Chapter 1

   I stretched my neck and rubbed the nasty scare I had there on the side of it. Sometimes the skin would feel tight where the human Hider had stabbed me in the throat with his sword. Hider was a super human of old that was called the Nephilim. We had battle in single combat during what is now call in the vampire world, The Battle of the Tundra.

  We had routed the armies of the Queen Mother. We had chased the fleeing army into the mountains of Iran; there in a large cave I slue the Queen Mother in second battle of the war with the Queen called The Battle of the Cavern. Sebastian had painted a large painting of the Queen Mother and I fighting, I had hung the painting on the wall of my office.

  Good old Sebastian, my old war horse, Sebastian had been nothing but faithful to me in his friendship. Sebastian was over four thousand years old and had worked for the Ancient Roberto, but had left Roberto for personal reasons. I could not fathom not having Sebastian as a friend, I cared for him so much that without even thinking twice I gave him my blessing in marrying my somewhat vampire daughter Emma.

  After the war with the Queen Mother, Gloria and I remodeled the fortress that the Ancient Cline had called home. I had killed Cline right before the war had started; the death of Cline started the chain reaction that started the war with the Queen and the East. In the fall out from of that war I had become the First Chair of the Council Guard, a posting that I was had not been happy with. Hephaistion, one of the Ancient Guardsmen threatened me a vampire crown if I did not take the Chair. Thank you Hephaistion for the biggest pain in my a*s I have ever known.

  Gloria knocked lightly on the door, ’Conner?’ when she saw I was on the phone she stopped, ’Sorry, I didn’t know you were on the phone.’ she said quietly.

  I waved Gloria in. My beautiful Gloria, my love, my home, my life. Gloria was the one that changed me into a vampire, we were hiking back in Washington State and I had bumped her mouth with my hand. It had taken nine days for me to change, a process that left me one of the scariest looking vampires on the planet.

  Gloria’s skin looked like white satin pulled over polished marble, mine on the other hand looked like chalk dust in the eraser rack on the bottle of a chalk board. Her eyes were bright red, my looked like red death. It was rare that I ever left our estate’s grounds; I was content to be completely ignored by the outside world.

   ’Come in,’ I waved to Gloria, ’it’s not an important call, I’m hardly listening anyways.’

  Gloria came into my office, shutting the door behind her. I had transformed one of the large ballrooms inside the mountain that our house was attached to. This room was kind of special to me. I had killed the second most dangerous vampire I have ever known in this room, whenever I thought about Augustus I would smile. Sebastian also had painted a scene with Augustus and I fighting, I hung it in between one of the large bookshelves in my office.

  My office was oval shaped and huge, you could easily fit several hundred people in it. The walls had large bookshelves that went completely around the office. In between each bookshelf there was a painting of some scene of one of the battles that Sebastian and I had fought in, under each painting there was a small light that shown onto the picture. The painting’s lights were the only lights I had down here in my office. It could have been pitch black down here and I could have seen as well as if I was standing outside in the middle of a clear day.

  A few feet up around the walls was a wrought iron walkway was a decretive hand rail that ran the entire length of the cat walk; there were two different ladders that could role the entire length of the catwalk.

  Gloria quietly sat in one of the chairs that I kept in front of my desk. My mind was brought back from miles away when the person on the other end of the phone asked if I was there.

   ’Yes I here.’ I said in French, ’and like I said the last time you called, I don’t care what the American Government is doing. How many times have I had to tell you that?’

   ’But sir, you do not understand…’

   ’No, you do not understand, I do not care if the Americans start another war with someone or blow up half the planet.’

   ’But sir the repercussions of the war will…’

   ’Are the Americans going to bomb Chamonix?’

   ’No sir.’

   ’Then I don’t care.’

   ’But sir…’

   ’Call John Barleycorn. It’s his country, bother him about it.’

   ’I called him and he did not care anymore then you do.’

   ’If John Barleycorn does not care and you know I do not, then why are you bothering me? Do not call me again, do you understand?’

   ’Yes sir.’

   ’I give you my blessing to declare war in the States if you would like. I’ll make sure John is okay with it, outside of that I have more important things that need my attention. Good bye.’

  Gloria looked at me and smiled, ’The President again?’

   ’Yeah, this new one is really giving me a head ache. I’m seriously considering sending Sebastian to pay him a visit.’

   ’You know if you do, it will mean just more work for you.’

   ’Yeah I know, that’s why I haven’t done it. Where is Sebastian?’

   ’Somewhere in the house. Charlie would like to see you.’

  Charlie had been the captain of Cline’s personal guard. Right before we had attacked Cline, Emma had killed a scout of Cline’s. We had burned his body and the smoke had been seen, Cline had sent Charlie with a large group to investigate the smoke. It was by dumb luck that we had not run in one another, they had taken almost the same track that Sebastian had led us on our way here. Charlie had found the burn pile and hauled a*s back here, but it had been too late. When he had seen the smoke coming out of the fortresses courtyard he fled.

