Chapter 1

Supposedly it was a poison, perhaps in the water system, or put in the soda fountain at the mall. No one really knew how the illness started. I just know that I was bitten, not infected. The eyes were the first things to change. The man who bit me, his eyes were orange. He was expecting me to be one of his fledglings, but he could only claim me as one if my eyes were the same. When I was human, my eyes were a beautiful blue. Now they're gold, which pisses me off since my complexion as a human totally clashed with gold. I don't know if they still do, I spend as little amount of time as possible in front of a mirror. It's not because I don't have a reflection, which some of my type do not.  It is simply because I do not like to look at the monster I have become. I am shameless, I am a vampire. I still have human family, and I try to avoid them. If I came to close to any of them, my instincts would likely take over and I would turn them. I've turned people before, and I'm the first of the Golden Vampires. We are the most powerful of all the eyes, in all there are twelve eye colors. They rule in this order: Gold, Bronze, Orange, Black, Purple, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Copper, Brown, and White. I find the white eyes particularly creepy. We rule in order of who has the most power. I rule my people, and I know the rulers of most of the other clans. Bronze, Purple, and Green are the clans that I don't know the leaders of. I'm particularly concerned about not knowing the Bronze eyes, as they are closest to me in powers. Tonight I leave my house in New Orleans and transport myself to my family home in New Jersey. My family accepted the fact that I was no longer human, It was time for thanksgiving dinner. I took a deep breath and walked inside.

   "Hi, sweetie," My mother said from the kitchen. I missed my family, I am just now realizing this.

    "Hi, Mom. Where are the girls? and Dad?," I referred to my little sisters.

   "Your father is in the basement, Tina is asleep and Sarah is out back," I smiled, nodded and looked out the window to see my younger sister Sarah playing on the swing-set by herself. My teeth were aching, and I knew I should leave, I couldn't. I had to stay for dinner. 

If I knew what would happen that night, I never would have showed up. My parents forgave me. Tina forgave me. I don't know if Sarah did, and I don't know if she ever will. And because of me, she has too much responsibility on her hands now.

Let's skip ahead a few hours. "Oh, God. I'm sorry, Mom," tears were running down my face, I truly was sorry. I hoped my parents could see that.

"I know, Tess. You didn't mean to turn them, did you?," I shook my head, no I did not mean to ruin both of my little sisters lives, "Alright, then what do we do next?," Mom and Daddy needed me to be strong, Tina and Sarah needed me to be strong. The queen of Golden eyes could not be weak.

"We wait. And pray. Pray that their eyes turn gold."

"What do you mean by that?," Mother had her hand on my shoulder, we sat on the couch and the girls lay on the floor.

"If their eyes turn gold, they will be treated as royalty. The only danger to their lives would be themselves and me,"  Mom looked so confused, "Mom, I'm the queen of Golden eyes. If their eyes turn gold, I'll be their queen. If their eyes turn any other color I'll have to present them to the joint council. If their eyes turn anything but gold, they will have a separate ruler, and if their ruler does not like the girls it's quite likely that Sarah and Tina will end up dead," I couldn't look my parents in the eye. I stared down at the girls. Tina was waking up, I moved down to restrain her. I don't want my parents to end up as vampires, too. Her eyes snapped open, and she moved to attack. I sat down on her chest, and pushed down on her shoulders. "Tina, come back to yourself," I used my power of mental suggestion as well as my own voice to make her do this. She finally calmed down and I could see that her eyes were gold. "Thank god," I turned and looked at my parents "Gold, her eyes are Gold." 

My parents breathed a sigh of relief, and I noticed that Sarah was waking up.I moved off of Tina and sat down on Sarah, I restrained her shoulders and waited for her to wake up. Her eyes blinked open, but she did not move to attack me. Uh-oh. All golden eyes fight when they first wake up. I looked at her eyes and was instantly jealous. "Silver, she has silver eyes," My parents started crying, "No, this is alright. She's a queen. The first of her line. I still have to bring her to the council, though," I could see them relax. I was putting them through an emotional roller-coaster. I was proud, my line now had a princess, and I just created a new race. Silver eyes. She was likely less powerful than me, but still more powerful than Orange eyes, Maybe even more so than Bronze eyes. That's the way this processes works, I'm more powerful than my creator and I started my own race: Sarah should be less powerful than me, and she starts her own race. If she creates a fourteenth eye, they will be more powerful than her. Perhaps more powerful than my race. I'll have to monitor that. 

