The Vampire Legacy; The New Queen Rises (25 page)

My son was not the innocent child that I had
lost what felt like an eternity ago, but a young toddler with the
vengeance of his vampire heritage already well defined in his face.
This angered me, the blood began to boil in my veins and the blood
haze began to cover my eyes. I lowered my head, waiting for the
right time to strike. However clearly I could feel them, the three
men in the audience were not high on my list now, and Victor
was.

He went on with his speech, filling their
heads with the image of a world run totally by vampires, a world
without me in it, for I was the greatest threat, though still
thought to be mortal, to their whole existence. He suddenly walked
up to me, grabbed me by a handful of my hair and then grasped his
fingers around my chin again and made me look up at him.

He stopped dead sentence, in the middle of
whatever it was that he happened to be talking about, as he stared
at my bright red eyes in utter shock. This was nothing that he had
ever thought would happen; it didn't fit into his plans.

"I thought you said she had no powers," he
yelled to David, who shrugged and looked at Jack, the older one,
who seemed just as dumbfounded. Victor looked back at me and
smiled. "Well, you shouldn't be too much trouble. You didn't have
them last time we met and I'm pretty sure that you aren't that
strong, no matter who your sire is."

"I want my son," I told him, through clenched
teeth. He smiled and patted my face.

"Silly girl, the boy belongs to me," he said
back and sneered. "And, so will you."

"Not highly likely," I replied and tilted my
head, looked him directly in the eyes and a smile formed on my lips
as a cute little rhyme appeared in my head. "All around the
mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel ..." I sang softly to
him, but loud enough so that he could hear me. He looked at me
oddly.

"What are you singing?" He questioned and
then listened to the sounds of popping that seemed to be going on
behind him, in the crowd. That's when the screams started and
Victor turned and looked at the others, who seemed to be bursting
into flames. He looked at me again, shocked one more time.

"The monkey jumped out and said with a shout
..." I smiled at him and he slapped me across the face. I bowed my
head again then looked up at him with my vampire teeth exposed.
Victor backed away. With a very evil snarl and a voice that didn't
seem to be my own anymore, I finished the children's rhyme. "Pop
goes the weasel."

Behind me, the bonfire seemed to explode and
the fire raged higher and wider. I clenched my fists together, and
then brought my arms towards one another, making the rope pop as if
they were made of sewing thread. Victor backed away and looked
around the crowd.

"You can't destroy destiny, Victor," I told
him sternly. "My parents were vampires and so am I." I stepped
forward as he turned and ran. This might be interesting. I stepped
back got a few good strides and then jumped off the platform.
"There's no use hiding, Victor, I can read your mind. I know where
ever you go."

"Impossible, no vampire alive can do that,"
Victor said, appearing behind me suddenly when my feet finally
touched the ground thirty feet from the platform. I turned and
looked at him.

"No? But, I can," I replied and lashed out at
him. Victor ducked and then moved away from me. I smiled at him and
lashed out again, this time connecting with his upper chest muscle
with the blade that I had grabbed just before he stepped away from
me. He looked down at the gash in his flesh then back up at me and
glared, evilly, with red eyes.

Victor attacked me, slicing through my flesh
with his claws, leaving me standing there bleeding from a wide
slash on my arm. I looked quickly at my arm, and then grabbed a
large wooden stick, about eight inches around, flaming at one end,
and I dove towards him. His clothes caught on fire first, then, as
the stake went through his chest, his hair caught on fire. Victor
snarled at me, coming at full force, and then I lashed out with the
blade that I still had in my hand and sliced his throat.

As the red liquid quickly flowed from his
body, Victor grabbed a stake of his own and thrust it at me before
I could move out of the way. I felt it rip through my skin, deep
into my abdomen. He laughed at me and then watched as, with the
last of my strength, I sliced his chest again and punched my hand
into his chest, breaking ribs as I went through.

He looked me in the eyes as I withdrew my
hand, clenched around his heart. I lifted it to eye level and
looked past it at him, and then I tossed in the fire. He screamed
as he finally died, then burst into flames.