  How he came into my service was a bit odd, the Council had let it be known that any of Cline’s soldiers were outlaws and to be put to death on sight. Charlie and several others wanted to try their luck at being pardoned by me so they found the fugitive Rudy that played a part in trying to kill Gloria. Rudy and two others had tried to kill Gloria in the Battle of the Tundra. The other two, servants of Roberto had been put to death already. Charlie had hoped to buy his freedom with Rudy’s neck.

  I figured anyone that would go to those lengths to be pardon deserved to be. Charlie had a good heart, how he remained in Cline’s service all those years was beyond me. I had asked him once, but he replied where else was there for him to go?  Sebastian said that he was trustworthy and I have learned to trust Sebastian’s judgments over the years, so I took Charlie and all that came with him into my service.

  With Charlie and his renegades as I called them, and with my the alliance with my friend John Barleycorn of North America, and Pablo the governor of South America I had become the most powerful of the twelve Chairs of the Council Guard.

   ’What does he want?’

   ’I don’t know, something about your army stuff.’

   ’Okay.’

   ’Oh I didn’t tell you, remember when I told you that Tabitha had been looking into my family back in Texas?’

  I had to think back a few months, ’Yeah.’

   ’Well Tabitha found a niece of mine, well a great niece. Well anyways Tabs sent me what she believed was her address; well I sent a letter to the address. Well in the letter I told her that I was a long lost relative that was living abroad and had found out about her and her family. I gave her my email address and told her I would like to get to know her.’

   ’I take it she replied?’

   ’She did. Her mom didn’t know that they had family living over here but she believed that we are somehow related because I knew her grandmother’s name.’

   ’Which was your sister right?’

   ’Yeah. In the email she gave me a phone number that she could be reached at, so I’m going to call her after Gabriel and Emma go back to Paris.’

  Gabriel was my adopted son, crazy Frank had found Gabriel back in Russia somewhere after The Battle of the Tundra. The Queen’s army had massacred a small farming town; Gabriel was only a toddler when the massacre occurred. He was the only survivor and I had wanted to leave the boy to fend for himself. Gloria would not hear of it, something that I have been grateful of for the last seventeen or so years.

  Gabriel was now a sophomore in college which made me chuckle, since he had never been to school a day in his life before college. Sebastian had taught Gabriel everything he knew, Gabriel could speak several different languages one of them being the Ancient vampire language. We called it the old language or speaking vampire, and that was the only language that we spoke in here. All the vampires that severed me had to learn to read and write in the old tongue, it just made everything a whole lot easier.

  The college that he attended was in Paris. I was not happy about the idea of Gabriel being loss in the world without us, but we couldn’t keep him locked up here in the mountains forever. Emma agreed to watch out for him, she had never gone to school past the seventh grade because she had been abducted by Cline when she was fourteen. She had stayed with Gabriel all the years he had been taught by Sebastian so she was more than ready to enter school.

  The college gave us a little trouble on accepting them because they had no school transcripts, but after the dean receiving a phone call from the President Emma and Gabriel were admitted without an issue.

   ’That I bet is what Charlie wants to talk to me about, letting me know that Paris is been cleared out and the guard is in place.’

   ’Yeah probably. I just wish Gabriel would let us change him already. I can’t stand it when he’s away from the estate.’

  Everyone’s position on Gabriel’s humanity had changed over the years. When he was younger he couldn’t wait to become a vampire and Gloria hated the idea. But once Gabriel discovered human girls, he was in no rush. Gloria who hated it couldn’t stand how venerable he was. As she always said to him, ’You come from a powerful family which means you have powerful enemies.’

  Gabriel could care less about his vampire enemies; he’d never seen one that he could remember. The only vampires he had seen was our family and the few guards that came to the house. So the topic caused the cold war here within the family.

  Sometimes I thought Gabriel wouldn’t be changed just to thumb his nose at Gloria, she several times almost changed him out of spite. Something that I would not allow, he would be changed when he was ready and not before. We kept a heavy presence in and around Paris, as much as I didn’t like it I believed that Gabriel had a right to choose his fate.

   ‘Charlie!’ I yelled getting my guard captain’s attention.

   ’I’ll leave you to it my love.’ in a flash she was gone.

  Charlie knocked on the office door and came in; I waved him over to the desk. Charlie was tall like me, but not quite as built. He had been in his late thirties when he was changed, though he was not quite sure how old he was. Sebastian had changed him about twenty three hundred years ago; the thought of being that old was mind boggling.