Yes, even though Sarah is family, Power is still more important.

"Alright, I'm going to take Sarah and Tina to the council. I'll bring them back after to collect their things. Tina will stay at my place, and I'll have to find out what the council wants to do with Sarah. Most likely, they'll want to study her to see where she falls in the order of things. Then they'll have a mansion built for her and she'll have her own land, The higher up she is the better accommodations the council will give her. Seen as how our eye color go up in value like the human metals and stones, she's probably directly below my line but still over the Bronze eyes. I'll see you guys in a few hours alright?," My parents smiled and I used my powers to transport myself to the council.

I walked into the council chambers and there sat eleven other people. The entire council was now in the chamber. "Well, If I didn't know that you wouldn't, this would seem like a plan take me and the Golden Queensland down."

"No! Tess, we would never! It's just that we know you have human family and that on the holidays you prefer to be with them," The king of the Orange Eyes spoke. His real name is Sam. How can you take a King named Sam seriously? I don't know, and It's not my problem. I'm not one of his people.

"Well, Sam. I suggest you move over. We need to make room for a thirteenth chair," most of the council members Jaws' dropped. "I lost control at dinner, I turned both of my little sisters. Tina's eyes turned Gold. Sarah's eyes turned silver."

"Prove it," This from someone I did not recognize. He sat next to my Empty chair, so I must assume he is the Bronze Eyed King.

"How do you propose I do that?, Her Eyes are practically glowing silver! If she were still human her eyes would be blue. Like mine were, before Sam turned me," I spoke quietly in the end, but the anger in my voice was still tangible. 

"Who are you anyway, freak?," The king said hostilely.

  I walked up to the table with my sisters behind me, one on either side. I stopped right in front of his spot at the table and leaned forward, the pig had the nerve to stare at my chest instead of my face. Sure I'm what my mother would call 'well endowed' but that's still no excuse,"Queen Teresa of the Golden Eyed Vampires. And after this meeting is over, if I'm feeling like it, I might declare war on you. Now,Who are you?" 

His eyes flared, and then he smiled. Strange, he looked a bit familiar when he did that, "King Gabriel, leader of the Bronze Eyed Vampires, and one of your middle school friends, Your Highness," Oh, S**t! That's why this effer looked familiar.

"Very well, then. I've just thought of a way to prove to you that my sister has silver eyes," I pulled out my wallet and handed him a close-up picture of Sarah, "As you can see, in this picture her eyes are blue and now you can see that her eyes are silver," I pulled Sarah forward she leaned over the table.

  He nodded and said,"Indeed, they are silver. but what proof do you have that she is not wearing contacts?," He smiled as though he had won. I still had a few tricks up my sleeves.

"Feel free to poke her in the eye. If Sarah doesn't mind, that is, as she is a queen in her own right," I smiled and walked around to my seat at the table, Tina came with me and stood at my side.

"Very well. Sarah If you don't mind, the council must be sure about these things," Gabriel said and walked around the table. Sarah sat down on the edge of the table and looked directly up, "Let me apologize in advance, in-case I hurt you," Sarah slowly nodded and then he touched her eye, she flinched back and snarled at him, He apologized again and said, "We welcome the newest member of the council, Queen Sarah, of the Silver Eyed vampires. We must ask that she stays here while we learn about all of her powers. Once we find out what she can do we will place her in the order and build her castle. That's all."

"No, that's not. I have something to say. If you ever hold a meeting of the council again, and I am not informed of it, I will respond with a deceleration of war. You know that you will never win in battle against my people's power and numbers. There Is a reason I am the most powerful Vampire alive. Now that my sister is a vampire and will soon control her own race you would likely be against the two strongest races of Vampires."

"How do you think that she will be the second strongest race?"

"The lowest rank is white eyes, The Highest is Gold. According to human gems and minerals Gold is the most expensive, I once witnessed my grandmother buy a pair of pearl earrings for three dollars. Silver is the second most expensive, or at least white gold is. It's simply diagnostic reasoning."