I stumbled to the platform once again and
looked up only when my name was called. I watched as my husband
raced towards me. He grabbed me around the throat and proceeded to
squeeze my throat. I gasped for air. Between that and the draining
of my blood, my world began to go black. Out of the corner of my
eye, I watched as David raised a large stake then brought it
crashing down on Jack.

The grip on my throat released and I watched
as Jack fell off to the side of me. I lay back on the wooden deck
and then looked up at David, who towered over me, his stake still
in hand.

"Do it, you son of a bitch," I told him and
wanted him to end it right then and there, but he dropped his stake
and wrapped his hands around the one protruding from my chest. I
thought for sure that this was it, that he was going to drive it in
further, but he set his foot and began to pull at it. Pain lurched
through my body and then he stopped. I looked up at him as he
looked at me almost defeated and then grabbed the slippery pole
myself. "Get this goddamn thing out of me."

"Hold still," David said again and pulled it
quickly. It yanked then came loose. Then he looked at me and then
at the pole in his hand. "Hang on, Ash. Don't close your eyes."
However, it was already to late, my eyes closed and the darkness
took over.

Two Weeks Later

I turned and smiled at Quinn, who walked into
my room slowly. I moved away from the window I had been looking out
and walked up to him.

"How do you feel?" He asked me, taking my
hand.

"Odd," I replied. He looked at me confused as
I tried to smile.

"Why?" His dark eyes seemed to hold a secret
that he could tell me.

"The walls in this place whisper to me, they
tell me things and it's just odd to hear them," I said and walked
over to the chair and sat down by the large bay window. He walked
over and stood across from me, against the wall. "You don't have to
hide it from me, Quinn."

"Hide what?" He asked me. I giggled at him
and then ran a hand through my hair.

"Your feelings for Lauren." I smiled. He
looked at me, quite shocked, then knelt down on the floor in front
of me and took my hands as if he were about to beg for forgiveness.
"No, wait, don't say anything."

"But, I've hurt you," he said and sighed. "I
loved you, I still do, but I ..."

"Stop, right there," I told him and touched
his cheek. "We never promised each other anything, we were never
really together. We never made that commitment. Quinn, I told you
that my love for you was not some childish thing. I told you that
it was never going to fade or change and I meant that, but I can't
hold on to you just as much as you can't hold on to me. You can't
be tied down, not to me, but Lauren ..."

"I don't know how it happened," Quinn said
and sat against the wall. "After we got here, things just began to
happen and we were together; always thrown together. One thing led
to another," he explained.

"You don't understand me, Quinn. I don't need
an explanation. I can hear it; the voice of the heart is very loud,
especially when it's found true love." I smiled at him. "Lauren's
is very loud at this very moment."

"I don't want to hurt you," he said softly. I
kissed him on the lips softly.

"What we had, Quinn, those days, those weeks,
was magic, pure, untouchable magic, but I feel that what you're
feeling now is much more than that, whether you decide that you
want to acknowledge it or not." I smiled at him. He stood and
kissed me quite hard on the lips, the pulsating feeling wasn't
there, and neither of us felt it. He looked at me as he cracked the
door open a bit. "It’s okay, Quinn, really."

"Are you going back to Julian?" He asked
me.

"Maybe, when the time is right, but not right
now," I replied and watched him nod, then leave the room, closing
the door behind him. I closed my eyes and fought back the tears,
trying to be as strong as I could.

Michael looked in on me later that afternoon
and I smiled at him, but I knew that he could feel my pain. I waved
to him, and he nodded and closed the door behind him as he
left.

I packed as many of my clothes that I could
in the back of my old car and then turned and looked at Julian, who
was standing against the driver's side door. I grabbed at whatever
was left on the ground, miscellaneous items that I was taking home
with me.

"You don't have to do this, Ash." I heard him
say. I sighed loudly and then reached over to grab the clothes on
the hood of the car and he took my hand. I looked over at him and
stopped. His green eyes looked deep into my soul, a place that I
couldn't even look at right now. I was too confused. "You haven't
really had enough time to heal."