  Sebastian had told me he changed Charlie for the purpose of harvesting his flesh for vampire weapons, but discovered when he tried to kill him that he was one hell of a fighter. Sebastian laughed telling me the story, he said he thought he got into a fight with a wild badger.

  Charlie stood at attention in front of my desk, something that made me crazy. I would ask him to take a seat every time he came to talk to me and every time he would decline.

   ’Your Grace, we’ve swept Paris and found a strange scent that was several days old. We followed it to the Channel, I informed the English garrison of it and they’re investigating it. They have yet to find the scent which leads me to believe he did not come ashore in England.’

   ’Have you informed the Ireland garrison?’

   ’Yes your Grace.’

   ’Well, what is your opinion?’

   ’I believe it was someone trying to take a shortcut through Europe. I think that a letter of warning should be sent to the Council Chairs that someone had trespassed on your lands your Grace.’

   ’He was heading west?’

   ’Yes your Grace.’

   ’Then sending a letter to the other Ancients would be pointless. He had already crossed their lands which I‘m sure they‘re aware of the trespass. If it was one of their people that was sneaking around then they could care less if we knew about it. If we catch him we shall burn him, if he belongs to someone of significance they should have let me know that they were sending someone across my lands.’

   ’Yes your Grace.’

   ’Charlie how many time have I told you not to call me that?’

   ’More then I can remember your Grace.’

   ’Then why do you call me that?’

   ’Because of your grace I was given my life back your Grace, and that is something I shall never forget.’

   ’Okay Charlie. But just to reaffirm something, you can always call me Conner.’

   ’Yes your Grace. Gabriel wants your blessings to return to Paris.’

   ’Yeah I know, I heard him complaining to Gloria about wanting to leave and not being able to until you returned. Let him know that I want to see him before he leaves.’

   ’Yes your Grace.’ Charlie bowed as he stepped back, turn and was gone.

  I pulled a lighter out my desk and lit the all the candles that I had stuck in the candle holder that I kept on my desk. Gloria had found this seventeenth century candle holder that held nine different candles; it was made out of pure silver. She had said that it would fit perfectly in what she liked to call my cave.

  Like normal Gabriel he did not knock when he came in, he was the only one that did not, he’d just pushed the doors open came over and made himself at home in one of my chairs.

   ’Hey, can I go back Paris now?’ He asked.

   ’Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner?’

   ’Yeah, though I don’t really understand the point of it.’

   ’It’s an American holiday.’

   ’I know, Gloria told me.’

   ’You know these things are important to her.’

   ’Yeah I know. That’s why I came home.’

   ’You do not like coming here do you?’

  Gabriel scratched his head for a moment before he answered, ’It’s not that I don’t like coming home Conner, I was stuck here my whole childhood. I had no other children to play with, or talk to. I just feel cooped up when I come home. Gloria makes me crazy with this damn vampire thing, she’s so afraid that something’s going to happen to me. It makes me crazy sometimes.’

   ’Have you decided that you don’t want to be changed?’

   ’No it’s not that, but I’m having a good time at school. And if I was changed I wouldn’t be able too.’

   ’Emma has fun.’

   ’Emma isn’t human though.’

   ’So this is about the girls?’

  Gabriel smiled but did not answer.

   ’I can see you like playing up the nobility thing, and I know these French girls eat it up.’

  Gabriel sighed deeply, ’That they do.’

   ’Don’t forget son you ain’t French. And though you have a pulse you’re of the vampire kind. I know that you’ve heard this a thousand times, because you’re of my house you have my enemies.’

   ’I know Conner.’

   ’You don’t know. Have you not looked at the paintings around my office?’

   ’No I have.’

   ’You need to remember son; I am one of twelve Council members. If any of them had a chance they would kill you dead.’

   ’Conner normally I get this from Gloria, has something happened? You’re normally not this grouchy on the vampire debate.’

   ’Charlie found an unknown scent in Paris.’

   ’Do you think it was someone from the Council?’

  I could hear Gabriel’s heart beat speed up a bit, ’We don’t know. He ran right through Paris and jumped into the English Channel.’

   ’Huh, you know what? I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone coming into France that wasn’t invited.’

   ’It hasn’t been the first time, but it’s been the first time since you’ve been away from the estate.’

   ’Did he feed here?’

   ’Not that we’re aware of. Listen Gabriel; be careful while you’re back there. Don’t take any unnecessary chances.’

   ’Will do.’

   ’Do you need any money?’

  Gabriel smiled, ’Do I ever turn down money?’

   ’Get it from Gloria.’

   ’Okay, so am I good to go?’

   ’Yeah you’re good.’

   ’Cool, you’re going to want me home at Christmas right?’

   ’Yup.’

   ’Can I bring someone with?’

   ’Do you even want me to answer that?’

