book that with “Carte Mare Viclean Razboinic” written in gold down the spine. It took me a second to translate the text from Romanian to English, but when I finally did my mouth was dry and my eyes wide. The book was called the Ledger of the Cunning Warriors. It was a list of all the highest ranked vampires in the New Orleans coven since its inception in 1718. He walked back over towards me and interlaced his fingers with mine as we sat on the couch. He opened the book and I could instantly smell the history. The crisp pages smelled of sweet ink and smoke. As the pages turned you were able to smell the history of the city, the floods, the fires and the food. He stopped on a page about two thirds in and I read the page. Five names up from the bottom I found “Arthur J. Harrison 51 days granted V.R. by Sef Ihrin sired by Karlis Arave.” I lightly fingered the page where his name was expertly scribed into the history of our coven. He took my hand and placed it within both of his and looked directly into my soul. After a pause that seemed to last a lifetime, Arthur took a deep breath and said, “What did you notice was different about your meeting with Ihrin?” After replaying my introduction in my head, I cocked my head to the right and replied, “She addressed you. It is supposed to be a conversation between mezin and the Sef, not the sire. Why did she break tradition and speak to you?” Arthur disappeared in the blink of an eye. Moments later he returned with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a story.

We leaned back on opposite arms of the sofa with our Cocoa in hand and legs tangled together as he told me about himself. He was raised the son of a merchant entrepreneur. His father brought the family over in 1885 to find wealth in the America’s. They had lived in peace for eight years before the night that changed Arthur’s life forever. While his father worked at the docks, Arthur’s mother worked as a seamstress at a very popular dress shop in the quarter. His father was supposed to pick up his mother on the way home but had gotten held late with a large shipment and she had tried to walk home alone. Arthur realized their tardiness and began the walk toward the dress shop. He was two blocks away when he heard her scream. He went running down the alley to see a creature ripping his mother’s throat open. She prayed to God to go quickly and not turn into the monster that was attacking her. When the creature threw her to the ground, drained of blood and lif
eless Arthur lost control.

At twenty-three
years old he knew how to handle himself in a brawl but he did not know what he was getting himself into. He charged the vampire and tackled it to the ground. He began to punch and kick the vampire trying to avenge his mother’s death. When the vampire has finally had enough playtime he went for Arthur. The vampire nearly drained him completely when Karlis, intervened. He had seen the entire exchange. As a calauza he was intelligent but not physically adept. He saw the fight and determination Arthur possessed and saved his life. Arthur was turned next to the cold body of his mother in a dark alley in the fledgling New Orleans.

When Arthur awoke as a vampire Karlis explained to him the plight vampires were in. They had lived peacefully in this new land until recently, but now there was a faction of vampires who wanted to reveal themselves to the humans. They wanted to kill and maim at will and not follow the code of the vampires. Karlis told him that Erasad, was the second in command of the faction who wished to rule the town in fear. Erasad was also the vampire that killed his mother. Arthur vowed then and there to bring order back to the ranks and use his new gifts for good. When Ihrin tested him, she saw the same fight and determination Karlis had seen and had granted him the rank of Viclean Razboinic. As a VR, Arthur helped lead the civil war between the adevarat (true) and hulitor (blasphemous). In the end, the adevarat won the war and that is when the Absolute Rules were enacted. When Ihrin saw Arthur’s intelligence and loyalty she urged him to sire young ones. He politely declined saying that while he was grateful to be alive and able to fight for his coven and the humans of his city, becoming a vampire was not his choice. If he ever turned someone it would be because they wanted it and he wanted to be the best Sire he could be.

The silence in the air was deafening. In such a short amount of time I had learned so much about my Sire and soul mate. After letting it sink in for a few minutes, my interest was piqued. “You turned me.” I stated, still working out the though process in my head. “Where are your other mezin?”

“You are my one and only Kenna. That is w
hy Ihrin addressed me. After one hundred twenty years I have finally taken a mezin and she expects you to be as good if not better than I was. The realization of who I was finally hit me. I was pretty much the next generation’s savior. Not that there were any battles I had to worry about, unless Arthur tried to tickle me again, and that would be a battle he would lose.

“So I will be tested for VR, and I am expected to pass?” I asked. “You are not expected to pass, my sweet one, you are expected to outwit the tester.” The true gravity of the situation finally set in. This was my opportunity to finally show my guardian angel that I could succeed. I placed my empty cup on the table and snuggled up to my sire and soul mate. I continued flipping through the history of our vampire family and when I came to the first empty spot I placed his finger on the line and whispered, “In two weeks I will join you in ranks as well as in life.”

In all of my life I have never trained so hard for anything. I would wake Arthur up early in the morning for drills and training and we would talk about everything that might happen. We would run scenarios all through the night, only taking breaks to feed and make love. What I had with Arthur was true and real. There were no lies. He knew everything about me and I learned more about him with every day that passed. I was so happy I finally had something to live for again. All I could think about was making him happy.

It was finally the day of my test. We went back to HQ and prepped for the worst. I wore black leggings and a black long sleeve shirt. My hair was tied back in a bun and I was ready to take whatever they threw at me. Arthur kissed my forehead and whispered in my ear, “I will see you soon, my love.” As he walked away, he looked over his shoulder and said “Don’t forget, they won’t play nice.” I nodded my head and began my stretching.

