God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire) (46 page)

But I would not forget that I had a nephew in Mayfair. If it was the last thing I did, I’d make certain the world knew who his mother really was. One day. For Dede.

There was no church service this time. We went straight to Kensal Green, where armed RGs protected the gates. We had to show ID to get inside. The look on the guards’ faces when they recognised me would have been hysterical if they hadn’t been so … afraid. Vex growled low in his throat – just enough to make them both flush with embarrassment and shame. “Go right in, Alpha, Your Majesty.”

Majesty. Yeah, right. It was bad enough the gobs called me that.

“I suppose I ought to get used to people treating me like I’m a monster,” I remarked as Vex and I walked hand in hand towards the Vardan crypt.

He squeezed my fingers. “You’re not a monster.”

Tell that to Churchill’s heart. I didn’t say anything, just squeezed back. Sometimes I dreamed about Church, all the things he used to mean to me. I’d remember dragging him into the den, handing him over like he was nothing more than … meat. Those were usually the times I woke up screaming, covered in sweat, shaking. The times I woke up crying were the times I hated him most.

There was a small crowd at the crypt – my father, Val, Avery and Emma. Emma actually came over to say hello and give me a hug, God love her. There were a few other people there – Dede’s mother and some of her good friends from the Peerage Protectorate – but that was it. No one else had been allowed to witness the interment of the Duke of Vardan’s traitorous daughter.

And the rags had declared her a traitor. Before I’d had him
killed, Churchill had indeed built quite a case against her. Even I had trouble picking out the lies in it.

I hugged Lecia, but didn’t speak. What could either of us say? Nothing that we wanted anyone to hear. We would talk later. Maybe then I’d know what to tell her about her daughter.

Avery didn’t look at me, but I knew she wouldn’t. She’d cave if she did, and she wasn’t ready to accept or forgive. I’d do the same thing. Val nodded curtly. He was going to stay cold much longer than Avery; it was his duty as eldest to plague me with disappointment for as long as possible, just to make certain I was properly contrite.

The vicar said a few words, but I didn’t listen. He hadn’t known Dede and he didn’t care. My attention was captured by another group of people a few hundred feet away. They were gathered around an old stone angel that had chipped wings, and pigeon shit on its serene face. I wouldn’t have given them a second thought had one of them not had familiar salt-water-blue hair.

My gaze flew to the woman beside her, her face concealed by a black veil. I could tell by the height and the blonde hair peeking out from beneath her hat that it was my mother. I nodded to her – ever so slightly – before turning my gaze back to Ophelia. She wore a partial veil as well. I didn’t even wonder how they’d got past the guards.

My sister looked good – healthy and strong. There wasn’t a blemish on her smooth, pale throat to show that I’d ever tried to rip it open. We stared at each other a moment – her warily, and me with remorse. I’d never meant to hurt her.

Then she inclined her head, and I did the same – a truce it seemed, at least for now. I was irrationally happy to have it, despite the fact that I still didn’t like her all that much. But I’d take her disdain over fear any day.

It started to rain, and the vicar ended things shortly afterwards.
Everyone filed out to face the reporters, who wanted to wring every last drop of scandal out of my sister’s death. And me. They wanted me too. They would have to wait.

I stepped into the crypt, up to the shelf where a casket containing an impostor had once sat. Now, it was empty except for a tall, ornate urn. They’d burned her – there was a cruel, yet symmetrical, irony in that. I put my hand on the base, feeling the cool porcelain beneath my fingers. “Goodbye, Dede,” I whispered, throat dry.

Not a single tear came. Now, when I wanted to let it out, cleanse my soul or whatever, I couldn’t summon a goddam cry for her.

The Bedlam crew was gone when I emerged. Probably didn’t want to risk being seen. I wanted to blame them for Dede’s death, but I couldn’t be bothered. Dede was dead because she’d wanted to see her kid – and me. No, she was dead because of Church. I wasn’t going to martyr myself for his sorry dead arse.