  Gabriel chuckled getting out of his chair, ’Nah I guess not. I’ll call when I get back to Paris.’

   ’I should have never bought you that stupid Porsche.’

  As Gabriel was walking out of the office he looked back, ’That car is better than the dirt bike you got me when I was twelve Conner.’ he laughed and shut the door behind him.

   ’Get out of here!’ I yelled at the closed door.

  I could hear Gabriel chuckling to himself as he walked the long hallway out of the mountain and into the new house that Gloria had had built on the old front of Cline’s fortress.

  That boy was more like me every time I saw him I thought to myself. I could hear Gloria worrying about him driving back down the mountain road. The snow came a bit early this year, I would have to have Gabriel flown up here at Christmas with the helicopter, there was no way Gloria would allow him to drive back here over Christmas break.

  I could hear outside Gabriel’s Porsche idling, Gloria and Gabriel were arguing about who was going to drive off the mountain, she wanted Emma to drive and Gabriel was complaining that he had grown up driving in the snow and he would be fine. Eventually Gloria conceded and let him drive, now I was pretty sure she would come down her and complain some more about Gabriel’s lack of caring about her feelings, in which she would blame me for it. If that boy did not change to a vampire soon I think I was going to forbid him from coming home, he caused too much of a head ache when he did.

  As the car pulled away from the house I could hear Gloria moving up to our room, she was going to call her niece. I hoped that phone call went well, she had not had any contact with anyone from her family since the day she had been changed back in fall of nineteen sixty seven when her dad dropped her off at college back in Dallas Texas. Gloria was eighteen years old and it was the first time she had been away from home. She was attack on her way home from dinner, that was over sixty years ago.

  We had celebrated Gloria’s eightieth birthday this past spring, back in July I celebrated my fifty first birthday. It played with your mind sometimes when you thought about it. Gloria was sixty when we first met, I remembered once when I was human we went to breakfast and she joked about getting something from the senior’s menu.

  I couldn’t believe I was over fifty. Fifty one years old, where did the time go? Seventeen years had passed since I killed the Queen Mother; I looked over at the painting of her and I fighting. There underneath it hung her short Roman fighting sword. My large claymore sword that Sebastian gave me hung vertically on the wall behind my desk, funny thing was I hadn’t touched it since I hung it there fifteen some old years ago.

  I turned in my chair and looked at the big sword; I smiled looking at the notch that the Queen Mother had put in it..

  Sebastian several years ago made a bowlon-new’bach forge, it concerned me a bit, I had asked him if he was planning on making some knew weapons. Sebastian said he wasn’t, but for some reason he felt better having one built just in case. I think Sebastian had a bad case of boredom.

  The vampire blades were made by combining vampire flesh with bronze. When the mix was done correctly, the metal turned white. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, Sebastian was the only one left in the world that knew how to make the old blades. If he died, the craft I fear would be lost forever.

 

  Several hours later Gloria came back down stairs to tell me how the call went. She had been off the phone for some time; Gloria was respectful of my time down here in my cave. She knew I never had enough time in a day to do all the work that was required of me. She knew I would never spend more than twelve hours a day down here, she wanted me to get enough bang for my buck.

   ’So how it go?’ I asked.

   ’Well her name is Abigail. Abby as she goes by is the only child of the older of two kids from my middle sister, if you followed all of that.’

   ’Your middle sister had two kids the oldest of those kids is the parent of Abigail that goes by Abby.’

   ’Right. My younger sister was killed in a car crash several years after I became a vampire.’

   ’Damn, your poor parents.’

   ’I know. They died within two years of Ellyn, my youngest sister’s death.’

   ’They died of a broken heart I bet.’

   ’Yeah. Well anyways, Brook my middle sister married right out of high school. She just passed last year; she had two kids like I said. Marry who’s still alive and is Abby’s mom. And Tony who is my nephew, he lives out in California somewhere with his family. Abby said she’s never talked or see Tony or his family, even when my sister Brook died.’

   ’That’s real nice of him.’

   ’No kidding. Anyways, Mary was really suspicious of me writing a letter out of the blue, and told Abby to make sure she asked me a bunch a questions about the family. But when I could name off all these family members from the LaClair side of the family Abby was more than convinced that I’m somehow related to her.’

   ’So that good right?’ I asked.

   ’It is. At least I believe so.’    

   ’So what’s the plan?’

   ’Well that’s what I was wanting to talk to you about, do you mind if I go to the States for a few weeks?’

   ’When?’ I asked wondering if she forgot Christmas was month away.

   ’Before Christmas. Don’t look at me like that Conner, I wasn’t planning on swimming.’

   ’It’s not that. Some unknown visitor came through our territory a few days ago.’

   ’And you let Gabriel go back?’