The test had two parts: a mental and a physical. First was the mental. I was placed in a pitch black room and my head was covered with a smelly burlap bag. Vampires circled all around me and began throwing out questions about the code and our history. I had to answer quick, correct and in Romanian. We had been training every day and I passed the history questions with no problem. Next came the strategy questions. The air was different, I could smell the excitement, feel the room breathing. I was still blind with my hands behind my back and feet shoulder width apart.

When the next part came, I was surprised but ready. I was told to remain completely still. There were vampires running and leaping, fighting all around me. One would stop behind me and ask me a question about the fight. I would answer and the fight would continue. This test used both my senses and my brain.

Finally the bag was lifted and I was ready for my physical test. The warehouse next door to HQ was set up like a laser tag arena. There were obstacles and open areas for defense and offence. I was given the Objective to protect the Mezin at all costs. I had two “mezin” with me. I led them across the arena to the safe zone while deflecting attacks from armed and unarmed vampires. One of my mezin started to stray and I had to corral them back together. Vampires leapt from the rafters and tried to take my charges from me but each time I was able to deflect their advances. It wasn’t until the end I thought I may not make it. When we turned the corner to the last room I saw him. Arthur was lying on the floor his neck being ripped open by a hulitor. I froze for a split second, just long enough for one of my mezin to be grabbed. Within a second I was on the offensive chasing the vampire that took my charge. I had told the other to hide in the corner with his sword and swing at anything that moved while I rescued the other. I had the lay of the land and knew that I could beat this vampire who was set on seeing me fail. He turned another corner almost to the free zone and ran right into my blade. “Never underestimate an angry woman,” I whispered in his ear as I grabbed my charge and ran back to the final room. My second mezin had done well. He was able to stop a vampire who turned the corner a tad too fast. We reached the end of the course and my “mezin” congratulated me on a job well done. Ihrin told me it would be a while the counsel discussed my results and I was more than welcome to clean up. Arthur met me in the shower and I was relieved to see him unharmed. I removed my sweaty clothes and walked past Arthur into the warm shower. I went to pull my hair out of its elastic but he beat me to it. Within moments, we were soaking wet and tangled around each other. My arms refused to let him go, the sight of him being attacked still fresh in my mind. The water from the shower hid my tears as I cried into the shoulder of the man I thought I almost lost. He hugged me tight and finally whispered, “You did perfect, Kenna. I knew you would.” He kissed me on the forehead and we both redressed, clean and less stressed than before. Now I wore a white tank top and floor length black skirt. When I entered the throne room I walked up to my Sef and dropped to one knee. This time she did not tell me to get up but to raise my head instead. I saw the corner of her mouth lift just slightly before she said, “Kenna, mezin of Arthur. You were brought here today for your rank testing and entrance into the coven of the New Orleans vampires. You were told you would be tested both mentally and physically. What you were not told was that we would test you emotionally. Perhaps, if we had warned you of that things might have turned out differently.” My heart fell to the floor as she finished her sentence. I had failed my guardian angel, my love, my sire. Even with insurmountable power I still could not accomplish what I needed. Ihrin saw the defeat in my face and cleared her throat before continuing.

“If we had warned you of the emotional test, you may have become apathetic to your Sire being murdered in front of you. Indifference is a bad trait in a vampire that leads to rash decisions and anarchy. It is with great pleasure that I, Sef Ihrin of the New Orleans Coven, grant you the status of Grande Viclean Razboinic. You have shown this coven that you do feel for your people but allow that emotion to fuel the greater good rather than destroy it. Rise Kenna.” I swear I was friggin sparkling! Not only did I make V.R. but Grande V.R. I could see the pride in Arthur’s eyes as I kissed Irhin’s hand. I stood tall and proud of my rank and waited for what she would say next.

Her smile warm and glowing filled the room with happiness as she said, “This calls for a ball. You are the first Grande Viclean Razboinic in over one hundred years. The whole coven will celebrate and welcome you into our family.” I smiled and said ”Thank you for the great honor.” With that we left.

I was giddy with excitement. I had done it. I had made Arthur and my new family proud. I wanted to share the news with everyone! When we arrived back home Timothy was there with a big green box under his arm. We all three hugged and Arthur asked
, “To what do we owe this pleasure, Tim?” You could tell he was about to bust from the excitement in the air.

“Word travels fast Arthur you know that.” Arthur
’s face lit up as he looked at me and nodded. This was my time for a total girl moment and I didn’t care. We walked in the house and I turned on my heels and squealed “I made Grande VR!!! I did it!” followed by my very own Carlton dance. Both of the guys doubled over laughing and I think I actually saw tears in Timothy’s eyes.

Once the guys finally caught their breath and I was able to stop bouncing up and down Tim handed me the green box and looked at Arthur. A look of shock
crossed his face and he said “Oh, crap. Sorry. Shit, how dumb of me! You haven’t given her yours yet.” He snatched the box and headed for the door. With my new confident Grande VR speed I blocked the door. “Nuh uh,” I said wagging my finger at him Bonquiqui style “there are no indian givers in this house. I’m sure what Arthur is giving me will take all night.” I threw a wink his direction and he just laughed and shook his head.

It took Tim a second to process what I had said and he made a gagging noise and said “Ok, Ok, just no details please.” He handed me the box a second time and said “Congrats, we always knew you were destined for greatness.” I ripped off the green paper and lifted the lid of the box. Inside there were two beautiful sai. They were silver and sharp with pearlescent handles. I squeaked for the second time today and lifted them out of their silk wrapping. They were light as a feather and perfectly balanced.

I put them back in the box, gave Timothy a huge bear hug and said “Thank you so much! They are perfect!” He nodded to Arthur in that silent guy speak and was gone.