He would never have a grave for people to visit. He would never have rest so long as I had his skull to gnaw on. I’d see to that. Was that mad? Yes, and I didn’t fucking care.

Vex and I walked to the exit. It had taken us longer to get here than the funeral lasted. The guards had lifted their collars against the weather, but I liked the water on my skin. It made me feel clean. And the darkness made me feel … safe.

I watched my family climb into my father’s carriage as Vex and I approached his. Reporters yelled at us. Flash bulbs stung my eyes. I could make them all piss themselves with a flash of fang and a snarl, but I’d still end up on the front page. I didn’t need to show them the monster. “You all right?” he asked.

I nodded. “Fine.”

“Xandra, how do you feel now that you’ve finally buried your sister?” a reporter asked, thrusting a microphone in my face.

I glanced at him. Just a little weaselly human with big bollocks.
Finally?
“Like I’ve just buried my sister,” I replied.

Vex put himself between me and the reporter. “Piss off,” he snarled.

“Y … you can’t hurt me,” he sputtered. “Queen Victoria signed a treaty prohibiting aristocrats from harming the press.”

I smiled. “But I’m not an aristocrat.”

His face went white, and he scurried off like a mouse.

Vex turned to me. “I think you like being a goblin.”

“I think I want to get the hell out of here before the rest of the vultures attack.” There was a barricade, but there were only two guards, and many more humans and halvies. Pretty soon they’d mob us.

We climbed into the Swallow and set off for home. I wanted to be in my own space. I wanted this all to die down so I could take stock of my life and start living it.

And I needed to prepare myself for the chance that the Queen of England might come hunting for my head.

My house was cosy when we stepped inside, the mellow lighting giving off a warm glow. Despite the unpacked boxes and furniture that still needed to be arranged, it was beginning to feel like home. A safe place. I hadn’t realised how much I’d longed for this until now. All my life I’d fussed over Val and Avery and Dede. I’d made them, and my career, the focus of my life. I’d been all about pleasing other people, trying to win approval.

The only approval I needed now was my own. I intended to set about earning it. Apparently I had no problem with murder, so that was a good thing. Where did I stand on the goblin issue? They still bloody terrified me, but not in the same way. They were no danger to me – at least not to my person. And they had a sense of honour that I found both bizarre and fascinating.

But I hadn’t heard from the prince since he gave me tribute. I had to admit to feeling a little … neglected.

“Xandra, what’s that?”

I turned from hanging up my coat. There, on the table in my parlour, sat an antique hatbox with a card on top of it.

“No bloody idea,” I replied, moving towards it.

Vex stopped me. “Let me.”

I opened my mouth to remind him that I was as strong as he was – maybe stronger – and then shut it again. I liked that he wanted to protect me, and he seemed to like doing it. Why not let him? It was nice to know I had someone looking out for me.

Gently he lifted the top off the box. When nothing exploded, I peered over his shoulder to see another box inside. This one was covered in rich dark blue velvet. My wolf picked it up and inspected it before carefully opening the lid.

My jaw dropped. It was a crown. Hand-carved, intricate and ornate, it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. It was also quite possibly the most disturbing.

It was made of old metal and old bone. More to the point, it was carved from a skull. A vampire skull. Someone had fashioned it, embellished it. And then it had sat in the underside for a long time. I hoped it wasn’t as old as it looked, because that would make it ancient.

Vex stared at it, his expression a mirror of how mine felt. “Read the card,” he suggested.

I took up the envelope and ripped it open. The card inside was heavy stock, the penmanship on it perfect and scribed by a quill and ink. I read it aloud: “For the Xandra lady, Queen of all the Plagues of Britain. A coronation present from your humble servant, the Prince of the Goblins.” I slid my gaze to Vex. “I reckon they haven’t forgotten about making me queen, then.”

“Aye, and they plan to hold a coronation.” Incredulity brightened his rugged features and twinkled in his grey eyes. “Victoria’s going to blow a gasket.”

I smiled at his wicked laughter. I shouldn’t invite trouble, but
maybe this country needed a little. It certainly needed a change. “Should I try it on?”