   ’Calm down Gloria. Emma’s with him, plus I have a squad following him back. He’ll be fine.’

   ’I’m telling you Conner…’

  I raised my hand to stop Gloria’s complaint about Gabriel’s humanity, ’I know, I know. What do you want me to do? Lock him up here?’

   ’No.’

   ’He’ll be fine. I have ten guards between Ireland and England. I have ten in Paris alone. I have twenty running patrols on our borders, once the group gets back taking Gabriel home they’ll come back here and run with the remaining guards patrolling the estate.’

  Gloria frowned, ’Still I don’t like it. So do you mind if I go to Dallas?’

   ’No I don’t mind, but if you go take Sebastian with you.’

   ’I’m not taking Sebastian with me to meet my niece Conner.’

   ’For me please?’

   ’I know John Barleycorn could spare Tabitha.’

   ’Just take Sebastian please.’

   ’You’re not going to budge on that are you?’

   ’No.’

  Gloria sighed, ’I’ll make him carry my luggage.’

   ’He’ll be thrilled.’

  Gloria chuckled, ’So what are you going to do while I’m gone?’

   ’I don’t know, I’ll probably call the American President and find out what’s going on.’

   ’That’s only going to irritate you. The Americans could care less what the Council says or thinks.’

   ’I know, the Americans know that we could take their country away if we wanted too. They like take advantage of the fact that we don’t want the head ache of putting a new government back in power.’                   

   ’I would just make John do it.’

  I chuckled, ’I wouldn’t do that to poor John.’

   ’I’m going to go pack Conner.’

   ’I take it you’re leaving soon?’

   ’Yeah, as soon as I can.’

   ’Does Abby know that?’

   ’I told her I would come soon as I could arrange it.’

   ’And what are you telling her about us?’

   ’I told her that I’m married to an old fashion aristocrat and that we’re Nobility, which she thinks is fascinating. I also told her that one of these days she needs to come to Paris and we could spend a week shopping.’

   ’I’m sure she would like that.’

   ’Oh, she’s all for it.’

   ’I bet her mom will be thrilled.’

   ’I’m sure that it will be fine. Especially since I’m going there first.’

   ’I’m sure they’ll love Sebastian.’

   ’I’m sure they will.’ Gloria said with a smile.

   ’What are you going to tell them about that?’ I asked point to the horrible scar the Gloria had on her face.

  During The Battle of the Cavern Gloria was struck in the face with a sword. The scar traveled down the right side of her face, from her hairline, through the eye and off the side of her chin. Though Gloria would never admit it to me, I knew the wound had left her at least partially blind in her right eye. The eye did not glow red like her other one did, and there was a cataract that covered the pupil.

  Gloria reached up and touch the scar lightly with her fingertips, ’Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about it. Don’t scowl at me Conner Steele, I’ll figure something out on my way to Dallas.’

  Gloria got up and kissed me on the cheek and headed towards the door, ’I’m going to pack, call the airport for me and let them know I’m coming.’

   ’Sure.’    

  I called Geneva to let them know that Gloria was coming in the next few hours and would need a flight to Dallas. We did not own a privet jet like Roberto did, but Geneva always had several private jets available for us to take if we wished. Chamonix did not have its own airport, so if we needed to fly somewhere we used Geneva’s airport.

  Switzerland was a neutral territory for the Ancients; I found it funny that even in the vampire world Switzerland was neutral. I guess we’re the ones that started it.

 

  Gloria stayed in the States for about two weeks. The meeting with her great niece Abby went well I guess, apparently Abby and Gloria could pass as sisters they looked so much alike. Abby’s mother Mary was skeptical about an estranged family member living in Europe, but once she saw Gloria any doubt she held had disappeared.

  The story that Gloria fed them was rather comical. Apparently Gloria’s grandfather’s brother disappeared during the First World War; he was listed as missing and presumed dead. What Gloria had told Abby’s family was that he was not killed but deserted and changed his name to Châteaux and was killed by the Germans during the Second World War.

  Gloria told Abby’s family that via the internet she had found the LaClair family by a newspaper article where a Gloria LaClair had been struck by a car and died shortly thereafter then had her body was stolen from a morgue in Dallas. The article had listed the names of her surviving relatives, she did a little research and the rest was history.

  Abby and her mother were fascinated by Sebastian. Gloria explained that I was French nobility and Sebastian was her body guard. They wanted to hear all about me and what that meant exactly, Gloria had explained she really didn’t know other then the fact that I was very wealthy. Mary asked if my family had been okay with me marrying a commoner, she had told them that the family was not thrilled. But I held the title so what could they do. Gloria promised Abby that she would bring her to Paris so they could go shopping in the spring, an invitation she gladly accepted.