"No, Jules. I've had plenty of time. I'm
leaving because I don't want to hurt you or your brother," I
replied and then walked over and picked up Jack's car seat and put
it in the car. When I backed out of the car, from the back seat, I
felt strong arms around my waist. I wanted to protest, to move
away, but Julian put his chin on my shoulder and then kissed my
neck. "I won't be gone for long, just enough time to make sure that
Jack's okay."

"If you need me, I mean anything ..." he said
and stopped. I turned in his arms and faced him, putting my hands
on his chest.

"I know. All I have to do is think about you,
and you'll be there," I whispered and kissed him softly on the
lips. He smiled and I touched his cheek.

"Did you say good-bye to Quinn?" He asked me.
I smiled at him.

"He's with Lauren." I smiled at him. Julian
looked at me oddly. "After the last month, the two of them have
been getting closer, um ..., they really like each other."

"And, you're okay with this? After all, you
and Quinn were ..."

"Yeah." I smiled at him and backed away
holding his hand. "I'm fine with it. They're both my friends and if
it makes them both happy, then this is what I want."

"What about ..."

"Us?" I finished for him. He smiled and shook
his head.

"Michael," Julian said and looked up at the
third floor window.

"He'll know how to find me if he really needs
to see me," I explained, and then pointed to my head.

"Oh, I forgot about that." He laughed. I
stepped away, watching the nanny put Jack in the car seat. He put
out his hand, as if to touch me, and stepped closer. "Ash?" He
asked. I turned and watched his hand drop. "What if I need to find
you?"

I smiled at him as I opened the driver's side
door and put my right foot in and grabbed the wheel. "If you ever
need me, just whisper my name and I'll be there." I climbed in the
car and smiled at him as I closed the door. I waved to him as we
began to make our way down the driveway. In the back of my mind, in
almost a whisper, I heard Julian's voice whispering to me, telling
me that he would be right there waiting. One word seemed to break
my heart.

Ashley
.

One Year Later

Summer Time

I drove in to the park, slowly, watching for
the many pedestrians that seemed to be walking through. I pulled up
slowly to the parking lot and looked over to my left at the large
three-story house that sat just beyond the trees. I turned off the
car, and sat there with butterflies spinning in my stomach. I had
to get out and get going or I would sit there all day and my jitter
little son wouldn't have anything to do with that.

Jack ran on ahead as we approached the house,
looking exactly like it had before the fire. I knew that Quinn and
Lauren would be out on his boat somewhere sailing around the ocean,
but not even leaving their back yard. The house had been restored
and the park had again been opened to the public. They even gave
tours of the house, led by Michael, who got a thrill off watching
the young women that visited climb the steep back stairway that
lead from the kitchen to servants’ quarters.

David had left the house. Though totally
acquitted of any wrongdoing because he had, in the end, saved my
life, he became a chairman of the board of trustees to the estate.
Julian, who I had seen but not heard from in the last year, was
around this place somewhere.

When I entered the house, three older women
greeted me, and asked me if I would like a tour, but Michael
quickly dismissed them and grabbed ahold of my son, kissed me on
the cheek, pointed me in the direction of Julian's office, then
took off with Jack to play in the game room.

I walked down the hall, towards the door that
Michael had pointed at, and then I sighed. This was going to be
harder than I thought. I opened the door and was greeted by his
secretary who asked me who I was and why I wanted to see him. All I
told her was my name and she smiled and walked towards the
door.

"No, wait," I said stopping her before she
went in. "I...I want to surprise him myself, if you don't mind.
I'll let myself in."

She nodded and walked back to her desk. I
took a deep breath as I stood in front of the door, then opened it
slowly and slipped in. Julian sat in the middle of a large desk,
covered in papers, looking down as some sort of document that was
in front of him. His room looked like what used to be the library,
but my memory had been a little shaky after my loss of blood by
Victor's hands.