He lifted the crown from its velvet bed. “Only if you promise to leave it on. I always wanted to get off with a queen.”

His humour was exactly the right thing to ease the ache in my heart. Dede wouldn’t want me to wail and moan over her, which was just as well, because I didn’t think I had it in me.

“Mind you show me the proper respect,” I informed him, “or I’ll have your head.”

He grinned – all wolf. “You can have the head, and the rest of it too.”

I rolled my eyes as he set the crown on my head. It was a perfect fit, as though it had been made for me. I turned to look in the mirror hanging in the hall. It looked good too. What did it say about me that bone seemed to suit me?

“It’s macabre,” I murmured, raising my hand to touch it. So much work had gone into it. “And pretty.”

Vex’s arms came around me. “
You’re
pretty.” He kissed my temple. “I’d like to take you upstairs and make you forget everything for a few hours, show you what happens when two royals get naked. What do you say to that, Your Majesty?”

I turned in his arms and wrapped my own around his neck. Right now, it was just the two of us. I’d worry about the rest of it – Victoria, my family, Bedlam, the goblins – tomorrow. I set the crown aside and rose on my toes to bring my mouth closer to his as he lowered his head. I smiled.

“I say God save the Queen.”

The following has been taken from the text
Here There Be Monsters: An Evolutional History of the Aristocracy in Europe
by Drs Jackson and Agrafojo.

Origins

Yersina pestis
, the causative bacterium of the Black Death, contains genetic material that is released when the bacteria die off in response to attacks of the human’s immune system. In cases with high enough fevers bacterial DNA can be incorporated into cells that are actively dividing (in most cases this means sperm and embryonic tissues).
¹
Thus after every wave of plague more carriers of this genetic material would be present in the human population.

This genetic material causes the production of a special
regulatory protein called the Prometheus Protein that has two major functions. The first of these is to increase stem cell production across the body. Stem cells routinely travel throughout the body from difference storage pools. They have two major capabilities: they can repair injured tissue by replacing the damaged cells or they can produce new, healthy tissue that the body has an increased need for. The second function of the protein is to initiate the regenerative/transformative reactions that give enhanced humans, vampires and weres their special abilities.

The Enhanced Human

A person with one copy of the genetic material would have more stem cells and be considered quite robust, able to fend off diseases and infirmity and often live to a ripe old age, but otherwise appear as perfectly normal
Homo sapiens
. If two such robust individuals produce children there is a one in four chance that a double dose of this recessive regulatory gene will occur.
²
Double-dosed individuals will either be vampires or weres. The determination of whether such a double-dosed person is born a vampire or werewolf is caused by multi-genetic interactions.
³

The Vampire

Vampires have greatly enhanced regeneration. First this means that they will have a lifespan much longer than an average human and, once adults, will always be in prime physical health. Second, wounds incurred by a vampire, if not immediately fatal, will heal. These wounds will heal completely, leaving no scars, in a matter of hours or days where a human would be incapacitated for weeks
or months. Third, due to the regenerative capabilities of the vampiric condition, vampires are immune to disease and
most
toxins. Finally, the regenerative properties of the vampire would allow enhanced speed and strength.

Vampires also have limited transformative abilities, specifically the extension and retraction of teeth and nails. The stem cells can extend and retract parts of the jaw and nail beds to effect this change.

Homo feralis
– The Were

Weres have greatly enhanced transformative powers, allowing them to modify their limbs and tissues to take on animalistic capabilities (claws, fangs, four-legged stance, thick pelts, etc….). In addition, the transformation allows them to generate large amounts of muscle tissue, making them exceedingly strong and quick. The transformation also increases the number of olfactory nerves in the nose to improve scent detection, increased numbers of rod cells in the retina of the eye for enhanced night vision and increased auditory nerve hairs to make hearing more acute. Weres are immune to all but the most deadly diseases, but are susceptible to quick acting poisons. Weres remain hale throughout their lifespan and appear to age more slowly than the average human.