   Gloria did not fly back into Geneva, she instead flew into Paris to spend the last few weeks with Gabriel before the Christmas break. Sebastian was grateful; he was able to spend some time with Emma. Sebastian did not always stay with Emma in Paris, it was hard for him to be away from the estate for fear that something would happen and he would miss it.

  Gloria, Gabriel, Sebastian and Emma had arrived back at the estate hour or so ago; Gloria went straight to our room which was not a good sign. Sebastian, Emma and Gabriel went to the training dojo and were sparing, I could hear the bamboo swords striking each other, and from time to time striking the bamboo armor that Gabriel wore when they fought.

  As I was thinking about Gloria and Gabriel and what kind argument that could have develop between those two after spending two weeks together Charlie returned and saved me from my worrying.

  The strange scent that was discovered back before Gabriel drove back to school was found again. This time about seventy miles northwest of Chamonix, Charlie stumbled onto it running a routine patrol. He was going to give me an update on it after he returned from investigating it. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to have Sebastian go looking for the trespasser.

  He knocked on my door and peaked in, ‘A moment your Grace?’

   ‘Come in Charlie.’ I said waving him in.

  I had the art lights turned off but had a single candle lit on my desk. Though I could see fine in the dark I didn’t like to sit in the dark for too long.

  In typical fashion Charlie stood at attention in front of my desk, ’Will you please sit Charlie, you make me crazy when you stand there like that.’

   ’Yes your Grace.’

  Charlie sat down in one of the two chairs that I had at what looked like the position of attention; did he have to be so formal all the time?

   ’Is something wrong your Grace?’ he asked seeing my tension.

   ’No, you found something out about our friend?’

   ’No your Grace. We chased the scent of whoever it was half way across Hephaistion’s territory before we turned back. We ran into one of Hephaistion’s people. The young one was not happy to see us.’

   ’How many did you have with you?’ I asked becoming concerned.

   ’I had ten guardsmen with me your Grace.’

  I scowled.

   ’My apologies your Grace, should I have not followed him?’

   ’No it’s not that, Hephaistion is my closest ally on the Council, but Roberto is his. And we’re stuck in between them; I do not wish to irritate Hephaistion if I can avoid it. But on the other hand if this stranger that likes to cross my lands is one of his people, then screw him. I’m not mad you went into Hephaistion’s territory, just let me know first next time. I don’t like saying I’m sorry to those asses.’

   ’Yes your Grace.’

   ’Anything else?’

   ’I’m afraid so my Grace.’

   ’What?’ I asked getting concerned.

   ’It’s about the young master.’

  I sighed and leaned back in my chair. Nothing is ever good when Charlie is hesitant about bringing something up with Gabriel.

   ’Well?’

   ’Your Grace…it’s rather embarrassing for me to say.’

   ’Just spit it out Charlie.’

   ’Yes your Grace. The young master…he has found, I’m sorry your Grace. This is rather difficult for me.’

   ’I understand that, but if it’s bothering you this much to tell me, then I think I really need to know about it.’

   ’Yes your Grace. Gabriel has started rendezvousing with…an older women your Grace.’

   ’An older women.’

   ’Yes your Grace.’

   ’How much older, not that I’m sure I want to know.’

   ’Not that much older your Grace.’

   ’Why is this a big deal then?’

   ’Her age is not your Grace.’ Charlie said quietly and looked at the floor.

   ’Charlie I take it there’s more?’

   ’Pardon me your Grace, the women is…how shall I say.’

   ’For crying out loud just say it.’

   ’Yes your Grace. Gabriel left to meet with this women, one of the guards followed him as ordered. The woman it appears is married to some banker.’

  I just put one of my hand on my face and tried to wipe the irritation off of it, ’Damn it Gabriel.’

   ’There’s more your Grace.’

   ’Of course there is.’

   ’The husband is suspicious of the affair.’

   ’Does he suspect Gabriel?’

   ’No your Grace. At least not yet.’

   ’That boy…’ I said getting out of my chair, ‘Gloria!’ I yelled heading towards the dojo.

  Gloria met me in the hallway that led to my office; she had been on her way to see me when I yelled.

   ’What is it?’ she asked.

   ’What do you think?’ I asked.

  Gloria sighed, turned and followed me to the dojo. The dojo was located in the part of the house that was outside of the mountain. It was up on the third floor of the large house; we quickly climbed the stairs and came into the dojo.

  Gabriel was wearing his normal black bamboo bogu armor; he and Sebastian were fighting in the center of the room. Emma was sitting on a bench against the wall with a bamboo sword in her hand watching the two fight. She saw Gloria and I enter the room and knew something was coming.

  I walked over to one of the racks and pulled a bamboo training sword and walked out onto the large mat that Sebastian and Gabriel were fighting on. Gloria walked over and stood next to Emma, Sebastian seeing me come onto the mat disengaged Gabriel and took several steps back.

