The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV (7 page)

“What, exactly, are you proposing to do to help me?”
I asked him. Julian smiled.

“You don't trust me, then?” He smiled. I
shook my head again.

“It's not that I don't trust you, Jules. It's
that I don't trust me.” I turned and closed my eyes, facing the
direction of the fireplace. “I was sitting in the bathtub, thinking
about our talk earlier about Robert, and I’ve come to the
conclusion, as scary as it might be, that nothing, except my son,
was holding me back from giving in to whatever the pull is that I
feel towards you, but my son is a big reason because if I ever did
give in and Robert found out,” I turned back to him, “I could lose
my son forever.” I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. “So, I
decided that the best thing to do was to come right out and ask the
question that was there, in the back of my mind, so that I could go
home and try to get back to my life.”

“You'll never be the same after this, Cait,
and you know it.” He spoke to me, softly, sitting down on the
bed.

“I want to know who I am. I need to find out
what the things are that my inner voice is telling me about.” I
walked over and sat on the bed facing him.

Julian reached out for me, but I backed away
a bit, not really sure what I wanted, but I don't believe he was
taking no for an answer this time, because he reached out quickly,
catching my face between his hands, which made me gasp, wide-eyed
at him, as he came towards me and kissed me forcefully on the
mouth.

I wanted to pull away, but, I didn't and I
wanted to resist giving in, but I couldn't and the hands that I had
placed upon his chest to hold him away, defied my will. I began
caressing the masculine skin under my fingers, up and down his
chest and over his broad shoulders until they were tangled in his
hair.

* * * * *

“Okay, wait a minute.” Ashley said, sternly.
I looked up at her from where I sat staring at the wall. “Could you
hold the graphic details; this is my boyfriend you're talking
about.”

“He wasn't at the time; remember this was
before you came back to them.” I smiled.

“Still, would you, please, try to be less
descriptive when it comes to your personal affair with him?” She
asked.

I smiled. “What you think might happen,
doesn't.” But, I had found something that upset her and, to me,
that was a good thing.

* * * * *

His lips moved from mine, kissing across my
cheek, down to my neck and, slowly, over to my vein, where he
latched on to me like a baby to his mother's breast. The feeling,
at first was a fiery pull on my vein as if they were going to be
sucked out those two small holes, then the pain subsided and a
chilling feeling of ecstasy washed over me, I could feel Julian's
hands clutching at my robe, hungrily searching for skin, which he
found as he placed two warm hands flat against my back, pulling me
hard against him and holding me there as he laid me back on the
bed.

In the swirling mist that seemed to cover my
eyes, a white light slowly seeped through, and with it came a
voice, one that I knew and felt I had known for an eternity. It
called out my name as the mist became places, different forests,
castles, barren wastelands, and exotic islands, stopping, somewhere
in time, in a small village, in a remote part of a foreign
country.

This is where your ancestor was born.
Julian's voice echoed through my mind. He name was Larado, and he
was a prophet.

So I was the descendent of someone who
thought he knew the future, no big deal.

This is not the beginning of your life,
only a mile stone for Larado wasn’t a Christian prophet; he was a
vampiric one.
This caught my attention and I watched the life
of this sickly child flash by me, until his death much later, when
he burst into flames.
Larado was the first of your line to have
mixed blood, pagan and vampire, and it gave him a great wisdom that
no one believed. Vampire blood runs in your veins, through eons and
countless generations, starting with the first child to be born
both mortal and immortal, two thousand years ago, after the
creation of vampires.

I watched the scenes changing, as if we were
at a movie being quickly rewound, stopping in front of a large
castle in the middle of what looked to be a desert. I could feel
myself walking through the hundreds, maybe thousands of people that
lined the streets, speaking a language that I didn't understand at
first, but slowly, began to hear in English.

“It has begun.” An old woman, hunched back
and missing an eye, whispered to me as she grasped my arm. “The
first of nine has been born.”