"You came to this reasoning on your own?," Queen Zandra of the Blue eyes asked, she was one of my dearest friends, but since she was here, and I didn't know if i could trust her my threat still applied to her.

"Yes, Zandra. I did," I smiled and stood "I'll be leaving now, with both of my sisters. I'll go back to my parents house and retrieve their personal effects, then I'll bring Sarah back here and return home to announce to my people that Tina is a princess and is to be treated as my successor when I retire. Dismissed," As the most powerful of the Vampires I had the right to dismiss them. 

They left in order of power, which meant that, for the first time Gabe and I were in the same room, practically alone. His eyes traveled down the length of my body and smiled, "I'll see you around, Tess," And then he disappeared. I hadn't known that Bronze eyes could travel. I hadn't known that I knew their king. There were a lot of things I hadn't known. If only I had, maybe things wouldn't have gone so badly for me.

I transported myself back to my parents house in New Jersey; The council chambers are in Romania, where ironically there is no vampire clan. I rule all of North America's vampires and since everyone knows about vampires I am often in contact with their president. You need to know this because : "Hello?," I answered my business cell phone, "Yes, This is Queen Teresa of the Golden Vampires. Oh, Hi Mr. President."

"Queen Teresa, I trust you're feeling well?," His voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

"Drop the formalities, you know I hate that," the sneer in my voice was palpable. 

"Of course, I was just wondering, how do you propose we proceed on the matter of the rouges?"

"I've told you before, they are not my breed. I have to find which of my fellow council members controls them, which of them has declared war on my people without having the guts to tell me. If you'll excuse me, It's thanksgiving and I'd like to spend time with my family and not get politics involved."

"I understand, but please hurry. They are attacking my people, too," I hung up before he could continue. I never really could tolerate humans for long. No one except my family. 

I walked up the long driveway, two paces behind my sisters. They stopped on the doorstep of the blue ranch-style home, that would have been mine had I not become the Queen of North American vampires. I have no use for the small, cozy home; not when I own my own sprawling estate, but sometimes I miss it. Sometimes I miss being a small-town nobody. I often miss being human. It no longer matters, I'm a Queen. I have to deal with wars and arguments and big-time politics. Oh, how I loathe politics! No use putting it off any longer, it's time to walk into my childhood home and remove my little sisters from the only life they've ever known and bring them into the dark nothingness of my world. Stop being so melancholy, it's not that bad. Sarah is a queen, Tina is a princess, and they both are immortal. You won't ever have to say good-bye to them, and almost everyone else you know from your human life is either dead or a vampire. Only your parents are left. Only two goodbyes, you made six times that many in the sixth grade. Deal with it, you made the decision to be a part of your parents life again. Walk into the house, collect your sisters' things and come back at Christmas. Somehow, I had to make myself do this. Somehow, I have to make myself walk into my childhood home and rip my two little sisters away from my parents. I had to. For my sisters, for my parents safety. 

I finally got up the courage and opened the door. 

"Tess! Oh, thank God! We were getting worried! We thought that you weren't coming back," Mom jumped up from her seat on the brown couch that sat on the far side of the living room.

"Relax, I came back just like I said I would. I've got to get the girls things, then get Sarah back to the council chambers. Tina will go with me and then we'll head down to my place. If they're ready we'll be back for Christmas dinner," I nodded and stood, then walked down the hallway and walked into Sarah's room. She was sitting on her bed, a hand-held, old-fashioned looking glass raised to her face. I knocked on her door frame,  "Sarah? Are you alright?"

She looked up and I could see that tears were about to spill over, "No, Tess. I'm not alright, my eyes are silver. I don't feel any different. People are telling me that i'm a vampire now. Pardon me, a Vampire Queen. Of my own new race. It's scary. How did you do it?," like i had an answer for that question.

"Um, Well. I had the council to show me the way. Just like you will. They'll send in vampires from every clan so you can see what powers you have, and you'll be doing some independent studies. Working by yourself to find out what powers you have exclusively to your clan. Other than that my path was littered with tubs of rocky road ice cream, yes we can still eat human food. There are a bunch of myths about vampires, for instance, we really only have to have about a pint of blood once a week. Anything more than that and you're being gluttonous. You'll figure it out on your own, just like all the others. Finish packing, we need to leave," I stood and walked across the hall to Tina's room. She was already packed and ready to go.