  I could hear Gabriel’s heart speeding up as I walked in front of Sebastian; he knew he was in for it for something. Sebastian nodded to Emma that it was time to go. She quickly got up and they left the dojo shutting the door behind them.

  Gabriel lowered his sword and started to pull his helmet off.

   ’Leave it on…defend.’ I said starting to move towards the boy.

  I could hear Gloria gritting her teeth as I came forward. I swung twice at Gabriel, he checked both swings. On the third swing I smacked his arm right below his armor.

   ’Defend.’ I said moving a little faster.

  Gabriel checked my swing two more times then I knocked his helmet off his head with my sword.

   ’Conner.’ Gloria pleaded at me to go easy

   ’Put your helmet back on and prepare to defend.’

  Gabriel stood their looking at me, then he reached down and picked up his helmet. I could see that he was starting to become angry, He threw it on and attacked. I checked his swing, came around him and struck him across his unprotected kidneys. Gabriel stumbled at the strike he took several steps and turned and faced me.

   ‘Defend.’ I said coming at him again.

  Gabriel did not raise his sword so I came around him and struck him across the back of his thighs. He grunted and went down on his hands and knees.

   ‘Conner that’s enough!’ Gloria snapped.

   ‘Is it? I ain’t done nothing to the boy that vampire venom couldn’t fix. On your feet boy.’

   ‘Conner please.’ Gloria said coming over to Gabriel.

   ‘Leave him.’ I snapped.

  In the army, this is what one would call wall to wall counseling. When you had a soldier that wanted to be hard headed, sometimes the best way to get through to him was by roughing him up a bit.

   ‘Why don’t you tell Gloria what I’m upset about.’

   ‘I have no idea what you’re mad at.’ Gabriel snapped.

   ‘Get on your feet boy.’

  Gabriel unwillingly got up but did not raise his sword; I walked around him with my sword down.

   ‘Gabriel thinks playing around with married women is funny Gloria.’

  Gloria sighed.

   ‘Not anyone’s wife, but a rich banker’s wife who suspects her of having an affair.’

   ‘Is this true?’ Gloria asked.

   When Gabriel did not answer I popped him on the front of his armor to get his attention, ‘Answer her.’

   ‘It’s not my fault he’s a loser.’ he answered.

  In flashed I was right in his face, ‘That is not your business!’ I shouted, ‘I do not know where you have gotten this entitlement attitude, but it needs to stop.’

   ’Okay Conner.’ he said being a smart a*s.

  Before Gabriel could blink I knocked his helmet off his head a second time with my sword, the blow made him stumble several steps back.

   ’Conner please.’ Gloria warned.

  Gabriel threw his sword down at the ground, pulled his gauntlets off and walked towards the door of the dojo.

   ’I don’t need this s**t, I’m going back to Paris.’ he snapped.

  I looked at Gloria for a second; she shook her head at me to let him go. As Gabriel opened the door I spun on him with all my speed as a vampire shut the door on him and grabbed him by his armor and walked him back to where Gloria and I was standing.

  With typical Gabriel defiance he glared me down without fear. He knew I wouldn’t hurt him, looking into his eyes I growled in my chest at him.

   ’What? You gonna bite me or something?’ he unhooked his armor and slid out of it.

   ’Conner.’ Gloria said to stop me from getting madder.

  I turned slowly from Gabriel and walked out of the door.

   Walking down the main stairwell I could hear Gabriel and Gloria talking.

   ’What the hell does he care who I screw around with.’

   ’Gabriel don’t talk that way. What he upset about is the fact that you know the difference between right and wrong and you chose to do wrong.’

   ’The guy’s an a*****e though Gloria.’

   ’That’s beside the point hun and you know it.’

  I wasn’t going to listen to it anymore. Instead of going to my office I turned and went out the front door of the house. It was snowing outside; I loved the snow now that I was a vampire. I pulled my shirt off and tucked it into my belt so I could feel the snowflakes on my shoulders. I needed to clear my head a little so I took off down the road that led up to the house. About half way down the mountain I headed off cross country. Merry Christmas every buddy. 

  Several hours later I came back to the house and went straight to my office, I could do without seeing anyone. Almost immediately I felt guilty, I could always see Gloria. Gloria and I talked on the phone almost daily while she was in Dallas, but I was yet to talk to her about the trip since she’d been back.

  As I walked into my office I was grateful to see Gloria looking at one of the paintings hanging on the wall.

   ’Hey.’ I said walking up next to her.

   ’Hey.’ she said without taking her eyes off of the painting.

  Walking up next to her I put my arm around her and looked at the painting of me and the Queen Mother fighting. Musing Gloria reached out and touched the Queen’s sword, she traced the length of the blade with her finger.