“Are you a prophet, old woman?” I asked
her.

“Nah, kind stranger, just a reader of the
written words of Imar.” She replied.

“Imar?” I questioned.

“The first King.” She replied with a crooked
smile.

The first vampire
. Julian's voice told
me. I was beginning to think that maybe Julian was the prophet. The
answers are buried deep in your mind.
I can see them before you
can. Now, go up to the castle, and don’t worry, you won’t be
seen
.

The gates and the guards were easy enough to
pass, but the closer I came to the room where the first child was,
the thicker the air became. I could hear the cries behind the door
and slowly, floated through it, as if I were a spirit. I looked
over the room, at the blood on the floor, and on the girl that lay
on the bed. She was the one crying, asking for her child, who was
being held and checked over by a few members of what looked like
the priesthood.

They mumbled to themselves, and then one
snatched the baby and ran out of the room. I could follow him
without any problem and I watched as he led me to a graveyard,
where others of his organization were waiting in a circle, with a
small sacrificial alter in the middle of them.

Julian
, my mind called out
, they’re
not going to kill him, are they?

Watch.
He answered, but how could I
watch them kill a poor innocent child? How would I be able to live
with it; knowing that there was nothing that I could have done?
But, as the events unfolded before me, I watched as the tiny infant
defended its self against its attackers. They prayed to their gods,
and raised the stake high, placed it down on his tiny chest, and
with a heavy rock, swung to drive it through but the rock cracked
as it hit the stake, and the stake splintered into thousands of
small pieces, and if by magic, the child surrounded it's self with
a pure blue light, an impenetrable wall that let nothing pass
through.
The children know instinctively how to protect
themselves, and this was the way it was with the others.

There are more?
I asked as the scene
change.

Nine in all, nine to rule a nation for two
millennia, then a new generation would be born, and so on. This
generation has already begun, with you and your son. These were the
last words I heard as I slipped back into reality, slowly, opening
my eyes to see nothing but darkness, but I could feel the warmth of
a body next to me and I reached over and touched Julian's chest,
shocking him out of his sleep. I felt him move and a dim light came
on as he looked down at me.

“How do you feel?” He asked. I moved to shrug
and felt the sharp pain in my neck and I decided to not move as I
reached over and touched the two points on my neck.

“Ouch!” I hollered, and took my fingers
away.

“The pain will fade quickly, but the bruises
may take a little longer.” He whispered laying back down beside me.
“So, did you learn anything?”

“Yeah, that it was you in my fantasies all
along and here I just thought I had a good imagination.” I smiled,
and then looked into his eyes. “Weren't you there? Wasn't that your
voice I heard?”

“No, the voice you heard might have sounded
like mine, but I believe it was just your subconscious trying to
get you to listen. After I let you go, you fell into a deep sleep,
so I fell asleep beside you.” Julian whispered, as he stroked my
face with his fingers. “What fantasies are you referring too?”

“Never mind.” I smiled and sat up in the bed.
“What time is it?”

“Not quite sunrise.” Julian whispered; I
could feel the soft caress of his fingers on the back of my arm.
“Is there anything else that you remember, have any of your
memories returned?”

“No, not since earlier.” I answered and
turned to him. “Maybe, in the morning, when the sun is up, I'll
remember more.” I pulled my legs up to my chest and sat there a
moment before looking back at him. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Anything.” He smiled.

“It's about dreams.” I whispered and watched
him nod, telling me to continue. “Do you believe that your dreams
can mean things, or can be things that you remember, but you don't
know the full story?”

“Yes, I believe that dreams are the window to
a person's soul, to their inner being, and they can also be
suppressed memories.” He replied, laying flat on his back with one
arm behind his head. “Would you like to tell me about this dream
that you’re talking about?”

“It may seem strange but then again, why
should it. So far, everything I've experienced has been strange.” I
laughed, smiling at those green eyes, which twinkled up at me.
“Let's see, it usually begins with me standing outside this house,
looking up at the moon, a full moon, then it changed and I was
standing inside, looking around the halls trying to find someone. I
can only assume now, that I was looking for you.”