  ’You know, this sword that she used is very plain. I think that every time I see it.’

  The Queen Mother’s sword was about three foot long Roman fighting sword.

   ’Huh.’ I mumbled.

   ’I wonder if it had some significance to her?’

   ’I don’t know. I know that the style came about long after she was thrown down. But in truth I never thought about it.’

   ’It seems so plain for someone like her,’ Gloria sighed, ’When I think about you two fighting it fills me with dread.’

   ’Really, why?’

   ’I have never in my entire life been more scared then I was there in the cavern.’ Gloria said reaching up and touching the painting, ’Conner you’re are by far the bravest man I have even known, how you stood face to face with her was beyond me.’

   ’That’s easy.’ Gloria turned and looked at me, ’I thought to myself, she all that is standing in between you and I. My love for you or my selfishness for wanting you over powered her dread.’

  Gloria hugged me tightly, ’I love you baby.’

  Letting me go she looked back towards the door of the office, ’What are we going to do about that boy.’

   ’I don’t know, I don’t even want to talk about it.’

   ’I thought you were going hurt him.’

   ’I thought seriously about hurting him. Ungrateful little punk.’

   ’I can see why you don’t want to talk about it.’

   ’Did you see John and Tabitha?’

   ’I did.’

   ’How are they?’

   ’John is about the same, Tabitha is…well, different.

   ’How?’ I wondered.

   ’She feeds on humans now; she’s still the same right. But towards the humans she rather ruthless. She’s lost apart of who she was I think feeding on the humans.’

   ’Did John say anything about it?’

   ’No. I don’t think he even cares to tell you the truth.

   ‘That sad.’

   ‘I wish Sebastian wouldn’t have painted this picture.’ Gloria said looking back at the Queen Mother.

   ‘Why?’

   ‘Every time I look at it I wonder about her, how she became the way she was. Was it because of what the Council did to her that made her that way? Or was it the person that changed her? I wonder if you or I live long enough will we become like her.’

  I did not answer Gloria’s speculation on the Queen Mother. The Queen was who she was and we’re what we are, I doubt there is anything that could change that. I do not believe that the Queen was made wicked, I believe she always was. 

Reviews

[Jacoby de Alton]

Paragraph One: You use "scare" instead of "scar". "Istretched my neck and rubbed the nasty scare I had there on the side of it." I'd suggest compacting this into something like "I stretched my neck, rubbing the scar which marked the side." It flows more.

Paragraph Two: "We had routed the armies of the Queen Mother. We had [...]" Using the same opener for two sentances in general sounds bad, i'd one of them with another phrase. Also, your first use in reference to the Queen Mother's forces is "armies" while the second is army, it would be best to exchange one for the other, army would likly be best since it was an army at a single location. You say "slue" instead of "slew". "[...]painted a large painting[...]" Perhaps another verb should be used in the stead of painted since it is somewhat obvious that one paints a picture, or perhaps exchange painting with something like "scene". Perhaps the last bit of this paragraph should be ommited or turned into a full sentence raher than a tacked on addition, it seems clumsy as it is.

Paragraph Three: Pronouns are your friend. You should stop being so repetative in the use of a characters name. Once a subject has been defined, stick simple things like he/she onto it.
"[...] my somewhat vampire daughter [...]" could be given a slightly better flow with something like "my semi-vampiric daughter," or perhaps "my hybrid daughter," since the creature they are is pretty well known and obvious.

Paragraph Four: You should shorten down on "[...] war with the Queen Mother [...]" since its been pre-establish as the only war known as of yet, and is likely to be the only war mentioned without a reference point, i'd just call it the war. Once again, pronouns are your friends and exist for a reason. "[...] killed Cline right before the war had started; the death of Cline started [...]". This would look better with something like ", his death started [...]"

Paragraph Five: Nothing major, but you don't use proper quotation marks in the dialouge.

Paragraph Seven: While you begin to start to use this paragraph to describe their physical appearance, you seem to sidestep its actual purpose in the last line with "It was rare that I ever left our estate’s grounds; I was content to be completely ignored by the outside world."

Paragraph Nine: "Kind of special" seems like a very unimaginative term to use for something which the character seems to hold as a fond memory.

Paragraph Eleven: "The painting’s lights were the only lights I had down here in my office. It could have been pitch black down here [...]" I have two problems with this segment. "lights were the only lights" is redundant. down here is used in one sentance after another, not a crime, but it seems dull.

Paragraph Twelve: "was" is used instead of "with"

Paragraph Thirteen: "My mind was brought back from miles away [...]" An more precise way to say this is perhaps, "I faded back to reality" or the like.

Paragraph Fourteen: "I" is used instead of "I'm"

For the rest, i'll have to wait for another time, things to do.