“Don't assume anything quite yet.” Julian's
calm voice told me, he looked very serious about what he had just
old me.

“Okay, anyway, it was light enough to see
where I was going, but, not bright enough to see much else, well,
every now and again, I could see furniture. It's funny, but I could
almost feel someone following me.” As I said that, an image popped
into my head. “A man.” I whispered. Julian sat up next to me. “I
see a man that I hadn't seen before; he wasn't even in my dreams
before.”

“What does he looked like?” Julian
questioned. I shrugged, trying to see him again in my head, but I
wasn't able to make him out fully.

“All I can see is white skin and red eyes,
but not like threatening red eyes, not like a hunter's eyes, these
were his normal color.” I glanced over at Julian. “Do you know
anyone like that?”

“I do, yes.” He replied, looking away from my
questioning stare. “I'll tell you about him, when you're
finished.”

“Okay, well, I'll go on then.” I looked down
at our hands and noticed how he held mine protectively. “Um, I
would walk around for a while, still looking for whatever it is I'm
searching for, but I know that I don't find it inside. Outside, I
stopped and stood on the patio and looked over the green grass,
towards the ocean, taking in the view and...”

I stopped again, and then looked at him
quickly. “Another thing that isn't in your dream?” I nodded. “Tell
me about it.”

“No, it's not an 'it'; it's a person.”

“The same man?”

“No, this is a different one with curly dark
hair like yours; I mean its dark like yours. His eyes are different
than yours and Quinn's, but he looks like you. I think they're
brown and even though I know he won't hurt me, I just can't shake
this uneasy feeling when he's close by.” I sighed, squeezing his
fingers, trying not to get over excited. “His name...” I whispered,
and then looked into Julian's eyes. “His name is Nick, Connie's
‘Nick’. So, that's what he looks like. No wonder she thought he and
you were the same person.”

“We're not, in fact, we're total opposites.”
Julian said, in his own defense. “What is he doing?”

“Just standing there, close to me, like he's
watching over me, and I can feel the waves of danger coming up from
behind me, but I still don't see anything, but Nick suddenly moves
closer, like he's jumping for something, and that's usually when I
wake up screaming.” I smiled. “It's all a bit scary, however, this
last time I dreamt it, I wasn't scared at all, in fact, I got up
and fished the photo album out of a box in my closet and found
pictures of this place.”

“So, this last time it led you to us?” He
asked. I nodded as I crawled back under the covers and curled up,
facing him. “Can I ask you a very personal question?”

“Sure.” I nodded.

“How many of your dreams come true?” He
whispered. I thought about this a moment, then shrugged. “Wait,
before you think about it too much; let me rephrase the question.
How many times have you dreamed of something and had some part of
it, not all, but some variation or aspects of it come true?”

“Like bits and pieces?” I asked, and watched
him nod. “All the time. Mostly, its symbols though, like here and
there in my dreams, I'll see objects in my mind and then I'll see
them in reality, but I've never had one actually come true.
Why?”

“I think your gift comes through your
dreams.” Julian answered, sliding down in the bed to lie next to
me, facing me. He had one arm under his head and his other close to
his face. “We'll see soon, I'm sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nick and the other man, they weren't clear
in your dreams before, but now you can see them, that might mean
something.” Julian smiled and touched my lips with his finger,
gently rubbing them back and forth. “The last time I saw you, you
were smiling and there was almost a bright light around you. I hope
I haven't caused whatever it is that's making that light so
dim.”

“How can you cause anything?” I whispered, as
I took his hand held it against my chest; I was caught in his eyes,
almost drowning in a sea of green. “When I think of you, all I feel
is warmth that hasn't been there for a very long time. It's funny,
but, I know how it felt to love you back then, and I know how easy
it would be, now, to fall all over again.”